Yesterday was my Bookman’s birthday and we had a little celebration last night of a couple presents and a cake made from scratch by yours truly. The cake, if I do say so myself, was and is magnificent. My beloved was a bit surprised at how good it is. You see, just because I don’t like to cook doesn’t mean I can’t. I’ve always been especially good at baking and I still have the touch even if it only comes out once or twice a year. The cake, in case you are wondering, is a peanut butter layer cake with raspberry filling and chocolate frosting per the request of my Bookman. Moist and rich, it’s one of those cakes that goes great with a cup of coffee.

I took the day off from work today so as to be able to continue the birthday celebrations and because the end of July is a good time to take off from work. My Bookman wanted to go to Half Price Books today and I readily agreed. I brought home two books that I hope will be interesting.

Simone Weil: A Life by Simone Pétrement is a biography of Weil. I’ve not read much of Weil, she’s one of those authors of whom I have read a little but it was enough to make me hooked and want to read more. I do believe Weil had a rather interesting life too. She was a philosopher, Christian mystic (even though her family was Jewish), and a social activist. She died of heart failure at the age of 34 in 1943 because at the same time she was diagnosed with tuberculosis, she also severely restricted her diet in solidarity with the people living in Nazi occupied France. She was always rather frail apparently and the combination of TB and a starvation diet took her life. So how could her biography fail to be interesting?

The other book I brought home is called Passions, Pedagogies and 21st Century Technologies. It is an anthology of essays about the intersection of technology and composition studies. Intended for academic writing professors and educators, to me it still looks fascinating for anyone interested in education, writing and technology. And since I read a fantastic article for school on the role of libraries and librarians in a digital age that basically sets both in the role of life-long education providers, and since I am thinking I would really, ideally, like to be a humanities/ digital humanities/ systems librarian of some sort, this book seemed like it would be useful. I don’t expect I will be able to get to it for awhile, but when I do, I will be sure to share any thought-provoking bits that should come up.