Dewey 24 Hour -- Spring 2018

It's time for another 24 Hour Readathon! I link up with the Dewey 24 Hour Readathon, which is held twice a year. This is the Spring one, and it coincides with me chaperoning a high school chess team at a tournament, 

So it was a day spent reading while trying to keep track of a crowd of teenagers in a giant convention center. In other words, my worst track record yet. Internet access was also super spotty, so I didn't even manage to update this blog.

My total reading:

1. Buried Bones, Kim Fielding 250 pages (completed)
2. The Gig, Kim Fielding 28 pages
3. In the Service of the Sword, ed. David Weber. 150 pages (mostly I read Jane Lindskold's "Promised Land" and then I stated "With One Stone" by Timothy Zahn.

I followed along on some twitter streams but never managed to post anything since access to internet never lined up with time to type 100 characters.

But I still enjoyed knowing my scraps of reading was in solidarity with all the world!

Reading Too Much

Another week of ignoring everything I'm supposed to be doing. At least I got some reading done. Oh, we celebrated Paulos's 17th birthday, only a few days early. For his special meal, he elected not to decide anything, so my sister mad lasagna and garlic bread and I provided a chocolate cake and he seemed happy.

Cooking for me this week went well -- I made an easy one-dish chicken alfredo dish that I threatened to add vegetables to but was dissuaded. My main complaint was that everything was white (white plates, pasta, cream sauce, chicken) and I should throw in some peas or broccoli, and Paulos's response was that no one looks at food and peas never make anything better. As a compromise I served garlicky sautéed chard on the side. Friday I made a fancy tuna salad because I had a craving for a tuna melt sandwich, which was my lunch on Saturday with the leftovers. I think I've finally turned into a cook, because suddenly it makes me happy when people eat food I've prepared. For the past twenty years I've just felt like my job was done if I served something, anything, and whether or not anyone wanted to eat it wasn't my problem.

Hmm, maybe I should give exercise another try. I may have given up on that too soon. I apparently have a twenty year learning curve for this sort of thing. I wonder if I have to start from scratch and practice for twenty years before I get any positive feedback.

Linda and I hit Pacific Rim: Uprising and had a great time. We had to go the mall cinema which was a bit of an adventure but was a good chance to see giant robots and big explosions. I hadn't seen the previous movie but Linda caught me up on important details (giant robots good, giant monsters bad). Afterwards we took advantage of the food court to grab some ice cream and enjoyed all the pleasures of being adults -- seeing fun movies and treating ourselves to an extra dessert.

I am plugging along on book club books, Cybils books, my Library Quest books, and books that somehow fell into my clutches. I'm hoping to make a project of reading books on my home shelves for a while.  My currently Reading is back up in the thirties so that might be a good place to start.

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 so I'll join in there. There's also a version that is kidlit focussed at either Teach Mentor Text or UnLeashing Readers. My Cybils reading keeps me eligible for that.

This Week I started:




The Glow of Death, Jane K. Cleland. My next Reading My Library book.

The Secret Life of Stories, Michael Berube. The library tempted me with this.

Bruno and the Carol Singers, Martin Walker. New audio Reading My Library book.

Too Like the Lightning, Ada Palmer. I'm going to try to clear out my ebook TBR.

How Dare the Sun Rise, Sandra Uwiringiyimana. Cybils nonfiction.

I finished:




All By Myself, Alone, Mary Higgins Clark. Finished a RML book! This read like a cosy mystery, so the setting was fun (luxury cruise), the characters were interesting but not deep, ranging from the ultra rich to the people attending them, and everyone got their few paragraphs of backstory. It did remind me of the fun time I had on our family reunion cruise.

Harmful to Minors, Judith Levine. Well, I was converted, but then I was pretty much convinced ahead of time so that isn't surprising. Truth is better than lies, kids deserve to know what is going on, and teens who have sex should know what they are doing and how birth control and STDs work. And the people trying to prevent that are bad and should be stopped. And since my youngest is about to turn 17, I don't have to worry about making tough decisions because clearly he's old enough to know everything. And our schools apparently are willing to teach everything, based on the unit I had to help my nephew with last semester.

Scythe, Neal Shusterman. Cybils YA. In the future, DEATH is outlawed. Our heroes recognize the corruption in the system and set themselves against it, one on the inside and the other from without. Tune in next time to see how they do. I liked how the two MCs had very different personalities and that we saw both how they viewed themselves and how they viewed each other, which was interesting in how much they got wrong about themselves and each other.

Master of Crows, Grace Draven. Although I've really liked other books by Draven, someone this one and I just didn't mesh. I found the hero dull and the heroine senseless. Her emotions and plans kept me thinking she was a young fifteen but apparently she was supposed to be an adult. She resents the guy for dumb reasons. For example, he avoids starting a sexual relationship because she is his apprentice and the power dynamics are skeevy. The world building also didn't work for me as the magic didn't aid the themes and people were needlessly clueless. Oh well, I'll give this series a miss as it clearly doesn't work for me but I'll look out for news stuff by Draven.

London Rain, Nicola Upson. Finished a RML audio book. I didn't enjoy the mystery and the character development wasn't enough to make the 8 discs worth my time. I felt the author sympathized with the murderer much more than I did, so the final dramatic scene fell flat for me as I didn't care about anyone involved and my main emotional connection was with how foolish the detective was to let either of them get the gun. Just as well as now I realize that we never find out what happens to anyone, so if I weren't indifferent that might bother me.

Bookmarks moved in:




Alliance of Equals, Sharon Lee & Steve Miller. Episode 45. It's hard to keep your temper when you are a ticking magical bomb.

Giant Pumpkin Suite, Melanie Hill. I am inching along.

Wolf Who Rules, Wen Spencer. I am still dipping in and out.

Shadow of a Doubt, Norah McClintock. I like the mystery parts, but I'm a curmudgeon who gets bored during the teen romance parts.

Fledgling, Octavia Butler. I don't remember the plot at all, but some things seem familiar after I read them.

Tinker, Wen Spencer. Same problem -- I'm reading all over the place. Do I just stop or do I count it as a reread? Ethical problems in tracking my reading.

Six Wakes, Mur Lafferty. I'm enjoying the world building and keep forgetting there's a mystery.


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



Kenilworth, Sir Walter Scott. Poor Amy is not looking well.

A Traitor to Memory, Elizabeth George.

The Quantum Universe, Brian Cox. Why floors work.

Sammy Keyes and the Art of Deception, Wendelin Van Draanen.

Change of Heart, Norah McClintock. Kids can be foolish.

Reading and Learning to Read, Jo Anne Vaca.

2018 Challenge Progress:

1. Cybils 2017! 7/104-ish. Finished Scythe and started the next book.
2. Reading My Library: Finished both the audio London Rain and the book All By Myself, Alone and started the next ones.
3. Where Am I Reading 2018?: 27/51. I guess I added the Atlantic ocean but I'm not sure how the show that. Nothing on the horizon, although I may have a record number of New Hampshire books this year.

Spring Break of Delicious Idleness

Spring break had me and my Paulos hanging out and ignoring all responsibilities. He did about half of his homework (saving the last half for late Sunday). He dragged himself to visit one college. I nagged about colleges, homework, and the lawn.

We actually tackled the lawn, buying a new lawn mower and he managed to mostly mow the grass despite unceasing rain, so Yay! If he mows again on Thursday I think we'll be in good shape.

I dodged cooking completely, taking people out on Wednesday and then talking a friend into hosting book club so I didn't even have to pick which pizza to order. This means I didn't even enter a grocery store and we are reduced to dry toast for breakfast but it was worth it. Luckily we get milk and eggs delivered to our door so we won't starve. Book club was with some of my favorite people and we talked about the Clean Sweep series and then also other books, our jobs, and life.

I took Paulos to see Ready Player One although we hit an afternoon showing, not the trendy late night adventure with Alexander.

I finished the last Cybils book from last year! Well, I think I have to buy a board book but whatever. My currently Reading is back up in the thirties for unknown reasons. Hmm.

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 so I'll join in there. There's also a version that is kidlit focussed at either Teach Mentor Text or UnLeashing Readers. I finished one YA, which is about my only connection to kidlit this

This Week I started:




Elfhome, Wen Spencer. I've also subscribed to her patreon page so I could read all the Elfhome snippits and short stories. I'm all in here.

Six Wakes, Mur Lafferty. Lafferty is nominated for a Hugo this year. She is also married to the roommate of one of the guys in my Tuesday book club, so we are reading her book.

Master of Crows, Grace Draven. For my book team.

All Systems Red, Martha Wells. Tor gave this to me for free!

Clean Sweep, Ilona Andrews. My monthly book club picked this.

Sweep in Peace, Ilona Andrews. We don't require you read the whole series, but we don't mind if you do.

One Fell Sweep, Ilona Andrews.  I mean the fourth one is in progress, so I should be prepared.

I finished:




Weight of Zero, Karen Fortunati. Cybils YA. I now declare victory in last year's Cybils read (although I'm still missing a board book, which I'll try to buy). I found the protagonist in this annoyingly selfish, which I guess is not uncommon in teenagers but usually I don't have to sit in their thoughts. Eventually she realizes this about herself and tries to improve. And the twist is she has bipolar disorder, but that's a minor problem compared to the self-centeredness and also treatable.

Silent in the Sanctuary, Deanna Raybourne. This is a bit of a failure of a murder mystery, in that not all the baddies get punished, and it also doesn't really work as a romance, in that there is only a glimmer of hope of a HEA, but as a historical it's a densely immersive tale of an eccentric rich family and the protection and security their heritage and wealth bring them in late 1800's England. I enjoyed it but would have preferred it to be about 150 pages shorter.

Elfhome, Wen Spencer. I really liked the deeper look at Oilcan and how he ended up in loco parentis to the Stone Clan, and the deeper explanations of Elven society, assumptions, and prejudices. I like how Spencer can look at any character, and with a deep sense of sondor explore their drives, interactions, and internal truths. And then I liked going all over all the short stories, false starts and possible next steps Spencer put out for her readers on her home page.

Project Elfhome, Wen Spencer. This is an interesting group of stories, including some explicitly marked as false starts or experiments, giving us both a great group of characters but also some insights into the writing process. And now I'm deeply invested in Forest Moss and Olivia (his child bride) as well as in Jane and her extended family of misfits, tengu, and war correspondents.

Clean Sweep, Ilona Andrews. Dina has an inn, a friendly werewolf neighbor, and unfriendly cop acquaintance, and a beef with an intergalactic assassin. I have a good time.

Sweep in Peace, Ilona Andrews. Did I mention the vampires who also argued with the assassin? Well they are back and need someplace to host their delicate peace negotiations with their ancestral enemies and some goofballs. How about a nice quiet inn? Hey, is that the werewolf coming back?

One Fell Sweep, Ilona Andrews. I didn't actually finish this until the day after book club, but I figured why stop? Dina saves a sentient species from extinction, proposes to the werewolf, and loses a baby. And teaches a mean species a thing or two along the way.

All Systems Red, Martha Wells. This novella snuck up on me and then grabbed me and held me enthralled. Murderbot is my best friend, except I wouldn't want to annoy it by looking at or speaking to it. I'll just recommend some good fanfic and go away. I immediate went to buy all the sequels only to discover that they aren't out yet! At least they are scheduled...

Bookmarks moved in:





Alliance of Equals, Sharon Lee & Steve Miller. Episode 40. Chasing lost AIs is also difficult.

London Rain, Nicola Upson. RML audio book. It picked up a little and then the library called it home with one disc left to go! I'll have to reload it tomorrow.

Giant Pumpkin Suite, Melanie Hill. Still reading with my eyes shut, so it's slow going.

Scythe, Neal Shusterman. In the future, DEATH is outlawed. Our heroes consider walking away from Omelas.

Wolf Who Rules, Wen Spencer. I'm not sure when I can declare this done, since I'm not reading it lineally but hopscotching all over the place.

Shadow of a Doubt, Norah McClintock. I like the mystery parts, but I'm a curmudgeon who gets bored during the teen romance parts.

Harmful to Minors, Judith Levine. I'm in the homestretch, where the discussion moves to a better reality than the one America is carving for itself.

All By Myself, Alone, Mary Higgins Clark. And the characters are dropping like flies -- BOOM. BOOM.

Fledgling, Octavia Butler. Our protagonist appears to be some sort of vampire. Cool.

Tinker, Wen Spencer. Same problem -- I'm reading all over the place. Do I just stop or do I count it as a reread? Ethical problems in tracking my reading.

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. The hydrogen atom and how it looks.

Sammy Keyes and the Art of Deception, Wendelin Van Draanen.

Change of Heart, Norah McClintock.

Reading and Learning to Read, Jo Anne Vaca.

2018 Challenge Progress:

1. Cybils 2017! 7/104-ish. I read another hundred pages in Scythe.
2. Cybils 2016!  105/106. I declare victory! Although I still hope to trip across the board book Follow the Yarn.
3. Reading My Library: Working slowly on London Rain which at least at added a possible mystery. Read a few chapters of All By Myself, Alone.
4. Where Am I Reading 2018?: 27/51. Added Texas. I have no idea where Scythe is taking place.