Elaine – Page 2 – elaine nelson, aka epersonae

12/20/2019

Sock Architecture

author: Lara Neel
name: Elaine
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2019/12/20
shelves: knitting, crafty, non-fiction, own
review:

12/20/2019

The Itty Bitty Kitchen Handbook: Everything You Need to Know about Setting Up & Cooking in the Most Ridiculously Small Kitchen in the World–Your Own

author: Justin Spring
name: Elaine
average rating: 3.31
book published: 2006
rating: 4
read at: 2009/09/01
date added: 2019/12/20
shelves: cookbook, home-improvement, non-fiction, reference, own
review:
A remarkably clever/useful little book about running, well, an itty bitty kitchen. We definitely have one of those. First half is tips, which I found useful. Second half is recipes, most of which can be done without even a full oven. I only got to make one recipe, a dead-simple quiche, but I loved it. I want to own this book, but it’s out of print and weirdly difficult to find, alas.

9/11/20199/11/2019

XOXO thoughts

So in the closing remarks, one of the Andys said to go and set up a blog or whatever, if you don’t have one, and to write about the experience, and then to share it with them.

I took a deep breath, thought about this site that I’ve had since ~2000, and tried to remember the last time I wrote a “real” blog post. (What’s here now is all automated posts from Ravelry and Goodreads.)

[stares into space]

[keeps staring]

[tries not to cry]

Someday I’ll write something about the careful balancing act of having been a person on the internet, but a nobody of a person, who then has to lock everything down. I don’t know if I have anything new to contribute to the genre; I’m not living with hate mobs or death threats, so it’s a very quietly strange experience. Those who know me can guess how anxiously and cautiously I’m gauging every single word I write.

And that was the thing about being at XOXO: not feeling careful and compartmentalized, feeling wholeÂ with strangersÂ in a way that I didn’t think was possible. And also with friends; I got to spend quite a bit of time with Dylan, and with Meri Williams, who I hadn’t seen inÂ thirteen years. Conversations were deep and silly and weird and ranged all over the place.

From almost the very first moment, too: a woman asking me about the socks I was knitting who then drew me into a card game where I got to tell my favorite family story, then checking off the first item on my to-do list because Lucy Bellwood was in that game, and I had a poem ready to trade for the Boat Gnome pin. (Humpbacks, by Mary Oliver, copied into a Google Doc from my college copy of American Primitive, because apparently it exists absolutely nowhere online in full.)

Selfie of the author with Brian David Gilbert — Yeah, that happened. I was shockingly chill, went into Hostess Mode and asked how he was enjoying Portland. Before of course asking if I could get a selfie, and then telling him that he “made a bad winter less bad.” Which might be the understatement of the year.

My to-do list for the event, by the way:

Poem <-> Boat Gnome
New Unraveled
The Adventure Zone tabletop game playtest
Talk from the authors of Burnout (spoiler: I bought a signed copy of the book)
McElroys fan meetup (saying “Munch? Squad!” IRL is very satisfying)
Knitting meetup

All of these were good, in some cases better than I had even imagined. (I have sworn an oath, btw, not to talk about the TAZ game playtest, although I will say: it’s fun and not just for fans.)

I’ve made some notes (inspired by having done the same thing when a friend visited recently) but in my head it’s all this kaleidoscope of little moments, sun and rain, donuts and tacos, breakfast sandwiches and mochas (some very good, one remarkably bad), crying and laughing and hugs, and a steady drumbeat of revelations that I’m going to be working through for a while.

Maybe I’ll write about it in more detail? It might not be here — maybe I’ll use my Dreamwidth, where I can fine-tune the privacy settings — but I do think I have more to say. In classic fashion, I got home and was wiped out by some combination of a cold, allergies, and exhaustion, so I spent my 45th birthday hiding out, napping, and watching YouTube. Which means I haven’t even really finished making notes for the last day or so of the experience, and there’s a lot in there, too.

Either way, I’m going to be thinking about this a lot, and I’m grateful that this is how I got to spend the days leading up to my birthday, because I think it’s just what I needed to launch into a new year.

PS: I just tossed out my carefully crafted design with its custom background image and coordinating colors…….from 2010. Feels good, to be honest. Maybe I’ll redesign, maybe I won’t, not sure yet.

8/31/2019

Hark! A Vagrant (Hark! A Vagrant, #1)

author: Kate Beaton
name: Elaine
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2011
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2019/08/31
shelves:
review:
Have read many of these over the years, but what a delight to have all collected on paper. Borrowed from the library, but I really need my own copy, I think.

8/17/2019

Abbott

author: Saladin Ahmed
name: Elaine
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2019/08/17
shelves: fiction, graphic-novel
review:
Absolutely fantastic. Like a good hard-boiled mystery from the 70s, but with a supernatural twist. Abbott is a wonderful character and I just want more of her, tender and badass. (smart black bisexual reporter? Yes please) The art is also deeply evocative and just crammed with detail. All around delightful.

7/20/2019

The Adventure Zone: Murder on the Rockport Limited!

author: Clint McElroy
name: Elaine
average rating: 4.81
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2019/07/20
shelves: d-and-d, fantasy, fiction, graphic-novel, own
review:
A great adaptation! Really translates the humor of the original while adding hints of the drama to come. Just a fun book that I’ll definitely be reading more than once.

7/20/2019

Chronin, Vol. 1: The Knife at Your Back

author: Alison Wilgus
name: Elaine
average rating: 3.55
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2019/07/20
shelves: fiction, graphic-novel, own, sci-fi
review:
Maybe there’s an extra layer that I might’ve gotten if I were knowledgeable about either manga or Japanese history, but a thoroughly enjoyable tale nonetheless. It unfolds in a really satisfying way, gradually revealing the connections between the characters, the way that time travel (yes, I enjoyed a time travel story!) plays out through the plot. Lots of emotional and plot tension, and of course lovely art, with expressive faces and delicate landscapes. Will definitely be getting book 2!