Sleep, That Lost Land

My reading this week was hindered by my habit of going to bed, playing silly games until very late, and then oversleeping. Or just wandering around like a zombie until it was time to repeat. I finally forced myself into bed at a reasonable time and I hope it sticks. This meant that exercise was mostly a no-go, and anyway it got cold! I'm a wimp! I'm a wimp currently using street parking, and ice is forming on my car. I have suddenly become much more interested in clearing out my garage (full of stuff since we had to empty my mom's apartment and move all my stuff around early this year). 

Although, looking at the time as I finish this blog, maybe not. How does everyone else get their reading reported on time? 

Anyway, it was a week full of book clubs, of which I only finished the books for the elementary book clubs I am hosting. Once a month I head up to the local elementary school with some treats and talk books with first the fourth graders and then the fifth graders. This week the fourth graders were so excited about the book that I forgot to hand out the cookies. Oops. Double rations next time!

My emergency training class went well -- we discussed the psychology of trauma and how to look out for ourselves and the people we are trying to help, and then went over terrorism scenarios. Also we had a pot luck dinner during the lecture, which really helped me maintain my attention throughout the lecture-heavy class. More food for the last Thursday class, and then it is time for our final exam!

My resident chef delivered a delicious Brie pasta and feta/spinach sandwiches for his turns at dinner, and was much applauded. I forgot to make bread for the pasta dish but managed some nice focaccia rolls for the sandwiches, and demanded some applause of my own.

I'm only a bit behind. Read. Read. Read. ------

I'm still at 3 pages of currently-reading on goodreads. I'm up to 54 physical books checked out which includes some picture books and then there are a pile of ebooks. There are 10 books waiting for me on the hold shelf and 10 more en route. Gotta read faster!

This post is very late so I'm not posting at The Bookdate's It's Monday, What Are You Reading headquarters as well as the kidlit version at Unleashing Readers. 

Completed

Just a Pinch of Magic, Alechia Dow. Cybils nominee. A friendship book with two kids making magic in a town cursed by a supposedly wicked witch. The friendship of the two kids is sweetly done (heh heh, that's a joke because they do a lot of cooking together), although the pace does seem dictated by plot a lot when they decide to share things or keep secrets. It's also interesting to watch their dad's dancing around each other; one girl is all for the match but the other is a bit leery about losing more of his attention. There are complications afoot -- the curse and the wicked witch are both more complicated than they appear, and of course our protagonists are caught in the middle. Cooking and magic are a natural fit, and I liked seeing how the kids matched up together.

The Cursed Moon, Angela Cervantes. Cybils nominee.This is a great example of a fantasy where the fantasy works to explore the themes in the mundane story. The kids have some problems -- they live with their grandparents, and their mom is about to come back from prison and wants to try again. One kid is ready, but the other has been burned too often by failed promises. But when they accidentally awaken the devil of the cursed moon, they have to confront what happens when scary stories come true, and how to regain control of the story of their own life. The author doesn't draw attention to this; the kids are just set in their world before the curse hits, and return to it after the defeat. Cool.

Alice's Shooting Star, Tim Kennemore. 2009 Cybils Short Chapter book finalist. I really liked this family book, with Alice as the middle child who observes a lot even as she tends to get overlooked. I felt a bit bad for the older brother, but really appreciated how Alice looked out for and also admired her whirlwind of a little sister. Wild enough to be fun but not quite fantasy. Glad I made the effort to ILL it, and glad I have an awesome library that makes this possible.

Who Was First, Russell Freedman. 2007 Cybils Middle Grade and YA finalist. Interesting review of the various immigrations to America, including some that are possible (such as the theory that a Chinese fleet made it across). The Chinese story was new to me, as were some of the details of Viking landings, and the summary of various evidence for which waves came over thousands of years ago was also full of some surprises, although I should check whether that's because the theories have been updated in the past decade and half. Good illustrations as well.

The Clackity, Lora Senf. 2022 Cybils Elementary Middle Grade Speculative Fiction finalist. I really liked the resonances of the various houses the protagonist must win through to rescue her parent, although the adults really didn't seem to be much help in this battle. I liked how her anxiety was acknowledged and handled; it was something she carried with her and had to account for. The dual villains were both very spooky and creepy in different ways, and it was good to see how the girl outwitted them. I like it when kids in kidlit handle their climaxes using their own powers. 

Nic Blake and the Remarkables, Angie Thomas. Cybils nominee. I think expectations matter a lot. I was expecting this one to follow the standard "raised on Harry Potter" playbook -- secret world of magic, unusual special child, two sidekicks (bookish and loyal). But then it started playing a lot of differences on that -- I really liked the relationship between the brother and the best friend, and how insecure that made Nic. I liked how the dad had a very dark secret, but the mom also trusted the wrong people. I liked the connections to history (underground railroad) and I was amused by the author of the popular kid books. 

Ghost Dog Secrets, Peg Kehret. For Talbot Hill Elementary book club. I had fun arguing with the kids about whether this counted as a fantasy or realistic fiction (to decide what our next book should be -- we wanted a contrast). We also talked about brothers and sisters, good apologies, what to do if you see a mistreated dog, and who got a good ending (everyone but the bully). 

Worst Broommate Ever!, Wanda Coven. Cybils nominee. This was a sweet story, just shy of being a graphic novel (lots of illustrations and font changes). It's the start of a series of a middle schooler starting at a magic boarding school, and how she handles being away from home, navigating new friendships, and making peace with her roommate who is also her local nemesis. It's more like what elementary school kids think middle school will be like than a realistic portrayal, but with the added pleasure of magic and a boarding school. 

Coraline, Neil Gaiman. For Talbot Hill Elementary book club. This was a lively discussion! Kids divided between the movie and the book, with a few kids knowing about both (I haven't seen the movie). We talked a bit about why things would be different -- how visual mediums need different ways to engage imagination and interest. We talked about what was the scariest part of both/either, and whether Coraline was making good decisions, and how to trust a cat.

The Great Texas Dragon Race, Kacy Ritter. Cybils nominee. Yee haw! This was a great title and the book lived up to it. Our heroine was a true Texican, ready to brag you out of the campfire, but also willing to stand up for her friends (even the human ones) and her principles. There's a lot of implausibility, but it's all part of the fun. Evil oil companies, desperate family ranches, famous dead mom, all add up to a true adventure.

Started

Nic Blake and the Remarkables, Angie Thomas. Cybils nominee.

The Mirrorwood, Diva Fagin. Cybils finalist from previous year.

The Great Texas Dragon Race, Kacy Ritter. Cybils nominee.

Ghost Dog Secrets, Peg Kehret. For Talbot Hill Elementary book club.

Mrs Pollifax, Unveiled, Dorothy Gilman. I think this is on a bookclub list, but really I just wanted to listen to Mrs Pollifax kick some butt.

Coraline, Neil Gaiman. For Talbot Hill Elementary book club.

Worst Broommate Ever!, Wanda Coven. Cybils nominee.

Picture Books & Short Stories

The Book From Far Away, Bruce Handy. Another lovely wordless picture book, where a boy sees strangers and trades books with a fellow bibliophile. I like the way it merges imagination and reality, leaving the reader to decide where the line falls. 

Bookmarks Moved (Or Languished) In:

While still ridiculous, this is not much worse than last week. Slow regression!

Ascendance of a Bookworm, Miya Kazuki. Abandoning my reread of Part 3 now since the new one just dropped. I'll get back to it, don't worry!

Ascendance of a Bookworm, Part 5, Vol 6, Miya Kazuki. Correspondence with Ferdinand is a special blessing. 

Cobra, Timothy Zahn. Part 51. It's next on my queue!

Sammy Keyes and the Power of Justice Jack, Wendelin Van Draanen. Reading My Library Quest book, Renton Highlands J Audio. I'm making excellent progress.

Warcross, Marie Lu. No progress.

Priory of the Orange Tree, Samantha Shannon. 

The Wine-Dark Sea, Patrick O'Brian. 

Fourth Wing, Rebecca Yarros.  

Last Night at the Telegraph Club, Malinda Lo. Cybils finalist. 

Into the Broken Lands, Tanya Huff. 

Maybe You Should Talk to Someone, Lori Gottlieb. 

Resurgence, C.J. Cherryh. 

A Shadow in Summer, Daniel Abraham. 

40-Love, Olivia Dade. 

Borderland, Anna Reid.

Going Postal, Terry Pratchett. For my Tuesday book club (they've all finished it). Enjoying the tiny pieces I manage.

Allegiance, Kermit Roosevelt. For Torchers and Pitchforks. I did not finish in time for the meeting, and now it has fallen down the priorities list. 

Marie Curie, Kathleen Krull. Cybils finalist. Made progress. In World War I heroics now.

Playing With Fire, R.J. Blain. For my Friday book club. Didn't finish in time.

Lavender's Blue, Jennifer Crusie & Bob Mayer. For Romance Book club (mystery theme). Didn't finish in time.

The Angel of the Crows, Katherine Addison. Didn't finish in time.

Palate Cleansers

I'm slowly marching through these books.

 

50 Great Poets, ed. Milton Crane (no picture). Milton. Andrew Marvell.

Dragon's Breath, E.D. Baker. 

The Writer's Stance: Reading and Writing in the Disciplines, Dorothy U. Seyler. (no picture). 

The Road to Mars, Eric Idle. 

The Dark Fantastic, Ebony Elizabeth Thomas. 

Year of Wonder, Clemency Burton-Hill. Enjoying starting my day with a song. And dealing with my mail in a timely way.

Reading Challenges

1. Cybils 2022: Working on middle grade SF. 
2. Early Cybils:  Working on some nonfiction. Also an Early Chapter book.
3. Reading My Library. Enjoying an audio. 
4. Libraries: Working on the 10 to Try for 2023. Need an artist and a summer book.

Future Plans

I'm putting this at the end because I suspect it's complete fiction, but I feel I should attempt some structure. Also, really I'm just reading Cybils so I'll be lucky to get 20 pages a day of these other books. 

I am reading: 

• Book I own: Into the Broken Lands
• Library Book: Lavender's Blue
• Ebook I own: The Wine Dark Sea
• Library Ebook: Borderland
• Book Club Book: Dinners With Ruth
• Tuesday Book Club Book: Going Postal
• Review Book: Back Home 
• Rereading: Chalet School books
• Audio: Mrs Pollifax Unveiled
  

Get Cracking!

Wow, I'm getting this diary out late. Hmm, what happened last week? My son came home from his European Vacation, and apparently did not bring bed bugs back from Paris, as my brother has been worrying about (it was a cousin's trip, so all my siblings are in on the worry about out kids). He had a great time.

I went to my Romance book club, my River Runs Under It book club, my regular Tuesday weekly club, and Foolscap's book club. I did not manage to finish the books for any of these meetings.

At the gym I have been exploring the different buttons on the treadmills and had one extremely leisurely workout and two good ones. With the energy from that I met a friend for a 5K up in the mountains, where we managed to get lost but with the help of friendly dog walkers found our way back to the finish line. Also we won some socks in the post-race raffle. 

I had a good lunch with a friend in a French restaurant where they served me a tasty quiche. Maybe I'll bring my son back to see if that elicits more stories of his time in Paris.

CERT class had a fascinating lesson on some tough first aide skills, including a practical where they let us practice on some fake legs with lots of spurting blood. I'm ready for anything! Well, I'd better order a tourniquet first...

Expendables4 was a truly terrible movie. My son and I just looked at each other and our conversation on the way home was "did they really?" or "so, the plan was x --". I mean, good guys aren't really supposed to murder people just because the good guy lost a bet to them, right?

I'm only a bit behind. Read. Read. Read.

I'm still at 3 pages of currently-reading on goodreads. I've entered Cybils season. I'm up to 50 physical books checked out which includes some picture books and then there are a pile of ebooks.

This post is very late so I'm not posting at The Bookdate's It's Monday, What Are You Reading headquarters as well as the kidlit version at Unleashing Readers. 

Started

Just a Pinch of Magic, Alechia Dow. Cybils nominee.

Playing With Fire, R.J. Blain. For my Friday book club.

The Secret of the Dragon Gems, Rajanni LaRocca & Chris Baron. Cybils nominee.

Falling Out of Time, Margaret Peterson Haddix. Cybils nominee.

Lavender's Blue, Jennifer Crusie & Bob Mayer. For Romance Book club (mystery theme).

The Cursed Moon, Angela Cervantes. Cybils nominee.

The Complete Periodic Table, Simon Basher. Previous Cybils finalist.

Alice's Shooting Star, Tim Kennemore. Previous Cybils finalist.

The Angel of the Crows, Katherine Addison. I am not going to finish this in time for book club. Awkward, since I suggested it.

Completed

Encore in Death, J.D. Robb. This was a pretty good one. Not too gory or horrific, and I felt clever because I called whodunnit. Based only on my familiarity with the series, not on any clues, but hey, I don't have to prove anything. I didn't really buy the motive or anything, but it gave us some good scenes in the theater district.

The Pride of Chanur, C. J. Cherryh. Scintillation book club. There was a nice discussion -- some people pointed out some things about the Compact society that I had missed, and only a few people didn't like it. We talked about what makes people like Cherryh's books and what the similarities were and how the Chanur books stood out. We talked about how it illustrated the value of community, how it showed the multiplicity of motives for everyone, and how it worked with gender roles in interesting ways.

The Nightmare House, Sarah Allen. Cybils nominee. Wow, this was a really moving book. The girl's anxiety came across really well. I was actually a little worried about how well the magical problem manifested as an actual mental problem. I'm not a huge fan of poetry, and it was a bit annoying when it switched from being a reflection of her mood to an actual part of the plot because it made things a bit harder to follow. I liked the homeschooled friend although he was a bit too perfect; he didn't really have his own personality beyond what was needed for her quest. 

The Secret of the Dragon Gems, Rajanni LaRocca & Chris Baron. Cybils nominee. Two kids meet on the last day of camp and start exchanging letters, then email, and then video chats and discord, which they consider more secure than email. Hmm. They spend part of the time discussing their transition to middle school, part of the time swapping ethnic stories (he's Jewish, she's Indian), and part of the time realizing that the rocks they picked up are actually aliens that need to go home. And that the camp owner may be trying to kidnap these sentient stones. 

All the social media gets a bit name twisted, which was a bit amusing to me, and the Diversity was a bit heavy, and the fantasy elements get a bit squashed when the book is trying to be Sciency. But the adventure was fun and I like epistolary books.

Freddie Vs the Family Curse, Tracy Badua. Cybils finalist (from last year). This was a great book, full of adventure and heart. Freddie has learned never to try, since his bad luck always sabotages him. But finally he'll get a chance to remove the curse, although the risks are high. The balance between his real life problems (school, peers, parents) and the magical ones is done really well, with both interlocking in ways that enhance rather than diminish each other. It is also a great example of the kind of diversity I love in books -- Freddie's family Filipino heritage is an important part of his life, from his grandmother's superstitious to his diet to his Catholic school, but there's never a sense of delivering a message. The plans and risks are firmly rooted in real kid ability, as are the dangers and pitfalls. His parents aren't always right, but they are always loving. Good work last year's Cybils team -- I hope to live up to your standards!

Outside Nowhere, Adam Borba. Cybils nominee. Most of the kids in these books are junior high or younger, but I think this guy was a bit older? Old enough to have a summer job or to travel on a train for over 24 hours on his own. I liked the tone and the boy a lot in this book; I thought his prankster personality and how that was holding him back was depicted really well and sympathetically, and the way the work on the farm taught him lessons about himself and friendship was depicted without any lecturing. But I had some issues with the way the text and the other characters made no different between problems he caused and problems he had no responsibility for -- ignorance and carelessness were treated as equally deficient, even when he explicitly asked for instructions. The slow reveal of the magic worked really well, but at the end I also thought it was unfair to the kids in a deep way. There's a whole bible thing about not binding the mouths of working cows that seems very applicable here. So good book but I have some issues.

The Complete Periodic Table: Elements with Style, Simon Basher. Or maybe Adrian Dingle.  2007 Cybils Middle Grade and YA Nonfiction finalist. This was a fun listing of all the elements with enough detail and style to make them easy to remember. I wanted more of an explanation of how the rows and columns were determined but that would have increased the scope considerably. 

Falling Out of Time, Margaret Peterson Haddix. Cybils nominee. There was a lot of nostalgia in my enjoyment of this story; every few years I read the previous book with my elementary book club and it's always a fun meeting. This one had an even thinner reason for the evil corporation to do its evil stuff and a threadbare reason that the mom had to send her kid to the rescue, but hey, it's a kid book so the kids get to do all the stuff. I really enjoyed watching the kids navigate the world using a summary of the previous book as the guide, and the imagination behind the whole World of the Future was enjoyable. Not plausible, but enjoyable.

Smart-opedia, Eve Drobot. 2007 Cybils Middle Grade and YA Nonfiction finalist. This doesn't have much narration (it's leaning into the -opedia) but presenting a variety of information in an interesting way. My memory of it is mostly the last page, which described some of the new technology opening up -- internet, pocket music, and oh my has time gone by fast. I liked the newspaper summaries after each topic as well, especially the puns on the masthead.

Picture Books & Short Stores

See the Ghost, David LaRochelle. Another fun early reader book, with a lot of humor and emotion conveyed in very few words and some simple illustrations. I especially liked when the wind blew all the words off the page and then found itself without a story. 

"The Kingdom of Darkness," Katherine Addison. This was a rather grim alternate version of the New England witch trials, where witches are real but mass hysteria and poor decision making continue to dominate their trials. There aren't a lot of happy endings for the characters, but I was kept closely watching to see if they would manage a path out of the darkest possibilities.

Bookmarks Moved (Or Languished) In:

While still ridiculous, this is no worse than last week. Lack of Regression!

Ascendance of a Bookworm, Miya Kazuki. Abandoning my reread of Part 3 now since the new one just dropped. I'll get back to it, don't worry!

Ascendance of a Bookworm, Part 5, Vol 6, Miya Kazuki. I don't care how many times Myne realizes that she has fundamentally misunderstood something or is widely considered a weirdo, I am here for it!

Cobra, Timothy Zahn. Part 51. Huh, somehow I haven't been getting to the Baen podcast. OK, I have one in my queue now. Maybe next week?

Sammy Keyes and the Power of Justice Jack, Wendelin Van Draanen. Reading My Library Quest book, Renton Highlands J Audio. Did I really start this last week? I'm making excellent progress.

Warcross, Marie Lu. No progress.

Priory of the Orange Tree, Samantha Shannon. 

The Wine-Dark Sea, Patrick O'Brian. 

Fourth Wing, Rebecca Yarros.  

Last Night at the Telegraph Club, Malinda Lo. Cybils finalist. 

Into the Broken Lands, Tanya Huff. 

Maybe You Should Talk to Someone, Lori Gottlieb. 

Resurgence, C.J. Cherryh. 

A Shadow in Summer, Daniel Abraham. 

40-Love, Olivia Dade. 

Borderland, Anna Reid. Got through another chapter. 

The Clackity, Lora Senf. Cybils finalist. Not due yet, so pushed back for emergency reading.

Going Postal, Terry Pratchett. For my Tuesday book club. Enjoying the tiny pieces I manage.

Allegiance, Kermit Roosevelt. For Torchers and Pitchforks. I did not finish in time for the meeting, and now it has fallen down the priorities list. 

Marie Curie, Kathleen Krull. Cybils finalist. Library due dates have forced a drastic rethink of my reading order here. 

Who Was First, Russell Freedman. Cybils finalist. Also bumped by a library due date on a different book. 

Palate Cleansers

I'm slowly marching through these books.

 

50 Great Poets, ed. Milton Crane (no picture). Milton.

Dragon's Breath, E.D. Baker. 

The Writer's Stance: Reading and Writing in the Disciplines, Dorothy U. Seyler. (no picture). Onto a new chapter!

The Road to Mars, Eric Idle. 

The Dark Fantastic, Ebony Elizabeth Thomas. I hope my fanfiction knowledge of Merlin carries me through. So far so good.

Year of Wonder, Clemency Burton-Hill. A couple of bobbles where I forgot, but I straightened them out. Really enjoying the music and the introductions to the music.

Reading Challenges

1. Cybils 2022: Working on middle grade SF. 
2. Early Cybils:  Working on some nonfiction. 
3. Reading My Library. Enjoying an audio. 
4. Libraries: Working on the 10 to Try for 2023. Need an artist and a summer book.

Future Plans

I'm putting this at the end because I suspect it's complete fiction, but I feel I should attempt some structure. Also, really I'm just reading Cybils so I'll be lucky to get 20 pages a day of these other books. 

I am reading: 

• Book I own: Into the Broken Lands
• Library Book: Going Postal
• Ebook I own: The Wine Dark Sea
• Library Ebook: Borderland
• Book Club Book: Dinners With Ruth
• Tuesday Book Club Book: 
• Review Book: Back Home 
• Rereading: Chalet School books
• Audio: Mrs Pollifax Unveiled