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 2021I 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
- Cybils 2017. None. I just need 3 YA books to be done. But YA is hard.
- Cybils 2018.
- Cybils 2019. On my shelf!
- Cybils 2020. I need to get the books onto the challenge post!
- Early Cybils: Several short books, one graphic novel, and progress on another.
- Reading My Library. Nothing.
- Ten to Try. Restarted! Also I discovered that the Tacoma Library has an extreme version.
- 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.
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...
6 comments:
"when one of them feinted" I suspect you meant "fainted" but it could go either way.
I got as far as assigned in our Tuesday club book, but it is dry, slow going.
Love the idea of "palate cleansers!"
My emptying nest has been impacted by the pandemic as well. Lots of comings and goings!
Darn spell correct that fixed finted badly.
I love it that you are reading so many books at once. And I thought I read a lot of books at once. No contest!
Good luck in your quest to read all the Cybils finalists. I'm looking forward to February 14th when the 2020 list of Cybils finalists will be announced.
You seem a bit too nonchalant about having made several drives to bring your children to college in the aftermath of an insurrection while also attending various events virtually in the car, running a book club before racing out of the hotel, and planning an online convention—I believe that much work in one week warrants an award! Thanks for the great post and selection of books!
I cannot imagine having to drive my children across the country after all we've recently endured. That had to be rough. But what a great way to handle things at the small college! I really love Kimberly Brubaker Bradley's writing. I loved The War That Saved My Life and the sequel. Then this week I JUST finished Fighting Words two days ago, which was so very moving. I'm grateful when I find authors that I feel are reliable in their research and writing. I'm making the rounds late this week, so I'll be catching up with you again very soon! :)
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