Merry Christmas to All

I had an absolutely lovely Christmas. My siblings and I rented a huge house (affectionately nicknamed "The Mansion") in California with beds for everyone (until our Mom weaseled her way in for a night, which put the girls on a couch) and a lovely view and enough rooms to make it possible to disappear when all this togetherness seemed a bit much.

Also, my siblings are lovely people who jump up to get things done when they see a mess. They are excellent people to share a house with. I, sadly, am not, being untidy and oblivious, so I hope the Christmas time was acceptable for everyone. My kids were pleasant and almost always willing to help out, and very graciously accepted the "NO PRESENTS" rule we had. They also ate whatever was put in front of them, which is nice for a parent. I occupied myself by assigning meals to everyone except myself, but the few times I tried to cook I was usually gently shoved aside. Word may have gotten out. But I set a lot of tables!

As a final special occasion, my uncle and aunt seized the opportunity to get married while all the relatives were in town, and I got to perform the ceremony because I'm registered as a minister. I was sworn to secrecy, so no one else knew what was to happen at the "come see our new house" hor d'oeuvres party we were invited to. This was a bit awkward when the car I was in detoured back for a forgotten item ("there's no rush -- it's appetizers! no one cares when we show up"), making me 15 minutes late, but it's not like they could start without me. Everyone was gratifyingly surprised and delighted, and the bride and groom were lovely and charming. And the food was good, too.

I brought about 40 books, including most of my huge pile of unread Cybils books, but didn't read much. Even when I curled up in a chair I'd be distracted by eagles flying overhead or deer shaking their antlers or a spectacular sunset prancing about. Currently Reading is aound 30 as I start all the Cybils books but finish nothing.

The Book Date does a weekly roundup of what people are reading, want to read, or have read each week called It's Monday! What Are You Reading that I'm going to belatedly sign up for. There's also a version that is kidlit focussed.  I'll go look to see what everyone else was reading at either Teach Mentor Text or UnLeashing Readers.

This Week I started:

Actually, I'm not sure I started anything this week. I think I started a few Cybils books, but not that many and I didn't finish anything new.

I finished:


Whose Body, Dorothy Sayers. It was fun to hear this rather than read it -- the English narrator gave it a firm sense of place and I could daydream during the more philosophical parts. I may look out for more Lord Peter books for long car trips. A pleasant Reading My Library Quest pick.

The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter, Theodora Goss. Last October's Sword & Laser pick. Apparently many people found the interjection style of story telling annoying, but I liked it and enjoyed the extra perspectives on the admittedly large cast of characters.

I finished 2 non-Cybils books.

Cybils Books


To Stay Alive, Skila Brown. (Poetry) This grim narrative of the Donner party never pulled me in. The free verse poems seemed gimmicky, more an excess of carriage returns than a careful selection of words. The format kept me questioning the author's choice of speaking for Mary, choosing whom she felt affection for and whom she was willing to devour to sustain life. Last year there was a graphic novel about the same events that was both more informative and more emotionally satisfying.

We Will Not Be Silent, Russell Freedman. MG Nonfiction. I learned a lot of details of the White Rose movement, and the large size of the book gave plenty of room for both text and photographs.

Run, Kody Keplinger. YA Fiction. I really liked the depiction of the girls' friendship, which didn't hesitate even when one character revealed her bisexuality. The rural background, vision problems, and family drug addictions felt real rather than issues centering a Very Special story.

Bookmarks moved in:



Alliance of Equals, Sharon Lee & Steve Miller. Episode 28. Actually, I don't think I remembered to listen to the latest episode. I'd better catch up on the drive home.

Forged In Blood, ed. Michael Z. Williamson. I read a few of the stories, mostly to make sure my brother knew this book existed.

These I'm barely reading; I use them as palate cleansers between books I'm actually reading.



Kenilworth, Sir Walter Scott.

A Traitor to Memory, Elizabeth George.

The Quantum Universe, Brian Cox.

Reading and Learning to Read, Jo Anne Vaca.

2017 Challenge Progress:

1. Cybils 2016!  69/107-ish. Finished another poetry books (only Booked left), worked on nonfiction and YA, and generally despaired.
2. Reading My Library: Completed Whose Body, but never picked up one of the print books.
3. Where Am I Reading?: 40/51. Kentucky is in. I have a possibility for Tennessee, and another book where people are trying to get to Iowa. I may count that, because Iowa is on their minds a lot.

Gather Your Forces

Both my boys are home! This means I barely see either of them as they disappear together all the time, but it still makes me happy. And they show up to eat occasionally.

I spend my reading time poking at my huge pile of unread Cybils books, which doesn't leave much time for actual reading. Currently Reading is creeping back up 33 as I start all the Cybils YA but finish nothing.

The Book Date does a weekly roundup of what people are reading, want to read, or have read each week called It's Monday! What Are You Reading that I'm going to sign up for. There's also a version that is kidlit focussed that I usually qualify for.  I'll go look to see what everyone else was reading at either Teach Mentor Text or UnLeashing Readers.

This Week I started:


The Chocolate Touch, Patrick Catling. For my elementary school book club.

Forged in Blood, anthology. A new Freehold book.

The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter, Theodora Goss. Last October's Sword & Laser pick.

Adulthood Rites, Octavia Butler. Dawn made me want more Butler.

I finished:



In the Country We Love, Diane Guerrero. For my Reading Across the Aisles book club on Tuesday. Only two people showed up, which was disappointing. We talked about immigration and families for about 30 minutes, then gave up. I thought the book did a good job showing the pain suffered when families are broken up, but I'm not as convinced that the problem isn't parents immigrating illegally rather than laws deporting illegal immigrants.

Dawn, Octavia Butler. I must have liked it because as soon as I finished I picked up the next one.

The Chocolate Touch, Patrick Catling. For my elementary school book club. A good percentage (but not all) of the kids recognized the King Midas myth the story was based on, and then we had a fun time trying to get them to understand the 1950's, when the book was written. I had to clarify that I did not have a personal memory of WWII, which is always fun.

I finished 3 non-Cybils books.

Cybils Books





The Last Fifth Grade of Emerson Elementary, Laura Shovan. Completed. Poetry. Finished it, still unpersuaded of the idea of either kids writing these poems happily or kids thinking it mattered that their school was moving. At least the idea of a class size of 18 in a public school made sense -- a big reason the schools were consolidating was the low population.

Salt to the Sea, Ruta Sepetys. Completed. YA book. Yep, not everyone got a happy ending. And the Nazi guy never redeemed himself, or even found out what was causing his rash. Turns out that World War II was a bad time for just about everybody.

To Stay Alive, Skila Brown. Completed. Poetry. This is the kind of verse novel I avoid, with free verse poems that mostly just feel like sentences with a lot of extra returns typed in. The question this book raises for me is whether it's better to use a real person to put all your own thoughts into, or if you are planning to make stuff up you should go ahead and make somebody up who accompanies the real people. I would have prefered the latter in this case.

In the Footsteps of Crazy Horse, Joseph M. Marshall III. Completed. Middle Grade fiction. Even better than I expected, this story of Crazy Horse told through a grandson and grandfather visiting the important places of his life while affirming their love and respect for each other was utterly charming.

We Will Not Be Silent, Russell Freedman. Completed. Middle Grade Nonfiction. The big size gave room for the pictures and text to tell the story in an accessible and informative way. Interesting for an adult and I would have lapped it up as a child during my WWII stage.

When the Moon Was Ours, Anna-Marie McLemore. In progress. It's hard for me to gauge how much danger is real and how much is teenage overreaction, because with all the magic realism going on they might be underestimating things in a Buffy-type situation.

Beast, Brie Spangler. In progress. I hope that a few of these realistic YA or middle grade fictions give me the states I need for my 50 State challenge. Don't know where this is set yet.

Run, Kody Keplinger. In progress. It started in Tennessee. Or Kentucky. One of those.

Ms. Bixby's Last Day, John David Anderson. In progress. Three boys deal with a situation. Didn't this guy write The Dungeoneers? He's got quite a wide repertoire.

(I apparently have decided to start one of the remaining Cybils books every day, although few of them are short enough to finish in one sitting. I am giving up on listing the ones I'm in the middle of now.)

Picture Books



General Relativity for Babies, Chris Ferrie. This was a bit confusing -- the relationship of volume to mass seemed over simplified. But if it makes some people more willing to read to babies, I'm in!

I Want To Be a Reader, Mark Powers. Meta can never start too young. I approve of this board book.

Bookmarks moved in:



Alliance of Equals, Sharon Lee & Steve Miller. Episode 2. Now we see why Tulley gets paid the big bucks. Or should be.

Great Pumpkin Suite, Melanie Hill. The power saw is moving and I cringed away from the page. I moved one paragraph.

Rebel, Sherwood Smith & Rachel Manija Brown. Mira would be tough to have on a dangerous expedition as her curiosity outweighs her common sense by several multiples.

Whose Body, Dorothy Sayers. I'll pull out on my road trip with one disk left -- how frustrating!

These I'm barely reading; I use them as palate cleansers between books I'm actually reading.



Kenilworth, Sir Walter Scott.

A Traitor to Memory, Elizabeth George.

The Quantum Universe, Brian Cox.

Reading and Learning to Read, Jo Anne Vaca.

2017 Challenge Progress:

1. Cybils 2016!  64/107-ish. Finished most of the poetry books, worked on nonfiction and YA, and generally despaired.
2. Reading My Library: Making progress on Whose Body, but book club reading came ahead of working on the next print book.
3. Where Am I Reading?: 39/51. I would have liked to get a North Dakota and Utah book, but so far nothing. I did pick up South Dakota and have nibbles on Kentucky and Tennessee. Maybe I'll get lucky and one of the CYBILS books will take place in Utah.

December Means Family

Lots of book club reading this week as I had my monthly meeting with friends on Friday with a Seanan McGuire as the lead book. We have another of her books set for February as she is the Guest of Honor at my Foolscap convention and I want to have something to talk about with her. Of course, I read some of her books written as Mira Grant, but that was a while ago.

I also grabbed Paulos and ventured out to Vashon Island for Sunday dinner. since the sister who usually cooks was gallivanting around the country. We hit the local library's board game event and tried out the card game for The Oregon Trail (died once, died twice but the second time we had the destination within sight when we perished), and also a new game from Kevin involving cute pets. Then we tried Thai but it was open yet so we hit The Hardware Store, the one that was a restaurant rather than the one with the useful stuff.

It gets dark so early that it felt very late by then, so we staggered back to the ferry by 7:30. On the way home we planned out the week -- Paulos's dad has left the country on a several week family vacation, so he's with me through the holidays. And Alexander comes home on Saturday! Then we start preparing for the giant family reunion that is Christmas.

I didn't read very effectively this week, although I piled up dozens of unread Cybils books. Currently Reading is creeping back up 30 as I start all the Cybils YA but finish nothing.

The Book Date does a weekly roundup of what people are reading, want to read, or have read each week called It's Monday! What Are You Reading that I'm going to sign up for. There's also a version that is kidlit focussed that I usually qualify for.  I'll go look to see what everyone else was reading at either Teach Mentor Text or UnLeashing Readers.

This Week I started:



California Bones, Greg von Eekhout. The current Sword & Laser pick.

The Last Neanderthal, Claire Cameron. My next Reading My Library book.

Death By Silver, Melissa Scott. Recommended by Goodreads.

Whose Body, Dorothy Sayers. The next audio for my Reading My Library quest.

Every Heart a Doorway, Seanan McGuire. For my Friday book club with friends.

In the Country We Love, Diane Guerrero. For my Reading Across the Aisles book club on Tuesday.


I finished:



Every Heart a Doorway, Seanan McGuire. Only about half of us read it, but the concept of a home for returned doorway worlds was a fun thing to discuss. I was the only one who has only read this one -- the others had gone on to the next, which sounds interesting. I should read it before I mean Seanan McGuire this February, since she's the GOH at my Foolscap convention.

Death By Silver, Melissa Scott. Recommended by Goodreads. Apparently there's a genre for mystery books with gay protagonists set in a fantasy Victorian England? And so far they are all good. I liked the magic system in this one, and the attention to historical detail which somehow did not clash with the enchantments and spells. 

I only finished two books. That's a bit disappointing.

Cybils Books




When Green Becomes Tomatoes, Julie Fogliano. Completed. Poetry book that works more like a picture book, following a little girl through the seasons. The title line is evocative, but nothing else really grabbed me. It didn't help that I don't have nostalgia for the seasons the delicate art depict because I grew up in a different climate zone. No snow, and fall never meant much.

Cityblock, Christopher Francischelli. Completed. I discovered why the library has no record of any of the board book finalists -- libraries don't catalog board books because babies destroy them so quickly. So I went hunting and found this one, which has fun pictures and a recurring cat to find on each page as you follow the family through the city. It seems a bit sophisticated for its audience; maybe it's aimed at older toddlers who are still ripping pages but are ready for more literary meat?

Fresh Delicious, Irene Latham. Completed. Another poetry book that I would have read as a picture book about the farmer's market. My boys would probably have noticed it was actually poetry and rejected it, but most kids would enjoy the colorful language and bright pictures.

The Nameless City, Faith Hicks. Completed. My final middle grade graphic novel did not make me turn the pages quickly, but by the end I had enjoyed myself. It builds slowly, centering around a rather weak boy who grows by making a friend who encourages him to work hard, and then having several pay-offs in the action-filled final chapter.

Garvey's Choice, Nikki Grimes. Completed. A novel in poems (tanka) that provide enough structure and rhythm that it gives strength to the words rather than just a lot of extra white space on the page. I found it a bit optimistic in terms of solving just about all the kid's problems, but maybe that's the power of poetry.

The Last Fifth Grade of Emerson Elementary, Laura Shovan. In progress. I'm having problems believing in the conceit -- that these are poems written over the course of a year by kids complaining that their school is being torn down. They don't seem to be the kind of poems kids would write on their own (apparently a poem is the first entry task of the day) and also I can't see kids who are leaving at the end of the year anyway would be so torn up.

Salt to the Sea, Ruta Sepetys. In progress. YA book. These teens are slogging through Germany at the end of WWII and apparently are all going to board a doomed ship. I don't see happy endings for anyone, so my lazy heart doesn't rush along.

To Stay Alive, Skila Brown. In progress. This is the kind of verse novel I avoid, with free verse poems that mostly just feel like sentences with a lot of extra returns typed in. The subject matter doesn't help, as the whole family is trudging towards their death; it feels a bit appropriative to put these poems in a real person's mouth.

When the Moon Was Ours, Anna-Marie McLemore. In progress. This is apparently a magic realism teen book with modern flashes.

Beast, Brie Spangler. In progress. I hope that a few of these realistic YA or middle grade fictions give me the states I need for my 50 State challenge.

(I apparently have decided to start one of the remaining Cybils books every day, although few of them are short enough to finish in one sitting.)

Picture Books



Happy Hippo, Angry Duck, Sandra Boynton. Fun board book I found while rummaging for Cybils choices. I especially emphasize with the duck, but all the animals and their emotions were worth looking at.

What's Wrong, Little Pookie? Sandra Boynton. OK, I'm a fan. I saw the twist coming, but it still worked for me.

Newtonian Physics for Babies, Chris Ferrie. The perfect book for someone who wants to connect with an infant but hates reading baby books. This lets the adult pretend that the baby is learning. I doubt it will grow a genius, but anything that helps awkward parents connect to their kids is good.

Bookmarks moved in:



Alliance of Equals, Sharon Lee & Steve Miller. Episode 27. There is hope for the damaged AI, and Tulley is cautiously optimistic.

Great Pumpkin Suite, Melanie Hill. The power saw is moving and I cringed away from the page.

Rebel, Sherwood Smith & Rachel Manija Brown. I need to read at least far enough to know who or why there is a rebel.

Dawn, Octavia Butler. Strangely, one of the things I like most about Butler is she's willing to make her protagonists rather unlikable. Lilith does not embrace the cool aliens and their tech with the enthusiasm I would expect in an SF book; she finds their utter alienness disconcerting and repulsive. And she manages to alien all the people she is tasked with recruiting to the alien's goal of repopulating the ruined Earth (humans had almost finished destroying themselves when the aliens arrived).

These I'm barely reading; I use them as palate cleansers between books I'm actually reading.



Kenilworth, Sir Walter Scott.

A Traitor to Memory, Elizabeth George.

The Quantum Universe, Brian Cox.

Reading and Learning to Read, Jo Anne Vaca.

2017 Challenge Progress:

1. Cybils 2016!  58/107-ish. Finished several poetry books. In fact, finished all the easy stuff and ordered up the rest. I seem to be starting one each day but finishing will be harder.
2. Reading My Library: Making progress on Whose Body, but book club reading came ahead of working on the next print book.
3. Where Am I Reading?: 38/51. I would have liked to get a North Dakota and Utah book, but so far nothing.