Another Green World

Tonight I attended the opening concert for the annual Oregon Bach Festival; this time the theme was Beethoven's first “Akademie” with music taken from a 1800 concert he promoted where he showcased some of his early work and introduced his first symphony. He put posters up around Vienna, and interested people had to go to his apartment to buy tickets from him! His actual concert lasted about four hours, whereas our event was two-plus hours of music from his event and an intermission. I went with my new friend CH, who had an extra ticket as her other friend wasn't able to go. I hadn't sat up in the balcony at the university concert hall before, and other than the excessive heat it was a pretty nice place to be; I saw several other people I knew up there too. Meanwhile, J took our friends to the sword school's "fight night" and then out to dinner at a restaurant in Springfield.

After all the rushing about for the last several days, it was good to “not do” anything today. I did visit the bookstore and the library, and I worked a bunch on my paper, but I also relaxed and read. J took our friends to the coast, where they visited the sea lion caves and the tidepools and had dinner. I think he’s taking them to a beginning sword class tomorrow. I hope Ajani feels slightly better?

Emilie and the Sky World, by Martha Wells. This second (and final?) Emilie adventure was also lots of fun, and quite different from the first, although many of the characters continued. This time Emilie, her new friends, and her younger brother Efrain find themselves traveling upwards to visit a strange ship that appears to be caught above them in the aether current. The chapters resolving the plot were a tad confusing, but that’s probably because so much was happening at once, in several places.

Fairhaven Rising, by L.E. Modesitt, Jr. Recluce #22. The first time I read this book, I was picturing something quite different: the origins of the magic education program in Fairhaven, controlled by its white (chaos) wizards. Instead, it was yet more military fantasy, this time with a female protagonist, Taelya, the protegee of Beltur, who continues in an important background role. The goals of the book are more modest – Fairhaven needs to become fully independent and given the room to establish itself. This time I knew what to expect, and it was just fine. Minor spoiler for myself, the next time I read it: I kept expecting one of the two male mages to die, but they survive and end up paired with our two leads. And by the end, they do have two more mages to train, so it does start the magic education program in a sense as well.

Let’s see. D made it safely to Vegas and presumably spent the day practicing for his big event this weekend. Meanwhile, J got a new water heater ($2200, but they came very promptly), and J’s mom got her stolen car and phone back, although she’s missing a few pieces of ID. J and I did a bunch of cleaning for next week’s guests, and we also went to play trivia at the Drop Bear with some of my coworkers. There were categories this time that J could help with, so he got more involved than before. Fun! We got everything correct in the mystery category (computer languages) and the turtle-themed category (in part because I knew Donatello was a sculptor). The very amusing thing in the computer languages category is that once I recognized what the category was and told my teammates, my colleague Keith started listing other computer languages, such that as they would ask a new question, I could point to the answer (e.g., “What’s the most populous island in Indonesia?”). Oh, also, we got a correct answer because our Belgian teammate knew that in France, they have what are called “blue steaks”! There were tasty snacks too.

Emilie and the Hollow World, by Martha Wells. The two Emilie adventures for young adults have just been reissued, and I’m having fun reading them – it’s very much like reading Jules Verne, but our point-of-view character is a 16-year-old girl, and the strange science of this world is powered by magical aether. In this first adventure, Emilie runs away from home and ends up stowing away on a ship that’s on a rescue mission to a newly discovered land beneath the world’s surface. She’s helpful and brave and wins new friends.

Today’s highlight was an evening at the Actor’s Cabaret! AA is performing in the musical The Ring of Fire, based on the life of Johnny Cash, and tonight we went with DG (her husband) and his friend EK. We went early for the dinner seating, and I had a very tasty lasagna, then at intermission there was lemon cake and chocolate cake, which I nibbled at too. The performers were three women and six men, all playing the role of Johnny Cash and various people in his life. AA was especially good, I thought, definitely hamming it up at the right times and looking properly stricken when she was supposed to be teary. Her duo as June Carter Cash in “If I Were a Carpenter” was especially cute. They didn’t perform all of the songs in the original Broadway show (they skipped the one my sister was convinced I wouldn’t like), and they switched up the order some too. A few of the male solos were especially good. Since we were there for the dinner, we were right down in front, with the performers sometimes just 8 feet away or so. J was a “man in black” for me – he finally wore a short-sleeved black linen shirt I’d given him years ago, and he looked very sharp.

In the middle of all the tiresomeness of an overly warm house, all the work to get ready for the HVAC technician, and the latest political stress, it was really great to get an email this morning asking for my thoughts on the psychology of encountering symbolism in literature. Collecting my thoughts on that was such a fun project for my day! Tomorrow I'll write them all up and send them to the grad student who asked me and the other grad student they are trying to help. It's like being a PhD advisor without all the work and stress, just the fun bits.

The Familiar, by Leigh Bardugo. I had procrastinated reading this because I thought it was going to be stressful, but once I had properly started it, I found it captivating and relaxing, and I finished it in two days. It’s the 1590s in Madrid – after the failure of the Armada but Philip II is still alive. Luzia, a scullery maid, is caught doing little magical tricks. (Are they Christian miracles or works of the devil? Neither, they’re small magics from her hidden Jewish heritage). Her unhappy employer, Valentina, decides to use these talents to improve her own social life. Soon Luzia is in a competition to become the king’s new miracle worker, although the person best qualified to help her is… unusual. I enjoyed the book very much; it had a satisfying ending. I especially liked Valentina’s story arc.

After I finished, I looked online and found that people either loved the story or found it off-putting. The reasons for the latter were two-fold. Fans of her previous work didn’t think this was much like it (not an issue for me, since this is the first I’ve read by her, but I guess she’s new to historical fiction). The other issue was the language she used for her spells. I was delighted to realize that it was probably Ladino, and she explained that it was in the notes at the end, but I recognize that I’m unusual in that regard; most Americans have heard of Yiddish but have no idea about Ladino. Latino/a readers were especially annoyed with what looked to them like funky, misspelled Spanish. Maybe she could have explained better in the text that the Jews of Spain had their own language.

Contemplating Oblivion, by Keith Wiley. This is the first novel by one of J’s childhood best friends, with interesting characters engaging in creative activities in gorgeous places throughout the galaxy. The premise is that Earth invented a mind-upload technology about a million years previously, such that people can now live essentially forever (they don’t even need to sleep) and can experience all sorts of extraordinary things. They can even create extra versions of themselves to go live other lives then eventually, if they want, merge back again into a single individual. The only problem is that eventually the universe will end. What, if anything, can be done about that? Our main character is devoting her life and creative energies to solving the problem. After J’s read the book too then I’ll probably write up a proper review for Amazon and Storygraph.