Quiet day yesterday. I…

Quiet day yesterday. I read some -- David and Ilana kindly sent us two lovely books in thanks for letting them stay in our house over Xmas. I read Octavia Butler's Fledgling on the plane ride here, and quite enjoyed it. It's a bit lighter than some of her work (though not much) and has some interesting thoughts on vampires, on multi-person adult relationships (romantic and otherwise), on free will, and as always, on race. The Washington Post review has a good paragraph that sums up some of the appeal of her writing:

How many of our happy relationships involve a degree of dominance or dependence that we can't acknowledge? This is Butler's typically insidious method: to create an alternative social world that seems, at first, alien and then to force us to consider the nature of our own lives with a new, anxious eye. It's a pain in the neck, but impossible to resist.

If you liked Butler before, or if you liked McKinley's Sunshine, I think you'll like this quite a bit. A fast-paced read, too, since I finished it in the course of one Chicago-Hartford plane flight. Recommended.

The second book I'm reading is Gregory Macguire's Son of a Witch. I loved Wicked but was disappointed by his second book (told in a similar style, but with a very different focus). I skipped several of his books that followed. But in this newest, he returns to the world of Wicked, and I'm liking him again. About halfway through right now. Good stuff.

Aside from reading, we ate leftover rice and curry, took a snowy walk, and then drove to visit my aunt's house for more chatting with the relatives, admiring of their serious remodelling efforts, and eating of yummy food. Yes, eating and talking, that's pretty much the holidays for you. Oh, and sleeping. As you can see from the photo below, Kev's been doing quite a bit of sleeping. :-)