Weather & heat issues

We have a new heater - well, no, we have a whole new system - HVAC, is that what you call it? I don't know if they replaced the part of the system that's outside or not, but they replaced all of the machinery that's inside, anyway. (I don't know because I was asleep when they came, so I wasn't asking questions. I woke up enough to hear them banging around a little but that was pretty much it.) It was still pretty chilly yesterday when they were here. Today it's warm, and we turned the AC on and now there's water leaking. We just put a trash can under it, since it's now the middle of the night and it's not an emergency. We'll have to call the office in the morning, I guess.

We're also having thunderstorms (but I don't think that's what's causing the leak). In fact there was a tornado in Galveston - we know this because both our phones went off, and that's because we both work in Galveston and it was the university's warning system going off. But we don't live in Galveston any more (haven't in about 15 years!) and apparently there wasn't a tornado warning further inland where we live now. I guess it wasn't too bad because a few minutes later we got another round of messages which was the all-clear. (The reported tornado location was pretty close to a house we used to live in about 30 years ago.)

We haven't been anywhere at all since we went to my sister's on Sunday. (Well, I think Rob must have gone to the store while I was asleep, because we have groceries that weren't there before.) We were going to go out shopping yesterday (but I was feeling kind of crappy) and again today (but it was pouring rain). Maybe it's another sign of advancing age but I'm kind of happy to stay home a lot of the time. We're off all week and I imagine I'll be ready to get out the house by next week, for sure, but right now, I'm enjoying being a slugabed.

Books that defined the 70s

I found a list that came from LitHub, 10 Books That Defined the 70s. I think I've seen a bunch of things like this over time, right? (Apparently LitHub did every decade starting with 1900 a few years ago. I know other places have done similar things, too. Magazines - Time magazine comes to mind - used to love to do stuff like this periodically. I say that in the past tense but I'm sure they still do.)

I turned 10 in 1970, so I was 19 in 1979 - that covers a lot of ground. I think I was in 5th grade in 1970, and I started college at UT in 1977. I was an English major for three of those years (starting in 1978), so I read some things, or at least knew of some things, because of that that I certainly wouldn't have otherwise. I'm going to go through all of the list and some of the other things listed at the bottom that presumably are sort of the runners-up.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

One Hundred Years of Solitude, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (published in Spanish in 1967 but not published in English until 1970) - I read this a long time ago, and I need to re-read it. (Garcia Marquez won a Nobel Prize in 1982, so I'm wondering if I read it about that time. I remember hearing about it in classes but I don't think it was ever required reading.) I remembered being sort of baffled by the "magical realism" stuff, which is a bit odd since I grew up reading SF/F constantly and it's not like it was really anything new to me. This is why I say I need to re-read it.

Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret, by Judy Blume (1970) - it's weird, but I'm not entirely sure whether I ever read this or not. I kind of think I did but I don't remember it much if I did. (This would be consistent with having read it once & never re-reading it,, I guess.) I know I read some of Judy Blume's books. Note that there's apparently a movie coming out based on this, I think this spring.

The Joy of Sex, by Alex Comfort (1972) - I remember sneaking around with my friends to clandestinely read bits of this as a pre-teen or young teenager - at their houses, because if my parents had it they hid it extremely well. I've definitely never read the whole thing - by the time I was old enough to read it openly, it seemed dated.

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1972) - I read this sometime in the years I lived in Austin, maybe in the early 80s. I think I may still have the paperback, but I haven't re-read it in a long time.

Gravity's Rainbow, by Thomas Pynchon (1973) - this is one of those books I tried and tried to read, and just never got interested in it enough to keep going.

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, by Robert Pirsig (1974) - ditto on the above, basically. I remember a (male) English professor going on about this being a neglected classic, back in the day, but I tried and couldn't ever get interested. I think I had my last try at it just a few years ago, and I got far enough to be pretty sure I wasn't going to like it. I suspect it's more of a guy thing.

All the President's Men, by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward (1974) - read it long ago, loved it, have re-read it many times. I don't know when I first read it, maybe late 70s.

Helter Skelter, by Vincent Bugiosi with Curt Gentry (1974) - I don't think I read this in high school, because I think my mother would have had a fit. She let me read many "adult" books as a teen (meaning things with violence and some sex, not actual porn or anything - I usually use The Dirty Dozen as an example) but she was very religious which made her very skittery about things involving Satanism etc. I do remember talking about the Manson family in high school (actually at school, I mean - like, I remember talking about The White Album, with reference to Manson & his followers.). The miniseries apparently came out in 1976 (so did Roots, below) so that probably is why we were talking about it in school. I did read this book, multiple times, but I don't think it was until later.

Roots, by Alex Haley (1976) - I saw the miniseries and I read the book, somewhere vaguely around this time, but I'm not really sure when I first read it. It might have been around that time, '76 or '77.

The Shining, by Stephen King (1977) - I've read this, but I think it was much more recently. I've always read some of King's books (see Carrie, below) but I mostly skip the "scary" stuff in favor of The Stand, The Dark Tower, etc. I don't think I saw the movie or read the book until much later. Still, it was such a huge hit that it was impossible not to know at least a little about it.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

So that's the "winning" 10. I do think those do give you a good feel for the 70s, between them. But many of the ones below are the same way, and I have comments about some of them, too:

Solaris, by Stanislaw Lem (1st English translation, 1970) - I've never read this, and I know there's a movie I've never seen, also. I don't know why, because this is totally in my sci-fi-loving wheelhouse.

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, by Dee Brown (1970) - I know exactly why I've never read this - it's because I know it would totally depress me. But I should have read it anyway. (If I can get through books about the Civil War, I can get through this.)

Deliverance, by James Dickey (1970) - I know I read this, but probably not til much later. 80s, maybe?

Play It As It Lays, by Joan Didion (1970) - I picked up a Didion habit after The White Album came out, so I probably read this in the 80s.

The Exorcist, by W.P. Blatty (1971) - I know my mom wouldn't let us go see the movie (I think that was about '73?) and I know I read the book, multiple times I believe. I imagine it was at least somewhat later, though.

Jonathan Livingston Seagull, by Richard Bach (1973) - I really can't believe they didn't put this in the top 10, just because this book is so, so 70s. I doubt that I read it in '73, but I bet it was in the mid-70s. It was dumb, but somehow kind of compelling.

Invisible Cities, by Italo Calvino (1st English translation, 1974) - this is one I know I read because I heard about it in class. I don't remember if it was actually required reading, but I know I loved it and read it several more times, at least.

Jaws, by Peter Benchley (1974) - I loved this book. I read it and I saw the movie, I don't remember exactly when. This is something my mother would have let me get by with reading, so I probably first read it in high school, anyway.

Carrie, by Stephen King (1974) - I feel like I read this in the late 70s, but I'm not sure. (Oddly, I don't think I saw the movie until much later.)

Ragtime, by E.L. Doctorow (1974) - Man, I loved this book. I bet it was more like around 1980 when I first read it, though.

Interview with the Vampire, by Anne Rice (1976) - loved this, too. I think I've said this before, but when we got married (which was in '87), Rob and I each had a copy of this - identical paperbacks. Again, I'm not sure when I first read it. I'd guess college.

The World According to Garp (1978) - I read all of John Irving's books for a long time, although I quit at some point. (I think I started thinking they were all kind of alike.) Loved this one, though, read and re-read it.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams (1979) - I imagine I read this pretty shortly after it came out - it was one of those books that everybody was suddenly reading.

Sophie's Choice, by William Styron (1979) - this was another one of those books. I'm pretty sure I read it fairly soon after it came out. I remember reading reviews of this, and how much they all loved it. And I did too.