Oh. My. Whatever. I am listening to something on NPR about bosses who micro-manage their employees. This one poor woman went to the BATHROOM and her I/M status thingy turned from green (I’m available) to yellow (I’m away) in the TWO MINUTES she was gone and when she got back, her boss was standing by her cube asking why she wasn’t working. I do not have that problem, thank you very much. I can roll in and out of work whenever I want and telecommute when I need / want to (AS LONG AS I GET MY JOB DONE!). I don’t abuse those privileges. I stick pretty close to banker’s hours and only telecommute when there is more snow than I want to drive in or when I want to hang out in the yooperland. If I had somebody watching how much time I spent in the bathroom, I would QUIT PRONTO! Not that I ever spend much time in the bathroom. When you grow up using an outhouse, you don’t tend to linger about doing your business.

But this is a book blahg, I think. I can’t remember what books I last book-blahgged about so maybe I am repeating myself. Lemme see. The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane (Lisa See)? Did not want it to end. Rich story about folks in a different (but earthly) culture. I got a little bored when the author geeked out about tea esoterica but that did not in any way, shape, or form, ruin the book for me. For a long time in my life, I could geek out about flute esoterica. I understand.

I dived into Parable of the Sower (Octavia Butler) after that. I loved that book too despite the violence. Dystopian California, people walking north on the freeways and a “recreational” drug that makes people want to set faaaars. That is all I will say.

I will read more of Octavia Butler’s series but I needed a bit of a palate cleanser after that one. I read The Red Tent MANY years ago. My beach urchins were (I’m thinking) high school and middle school at the time (I think Liz maybe could drive?) and I was working for YAG, which meant I worked when there was a play happening (and nobody EVER cared how long I was in the bathroom). Anyway, I was home with teenagers one afternoon and I was engrossed in the Red Tent and some sort of a FIGHT happened and I got so angry I grabbed my car keys and peeled outta the driveway in the POC. I know better than to drive mad though so after that little driveway squeal, I took a slow ride around the neighborhood and calmed down. I can’t remember what the fight was about. Froggy probably started it.

Anyway, Boston Girl, a little book by the Red Tent author (Anita Diamant) flew by somewhere on the internet and I grabbed it. It was a much “smaller” book than The Red Tent. That was a little disappointing but I did like the story as well as the protagonist’s outlook on life.

And then, I tackled Annihilation (Jeff VanderMeer). A Christmas ago or so, one of the beach urchins was carrying that book around. I asked about it and she thought I might not like it all that well. I read Station 11 (Emily St. John Mandel) instead, which I could not put down! I forgot about Annihilation until I was driving up to Houghton Lake in the spring and they interviewed Jeff about his book Borne, which I read and became entranced with and then I tackled Annihilation. And. Could. Not. Put. It. Down. When I finished it, I immediately downloaded the next book in the series (Authority). I’m not sure if I can articulate why I needed a palate cleanser between Octavia Butler’s first and second books but not Jeff VanderMeer’s books. If I figger it out enough to write about it, I’ll letcha know.

Visiting the Bathroom now. If my status turns from green to yellow, don’t worry. I’ll be back soon.

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