bunnyjadwiga

Stuff: Compulsive Hoarding and the Meaning of Things, by Randy O. Frost & Gail Steketee.

Fascinating read. Though this book's subtitle promises a sort of cultural or self-analysis, it's really more of a social science profile of a psychological problem. Of course, it begins with the story of the famously hoarding Collyer brothers. However, the author(s), doing clinical psychological work and research on hoarding, go on to present profiles and treatment approaches that are much more up to date. These profiles are the serious side of TV shows like Hoarders. Interviewing people who self-identified as hoarders or victims of crippling clutter, the authors build a portrait of the perfectionist, indecisive, anxious and overwhelmed-- and sometimes OCD-- people they worked with, and the techniques of talking them through their sorting that sometimes worked, sometimes didn't. For those who struggle with their own and other people's clutter, this is an eye-opening, sometimes reassuring, and sometimes challenging book. I couldn't put it down.

Three useful concepts: that hoarders tend toward the perfectionist/indecisive as well as OCD; that hoarders need to practice discarding things and gauging their level of discomfort over time; and the 'non-shopping' trip.

Miss B. was just finishing a book, and I knew she'd be casting about for something new, so I handed her Mister Monday by Garth Nix. (Ok, I'd suggested it before, but she had taken it to Florida and then left it in a knapsack with a decaying lunch; it was now aired out enough and I'd re-read it.) She said she'd read it next. A little while later, I saw her reading (something) and asked her how she liked Mister Monday. "Oh, I haven't started it yet." So, was she planning to read it? "Not until you've suggested it to me three or four more times... like I always do." Yes, I know she was kidding, but after having to routinely steal back books I was *IN THE MIDDLE OF READING* from her, having her say she'd try something and then not... I realized I had been bashing my head against the way in frustration.

Bleah. I give up. I told her that a) I wasn't going to recommend any more books and b) she was no longer allowed to borrow my library books. If she wanted to read books, she'd have to pick them out and check them out herself. She could go back to "reading that drivel like "Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Dear Dumb Diary" for all I cared.

Of course, the first thing that happened was that she snagged-- and had removed from her-- one of my requested library books (Cabinet of Wonders); and then her father pointed out that she'd LOVE another one that I got out. Since I'd finished it, we went back to the library and returned it while I got my other requests-- and she asked the circ staff to pull Dussie from the to-be-reshelved truck so she could check it out.

How long will I hold out? I said, Until I forget. So, until I slip up and recommend something to her, she's just stuck. *smile*

Onward and upward to the reviews.

Dussie. Nancy Springer
I happen to love Nancy Springer's work to begin with, but this slight novel is still well-handled, while playing on the Greek Myth trend popular these days. It's only when 13-year-old Dussie wakes up with a head full of snakes the day after getting her first period that she learns that her mother is in fact one of the Gorgon sisters, and Dussie herself is half-immortal. Dussie reacts in a perfectly reasonable adolescent fashion, mad at her mother and unwilling to talk to her. That the turban her mother always wears conceals a coif of vipers is bad enough, but unlike Dussie, her mother doesn't hear her own snakes talking-- and doesn't believe Dussie does. Once Dussie tries to leave the house with facial-mudded snakes disguised as dredlocks, things get worse. A visit to "The Sisterhood" suggests there may be a way out, and a kindly acquaintance might also help... but Dussie herself makes the final choices.

Cabinet of Wonders, Marie Rutkoski
Oooh! Steampunk with some humor for tweens, set in Bohemia, with complications, magic, and the usual appurtenances. Petra Kronos and her magical metal spider Astrophil are appalled when her father is returned from the capital minus his eyes-- the prince's 'thanks' for creating the most beautiful, magical clock ever. Eventually, Petra sets out to do something about it. (Compare to the tween fantasy The Blue Shoe: A Tale of Thievery, Villainy, Sorcery, and Shoes by Roderick Townley for a completely different treatment of some similar plot elements, and a male protagonist.) Well written, with sympathetic characters, a magical-steampunk storyline that is internally consistent, and a minimal and light touch on pubescent 'learning experiences'. The author's love for Bohemia shines through-- fans of Eva Ibbotson's Star of Kazan will find a similar worldsetting touch here. In a lot of ways, this is a classic hero's journey (with family rescue) fairy tale, with classic Eastern European elements. But who can resist Astrophil, or fail to like plucky (i.e., brave but not thinking things through, followed by dogged persistence) Petra? It remains to be seen whether sequels will be as good.

Robin McKinley's blog is having a guest post on Soapmaking, with lovely pictures:
http://robinmckinleysblog.com/2010/03/18/guest-post-by-mrs-redboots-2/

Ok, I'm baffled.
The synagogue is very into doing the dinner, but wants to put it off until fall and do some other stuff leading up to it, which is fine by me.

But someone pointed out that people don't want to go to something where their children won't eat anything on the menu. I understand that, of course; we struggle with it all the time, especially at the synagogue, which keeps kosher, specifically kosher dairy-- so vegetarian and dairy stuff is ok, fish is ok, but no meat.

Miss B. will eat noodles and cheese, which I put on the menu, and olives.
But I'm baffled as to what else to offer for picky eaters.

I know most will eat cheese pizza (we could have some kosher pizza ordered in?) but if they won't eat cheesze noodles... Chicken nuggets, hamburgers, hot dogs are out, of course.

In the SCA, one provides basic finger foods and we manage-- I suppose we could put out some fruit.

Suggestions, anyone?

So, Sarah and I decided that it would be cool to do a feast in Sarah's synagogue kitchen. They keep milcheg kosher (no meat), but since I have medieval spanish recipes in my back pocket, that would be easiest. The idea is to bring it in around $10 a plate and charge about $25 per plate as a fundraiser-- this would be offered to the synagogue folks and other related persons, not an SCA function.
Tell me what you think?

A Medieval Spanish Feast

Drinks:
Lemon syrup drink
Clarea de agua

First Service
Figs in the french style (stewed in wine)
soft cheese
Sallad of green herbs
Olives
Radishes with olive oil and vinegar and salt
Vermillioned eggs
Mustard sauce with red grapes
Cumin Sauce

Second Service
Salmon in Casserole: salmon, bitter orange juice, pine nuts, mint, marjoram, almonds, saffron
Chickpeas with onion and honey: dried chickpeas, onions, honey, cinnamon
Chard fried with Eggs
White (Tilapia) fish Escabeche (with sour dressing)
Spinach de Nola
Rice
Noodles with cheese for the kids (Potaje de Fideos)

Third Service/Banquet
Food for angels (sweet ricotta cheese)
Quince Paste
Pizzelles
Candied Orange peel
Halvah

Was answering a question for someone via chat reference, and came across this site:
http://www.isidore-of-seville.com/mansa/3.html
As the authors say, "This site holds more than 150 resources about Sondiata and Mansa Musa, kings of the Empire of Mali in the 13th and 14th centuries. It also covers some aspects of later history, including the oral poetry that have preserved Sundiata's deeds for hundreds of years."

but the page in question is links to primary sources that will be fascinating.

Well, so much for March is Research Blogging month, since I didn't post anything yesterday.

Actually, I *did* post something, but then thought better of it-- I started to review this really cool looking resource we have in our reference section. But then, being all librarian-cautious, I started looking for reviews. Well, a bunch of Brit archaeologists (or people who play Brit archaeologists over on amazon.co.uk) panned it, but there's almost no reviews of the darn thing in reputable academic journals, except for library review journals, which reviews are done by generalists/aka specialist librarians.

Now one thing you learn from reading way too much Elizabeth Peters is a permanent suspicion of anthropologists/archaeologists and their possible professional rivalries/jealousies. Follow that up with encountering a review in the Chronicle of Higher Education* of a book debunking the guy who debunked Margaret Mead, and I was pretty much sunk.

*No day in a librarian's life cannot be improved by skimming through the professional reading in her inbox and PASSING IT ON TO THE NEXT PERSON even if it does involve reading the Chronicle, which has way too much whining for my taste.

And I quote:

A video game is like a book, one with many chapters. When you get the book, you're only allowed to read the first chapter, and if you don't read it well enough, you have to read it again. When you've finally read the first chapter correctly, you can go on to the next, and after that's read well the next, and so on and so on.

Often it'll just be one particular page that's hard to read, and if you mess it up you'll have to go back and read the whole chapter over from the beginning.

Scattered throughout any given chapter are optional pages, usually very boring and repetitive ones that you're not compelled to read, but if you do read them, it makes it easier to read the later chapters.***

Sometimes the book will refuse to let you read the next chapter until you've done something else unrelated, like solve a crossword puzzle or write your name with excellent penmanship in the margins.

Sometimes the book will suddenly have much better vocabulary and sentence structure, and usually during those times the book reads itself for you.

If you need to stop reading the book altogether for a while and go do something else, you are only allowed to put your bookmark in between certain pages scattered at regular intervals throughout the book.

If you want to reread a particular passage of the book, you may only start at one of the bookmarks and read forward until you get to it.

These books all require very fancy bookcases to read, and periodically new, more advanced bookcases are released which will not hold the books you currently have any more, forcing you to buy (often inferior) sequels to the books you've already read, or occasionally updated versions of the original books with sharper text and fancier fonts.

Also, most of these books are about jumping.

***Perhaps by making the pages easier to turn.

http://gotmedieval.blogspot.com/2010/02/dantes-inferno-game-review-preview.html

by Mark Van Doren:

When first in that still treasure-house of books
I saw the dread librarian come and go,
And never deign to loosen with soft looks
Her spell o'er us who would her secret know:
When next, behind her frosted iron shield,
I saw her move along the friendly halls,
Rebuking with a single glance congealed--
Ignoring such as stood against the walls;
I, wondering then if king or god id hold
Possession of her queenly heart and mind,
Resolved to be incontinently bold,
And ask her if she be of mortal kind.
I did,-- and lo! this answer did she fling:
"I'm just a girl, and fit for anything!"

published in Smart Set, Oct. 1915.