Help me out here, internets

So I have finally got around to reading the Song of the Lioness quartet by Tamora Pierce - and, um, I am kind of horrified?

Like, I kept seeing it recced places because the protagonist is a woman who fights damn well, and who wants sex and who has it and who isn't shamed for it, and as far as it goes that's true, BUT.

( Trans* erasure, really skeevy relationship dynamics, and racism. Lots and *lots* of racism. )

...


So now you know, and I hope never again to see an uncritical review of those books, because WOW I was not expecting any of that going in. Like, I'd be kind of fascinated to know what explanation people have for the uncritical recs apart from "BUT IT'S NOT RACIIIIIIIIIIST", but I sort of suspect there isn't one.

HURRAH IT CONTINUES

[Disclaimer: I am doing the whitey-discovers-racism thing. I'm not aware of an existing UK-biased "every single one of these is racist" list of sellers of rooibos, though. So uh. Is maybe helpful?]

I can't consume caffeine. There was a hilarious period of about six months where I'd find myself feeling nervy and on edge, so I'd have a nice soothing cup of black tea, and... end up in a panic attack under my desk. Took me a while to spot the pattern there.

Anyway, one way or another I ended up drinking rooibos. Quite a lot of rooibos. And I've just, finally, got around to looking up the various companies I have bought from.

( Read more... )

In more cheerful goings-on

• Microsoft ICE is now working, more or less, though it doesn't cope brilliantly with differently-scaled tiles. The problem? That when selecting the set of files I wanted to make up the panorama, I was clicking on the first, holding down shift, and then clicking on the last. ... turns out that to avoid the problem I was hitting in my previous post you need to do that in reverse.
  
• I went to a ceilidh! With a lovely, lovely band who played a dance just for me! I got to dance! (I wheeled up to them, explained I didn't have my dancing chair with me, but maybe did they possibly have anything in their repertoire that (a) was able to be short and (b) didn't involve me swapping partners, so I'd reliably be partnered with someone who would spot if I was about to fall over? and they did it and I danced!) And thank you also to the wonderful birthday girl :-)
  
• ... I recently finished The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater and I adored it. WATER HORSES THAT WILL EAT YOU ALIVE BUT ALSO LOVE YOU.
  
• in other things I adored: Red Tape Stories from Indian Country; The Perilous Life of Jade Yeo; everything else ever by Zen Cho; The Honey Month by Amal El-Mohtar; and I continue steadily working my way through China Mieville
  
• ... and that will do for this particular 3am.