In Nuts and Bolts: Seven Small Inventions That Changed the World in a Big Way, Roma Agrawal argues that the humble nail, wheel, spring, magnet, pump, lens, and string are fundamental engineering inventions upon which most of our modern technology depends. I found it fascinating to explore with her the various applications of these inventions throughout history and see how widely they are used today — often in unexpected ways.
I set up the follow-up appointment for my wrist, but they can’t see me until early this week. Meanwhile, Mr. Bookwyrm has done a great job picking up all the things I can’t do one-handed, including driving, cooking, and doing the dishes. As I suspected, I didn’t get much blogging done, because it’s been frustrating working on the computer.
Also, a look back at this week’s reading and blog posts, plus the weekly book haul!
Mr. Bookworm was on travel all week. My week was much as usual, until I fell on Friday and injured my wrist.
Also, a look back at this week’s reading and blog posts, plus the weekly book haul!
Meetings, decluttering, and contacting contractors about some needed repairs/remodeling took up most of my week. Writing didn’t happen, but I did get some spinning in.
Also, a look back at this week’s reading and blog posts, plus the weekly book haul!
Stoppard has a genius for combining humor with really thought-provoking philosophical questions, and he pulls off both with style in The Real Inspector Hound. I’m going to avoid the pretentiousness of the two theatre critic characters, Moon and Birdboot, and simply say that I laughed throughout the entire reading…
I didn’t watch much of the Superbowl, but caught some of the commercials. We celebrated Valentine’s Day quietly, especially since it was also Ash Wednesday.
Also, a look back at this week’s reading and blog posts, and the weekly book haul!
This week’s links include: more on the Hugo Awards controversy; OpenAI lawsuits; Balzer + Bray moves to MacMillan; fantasy and romantasy explained; GenZ turns to physical books & libraries; diversity in romance; book banning (again); a fiction piece about a fearsome giant snail; a fantastic review of Laurie R. King’s Mary Russell mystery series; and more.
Heartwarming cozy fantasy
What can I say about Legends & Lattes that hasn’t already been said? Baldree’s breakout, bestselling debut novel hits the sweet spot for me: low-stakes cozy fantasy, found family, believable (and likeable) main character, interesting secondary characters, and solid worldbuilding with a D&D feel. It’s a well-crafted novel with good pacing and just the right amount of description…enough to bring the scenes vividly to life without overwhelming the action or Viv’s emotional journey.
What I’ve been doing, reading, watching, and listening to in the past week… on the blog and in real life. Plus the weekly book haul!
A list of adult novellas and relatively short YA or middle-grade novels, great for reading when you don’t have a lot of time but want something really good.
