Review: The Shining Girls

The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes

My rating: 4 of 5 stars




I'm wavering between a four and a three on this one. I really liked the protagonist, and the idea was out of this world for originality. On the other hand, the antagonist was sort of flat in his misogyny and his murderous motivations, so I found his sections a lot less interesting than the rest of the book. It's an interesting period piece in places, and the author's decision to root the 'modern' part of the story in 1993 instead of today removes the complication many thrillers have that everyone has a cell phone these days.

2014 goal: 1/75



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Gorgeous...

"It’s a strange thing, how you can love somebody, how you can be all eaten up inside with needing them – and they simply don’t need you. That’s all there is to it, and neither of you can do anything about it. And they’ll be the same way with someone else, and someone else will be the same way about you and it goes on and on – this desperate need – and only once in a rare million do the same two people need each other." -Madeleine L’Engle

Minimalist Running Shoes

I bought some, several weeks ago, but I have been really sick with a chest cold, so today is the first time I have them out of the box. I was going to wear them to the gym this morning, but I think maybe a few days of wearing them for a few hours each day, out in the world, may be called for. I can feel that the are taxing different foot muscles than more supportive shoes would, and I don't want to overdo it.

WTF, brain?!

Nothing like having your brain throw you an exquisitely detailed sex dream about a person you haven't seen in 20 years, and with whom you never had sex. I guess it's slightly better than dreaming about sex with someone you interact with every day.

Slightly. 

Esquire!

I don't have my bar number yet, but I found out last night that September's MPRE score meets Oregon's requirements. I should hear from the Oregon State Bar soon, and be officially a lawyer! (Though still an unemployed one, at least for now.)

I'm getting ready to buff up that resume and start mailing it out. The journey that started so many years ago may finally be getting its next chapter.

I'm incredibly happy.

Michael Pollan's Rules for Food (the first 12, anyway)

Michael Pollan’s Food Rules

1. Eat food.
2. Don’t eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food.
3. Avoid food products containing ingredients that no ordinary human would keep in the pantry.
4. Avoid food products that contain high-fructose corn syrup.
5. Avoid foods that have some form of sugar (or sweetener) listed among the top three ingredients.
6. Avoid food products that contain more than five ingredients.
7. Avoid food products containing ingredients that a third-grader cannot pronounce.
8. Avoid food products that make health claims.
9. Avoid food products with the word “lite” or the terms “low-fat” or “nonfat” in their names.
10. Avoid foods that are pretending to be something they are not.
11. Avoid foods that you see advertised on television.
12. Shop the peripheries of the supermarket and stay out of the middle.

Ooooph.

Fell right off that good trend wagon and got dragged for a bit in the road behind it.

News:

1. Passed the Oregon bar exam. Time to job hunt!
2. I don't seem to be able to crank out words sufficient to do NaNoWriMo anymore. I much prefer the pace of the old goals: 250 words a day, or more if I feel like it. It works for me.
3. I'm back!

Missed doing this regularly, and I can't wait to build a chain of interesting posts.