Monday, October 13, 2014

Geek Girls

2a
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.

4 comments:

Ms. Yingling said...

I just want to be the office manager for Lockwood and Co. and keep the offices clean and supplied with tea and biscuits! Have you nominated for Cybils? Nominations close on Wednesday, and I'd love to see more nominations. Any shout out or lists of things you'd like to see nominated that you're comfortable with would be great, too!

Kellee Moye (@kelleemoye) said...

I'm glad you liked the Hale books. That series is some of my favorite. Also, enjoy Divergent--so good!

Thank you for linking up on IMWAYR!
Happy reading this week! :)

Beth said...

I read so little new stuff that my nomination list is tiny, but I'll do my bit to support by posting my picks. I spend all my time reading what you guys pick for lst year...

GatheringBooks said...

I loved Jonathan Stroud's Bartimaeus trilogy but haven't gotten around to reading any of his other books. Glad to note your thoughts about his new novel. :)