Dull Tales of The Home Sheltered

Well, it's been another week of being homebound. This is pretty much my ideal life so I have no complaints.

The older son commenced his spring break, so he no longer had to wake up to log into class. Younger son ended spring break so he had to stagger down the hall to log into class. My wifi has slowed to a crawl -- apparently the ether is saturated or something. I blame the rain.

It rained a little, so lawn care was done poorly. And the garbage people stood me up, leaving my poor bins lonely and full at the curb. I harassed them via email and then managed to hear the trucks lumbering around again later in the week so I rushed out and got my garbage removed. This is high excitement for Shelter At Home folks. 

I kid! There was also a furnace inspection. I told the boys to sleep in (HA!) and let the guy in at 8 AM. In order to observe social distancing, I immediately left on a donut run. It was Saturday, so Krispy Kremes was offering a 2nd dozen to share with your neighbor if you bought the first. I arrived home with my donuts and bribes in time to tell the furnace guy to sign off for me and then waved goodbye. Whew.

And on Sunday the taller son and I went to give blood. I assumed I'd fail the iron test but my healthy eating has paid off and I was able to donate. Even better, my son's donation was delayed because of the distancing requirements, which meant I finished first! I mean, it's not a race but I won!

Stay safe, everyone!

My currently reading is back to 18, including books I'll get back to any day now. Really. Audio stuff is going really slowly.

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. Ditto for the children's lit version at either Teach Mentor Texts or Unleashing Readers. I read a lot of kidlit this week, both CYBILS and free range.

Started: 



[NI]

From Beowulf to Virginia Woolf, Robert Manson Myers. I randomly choose a book from my unread bookcases and got this. (NI means No Image)

Ink Knows No Boundaries, Patrice Vecchione. Cybils 2019 poetry book.

Beverly, Right Here, Kate DiCamillo. I need to review this ARC, although I'm very late. Cybils happened.

Two Truths and a Lie: Forces of Nature, Ammi Paquette and Laurie Ann Thompson. I got hooked on this series during a previous Cybils year so I ordered this up from the library.

The Dragon With a Chocolate Heart, Stephanie Burgess. 2017 Cybils middle grade fiction.


Completed:

[NI]


From Beowulf to Virginia Woolf, Robert Manson Myers. This would be a good bathroom book for a literary house. It's very collegiate and full of puns and literary allusions to make the author and the reader feel smug about their knowledge without feeling like they are putting on airs. It's fairly short but a long riff on the same joke so I don't really recommend reading it cover to cover, although it doesn't take long. (NI means No Image)

Shout, Laurie Halse Anderson. 2019 Cybils poetry. A lot of this is the grainy underside of Speak, where you can see the artists marks and how pieces came together. But it's more than that -- it's a memoir of being born as a writer, of how pain and adventure and loss and love came together with education and hard work, and it's also a strident call to recognize trauma and to stop pretending that kids aren't getting hurt, that rape and abuse don't happen if adult refuse to see them. I didn't latch onto any individual poems, but it definitely read as poetry, not prose.

The Light Brigade, Kameron Hurley. For Sword and Laser book club, both online and local (remote this month!). Book Club is this coming Thursday, so fairly good timing. I liked the time travel motif, and grew to appreciate the main character and her stolid way of approaching things (mostly hit it with a stick or a higher caliber weapon). My understanding of the ending seems to be off-kilter, which will be interesting to talk about -- mine is rather pessimistic. I also like the title, which has three obvious shades of meaning and probably more if I think for a second. Definitely not a light hearted read.

American Dreamer, Adriana Herrera. For my Cloudy book club, which will be remote this month. This didn't really click with me. The characters seemed very perfect, except when that would be inconvenient for the plot. So they'd be incredibly self-aware and gentle with each other, almost ticking off boxes on "consent" forms and "be an ally" checklists. But there had to be a final chapter silly snafu before they got their HEA, so they suddenly had a tiff. It's probably mostly that I don't really like modern romances; the obstacles to love are hard to prop up but authors (and maybe other readers) still require them. And the sex didn't work for me (I kept tripping on the many "baby" and "babe" endearments). But it was competently written and had an interesting set-up and lots of good food talk.

Refugee, Alan Gratz. 2017 Cybils book. Wow, this was impressive. Three kids, very distinct, with three very different families. Three different time periods -- Germany before WWII, Cuba in the 90's, and Syria recently. All must flee their homes for an uncertain future, all must rely on the equally uncertain compassion of strangers. Sometimes they find it, sometimes they don't. The small connections between the families serve as a reminder that all people are interconnected, and that the truest kind of debt is the one that you pay forward.

Beverly, Right Here, Kate DiCamillo. This is the third story about the three friends, although Raymie and Louisiana barely appear. Beverly needs to get away from her uncaring family, and luckily falls in with some of DiCamillo's trademark quirky characters. Their compassion and concern help Beverly find her balance again.

Two Truths and a Lie: Forces of Nature, Ammi Paquette and Laurie Ann Thompson.  The conceit of these books is that each chapter contains three essays on a related subject -- weather, earth, physics, whatever. One is a fabrication and the reader is challenged to figure out which. I'm much too lazy to do any research but usually I have enough science knowledge to get it. This book caught me out a few times though!

Bookmarks Moved (Or Languished) In:





Tender Morsels, Margo Lanagan. 4/10 discs. I made a few emergency runs to get emergency supplies (donuts) and donate blood, so I made a little bit of progress.

Tropic of Serpents, Marie Brennan. The library called this home. I will try to get it back, probably after I finish Jonathan Strange. They are a bit too close together to read simultaneously.

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, Susanna Clarke. OK, exercising apparently is not happening, but the donut run gave me two chapters!

Uncompromising Honor, David Weber. Baen Free Radio Hour's serial. No time for podcasts.

Gideon the Ninth, Tamsyn Muir. It's hasn't really gotten momentum yet. Gideon does a lot of dull whining.




Picture Books / Short Stories:

None.

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.

The Educated Child, William Bennett.

Cookie, Jacqueline Wilson.

Give All to Love, Patricia Veryan.

Tell the Wolves I'm Home, Carol Rifka Brunt. Burn one bridge, work on another.

Reading and Learning to Read, Jo Anne Vaca.

Reading Challenges

1. Cybils 2017. Refugee finishes off Middle Grade Fiction, and Dragon With a Chocolate Heart starts Speculative Fiction. (Well, I read one on my own so this is number two.)
2. Cybils 2018. Nothing. I've got some YA Graphic Novels lined up.
3. Cybils 2019.  Finished Shout. Started Ink Knows No Boundaries, another poetry book.
4. Reading My Library. Nothing. It's patiently waiting on my shelf.
5. Ten to Try. I've got 7/10 already! I'd love to meet Laurie Halse Anderson.
6. Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge. 14/24. American Dreamer is a debut novel. Refugee gives two points -- it's both about a refugee and a middle grade book not set in the US.
7. Where Am I Reading: 12/51 states, nothing new. I counted Cuba for Refugee since it features in 2/3 of the book, and Brazil for The Light Brigade since it's always on Dietz's mind as her homeland. So 10 countries across 4 continents.

Stay Far Away! Stay Home Already!

Well, things certainly escalated fast, didn't they?

Social distancing is the new mantra. This week I went to three stores. And I drove by a book store so they could throw my order through the window. I wanted to support the new book store, so I'm glad they got creative when they closed their store. But after this week it will be mail order or nothing.

I tried to skip one of the store trips by ordering for Pick Up, but after getting a spot at the end of the week it was canceled at the last minute. At that point I decided that people stuck at home needed those spots more than I did and I braved the store to do my own shopping.

Committee meetings are all on computer now, and we finished up the Mandalorian with my brother watching from his house. Come to think of it, we should have invited my other brother was well... Maybe next week!

The weather has been absolutely gorgeous, so I've been going on walks with my sister just around the neighborhood. We wave at the neighbors and they wave back, and we all cross the street so we don't get within the regulation 6 feet of each other. We've very law-abiding here in King County.

Stay safe, everyone!

My currently reading is back to 20 but I think I'm finally settling down to some reading.

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. Ditto for the children's lit version at either Teach Mentor Texts or Unleashing Readers.  My Cybils books qualify me.

Started: 



The Vagina Monologues, Eve Ensler. For my Torches and Pitchforks book club, which will be held remotely.

The Light Brigade, Kameron Hurley. For Sword and Laser book club, both online and local (remote this month!).

Smoke Bitten, Patricia Briggs. New release bought from a new bookstore just as they went from a browsing store to a drive-up store. Order remotely, drive by, and they toss the books through your window.

American Dreamer, Adriana Herrera. For my Cloudy book club, which will be remote this month.

Refugee, Alan Gratz. 2017 Cybils book.

Completed:



The Orphans of Raspay, Lois McMaster Bujold. They closed the gyms, so I gobbled this up. Lots of cheerful fire and explosions and sinking ships, and the orphans come out OK.

The Affair, Lee Child. Reacher solves the case, bangs the girl, and sees that justice prevails, but the price is his army career. That's not a spoiler, since the first two happen in every book and the last is the reason for this one. During the first days of the home stay part of the epidemic it was good to have a predictable book to snuggle into.

Smoke Bitten, Patricia Briggs. This one took a hard look at Adam's role in their marriage, showing where he needed to bend and where Mercy needed to either challenge or accomodate them. That worked really well for me, and I liked how it played into their dealing with their enemy. Well, enemies, although one was much more important than the other, the the latter's chagrin. A fun book to binge read.

The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora, Pablo Cartaya. 2017 Cybils middle grade fiction. An interesting slice of life story that worked well with what it did. The crush part was not that interesting, but I liked his developing relationship with his family and how he dealt with the changes caused by both external and internal challenges.

The Vagina Monologues, Eve Ensler. For my Torches and Pitchforks book club. This was good to read, and fun to start reading aloud whenever my adult sons wandered into the room (they are both home from college for remote learning). A lot of it is stuff I've heard a lot, but some of it was deeply moving, other pieces infuriating in their necessity, and some pieces heart-piercing. I'm looking forward to the discussion.


Bookmarks Moved (Or Languished) In:





Tender Morsels, Margo Lanagan. 4/10 discs. All car reads have slowed tremendously -- I don't go many places anymore!

Tropic of Serpents, Marie Brennan. The library called this home. I will try to get it back, probably after I finish Jonathan Strange. They are a bit too close together to read simultaneously.

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, Susanna Clarke. I'll need to find a way to listen at home. Maybe if I try exercising?

Uncompromising Honor, David Weber. Baen Free Radio Hour's serial. Again, podcasts are not getting listened to since I'm not in my car.

Gideon the Ninth, Tamsyn Muir. I'm starting to like this house.

Shout, Laurie Halse Anderson. 2019 Cybils poetry. This goes very nicely with Vagina Monologues.



Picture Books / Short Stories:

There was a short story in the back of The Affair, which was a little story of Reacher being smart and aware and a good fighter back in his childhood. He even got to kiss a girl, so the whole novel package in a few pages.

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.

The Educated Child, William Bennett. History and geography for the elementary grades.

Cookie, Jacqueline Wilson.

Give All to Love, Patricia Veryan.

Tell the Wolves I'm Home, Carol Rifka Brunt.

Reading and Learning to Read, Jo Anne Vaca. More about Basal readers.

Reading Challenges

1. Cybils 2017. Finished Epic Fail. 
2. Cybils 2018. Nothing.
3. Cybils 2019.  Read in Shout. 
4. Reading My Library. Nothing.
5. Ten to Try. I've got 6/10 already! I forgot I counted my friend's book club pick.
6. Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge. 11/24. Nothing new. Penric was a few pages too long.
7. Where Am I Reading: 12/51 states, what with adding Mississippi and Florida.

Go Home! Stay Distant!

Well, things certainly escalated fast, didn't they?

The libraries are closed. The restaurants are closed. The gyms are closed. The book stores are closed. The movies are closed. The schools are closed. Work is as remote as it can be.

My sons are both back from college. One is officially on spring break, the other is starting remote classes. Next week they'll flip. The younger one would prefer to go back to his dorm to work, as he thinks it will be very hard for him to concentrate enough for remote classes at all, and doing it from the fun zone that is my home (I mean, I do have cats) might be too much. Who knows if it will be possible or not by next week -- perhaps they'll barricade the roads or just discourage people from known hot spots (like, say, HERE) from returning.

So far we're all healthy, though. I had my two elementary book clubs during the last week of school, although only one was well attended. Then I hosted my Friday book club (with a member skyping in as she was getting over a cold). As a laugh we all carefully sat with a chair between us, but we weren't really laughing. My future engagements in March are all moved to remote meetings; my brother didn't even come over for family dinner on Sunday but he did companionably watch The Mandalorian with us while on a call so we could snark companionably at the screens in our respective houses.

I did manage to play one game of Pandemic at which the world was saved and the diseases contained. Let it be an omen!

Stay safe, everyone!

My currently reading crept up to 21 but I think I'm finally settling down to some reading. Hopefully I'll finish some things next week.

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. Ditto for the children's lit version at either Teach Mentor Texts or Unleashing Readers.  My elementary school book clubs (and a couple of Cybils books) qualify me.

Started: 



Alvin Ho: Allergic to Girls, School, and Other Scary Things, Lenore Look. For the Talbot Hill Elementary book club.

The Orphans of Raspay, Lois McMaster Bujold. I like these little stories, and I'm saving this for my walks at the gym.

Shattered Warrior, Sharon Shinn. I like the author, and I like the illustrator.

Gregor the Overlander, Suzanne Collins. For the other Talbot Hill Elementary book club.


Completed:



Alvin Ho: Allergic to Girls, School, and Other Scary Things, Lenore Look. Fun book about a timid boy for the Talbot Hill book club. Made for a nice discussion as they compared him to their classmates and decided what made a good friend, good brother, good classmate.

Shattered Warrior, Sharon Shinn. My favorite part was figuring how it did things differently because it was a graphic novel and not just text. But I still find pictures a lot harder to read than words.

Gregor the Overlander, Suzanne Collins. I read this with a previous book club and thought it was OK, but on the reread I liked it a lot more. I liked how Gregor took being a big brother very seriously, and how the cockroaches approached things. I think I'll look up the sequels.

Bookmarks Moved (Or Languished) In:





Tender Morsels, Margo Lanagan. 4/10 discs. The girls are going to miss their bear.

Tropic of Serpents, Marie Brennan. The library called this home. I will try to get it back, probably after I finish Jonathan Strange. They are a bit too close together to read simultaneously.

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, Susanna Clarke. Made it through a few chapters. Since I'm trying not to go anywhere, I don't get a lot of time in the car, which is where I listen to this.

Uncompromising Honor, David Weber. Baen Free Radio Hour's serial. They skipped a week, and I am beind on the podcast anyway.

The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora, Pablo Cartaya. 2017 Cybils middle grade fiction. I like the story about the gentrification, but his crush is a bit dull.

Gideon the Ninth, Tamsyn Muir. I've managed to make it to where the action should start, so hopefully it will start going more quickly.

The Affair, Lee Child. It's fun to see Reacher back in his Army days.

Shout, Laurie Halse Anderson. 2019 Cybils poetry. It's definitely not prose, but I'm reading it more as a biography than as a group of poems.



Picture Books / Short Stories:

Nothing. The libraries are closed.

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.

The Educated Child, William Bennett.

Cookie, Jacqueline Wilson.

Give All to Love, Patricia Veryan.

Tell the Wolves I'm Home, Carol Rifka Brunt.

Reading and Learning to Read, Jo Anne Vaca.

Reading Challenges

1. Cybils 2017. A little progress in Epic Fail. 
2. Cybils 2018. Nothing.
3. Cybils 2019.  Read in Shout. 
4. Reading My Library. Nothing.
5. Ten to Try. I've got 5/10 already! 
6. Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge. 11/24. Nothing new.
7. Where Am I Reading: The Reacher book is in Mississippi, which will be new. Shout is maybe in Vermont? I should pay more attention, except it's too late. Epic Fail is in Florida.