KCLS Library 10 to Try 2021

KCLS Challenge: Ten To Try -- SUCCESS

Progress:  10/10

Once again my fabulous library system is hosting their Ten to Try Challenge where you try to read books fitting ten categories, and if you succeed, you win happiness beyond compare. Also you get a button. I love my buttons. Finally, it's an excuse to create a list on the library home page. Lists! Buttons! You see how easy it is for the library to give me happiness.

I'll keep a list -- I can't make it public until it gets a few entries (which didn't happen until March) but I'll keep updating this post. 

Anyway, this years challenge categories are:

1. Read a book that makes you laugh Talisman Ring, Georgette Heyer 4/3/2021
2. Read a book with non-human characters Cog, Greg Van Eekhout 1/6/2021
3. Read a book about the future Shadows In Death, J.D. Robb 1/16/2021
4. Read an epistolary novel (written in letters) Piranesi, Susanna Clarke 6/21/21
5. Read a book by a Black author Punching the Air, Ibi Zoboi & Yuseff Salaam 2/13/21
6. Read a book published this year Wild Sign, Patricia Briggs 3/21/21
7. Read a book about pop culture Take a Hint Dani Brown, Talia Hibbert 1/28/21
8. Re-read an old favorite : Penrics! Finished reread of Lois Bujold's series 4/7/21
9. Read a book set where you were born Class Act, Jerry Craft 3/15/21
10. Read a book recommended by staff Persephone Station, Stina Leicht 8/7/2021

Maybe I'll try using the hashtag #10totry when I tweet the book. Probably not, because I usually read the book first and then try to see if it fits.

Empty Nest In Pandemic, 2nd Semester

 

This week I recommence my Empty Nesting, which has been affected a bit by the pandemic, as the schedules for my boys' college were both affected. One boy goes to a big state school in Pullman WA, which will be all-online until things get better, but since he had already signed a lease near campus he likes going back where he can study. And not listen to me nag him about the chores he promised to do.

The other one goes to a small liberal arts college in Salem OR, which still manages to have in person classes. First they all show up near campus and lock down in their rooms for two weeks of online classes, then they don their masks and march off to extra-large classrooms with lots of room for social distancing and get to discuss things in person! Very exciting, after the two weeks of lock down. Originally I was going to drop them all off in one big circle, but there were concerns what with the Republican insurrection that maybe showing up on the back door of a state capitol during the inauguration was not prudent. So I spread it over a week -- drive across Washington one day, drive back the next, drive down to Oregon, drive home. I have now caught up with most of my podcasts. 

This messed up some of my timing -- I was now driving during the new, remote, version of my Romance Reading Series hosted by the library. So I had to figure out how to zoom on my phone, which everyone else figured out nine months ago. I couldn't talk (road noise too loud) but I could hear, and I plan to call in for the next one in February as well. And then I talked my hotel into letting me check out late so I could do my elementary book club before driving home. So it all worked out.

I'm busily emailing people to put together virtual panels for a small literary convention I help with. If anyone is interested in talking about books (mostly genre books, but we're flexible) or other interesting things, this is a great time to check us out: Foolscap 2021

I got in a run in the gym at a hotel, which felt good, and then came home and balked at the cold and rainy weather. I'm a huge wimp. Oh well, maybe tomorrow.

I'm caught up with WandaVision; Alexander and I text each other while watching from our respective homes. So far he likes the mystery and doesn't get a lot of the sitcom references; I'm enjoying the sitcom call backs and tend to ignore the underlying confusion. So we're both happy. I also continued watching Star Trek while folding laundry -- I made it through episode 2.19 of both Deep Space Nine and Voyager. Blood Oath was fun because I really like Dax dealing with stuff leftover from Curzon, and also because she got to be pushy, which the writers have some problems with. Lifesigns was also good, because it was the doctor falling in love. I'm pretty character based; I'll accept almost any plot if I like the character.

The library apparently doesn't allow you to renew stuff forever (although still no fines) so I'm going to try to finish up some stuff and return it. So I don't feel bad that my currently reading is still 28, because although I finished some stuff I had to ignore others to get the ones that about to disappear.

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. 

Started

The War That Saved My Life, Kimberly Brubaker Bradley. For my Talbot Hill 4/5 Book Club.

Take a Hint, Dani Brown, Talia Hibbert. For my Cloudy Book Club and it also fit in the Romance Series I just rediscovered -- the January theme is Own Voices. 

Taking on the Plastics Crisis, Hannah Testa. I got this the day after our meeting, so I want to belatedly read it!

Completed

The War That Saved My Life, Kimberly Brubaker Bradley. For my Talbot Hill 4/5 Book Club. Attendance was small but enthusiastic. We talked about WWII books, which are not as popular as they were in my youth (forty odd years ago), and about sibling relationships, bad parents (as a thing and as a genre), and handicaps in fiction. I asked about the title and we got some good mentions of different wars that were being fought, although the consensus was that the title is talking about the one with guns. I enjoyed rereading this and really mean to get to the sequel, which I may have bought. I should check my shelves.

Maybelle Goes to Tea, Katie Speck. 2008 Cybils Early Reader finalist. Small chapters, clear characterization, and cosy pictures make this a good pick for kids who can get over the small detail that Maybelle is a COCKROACH. Which I could not. This would be a fun share-read because I suspect my kids would have enjoyed seeing my horror; I completely sympathize with the non-sympathetic adults, especially when one of them fainted. 

Spies, Lies and Disguise, Jennifer Swanson. 2020 Cybils nonfiction nominee. I only skimmed this before, so now I sat down to read it all the way through. The conversational tone felt a bit condescending, but I was a snobbish kid so that's probably a me-problem. I liked the variety of topics in the chapters, although sometimes the effort to tie them into the deception theme was a bit tenuous. The layout was good -- the text had room to breathe and the photographs were clear and interesting even though they were black and white. This is a fun book for kids into wars, although I'm not sure it would draw in kids without a starting fascination. 

Laika, Nick Abadzis. 2007 Cybils Graphic Novel finalist. OK, I knew from the title that the dog was doomed, but things were worse than I remembered. And as a First Second publication, it was an emotionally strong and visually powerful story -- so it was a real downer. We see the cute little doggy and her endless optimism and faith in people, despite recurring betrayals. We see the animal handler who finds herself torn between loyalty to (and fear of) the communist regime and her affection for the dogs in her charge. And we see ambitious engineers who also fear their political bosses and require successes to placate them. And I learned hard facts like that Laika died earlier in the mission than the Soviets reported, and how little useful data was gleaned (or expected to be received) from the flight. Yikes.

Stolen Justice, Laurence Goldstone. 2020 Cybils nonfiction nominee. A solid and grim story about the constant war the American Supreme Court has waged against Black suffrage, equality, rights, and survival. Using impressive twists of understanding and bizarre interpretations of rather simple texts they managed to create a racist white-supremist legal ediface that ensured that lynchings would flourish, voting among Blacks would plummet, and America could stay white. It's told clearly if without much style, and really felt like important reading in our current time.

Bookmarks Moved (Or Languished) In:

My wall of currently-reading books is now a nice rectangle!

Uncompromising Honor 46-49/??, David Weber. Baen Free Radio Hour's serial. My sons were very amused by my dedication to this serial, since Baen has only been giving me about 4 minutes of story for the past few weeks. No wonder it is taking me a while to figure out which characters are on which side!

Black Leopard, Red Wolf, Marlon James. Sword and Laser pick. Didn't touch it.

A Long Time Until Now, Michael Z Williamson. I put it in my bag so will probably make some progress sometime. And I came really close to reading it, but then I played Spaceward Ho! instead.

Children of Time, Adrian Tchaikovsky. Didn't touch it.

The Pleasant Profession of Robert A Heinlein, Farah Mendelson. Hugo finalist. Didn't touch it.

The Luminaries, Eleanor Catton. Checked it out again!

Someplace To Be Flying, Charles de Lint. Didn't touch it.

The Bourne Supremacy, Robert Ludlum. Didn't touch it.

Return of the Thief, Megan Whalen Turner. Still stressed. I care about these people and they are getting hurt!

The Wine-Dark Sea, Patrick O'Brien. My previous Tuesday book club book. Didn't touch it.

An Extraordinary Union, Alyssa Cole. Didn't touch it.

Sucker Punch, Laurell K. Hamilton. I'm trying, I really am. 

Storm Cursed, Patricia Briggs. The competence of these people, emotional and organizational,  stands in very sharp contrast to Anita Blake's crowd.

La Perdida, Jessica Abel. Cybils finalist. Dragging myself through. To make sure I completely hate reading it, the main character is now doing even more drugs.

One Giant Leap: The Impossible Mission that Flew Us to the Moon, Charles Fishman. For my Tuesday night book club. I'm ahead of our weekly goal!

Seven Sisters, Lucinda Riley. Because my mom and aunt recommended it. And now the library wants it back just as I got into it!

Picture Books / Short Stories:

The Incredible Book Eating Boy, Oliver Jeffers. 2007 Cybils picture book finalist. I didn't like this one as much as I expected too -- the illustrations were too strange and moved from interesting to off-putting, and I thought it ended on an unfortunately didactic note, which I know is a strange complaint for a book all about the joys of devouring books! I think this one would work better if I were sharing it with an actual kid, instead of just imagining a reaction which isn't as satisfying. 

Mercy Watson Thinks Like a Pig, Kate DiCamillo. 2008 Cybils Early Reader finalist. I like the easy text, quick chapters and cosy illustrations, but I was stressed by the story because I felt the Watsons were terrible neighbors and pet owners. This would be a fun book to share-read, because the kids would probably be on Mercy's side while I was pulling for the grumpy Lincolns -- my inner Eugenia is strong. 

The Book That Eats People, John Perry. 2009 Cybils Picture Book Finalist. I forgot to mark this with last week's books --  I got it from the Tacoma Library, which is about 20 miles from my home but we drove down during the power outage because we can charge our phones in the car. So my younger son rode along, and he read it beside me which made it even more fun. I liked the meta-idea of the book, and the different crimes the book committed. This would have been a bed-time favorite for us back in the day.

Palate Cleansers

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

The Educated Child, William Bennett. 

Wool, Hugh Howey. Lots of bloodshed in the revolution. Things aren't looking good for our viewpoint characters. 

Sorcerer to the Crown, Zen Cho. The poor sorcerer has to deal with everyone's personal problems as well as the larger problems that everyone else keeps ignoring. 

Under the Eye of the Storm, John Hersey. 

Dates From Hell, Kim Harrison & others. The title of the second story is a pun, so that is promising. 

Reading and Learning to Read, Jo Anne Vaca. Criterion evaluations (which I think are close to standards-based ones) versus percentiles, and what each do tell and when they can misreport children's abilities.

Reading Challenges

1. Cybils 2017. None. I just need 3 YA books to be done. But YA is hard. 
2. Cybils 2018. 
3. Cybils 2019. On my shelf! 
4. Cybils 2020. I need to get the books onto the challenge post!
5. Early Cybils: Several short books, one graphic novel, and progress on another. 
6. Reading My Library. Nothing. 
7. Ten to Try. Restarted! Also I discovered that the Tacoma Library has an extreme version.
8. Where Am I Reading: 33/51 states. I think I'll finish updating my 2020 books by the end of January and then  I'll see where I am. One thing I'll do differently this year is keep track of recommended books so I have ideas for books.

Plans

I'm putting this at the end because I suspect it's complete fiction, but I feel I should attempt some structure.

I am reading: 

• Book I own: Return of the Thief. Next: A Deadly Education
• Library Book: Sucker Punch. Next: Care and Feeding of Washpish Widows
• Ebook I own: Baker's Guide to Defensive Magic.  Up Next: Extraordinary Union.
• Library Ebook:  Luminaries. Next: Bourne Factor
• Book Club Book: Take a Hint Dani Brown Next: Marrow Thieves
• Tuesday Book Club Book: One Giant Leap. Next/also: Somewhere To Be Flying. Still haven't finished Wine Dark Sea. 
• Review Book: None. Up Next: Not sure.
• Hugo Book: The Pleasant Profession of Robert A Heinlein. Next: Joanna Russ.
• Rereading: Storm Cursed. Up Next. I'm thinking more K.J. Charles but who knows...

Power Out

 

We had a power outage that lasted a whole day -- just after midnight until almost dawn the day after. So long enough to be interesting but not long enough to be annoying. We kept the fridge and freezer closed all day, so we didn't lose any food, but we had no internet! Well, we had phones, but no way to charge them. So my boys didn't walk around with headphones, which I liked, but it also meant that when I asked my sneaky little questions like "Anyone else want a cookie?" they would hear me. 

The funniest bit was during our weekly family zoom meeting when we were describing running around finding candles and flashlights and my younger brother burst out with "Didn't you look in the emergency supply kit?"??!!  Because a few months ago he sent me home with a large bin that he and his wife had carefully stocked with everything the well supplied household needs. And I was like, uh, it never felt like an emergency... And then after the call I went out to the garage and poked around and saw the batteries and flashlights and cell phone chargers and .... I have the best brother.S adly, that black-out day was also the day for one of my elementary book clubs! I missed it completely so I hope the librarian did all right. I mean, I'm sure she does but she's not supposed to have to work at them; she's just there because the school district requires a staff member on zoom calls. I can be alone with the kids in person but not remotely. 

I found a new book club at our library -- debut authors, so I had gotten the book but I thought the club was on Wednesday. Actually it was on Saturday, as my calendar reminded me, and I had meant to READ the book on Wednesday. But I went anyway because they had the author on the call and I'm really glad I did because not only was she really interesting but I also found out that my Romance Book Series had gone online and I had already missed one but should be able to make the next. So I'm excited. And I'm going to read Meng Jin's Little Gods real soon now.

We had dinner out on blackout day. Well, dinner take-out, and we ate early before it got too dark. The meal plan called for a crockpot dish, and I hadn't picked up the food from the store yet. I delayed my pickup until almost dinner time in hopes the power would come back, and then grabbed a bag of ice in addition to the groceries so that we could replace to coolth lost when we opened the fridge to put the groceries in. So Friday we had our crockpot falafels, and I made pita bread using my new Christmas pizza stone and it worked out well. Everyone had pockets to stuff. 

I made one walk with a friend but didn't manage to do any running. I need to pull my socks up! In related news, I binged some television with my son, which is always fun. I wanted to watch Bridgerton but on my own I usually manage about 20-30 minutes a day. So I enlisted Alexander to watch with me and we did it in two nights. Also, if I go to bed that late I'm not going to exercise the next day. But it was fun and we enjoyed disagreeing about which character was in the right -- he had more sympathy for the Viscount and I thought the mom made excellent points. He was appalled when Daphne took advantage of the Duke because he's all about consent and I agreed but that what the Duke had done counted as lying.

We also watched the first two episodes of WandaVision which is promising, and I managed to see an episode of Nailed It (Mexico) and also saw episode 2.18 of Deep Space Nine, and started 2.19 of Voyager. 

I've managed to ignore what is going on with my country, but I will say it's very hard to read books about civil rights and voting reform, and also I can't seem to stick to anything and I blame the Republicans. We also changed plans for taking Alexander back to his college next to the Oregon state capitol, which I hope is an excess of caution but that's where we are. So I don't feel bad that my currently reading is still 29, but I still have hope that after next week is over I can start to bring it down. 

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. 

Started

The Future of Science is Female, Zara Stone. 2020 Cybils nonfiction nominee. 

One Giant Leap: The Impossible Mission that Flew Us to the Moon, Charles Fishman. For my Tuesday night book club.

Sunset of the Sabertooth, Mary Pope Osborne. For my 2nd/3rd grade book club.

Give Us the Vote! Over Two Hundred Years of Fighting For the Ballet, Susan Goldman Rubin. 2020 Cybils nonfiction nominee. 

Seven Sisters, Lucinda Riley. Because my mom and aunt recommended it. 

Katie Goes to Tea, Katie Speck. Cybils Early Reader finalist. 

Stolen Justice, Laurence Goldstone. 2020 Cybils nonfiction nominee. 

Spies, Lies and Disguise, Jennifer Swanson. 2020 Cybils nonfiction nominee. 

Completed

The Future of Science is Female, Zara Stone. 2020 Cybils nonfiction nominee. Although the title oversells it a bit (there will also be male scientists in the future, as well as non binary ones), this book of short biographies of women doing significant work with the chance of making an impact is fun to read and a good cheerleading idea for kids thinking about futures in STEM. Most of the people profiled are running businesses based on their breakthroughs, from the ones who developed a home nail-decorating robot box that will incidentally encourage girls to develop coding chops to enhance their designs to the women who developed fish-substitute foods that could help fix our oceans and shores by substituting for mangrove-destroying shrimp farms. Each woman gets a review of her educational path (I like the one who hasn't technically graduated from Berkeley, although she's about a whisker short of a triple major graduation) and then how she's building her company to exploit her ideas. The tone is almost conversational; the bibliography is very short but most of the information is what is quickly available on google, so that makes some sense. 

Shadows in Death, J.D. Robb. This is number 50+ of this series, and it's comfortable like an old pair of jeans. Even the author recognizes that a lot of the territory is well covered; there's the obligatory sex scene to show that these two still are going at it like rabbits, but it's a few paragraphs long rather than a few pages. The bad guy is a blast from Roark's Irish past, so there's a lot of excuse for people to admire Irish accents and mention how attractive they are; we don't spend a lot of time on people getting tortured or inside the mind of the bad guy planning on torturing people. We check in on a bunch of people rather seamlessly by having them all drop by the grand opening of Roark's house for homeless youth, and we also get a scene of Peabody and an awe-struck shopping clerk helping Eve look less like a cop for a few minutes. It's good fun, and I'm on hold for the next one.

Sunset of the Sabertooth, Mary Pope Osborne. For my 2nd/3rd grade book club. My power went out and I completely missed the meeting! I hope the kids liked it. It's in the middle of an arc for the Magic Treehouse, which might bother some people. My kids skipped this series on their journey through elementary school so I haven't read much of these. I liked the idea of the kids accidentally journeying to the Ice Age in the wet swimming clothes, as it reminds me of driving my kids home from swim class through a snowstorm that was much worse than I expected. I'm not convinced of all the science; I prefer my cave people to be speculatively less gender role conforming than these guys. I'm not worried about the communicative mouse or the helpful mammoth; that's totally in the lines for the book.

Give Us the Vote! Over Two Hundred Years of Fighting For the Ballet, Susan Goldman Rubin. 2020 Cybils nonfiction nominee. OK, this is a very odd time in history to be reading this book about the history of suffrage in America and how hard African Americans, women, Native Americans and immigrants have fought for suffrage. Right now our country is torn among people who are furious that other people were allowed to count, that votes that disagreed with theirs apparently matter, and who pretend to believe to insane conspiracies to excuse their attempts to seize power in opposition to that vote. It really made this a much more discouraging book, as instead of seeing it as a move towards a more complete nation that included all the people within I kept seeing the angry voices of people who didn't want to share their power, that wanted to use the color of people's skin as an excuse to keep their voices silent. Ugh. But a good read -- it's not Rubin's fault that America is and was full of people who find democracy distasteful.

Bookmarks Moved (Or Languished) In:

I completely blame 2021 for the ridiculous length of this section. It really seems legitimate to me this week.

Uncompromising Honor 43-45/??, David Weber. Baen Free Radio Hour's serial. OK, I'm back. The battle is going on. The Sollies are attacking Beowulf, and maybe there is another battle somewhere else? But I have completely lost track of who is in which navy. It doesn't help that these last sections tend to be only a few minutes long...

Black Leopard, Red Wolf, Marlon James. Sword and Laser pick. Didn't touch it.

A Long Time Until Now, Michael Z Williamson. I put it in my bag so will probably make some progress sometime.

Children of Time, Adrian Tchaikovsky. Didn't touch it.

The Pleasant Profession of Robert A Heinlein, Farah Mendelson. Hugo finalist. Didn't touch it.

The Luminaries, Eleanor Catton. Made a littel progress.

Someplace To Be Flying, Charles de Lint. Didn't touch it.

The Bourne Supremacy, Robert Ludlum. Didn't touch it.

Return of the Thief, Megan Whalen Turner. Stuff is stressful so I only read a little at a time. This is the last book so if it doesn't end well all is lost.

The Wine-Dark Sea, Patrick O'Brien. My previous Tuesday book club book. Didn't touch it.

An Extraordinary Union, Alyssa Cole. Didn't touch it.

Sucker Punch, Laurell K. Hamilton. She just apologized and was like "women, what can you do" with the sheriff so he is sympathetic.

Storm Cursed, Patricia Briggs. Haven't gotten back to it yet.

La Perdida, Jessica Abel. Cybils finalist. I'm not liking it much -- the young people are all annoying.

Laika, Nick Abadzis. Cybils finalist. I read this one after pushing at La Perdida. But I'm pretty sure the ending will make me sad. The first dog in space is not a story with a happy ending for the dog...

Picture Books / Short Stories:

Houndsley and Catina and the Quiet Time, James Howe. 2008 Cybils Early Reader finalist. A gentle read celebrating the peacefulness of a slow winter snowfall, and the possibilities for a cosy day inside and some adventures out in the snow. I think my younger son would have enjoyed this. 

Palate Cleansers

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

The Educated Child, William Bennett. 

Wool, Hugh Howey. 

Sorcerer to the Crown, Zen Cho. The aftermath of the Party Incident. She is so young she assumes he has no worries, which is a bit sad for me because I get his viewpoint and know he has many, and he is trying to look out for her. 

Under the Eye of the Storm, John Hersey. The world seen through the eyes of this guy is a very alien one, but it also feels accurate. The past is a different country.

Dates From Hell, Kim Harrison & others. 

Reading and Learning to Read, Jo Anne Vaca. What evaluations should explains.

Reading Challenges

1. Cybils 2017. None. I just need 3 YA books to be done. But YA is hard. 
2. Cybils 2018. 
3. Cybils 2019. Obtained the next one. 
4. Cybils 2020. Well, I've already finished all the nonfiction books... I need to get my challenge post up.
5. Early Cybils: Read an early reader, and worked at some graphic novels. 
6. Reading My Library. Nothing. 
7. Ten to Try. Restarted! Also I discovered that the Tacoma Library has an extreme version.
8. Where Am I Reading: 33/51 states. I need to finish categorizing my December books and deciding if I want to track this again in 2021.

Plans

I'm putting this at the end because I suspect it's complete fiction, but I feel I should attempt some structure.

I am reading: 

• Book I own: Return of the Thief. Next: A Deadly Education
• Library Book: The Seven Sisters. Next: Sucker Punch.
• Ebook I own: Baker's Guide to Defensive Magic.  Up Next: Extraordinary Union.
• Library Ebook:  Luminaries. Next: Bourne Factor
• Book Club Book: The Chai Factor. Next: Marrow Thieves
• Tuesday Book Club Book: One Giant Leap. Next/also: Somewhere To Be Flying. Still haven't finished Wine Dark Sea. 
• Review Book: None. Up Next: Not sure.
• Hugo Book: The Pleasant Profession of Robert A Heinlein. Next: Joanna Russ.
• Rereading: Storm Cursed. Up Next. I'm thinking more K.J. Charles but who knows...