The Wild Trees by Richard Preston

~ meh ~ 1 Comment

I picked up The Wild Trees because my husband and I were taking a road trip up the Northern California coast for a mini-honeymoon after our wedding.  I had never seen the redwoods and thought it might be nice to know something about the region before heading up there.

paul on avenue of the giants

The book turned out to be more a story of the tree-climbing subculture and the individuals who founded the movement, all kind of centered around the search for the biggest tree out there.  Interesting, not super gripping, but informative and parts of it are pretty amazing.  Makes me wish I wasn’t scared of heights or head injuries.

Rating: It’s short, worth the read

Disgrace by J M Coetzee

~ meh ~ 1 Comment

Winner of the Nobel Prize in literature, I picked this up at Green Apple Books (one of my favorite favorite FAVORITE places to hang out in SF) totally on a whim.  It’s a relatively short, quick, and very depressing story about a university professor who goes to live with his daughter in rural South Africa following a scandalous affair with one of his students and subsequent release from a prominent university.  It is there, wouldn’t you know it, he’s met by even more tragedy.  The back of the book references racial complexities in the new South Africa, so I was kind of expecting it to revolve around the social politics of post-apartheid SA, but that turned out to not be the case.  It is more the story of one lonely man’s journey to find a meaningful relationship in a family and community struggling to recover from a violent, complex history…blah blah…you know.  Depressing.

Rating: meh

Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

~ meh ~ 1 Comment

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

I don’t usually read a lot of fiction, but I read an article about the author and was intrigued.  The original Swedish title is “Män som hatar kvinnor“, or Men Who Hate Women, which I actually prefer.  I think it is more appropriate considering the content.  The book is a solid airport read, didn’t have any issues with the translation (which I have found to be something I notice with a few other authors).

Rating: fun easy read

60 hikes in 6 months

~ meh
After much hemming and hawing, my friend Molly and I have committed to attempting (ha) to hike 60 hikes within 60 miles of San Francisco within 6 months (from the 60 hikes within 60 miles series).   Thought process went something (or exactly) like this:
me:  so i am trying to start a blog
Molly:  ooh
really?
me:  just so i can learn how to set up a website
yes
but i need a blogging topic
Molly:  about what?
me:  exactly
Molly:  hmmm
me:  maybe i should pick up a new hobby and blog about that
Molly:  hmm, what hobby?
me:  i dont know
want to join me?
my friend has a blog about cooking with beer
Molly:  ooh
sure, i’ll hobby with you :)
me:  ok cool
now we just need to find a hobby
roller derby?
Molly:  that would be awesome
us trying to learn how to rollerskate
?
me:  we could start…rock climbing?
or
baking?
gardening?
Molly:  ooh, i love baking
and gardening
me:  ok
baking things from our garden?
on roller skates?
Molly:  while rock climbing?
me:  totally!
Molly:  we could try hula hooping
belly dancing
trapezing or something random
like that
me:  that could be cool
but exp
Molly:  yeah
that’s the only problem
me:  my friend says free diving
Molly:  where would we do that here?
me:  i have no idea
Molly:  i’m not free diving in the bay
me:  aw hell no
theres nothing ot see anyway
me:  start a band?
Molly:  what can you play?
i’m pretty terrible
i’ve only ever played a little piano
me:  i can play the flute
or i could
Molly:  learn how to play an instrument?
me:  i bet youd rock on the tambo
Molly:  i could do tambo
chrissy should be our lead singer
me:  def
actuallky
no
i want to sing too
Molly:  i’ll be backup
me:  we can be a trio!
Molly:  man, who would ever come see us
Molly:  we could do all 60 of these hikes
best hikes san francisco
me:  omg
that is a totally fantastic idea
Molly:  i’m sure we can get lots of people to join us for some of them
me:  there’s a pair of hiking shoes i wanted to get at sports basement
perfect reason
let’s do it!!
Molly:  woohoo!
Update: after looking at our work schedules, Molly and I  concluded that it is unlikely that we will complete all of these hikes before early June.  In an attempt to maintain our original goal, we will most likely be replacing a few of the original hikes with a few urban hikes.