four thousand wednesday books

[landofnowhere]

Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals, Oliver Burkeman. I've heard multiple people rave about this book, but so far it hasn't clicked with me. I think I'm just not the right audience for it, and it's intended for people who are already super productive. But so far it's been "instead of coming up with systems to improve your executive function, have you considered confronting your own mortality?" Which like, yes, I am on board with the whole Buddhist/mindfulness outlook, but apparently I'm not up for confronting my own mortality.

A Garter as a Lesser Gift, Aster Glenn Gray (osprey_archer). Charming WWII Sir Gawain and the Green Knight retelling. My main complaint is that there isn't more of it :-)

The Interior Life, Dorothy Heydt (writing under the pseudonym Katherine Blake). Suburban housewife makes telepathic contact with a fantasy world, and her new friends help her find more fulfillment in her everyday life. I tried reading it before and it didn't grab me, but I picked it up again on the plane and it went better. I'm finding the modern-day plotline more interesting than the fantasy plot (which is kind of generic but not bad). It's set in 1990, and the technology level shows, which is interesting as I was alive then but very young, and it's interesting to see from an adult perspective. So far it's doing a good job of conveying why people join the SCA (or similar) -- and I'm not at all surprised to see that she was an early SCA member. Still only halfway through, curious where this will go.

Comments

[rachelmanija]

I really like The Interior Life, though also Sue's ordinary life more than the fantasy portions.

I glanced at Four Thousand Weeks because a friend had it, but the concept of "You have very limited time, CHOOSE WISELY what you do with it" has never been very helpful or motivating for me. There is nothing more guaranteed to paralyze me and prevent me from doing anything at all than the idea that, say, the next book I read will be one of a comparatively small number of books I have time to read in my life.

[nnozomi]

I love The Interior Life! Like you, I enjoy the modern-day more; I think the fantasy plot is well thought out and well written, but it wouldn't hold my interest alone. I really like all the supporting modern-day characters as well as Sue, which I think is one of the book's strengths. (What I always think of requesting for Yuletide and never have yet: futurefic in which a similar link-to-fantasy-world happens to Sue's kids when they're a little older...).
(And I remember those weird early computers! Like you, I was about the age of Sue's children then.)