Covid sounds close to co-morbid. Co-morvid? What are the afflictions that come, hand in (thoroughly washed) hand, with Coronavirus? Malaise, both physical (quarantine, avoidance of gyms as petrie dishes even in the healthiest of times, lack of movement beyond a certain safe-feeling radius) and mental: we’re in a holding pattern, as if the entire globe is a single plane circling above its destination indefinitely, uncertain of when we’ll land, what the landing will feel like, or if we’ll run out… Read more »
Posts By: Claire
Coronavirus
On January 27th, I wrote: “The other day I heard someone ask a friend, “So are you really worried about the Wuhan virus?” The reply of “No, I haven’t been a hypochondriac in at least a decade,” made me laugh with recognition. I was the child terrified by the movie Outbreak and the real-life Ebola outbreak, the child who was constantly afraid of contracting HIV even though there were virtually no ways in which I risked doing so, the child… Read more »
Books of 2020, Part 1
The Nickel Boys, by Colson Whitehead: I’ve read two Whitehead novels before – Underground Railroad, which was tremendous, and Zone One, which was disappointing – but my first encounter with his name seems like it was decades ago. It may have been decades ago, because it was in a print magazine and I’m pretty sure I remember the caption “Next up for Whitehead: a novel set in a Band-Aide factory” or something along those lines, and that points to his… Read more »
I love gross things, part 2
I love them a little less in this post. The salient difference is that I love LOOKING at gross things. I prefer to keep it confined to sight. What’s the grossest thing you can imagine finding in your coffee? Don’t tell me a spider, because that’s at least edible, and don’t tell me hair – that’s not even particularly unsanitary. Spare me an answer of “curdled milk” because while that’s gross, it’s something that was…at least edible at one time…. Read more »
I Love Gross Things, part 1
I love gross things. Once, I discovered some sort of silverfish or cousin thereof in my sink, caught by one of its many legs in the drain. I did what anyone would do and took a picture to text to my friend. Several hours later I received an agonized reply – “Why would you send me that???” “I thought it was amazingly gross and I wanted to show you!” This proclivity is tolerated more gently by people if you stick… Read more »
Chernobyl
I recently finished Midnight in Chernobyl, by Adam Higginbottom, and had enough to say about it to give it a singular post separate from my book posts. As soon as I heard about the book, I put it on hold at the library. I watched Chernobyl, of course, and years ago read Svetlana Alexievich’s Voices from Chernobyl. My guess as to the sudden patter of media about Chernobyl is the combination of 30th anniversary (2016) and Fukushima being relatively recent…. Read more »
Books of 2019, Part 10
Last two of the year: Fleishman is in Trouble, by Taffy Brodesser-Akner: I read that the original title for this was Schrodinger’s Marriage, and for a second I thought “That’s much better!” before just as instantly deciding it wasn’t. It’s more clever, maybe, but less memorable, and less clever than it would be if the term hadn’t already been appropriated in clever ways elsewhere. I enjoyed this thoroughly, especially the way the narration crept in from background to foreground. I… Read more »
X can have a little Y, as a treat
I only started to see this snowclone on twitter a month or so ago – that’s not to say I’m not late to the party – and I had to go looking for its exact origin. It sounded like something out of an instruction manual for pets – “Dogs can have a little table food, as a treat” – or something along those lines, and that wasn’t far off. Doing the usual rounds of research – knowyourmeme, cheezburger, etc –… Read more »
Leveling Up
Alternate title: When one thing isn’t substantial enough for an entire blog post, mash a few things together. A dinner of side dishes, all nutrients covered! . I. Pettiness level: Calling someone by the wrong nickname Pettiness level: Taking a picture of the hair clogging the drain every time you clean the shower catcher before showering Pettiness level: Taking your mail out of the mailbox and shutting the door on everyone else’s Pettiness level: Spreading your washcloth out across more… Read more »
Books of 2019, Part 9
The Lost Man, by Jane Harper: It probably wasn’t the most restrained or prudent to read all three of a new-to-you author’s books in one week. Now I have nothing! But I assume Harper will be writing for decades to come, and if she, Laura Lippman, and Tana French can each publish a book every two years or so…well, it won’t be enough, but it will be something. This departed from the first two Harper books, which featured the same… Read more »
