Glazing and more audiobooks

It's cold out there, folks. Unfortunately, my indoor home spray booth and ventilation system haven't been installed yet (maybe I should ask Santa...), so I am glazing outside during a windchill warning. On the plus side, noise canceling headphones (so I can hear my audiobook over the sound of the air compressor) and a face mask keep the top of me pretty warm.

bags on my feet because I don't want glaze on my insulated boots

I am writing just after coming in from 20 minutes of glazing. I have microwavable hand warmers in my slippers and I'm drinking hot tea to thaw the rest of me. I have, again, been glazing all week so I have a batch of pieces in the kiln and half a load glazed this morning and ready to go in this weekend. If all goes well, I should be able to start epoxying next week. The rest of today I will continue the unrelenting slog that is applying underglaze, but I will break the monotony with frigid glaze spraying sessions, followed up by hand warmers and tea.

 

The base of a bike part piece before and after spraying on glaze.

While we wait for more interesting things to happen, I have a few more audiobook reviews. I finished three books and started two more since my first audiobook post.

Zoo Story by Thomas French
This was more informational about zoos than a story about a particular zoo. It was alright.

14 by Peter Clines
Strange things happen in this apartment building. This sci-fi story was alright.

The Doomsday Book by Connie Willis
Wow, so that's why people are excited about Connie Willis. Last summer I listened to To Say Nothing of the Dog and just thought it was weird. The Doomsday Book, on the other hand, was amazing. A gripping story with a dose of sadness, comedy, interesting people, mystery, a bit of action and one of my favorite ingredients: people making understandable mistakes that lead to big trouble. More please. I simply loved the descriptions of the the kid and his candy.

The Reason I Jump by Naoki Higashida
John Stewart raved about this book, so I thought I'd give it a try. It is written by a Japanese boy who has Autism. He explains why autistic kids behave the way they do. It was somewhat interesting, but I didn't really find much new information in it.

Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg
I was hesitant to read this because I was afraid I'd get annoyed at the author telling me what I should or shouldn't do. There's been some controversy over the book and the author, but in my opinion that's just folks overreacting. She points out some legitimate gender issues, she also talks about stuff I simply can't relate to. (I would never have considered hiding my academic success from my classmates to get a date to prom--but, then I didn't go, so maybe I'm not a good judge.) If you wanted to be hard on Sandberg, you'd interpret her book as telling women that the only way to be successful is to follow her footsteps, but I think her book allows for a broader interpretation. My take-away was to think about what you really want to do and then do it. How can you argue with that?

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by JK Rowling
Dolores, you are so bad.

The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven
This is the second time I've tried to read a Larry Niven book. I just don't get it. Aliens, spaceships, boredom...

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince by JK Rowling
Sniff. I need a break before the last one.

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor
A friend un-recommended this. She said it wasn't great. But it was in the library, so I tried it. My friend was right. It wasn't great. Though, to be fair it wasn't terrible. If you like mysterious monsters and magical young women, go for it. There are more. I won't be reading them.

The Man Who Loved Books Too Much by Allison Hoover Bartlett
So this guy steals old books. He's a bit like all the people who collect old books. I thought I could relate to the people in this true story, but some of these people don't read the books. Why bother?

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
This took me forever to finish. I actually read some and listened some, because I had the books linked between Audible and Kindle. The book started slow, maybe because I had already tried to start it years ago, but by the end I just loved the characters. An example of a classic living up to the hype.

The Stars Like Dust by Isaac Asimov
Years ago I used to read a lot of Asimov. I read all the Foundation books and must have liked them because I read more. I listened to all of this book, but I have no idea what it was about.