Another double report, since I got distracted last weekend. Probably by the lovely weather -- it's been bright and and clear, even edging up to overly hot, which is uncommon in April. I've been doing yard work and going on walks, and may soon start jogging again.
I spent the first part of April deep in vaccine envy; everyone I knew except me was getting one and I wasn't even eligible. So I signed up for an experimental vaccine just so I'd stop obsessing, since telling myself I was being silly wasn't happening. But my weight has rocketed up so much during the winter parts of this year that I wasn't quite eligible and so I tried again to schedule an appointment and Kaiser Permanente had just opened up the system to people who would soon be eligible so I got a shot for the first possible Saturday and now I'm on the track to help herd immunity!
That is a huge relief. Now I just have to make cookies to send to far away birthday people and get ready for May, which will probably involve helping my college kids change housing.
Cooking -- one week I scheduled my grocery pick up for the wrong day and then realized the Friday was book club. so I didn't cook at all. But last week I made the meals I had planned and am still enjoying my pesto lasagna and chicken pasta with tomato-cream sauce leftovers. (I added veggies to the sliced chicken for the pasta, and I think the spinach, onions and garlic enhanced it.)
I feel like I've been very social -- I had a zoom book club, my regular Tuesday night Skype games, met with a friend to give blood (I gave SUPER BLOOD, which is scary and takes longer but I think helps people more?), and I drove into the city to get rejected for the vaccine trial, and then on Saturday drove to the building where the vaccine was and spent five minutes waiting in line and then fifteen minutes in a big hall with other people waiting to see if I exploded or fell over or something (I did not).
On television I've been watching the Falcon and Winter Soldier with my son (we text each other from our respective homes), and also finished off season 5 of Nailed It, which had the pleasing twist of letting two people work as a team as they failed to transform into specialty bakers. I also watched Snowpiercer becauae it's about to fall off Netflix and it was good but really brutal and I am a delicate flower so I can't say I enjoyed it.
My currently reading is inching back up -- 26. Still too high, but I knocked off one of the books I've been reading forever. The problem is partly that I'm counting all the serials I'm listening to, so those are supposed to last for weeks and they have pushed up my count. I'm actually doing better in general with finishing things!
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" and I'm going to go sign up. Ditto for the children's lit version at either Teach Mentor Texts or Unleashing Readers.
Started
The Physicians of Vilnoc, Lois McMaster. The last chronological Penric. (Until the new one comes out in a few weeks!)
Go With the Flow, Lily Williams & Karen Schneeman. 2020 Cybils finalist.
Ada Twist and the Perilous Pants, Andrea Beaty. I am chasing down this series.
Tempest, Beverly Jenkins. From a library romance grab-bag, to read while eating.
Sharks in the Time of Saviors, Kawai Strong Washburn. For the KCLS new author's program.
Temporary, Hilary Leichter. From a library fiction grab-bag.
Curiosity Thrilled the Cat, Sofie Kelly. For the Foolscap Book Club.
A Bride's Story Vol 10, Kaoru Mori. I'm enjoying this author.
Crogan's Vengeance, Chris Schweizer. Cybils finalist.
Northanger Abbey, Jane Austen. Read-aloud.
The Vanished Seas, Catherine Asaro. I like this author.
The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien. Read-aloud.
Iggy Peck and the Mysterious Mansion, Andrea Beaty. I like this series.
Castle Waiting, Vol 1, Linda Medley. Cybils finalist.
Not So Normal Norbert, James Patterson & Joey Green. For elementary school book club.
An Ideal Husband, Oscar Wilde. A weekly play read-aloud.
Superman Smashes the Clan, Gene Luen Yang, 2020 Cybils finalist.
Completed
The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek, Kim Michele Richardson. I really enjoyed the librarian aspects of this, learning about the Kentucky women who brought books to families and schools deep in the mountains through the eyes of a dedicated Blue woman. The blue people were also fascinating; I didn't feel the color aspects were completely understood but the glimpses of how racism worked when finding anomalies was disturbing, especially when it tore families apart. I do wish the author had stuck closer to history in the understanding of the blood condition.
Network Effect, Martha Wells. Yay, my book club enjoyed these. Most people went back and read the novellas, because they like to read things in order. But I liked hanging out with Murderbot again and seeing how it dealt with annoying relatives of its favorite people, and how some of those relatives moved up to be its favorite people. I also liked the relationship between Murderbot and Art, and how they relied on each other when they had no where else to turn.
Flight, Vol 4, ed. Kazu Kibuishi. 2007 Cybils Teen/Young Adult Graphic Novel finalist. Some stories were fun, some were sad, some were colorful, some were dark. It's a varied book of graphic short stories, although I, being a shallow sort, prefered the happy colorful ones.
The Physicians of Vilnoc, Lois McMaster. I like seeing Penric be awesome at things that he is reluctantly good at. Here is is forced to go back to medical practice, with all the dangers that comes from someone who doesn't know how to give up and whose instinct is always to help. I really like how the gods in this world interact with the people.
Someplace To Be Flying, Charles de Lint. Despite the glacial pace at which I read this, I did like it. I like how the characters pay prices to when they make mistakes or need to compromise, I like how the magic and the world mix together, and I liked the big showdown at the end when the world almost, but not quite, gets destroyed.
Go With the Flow, Lily Williams & Karen Schneeman. 2020 Cybils Elementary/Middle Grade Graphic Novel finalist. Four kids (three old friends and a new girl) face the challenges of high school together, with a particular emphasis on how their periods affect things. It's a bit conspicuously diverse, but I really appreciate that in a graphic novel because I need broad strokes to tell people apart, and these four girls are deliberately different in race, body type, and energy. The color palette is red, again echoing the period theme, as the girls confront particular aspects of menstruation -- pain, irregularity, taboos, and supply issues, as well as the usual struggles of teendom.
A Bride's Story Vol 10, Kaoru Mori. Lots of cool pictures of eagles as the young groom struggles to catch up to his older bride, and also treks through the mountains as our young Englishman pushes through to Turkey. I really like the art and don't mind when I have problems telling people apart.
Crown Duel, Sherwood Smith. It was great listening to this being read by the author. At the end she mentioned that if she were writing it today, she'd probably center different characters, but I enjoyed the antics of Meliana who only saw the edges of the events going on even as she precipitated so many of them.
Curiosity Thrilled the Cat, Sofie Kelly. For the Foolscap Book Club. I read one further along earlier, but I had fun seeing how we meet the cats and discover their powers, and learn some of the town along with our librarian protagonist. I like how the mystery drives the story but the cats still get to do magic.
Ada Twist and the Perilous Pants, Andrea Beaty. I'm going back to see all this series because I had so much fun with the politician one the Cybils showed me. Ada Twist is a scientist who also tends to get flustered and lose the ability to communicate when she is excited or stressed, so we see both her working out scientific principles and also navigating family dynamics and working to earn trust. The pants themselves were unfortunate, as they veer into fantasy, but the solution to the problem was more reliable.
The Blue Castle, L.M. Montgomery. This was a delight to listen to, especially since most of the audience knew and loved the book, but the reader was new to it. Valency is as delightful as I remember, and now I shall force my book club to read this.
Crogan's Vengeance, Chris Schweizer. 2009 Cybils Teen/YA Graphic Novel finalist. I read the colorized version, which is good for me since I need a lot of help reading comics (I'm getting better!). I really liked the framing story, of a family using old family legends to underscore their values, and it gave context to the pirate story itself, and the ultimate arc of the young man trying to survive in a violent world. Not too violent for me, though.
Iggy Peck and the Mysterious Mansion, Andrea Beaty. Eh, this one didn't really strike a chord for me. Iggy's fascination with architecture was a bit dull for me, and the references to the many structures he built from various foods seemed rather unappetizing. The fantasy helicopter was a further irritation, and it slid too far into the fantastical in general to satisfy my more scientific leanings.
An Ideal Husband, Oscar Wilde. A weekly play read-aloud. The stage directions were very specific and a bit hilarious, and I also enjoyed the commentary from people who knew a lot more than me about the times and the references. The conclusion about the lesser worth of women grated a lot, but the twists between the characters and the struggle between acceptance of people and the need for a moral code was real.
Castle Waiting, Vol 1, Linda Medley. 2006 Cybils 13 & Up Graphic Novel finalist. I enjoyed the various stories, both from the main character and the stories by the people she met, but the print was tiny! I'm too old for this. It was interesting to see what the author explained and what she just left there for us to see -- why does the baby have a tail? Why does the girl pretend to be a countess? Why are the people so bad at keeping secrets?
Bookmarks Moved (Or Languished) In:
Eleven -- that's not too bad, right?
Uncompromising Honor 61-2/??, David Weber. Baen Free Radio Hour's serial. Honor is not compromising.
Black Leopard, Red Wolf, Marlon James. Ancient Sword and Laser pick. Nothing.
The Pleasant Profession of Robert A Heinlein, Farah Mendelson. Hugo finalist. Made progress.
The Luminaries, Eleanor Catton. Didn't touch it.
The Bourne Supremacy, Robert Ludlum. Didn't touch it.
The Wine-Dark Sea, Patrick O'Brien. Progress
An Extraordinary Union, Alyssa Cole. Progress.
Seven Sisters, Lucinda Riley. I told it to try again later.
High Cotton, Robin Kristie Johnson. A LibraryThing EarlyReaders book. I've found it!
Reckless, Selena Montgomery. For my Cloudy book club.
The Unspoken Name, A.K. Larkwood. For my Tuesday bookclub.
Picture Books / Short Stories:
Adventures in Cartooning, James Sturm, Andrew Arnold & Alexis Frederick-Frost. 2009 Cybils Elementary/Middle Grade Graphic Novel finalist. A light story about defeating a dragon told with frequent asides about how drawing a comic works, from what are things like panels to how to arrange them for maximum effect. It would have been a good read for me back when I was creating my superhero comics about Fuzzman and his nemesis Stickman.
Black Heroes of the Wild West, James Otis Smith. 2020 Cybils Elementary/Middle Grade Graphic Novel finalist. Three exciting stories about people on the American frontier, including a stagecoach driver and all around frontier woman, a lawman, and a horse tamer. Each story has a slightly different focus, showing both a single exciting incident and their overall lives but with different emphasis on each. I felt smug about knowing one in advance (the lawman is famous). There is back matter for more details and context but the print was so small I struggled with it.
I Am Every Good Thing, Derrick Barnes. 2020 Cybils Picture Book finalist. I expected to love this, but I thought I'd enjoy it as an adult and think it just fine for kids. Instead I am enthusiastic to share this not just with teachers but also with kids; the active poses, delightful art, and rhythmic poetic language makes this something I would have expected my kids to delight in when they were young and we were reading picture books together. I'm looking around for kids to gift this to, which is how I like to feel after reading a Cybils finalist.
Don't Let the Penguin Drive the Batmobile, Jacob Lambert. My next elementary book club for 2/3rd graders is all the Pigeon books by Mo Willems. And when ordering up a batch from the library I saw this and read it through Hoopla. It's a fun parody, echoing the pigeon beats almost page for page but with fun twists using Batman characters and images in different ways. I smiled though it and think it would be fun for kids old enough to know Batman.
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.
Under the Eye of the Storm, John Hersey. The storm is here with a fury! And for reasons (a house fell in the bay?) they have to go out into the ocean. I tend to skip the nautical details.
Dates From Hell, Kim Harrison & others.
Reading and Learning to Read, Jo Anne Vaca.
Reading Challenges
- Cybils 2020. Four graphic novels, one that I classed as a picture book.
- Early Cybils: One graphic novel.
- KCLS 10 To Try: 8/10. I did get a recommendation from a librarian, but I'll probably read that with a book club this summer. Epistolary will be hard.
- Tacoma Extreme Reading Challenge. 29/55. I'm not getting lucky as often.
- Reading My Library. Nothing. Well, my library is closed.
- Where Am I Reading 2021: 12/51 states. 9 Countries. A Bride's Story wandered into Turkey.
Future 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: Reckless Next: Vanished Seas
- Library Book: Temporary. Next: Two Rogues Make a Right.
- Ebook I own: Extraordinary Union Up Next: Paladin's Strength
- Library Ebook: Luminaries.
- Book Club Book: Cerulean Sea Up Next: Medical Apartheid
- Tuesday Book Club Book: The Unspoken Name. Next: The Consuming Fire
- Review Book: High Cotton. Next: Back Home
- Hugo Book: The Pleasant Profession of Robert A Heinlein. Next: Joanna Russ.
- Rereading: Goblin Emperor
- Meal Companion:
- Audio: waiting for Curse of Chalion
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