Memorial Weekend

I drove home from Victoria with my brother. As usual, America is about 1/3 as competent as the Canadians (on a good day) at border crossing, so it took three times as long to get back. Luckily I made my brother take the wheel, so he drove while I monitored traffic conditions to get us to the airport in time for his flight. Then I went back into the city to pick up the rest of the family from their luxurious fancy Clipper boat, which included a sighting of killer whales! So at least Mom got to see them.

Earlier I astonished myself by waking up and going for a walk in the park by our rental house. I saw a heron fly into a tree, and assumed I had completely misjudged the bird because I thought herons nested on the ground. But after watching and seeing other birds I finally also saw the giant sign asking people to be quiet while the herons were nesting. I walked deeper into the park when I heard what sounded like a peacock. I was laughing at my awful bird-call recognition skills when I came to the petting zoo and saw the peacock himself. And then the other one challenging him. And the peahen ignoring it all. And then I saw the big totem pole and managed to navigate myself to it. So a very successful morning for me.

I came home to a house with happy, fed cats and a kitchen even messier than I left it. Oh well, better to remember the cats and forget the dishes than the other way around. On Thursday Alexander and I took Linda to see Poms, as recommended by mom, and it was as funny and charming (and a little sad) as she had promised.

I took us out one night (couldn't face cleaning and cooking in that kitchen) and then pulled myself together to make dinner on Friday. And then I was feeling my oats and made a egg/bagel bake for Saturday brunch for me and the boys, which came in handy when Saturday dinner was canceled. Sunday was a special night as my nephew prepared a four-dish meal as an assignment for his Culinary class at high school. My favorite was the mashed potatoes, as he left a bit more texture in (the way I like them! the way no one else in our family likes them!) so I wrote the review of that dish. And now tomorrow is another vacation day so this was a lovely week of family near and far.

My currently reading has edged up to 22 because I have to quickly finish a few library books.

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 sign up there. There's also a version that is kidlit focussed at either Teach Mentor Texts or Unleashing Readers so I'll sign up over there as I finished a Middle Grade lit.

Started: 





Autonomous, Annalee Newitz. For my Tuesday book club. We have been scooping up the Tor Book Club books.

Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion. Audio Reading My Library. I love when I spot a book that I've been meaning to read on the shelf I'm choosing from.

Out of Left Field, Ellen Klages. I love Klages's historical fiction about smart girls. In this case Kathy is the younger sister of Dewey and Suze (from the earlier books) and she wants to play baseball as Sputnik beeps in the sky.

The Martian Chronicles, Ray Bradbury. Sword and Laser May pick.

Uprooted: The Japanese American Experience During WWII, Albert Marrin. 2017 Cybils book.

Del Toro Moon, Darby Karchut. Rereading book I partially read last winter.


Completed:




Pines, Blake Crouch. My Reading My Library book. An interesting book about a strange situation, but a bit too violent for me. It's a thriller and a SF story and a small town investigation with a lot of murders. What was interesting was that I didn't know the genre going in, so I missed some of the cues that this was not just a case for the FBI. It definitely was going for a spooky air (which took some of the air out of the explanation). The author was going for a Twin Peaks feel, but I didn't like the show enough to watch it so I can't comment on how much it worked.

Walkaway, Cory Doctorow. For my Tuesday book club. Finished! Just in time to miss the meeting anyway. Oops. It was fun to read this soon after The Dispossessed, which it is in conversation with, but it works more as a set of ideas than as a novel. My brother thought there was a bit too much "infinite resources" magic but he enjoyed the playing with social constructs. I found the abrupt jumps in POV kept me from fully engaging with the story as a story, but the ideas were fun to play with.

You Don't Have to Say You Love Me, Sherman Alexie. My RML audio pick. I'm glad I had this as an audio, as hearing the voice brought out a lot of the emotion of the situation as Alexie worked through a lot of his feelings about his family and his role as a brother, son, and tribal member.

The Journal of Angela Ashby, Liana Gardner. Middle grade fantasy. I like the idea of the magical notebook as a metaphor for growing powers in maturity, but the transition from magical shenanigans to middle school reality was bumpy for me. I'm over sensitive to the idea of kids being responsible for their (divorced) parents being happy; I worked really hard to not make that my kids' job.

Bookmarks Moved In:





Son of the Black Sword, Larry Correia. 44/? Baen's podcast serial. One possible good guy will hopefully chase after the other guy with a hope at a white hat, although that hope is dimming.

Cyteen, C.J. Cherryh. Reread. OK, the bookmark moved as I carried the book around, but I didn't actually open it.

Metal Wolf, Lauren Esker. Kindle read. Again, not much progress.

Becoming, Michelle Obama. On the campaign trail. Barack is committed, Michelle fairly sure they won't win.

The Way Into Magic, Harry Connolly. Our heroine really wishes her companions were not so committed to exploring the tower by the scary sea.

Tell the Wolves I'm Home, Carol Rifka Brunt. This kid feels very true.

Picture Books:



What Is Given From the Heart, Patricia C. McKissack. Lovely gentle pictures that don't spare the grim poverty of the characters accompany the somewhat lengthy text following James Otis and his mom as they deal with death and rehoming and still reach out to help others. It's not didactic but is very moving.

Little Blue Chair, Cary Fagan. I like how this book brushes into the fantastical while keeping a straight face and pretending to be realistic. And the final cyclical home for the little chair.

Night Job, Karen Hesse. Small kid accompanies dad to his night job as a school janitor, helping out before taking a nap. Good for privileged kids to see how the other half lives.

My Side of the Car, Kate Feiffer. Great father/daughter collaboration recalling an old family story, with the text and tone perfectly showing the strong wish reality of a young child.

Clay Mates, Dev Petty. This self aware story of the inner life of the artist's models both delivers an imaginative and playful story but also kids a lot of good ideas on how to take your playdough art to a new level.

Sing a Season Song, Jane Yolen. I'm not sure my kids would have sat for this one, but I loved the small poems matched with detailed pictures of each turn of the season.

Palate Cleansers

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



A Traitor to Memory, Elizabeth George.

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

Inn of the Sixth Happiness, Alan Burgess.

The Educated Child, William Bennett. The bit on reading to one's kids has only increased my sense of smugness.

Reading and Learning to Read, Jo Anne Vaca. More discussion of journaling, which I'm sure works well with most kids but my own little snowflake was violently allergic to.

Reading Challenges

1. Cybils 2017 No progress. But really close to finishing a category!
2. Cybils 2018. No progress.
3. Reading My Library. Finished both the audio book and the paper book! Started the new audio.
4. KCLS Ten to Try. The Alexie book is perfect for the book about family.

Vacation!

This week was a big holiday for me! Of course, I still fit in my usual movie with Linda. We grabbed my son Alexander, who came home from college on Monday, and went to see Pikachu Detective. The plot was silly but the creatures and people were cute. We made a nice group, because Alexander is a Pokemon expert (although he pointed out that new ones arrived after he stopped playing, and he is not talking about that fake-reality phone game), I was Pokemon adjacent because my kids played and watched the shows and so I'd seen a lot, and Linda was tabula rasa. We all had fun.

Then my mom came into town and we prepared for our belated 80th Birthday celebration. So far we dragged her out to observe her grandson at his pizza work place, then picked up my older brother from the airport. We drove up the coast, pretended to miss a ferry but really arranged for her to meet old friends at a surprise dinner. Then we actually caught the ferry and went to Victoria BC in Canada (a foreign country for me). The two younger siblings were waiting there so we investigated the local aquarium, which was charming, informative and fun. Maybe they knew I was coming -- they had a Math Scavenger Hunt going on. Then home to a lovely house my sister had found that was convenient to the delicious Italian restaurant Pagliocis. 

Next day was Butchard garden, along with a spontaneous detour through a vibrant forest that might not traditionally be considered "on the way." But we got there eventually and enjoyed the lovely flowers. I found a serene hut at the start of the Japanese garden and meditated there while the other four looped through, and then took a picture of a few specs in the sky (one was a bald eagle!).

Monday was whale watching. The weather was surprisingly pleasant -- cloudy and a few drizzles but not the continuous rain that was forecast. The whales had not got the update because they stayed safely down underwater but we still enjoyed seeing three bald eagles (I spotted one!), many seals of various species, and a sea otter, the only one in the area. The Orca Spirits crew were delightful and informative and let Kevin test out all his dubiously acquired marine facts so now he is confident which of his internet facts are solid. And on our return we found out that we can come back anytime for a free trip because they felt sad that we hadn't seen any actual whales. (Salmon stocks have plummeted so the local orca groups aren't easy to find any more.)

Now I'm heading home, although I'll probably sneak off to see the supertall totem in the park adjacent to the rental house.

My currently reading has still at one page -- 20. That's five books I have a bookmark in but which really are gathering dust, five books I'm deliberately reading glacially, five print books I'm actively reading (book club pick, library book, unread book I own, reread that I own, middle grade book), and five situational books (my car audio, my podcast serial, my KINDLE app book, my NOOK app book, my IBOOK app book). At this rate, by the end of the year I will only be reading 15 or so books at once.

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 sign up there. There's also a version that is kidlit focussed at either Teach Mentor Texts or Unleashing Readers so I'll sign up over there as the only thing I finished was Middle Grade lit.

Started: 



The Stupendous Adventures of Mighty Marty Hayes, Lora L. Hyler. Middle grade SF/fantasy.

The Journal of Angela Ashby, Liana Gardner. Middle grade fantasy.

Completed:



The Stupendous Adventures of Mighty Marty Hayes, Lora L. Hyler. This felt like a first book, in that the author was trying to do everything at once. So Marty has magic powers inherited through his family, and his science class is designing new mosquitoes using CRISPR, and an evil drone-using spy group has recruited the local bully in an attempt to steal information from a beloved spy museum. Each bit is fun but the pieces didn't all work together. I expect kids would enjoy it all though.

Bookmarks Moved In:






Son of the Black Sword, Larry Correia. 43/? Baen's podcast serial. The bad guys are really committed to their role.

Cyteen, C.J. Cherryh. Reread. Grant and Justin are about to refuse all adult help and make a bad situation even worse.

You Don't Have to Say You Love Me, Alexie Sherman. 9-10/10 discs. My RML audio pick. I like how he shows how we re-interpret and understand our families and our lives.

Metal Wolf, Lauren Esker. Kindle read. A new character has shown up!

Becoming, Michelle Obama. Marriage, kids, and complications.

Walkaway, Cory Doctorow. For my Tuesday book club. Not really on track to finish by this Tuesday either.

The Way Into Magic, Harry Connolly. The sea is scary.

Pines, Blake Crouch. My Reading My Library book. This have definitely taken a turn for the surreal. Also (unfortunately) into the super violent.

Tell the Wolves I'm Home, Carol Rifka Brunt. It's hard for me to read about a kid this selfish because that's pretty much what I was like and it hurts to remember.


Picture Books:

Didn't get to the library this week.

Palate Cleansers

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



A Traitor to Memory, Elizabeth George.

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

Inn of the Sixth Happiness, Alan Burgess.

The Educated Child, William Bennett. The list is making me feel very smug about how educated my kids were as three year olds.

Reading and Learning to Read, Jo Anne Vaca.

Reading Challenges

1. Cybils 2017 No progress.
2. Cybils 2018. No progress.
3. Reading My Library. No progress. Well, I'm working on this one.
4. KCLS Ten to Try. I think the Alexie book will count as a book about family, so I guess I've moved a bookmark along.

Mother's Day

I had a nice and social week. Linda's son Scott was visiting, so he joined us for movie club. We drove out to the theater that serves food for a private showing of Captain Marvel and some tasty lunch. We were early enough to wander by the next door Barnes and Noble. That was the day Patricia Brigg's newest dropped, just sayin'. And then we peeked in the Renton History Museum to appreciate some local history, including the new exhibit on Dungeons and Dragons and Community.

Then I had two book clubs. The library is sponsoring a Romance Club for the summer, so I went to discuss Duke By Default by Alyssa Cole. I even did extra credit reading and read her novella Once Ghosted, Twice Shy which I liked even better (I thought the Duke book was fun but collapsed at the end. We had four people in the room, which is a small club but the books were light so it was fun enough. I'll try to go again next month.

The on Friday my regular book club met. Our chosen book was Serpentine, so I suggested we eat at a restaurant as is usual when we discuss books with sex slaves. I mean, there was some discussion about whether Anita actually had sex slaves, but she definitely has several people who are magically forced to keep her happy. We had a pleasant discussion of the quirks of the plot, the situation, and the writing and everyone had a pleasant time.

And on Mother's Day I woke up to a delicious breakfast in bed prepared by my younger son, which put me in a good mood to drive to Oregon to pick up my older son, who gave me a flower and then we loaded up the car with most of his worldly belongings. I retired to my comfy hotel for an evening of reading and then picked him up after his last exam to drive home.

My currently reading has dipped to one Goodreads page -- 19.. That's five books I have a bookmark in but which really are gathering dust, five books I'm deliberately reading glacially, four print books I'm actively reading (book club pick, library book, unread book I own, reread that I own), and five situational books (my car audio, my podcast serial, my KINDLE app book, my NOOK app book, my IBOOK app book). At this rate, by the end of the year I will only be reading 15 or so books at once.

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 sign up there. There's also a version that is kidlit focussed at either Teach Mentor Texts or Unleashing Readers so I'll sign up over there as my I've got several middle grade books and a picture book to my credit.

Started: 



Storm Cursed, Patricia Briggs.

Bianca: The Brave, Frail, and Delicate Princess, Meg Welch Dendler. Partially-read book left over from my Cybils reading.

The Abode, Patricia Mather Parker. Partially-read book left over from my Cybils reading.

Completed:



Storm Cursed, Patricia Briggs. Briggs books are a "drop everything and read" because her characters are so delightful to spend time with. In this case Mercy is dealing with small details of having accidentally established an empire, and she (and we) gradually realize that actually there's a big problem here, as her little empire looks very tasty to some big evils. So the big finale is a gathering of many allies but now I really want to go back and reread all the little pieces in the beginning and end. Briggs does a good job of balancing small interactions with the Good vs Evil battles, but the size of the cast is getting a bit unwieldy.

The Tukor's Journey, Jeannine Kellogg. An interesting fantasy that reads like a first novel -- there are many cool ideas but some dropped stories and a distracted focus. But the bonds between the siblings are strong and many of their adventures are told very vividly. There's a bit of dichotomy between the fantasy problems, which are told as real problems with the fantasy creatures and elements, and the problems back with the parents, who are told as parody and whose connection to reality wavers. It's a bit like Harry Potter that way. I'll be happy to have this as a raffle prize at the final Elementary Book Club meeting.

Bianca: The Brave, Frail, and Delicate Princess, Meg Welch Dendler. The author explains that her book is an enhanced version of her prize winning fifth grade picture book. So the plot is rather standard (pampered princess shows real spunk saving kingdom) but the adult has gone back and woven interesting details into the story -- how the princess feels about the pampering and the saving, what she has to do to save the day, the companions she makes along the way. The princess reads as younger than 13 (her stated age) but that is good as I'm giving the book away to someone in 3rd-5th grade next month.

The Abode, Patricia Mather Parker. The dark cover only whispers at the many fun toys within -- pirates! dragons! (yes, a parrot!) abused orphans triumphing! I did wish the story had been streamlined a bit -- more focus on a single main character, less flashbacks to the past. But the grimness of the orphanage and the mysteries of the mist that threatened and then rescued the kids were what propelled me along. Another book for my raffle.


Bookmarks Moved In:






Son of the Black Sword, Larry Correia. 43/? Baen's podcast serial. No, the main characters aren't meeting up. But one guy saw part of the other guy's story, so if they ever do meet they'll have something to talk about. Unfortunately the other guy is making tracks for the other end of the continent.

Cyteen, C.J. Cherryh. Reread. My least favorite part is the beginning, because all these people are awful and Justin and Grant are so young and in such a bad place. Old Ari is not a sympathetic person.

You Don't Have to Say You Love Me, Alexie Sherman. 5-9/10 discs. My RML audio pick. He's making the spiral story telling work -- it's not linear but with each go around new aspects are unearthed and confronted.

Metal Wolf, Lauren Esker. Kindle read. The plot thickens.

Becoming, Michelle Obama. I like it more now that she's grown up. And Barack has entered the picture.

Walkaway, Cory Doctorow. For my Tuesday book club. I am not on track to finish by next Tuesday. Oops.

The Way Into Magic, Harry Connolly. The girls had to rescue themselves.

Pines, Blake Crouch. My Reading My Library book. I skipped to the afterward and read that the author wrote this in homage to his favorite TV show, Twin Pines. I hated that show. Uh oh.

Tell the Wolves I'm Home, Carol Rifka Brunt. OK, I've been pretending to be reading this book for years. Time to put up or take out the bookmark.


Picture Books:



Because, Mo Willems. The book store had misplaced their pile of Storm Cursed (It's on the front octogon. Wait, it's not there? Frantic store employees rushing about before corporate finds out.). So I wandered over and read this so they wouldn't think I was a looming corporate spy. It's a fun meditation on cause and effect and the power of inspiration. I liked the different things, accidental and considered, that resulted in the final effects. And the power of music as shown in pictures was lovely.

Palate Cleansers

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



A Traitor to Memory, Elizabeth George. Gideon's neighbor is annoying, especially when she thinks she's helping. And the agoraphobic wife is hard to read about, since both she and the people around her hold her problem in contempt.

Sammy Keyes and the Art of Deception, Wendelin Van Draanen. Sammy has a teen crisis talking to her male friend who may become a boyfriend, and then an improbably well run play is performed in the gymnasium. But it was so perfect that I will strangle my sense of disbelief and roll with it.

Inn of the Sixth Happiness, Alan Burgess.

The Educated Child, William Bennett. What your kids need to know before kindergarten. I think my boys were on track.

Reading and Learning to Read, Jo Anne Vaca. Discussion of the importance of journals and how kids love them. I am having flashbacks to my then-six-year-old's tirades on how how teachers reading his journal entries constituted an unwarranted and abusive invasion of his privacy. My kids were (are) weird.

Reading Challenges

1. Cybils 2017 No progress.
2. Cybils 2018. No progress.
3. Reading My Library. No progress. Well, I'm working on this one.
4. KCLS Ten to Try. I think the Alexie book will count as a book about family, so I guess I've moved a bookmark along.