This week's oracle cards spread

Another 3-card past/present/future draw, using the Urban Crow oracle deck.

The middle card "Gifts", for the present, resonates a lot. I missed being at Worldcon in person this last week, and among other things really missed browsing and shopping in the gobsmacking Dealers' Room. I am part way through browsing through the online shops for many dealers who were there. Seeing if I want to pick something up as a substitute treat. I have already picked up a "Fan Phenomena" book about Game of Thrones from Intellect Books. Not a series I ever watched or read, but know a lot about. And I'm viewing that book as a taster for the Doctor Who and Lord of the Rings ones I most want to read. Also browsing comic book publishers (including a small press one in Scotland, who publishes many of interest to me), and gift shops.

As for "Mischief", well we've just had another run in with Covid in the house. Picked up on an outing to St Andrews last Friday. Martin was the only one to test positive, but given my symptom pattern we're sure I've had it too. Luckily it has been very mild this time. Martin's symptoms have been significantly less troublesome than his ongoing Long Covid.

Looking ahead "Mimicry" reminds me that I want to do original things in my academic work and fun projects. It's easy to retread the same topics. But I want to challenge myself, by trying new things, and tricky things. Other people might relate to this card differently. But given where I am, and what I'm hoping to do in the upcoming future, that's how it resonates most for me.

My first Edinburgh Book Festival event of 2024

Just caught up with Homer translator Emily Wilson chatting yesterday at the Edinburgh Book Festival. I studied both the Iliad and Odyssey as part of my Open University history/classical studies BA(Hons) degree 1998-2000. A very part time degree, but one that was greatly shortened thanks to credit transfer from my St Andrews BSc(Hons). Which meant I could leapfrog the first year's courses. Though that made it a much harder transition from studying hard science to studying humanities at degree level!

I was using Richmond Lattimore's translations of the Homer poems in my OU degree. I have a vivid memory of one night we'd driven over to Dundee, and Martin was nipping into supermarket Asda, with me waiting in the car. And reading the Iliad, full of hefty anatomical descriptions of battle injuries. And desperately wanting to read out some of them to him when we came back! I haven't read Emily's new translations yet, but hope to, health permitting. I did have her hardback Odyssey book for some time, but struggled too much with it due to my neurological illness. I may yet get the Kindle versions to read, with a gigantic font I need now.

The book festival chat was interesting. Emily was a very good speaker. Though the lady interviewing her talked far, far too long between Emily's bits. At one point Emily was repeatedly struggling to get a word in. And also, very frustratingly for the online audience, the interviewer totally ignored the many questions that had been typed up online to be asked to the speaker.

Pausing in the Council of Elrond

I'm rereading Lord of the Rings, starting with Fellowship. And gobbling it up. Until I got to the Council of Elrond chapter, which was estimated by my Kindle to take 45 minutes of reading. To be fair I was extra sedated at the time, so this was even more of a mountain to climb than usual. But I can also remember young me, e.g. teenage years and earlier, boggling at this lengthy over-wordy section of the book.

I'm now nearly through it, and will press on quickly with the rest. At the same time, I'm looking forward to Oxonmoot in a few weeks, the Tolkien Society annual convention in Oxford. In recent years it has offered online viewing too, watching live as things happen, and later on catchup through Christmas. I sleep through most live talks, so find catchup invaluable. And yes, I have another online viewing ticket, bought very early on, when it was extra low cost, helped by my Tolkien Society member discount.

After Worldcon I have also been picking up a few treat things, as substitutes for not being in the Dealers' Hall in person this time! Today I picked up a low cost ebook version for my Kindle of Luna Press Publishing's Adapting Tolkien collection of essays from a Tolkien Society seminar. Some while ago I picked up a print copy of their Translating and Illustrating Tolkien collection of another Tolkien Society seminar’s essays.

I'd also like to pick up something decorative in my not-at-Worldcon catchup. Must resist a plush dragon, though the call is strong, and not for any dragon in particular! I may wait to see what's on offer from the dealers at Oxonmoot, and possibly pick up something Tolkien-y. Though going to browse the Weta Workshop site just now might not have been my best move! Not just Lord of the Rings and Hobbit stuff, like a balrog, Smaug and even Radagast* (I'm telling my husband, very unsubtly, about that last one, given my birthday soon!). But they also sell other great things, including a scene from the Escher-like castle, and Sir Didymus and Ambrosius, all from The Labyrinth movie. Also Hoggle and Ludo figures ...

* I greatly disliked the Hobbit films of Peter Jackson. But Sylvester McCoy's Radagast was fab.