It’s gorgeous! Must be wonderful to be able to hear it. 

Thanks! That river, right? So clean and beautiful and always rushing, rushing through town. Now with an every night curfew at seven o’clock and no traffic at night, I can hear it from my balcony.

I found out this morning that my mom has Covid, along with my brother and sister in law at least. My sister may have been exposed as well. My mom stopped at her house on her drive home.

Thank you Phoebe. Hugs are always wanted these days.

A Shelley scholar in our midst! 

I myself have never made homemade tortillas, but I have had interactions with some wonderful Latina women, and the word they use to describe the secrets of anything truly Mexican is lard.  It’s lard.  

I ended up adding more water than the recipe called for a dribble at a time, and when I was kneading, I would squish a portion of the dough between my palms until the edges didn't look raggedy.

It’s an amazing book, and it always makes me wonder why Anne is the least popular Bronte. 

Those are beautiful! I would love one with a cup of tea right now. 

Frankenstein is endlessly open to scholarship; it was so influential, and it also pulls together so many, many sources and ideas. I wrote a chapter on Victor’s dangerous attitudes to beauty and how they intersect with his attitudes to death in my doctoral dissertation—and I went deep, deep into a rabbit hole of really…

Will do. :)

No problem. You seem to be on a roll, and Tenant isn’t often read but it’s really worth it. It shocked its initial audience, because it’s about a woman who leaves her alcoholic, abusive husband.

Forgive me if you’ve answered this elsewhere, but how did the injection go? Were there are reactions besides the bruising?

I attended a panel on Frankenstein a couple of years ago (the 200th anniversary of the publication). There were publishers, writers and academics, and it was really, really interesting taking a deep dive into the story. One person mentioned that Victor could be seen as Mary Shelley’s alter ego; he was able to create…

I’ve been deep into junk lately. I’m finishing the latest season of Star Trek: Discovery tonight. It ain’t great (it’s still making me smile, because it’s Star Trek, and it has its moments). I joined half of the country, it seems, in watching Bridgerton over Christmas. My highlight was the most recent season of Letterk…

CW: Period talk below...

Those look lovely. There’s a comedian named Aisling Bea who has a whole bit about how much she loves Kerrygold products. 

That first one looks like a food magazine cover. Goddamn, woman.

Ooooh, good choices. I have read Jane Eyre once a decade or so since I was nine (granted, when I was nine, I pretty much stopped after Jane’s angry childhood and horrible school experience). There’s always something new to be found in that book. I’m even kind of past Jane’s snobbery now.

I’m reading Jane Eyre. I really like it. I tried reading it earlier in life, but I couldn’t get into it, and I think that after I watched two miniseries, I was able to grasp what the text was saying. Next will be Frankenstein.