Well, this is certainly a year, isn't it? I never thought I'd be indecisive about delivering my kid to his college campus on time because his school is opposite a state capitol and what about possible riots? Of course, ordinarily I would send him down on the train a few days early except because of the pandemic I'd kinda prefer driving him... Crazy times! And these are the lucky worries that show how well off we are!
We had our January book club. Traditionally we gather at the home with a gourmet spouse and enjoy a delicious lunch and then watch a movie with some connection to literature. This year we had a small group and we all watched Hobbs and Shaw (hey, Hobbs sounds like the name of a philosopher!) because it's a feel good two hour display of The Rock. And some other people, probably. We were small enough that we could all watch from our living rooms and stay pretty close to each other. My son made us popcorn and then stayed to enjoy the movie. I've seen it many times -- it came out right when I got my Regal Movie Club thing where I could see all the movies all the time.
Paulos cooked a shrimp dish at the request of my niece, who loved it when I made it last week. It was pretty good, but mine was better. Probably because I am willing to peel the shrimp, which my son thinks is excessive labor, so I got the pre-peeled bag for him. He was going to re-try our failed New Years black-eyed pea thing, this time with actually black-eyed peas, but lucky for him I remembered that we are supposed to eat pizza for book club so I ordered out instead.
My reading remains completely disorganized. I pick things up and then start playing games. Not even good games, like Duolingo Spanish, but Spaceward Ho! which I must say is delightful on my ipad, even if I can't control fleets as well as I did on the computer when it first game out several decades ago. Cancel my life for the next few years; I'll be conquering the galaxy.
Speaking of the Cybils, check out the finalists! I hope to get my Read-all-the Finalists Challenge tracking post of this week.
My currently reading is still 26, but at the end of Sunday it was 24. My short term intention is to get it under twenty.
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
Breaking Through, Sue Macy. 2020 Cybils nominee.
Condor Comeback, Sy Montgomery. 2020 Cybils nominee.
Plain Janes, Cecil Castellucci. 2007 Cybils finalist.
Brave Heroes and Bold Defenders, Shirley Raye Redmond. 2020 Cybils nominee.
Shadows in Death, J.D. Robb. Just for fun. Also because it won't make me cringe like Sucker Punch.
La Perdida, Jessica Abel. Cybils finalist.
Laika, Nick Abadzis. Cybils finalist.
Completed
Network Effect, Martha Wells. Sigh. And I'm putting All Systems Red up next to it because I then went back and reread all the Murderbot/Mensah scenes. This is a great comfort read -- competency porn, idyllic society of rational people, bad corporations to hiss at, and reluctant friendships.
Breaking Through, Sue Macy. 2020 Cybils nominee. This is a look at women athletes in the 1920s, and how they pushed forward into competition and achievement despite societal concerns about the appropriateness of both for women. Some people who encouraged achievement still felt that competition itself was harmful either specifically for the ladies or for sports in general. I liked that it included African Americans as part of history; not as an extra in the back but as integral to the thesis. Since Blacks in America never had the luxury of pretending that women weren't strong, there was less resistance to the idea that women could exert themselves. Lots of photographs and illustrations and a strong layout made this book easy to read and remember.
Cog, Greg Van Eekhout. 2019 Cybils Middle Grade Speculative Fiction finalist. This is a science fiction story much more interested in character than science (which is a very valid form of science fiction!). Cog is a robot made in the form of a boy; he has emotions and needs to eat and does just about everything that kids do except grow taller. He is all about learning -- that's his name and his purpose. Unfortunately the corporation that owns him is all about profit, so their goals come into conflict. And when the corporation is mean to their dog-robot, well, I hope we all see who the bad guys are here. It's fun and has a lot of heart.
Brave Heroes and Bold Defenders, Shirley Raye Redmond. 2020 Cybils nominee. Fifty one page biographies and colorful portraits showcase religious men who made a difference. All are Christian but the include Protestants of different flavors and Catholics. Hmm, I forget if Mormons are included. Their heroism ranges from being openly religious while playing football to dying while on missionary trips to distant countries to Martin Luther. I wish Redmond had established her criteria; the brief introduction discusses the value of religious heroes but doesn't even mention the decision to go with all men, which seems like an odd choice. It's not like there aren't women defenders and heroes; in fact, two of the men seem like the sidekicks to their wives/sisters exploits.
Plain Janes, Cecil Castellucci. 2007 Cybils Teen/Young Adult Graphic Novel finalist. This was interesting but ultimately unconvincing to me. The protagonist Jane was a combination of superhumanly compassionate and driven and inwardly angsty. I could buy the latter but struggled with her ability to effortlessly shrug off social pressure and peers. Her crush on the boy was a bit dull, and her reaction to disappointment even more so. The ending in general felt flat. But I liked the concept of a family recovering from trauma, and how they portrayed the family's varied levels of healing and how that impacted each other. And the art projects were fun.
A Bride's Story Vol 9, Kaoru Mari. I finally got an hour to sit down and enjoy this. I'd better hurry up and finish the series before my aging eyesight make me prefer to read my graphic novels on my ipad! The glimpse into a different life is entrancing, and this book features the extravagant tomboy character who is easy for me to distinguish. I like the slow romance with the husband her family finds for her, with the titular marriage between her friend and her childish husband in the background.
Frederica, Georgette Heyer. A fun time spent with Frederica and her three younger brothers, with occasional visits from the duller older brother. I guess the protagonist is the Marquis who falls for her, as he is the one who makes all the changing; she's practically perfect from the start. I enjoy the balloon adventure, although the injury scenes seem ripped from older books. I like the anticlimax of Charis's adventures, and how Charles gets to shine. The final scene where the Marquis is proposed for is hilarious.
Now I have to go make the book club talk about things!
Condor Comeback, Sy Montgomery. 2020 Cybils nominee. Getting to drop in on scientists doing work is always fun, and the great photographs bring that vividly to life. I remember the condor release back in California long ago, and it's interesting to see what happened -- that the first releases didn't do well but did show how to fix the problems with condor socialization and the importance of training condors in their bird culture.
Games of Deception, Andrew Maraness. Cybils 2020 nominee. World War II books are my jam and this is an interesting lens to view pre-war Germany from: basketball! There's a discussion of the controversy over attending the Olympics in Germany at all, which I don't remember being as big a deal in other books on the rowing team or track people. There were basketball teams that didn't try out for the American spot because of this. It was fun to read about the chaos in the tournament in Germany; since basketball was such a new sport most of the spectators and many of the officials had no idea what was going on; the final was played outside in a poorly drained court making it more of a shambles than a display of skill. It's mainly a history of basketball followed by the details of its first appearance at the Olympics, which is notable many because of how the Germans used the event as a propaganda tool. Both are interesting, but not completely connected since basketball was such a low prestige sport.
Bookmarks Moved (Or Languished) In:
Uncompromising Honor 43/??, David Weber. Baen Free Radio Hour's serial. Well, next week I drive the boys back to college, so I hope to get through some podcasts.
Black Leopard, Red Wolf, Marlon James. Sword and Laser pick. Didn't touch it.
A Long Time Until Now, Michael Z Williamson. Didn't touch it.
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 it through a chapter!
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. Peeked at a few pages.
The Wine-Dark Sea, Patrick O'Brien. My Tuesday book club book. We've moved on. I hope to finish it though.
An Extraordinary Union, Alyssa Cole. Didn't touch it.
Sucker Punch, Laurell K. Hamilton. I'm so embarrassed for her when she is dumb. It's worse when she recognizes that she's been dumb. She just smooched a bunch of people to prove something to Otto the serial killer buddy of hers, and then realized that maybe that wasn't super-professional while actively on an assassination gig.
Storm Cursed, Patricia Briggs. A comfort read after the whirlwind. Actually I picked it up to put it away, but then I got stuck. I like the casual assumption of decency and competence.
Picture Books / Short Stories:
All the World, Liz Garton Scanlon. 2009 Cybils Fiction Picture book finalist. Warm and cosy book emphasizing family and community and nature working together whether playing on the beach or eating farmer's market food or in a neighborhood restaurant. Frazee's illustrations are always relaxing and comforting and her families are happily diverse.
Big Bad Bunny, Franny Billingsley. 2008 Cybils Fiction Picture book finalist. Emotionally geared right at preschoolers, this bedtime book both honors the drive for independence and control with the need for security and support. The mama mouse doesn't need to pull down her child when the drive for independence stumbles; instead she acknowledges the achievement while making sure safety and love is felt. All with lots of chances for fun voices and smug reader understandings.
Life Size Zoo, Teruyuki Komiya. 2009 Cybils Nonfiction Picture book finalist. What a great idea! This oversized books shows portions of animals at a 1:1 scale, so we get entire views of small animals but only the head of a giraffe (and the head of the elephant is trimmed!). It's a really fun way to see the relative sizes while also getting a close up view; I can see a three year old holding the book up to measure himself by the various animals. The facts on the side are fun, but they are mostly an excuse to linger on the details of the page, which one feature supports by pointing out a possibly overlooked point of interest.
Silly Tilly, Eileen Spinelli. 2009 Cybils Fiction Picture book finalist. Just a really fun book. Fun to look at, fun to read, especially with the alliteration and three lines of rhymes per page. And it's always good to share a commitment to the need for silliness with your young child.
I Will Surprise My Friend, Mo Willems. 2008 Cybils Easy Reader finalist. I was lucky enough to have kids young enough to enjoy share-reading books with me back when the Elephant & Piggie books were coming out, and they were great. This one is pitch perfect for early young readers, so the kids are self-aware enough to get the joke about planning to surprise one another. I remember enjoying the contrast in what Elephant and Piggie start imagining has happened.
I Love My New Toy, Mo Willems. 2008 Cybils Easy Reader finalist. Especially good to read with siblings, and the resolution is beautiful.
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. What to do if your kid needs special education; the best and worst of public school special ed.
Wool, Hugh Howey.
Sorcerer to the Crown, Zen Cho.
Under the Eye of the Storm, John Hersey. The world of cocktail drinking people in the 1960's reads like an SF world to me in its alienness, but I know my parents lived there.
Dates From Hell, Kim Harrison & others.
Reading and Learning to Read, Jo Anne Vaca. Why teachers prefer touchy feely evaluations (portfolios) and dislike standardized test ones.
Reading Challenges
- Cybils 2017. None. I just need 3 YA books to be done. But YA is hard.
- Cybils 2018. Finished Middle Grade Fiction. Hooray!
- Cybils 2019. Finished Cog. Another category started!
- Cybils 2020. Well, I've already finished all the nonfiction books... I need to get my challenge post up.
- Early Cybils: Read some picture books, early readers, and graphic novels. I think I'd better do the graphic novels next because those probably don't survive that long.
- 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 need to finish categorizing my December books and deciding if I want to track this again in 2021.
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 Vol 9. Next: No idea.
- 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: Little Gods
- 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...
1 comment:
Every stinkin' week I start to say something about the political climate and then realize it is only worse. I'm hopeful, but also trying to be realistic. Who knows what the next two weeks hold with threats of attacks on capitols. I mean, seriously! Ugh. Anyway, I was so excited to go check out the Cybils finalists. I've actually been trying to make a #mustread list this year, so I'll definitely be turning to the finalists as I put it together. Thank you for all your hard work with judging!! <3 On books, I may have already shared this, but I keep oscillating between just picking up Return of the Thief or starting back from book #1. Because it's been too long and I'm afraid things are going to come up that I cannot remember (which always drives me batty). I hope you have a wonderful reading week, Beth!
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