Sunday Summary, On Tuesday

What did I read this week? Well, the question really is what did I read on Monday, when I had to grab the easily finished books on my bedside table and make sure I finished the clear-your-shelves challenge. Then I went back to my old ways of reading little bits of many different books, until my table again towers higher than my sleigh bed, which is saying a lot.

I plowed through a classic western, a regency romance, a kidlit retelling of Snow White, and the last bits of an interesting memoir of the space industry, and then only finished a luminous SF book in the rest of the week.

I challenged my kids to help make a Christmas wreath around the room. Every time we finish a book, we add a link. At first we alternated colors for me and them, but that got stressful because, as you know, if you put two of the same colors next to each other on a paper chain, the world will end. So know we have a lot of different colors in the fruit basket, and you just add as many as you need each morning. Much more sane.

• The Necessary Beggar
• Flint
• Lord Caldwell and the Cat
• Astro Turf: The Private Life of Rocket Science
• Fairest

What am I still reading? Ignoring the books lost in the limbo between Real Sunday and Tuesday-Sunday, I have bookmarks in these library books:

• A Weed By Any Other Name. Has inspired me to cancel my lawn service.
• Marcelo In the Real World. I snuck ahead to read the ending, which has slowed my urgency.
• The Prisoner Within. Nasty torture scene is not making me rush back to this one.

Books I own with bookmarks that may move this week are:

• American Gods, Neil Gaiman. Maybe I should read Coraline first. It's shorter.
• Heart of Gold, Sharon Shinn. A book about a race war between the blues and golds.
• Clutters Last Stand, Don Aslett. Reading about cleaning is more relaxing than doing it.
• Whiskey and Water, Elizabeth Bear. I've bought the next two books, but not finished this one.
• Stolen, Kelley Armstrong. Werewolves, witches and vampires, oh my.
• Privilege of the Sword, Ellen Kushner. A sharply faceted gem of a book.
• Powers, Ursula Le Guin. I'm past the part where the sister dies, so I can read again.
• Broom of the System, David Foster Wallace. First hints of great-grandma in many pages!
• End of Racism, Dinesh D'Souza. Rather dry.
• The Glass Harmonica, Louise Marley. I wish I knew how much of the music stuff was made up. I've met this author, by the way.
• Downbelow Station, C.J. Cherryh. A reread. I've met her too.