My Library, When the Waters Have Run.

A new Quest -- I will read a book from every shelf in the OTHER Renton Library. Renton Highlands!

So, I have a Quest to read all the books in my local library. This quest was slowed down by the pandemic (which closed the library), and then there was a leak or something and my library is closed for repairs. But I hear from my librarian insiders that the repairs are severely backordered because of Supply Chain Issues. 

So I guess I will restart my quest in my CURRENT local library, which is actually now probably just as close to me as the old one. 

Sections

I'm starting in the children's corner, because there is nothing like fast results to get me motivated. I'm going to close my eyes and grab a book from each picture book section. My library organizes pictures books by theme, so I'll do a theme a week. By the way, thank goodness my kids aged out of this section before they went into this theme organization, because I'm still rather confused by it.

Then I'll move into middle grade books, and then decide how to approach the geometry of the adult shelves. 

Children's Picture Books:

Very Young

• I Am a Little Monkey, Francois Crozat. 
• Stick!, Andy Pritchett. 
• Peep and Egg: I'm Not Taking a Bath, Laura Gehl. 

Things That Go:

• Fire Truck Dreams, Sharon Chriscoe
• Otis and the Puppy, Loren Long

Stories:

• Lyric McKerrigan, Secret Librarian, Jacob Sager Weinstein
• The Not So Quiet Library, Zachariah OHora
• Singing Away the Dark, Caroline Woodward.
• In Plain Sight, Richard Jackson
• Peanut Butter & Cupcake, Terry Border

Sparkly

• The Birthday Queen, Audrey Wood
• Every Cowgirl Needs Dancing Boots, Rebecca Janni

Science and Nature

• Dig In, Cindy Jenson-Elliott. 
• My Rainy Day Rocket Ship, Markette Sheppard
• Pomelo Begins to Grow, Ramona Badescu & Benjamin Chaud. (MISSHELVED! This book is labeled SCIENCE AND NATURE but it is under RHYMES AND SONGS. Although why it is science when it's clearly philosophical I don't know)(On further investigation, I'm doing this backwards, and Science and Nature has one shelf on one side and two on the other)

Rhymes and Songs

• Marsupial Sue Presents "The Runaway Pancake", John Lithgow

Our World

• Nino Wrestles the World, Yuyi Morales
• Crane Boy, Diana Cohn

Life Issues

• Welcome to Bobville, Jonah Winter
• Mr Wayne's Masterpiece, Patricia Polacco
• In Our Mother's House, Patricia Polacco (I had already red this, so I grabbed another)
• The Buddy Bench, Patty Brozo
• 
  

Feelings

• Very Grumpy Day, Stella Jones
• Parachute, Danny Parker (this was excellent)

Famous Friends

• Mr Lazy, Roger Hargreaves
• Arthur and the Baby, Marc Brown
• Amelia Bedelia's First Apple Pie, Herman Parish

Dinosaures

• If a T Rex Crashes Your Birthday Party, Jill Esbaum
• Dinosaur Vs The Library, Bob Shea

Concepts

• What Sound Is Morning, Grant Snider
• The Oliphant, Jess Brallier
• Ten on the Sled, Kim Norman

Bedtime

•  Pete the Cat and the Bedtime Blues, Kimberly & James Dean

Animals

• The Best Worst Poet Ever, Lauren Stohler
• It's Duffy Time!, Audrey Wood
• Little Mouse's Big Secret, Eric Battut
• Sterling, Best Dog Ever, Aidan Cassie
• Pokko and the Drum, Matthew Forsythe
• The Crocodile Under the Bed, Judith Kerr
• Sally's Snow Adventure, Stephen Huneck
• Harvey Potter's Balloon Farm, Jerdine Nolen.

Easy Readers

• Berenstain Bears Inside Outside Upside Down, Stan Berenstain
• Charlie the Ranch Dog: Stuck in the Mud, Ree Drummand
• Journey to Pluto, Drummer D. Brown.
• Pizza Mouse, Michael Garland
• Dear Dragon Goes to the Dentist, Margaret Hillert
• Search For the Spyglass, Melissa Lagronegro
• Phonics Comics: Spooky Sara, Melanie Marks
• The Bears Upstairs, Jane Belk Moncure
• Fancy Nancy and the Delectable Cupcakes, Jane O'Connor
• Mr. Putter and Tabby Hit the Slopes, Cynthia Rylant
• Nate the Great and the Fishy Prize, Marjorie Weinman Sharmat
• Emmett's Pig, Mary Stolz
• There Is A Bird On Your Head, Mo Willems
• Pig Wig, Harriet Ziffert

Easy Nonfiction

• Winning Well, Katie Peters
• At the Gurdwara, Shalini Vallepur
• Don't Waste Your Food, Deborah Chancellor
• My First Book of French Words, Katy R. Kudela
• Explore Mercury, Liz Milroy
• Stars Before Bedtime, Claire Grace & Dr Jessamy Hibberd
• Let's Talk About Animals, Harriet Blackford (PROBABLY MISSHELVED!) 
• Weather Words And What They Mean, Gail Gibbons
• Pipsqueaks, Slowpokes, and Stinkers, Melissa Stewart
• I See Sea Food, Jenna Grodzicki
• A Place for Turtles, Melissa Stewart
• Beavers, Emily K Green
• Honey Badgers, Margo Gates
• Gorillas, Gail Gibbons
• Deep Sea Dive (Magic School Bus), Samantha Brooke
• Zee Grows a Tree, Elizabeth Rusch
• Saving Stella: A Dog's Dramatic Escape From War, Bassel Abou Fakher
• Easter Hunt, Clever Publishing
• B Is For Baller, James Littlejohn
• Soccer, Tessa Kenan
• Great Explorers, James Buckley Jr. 
• This Is My State, Lisa Bullard

Easy Biography

• Because Claudette, Tracey Baptiste
• Nelson Mandela, Kadir Nelson
• Put Your Shoes On & Get Ready, Raphael Warnock
• Preaching to the Chickens: John Lewis, Jabari Asim
• Fabulous Flying Machines of Alberto Santos Dumont, Victoria Griffith

Fairy Tales

• The Little Red Hen: An Old Fable, Heather Forrest
• Adventures of Achilles, Hugh Lupton
• Through the Water Curtain and Other Tales From Around the World, Cordelia Funke
• The Tortoise and the Hare, Allison Richie
• The Cat With Seven Names, Tony Johnston

Holiday Stories

• Dinosaur Vs Santa, Bob Shea

Children's Audio CDs

• The Journey of Little Charlie, Christopher Paul Curtis
• Tin, Padraig Kenny 
• A Handful of Stars, Cynthia Lord
• Children of the Stone City, Beverley Naidoo
• Six Children and a Stuffed Cat, Gary Paulsen
• The Creeping Shadow, Jonathan Stroud 
• Sammy Keyes and the Powers of Justice Jack, Wendelin Van Draanin 
• Eugene Returns!, AIO Team

Childrens Music

• Lullabies, Laurie Burkner
• Country Music Lullabies, Vol 1
• Country Goes Raffi
• Daddy-O-Daddy, Woodie Guthrie
• Triathlon, Rollie Polie Guacamole
• Here Comes Science, They Might Be Giants
• A Child's Hanukkah, Jewish Wedding Band
• Science Fair
• Lullabies From Around the World, Beijing Angelic Choir
• Lullaby Tribute to Taylor Swift
• Disney Villains: Simply Sinister Songs
• Rough Guide to World Lullabies
• Kids Bop 26

Skipping Children foreign languages 

Skipping Children’s Movies

Children’s Graphic Novels

• Sea Sirens, Amy Chu
• Peter and Ernesto, Sloths in the Night, Annabelle Graham
• Kid Beowulf:the Rise of El CID, Alexis E. Fajardo
• Pirate Penguin Vs Ninja Chicken 1: Troublems With Frenemies, Ray Friesen

The Lure of Crying Wolf

Well, I milked my little wound from the minor surgery as long as I could, but even I have to admit that I'm all healed up. Also my brother had a similar thing on his nose and my mom has one on her back this week, so I'm not that special. But as long as I was whining, I also made an appointment with the dentist and actually went.

See, ever since I stopped making my kid's dentists appointments I sorta stopped making mine as well. And they took over their schedules around middle school. The younger one will be legal to drink in America in a few weeks. So it's been some time. I was sure they'd tell me that all my teeth were about to fall out but instead they were like "looks good! See you in 6 months." Yay!

The March Romance Reading Series was a fun one: Cowpoke vs. Highlander. Although I didn't like one of the books I read for it, I can't blame the librarian -- I found my own book. Actually since the club suggests books for the list I wouldn't blame her anyway. We compared our reads and then talked about how this genre is marketed and why it would appeal. I like how this group both acknowledges the pure joy of reading but also looks at how genre conventions are constructed and how different authors and different time periods affect the writing. It's a fun meeting.

Now I have to get ready for the Foolscap Convention this weekend (March 25-27). It's virtual again, because we don't trust trends! They'll be authors talking about their writing, artists and creators talking their work, experts talking about their skills (some learned during the Great Lockdowns), games, discussions, and all. Check it out!

I also have to get ready for my Wednesday Book Present, where my friend and family all share a book with me. I'm reading a Transformers Web Comic with my nephew, a history of the Chernobyl disaster with my BIL, Warprize with my sister, and I think I've convinced my sons to add Grave Reservations and Strange Love to the list. We are supposed to meet for a bit book talk this Wednesday, but maybe I should ask for one more week.

I'm finished season 3 of Deep Space 9, and am trying to move faster through Season 4. But I'm not good at watching TV.

I am still second on my list of all the Cybils finalists. But I'm still working on the categories (as you see, middle grade SF is showing up), so I have hopes of regaining the top spot. Look out, Shaye! I only need like thirty thirty-five more books to catch up!

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 think I'm in time this week! Ditto for the children's lit version at either Teach Mentor Texts or Unleashing Readers.

Started

Three Keys, Kelly Yang. From my shelves. Sequel to Front Desk.

This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage, Ann Patchett. From my TBR list. I've promised myself to turn off screens and read this at bedtime. 

His Unexpected Amish Twins, Rachel J. Goode. Because I read the second book in the series, and I was hoping for more camels. 

When a Scot Ties the Knot, Tessa Dare. For the Romance Reading Series: Cowpoke vs Scot!

The Scotsman Swept Me Away, Hannah Howell. I tried to be tricky; this one is a Scotsman from a family who immigrated and are homesteading or something. I thought he'd be a cowboy Scotsman, but he wasn't really. 

Warprize, Elizabeth Vaughan. Friday book club pick; also my shared read with my sister.

Medicus, Ruth Downie. Book to keep at the table so I can read while eating.

Pandora's Star, Peter F. Hamilton. March Sword & Laser pick. They did warn us to start reading it a few months ago, as is is close to a thousand pages long. Oops. 

Chernobyl: The History of a Nuclear Disaster, Serhii Plokhy. My shared read with my brother-in-law.

Completed

When a Scot Ties the Knot, Tessa Dare. A fun choice for my Scotsman entry. Tessa Dare does not even pretend to be trying to write a historical novel; she's writing romances for modern people. So while stuff that may have actually happened influence our characters (English landlords displacing tenants for sheep, returning soldiers finding their lives have disappeared while they were off getting shot at), the people themselves are completely familiar, if a bit quirky. She plays well with her silly premise, letting the hero and heroine both learn some emotional truths on their way to compatibility, with entertaining scenes involving lobsters, amnesiac friends, possibly deadly mires, and local villagers galore. 

His Unexpected Amish Twins, Rachel J. Goode. I got this just because I was hoping for more camels, but unfortunately it all takes place just before the camels show up. Two Amish people fall in love and manage to tell each other about it. Apparently most Amish romance books are written by people with only a glancing acquaintance with the religion, so I think of these as Christian with costume books. The author's webpage says she grew up near actual Amish people, so I'm hoping that at least the costumes are right, even if I don't think I'm getting a real peak inside the world. It does just what it promises on the cover, and it's not too long for what it does. 

The Scotsman Swept Me Away, Hannah Howell. This did not work for me. The first thing the titular Scotsman did was head for Maine instead of going further west to become a cowboy (See Romance Series Topic: Cowpoke Vs Scot).  So I was cranky enough to really notice the author's tics, such as repeating things a lot. A character would think something in one paragraph and then it would be said in the next paragraph. And I never figured out the sexual mores of this society -- the two characters start sleeping together almost immediately, but they occasionally try to hide this from her kid brother, then grab a single bedroom when they go to visit his family, and then she suddenly wonders if that was perhaps a bad move, socially. And the title should be I Swept The Scotsman Away because he shows up at her hotel, falls in lust and then love, and becomes the first of his many brothers to ditch their Ozark new home and move in with a lady (instead of the other way around). She's happy with her coastal town and nearby family, so he moves in and figures he'll find a way to make himself useful. 

Wool, Hugh Howey. I liked the conceit of the separate bunkers and the question about how best to keep them safe, although I wish that had been more explored in the action. The action was cool and I appreciated the attention to detail for the electronics and all the stuff Juliette was messing with (OK, I'm lazy and didn't even try to picture most of it). It was a gift from a friend I don't see anymore, so I'm glad I finally finished it. 

Warprize, Elizabeth Vaughan. I read this about 15 years ago, but I was surprised how much I remembered. It's got a lot of fun world building and plays a lot with cultural differences; he's explained a lot to her brother, but said brother has always been jealous of her so lied about it. She thinks she's tribute; he thinks he's courting her. Shenanigans! Lots of horses and healing arts and barbarians (both think the other's people are barbarians).  Anyway, lots of fun and now I see the author kept writing this series. Hmm...

-- Book from the blogging gap -- 

Sal and Gabi Break the Universe, Carlos Hernandez. I had read and liked this, so I suggested it for our traditional kidlit read for December for the Friday book club that is a group of old friends. I'm still always nervous when I propose a book, because what if everyone hates it? And then they would decide that they hate me and I'll be kicked out of book club and left to wander lonely through the world. Yes, these are my good friends (including my sister!) but tell that to my anxiety. But as you see, I'm still in the club -- everyone who read it thought it was fun and enjoyable and just what the holiday stress needed. I hope to see more stuff from Hernandez. 

Bookmarks Moved (Or Languished) In:

Ok, I'm only going to put a book in here when I actually try to read it. Or at least actually pick it up and think about reading it. This week I made some progress in:

The Girl From the Sea, Molly Knox Ostertag. Cybils finalist. I care a lot about these characters, because Ostertag is that good a writer, but boy do they frustrate me. Lots of growing up happening.

Kiki Killira Breaks a Kingdom, Sangu Mandanna. Cybils finalist. This is what I mostly read while folding laundry. Which I'm behind on.

Red Hood, Elana K. Arnold. Cybils finalist. Still struggling with the narrative in second person. You know how much that bugs me!

Persuader, Lee Child. Tuesday book club. I may be Reacher'ed out for a while. This one is not going as fast as it could be, although it's in first person, which is a nice change of pace.

Live Free or Die, John Ringo. This is The Baen Free Radio Podcast serial, so every week they read a few pages to me. I made it into January! I'm on the last January episode! I would have caught up more, but Apple podcasts keeps deleting episodes while I'm in the middle of them, and I have to go home and download it all over again.

Winter Tide, Ruthanna Emrys. When I'm not playing Spaceward Ho! on my ipad, I'm reading this.

Ancestral Night, Elizabeth Bear. I'm listening while I clean the kitchen at night. So ten minutes a night, except when I'm slacking off.

Sweep of the Heart, Ilona Andrews. Another Innkeeper story! I'm on chapter 9. 

Forging a Nightmare, Patricia A. Jackson. 

Coyote Dreams, C.E. Murphy. Oops. The library took it back.

Terra Nullius, Clare G. Colman. 

Forfeit, Dick Francis. 

Picture Books / Short Stories:

Singing Away the Dark, Caroline Woodward. A quiet and charming book that shows a old fashioned girl, back from when we had to walk to school uphill in the snow (both ways), overcoming her fears of dark woods and scary cows. 

The Not So Quiet Library, Zachariah O'Hora. The librarian saves the day! I'm all in.

Lyric McKerrigan, Secret Librarian, Jacob Sager Weinstein. Another heroic librarian, this one with a lot of secret skills as well as excellent book recommending chops. 

"So Your Grandmother Is a Starship Now: A Quick Guide for the Bewildered," Marissa Lingen. It's cool because she's a now in interstellar vessel, but this guide always wants you to realize that's she's always been her own person. 

Palate Cleansers

These books I'm barely reading; lately I use them as bribes to get me to deal with the mail. I've been ignoring my mail.

The Educated Child, William Bennett.

 

Dates From Hell, Kim Harrison & others.

50 Great Poets, ed. Milton Crane. 

Year of Wonder, Clemency Burton-Hill. OK, I'm doing the day's song, and then jumping back to where I fell behind.

Reading Challenges

1. Cybils 2021: Didn't finish anything, but I started on the Middle Grade SF.
2. Early Cybils: Working on Red Hood again. I'm not liking it much, so I also have Heat on hand. 
3. Reading My Library. The library had a pipe break and is closed for repairs! But I have a back-up library...
4. Where Am I Reading 2022. Well, my attempt to read a cowboy romance gave me Maine.
5. Libraries: 24/55 for the Tacoma Extreme Challenge.

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: Pandora's Star Next: Forging a Nightmare
• Library Book: Persuader Next: 
• Ebook I own:  Winter's Tale. Next: ???
• Library Ebook: Accidental Bookworm  Next: Chernobyl
• Book Club Book: Pandora's Star
• Tuesday Book Club Book: Jack Reacher books!
• Review Book: The Queer Principles of Kit Webb  Next: Back Home
• Rereading: Forfeit. Or Maybe Heidi.
• Meal Companion: Medicus
• Audio:  Ancestral Night

All Done!

Once again I'm finishing this very late, but it's my Wednesday night, so that's better than last week's Thursday. 

I was an enormous wimp about my Mohs surgery, but my family rallied around me anyway. My brother got up before dawn so he could drive me in (if I was there all day they thought I wouldn't want to drive home in city traffic). My sister went to work in the downtown office (rather rare) in case I needed support, as my brother would have leave to get to a convention, but I had a friend on tap to pick me up in the afternoon. 

And then my great surgeon yanked all the bad skin cells out on the first try, so he was done cutting by 9:00 AM. (Mohs is for skin cancer -- they cut off a bit, then check to see if the edges are clear, repeat. Sometimes you have to repeat six or eight times). Mine was right below my eye, so it was a bit awkward. Also I hate needles so I spent the whole time aggressively picturing myself on a Hawaiian beach and ignoring whatever they were doing to my face and pretending to have no idea why nurses kept swabbing my face. Nope. I don't have insides! Nothing to see here! But I didn't scream or cry or accidentally punch anyone, so the medical team assured me I had been a good patient. 

Anyway, I was all sewn up by 10:00, so my brother drove me home and then went to Portland to win fame and glory by taking first place in THE WACKY RACERS Lego Convention event. He probably won a lot of other things, because he is smart, but that was the one he was risking missing by taking me to the hospital. 

The day before I had my elementary book club, where we discussed Front Desk, and it went really well. One girl came in late, but it turned out she was for the second club, but no one else came in. The librarian is a substitute while the main librarian is out on leave, and it turned out that neither of us had any idea what the actual start/end times were. I mean, I know when the first one starts, and when the second one ends, sorta, but because of the oddness of pandemic lunch/recess times we can't just split that in the middle. So we spent the second session figuring out what was going on; the student was also confused because she had completely missed the February meeting and then no one else showed up. My number vary wildly -- sometimes I get a lot of kids (like 20) sometimes 2 or three, or one. And sometimes it's the first session that is tiny and sometime the second. I'm a complete amateur so I am just glad for an excuse to read books. 

Friday was my birthday so I had a cake and also a lot of pizza because it was Book Club night, the one where we are all old friends so it's a chance to discuss a book and then just chat. Everyone enjoyed the cake and we had all my favorite pizzas, and they all told me my face wasn't that swollen at all.

And then Sunday came and someone broke into my house and stole an hour! Humph! I needed that hour!

I'm trying to keep up with my Deep Space 9, and knowing that The Next Generation is vanishing from netflix makes me move faster. I think I managed to watch three episodes this week. 

I am still second on my list of all the Cybils finalists. But I'm still working on the categories (as you see, middle grade SF is showing up), so I have hopes of regaining the top spot. Look out, Shaye! I only need like thirty more books to catch up!

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" but I'm probably too late to go sign up. Ditto for the children's lit version at either Teach Mentor Texts or Unleashing Readers.

Started

Nubia: Real One, L.L. McKinney. Cybils finalist. 

Rescue on the Oregon Trail, Kate Messner. Talbot Hill book club pick.

Persuader, Lee Child. Tuesday book club.

Everybody Fights, So Why Not Get Better At It, Kim & Penn Holderness. Because I binged their youtube channel.

Love Code, Ann Aguirre. Sequel to Strange Love. 

Kiki Killira Breaks a Kingdom, Sangu Mandanna. 

Completed

The Barren Grounds, David A. Robertson. I definitely see all the Narnia comparisons -- the kids going through a portal to another world that reflects their religion and have adventures working to save things and in the process learn to be better versions of themselves -- more compassionate, more open to family connections, closer to their sibling. It's also a fun read -- the adventure is fun, the animal friends are interesting and witty, the danger is real but not overly creepy. 

Front Desk, Kelly Yang. For Talbot Hill book club. I really enjoyed this reread, and the book club went really well -- two full tables in the library, and most of the kids had read it. They liked the idea of the kid getting real responsibilities and helping her family, and they discussed the prejudice she and the other tenants faced. It was a really fun half hour!

My Last Summer with Cass, Mark Crilley. 2021 Cybils Young Adult Graphic Novel finalist. Sometimes I'm really glad I'm not a judge for this read-all-the-Cybils project, because a book can be really good but I hate reading it! This book is about a girl who has a fight with a friend and does something awful. Something I would have trouble forgiving. So although the beginning and middle were interesting, and I really liked how the characters were drawn (I did occasionally forget which kid was which, but their words and actions quickly set me straight even when I couldn't tell the two girls apart.). But the ending was hard to read (especially as I was struggling with Girl From the Sea); I'm not sure that friendship should be revived. Maybe it isn't -- maybe they part as not enemies but don't go back to friendship. I could see that.

Rescue on the Oregon Trail, Kate Messner. Talbot Hill book club pick. Records show I've read this before, but I could only remember Sam the rescue dog, not what bit of history he time traveled to rescue in. Yes, someone dies of dysentery, yes they lose some stuff to the river (but no lives, because of Sam the rescue dog), and it's much more narratively satisfying than the card game (or, I assume, the game the card game is based on). Sadly, only one kid turned up for this club, and she had read last months book, so we just ate cookies and decided on our next pick. 

No Middle Name, Lee Child. Reacher short stories. I liked the variety -- some in first person, some from people around Reacher, some in the same voice I'm used to in the books. Although the latest book is in first person, so maybe I just haven't seen all there is to see. They do what I expect, so I was happy. 

Nubia: Real One, L.L. McKinney. 2021Cybils Young Adult Graphic Novel finalist. This definitely felt like a comic book, complete with assumptions that I know a lot of stuff I do not in fact know (like Wonder Woman's role in society, or the rules for returning to the Wonder Woman homeland). The illustrations were not really my style, but I usually could keep track of who was who (not always, but then that's pretty much always true for me. I'm getting better, though!). The story was strong, mixing realistic problems both small  (crush on a boy! who maybe is crushing back!) and large (the police keep shooting kids that look like them), along with super power problems (keeping a secret is hard! is it parental paranoia when they really are out to get you?). So, it wasn't for me, but I recommend it to others. 

Sorcerer to the Crown, Zen Cho. My Friday monthly book club picked this just as I was finishing it up. Most of us enjoyed it, although some found the racism and sexism inherent in the society made it difficult to enjoy. It should read as a slightly frothy fun book, so I can see that. The author is clearly on the side of the brown characters, not society, but it's still a deal. I obviously have better memories of the ending than the beginning. I liked the romantic scene at the very end, and I appreciated the young lady's ruthlessness while not wanting to be close to it. 

Everybody Fights, So Why Not Get Better At It, Kim & Penn Holderness. A bit of an odd read for me, since I am currently very single, but I like their silly songs, which I spent the day after my little surgery enjoying, so I wanted to show support by checking out their book. Hey, I think one of the library challenges is "unusual genre" so relationship advice is definitely that! It was fun to read because it was easy to picture them in their example fights from their show, and the advice was also good. Maybe I'll use some of the fighting techniques with my kids, in terms of communicating better what I need from them as roommates. 

Love Code, Ann Aguirre. The characters don't quite have the zany exuberance of Beryl, but Aguirre gives the AI amnesia so we still get a lot of confusion. They are so very careful of each other -- it's a charming manual on the importance of respect and consent in a romantic relationship. With a cute feathered predator zipping around their ankles, for added fun. I'm definitely moving onto the next one, as soon as I decide what format to buy it in. 

Bookmarks Moved (Or Languished) In:

Ok, I'm only going to put a book in here when I actually try to read it. Or at least actually pick it up and think about reading it. This week I made some progress in:

Red Hood, Elana K. Arnold. Cybils finalist. It's in second person and she has a sex life, and I'm feeling really creepy reading it. Yikes!

The Girl From the Sea, Molly Knox Ostertag. Cybils finalist. I think the protagonist is behaving terribly towards her girlfriend, and I'm rooting for the girlfriend to call it off for her own good. The protagonist is very young and it's OK for her to make mistakes, but right now all my sympathy is for the other girl and I really want her to realize she deserves something better. 

Live Free or Die, John Ringo. This is The Baen Free Radio Podcast serial, so every week they read a few pages to me. I made it into January! There was an exciting conclusion! I was just thinking it was a good ending, but it turned out to be only part one. I guess that's the risk of a serial; I have no idea what page or percentage I'm at.

Ancestral Night, Elizabeth Bear. I'm listening while I clean the kitchen at night. It took me a while to adjust to the narrator, who is definitely not Elizabeth Bear. But then neither are the book's characters.

Sweep of the Heart, Ilona Andrews. Another Innkeeper story! I'm on chapter 9. 

Forging a Nightmare, Patricia A. Jackson. I thought I had lost this, but my son had picked it up because it looked good.

Coyote Dreams, C.E. Murphy. Oops. The library took it back.

Winter Tide, Ruthanna Emyrs. I really am enjoying this.

Terra Nullius, Clare G. Colman. I am going to finish all the book club books from when I was Cybils-ing. This is from Sword and Laser, maybe November?

Forfeit, Dick Francis. Hmm, maybe I should read another Francis while I get up the nerve to read the hard part.

Picture Books / Short Stories:

None.

Palate Cleansers

These books I'm barely reading; lately I use them as bribes to get me to deal with the mail. I've been ignoring my mail.

The Educated Child, William Bennett.

Wool, Hugh Howey. So close to the end!

 

Dates From Hell, Kim Harrison & others.

50 Great Poets, ed. Milton Crane. 

Year of Wonder, Clemency Burton-Hill. OK, I'm doing the day's song, and then jumping back to where I fell behind.

Reading Challenges

1. Cybils 2021: Finished two more graphic novels!
2. Early Cybils: Working on Red Hood again. I'm not liking it much, so I also have Heat on hand. And Front Desk was a 2018 finalist, but I read it back then.
3. Reading My Library. The library had a pipe break and is closed for repairs!
4. Where Am I Reading 2022. Oregon.
5. Libraries: 20/55 for the Tacoma Extreme Challenge.

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: Pandora's Star Next: Forging a Nightmare
• Library Book: Persuader Next: Medicus
• Ebook I own:  Winter's Tale. Next: ???
• Library Ebook: The Scotman Who Swept Me Away  Next: Accidental Bookworm
• Book Club Book: Pandora's Star
• Tuesday Book Club Book: Jack Reacher books!
• Review Book: The Queer Principles of Kit Webb  Next: Back Home
• Rereading: Forfeit. Or Maybe Heidi.
• Meal Companion: Medicus
• Audio:  Ancestral Night