And maybe Lazarus? Or that little girl who was “sleeping”? Happy day after Easter is my point. As well as Chag Sameach for Passover, which. I went to my first Seder on Friday. It was very unconventional but a super good time, so my friend said she still owes me a traditional one. Still! I can now officially say I have been to a Passover Seder, something I had not been able to say before.
In other news, I am on the hiring committee at work, and we did interviews for three days straight on Zoom last week. My brain is absolutely fried from reading applications and doing interviews while also trying to keep up with teaching my classes. Surprising no one, I am behind on everything and the most I can handle TV-wise is rewatching Psych (I’m currently making my way through the rest of season 3).
On Saturday, during tap class, the teacher told us that Dorrance Dance was in town, so I went to that, and it was phenomenal. I am always impressed by tappers (I am a low intermediate at best), but I was especially impressed by the one guy who tapped while turning. I am terrible at turning and cannot do it without getting dizzy, so the fact that this dude could do both at the same time blew my mind.
Also, not for nothing, but the artistic directer Michelle Dorrance won a MacArthur Genius Award.
They did not do this routine in the show, but this gives you a sense of how bananas talented and impressive these people and the show are:
And here’s Michelle Dorrance dancing by herself (accompanied by Jon Batiste & Stay Human) when she appeared on the The Late Show with Stephen Colbert:
So, you know. I am very glad I went.
I also read some books since my last post:
The Guest List by Lucy FoleyMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
I loved the world building in this one (that setting!), but I figured out basically every twist before it was revealed and not in a fun way.
3/29/23 – reread for book club
I liked this book SO MUCH MORE on audio. As soon as I started, I remembered why I found it so predictable, but then the performances kicked in, and I was invested. A different person reads each section so it’s almost a full-cast audio. Each voice was distinct, and the narrators made me care about the characters. It was a completely different reading experience, for sure. I would say if you’re going to read it, listen to it because it made me appreciate the book so much more.
I originally gave the book three stars but I’m bumping it up one for the audio experience.
View all my reviews
Also, for The Guest List, I didn’t post this on Goodreads, but. It’s possible I may have read too many books and seen too many movies/TV shows because there were women in my book club SHOCKED at some of the twists, which I thought were so obvious.
A Regency Guide to Modern Life: 1800s Advice on 21st Century Love, Friends, Fun and More by Carly LaneThis was…not what I was expecting. I thought it was going to be a lot of tongue-in-cheek commentary that pulled from regency romances with specific examples that both made fun of then times and current times. Instead, it is very earnest, which is fine if that’s what you’re looking for here.
For example, there’s a section about living with your partner that doesn’t compare it to Lydia running off with Wickham and bringing disgrace upon her family but do you, I guess. I mean, IT WAS RIGHT THERE.
So, anyway, it’s cute if you’re looking for actual advice but not if you expect it to go beyond that.
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The Power by Naomi AldermanMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
This is a well-written book in that I kept reading and wanted to finish to see how it would turn out so was invested in that regard. However, as the book was roaring toward the big climax (the sections have labels like “ten years to go” and “here it comes”), all I could think was “That’s it? That’s her big thesis–that if women became more physically powerful than men they would all…act like men?” Disappointing and unimaginative, honestly, that there was not ONE character who held a different viewpoint and thought there might be a different way. ESPECIALLY since there are actual historical accounts of matriarchal societies. I just…sigh. I mean, that’s a choice.
I looked up the author, and it appears as though she’s a White British woman, which I guess makes sense since that’s how colonizers think (sorry, not sorry–just watch any movie written by White/western men/people about alien encounters).
Also, it is also sad and very telling that in a book supposedly about women becoming and being powerful that my favorite character is the man.
2.5 stars, rounding up since I didn’t exactly dislike it
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Have a great week, everyone!
The Englishist 