Reading Wednesday

Finished reading: Fryderyk Chopin: A Life and Times by Alan Walker. Finally finished this one! Took me forever - not because of the contents, but because it was too heavy to take to work. It's a very thorough, readable, and engaging work, discussing Chopin's life, his music, and the context that he lived in. A lot of the more detailed music discussion kind of flew over my head, because I don't know much about music and I'm not actually that familiar with Chopin's work, but even those bits were really interesting. Definitely would recommend this one to anyone who likes biographies or music history. I'm tempted to check out Walker's work on Liszt as well - he's written several books about him.

Currently reading: Still working my way through Don't Look Back by Karin Fossum. Straightforward whodunit, nothing groundbreaking, but kind of a comfort read. Feels rather strange to read something that feels so much like historical fiction, even if it actually isn't - it was written in 2002, and computers are present and part of the story, but no cell phones, and the internet isn't used much. So it throws me for a bit of a loop, haa. And most of the computer use reads more like it's on DOS than anything else. (But then again I knew people who were still using DOS for everyday stuff at the time, so maybe that's not weird.)

Reading next: I have The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner on hold at the library, so... that! And I'll probably start some nonfiction as well, but I haven't gone through my book box yet. I do know that I have a book on the Kosciuszko Squadron that's been sitting around for a while, so maybe that. Or maybe I'll try to finish that book about the Northern Wars that I've been trying to get through for ages. (It's just... rather heavy reading, and I keep getting overwhelmed by it.)

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Aha! My copy of PSP2019 came in! Now maybe I can do some icon making while hiding inside from the cold. :D

(Except, of course, all of the ideas I had have suddenly disappeared. But maybe I'll remember them in a bit.)

I've used PSP7 and absolutely nothing else for years. But since this is just a modern version of Paint Shop Pro, I expect it won't be too hard for me to get adjusted to it. ...At least, I hope so.

Sometimes I wonder - if I had a tablet, would I draw more often? The answer is probably no. But I do think about it every now and then. It seems kind of a shame to have something so shiny and only be able to use a mouse with it. Buuuut - y'know. No sense in shelling out for a tablet, knowing me.