Geek Girls

Instead of reading this weekend, I headed up to Seattle for GeekGirlCon, a celebration of nerd culture and the women who help make it. It was a lot of fun -- I heard interesting stuff, saw interesting art, turned in a library book, checked out a library book, and met the Doubleclicks.

Also, I successfully navigated public transit, something my kids do with ease but that fills me with fear and trembling. Which is sad, because it's ridiculously simple, with a frequently running express taking me straight downtown. That's the one my boys ride a lot, so now I feel even safer about them doing this.

I must have looked like I knew what I was doing, because three people asked me for directions. One I could even help!

I'm off to sign up to see what everyone else is reading lately at bookjourney's and Teach Mentor Texts lists. I read a lot of short books this week, which should help me get my library count down:

• Captain Marvel, Vol 2: Down, by Kelly Sue Deconnick. I found this one grimmer and less fun -- I like my comic book superheroes to have comic problems, not real ones. Probably because I haven't been here for the long haul, so they don't feel fully real to me. Also, the art changed drastically (if I noticed, it was very drastic!) and that made the later parts of the story less convincing, which was sad as that was the part with the illness and depression in it.
• Unmade, Sarah Rees Brennan. Good landing for the trilogy -- I got to recommend it at a panel at the con. I especially liked the relationship between Holly and Angela, and the heroic but whiny way the main trio faced their doom.
• Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales: Treaties, Trenches, Mud and Blood, Nathan Hale. As grim as promised -- World War I is never a cheerful tale.
• A Part of the Sky, Robert Newton Peck. Speaking of grim! If anyone is feeling too bouyant and chipper after the ending of A Day No Pigs Would Die, this book will help.
• Waiting For Normal, Leslie Connor. Kid raising her mother eventually has to give up. 
• The Governess Affair, Courtney Milan. At least this one ends with a lavender farm.
• Mrs. Pollifax and the Lion Killer, Dorothy Gilman. I would prefer a real country for the African stories, but since she's letting her characters mess with the politics I can see why she fakes one.
• Black Butler Vol 3, Yana Toboso. I liked seeing the differences between the manga and the anime. I have to hurry up and get the next because I prefer to read first and watch afterward.

What am I currently reading? Less than I was last week, but still too much. I've got roughly 23 books in my currently-reading sack.  Most (not quite all) of my currently reading list is now on  GOODREADS.

• The Whispering Skull, Jonathan Stroud. I'm having problems relating to the characters this time around; we're in the viewpoint of the sidekick but I keep wishing she was the main hero.
• The New Jim Crow, Michelle Alexander. NOOK. Distressing account of the evils of our drug policy.
• Templar, Jordan Mechner. Cybils graphic novel. I need to finish this to work on other Cybils books.
• Thorn Fall, Lindsay Buroker. NOOK. Buroker does great action scenes, and so far I like the characters and the peril.
• Imprisoned, Martin W. Sandler. Cybils book. I want to get my boys to read this.
• Codex Born, Jim C. Hines. Second book in a series where magicians get their power from books, so it's hard to see how it can possibly go wrong. I liked the first one, so I bought this one.
• Dead Man Walking, Sister Helen Prejean. From my shelves.
• A Matter for Men, David Gerrold. No change.
• Anna of Byzantium, Tracy Barett. No change.
• Magic City: Recent Spells, Paula Guran, ed. It has returned to me!
• Always, Abigail, Nancy J. Cavanaugh. Poor Abigail -- I saw that alternate thing coming. 
• About That Night, Norah McClintock.  No change. 
• Rogue, Michael Z. Williamson. I don't really pay attention to their techniques, but I like the action.
• Protector, C.J. Cherryh. Kid with a hangover, Bren with a dinner plan.
• Wildflower, Alecia Whitaker. She chooses a record company -- fame is starting.
• Tell the Wolves I'm Home, Carol Rifka Brunt. No change.
• Divergent, Veronica Roth. I heard this mentioned several times at the con this weekend. 
• Yonder Comes the Other End of Time, Suzette Elgin. No change. 
• Shards of Time, Lynn Flewelling. 
• Cathedral of the Wild, Boyd Varty. They almost turned into teenagers at boarding school, but his parents pulled them out just in time.
• Tinker, Wen Spencer. I do enjoy this book. Windwolf saves her from a bad date. 
• Inkheart, Cornelia Funke. No change.
• The Son of Neptune, Rick Riordan. They are getting closer to Alaska -- come on Percy!

Reading intermittently, and deliberately slowly. These never change much:

• The Jury, Stephen Adler. Now an example of a bad jury. 
• Reading and Learning to Read, Jo Anne Vacca. How a phonics classroom operates. 
• Nerds, Michael Buckley. Our hero discovers that the kids he bullied don't like him.
• Out to Canaan, Jan Karon. Not much happens in a small town
• The Pickwick Papers, Charles Dickens. Bringing idiots along to a delicate negotiation is not a good idea.

What's up next?  Still starting a book every other day, until I get this library backlog under control. Which may be never, since I'm still checking out more books than I read. Last week I had to shuffle things around a bit, since I pried The Whispering Skull out of my kid's hands and then managed to renew the spy book.

Monday: Affecting Fictions (family member wrote this)
Tuesday:
Wednesday: "The President Has Been Shot" (Cybils)
Thursday:
Friday: Pleasure Unbound
Saturday:
Sunday: Drink Slay Love

NOOK books:

2014 Challenge Progress (NONE!):

1. Cybils: 59/77. My son is reading a lot of these. Does that count?
2. Where Am I Reading? 33/51. Vermont! Woot! Hoping to start the Connecticut book this week.
3. Alphabetically Inclined: 19/26. Only books from my shelves count, and all my library books are due!
4. What's In a Name?: 7/7. Still have to review everything. Ha!
5. Book Bingo: Fifteen boxes into square 2.
6. Gentle Spectrum Challenge complete!.
7. Small Fry Safari: 8/8. All done! Except for the reviewing...
8. PoC Speculative Fiction: 21/5: Still getting more.
9. Best of the Best 2012: 52/25.  I am stalled.
10. Reading My Library: Library temporarily closed, so on hiatus.