Maybe I Float

This week started with a burst of energy. I started reestablishing my morning walk or run habit, I got through my errands in a time,y fashion, and I made some appointments I had been procrastinating on. Unfortunately one of these involved sending a picture of a minor blemish to a dermatologist, and they told me to come in next week for a biopsy. So much for my energy burst!

Now I had hours of moping to work in around my day. It’s depressing when my best case scenario is being told I have a wart on my face, like a witch. It is true that I’ve entered lakes and not drowned, so I think my odds are good. 

Goodreads thinks I am currently reading 63 books, but I’ve finished several of those so I think I’m not really trending upward. The library thinks I have physical books checked out but I’ve lost one so that shouldn’t count. I think that’s still bit too high. This paragraph seems very familiar.

Books Completed  Sept 5 - Sept 11

Accident of Stars, Foz Meadows. I liked this more than the one with the arranged marriage. It was more action based and had a brisker tone, with less navel-gazing protagonists. I think I also liked the multitude of viewpoints more than a first person, which gave insights into the secondary world from both its residents (immigrant and natives) and the accidental visitor.

Karen’s Worst Day, Baby-sitter’s Little Sister, Ann Martin. A lot of this bad day involves watching other people have a good thing. I don’t think seeing someone you love get a surprise present counts as something bad happening to you, and I think helping little kids realize that is important. Karen is still working on this, and she isn’t getting much help. But her very extended family is very compassionate in other ways so maybe she’ll get there on her own. I notice that neither of her little brothers complain when the big kids take her out for ice cream to cheer her up.

Karen’s Kittycat Club, Baby-sitters Little Sister Graphic Novel, Katy Farina & Ann Martin. This one worked better for me with text because the whole point is her being carried away and being mean.

The Unravelling, Benjamin Rosenbaum. Man this must have been a great book club. There’s so much to unpack here! The worldbuilding was doing amazing things; lots of cool ideas and then showing what follows from them. 

Tribute, Sherwood Smith. I’m going to miss these characters a lot. I ran out to get the next in the series but I think it’s a big jump down the timeline.

Who Fears Death, Nnedi Okorafor. As an apocalypse book it wasn’t great, since it’s set in the future where no one worries about how it happened beyond some founding myths. But as a good read about kids with too much power and a society with a lot of casual injustices it really works.

Parable of the Talents Graphic Novel, Octavia E. Butler & Damian Duffy. I think this did a great job of translating the book to graphic form and retaining its power. And I still think Lauren’s kid is a huge jerk, but Butler makes her a believable one. (The brother is a bigger jerk, but at least he knows it.)

Sheine Lende, Darcy Little Badger. I love how capable Little Badgers’s teens are, and I like seeing how the live as both Americans and tribal members. And the magical touches in her alternate world work for me. Good going, Hugo voters.

Karen’s Witch, Baby-sitters Little Sister, Ann Martin. As an adult, it is hilarious to me when Karen storms the garden club with accusations of witchcraft because it would have been embarrassing as a parent but unlikely to happen to me with my unimaginative children.

Karen’s Worst Day: Baby-sitters Little Sister Graphic Novel,  Katy Farina & Ann Martin. Yeah, it definitely feels more bratty from the outside when Karen feels sorry for herself because her siblings have nice stuff.

The Selected Poetry of Robinson Jeffers, Robinson Jeffers. I like that he really pushed old fashioned poetry back into the mainstream. But honestly a lot of his stuff didn’t land for me. The people in his long poems were unlike anyone I’ve ever met, although maybe they were the kind of people he hung out with, although I’m assuming all the murders were poetic license. Some of the shorter works resonated.

Bonded In Death, J. D. Robb. Other than a short bit of child torture this one was more pleasant than gruesome. I liked seeing the cadre of the butler’s old resistance buddies, although so many of them crowded most of the usual social crowd off the pages.

I Survived the Battle of Gettysburg, 1863, Lauren Tarshis. Wow, a lot of deaths in this one. 

Monstress Vol. 9, Marjorie M. Liu. I like the idea and the story, but the illustrations are so rich I find them exhausting. (Yes, I’m complaining the art in a comic is too good). I see why it keeps getting Hugo nominations but I’m not going to pick it up on my own.

Books Started

Karen’s Kittycat Club, Baby-sitters Little Sister Graphic Novel, Katy Farina & Ann Martin. Checking them off.

Karen’s Witch, Baby-sitters Little Sister, Ann Martin. This is the first Karen book.

Bonded In Death, J. D. Robb. Oops. I’m one behind.

This Tender Land, William Kent Kruger. Missed book club book.

Karen’s Worst Day: Baby-sitters Little Sister Graphic Novel,  Katy Farina & Ann Martin. These are fast reads.

Daisy and the Deadly Flu (Girls Survive), Julie Gilbert. I’m comparing to the I Survived series.

Every Heart a Doorway, Seanan McGuire. Foolscap book for Back To School month.

The Last Wizard’s Ball, Charlaine Harris. I really like her characters.

Bookmarks Moved

Track Changes, Abigail Nussbaum

Braiding Sweetgrass, Robin Wall Kimmerer

Hearts Still Beating, Brooke Archer

Endling: The First, Katherine Applegate

The Luminaries, Eleanor Catton

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, David Mitchell   

Read Dangerously, Azar Nifisi

Bookmarks Languished

I have not given up on these! Ignore all evidence!   

                                        

                                                                                             Into the Vast Nothing, J. Bruno.

                                                                                         Marry Me By Midnight, Felicia Grossmann       

                                                                             True Colors, Abby Cooper.

                                                                       South Riding, Winifred Holtby                        

                  An Exchange of Hostages, Susan R. Matthews   

                Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel

               Calypso, Oliver K Langmead       

               The Hunger and the Dusk, G. Willow Wilson

               Speculative Whiteness, Jordan S. Carroll

            Heavenly Tyrants, Xiran Jay Zhao

       Bourne Supremacy, Robert Ludlum

      Death in the Spires, K.J. Charles

   So Let Them Burn, Kamilah Cole

   Coyote Dreams, C.E. Murphy

   A, B, C: Three Short Novels, Samuel Delany

I’m Nobody, Who Are You?, Emily Dickinson

Lepunia: Kingdom of the Gallopers, Kevin Ford

One Jump Ahead, Mark L Von Name

Picture Books, Poems, and Short Stories

“Meetings on the Stair: an Essay ” by Diane Duane. What are we doing when we tell fantasy stories? Where is the line between lying and dreaming? If you saw a Tardis would you go in?

Books on Slow Mode

Home Comforts, Cheryl Mendleson. I read one section a day. Currently learning laundry details.

At the Feet of the Sun, Victoria Goddard. Trusting magicians is exhilarating.

50 Great Poets, ed. Milton Crane. Mail bribe. More dull Arnold stuff.

The Writer's Stance: Reading and Writing in the Disciplines, Dorothy U. Seyler. Mail bribe.

Black Leopard, Red Wolf, Marlon. Mail bribe.

War Cross, Marie Lu. Mail bribe. 

Teaching With Caldecott Books, Scholastic books. Mail bribe. 

Books Acquired

I only notice when I’m caught up.

Future Plans

This is for the actual future, so weeks beyond the books in this post. It is also probably wrong.

I am reading: 

• Book I own: Wolf Hall
• Library Book: A, B, C
• Hugo Finalist: Heavenly Tyrant
• Foolscap Book Club Book:  Every Heart a Doorway (finished!)
• Sword and Laser Club Book:  The Hexologists
• Scintillation Book Club: The Last Witchfinder
• Cloudy Book Club:  A Witches Guide to Magical Innkeeping
• Torches and Pitchfork Book Club:  Blue Skies
• River Runs Under It Book Club: Lady Tan’s Circle of Women
• Talbot Hill Book:  Recommendations: Babysitter’s Little Sister, Pokémon 
• Friday Book Club: Someone to Build a Nest In (finished)
• Romance Book Club: Werewolf romance.

Fire on the Beach, With Pizza

A lovely week with lots of friends. Our bookclub summer tradition is to meet at the home of our remote member and judge the years Cybils picture book finalists. Sadly last minute things intervened for several of us, so it was only my sister and I on the road to Oregon, but we three were the original founders of this club almost twenty years ago so it was a fun reminder of our history. Also gourmet husband exerted himself masterfully, especially at breakfast with his perfect omelets. We spent one evening on the nearby beach munching on pizza around a fire pit and the other evening watching Dune.

Then I got to spend the rest of the week chasing down the members who missed the weekend so they could also judge the picture books, an arduous process that involved several new and delicious restaurants. One meal was at a park where we shared our shade with another reader, who invited me to the Renton Silent Reading club, so I found a new book club that will help rather than hurt my reading pile!

Goodreads thinks I am currently reading 62 books. That’s trending downwards!The library thinks I have 64 physical books checked out. I think that’s still bit too high. This paragraph seems very familiar.

Books Completed  Aug 29 - Sept

Claudia and the Phantom Phone Calls, Ann M. Martin. I guess this one pretty silly, but the girls were sensible in their silliness (I liked them calling the cops). Too bad Kristy agreed to go out with the jerk though. That does not age well.

Devils, Joe Abercrombie. This Sword and Laser pick was good at what it did but it sure did it for a long time.

The Mushroom Hunters, Langdon Cook. I learned a lot about tasty mushrooms, most of which I immediately forgot, and got a glimpse into a completely new aspect of the fine dining industry. Also I’m pretty sure I’m not going to start foraging on my own. 

The Adventure of The Demonic Ox, Lois McMaster Bujold. Penric discovers the spiritual, emotional, and physical risks of fatherhood but with Desdemonia’s help manages to survive.

Karen’s Witch Graphic Novel, Katy Farina & Ann M. Martin. The problem with the graphic novels is that I find Karen a bit selfish and bratty, and in the text we see her working on being a better person but we miss some of that here.

Pokémon Sun and Moon Vol 3, Hidenori Kusaka. A key plot point was the kid misunderstanding something and rushing off with a wrong idea, but since I tend not to get things until the third time they are brought up I was doomed to follow in his narrative footsteps.

The Bright and Breaking Sea, Chloe Neill. Cloudy pick that was fun. Would have fit in with Foolscap’s beach read discussion and it even took place on a ship!

I Survived the Nazi Invasion Graphic Novel, Lauren Tarshis & Georgia Ball. 

I Survived the Molasses Flood, Lauren Tarshis & Georgia Ball. Library due dates caught up to me so I jumped this to the top. The pictures helped this time; the event is quick and works well as pictures.

She Who Became the Sun, Shelley Parker-Chan. Yay, Sword and Laser gave me the chance to finally finish this! Great characters and theme work, and now my formless background knowledge of Chinese history is deeper.

Books Started

Pokémon Sun and Moon Vol 3, Hidenori Kusaka. Talbot Hill recommendation.

Read Dangerously, Azar Nifisi. I bought this because I never finished Reading Lolita in Tehran.

The Mushroom Hunters, Langdon Cook. Last square on my Summer Book Bingo Card.

Braiding Sweetgrass, Robin Wall Kimmerer. Reread for River Runs Under It bookclub.

Karen’s Witch Graphic Novel, Katy Farina & Ann M. Martin. Baby-sitter’s Little Sister book.

Karen’s Worst Day, Baby-sitter’s Little Sister book.

I Survived the Battle of Gettysburg, 1863, Lauren Tarshis. I should see how many more there are.

I Survived the Nazi Invasion Graphic Novel, Lauren Tarshis & Georgia Ball. Baby-sitter adopters get better credit than these.

I Survived the Molasses Flood, Lauren Tarshis & Georgia Ball. But libraries shelve these under Ball and the others under Baby-sitter.

Who Fears Death, Nnedi Okorafor. My apocalypse book for T&P book club.

Parable of the Talents Graphic Novel, Octavia E. Butler & Damian Duffy.

Bookmarks Moved

I’m Nobody, Who Are You?, Emily Dickinson

Tribute, Sherwood Smith

Accident of Stars, Foz Meadows

Sheine Lende, Darcy Little Badger

Lepunia: Kingdom of the Gallopers, Kevin Ford

The Unravelling, Benjamin Rosenbaum

The Luminaries, Eleanor Catton

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, David Mitchell         

The Selected Poetry of Robinson Jeffers, Robinson Jeffers

Endling: The First, Katherine Applegate

Hearts Still Beating, Brooke Archer

Track Changes, Abigail Nussbaum

One Jump Ahead, Mark L Von Name

Bookmarks Languished

I have not given up on these! Ignore all evidence!   

                                        

                                                                                          Into the Vast Nothing, J. Bruno.

                                                                                      Marry Me By Midnight, Felicia Grossmann       

                                                                          True Colors, Abby Cooper.

                                                                    South Riding, Winifred Holtby                        

               An Exchange of Hostages, Susan R. Matthews   

             Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel

            Calypso, Oliver K Langmead

            Monstress Vol. 9, Marjorie M. Liu

            The Hunger and the Dusk, G. Willow Wilson

            Speculative Whiteness, Jordan S. Carroll

         Heavenly Tyrants, Xiran Jay Zhao

    Bourne Supremacy, Robert Ludlum

   Death in the Spires, K.J. Charles

So Let Them Burn, Kamilah Cole

Coyote Dreams, C.E. Murphy

A, B, C: Three Short Novels, Samuel Delany

Picture Books, Poems, and Short Stories

PEW!: The Stinky and Legen-dairy Gift of Colonel Thomas S, Meacham, Cathy Stephane’s Ogren. Nice historical story of how Andrew Jackson enjoyed a ginormous cheese given by someone whose name resembles mine. For some reason Ogren is cagey about the President who got the cheese. I liked the cheerful pictures of the cows, the cheese making, the journey and the cheese parties at the White House.

Books on Slow Mode

Home Comforts, Cheryl Mendleson. I read one section a day. Currently on different knits.

At the Feet of the Sun, Victoria Goddard. Coming home.

50 Great Poets, ed. Milton Crane (no picture). Matthew Arnold is duller than I remember.

The Writer's Stance: Reading and Writing in the Disciplines, Dorothy U. Seyler. (no picture). Mail bribe. Moving into soft sciences.

Black Leopard, Red Wolf, Marlon. Mail bribe.

War Cross, Marie Lu. Mail bribe. 

Teaching With Caldecott Books, Scholastic books. Mail bribe. These are actually useful since I know nothing of classroom management.

Books Acquired

I only notice when I’m caught up.

Future Plans

This is for the actual future, so weeks beyond the books in this post. It is also probably wrong.

I am reading: 

• Book I own: Wolf Hall
• Library Book: A, B, C
• Hugo Finalist: Heavenly Tyrant
• Foolscap Book Club Book:  Every Heart a Doorway (finished!)
• Sword and Laser Club Book:  The Hexologists
• Scintillation Book Club: Beowulf
• Cloudy Book Club:  A Witches Guide to Magical Innkeeping
• Torches and Pitchfork Book Club:  Blue Skies
• River Runs Under It Book Club: Braiding Sweetgrass
• Talbot Hill Book:  Recommendations: Babysitter’s Little Sister, Pokémon 
• Friday Book Club: Someone to Build a Nest In (finished)
• Romance Book Club: The Blonde Identity 

Lego Land

So I attended BrickSlopes, a Lego convention in Sandy, Utah. This year my brother lured his siblings into attending more of it -  I helped my other brother assemble a parrot while the Lego brother raced to finish his own (it was a timed event, but one brother was not a Lego user we figured I could disqualify him by sorting bricks and then we might finish before the room was closed). Emboldened we volunteered for another timed assembly the next day, where we performed equally badly but managed to finish exactly half of the assignment and retired in good grace. And we also spent some time at a class teaching us techniques to make Lego figs dance and wiggle around.

It was a lot of fun and I’ll go again next year to see my Lego brother strut his stuff and to hang out with the non-Lego brother and his family. Also the game I set up to finish the second half of the build was quite enjoyable, involving some nice shots and penalty drinking by the Lego experts in the family.

On Sunday I zoomed into the Foolscap bookclub to discuss Arabella of Mars and the concept of good “beach reads”. I had managed to finish the book on time, which has not been a usual event this summer. Monday was the drive home to Seattle, where I got the wheel for more of the drive and we found our Greek gyro place in Boise. Home at last!

My prodigal cat got a full vet work up and we were sent home with instructions to obtain some poo to check for tag-along infestations. Ew. To distract myself from this task I zoomed around to a handful of libraries to complete my acquisition of all the Cybils picture book finalists. After all, I have a vacation weekend coming up!

Goodreads thinks I am currently reading 62 books. That’s trending downwards!The library thinks I have 73 physical books checked out. I think that’s still bit too high. 

Books Completed  Aug 22 - Aug 28

Ordinary Time, Annie B. Jones. What a lucky find! I found Jones a thoughtful and deep companion, someone willing to think about and examine her life but also rejoice in happiness and acknowledge learning experiences both pleasant and distressing. Her discussions of her faith were moving, her relation with her husband inspiring, and her love of books refreshing. I gotta check out her podcast.

Pokémon Sun and Moon V2, Hidenori Kusaka. I’m still frequently baffled by the action scenes but I manage to keep somewhat aware of the plot. I think they are making progress towards the goal of finding the guardians and figuring out what is wrong. Or as Sun would say, making a million dollars.

The Color of Ice, Barbara Lynn Probst. I thought I was getting a vacation romance but instead read a novel that was a love song to Iceland, a middle-age unwrapping, and a new start for a family. It worked out really well for me, but I’m glad I didn’t finish it in time for the holiday romance book club meeting.

Arabella of Mars, David Levine. Foolscap book pick. I enjoyed this reread and I hope to finish the whole trilogy. The rest of the club also had fun and we talked about what makes a beach read; how to ride that line between interesting and engaging but not distressing or intense.

Moon Over SoHo, Ben Aaronovitch. This was a great road trip novel, with a narrator who did lots of British accents for different characters and a story that kept us interested. It made the drive out to Utah pleasant and we finished it as we drove up to Idaho on the way home.

Whispers Under Ground, Ben Aaronovitch. So I had the next one ready to go. We had to speed this one up a bit to finish just as we drove into my neighborhood but the narrator was up to it and honestly I think the plot only benefitted from zipping by before we could question anything. We liked the overarching plot as it settled over the rather complicated book plot. The hoarse voice of damaged Leslie was a bit hard to follow, and one character’s voice was unfortunate read at exactly the pitch of the road noise, but in general we enjoyed having the miles zip by as we listened.

Dawn and the Impossible Three Graphic Novel, Ann M. Martin & Gail Galligan. Dawn is awesome in this but the book was better than the graphic version. 

The Honey Witch, Sydney J. Shields. Cloudy book club read this a few months ago, but I put it down when I fell in love with the premise: what if choosing magic meant giving up the chance for true love? But see, this is a romance book so it obviously wasn’t going to be about that, it was about getting true love after thinking it was impossible. And it was, and it did that fairly well. Maybe someday someone will write that other book though, that would be really interesting.

I Survived the Destruction of Pompeii, AD 79: Graphic Novel, Lauren Tarshis. Lava pictures! Ok, the eruption was nice but I felt the pictures didn’t do as good a job of placing the book in history with a different society and different expectations and different literacy and everything. The book was better.

Books Started

Arabella of Mars, David Levine. Foolscap book pick.

I Survived the Destruction of Pompeii, AD 79: Graphic Novel, Lauren Tarshis. Lava pictures! 

Whispers Under Ground, Ben Aaronovitch. Car trip audio.

So Let Them Burn, Kamilah Cole. Belated Hugo reading.

The Bright and Breaking Sea, Chloe Neill. 

Bookmarks Moved

Tribute, Sherwood Smith

The Adventure of The Demonic Ox, Lois McMaster Bujold

Claudia and the Phantom Phone Calls, Ann M. Martin

Accident of Stars, Foz Meadows

Sheine Lende, Darcy Little Badger

The Selected Poetry of Robinson Jeffers, Robinson Jeffers

Coyote Dreams, C.E. Murphy

A, B, C: Three Short Novels, Samuel Delany

Devils, Joe Abercrombie

Lepunia: Kingdom of the Gallopers, Kevin Ford

The Luminaries, Eleanor Catton

Endling: The First, Katherine Applegate

The Unravelling, Benjamin Rosenbaum

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, David Mitchell         

Hearts Still Beating, Brooke Archer

Bookmarks Languished

I have not given up on these! Ignore all evidence!                                           

                                                                                       Into the Vast Nothing, J. Bruno.

                                                                                   Marry Me By Midnight, Felicia Grossmann       

                                                                       True Colors, Abby Cooper.

                                                                 South Riding, Winifred Holtby                        

            An Exchange of Hostages, Susan R. Matthews

         I’m Nobody, Who Are You?, Emily Dickinson

         Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel

         Calypso, Oliver K Langmead

         Monstress Vol. 9, Marjorie M. Liu

         The Hunger and the Dusk, G. Willow Wilson

         Speculative Whiteness, Jordan S. Carroll

         Track Changes, Abigail Nussbaum

      Heavenly Tyrants, Xiran Jay Zhao

   One Jump Ahead, Mark L Von Name

Bourne Supremacy, Robert Ludlum

Death in the Spires, K.J. Charles

Picture Books, Poems, and Short Stories

Katy Duck Is A Caterpiller, Alyssa Satin Capucilli. Talbot Hill recommendation. A fun picture book showing a kid with strong opinions but also a sense of respect for her teachers and also a good understanding of the art of dancing.

Books on Slow Mode

Home Comforts, Cheryl Mendleson. I read one section a day. Currently on different knits.

At the Feet of the Sun, Victoria Goddard. Coming home.

50 Great Poets, ed. Milton Crane (no picture). 

The Writer's Stance: Reading and Writing in the Disciplines, Dorothy U. Seyler. (no picture). Mail bribe. Moving into soft sciences.

Black Leopard, Red Wolf, Marlon. Mail bribe.

War Cross, Marie Lu. Mail bribe. 

Teaching With Caldecott Books, Scholastic books. Mail bribe. 

Books Acquired

I only notice when I’m caught up.

Future Plans

This is for the actual future, so weeks beyond the books in this post. It is also probably wrong.

I am reading: 

• Book I own: Who Fears Death
• Library Book: Parable of the Talents
• Hugo Finalist: Sheine Lende
• Ebook I own: Tribute
• Foolscap Book Club Book:  Every Heart a Doorway
• Sword and Laser Club Book:  The Hexologists
• Scintillation Book Club: Beowulf
• Cloudy Book Club:  A Witches Guide to Magical Innkeeping
• Torches and Pitchfork Book Club:  Who Fears Death
• River Runs Under It Book Club: Braiding Sweetgrass
• Talbot Hill Book:  Recommendations: Babysitter’s Little Sister, Pokémon 
• Friday Book Club: Catfishing on Catnet
• Romance Book Club: Amnesia

Can’t Stop Won’t Stop

WorldCon continued to be a lot of fun. I hung out with friends, met fellow Shields (people who listen to the Sword and Laser podcast), crossed foam swords with my son, attended the award ceremony in person (with my friends), knew some of the winners, and acquired a few books. On Sunday I was part of a panel about book clubs which was very affirming. My son and I got a hotel room on Saturday so we could stay late and it was well worth it - we even saw some of the parties.

On Monday I got up early so I was ready when my brother picked me up for our drive to Utah. There was a LegoConvention called BrickSlopes the next weekend and we wanted to hang out with our older brother before hand. An easy drive later we arrived. Ben Aaronovitch’s Moon Over SoHo was an excellent travel companion and my brother’s wife had packed us a delightful assortment of snacks.

My Utah relatives are amazing hosts, so we had a great few days. Beautiful mountains all around, thriving garden to pick through, friendly pets to snuggle, everything I wanted. I took my iPad to another place where they managed to resurrect it long enough for me to do a final backup before it feinted again.

I even finished a book in time for a book club, something I haven’t managed to do for a few weeks. Our Romance Book Group was discussing Jane Austen books and retellings of them, and we had many examples and discussed why the stories stay vibrant and what retellings are trying to do.

Goodreads thinks I am currently reading 64 books. Almost to three pages! The library thinks I have 77 physical books checked out. I’m hoping to bring that down closer to my age in the next week.

Books Completed  Aug 13 - Aug 19

The Wild Girls, Pat Murphy. As I was reading this a friend mentioned it as we were talking about childhood beloved books. Neat timing! Although come to think of it, it came out two decades ago and is she that much younger than me? My childhood was four decades ago. Anyway, cool friendship, cool artistic integrity, cool growing up and seeing adults as people, people like you will be.

Karen’s Birthday Graphic Novel, Ann M. Martin & Katy Farina. I do like the ones that hint that divorce can be hard on kids. It’s validating as that was my experience.

Ascendance of a Bookworm Fanbook 5, Miya Kazuki. I’m mostly here for the stories although the accounts of the full-cast audio making are fascinating. When I finished I thought I saw a new book but after I bought it I realized it was in Japanese. Oops. At least she’s still writing!

Mrs. Pollifax, Accidental Tourist, Dorothy Gilman. I enjoyed this more than the first time through, probably because it’s been a few years. I liked her independence and her karate moves and how she and Farrell trade off the initiative and the rescuing.

Northranger, Rey Terriero. This is a good YA romance and the graphics are done well. But I didn’t think the call backs to Northanger Abbey did it much favor for me, since it mostly ignored my favorite things about Austen and doubled down on the personal embarrassment, which opposite to the original. But the book club was great with many new members and a lot of good discussion of what we want in a retelling, what modern retelling as can do, and other topics.

I Survived the Joplin Tornado 2011, Lauren Tarshis. This was really terrifying.

Maddie and the Monstrous Storm, Julie Gilbert. This is a good contrast to the I Survived series. It does mostly the same thing but with guaranteed girl protagonists (not a plus for my book club) and uses different authors. But the structure of plunking a kid with a problem in a historical section and then giving them a much bigger problem remains, and often the initial problem is handled in the course of the disaster promised in the title. I think more named characters died in this one than I’m used to.

Books Started

Karen’s Birthday Graphic Novel, Ann M. Martin & Katy Farina. Babysitter Club and Talbot Hill rec.

Dawn and the Impossible Three Graphic Novel, Ann M. Martin & Gail Galligan. Babysitter Club book.

Moon Over SoHo, Ben Aaronovitch. Audio for drive to Utah.

The Adventure of The Demonic Ox, Lois McMaster Bujold. Another Penric!

Ordinary Time, Annie B. Jones. Library grab because a bookstore owner who writes essays is my jam.

Accident of Stars, Foz Meadows. Scintillation book club.

Maddie and the Monstrous Storm, Julie Gilbert. A different version of the I Survived series.

Northranger, Rey Terriero. For the Romance reading group; it’s a Jane Austen retelling.

Pokémon Sun and Moon V2, Hidenori Kusaka. Talbot Hill Rec.

Claudia and the Phantom Phone Calls, Ann M. Martin. Babysitter Club #2.

Bookmarks Moved

Tribute, Sherwood Smith

Lepunia: Kingdom of the Gallopers, Kevin Ford

The Selected Poetry of Robinson Jeffers, Robinson Jeffers

The Color of Ice, Barbara Lynn Probst

The Honey Witch, Sydney J. Shields

The Luminaries, Eleanor Catton

Bookmarks Languished

I have not given up on these! Ignore all evidence!                                           

                                                                                       Into the Vast Nothing, J. Bruno.

                                                                                   Marry Me By Midnight, Felicia Grossmann       

                                                                       True Colors, Abby Cooper.

                                                                 South Riding, Winifred Holtby     

                         The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, David Mitchell         

                     A, B, C: Three Short Novels, Samuel Delany

            An Exchange of Hostages, Susan R. Matthews

         I’m Nobody, Who Are You?, Emily Dickinson

         Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel

         Calypso, Oliver K Langmead

         Monstress Vol. 9, Marjorie M. Liu

         The Hunger and the Dusk, G. Willow Wilson

         Speculative Whiteness, Jordan S. Carroll

         Track Changes, Abigail Nussbaum

      Heavenly Tyrants, Xiran Jay Zhao

   One Jump Ahead, Mark L Von Name

Devils, Joe Ambercrombie

Sheine Lende, Darcy Little Badger

The Unravelling, Benjamin Rosenbaum

Bourne Supremacy, Robert Ludlum

Endling: The First, Katherine Applegate

Hearts Still Beating, Brooke Archer

Coyote Dreams, C.E. Murphy

Death in the Spires, K.J. Charles

Picture Books, Poems, and Short Stories

 None. 

Books on Slow Mode

Home Comforts, Cheryl Mendleson. I read one section a day. Currently on different knits.

At the Feet of the Sun, Victoria Goddard. Coming home.

50 Great Poets, ed. Milton Crane (no picture). 

The Writer's Stance: Reading and Writing in the Disciplines, Dorothy U. Seyler. (no picture). Mail bribe. 

Black Leopard, Red Wolf, Marlon. Mail bribe.

War Cross, Marie Lu. Mail bribe. 

Teaching With Caldecott Books, Scholastic books. Mail bribe. 

Books Acquired

I only notice when I’m caught up.

Future Plans

This is for the actual future, so weeks beyond the books in this post. It is also probably wrong.

I am reading: 

• Book I own: Who Fears Death
• Library Book: The Mushroom Hunters
• Hugo Finalist: Sheine Lende
• Ebook I own: The Demonic Ox
• Foolscap Book Club Book:  Every Heart a Doorway
• Sword and Laser Club Book:  She Who became the Sun
• Scintillation Book Club: Accident of Stars
• Cloudy Book Club:  The Bright and Breaking Sea
• Torches and Pitchfork Book Club:  Who Fears Death
• River Runs Under It Book Club: Braiding Sweetgrass
• Talbot Hill Book:  Recommendations: Babysitter’s Little Sister, Pokémon 
• Friday Book Club: Catfishing on Catnet
• Romance Book Club: Amnesia

Ready To WorldCon

This was a very pleasant weeks. I planned and ate nice dinners, actually went on a run, met my friend for a hike, and in general was on top of things. This is good because I was also preparing for the Seattle WorldCon, a five day convention celebrating SF fandom and creators. This convention is held yearly but moves around each time, and I’ve started attending the past few years because I like books and authors and other nerdy things. This year it was in my hometown, and a bunch of us from one of my book clubs planned to go.

Since I had been to some I was the local expert, and also I was somehow also placed on several panels, discussing kids books and book clubs, and moderating a librarian, a kidlit author, and a SF legend on how to get kids to read more SF. So I spent some time collecting some thought on this stuff, and hopefully managed to pull off my imposter syndrome on the two Thursday panels.

Oh, also my iPad died.

Goodreads thinks I am down to 63 books. Almost to three pages! The library thinks I have 77 physical books checked out, because I had to go to 4 libraries to get picture books for my book club and I had no shelf control. 

Books Completed  Aug 7 - Aug 13

Lawless, Leah Litman. All Supreme Court justices are political. They decide what the decision should be based on what they like, and then look for laws to justify that. But the current court is distinctive in not even pretending to be consistent either with the law or with prior decisions. They are also openly corrupt, and think the problem is with people pointing it out. Why shouldn’t they accept large sums from the people in front of them? That doesn’t create even an appearance of bias, according to their greedy framing. It’s rather discouraging in terms of making our country deplorable.

When the Moon Met the Sun, Alaina Hope. I bought it because it was written by a relative of a friend. But I read it because the writing was good and the worldbuilding was fun. It had a young vibe but I’m here for that. I’ll look out for the next one.

Castle, David Macaulay. This was a quality recommendation from my elementary book club. The illustrations were the driver, showing how the construction worked, with the text explaining the pieces. I may have read the earlier edition ages ago with my kids, but this color version is redone enough that I’m counting it as new.

Not That Kind of Good Guy, John Ringo. A big disappointment. The competence porn was unbelievable and usually buried beneath a pile of alt-right misunderstandings, which kind of diminished the sense of competence. Like, our your teen hero was super smart and had won early admittance to places like Stanford and a random assortment of Ivies, but he couldn’t go because he was white. Apparently those schools never admit white males, and definitely never give them scholarships. I had a long paragraph complaining about a fraction of the problems, but when you read John Ringo you expect some “OH JOHN RINGO NO” moments (rape is genetically essential for human survival, etc). But in this book the ratio of OH NO to story is way too high; it should be no higher than 1:4 and this felt like 4:1. Even if some of the NOs were softer (Bill Clinton was on watch for 9/11) they still weren’t story.

Karen’s Roller Skates (Babysitter’s Little Sister book), Ann M. Martin. I enjoyed watching Karen’s explanation for the fall that broke her arm get better and more elaborate. It was a pity when mean people kept pushing it back towards reality.

Year of Wonder, Clemency Burton-Hill. Yay, I’m done! Now I’ll read the appropriate one for the day and if I need more music maybe I’ll just spin the wheel.

Long Live Evil, Sarah Rees Brennan. I paused while reading this because I didn’t want the thing that had to happen to happen. But I had to see and it happened. Brennan does this sort of thing very well. 

Because Internet, Gretchen McCulloch. wut? Ikr! Words, she knows them.

Books Started

Castle, David Macaulay. Talbot Hill rec. 

The Color of Ice, Barbara Lynn Probst. I got this ages ago for the Vacation Romance book, but it’s not a romance so good thing it wasn’t my pick for that.

Not That Kind of Good Guy, John Ringo. Sometimes Ringo writes good competence porn.

Karen’s Roller Skates (Babysitter’s Little Sister book), Ann M. Martin. Talbot Hill rec.

Ascendance of a Bookworm Fanbook 5, Miya Kazuki. I need all the bookworm content.

I Survived the Joplin Tornado 2011, Lauren Tarshis. Hey, a new state!

Miss Pollifax, Accidental Tourist, Dorothy Gilman. Reread.

Death in the Spires, K.J. Charles. Reliable author.

Bookmarks Moved

Tribute, Sherwood Smith

Devils, Joe Ambercrombie

Sheine Lende, Darcy Little Badger

The Unravelling, Benjamin Rosenbaum

Bourne Supremacy, Robert Ludlum

Endling: The First, Katherine Applegate

The Selected Poetry of Robinson Jeffers, Robinson Jeffers

The Honey Witch, Sydney J. Shields

The Wild Girls, Pat Murphy

Hearts Still Beating, Brooke Archer

Coyote Dreams, C.E. Murphy

The Luminaries, Eleanor Catton

Bookmarks Languished

I have not given up on these! Ignore all evidence.

                                                                                                

                                                                                    Into the Vast Nothing, J. Bruno.

                                                                                Marry Me By Midnight, Felicia Grossmann       

                                                                    True Colors, Abby Cooper.

                                                              South Riding, Winifred Holtby     

                      The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, David Mitchell         

                  A, B, C: Three Short Novels, Samuel Delany

         An Exchange of Hostages, Susan R. Matthews

      I’m Nobody, Who Are You?, Emily Dickinson

      Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel

      Calypso, Oliver K Langmead

      Monstress Vol. 9, Marjorie M. Liu

      The Hunger and the Dusk, G. Willow Wilson

      Speculative Whiteness, Jordan S. Carroll

      Track Changes, Abigail Nussbaum

   Heavenly Tyrants, Xiran Jay Zhao

One Jump Ahead, Mark L Von Name

Lepunia: Kingdom of the Gallopers, Kevin Ford

Picture Books, Poems, and Short Stories

 None. 

Books on Slow Mode

Home Comforts, Cheryl Mendleson. I read one section a day. On to laundry and linens.

At the Feet of the Sun, Victoria Goddard. Reintegration.

50 Great Poets, ed. Milton Crane (no picture). 

The Writer's Stance: Reading and Writing in the Disciplines, Dorothy U. Seyler. (no picture). Mail bribe. Student essays are not as polished as professional work. On to social sciences!

Black Leopard, Red Wolf, Marlon. Mail bribe.

War Cross, Marie Lu. Mail bribe. Teen romance is hard.

Teaching With Caldecott Books, Scholastic books. Mail bribe. Onto book 2!

Books Acquired

I only notice when I’m caught up.

Future Plans

This is for the actual future, so weeks beyond the books in this post. It is also probably wrong.

I am reading: 

• Book I own: Devils
• Library Book: The Bright and Breaking Sea
• Hugo Finalist: Sheine Lende
• Ebook I own: The Demonic Ox
• Foolscap Book Club Book:  Every Heart a Doorway
• Sword and Laser Club Book:  She Who became the Sun
• Scintillation Book Club: Accident of Stars
• Cloudy Book Club:  The Bright and Breaking Sea
• Torches and Pitchfork Book Club:  Who Fears Death
• River Runs Under It Book Club: This Tender Land
• Talbot Hill Book:  Recommendations: Babysitter’s Little Sister, Pokémon 
• Friday Book Club: Dune
• Romance Book Club: Amnesia

The Plays The Thing

This was a fun week. I had a second trip to the zoo, this time including a scavenger hunt with friends. My washing machine broke (it had a long and respectable run) and we replaced it. I saw a move: She Rides Shotgun. I had lunch with one friend and a walk with another. Summertime is good.

Oh, and we met up with my brother and family to see Much Ado About Nothing which is an importance summer milestone. 

Goodreads still thinks I am reading 65 books. At least it’s not going up? The library thinks I have 69 physical books checked out, which seems maybe a wee bit high. Maybe if I finished a few book I could turn them in and work on both statistics at the same time. 

Books Completed  Aug 1 - Aug 6

Rosalie Lightning, Tom Hart. Wow. This was a moving and powerful chronicle of a family dealing with the sudden, unexplained death of their toddler. The graphics manage to echo the drowning, formless grief that encompassed them, as well as the gifts and support of their friends and the meaningless rhythms of life that continue on in heartless disregard of their loss. 

I Survived the Black Death, 1348, Lauren Tarshis. Most of these are based in America, but this one j7mps to England a the distant past. I appreciated how Tarshis worked to capture the flavor of the times while keeping to the style of the series.

Of Solids And Surds, Samuel R. Delany. These essays on why he writes were fun to read. The length varied from a sentence to a full chapter and the tone varied from witty to deeply analytical to almost nostalgic. The occasional discussion in the footnotes with the editor were an unexpectedly charming note.

I Survived The Attacks of September 11, 2001, Lauren Tarshis. I vividly remember this day, although I was on the west coast getting my kids ready for preschool. My best friend called because she knew my husband was flying back from the east coast and she wanted to check his flight number before I turned on the TV. I also liked the football concussion side plot, and I appreciated the essay about the writing process and the uncle.

Mary-Anne’s Bad Luck Mystery, Ann M Martin. This had a definite jump the shark feel to it. At least when I read the graphic novel they had fun illustrating the graveyard scenes; this just had the club passing the idiot ball around a lot, sometimes squabbling so they could all hold it at once.

Books Started

I Survived the Black Death, 1348, Lauren Tarshis. Not American!

The Unravelling, Benjamin Rosenbaum. Scintillation book club. I will miss the meeting.

Hearts Still Beating, Brooke Archer. Cybils finalist.

Bookmarks Moved

When the Moon Met the Sun, Alaina Hope. 

Tribute, Sherwood Smith

Devils, Joe Ambercrombie. Sword and Laser pick. 

One Jump Ahead, Mark L Von Name

Coyote Dreams, C.E. Murphy

Lawless, Leah Litman. 

Sheine Lende, Darcy Little Badger. Hugo finalist.

The Selected Poetry of Robinson Jeffers, Robinson Jeffers

Long Live Evil, Sarah Rees Brennan

The Honey Witch, Sydney J. Shields

Because Internet, Gretchen McCulloch

Lepunia: Kingdom of the Gallopers, Kevin Ford

Bourne Supremacy, Robert Ludlum

Endling: The First, Katherine Applegate

The Wild Girls, Pat Murphy

Bookmarks Languished

I have not given up on these! Ignore all evidence.

                                                                                                

                                                                                 Into the Vast Nothing, J. Bruno.

                                                                             Marry Me By Midnight, Felicia Grossmann       

                                                                 True Colors, Abby Cooper.

                                                           South Riding, Winifred Holtby     

                   The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, David Mitchell         

               A, B, C: Three Short Novels, Samuel Delany

      An Exchange of Hostages, Susan R. Matthews

   I’m Nobody, Who Are You?, Emily Dickinson

   Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel

   Calypso, Oliver K Langmead

   Monstress Vol. 9, Marjorie M. Liu

   The Hunger and the Dusk, G. Willow Wilson

   Speculative Whiteness, Jordan S. Carroll

   Track Changes, Abigail Nussbaum

Heavenly Tyrants, Xiran Jay Zhao

Picture Books, Poems, and Short Stories

 None. 

Books on Slow Mode

Home Comforts, Cheryl Mendleson. I read one section a day. On to laundry and linens.

At the Feet of the Sun, Victoria Goddard. Reintegration.

50 Great Poets, ed. Milton Crane (no picture). 

The Writer's Stance: Reading and Writing in the Disciplines, Dorothy U. Seyler. (no picture). Mail bribe.

Black Leopard, Red Wolf, Marlon. Mail bribe. Moving back to personal stuff. 

War Cross, Marie Lu. Mail bribe. Teen romance is hard.

Teaching With Caldecott Books, Scholastic books. Mail bribe. To the Market.

Year of Wonder, Clemency Burton-Hill. Mail bribe. I’m past Christmas!

Books Acquired

I only notice when I’m caught up.

Future Plans

This is for the actual future, so weeks beyond the books in this post. It is also probably wrong.

I am reading: 

• Book I own: Devils
• Library Book: A, B, C: Three Short Novels
• Hugo Finalist: Sheine Lende
• Ebook I own: The Demonic Ox
• Foolscap Book Club Book:  Arabella of Mars
• Sword and Laser Club Book:  She Who became the Sun
• Scintillation Book Club: Accident of Stars
• Cloudy Book Club:  The Bright and Breaking Sea
• Torches and Pitchfork Book Club:  Who Fears Death
• River Runs Under It Book Club: This Tender Land
• Talbot Hill Book:  Recommendations: Babysitter’s Little Sister, Pokémon 
• Friday Book Club: Dune
• Romance Book Club: Amnesia

Going to the Zoo, Zoo

I was invited to a Zoo Event where we met a lynx and discussed his favorite colognes and then had pizza and then I rushed home to an online book club. Lynxes have big puffy feet and invisible tails and never make mistakes, just like a cat. 

And I’m returning to the zoo next week for a company party. 

I hung out with my niblings and sometimes my son so they wouldn’t miss my sister and BiL too much. And I hung out with my friend because we’ve been missing our walks for reasons (travel, bad weather, desire to sleep late, I’ve got REASONS ok) and had delicious food and reaffirmed our walking goals. 

Goodreads thinks I am reading 65 books. I swear I’m trying to bring that down. The library thinks I have 67 physical books checked out, which seems maybe a wee bit high. Maybe if I finished a few book I could turn them in and work on both statistics at the same time. 

Books Completed  July 25 - July 31

Pokémon Sun and Moon 1, Hidenori Kusaka. Recommended by Talbot Hill kids. I think this book assumes you have seen the anime; there were several bits that seemed more a reference that a description of what was happening. But I’m a Pokémon expert and I kept up. 

Prince and Assassin, Tania Lark. Lightweight but fun romance. I liked how pretty the prince found the assassin. If I see this author again I’ll read more. 

Kristy and the Mothers Day Surprise, Ann M. Martin. I’m always happy when the club gathers together a legion of children. Even Stacey came back!

Poverty By America, Matthew Desmond. Torches and Pitchforks selection. Well documented and grim, showing how much America is willing to do and pay to be racist. It also reinforced my distrust of zoning rules.  

Books Started

Kristy and the Mothers Day Surprise, Ann M. Martin. This is number 22. Big numbers are hard to find. Of course technically there are hundreds. . 

Poverty By America, Matthew Desmond. Torches and Pitchforks selection. 

Rosalie Lightning, Tom Hart. Graphic novel. I think I need to read something with Lightning in the title. 

Devils, Joe Ambercrombie. Sword and Laser pick. 

Lawless, Leah Litman. I liked the podcast. 

I Survived The Attacks of September 11, 2001, Lauren Tarshis. Working my way along. 

Mary-Anne’s Bad Luck Mystery, Ann M Martin. My other list. 

Bookmarks Moved

When the Moon Met the Sun, Alaina Hope. 

Tribute, Sherwood Smith

Of Solids And Surds, Samuel R. Delany

The Honey Witch, Sydney J. Shields

Because Internet, Gretchen McCulloch

The Selected Poetry of Robinson Jeffers, Robinson Jeffers

Coyote Dreams, C.E. Murphy

Long Live Evil, Sarah Rees Brennan

Bourne Supremacy, Robert Ludlum

Endling: The First, Katherine Applegate

Heavenly Tyrants, Xiran Jay Zhao

The Wild Girls, Pat Murphy

Bookmarks Languished

I have not given up on these! Ignore all evidence.

                                                                                                

                                                                              Into the Vast Nothing, J. Bruno.

                                                                          Marry Me By Midnight, Felicia Grossmann       

                                                              True Colors, Abby Cooper.

                                                        South Riding, Winifred Holtby.                   

                                 Lepunia: Kingdom of the Gallopers, Kevin Ford

                The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, David Mitchell         

            A, B, C: Three Short Novels, Samuel Delany

       One Jump Ahead, Mark L Von Name

   An Exchange of Hostages, Susan R. Matthews

I’m Nobody, Who Are You?, Emily Dickinson

Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel

Calypso, Oliver K Langmead

Monstress Vol. 9, Marjorie M. Liu

The Hunger and the Dusk, G. Willow Wilson

Speculative Whiteness, Jordan S. Carroll

Track Changes, Abigail Nussbaum

Picture Books, Poems, and Short Stories

 None. 

Books on Slow Mode

Home Comforts, Cheryl Mendleson. I read one section a day. What can kill you if you eat food is the current topic. 

At the Feet of the Sun, Victoria Goddard. BFFs for ever!

50 Great Poets, ed. Milton Crane (no picture). 

The Writer's Stance: Reading and Writing in the Disciplines, Dorothy U. Seyler. (no picture). Mail bribe.

Black Leopard, Red Wolf, Marlon. Mail bribe. Lots of violence.

War Cross, Marie Lu. Mail bribe. 

Teaching With Caldecott Books, Scholastic books. Mail bribe. 

Year of Wonder, Clemency Burton-Hill. Mail bribe. Last days of the year! Then I’ll declare victory and just do the song of the day.

Books Acquired

I only notice when I’m caught up.

Future Plans

This is for the actual future, so weeks beyond the books in this post. It is also probably wrong.

I am reading: 

• Book I own: Devils
• Library Book: Ordinary Time
• Hugo Finalist: Sheine Lende
• Ebook I own: The Demonic Ox
• Foolscap Book Club Book:  Arabella of Mars
• Sword and Laser Club Book:  She Who became the Sun
• Scintillation Book Club: Unravelling
• Cloudy Book Club:  The Bright and Breaking Sea
• Torches and Pitchfork Book Club:  Who Fears Death
• River Runs Under It Book Club: This Tender Land
• Talbot Hill Book:  Recommendations: Babysitter’s Little Sister, Pokémon 
• Friday Book Club: Dune
• Romance Book Club: Jane Austin!