New Year Approaches

I've been to the mountains and back. I've listened to audio books and podcasts and ancient music from my youth while driving through desolate highways. And I've just about finished my 50 States Challenge, which is a good feeling. I also spent most of my Christmas hanging out with family instead of frantically reading, and the books were interesting enough that I often came out of them to talk to people anyway.

We also had a good time going to see the new Star Wars Movie, and going from there to a lunch meeting of the Extended Family Book Club, which was officially about The Martian but we let it slide if people who had skipped the reading wanted to talk Star Wars instead.

I also forgot to post this yesterday, so I'm not really going to sign up anywhere. All the links will be obsolete.

The Book Date is collecting the roundups of what everyone is reading and talking about this week. I'll also look in with Teach Mentor Texts which does the same thing for kidlit, since I read a kid book, although I won't sign in there since there were no kidlit books on my list.

This week I finished three books:



Brothel, Alexa Albert. The book finishes with the closing of the famous Mustang Ranch, although prostitution itself continues legally in Nevada. I'd say this book is persuasive evidence of both the dehumanizing effects of the sex trade, as well as the benefits of legalizing it.

Wormwood, Susan Wittig Albert. The end was rather unsatisfying, with an unexplained (to the public -- us readers know what happened) murder saving the historical Kentucky Shaker community, for a for years at least. In the modern day story line, the bad guy is unmasked and then immediately hit by lightning, saving him from answering pesky questions that might call the innocence of his sister into question. I liked the thematic conclusion of the main character adopting a child, since the questions of building families ran throughout the book, but the actual mystery parts were a bit of a slog.

Angel Among Us, Katy Munger. Alls well that ends well, which is good because Christmas is a lousy time to read about a pregnant woman's murder. But I still found the main character more of a detriment -- he's only an observer, without agency or real direction. Oh well, Delaware down!

And I started a new book:


Jeweled Fire, Sharon Shinn. I really like Shinn's books, which involve realistic characters that usually try to do the right thing, although sometimes they find it hard. It's nice to sometimes read something just for fun, instead of for my challenges.

Bookmarks Moved in books:




Stakeout, Parnell Hall. New Jersey. New Jersey. I'm still not liking this too much. At least he's started accomplishing things, although the book grinds to a halt after each small action so his wife, lawyer, and cop friend can yell about how dumb whatever he just did was.

I Lived on Butterfly Hill, Marjorie Agosin. Still no signs of moving to Maine, which is a bit distracting. The child voice is lyrical, which makes it sound more Spanish as that is how I always imagine Spanish sounding (probably not if I actually understood the language!). Things are looking grim in Chile, though.

The Cobweb, Neil Stevenson & J. Frederick George. I like the Clyde character, and not just because he's hanging out in Iowa. I hope the focuses continues aiming at him.

The Heist, Janet Evanovich &  Lee Goldberg. I need to get in the right mind set for this; I keep cringing for the characters instead of laughing at their situations. It's slowing down my listening.

Laura's Wolf, Lia Silver.  The man and woman are literally holed up in a snowed-in cabin, which makes me giggle. They are still too shy to confess their mutual lust. Maybe if they get one more night when they have to share a bed for warmth, and if no one gets shot.

2015 Challenge Progress:

1. Reading My Library: Working on a Large Print and the audio book.
2. Where Am I Reading?: 48/51. Got Nevada, Kentucky, and Delaware. At the end of the New Jersey book, the middle of the Iowa, and the beginning of what I hope will be Maine.
3. Award Winning Book Challenge: Well, I didn't really review anything, but so far I've got 16 awards.
4. Book Riot Read Harder: 23/24. I still need an African author. I have one in my bag if I finish the 50 States Challenge.
5. Alphabetically Inclined:  V X Z still missing. 23/26.
6. Best of the Best 2012: 52/25.  I am stalled. Maybe time to go back?
7. Cybils 2014: Complete! Looking forward to starting anew in 2016.

Count Down To Santa Times

The family has started gathering, which cuts down on my reading time, but I'm still planning on finishing this 50 State challenge. Also maybe reading some stuff for fun.  And maybe enabling some skiing, wrapping a few presents, and planning a giant family book club (The Martian), incorporating a viewing of The Force Awakens for a compare/contrast of movies set away from Earth.

The Book Date is collecting the roundups of what everyone is reading and talking about this week. I'll also look in with Teach Mentor Texts which does the same thing for kidlit, since I read a kid book.

This week I finished  books:


The Worst Hard Time, Timothy Egan. I'm counting this history of the American Dustbowl of the 1930's as an Oklahoma book, because Oklahoma suffered a lot. It's well written, with a good mix of personal anecdotes with the more sweeping historical context. It's also immensely grim, as you ache for the hopeful characters setting up their farms and thereby dooming themselves, and then nature starts retaliating and never lets up. The diaries and personal stories stay optimistic for a long time, but the readers know that everyone is doomed.

Kepler's Dream, Juliet Bell. This kidlit set in New Mexico could have gone grim and tear-soaked, given that it starts with a kid whose divorced parents number a useless father and a mom dying of cancer. But it shies away from the tissue genre and instead gives quirky relatives, non-violent bad guys, and a realistic friendship that paves the way for the optimistic family cohesion. And the mom survives but stays away from the flaky dad, so happy endings all around (if that was a spoiler for you, this is probably not the genre you are looking for).

The Last Chance Christmas Ball, many. This is the new Christmas collection from the Word Wenches, and I found it rather disappointing. It was fun that so many of the stories linked together, having either a distant or direct connection to the Christmas Ball, but that meant that they tended to spoil each other. OK, it's not like I'm wondering whether the guy and girl will find true love in a romance story, but if one story ends with a peek at a couple dancing with True Love, starting the next one with that couple means I can't even pretend there is tension. On the other hand, the stories were heartwarming and mostly clever, so it was a gentle seasonal read.

Equipoise, Kim Fielding. This is a fanfiction writer who now writes original fiction, but only for the Kindle. So I started this one and forgot about it because I dislike my Kindle App, but I had to read something for a book club on that app and saw this. I should see if I can get her other stuff for my NOOK now. This is the end of a story about a somewhat reluctant magic user and his time-traveling boyfriend, and how they save their city.

And I started a new book:



Laura's Wolf, Lia Silver.  Since I've figured out how to use my Kindle app, I'll keep working my way through the books I've somehow acquired. This is the pseudonym of another author I usually enjoy, so I'm looking forward to her take on the paranormal romance genre. So far: werewolf!

Bookmarks Moved in books:




Stakeout, Parnell Hall. New Jersey. New Jersey. I admit I'm not really enjoying this one. I think I had to learn to like the main character in the previous 18 books so I could tolerate his bumbling in this one. We spend a lot of time listening to people (his friends, wife, lawyer) yell at him for being stupid, and they have my full sympathy.

I Lived on Butterfly Hill, Marjorie Agosin. Maine. I hope. Storm clouds are gathering around Chile. My knowledge of the actual history is sketchy enough that I don't know any better than the child character what is about to happen, other than that I think it ends up with her in Maine.

Cobweb, Neil Stevenson & J. Frederick George. I'm beginning to see how the Iowa parts match up with the other spy stuff.

Brothel, Alexa Albert. Interestingly, this was name checked by Sarah Monette after I started it. It's rather obvious that legal prostitution is a much safer occupation for women than the illegal version. I'm enjoying this peek into a culture that I've never really imagined.

Wormwood, Susan Wittig Albert. I'm enjoying the modern parts more than the historical Shaker parts, which surprises me. Maybe because I'm confident that the modern people will solve the mystery and get back to their normal lives, but there are real problems looming for the Shakers.

Angel Among Us, Katy Munger. The nice pregnant teacher has disappeared, which is not good news as I think this book is a murder mystery.

The Heist, Janet Evanovich &  Lee Goldberg. I need to get in the right mind set for this; I keep cringing for the characters instead of laughing at their situations. It's slowing down my listening. A Reading my Library pick.

Under a Graveyard Sky, John Ringo. The weekly Baen podcast is serializing this, and we fell behind while listening to The Lord of Scoundrels. It was a good car read while driving around for holiday errands, though. We are almost caught up.


2015 Challenge Progress:

1. Reading My Library: Working on a Large Print and the audio book.
2. Where Am I Reading?: 45/51. Got Oklahoma and New Mexico. Still need:  New Jersey, Nevada, Maine, Kentucky, Iowa, and Delaware. I'm almost done with Nevada.
3. Award Winning Book Challenge: Well, I didn't really review anything, but so far I've got 16 awards.
4. Book Riot Read Harder: 23/24. I still need an African author. Still! Best would be an African author who wrote a book set in Maine.
5. Alphabetically Inclined:  V X  Z still missing. 23/26.
6. Best of the Best 2012: 52/25.  I am stalled. Maybe time to go back?
7. Cybils 2014: Complete! I bought the last one as the libraries didn't seem to have it. WOOT!

Mid December Check In

I started wrapping Christmas presents last month. Well, I wrapped two things. Ever since I've had this comfortable feeling that I'm well ahead of the game this year. Until I looked around today, realized that December was half over, the Christmas tree was only half decorated, the lights are half outside, half on the couch, the stockings are still in a box in the garage, and I haven't wrapped anything since. I'm also very confused as to what I've bought and who is still on my list. I am perhaps not as ahead of the game as I thought. Oh well, at least I got all the Christmas CDs out.

I'm either going to finish this 50 States Challenge or have a very good start on next years, as I'm halfway through about eight state books. I have brought inefficient reading to a new level. On the other hand, I don't have any book group books needed until next year, which is very far away, right?

The Book Date is collecting the roundups of what everyone is reading and talking about this week. I'll also look in with Teach Mentor Texts which does the same thing for kidlit, since I read two kid books.

This week I finished  books:


Lord of Scoundrels, Loretta Chase.  (audio) Well. We made it through. My son and I laughed a lot, and avoided each other's eyes a lot. Many years ago, when I first gave him the "birds and bees" talk, he was very unsure as to why anyone would do IT. It seemed so unpleasant. I think this book made IT seem more attractive. Reading My Library pick.

Rendezvous, Nelson DeMille. (audio). I'm racing through the audio section on my Reading My Library Quest, so this is exciting. This one was one disc long.

Lemonade Mouth Puckers Up, Mark Peter Hughes. My BiL found this YA for me when I complained about the shortage of Rhode Island books. Actually, he found the previous book in the series, but I messed up checking out the e-books on my phone. It's a fun story about a band that puts integrity above paychecks.

Jack and Joe, Diane Capri. North Carolina! This is the middle of a series about some federal agents searching for Jack Reacher, who is apparently the main character in a different series by someone else, which I also haven't read. It was readable, but I could tell I was missing a lot of things that the author assumed I cared about.

Tuck Everlasting, Natalie Babbitt. We picked this for our family book club, which almost everyone managed to read. It's a fun philosophy book, although a bit short on plot for most of the boys. It would be a good read aloud for lazy days, when the kids are too tired to move.

Silver Lining, Maggie Osborne. Last month's Vaginal Fantasy pick. Not as bad as I feared, although I wish there had been some redeeming aspects to the Bad Woman. Her unremitting awfulness made the men look stupid.

14, Peter Clines. For my Tuesday night book club. A crazy apartment story set in California. A great excuse to watch terrible movies.

And I started a handful of new books:



Brothel, Alexa Albert. This is set in Nevada! It's a nonfiction book about a woman who studied the workers in legal brothels.

Wormwood, Susan Wittig Albert. Kentucky! The middle of a mystery series that I've never heard of before.

Angel Among Us, Katy Munger. Delaware. I'm not very far along -- the narrator is a dead cop, and I think he solves mysteries, although he wasn't very good at it when he was alive.

Republic, Lindsay Buroker. The last of this series, and a book that's not for any challenge but I'd really like to read it.

The Way Into Chaos, Harry Connolly. So, I paid for this on Kickstarted because I think this guy writes great novels, adventure stories with wit and heart. Then I lost my ebooks, found this in the library, let my son borrow it, lost it in a pile of other library books, just realized that it's due on Thursday, and today I gave up and bought the whole series again from B&N. Well, I want the author to keep writing, and now I can bring it along with me.

Heist, Janet Evanovich &  Lee Goldberg. Next Reading My Library Quest audio. I should pick up the one from the next shelf as I plan to do a lot of driving in the next few weeks.

Bookmarks Moved in books:




Stakeout, Parnell Hall. New Jersey. New Jersey.

The Worst Hard Time, Timothy Egan. Oklahoma.

I Lived on Butterfly Hill, Marjorie Agosin. Maine. I hope.

Kepler's Dream, Juliet Bell. New Mexico.

Cobweb, Neil Stevenson & J. Frederick George. Did I mention this takes place in Iowa?

The Last Chance Christmas Ball, (lots). This jumps to the top of my pile because I need to turn it in this week.

2015 Challenge Progress:

1. Reading My Library: Finished two audio books -- now on E. Pushed ahead a little on a large print book.
2. Where Am I Reading?: 43/51. Got Rhode Island and North Carolina . Still need: Oklahoma,  New Mexico, New Jersey, Nevada, Maine, Kentucky, Iowa, and Delaware. I have started them all.
3. Award Winning Book Challenge: Well, I didn't really review anything, but so far I've got 16 awards.
4. Book Riot Read Harder: 23/24. I still need an African author. Still! Best would be an African author who wrote a book set in Maine.
5. Alphabetically Inclined:  V X  Z still missing. 23/26.
6. Best of the Best 2012: 52/25.  I am stalled. Maybe time to go back?
7. Cybils 2014: Complete! I bought the last one as the libraries didn't seem to have it. WOOT!

Change of Obsession

I haven't been posting my library loot lately, since all my typing time went into my NaNoWriMo tapping. Also I lost a lot of reading time to writing. Humph. But now I'm back! And still checking out a months worth of reading each week!

January will start the TBR Dare though, so I guess I'll have a chance to get a grip.

I have two weeks worth of looting to report, since I never got as far as moving last week's books from the table by the front door to the library book shelf. So it's easy to include them with this weeks books and then put them away.

From the hold shelf:


Jeweled Fire, Sharon Shinn. This may be YA? I like Shinn's books because the people are solidly good types who often have interesting powers or ambitions.

Time and Again, Jack Finney. I hope I get to last month's Sword and Laser pick before I get to its podcast.

An Apprentice to Elves, Sarah Monette and Elizabeth Bear. This looks great! I also need to buy it, maybe for Christmas.

From the library lure of Quick Picks shelves:


The Golden Princess, S.M. Stirling.

And from the quick eyes of Alexander, who knows what I (and he) like:


Blue Lily, Lily Blue, Maggie Stiefvater. The final book in the series.

I'm continuing my Library Quest, although in December reading for 2015 Challenges takes precedence.  I'm still in the Large Print Fiction section, so everything feels thick and important.

I've completed two books:

The Blacksmith's Bravery by Susan Page Davis. Another Christian romance, this one set in a small time in Idaho in the time of stage coaches and mining claims. The blacksmith is brave enough to marry an ex-hooker, although maybe the courage is in admitting he needs help in various ways. It was an interesting slice of life, but not terrible page turning.

City of Saints, Andrew Hunt. This is police procedural set in Salt Lake City in the 1930's, which is pretty far off my usual reading path. I liked the police and the historically based stuff, but didn't find the characterization of the invented characters very persuasive. Since the main detective spends about a hundred (large print) pages being really stupid because of some vague and unbelievable personal issues, this was a problem. (He insists on investigating himself because his father was a cop and he thinks he doesn't measure up. So he has to prove himself by being a big idiot? I don't get it.)

You may noticed the jump in the alphabet. City of Saints moved ahead because I needed a Utah book. The next one I read from this batch will be the New Jersey book.

I've currently got 47 things out from the library, including ebooks, music, books for me, and books for the kids.

I'll go sign in to Library Loot which is at The Captive Reader this week to see what everyone else is getting.  Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and Linda from Silly Little Mischief that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week.