Book Update

Hi! I'm determined to be here, so this post might stop abruptly. This was a nice week for me -- lots of adulting, lots of social stuff, tasty food, even some reading.

There were a bunch of medical appointments: vision check, which I passed, dentist check, which I also passed, and a blood donation, where I was super speedy and confirmed that I now prefer the molasses cookies to the chocolate chip. They even had new stickers, so I modestly grabbed one that proclaimed that I had saved lives that day. 

Last weekend was Orycon, an SF convention down in Portland. Since this is my Year of Vacations, I booked myself some train tickets and went off. It was a lot of fun, I saw lots of people I knew, talked about books I liked, and wandered off to see bookstores or read my Cybils books whenever I wanted. Very relaxing and I had nice conversations on the train both there and back again, once with a stranger and once with an old Foolscap friend. And this week a beloved old friend for my Oct98 group was in town so we had a lovely brunch with three Oct98 moms, two spouses, and eventually the Pike Place Market pig. We've been friends for almost thirty years now!

My sister and I continue to hit the gym hard, even when it hits back. And Paulos took the two recipes I gave him and really elevated them, so we had a delicious pasta with Brie and red peppers one night and a broccoli cheese soup on Friday, which was made better by the bread I baked that day. So a very pleasant week in many directions.

Books Completed

Children of the Phoenix Book 1: Eye of the Storm, Oskar Källner. (Cybils nominee). I enjoyed the sibling relationship and the plot twists, but felt the prose and structure needed a bit of polishing. The tone of the book didn't really fit the jeopardy of the father or the marriage problems signaled, and the secret of the lullaby wasn't kept very well. Also, the introductory chapter did a good job of showing the different personalities of the children and how the younger tended to follow the elder's leadership, but since it involved them trying to cheat on a 7th grade math test it also left me disliking them. 

A Bite Above the Rest, Christine Virnig. (Cybils nominee). This kept me amused, and the cover was very attractive to kids at book club last week. I liked the idea of the Halloween-themed town, and how the grief over the father was there in the background but running the plot. I liked the goofy schemes the kids came up with and how they were just within the possibilities for kids, I liked their complementary personalities and how they both helped each other, and I liked the silly costumes Col kept coming up with. The middle school seemed more like an elementary idea of junior high than the real thing, and I'm not sure why so many kids in books this year have a dead parent. 

Island of Whispers, Frances Hardinge. (Cybils nominee). I liked the format and the illustrations, both made for a lovely reading experience. However, I didn't think the illustrations and the text worked perfectly together; the tones on the page often seemed slightly askew. I felt like I was taking the death of the boy's father harder than he was at times. But that was part of the fairy tale atmosphere, where more attention was paid to the magician tricks than to the interiority of the characters.

Jasmine Is Haunted, Mark Oshiro. (Cybils nominee). This really worked for me, despite how earnestly modern it is with how the kids respectfully ask about each other's pronouns and stuff. (I mean, I know many kids who do that, but it's not so carefully done, it's just how they do things.) But Jasmine's grief over her father's death (yep, another dead parent) is woven into the issues she's having at school in a seamless way; in this case many of the problems are caused by the ghosts but it's also the grief, and metaphor and plot work well together. The conclusion addresses both the emotional and action plot in a lovely way. 

* Passions in Death, J. D. Robb. This is number 59, so you either like 'em or you don't. This wasn't too gross and I liked Eve's musings on why she likes being married. 

Re-Vamped and Vampalicious, Sienna Mercer. The kids last week really liked the first Vampire Sister books, and I had as well. So I went ahead and read books 3 and 4 since I had them checked out. Lots of fun, good nostalgia (my son was reading these lo! those many years ago) and I'm not going to try hard to find the next ten but if I see them I'll pick them up. Ivy and Olivia are awesome!

Temple of Secrets, Christina Soontornvat. I've been enjoying the Legends of Lotus Island books so I grabbed the last one. I like how the kids work together and the nifty magic system. Nothing really ground breaking, but fun reads. 

Hot Money, Dick Francis. Was it responsible to reread this when I'm so far behind on finishing anything? No. Do I regret it? Also no. It's the one with all the half-siblings who want money from their rich dad.

Future Plans

This week I also started many books and moved bookmarks along in many others. I'm falling behind on marking things done on goodreads, but I'm still juggling a lot of books. So future plans are even more fictional than usual. 

I am reading: 

• Library Book: Alchemy of Letting Go
• Ebook I own: The Down Deep, Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Myth, Metaphor and Morality
• Foolscap Book Club Book: Jumper
• Sword and Laser Club Book: Night in the Lonesome October 
• Tuesday Book Club Book: Permutation City