Monday, November 30, 2015

Turkey Time Complete

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?
Woot! I turned in my novel! I finished 50,000 words just before the big showdown scene where the good guys face off against the villain. I hope I still write that part.

Also, Thanksgiving happened, I made a turkey, I made a side dish, I made an EXTRA side dish, and I talked my kids into making an ice box cake. Or two. And I obtained a pie. And helped eat the soup, stuffing, casserole, vegetables, rolls, and two more pies that other people kindly made for me. Yum!

Leftovers are mostly done, with some stock and bits of turkey that are about to become Turkey Tetrizini (sp?).

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 two books:


The Traitor Baru Cormorant, Seth Dickinson. Last month's Sword and Laser pick. I was right about the ending being tough. A good read, but tough. I'll hand it along to the older kid.

Roller Girl, Victoria Jamieson. This energetic children's graphic novel combines a fascinating peek into the world of Roller Ball (of which I've attended a match, which was fun but did not inspire me to pursue the sport) with a coming of age story about growing away from old friends, meeting new ones, and redefining oneself within your family.

And I started two new books:


City of Saints, Andrew Hunt. This is for my Reading My Library Quest. I started it early because I thought I couldn't renew it, but then I did. Now I'm reading it because it is set in Utah.

The Last Chance Christmas Ball, (many). I only read the prologue by Jo Beverley.

Bookmarks Moved in two books, plus the audio:


audio: Lord of Scoundrels, Loretta Chase. Saved again! She fell asleep. After enough touching to make me very uncomfortable, but well done Chase! And then back to stuff about his mom and handling the servants, and pretending one doesn't care about one's wife. Reading My Library pick.

14, Peter Clines. Only read through part one. Definitely a creepy house.

The Cobweb, Neil Stevenson & J. Frederick George. I do not have big hopes for the election plans of our deputy.

The next few books I'm not really reading, just dipping into between the books I'm trying to finish so that I can pretend that I'm going to read the books on my bookcases.

If I'm Jewish and You're Christian, What Are the Kids?: A Parenting Guide for Interfaith FamiliesRob Roy  Waiting for the PartyA Traitor to Memory (Inspector Lynley, #11)Reading and Learning to Read

The October Country, Ray Bradbury. Small town ladies kids are odd.
If I'm Jewish and You're Christian, What Are the Kids?, Andrea King. What happens when the kids are grown and gone? It's odd how so many of the example families do not associate religion with belief.
Rob Roy, Walter Scott.
Waiting For the Party, Ann Thwaite.
A Traitor To Memory, Elizabeth George.
Reading and Learning To Read, Jo Vacca. How to incorporate phonics in a way that encourages mastery.

2015 Challenge Progress (this week -- NONE):
  1. Reading My Library: Listened to the audio book.
  2. Where Am I Reading?: 39/51.  Reading a Utah and an Iowa book. It's going to be tight this year.
  3. Award Winning Book Challenge: I have apparently stopped reviewing books.
  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:  I V X  Z still missing. 22/26. Since I only count books I own, this is hard.
  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!

Monday, November 23, 2015

Turkey Time Approacheth

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?
The month is November, AKA NaNoWriMo, so I'm writing a novel. Still. I'm on target for word count, so that's a thing. I manage to come up with plot idea about a day in advance, so I'm thinking overall coherence may be a problem.

I also hosted the judging for our junior high art contest, which was a thing. Now we just have to display it at teacher conferences and my big event is DONE. And I can start worrying about what I've been assigned for Thanksgiving dinner.

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

This week I finished 6 books:



Mischief and Mistletoe, assorted short stories. I like most of these authors, and my book club just read one of their books, so I was inspired to actually read this one. It was fun, and worked well as I wrote my novel, since there is no overlap between my story and these stories.

Vengeance of the Demon, Diana Rowland. I seem to have drifted away from this series -- I think I missed a few? I like the characters, but the situation is now a bit top-heavy for me to get back into it.

The Gods Themselves, Isaac Asimov (reread). I missed the final club meeting for this book, which was a bit of a shame. I've read it about three times, ten years apart, so for me it was interesting to see how I reacted each time. I liked it the most the second time.

Little Robot, Ben Hatke. I think kids would enjoy this more than I did -- I kept falling into the question of real vs imaginary that it completely not the point. But Hatke's illustrations are still delightful -- his children are real and powerful and smart, even on the pages with no dialogue at all.

Logan (Montana Creeds), Linda Lael Miller. Billionaire cowboy romance, just like it says on the tin. I did recoil in horror from the abysmal health care provided -- who gets a proscription for birth control pills without understanding when they start working, or what to do if you are already pregnant? Next time find a Planned Parenthood, lady! Also, MONTANA!

Strange Relations, Sonia Levitin. I picked this for it's Hawaiian setting, and also because I trust the author. It was a good choice -- the Hawaii, Orthodox Judaism, secular Judaism, boyfriend issues, and even the family backstory mixed well together for an interesting fast read.

And I started new books:



The Cobweb, Neil Stevenson & J. Frederick George. This is of great interest to me as it is set in IOWA.

14, Peter Clines. My next book club book. Anyone have good suggestions for creepy house movies?

Songs of Willow Frost (started), Jamie Ford. My next Reading My Library pick. Chinese orphan in California, so no new state for me.

Bookmarks Moved in one other book, plus the audio:
Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase
audio: Lord of Scoundrels, Loretta Chase. Well, thank goodness the hero drank himself to oblivion rather than have sex with his wife while my son is listening with me. I hope I don't crash the car. In the meantime, we're both roaring with laughter at the appropriate places. Reading My Library pick.

The Traitor Baru Cormorant, Seth Dickinson. I'm reading this to catch up to Sword and Laser. I have a strong feeling terrible things are going to happen, so I'm dragging my eyes about the last 100 pages.

The next few books I'm not really reading, just dipping into between the books I'm trying to finish so that I can pretend that I'm going to read the books on my bookcases.

If I'm Jewish and You're Christian, What Are the Kids?: A Parenting Guide for Interfaith FamiliesRob Roy  Waiting for the PartyA Traitor to Memory (Inspector Lynley, #11)Reading and Learning to Read

The October Country, Ray Bradbury. Small town ladies are tough. Tougher than death.
If I'm Jewish and You're Christian, What Are the Kids?, Andrea King.
Rob Roy, Walter Scott.
Waiting For the Party, Ann Thwaite.
A Traitor To Memory, Elizabeth George.
Reading and Learning To Read, Jo Vacca. I like books about how reading works.

2015 Challenge Progress:
  1. Reading My Library: Listened to the audio book.
  2. Where Am I Reading?: 39/51.  Read the Hawaii plus a Montana and started the Indiana. It's going to be tight this year.
  3. Award Winning Book Challenge: I have apparently stopped reviewing books. But I've ticked off many awards -- Strange Relations was another winner. 
  4. Book Riot Read Harder: 23/24. I still need an African author.
  5. Alphabetically Inclined:  I V X  Z still missing. 22/26. Since I only count books I own, this is hard.
  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!

Monday, November 16, 2015

Writhing In Circles

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?
The month is November, AKA NaNoWriMo, so I'm writing a novel. Well, I'm writing 50,000 words about some characters; novel implies more structure and coherence than I seem to be achieving.

This means that I've utterly neglected my blog, since if I pick up this computer to type, I'm supposed to write the novel first. Today however I've finally let the antagonist onto the stage, and I suddenly realized I had no idea what her agenda was or why she was stalking around being a villain. So instead I turn to this blog to report on what I've read so far in November (not much -- see the whole novel thing).

The Book Date is collecting the roundups of what everyone is reading and talking about this week at back at her blog. I'll also look in with Teach Mentor Texts which does the same thing for kidlit.

This week I finished 5 books, almost all of them graphic novels, children's books, or both:
Wandering Son, Vol. 2Station ElevenMercy Thompson: Hopcross JillyThe High Druid's Blade (The...

Wandering Son Vol 2, Shimura Takako. This is a manga about transgender Japanese kids, which is interesting both for the glimpse into how pre-teens manage wanting to cross dress or handle teasing and for the look at the Japanese response to this as well as normal Japanese life. I don't think I'll continue with the series because I'm terrible at reading comics and have problems telling the characters apart even though as my kids point out they look nothing alike.

Station Eleven, Emily St. John Mandel. My book club read this for our Friday meeting, and we were all blindsided by the depressing nature of it, since we are a pretty fluffy reading crowd. It's a good book and fascinating reading, especially as a contrast to most SF books of this nature -- for one thing, there are almost no engineers figuring stuff out and the author is mostly uninterested in the "how" of post-apocalypse survival. One member read it on a business trip and we agreed that this book could be nominated for "Worst Travel Read Ever."

The Princess in Black, Shannon Hale. Great kids book about a pretty princess who sneaks out to battle trolls in violation of all Pretty Princess codes. I'm looking forward to the sequel which may also include so Goat Boy heroics. I wonder if I could get the reluctant reader into this one...

Mercy Thompson: Hopcross Jilly, Patricia Briggs. This Mercy story was written with the intention of becoming a graphic novel, which apparently makes for a better graphic novel, as opposed to just drawing pictures for any old story. Fair enough -- I like that it has a lot about Mercy's step daughter, who is an interesting character. Alexander liked it too, so there's the youthful vote.

The High Druid's Blade, Terry Brooks. I found this audio story annoying in that it rarely allowed the female characters any agency. Even the evil villain thought of girls as means to attack the guy rather than as people. (Hint -- there is a sword hanging forgotten in a family's home. You have the power to mentally control the sister. Do you lure her to your distant house of ill repute so that the brother will hopefully grab the sword and follow, or do you tell her to walk home and bring it to you so you can fly off and disappear forever and probably no one will care? Do one if you are plot stupid, because the second choice would make the book awfully short.)

Last week I finished:


The Blacksmith's Bravery (Ladies' Shooting Club), Susan Page Davis. Another Reading My Library Quest book. Christians in a rough Idaho town struggle with bandits and remaking their lives in accordance with their new religious beliefs.

A Bride's Story Vol 4, Kaoru Mori. The continuing manga about the Asian steppes.

Sideways Stories From Wayside School, Louis Sachar (reread). For my elementary book club, although I also discovered it makes a great read aloud.

The Plague of Doves, Louise Erdrich. Reading this over several months made it a little harder to keep track of the interlocking story lines, but the beauty of the language held it together.

Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales: The Underground Abductor, Nathan Hale. A strong addition to this historical series, this book really gave a sense of the immense effort and courage of Harriet Tubman and her continuing journeys to save people from slavery.

Gateway, Sharon Shinn. Good people risking much to do good things, as expected in Shinn's book. I would have found the romance delightful when I was young, although my jaded self found the emotions a bit exhausting.

Almost Amish, Kathryn Cushman. Are more large print books Christian fiction? Do Christians read more as their eyes get tired? I'm not complaining, I'm just wondering. This was a fun exploration of life inside a reality TV show, with the uptight mom getting redeemed instead of demonized.

Dreams Underfoot, Charles de Lint. Strong stories of people who see into the fae world, with a lot of subtext about stories and reality and truth. Reminded me why I like de Lint, so I'll keep reading more of his stuff.

And while I was in the library I browsed a couple of picture books from the holiday shelves:


Zen Ghosts, John Muth. I always feel the whoosh of the koan's wisdom rushing past my head when I read these books. I have no idea what kids think of them.

Monster Needs a Costume, Paul Czajak. I found it a bit predictable, which probably a lot of kids like but my family was more into a twist ending. The monster discovers that you can have it all.


And I started new books:


audio: Lord of Scoundrels, Loretta Chase. This may take longer than I expected, because Alexander is enjoying it tremendously so I may save it for when he's in the car. Although I'm not sure I want to listen to the actual sex scenes with my 17 year old son sitting next to me...

Logan, Linda Lael Miller. True love in MONTANA.

The Traitor Baru Cormorant, Seth Dickinson. I'm reading this to catch up to Sword and Laser. I like it although it's pretty grim. Also, I do not believe Seth is related to Peter Dickinson, which confused me for a while.

The Gods Themselves, Isaac Asimov (reread). I'm supposed to finish this by Tuesday for my movie/book club. It's fun reading this with only dim memories so that I'm not sure what I've figured out and what I remember.

Bookmarks Moved in a few other books:


Mischief and Mistletoe. Christmas themed Regency romance stories from some of my best known authors. I'm reading it a lot lately because it is utterly unlike my novel and so doesn't mess with my head.

Vengeance of the Demon, Diane Rowland. I read this while sorting my mail, because I needed an incentive as the letters were piling up.

The next few books I'm not really reading, just dipping into between the books I'm trying to finish so that I can pretend that I'm going to read the books on my bookcases.

If I'm Jewish and You're Christian, What Are the Kids?: A Parenting Guide for Interfaith FamiliesRob Roy  Waiting for the PartyA Traitor to Memory (Inspector Lynley, #11)Reading and Learning to Read

If I'm Jewish and You're Christian, What Are the Kids?, Andrea King. The latest chapters discuss what happens to observance if you only do religion for the kids, so you have an excuse to give them presents or something.
Rob Roy, Walter Scott. It is possible that our main character may have now met up with a Scot rebel, so that the interesting part of the plot can begin. The book is halfway over. Thank goodness I met this author through Ivanhoe and not this thing.
Waiting For the Party, Ann Thwaite. I had no idea that Francis Burnett was also famous for her adult fiction, back in her day. That she did not have a great marriage is not as surprising.
A Traitor To Memory, Elizabeth George. My favorite subplot is the musician who can't play and who is inexplicably writing a diary (there's an explanation, but it seems wildly improbable).
Reading and Learning To Read, Jo Vacca. I like books about how reading works.

2015 Challenge Progress:
  1. Reading My Library: Finished two. Moving along with the C's in audio books.
  2. Where Am I Reading?: 37/51.  Finished the North Dakota, but repeated Tennessee, Idaho and Michigan. Got a Hawaii and Indiana on my shelves.
  3. Award Winning Book Challenge: I have apparently stopped reviewing books. But I've ticked off many awards. 
  4. Book Riot Read Harder: 23/24. I still need an African author.
  5. Alphabetically Inclined:  I V X  Z still missing. 22/26. Since I only count books I own, this is hard.
  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!