Two posts today

I figured I'd keep the Books I've Read post and a newsy post separate. This is the newsy post.

Not so much an "update" because I have no idea when I last posted anything chatty here. So more like a random check-in.

Since I got my recumbent bike, I've decided to add an occasional longer ride than my usual weekend "down to Walnut Creek and back" loop, which is about 18-19 miles, depending on slight variations in route. The next natural endpoint is in Danville (because of all the nice brunch cafes there), which makes for a 30-mile loop.

The next natural endpoint after that is Dublin, which is 30 miles one way with the option of taking BART back. It would be nice to work up to doing it as a loop, but that would be an all-day undertaking, not just a "morning ride". ALthough I guess I could work up to it with a loop ending in San Ramon (about halfway between Danville and Dublin).

It's always interesting to notice what effect eating patterns have on these rides--especially on the longer ones. I don't normally eat anything before setting out, then have a relatively substantial breakfast at my turnaround. Since the routes are all relatively flat, any difference in difficulty is subjective--a product of blood sugar levels. And the ride back (when, in theory, I'm more tired) is always much easier.

So if I wanted the most efficient cycling plan, I should eat breakfast before starting out and then maybe something light at my turnaround point. But if I stop to think about breakfast before getting on the bike, I'm likely to get distracted and not go at all. And the point isn't "get the most powerful/efficient cycling done" it's "cycle this particular distance for exercise and recreation." And in a way, it's useful to have that sense of the return route being "easier", because it lowers the psychological barrier to going farther.

A "long loop" (i.e., more than 20 miles) means I'm rather wiped out when I finally get home, but I think I can extend the loop while maintaining the degree of wipe-out. It would be nice to do a long loop about once a month.

I keep thinking about what sort of cycling schedule will be a good fit in retirement. Something roughly equivalent to the current seems good: NLT 7 miles every day, ca. 20 miles once a week, and aim for a 30+ mile once a month. Currently I usually take Sundays off, in part because I have a coupld of regular zoom groups in the middle of the day, which makes scheduling awkward. And a regular day off isn't a bad thing either. Of course, special weekend events throw off the routine entirely (which has happened a lot in the last month), but that's what a routine is for: to remind you what "normal" is supposed to be.

Books I've Read: July-Aug 2023

July

A Lady's Finder by Eddie Cay (text)

A sapphic historical, set in the world of 19th century female prizefighters. It sounded interesting from the cover copy, and I was on a conference panel with the author which always moves books up on my list, but it didn't hit the spot for me (I guess you can consider the pun intentional) and I set it aside. The writing was perfectly adquate, but the characters and action just didn't grab me.

The Disenchantment by Celia Bell (audio)

A very well-written novel with solid historic elements. Not a romance, but a non-tragic sapphic love story is central to the book, although you're kept guessing on the fates of the central characters for quite a while. The story is set in late 17th century Paris amid politics and suspected poisonings in the court. There’s a lovely author’s note at the end talking about the real women who inspired the story. Highly recommended.

Nimona (movie)

I want to give my highest recommendation to the Netflix animated adaptation of the graphic novel Nimona by N.D. Stevenson. It’s a lovely if heartbreaking story about the struggle to be accepted for who you are, and not who other people want you to be, in the guise of an endearing and chaotic monster girl named Nimona. The darker aspects of the show may be a bit intense for pre-teens, but if you have a teenager working on identity questions, the story may hit home for them. (I also loved the graphic novel back when it came out.)

August

The Great Roxhythe by Georgette Heyer (audio)

I will freely confess that I'm something of a Heyer completist, and tracking down this one took some doing as it was deliberately taken out of print for a very long time. I suspect coming into the public domain is why it's now available again, both in print and audio. It was the second book she published and while some of her standard themes and character types are present, it's very much sui generis among her work.

This is a book that is deeply conflicted about exactly what sort of story it’s trying to be. Georgette Heyer more or less writes three types of stories: the light historic romances that she’s most famous for, murder mysteries, and a few more serious historic novels that I will confess I have mostly found tedious and dense. (I eventually struggled my way through An Infamous Army, which wants to be a historic novel about the battle of Waterloo, but builds the story around an array of characters from her Regency romances.)

The Great Roxhythe is set during the reign of King Charles II and is, in essence, a love story—but it’s a tragic, asymmetric love story between Lord Roxhythe and King Charles, and between Roxhythe’s somewhat naïve and priggish secretary and Roxhythe himself. It is suspected that this aspect of the book is what led to its suppression: there is no suggestion at all of any erotic relationships between the three men, but the emotional bonds are portrayed in the language of romantic love which—-although historically accurate for the setting—-may have been a Bit Much for an early 20th century readership.

But this isn’t a romance novel—it’s a slogging, overly detailed tour through Restoration-era politics. And if I hadn’t been consuming it as an audiobook I would never have kept at it long enough to finish.

Space Opera by Catherynne Valente

Alas, even the lower "friction" of audiobooks couldn’t keep me going through this book. The premise of the book is, “What if the Eurovision song contest, but as an interstellar fight for survival?” The book’s gonzo, madcap comic narrative style was appealing when I heard the author doing a reading from it—-appealing enough to spend an Audible credit on it. But it just didn’t hold up for me for an entire book’s worth of interest. There wasn’t enough cake under the frosting and every time I tried to listen, my mind kept wandering away.

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A greater percentage of "meh" for me in these months than usual. Sometimes that happens.