(Though who knows? I can’t see the future!)

Some things I’ve read this past week and enjoyed follow.

Teresa and Jeanne wrote excellent posts about disagreeing with fellow bloggers. They inspired me to make a disagreeing comment on Amy’s review of the second season of Six Feet Under, a show I have never been able to get on with at all. So um, success, I guess?

Speaking of disagreeing, it’s always a pleasure to read a post by Ana about Philip Pullman. I am not such a wild Pullman fan as she is, and I’ve disliked him more as I’ve gotten older, so it’s interesting to read the eloquent, articulate thoughts of someone who is a fan.

Not book-related, but I want to let y’all know: I made these cookies, which I elect to call “jam thumbprints” because that is a more adorable name, and they came out pretty good. And I don’t even like coconut! I literally can’t think of one other thing I’ve ever enjoyed that has had coconut in it.

Emily Jane posted a review of Zadie Smith’s NW that captured my thoughts on it so well I don’t think I’ll write a review of it after all. Or, well, to be honest, I read NW two months back, and if I was going to write a review of it, I’d have done it by now. I retain, of course, my intense girl crush on Zadie Smith, even when I think sometimes she is being a little too experimental for her boots.

This post about historically authentic sexism in fantasy on Tor.com is good and you should read it. Spoiler alert: Less sexism would be interesting FOR ALL OF US.

In case you don’t know about it yet, Alice of Reading Rambo is hosting a reread of the Harry Potter series starting in January. The sign-up post is here if you haven’t signed up yet. Important issues will be discussed, including Neville’s emotional development, how to do an origin story really really well, and whether Sirius Black sucks (he does not). Let’s make it happen people!

For reasons I’ll go into later maybe, I have been feeling extra awesome lately. I hope that you do too. If you celebrate December holidays, may they be minimally stressful and maximally fun for you. Remember to make sensible, achievable New Year’s Resolutions! (I achieved three of my five, which doesn’t sound that awesome except for how successful one of them was at achieving the long-term goal it was designed to achieve.) And I will be back again in early 2013 with reviews of all sorts of things, including, I hope, books I have received for Christmas.

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