Still No Water

The water is still out this week. Between heating up the solar shower and collecting water from elsewhere, it's very tiring and time-consuming. The solar shower is hanging from the ceiling in my normal shower. I'm tempted to buy something like this shower tent, but that's a lot of money for a temporary problem, although it would make things a lot easier.

To work on book covers I need cold, running water to keep my paint brushes clean. I use acrylics. Cold water causes the paint to bead up and come out of the brushes more easily. Warm or hot water would make it runny and sticky. It takes a while to clean brushes. The most I can do until the water is fixed is brainstorm ideas and make sketches.

The other day I ordered the second Hunger Games book in French. While waiting for it, I thought I'd read The Maltese Falcon, since it was "only" 232 pages. It took over a week. The book has slang from the 1920s and possibly the decades leading up to then. Imagine all that slang converted to French. Some of it I could figure out. Not only did my dictionary not have a lot of the words, Google translate didn't know them either. Nevertheless, I was able to get through it. At some point I'll watch the movie with Humphrey Bogart. Maybe it'll be on Noir Alley one day.

I've started book 2 of the Hunger Games. The first few pages and a lot of chapter one were a breeze. The problem with book 1 was the translator's extensive use of the thesaurus. It's supposed to be young adult with a smaller vocabulary, but I had to look up tons of words I've never seen in all the adult-level books I've read. Are those books less "literary", or the did the translator go crazy with the thesaurus? I'm kind of thinking he went crazy. After the first little bit of book 2, the thesaurus came out. Even things like Alice in Wonderland or 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea weren't like that. So far, looking words up for book 2 hasn't been as tedious as book one. Divergent, which I mentioned the other day, was much more readable. It's young adult, too, and feels more like what a YA book should be.

I didn't entirely like the first Hunger Games book, but that's something for a different day. Anyway, I'm kind of floundering this week.

Have a great weekend.