Fire on the Beach, With Pizza

A lovely week with lots of friends. Our bookclub summer tradition is to meet at the home of our remote member and judge the years Cybils picture book finalists. Sadly last minute things intervened for several of us, so it was only my sister and I on the road to Oregon, but we three were the original founders of this club almost twenty years ago so it was a fun reminder of our history. Also gourmet husband exerted himself masterfully, especially at breakfast with his perfect omelets. We spent one evening on the nearby beach munching on pizza around a fire pit and the other evening watching Dune.

Then I got to spend the rest of the week chasing down the members who missed the weekend so they could also judge the picture books, an arduous process that involved several new and delicious restaurants. One meal was at a park where we shared our shade with another reader, who invited me to the Renton Silent Reading club, so I found a new book club that will help rather than hurt my reading pile!

Goodreads thinks I am currently reading 62 books. That’s trending downwards!The library thinks I have 64 physical books checked out. I think that’s still bit too high. This paragraph seems very familiar.

Books Completed  Aug 29 - Sept

Claudia and the Phantom Phone Calls, Ann M. Martin. I guess this one pretty silly, but the girls were sensible in their silliness (I liked them calling the cops). Too bad Kristy agreed to go out with the jerk though. That does not age well.

Devils, Joe Abercrombie. This Sword and Laser pick was good at what it did but it sure did it for a long time.

The Mushroom Hunters, Langdon Cook. I learned a lot about tasty mushrooms, most of which I immediately forgot, and got a glimpse into a completely new aspect of the fine dining industry. Also I’m pretty sure I’m not going to start foraging on my own. 

The Adventure of The Demonic Ox, Lois McMaster Bujold. Penric discovers the spiritual, emotional, and physical risks of fatherhood but with Desdemonia’s help manages to survive.

Karen’s Witch Graphic Novel, Katy Farina & Ann M. Martin. The problem with the graphic novels is that I find Karen a bit selfish and bratty, and in the text we see her working on being a better person but we miss some of that here.

Pokémon Sun and Moon Vol 3, Hidenori Kusaka. A key plot point was the kid misunderstanding something and rushing off with a wrong idea, but since I tend not to get things until the third time they are brought up I was doomed to follow in his narrative footsteps.

The Bright and Breaking Sea, Chloe Neill. Cloudy pick that was fun. Would have fit in with Foolscap’s beach read discussion and it even took place on a ship!

I Survived the Nazi Invasion Graphic Novel, Lauren Tarshis & Georgia Ball. 

I Survived the Molasses Flood, Lauren Tarshis & Georgia Ball. Library due dates caught up to me so I jumped this to the top. The pictures helped this time; the event is quick and works well as pictures.

She Who Became the Sun, Shelley Parker-Chan. Yay, Sword and Laser gave me the chance to finally finish this! Great characters and theme work, and now my formless background knowledge of Chinese history is deeper.

Books Started

Pokémon Sun and Moon Vol 3, Hidenori Kusaka. Talbot Hill recommendation.

Read Dangerously, Azar Nifisi. I bought this because I never finished Reading Lolita in Tehran.

The Mushroom Hunters, Langdon Cook. Last square on my Summer Book Bingo Card.

Braiding Sweetgrass, Robin Wall Kimmerer. Reread for River Runs Under It bookclub.

Karen’s Witch Graphic Novel, Katy Farina & Ann M. Martin. Baby-sitter’s Little Sister book.

Karen’s Worst Day, Baby-sitter’s Little Sister book.

I Survived the Battle of Gettysburg, 1863, Lauren Tarshis. I should see how many more there are.

I Survived the Nazi Invasion Graphic Novel, Lauren Tarshis & Georgia Ball. Baby-sitter adopters get better credit than these.

I Survived the Molasses Flood, Lauren Tarshis & Georgia Ball. But libraries shelve these under Ball and the others under Baby-sitter.

Who Fears Death, Nnedi Okorafor. My apocalypse book for T&P book club.

Parable of the Talents Graphic Novel, Octavia E. Butler & Damian Duffy.

Bookmarks Moved

I’m Nobody, Who Are You?, Emily Dickinson

Tribute, Sherwood Smith

Accident of Stars, Foz Meadows

Sheine Lende, Darcy Little Badger

Lepunia: Kingdom of the Gallopers, Kevin Ford

The Unravelling, Benjamin Rosenbaum

The Luminaries, Eleanor Catton

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, David Mitchell         

The Selected Poetry of Robinson Jeffers, Robinson Jeffers

Endling: The First, Katherine Applegate

Hearts Still Beating, Brooke Archer

Track Changes, Abigail Nussbaum

One Jump Ahead, Mark L Von Name

Bookmarks Languished

I have not given up on these! Ignore all evidence!   

                                        

                                                                                          Into the Vast Nothing, J. Bruno.

                                                                                      Marry Me By Midnight, Felicia Grossmann       

                                                                          True Colors, Abby Cooper.

                                                                    South Riding, Winifred Holtby                        

               An Exchange of Hostages, Susan R. Matthews   

             Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel

            Calypso, Oliver K Langmead

            Monstress Vol. 9, Marjorie M. Liu

            The Hunger and the Dusk, G. Willow Wilson

            Speculative Whiteness, Jordan S. Carroll

         Heavenly Tyrants, Xiran Jay Zhao

    Bourne Supremacy, Robert Ludlum

   Death in the Spires, K.J. Charles

So Let Them Burn, Kamilah Cole

Coyote Dreams, C.E. Murphy

A, B, C: Three Short Novels, Samuel Delany

Picture Books, Poems, and Short Stories

PEW!: The Stinky and Legen-dairy Gift of Colonel Thomas S, Meacham, Cathy Stephane’s Ogren. Nice historical story of how Andrew Jackson enjoyed a ginormous cheese given by someone whose name resembles mine. For some reason Ogren is cagey about the President who got the cheese. I liked the cheerful pictures of the cows, the cheese making, the journey and the cheese parties at the White House.

Books on Slow Mode

Home Comforts, Cheryl Mendleson. I read one section a day. Currently on different knits.

At the Feet of the Sun, Victoria Goddard. Coming home.

50 Great Poets, ed. Milton Crane (no picture). Matthew Arnold is duller than I remember.

The Writer's Stance: Reading and Writing in the Disciplines, Dorothy U. Seyler. (no picture). Mail bribe. Moving into soft sciences.

Black Leopard, Red Wolf, Marlon. Mail bribe.

War Cross, Marie Lu. Mail bribe. 

Teaching With Caldecott Books, Scholastic books. Mail bribe. These are actually useful since I know nothing of classroom management.

Books Acquired

I only notice when I’m caught up.

Future Plans

This is for the actual future, so weeks beyond the books in this post. It is also probably wrong.

I am reading: 

• Book I own: Wolf Hall
• Library Book: A, B, C
• Hugo Finalist: Heavenly Tyrant
• Foolscap Book Club Book:  Every Heart a Doorway (finished!)
• Sword and Laser Club Book:  The Hexologists
• Scintillation Book Club: Beowulf
• Cloudy Book Club:  A Witches Guide to Magical Innkeeping
• Torches and Pitchfork Book Club:  Blue Skies
• River Runs Under It Book Club: Braiding Sweetgrass
• Talbot Hill Book:  Recommendations: Babysitter’s Little Sister, Pokémon 
• Friday Book Club: Someone to Build a Nest In (finished)
• Romance Book Club: The Blonde Identity 

Lego Land

So I attended BrickSlopes, a Lego convention in Sandy, Utah. This year my brother lured his siblings into attending more of it -  I helped my other brother assemble a parrot while the Lego brother raced to finish his own (it was a timed event, but one brother was not a Lego user we figured I could disqualify him by sorting bricks and then we might finish before the room was closed). Emboldened we volunteered for another timed assembly the next day, where we performed equally badly but managed to finish exactly half of the assignment and retired in good grace. And we also spent some time at a class teaching us techniques to make Lego figs dance and wiggle around.

It was a lot of fun and I’ll go again next year to see my Lego brother strut his stuff and to hang out with the non-Lego brother and his family. Also the game I set up to finish the second half of the build was quite enjoyable, involving some nice shots and penalty drinking by the Lego experts in the family.

On Sunday I zoomed into the Foolscap bookclub to discuss Arabella of Mars and the concept of good “beach reads”. I had managed to finish the book on time, which has not been a usual event this summer. Monday was the drive home to Seattle, where I got the wheel for more of the drive and we found our Greek gyro place in Boise. Home at last!

My prodigal cat got a full vet work up and we were sent home with instructions to obtain some poo to check for tag-along infestations. Ew. To distract myself from this task I zoomed around to a handful of libraries to complete my acquisition of all the Cybils picture book finalists. After all, I have a vacation weekend coming up!

Goodreads thinks I am currently reading 62 books. That’s trending downwards!The library thinks I have 73 physical books checked out. I think that’s still bit too high. 

Books Completed  Aug 22 - Aug 28

Ordinary Time, Annie B. Jones. What a lucky find! I found Jones a thoughtful and deep companion, someone willing to think about and examine her life but also rejoice in happiness and acknowledge learning experiences both pleasant and distressing. Her discussions of her faith were moving, her relation with her husband inspiring, and her love of books refreshing. I gotta check out her podcast.

Pokémon Sun and Moon V2, Hidenori Kusaka. I’m still frequently baffled by the action scenes but I manage to keep somewhat aware of the plot. I think they are making progress towards the goal of finding the guardians and figuring out what is wrong. Or as Sun would say, making a million dollars.

The Color of Ice, Barbara Lynn Probst. I thought I was getting a vacation romance but instead read a novel that was a love song to Iceland, a middle-age unwrapping, and a new start for a family. It worked out really well for me, but I’m glad I didn’t finish it in time for the holiday romance book club meeting.

Arabella of Mars, David Levine. Foolscap book pick. I enjoyed this reread and I hope to finish the whole trilogy. The rest of the club also had fun and we talked about what makes a beach read; how to ride that line between interesting and engaging but not distressing or intense.

Moon Over SoHo, Ben Aaronovitch. This was a great road trip novel, with a narrator who did lots of British accents for different characters and a story that kept us interested. It made the drive out to Utah pleasant and we finished it as we drove up to Idaho on the way home.

Whispers Under Ground, Ben Aaronovitch. So I had the next one ready to go. We had to speed this one up a bit to finish just as we drove into my neighborhood but the narrator was up to it and honestly I think the plot only benefitted from zipping by before we could question anything. We liked the overarching plot as it settled over the rather complicated book plot. The hoarse voice of damaged Leslie was a bit hard to follow, and one character’s voice was unfortunate read at exactly the pitch of the road noise, but in general we enjoyed having the miles zip by as we listened.

Dawn and the Impossible Three Graphic Novel, Ann M. Martin & Gail Galligan. Dawn is awesome in this but the book was better than the graphic version. 

The Honey Witch, Sydney J. Shields. Cloudy book club read this a few months ago, but I put it down when I fell in love with the premise: what if choosing magic meant giving up the chance for true love? But see, this is a romance book so it obviously wasn’t going to be about that, it was about getting true love after thinking it was impossible. And it was, and it did that fairly well. Maybe someday someone will write that other book though, that would be really interesting.

I Survived the Destruction of Pompeii, AD 79: Graphic Novel, Lauren Tarshis. Lava pictures! Ok, the eruption was nice but I felt the pictures didn’t do as good a job of placing the book in history with a different society and different expectations and different literacy and everything. The book was better.

Books Started

Arabella of Mars, David Levine. Foolscap book pick.

I Survived the Destruction of Pompeii, AD 79: Graphic Novel, Lauren Tarshis. Lava pictures! 

Whispers Under Ground, Ben Aaronovitch. Car trip audio.

So Let Them Burn, Kamilah Cole. Belated Hugo reading.

The Bright and Breaking Sea, Chloe Neill. 

Bookmarks Moved

Tribute, Sherwood Smith

The Adventure of The Demonic Ox, Lois McMaster Bujold

Claudia and the Phantom Phone Calls, Ann M. Martin

Accident of Stars, Foz Meadows

Sheine Lende, Darcy Little Badger

The Selected Poetry of Robinson Jeffers, Robinson Jeffers

Coyote Dreams, C.E. Murphy

A, B, C: Three Short Novels, Samuel Delany

Devils, Joe Abercrombie

Lepunia: Kingdom of the Gallopers, Kevin Ford

The Luminaries, Eleanor Catton

Endling: The First, Katherine Applegate

The Unravelling, Benjamin Rosenbaum

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, David Mitchell         

Hearts Still Beating, Brooke Archer

Bookmarks Languished

I have not given up on these! Ignore all evidence!                                           

                                                                                       Into the Vast Nothing, J. Bruno.

                                                                                   Marry Me By Midnight, Felicia Grossmann       

                                                                       True Colors, Abby Cooper.

                                                                 South Riding, Winifred Holtby                        

            An Exchange of Hostages, Susan R. Matthews

         I’m Nobody, Who Are You?, Emily Dickinson

         Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel

         Calypso, Oliver K Langmead

         Monstress Vol. 9, Marjorie M. Liu

         The Hunger and the Dusk, G. Willow Wilson

         Speculative Whiteness, Jordan S. Carroll

         Track Changes, Abigail Nussbaum

      Heavenly Tyrants, Xiran Jay Zhao

   One Jump Ahead, Mark L Von Name

Bourne Supremacy, Robert Ludlum

Death in the Spires, K.J. Charles

Picture Books, Poems, and Short Stories

Katy Duck Is A Caterpiller, Alyssa Satin Capucilli. Talbot Hill recommendation. A fun picture book showing a kid with strong opinions but also a sense of respect for her teachers and also a good understanding of the art of dancing.

Books on Slow Mode

Home Comforts, Cheryl Mendleson. I read one section a day. Currently on different knits.

At the Feet of the Sun, Victoria Goddard. Coming home.

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

The Writer's Stance: Reading and Writing in the Disciplines, Dorothy U. Seyler. (no picture). Mail bribe. Moving into soft sciences.

Black Leopard, Red Wolf, Marlon. Mail bribe.

War Cross, Marie Lu. Mail bribe. 

Teaching With Caldecott Books, Scholastic books. Mail bribe. 

Books Acquired

I only notice when I’m caught up.

Future Plans

This is for the actual future, so weeks beyond the books in this post. It is also probably wrong.

I am reading: 

• Book I own: Who Fears Death
• Library Book: Parable of the Talents
• Hugo Finalist: Sheine Lende
• Ebook I own: Tribute
• Foolscap Book Club Book:  Every Heart a Doorway
• Sword and Laser Club Book:  The Hexologists
• Scintillation Book Club: Beowulf
• Cloudy Book Club:  A Witches Guide to Magical Innkeeping
• Torches and Pitchfork Book Club:  Who Fears Death
• River Runs Under It Book Club: Braiding Sweetgrass
• Talbot Hill Book:  Recommendations: Babysitter’s Little Sister, Pokémon 
• Friday Book Club: Catfishing on Catnet
• Romance Book Club: Amnesia

Can’t Stop Won’t Stop

WorldCon continued to be a lot of fun. I hung out with friends, met fellow Shields (people who listen to the Sword and Laser podcast), crossed foam swords with my son, attended the award ceremony in person (with my friends), knew some of the winners, and acquired a few books. On Sunday I was part of a panel about book clubs which was very affirming. My son and I got a hotel room on Saturday so we could stay late and it was well worth it - we even saw some of the parties.

On Monday I got up early so I was ready when my brother picked me up for our drive to Utah. There was a LegoConvention called BrickSlopes the next weekend and we wanted to hang out with our older brother before hand. An easy drive later we arrived. Ben Aaronovitch’s Moon Over SoHo was an excellent travel companion and my brother’s wife had packed us a delightful assortment of snacks.

My Utah relatives are amazing hosts, so we had a great few days. Beautiful mountains all around, thriving garden to pick through, friendly pets to snuggle, everything I wanted. I took my iPad to another place where they managed to resurrect it long enough for me to do a final backup before it feinted again.

I even finished a book in time for a book club, something I haven’t managed to do for a few weeks. Our Romance Book Group was discussing Jane Austen books and retellings of them, and we had many examples and discussed why the stories stay vibrant and what retellings are trying to do.

Goodreads thinks I am currently reading 64 books. Almost to three pages! The library thinks I have 77 physical books checked out. I’m hoping to bring that down closer to my age in the next week.

Books Completed  Aug 13 - Aug 19

The Wild Girls, Pat Murphy. As I was reading this a friend mentioned it as we were talking about childhood beloved books. Neat timing! Although come to think of it, it came out two decades ago and is she that much younger than me? My childhood was four decades ago. Anyway, cool friendship, cool artistic integrity, cool growing up and seeing adults as people, people like you will be.

Karen’s Birthday Graphic Novel, Ann M. Martin & Katy Farina. I do like the ones that hint that divorce can be hard on kids. It’s validating as that was my experience.

Ascendance of a Bookworm Fanbook 5, Miya Kazuki. I’m mostly here for the stories although the accounts of the full-cast audio making are fascinating. When I finished I thought I saw a new book but after I bought it I realized it was in Japanese. Oops. At least she’s still writing!

Mrs. Pollifax, Accidental Tourist, Dorothy Gilman. I enjoyed this more than the first time through, probably because it’s been a few years. I liked her independence and her karate moves and how she and Farrell trade off the initiative and the rescuing.

Northranger, Rey Terriero. This is a good YA romance and the graphics are done well. But I didn’t think the call backs to Northanger Abbey did it much favor for me, since it mostly ignored my favorite things about Austen and doubled down on the personal embarrassment, which opposite to the original. But the book club was great with many new members and a lot of good discussion of what we want in a retelling, what modern retelling as can do, and other topics.

I Survived the Joplin Tornado 2011, Lauren Tarshis. This was really terrifying.

Maddie and the Monstrous Storm, Julie Gilbert. This is a good contrast to the I Survived series. It does mostly the same thing but with guaranteed girl protagonists (not a plus for my book club) and uses different authors. But the structure of plunking a kid with a problem in a historical section and then giving them a much bigger problem remains, and often the initial problem is handled in the course of the disaster promised in the title. I think more named characters died in this one than I’m used to.

Books Started

Karen’s Birthday Graphic Novel, Ann M. Martin & Katy Farina. Babysitter Club and Talbot Hill rec.

Dawn and the Impossible Three Graphic Novel, Ann M. Martin & Gail Galligan. Babysitter Club book.

Moon Over SoHo, Ben Aaronovitch. Audio for drive to Utah.

The Adventure of The Demonic Ox, Lois McMaster Bujold. Another Penric!

Ordinary Time, Annie B. Jones. Library grab because a bookstore owner who writes essays is my jam.

Accident of Stars, Foz Meadows. Scintillation book club.

Maddie and the Monstrous Storm, Julie Gilbert. A different version of the I Survived series.

Northranger, Rey Terriero. For the Romance reading group; it’s a Jane Austen retelling.

Pokémon Sun and Moon V2, Hidenori Kusaka. Talbot Hill Rec.

Claudia and the Phantom Phone Calls, Ann M. Martin. Babysitter Club #2.

Bookmarks Moved

Tribute, Sherwood Smith

Lepunia: Kingdom of the Gallopers, Kevin Ford

The Selected Poetry of Robinson Jeffers, Robinson Jeffers

The Color of Ice, Barbara Lynn Probst

The Honey Witch, Sydney J. Shields

The Luminaries, Eleanor Catton

Bookmarks Languished

I have not given up on these! Ignore all evidence!                                           

                                                                                       Into the Vast Nothing, J. Bruno.

                                                                                   Marry Me By Midnight, Felicia Grossmann       

                                                                       True Colors, Abby Cooper.

                                                                 South Riding, Winifred Holtby     

                         The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, David Mitchell         

                     A, B, C: Three Short Novels, Samuel Delany

            An Exchange of Hostages, Susan R. Matthews

         I’m Nobody, Who Are You?, Emily Dickinson

         Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel

         Calypso, Oliver K Langmead

         Monstress Vol. 9, Marjorie M. Liu

         The Hunger and the Dusk, G. Willow Wilson

         Speculative Whiteness, Jordan S. Carroll

         Track Changes, Abigail Nussbaum

      Heavenly Tyrants, Xiran Jay Zhao

   One Jump Ahead, Mark L Von Name

Devils, Joe Ambercrombie

Sheine Lende, Darcy Little Badger

The Unravelling, Benjamin Rosenbaum

Bourne Supremacy, Robert Ludlum

Endling: The First, Katherine Applegate

Hearts Still Beating, Brooke Archer

Coyote Dreams, C.E. Murphy

Death in the Spires, K.J. Charles

Picture Books, Poems, and Short Stories

 None. 

Books on Slow Mode

Home Comforts, Cheryl Mendleson. I read one section a day. Currently on different knits.

At the Feet of the Sun, Victoria Goddard. Coming home.

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

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

Black Leopard, Red Wolf, Marlon. Mail bribe.

War Cross, Marie Lu. Mail bribe. 

Teaching With Caldecott Books, Scholastic books. Mail bribe. 

Books Acquired

I only notice when I’m caught up.

Future Plans

This is for the actual future, so weeks beyond the books in this post. It is also probably wrong.

I am reading: 

• Book I own: Who Fears Death
• Library Book: The Mushroom Hunters
• Hugo Finalist: Sheine Lende
• Ebook I own: The Demonic Ox
• Foolscap Book Club Book:  Every Heart a Doorway
• Sword and Laser Club Book:  She Who became the Sun
• Scintillation Book Club: Accident of Stars
• Cloudy Book Club:  The Bright and Breaking Sea
• Torches and Pitchfork Book Club:  Who Fears Death
• River Runs Under It Book Club: Braiding Sweetgrass
• Talbot Hill Book:  Recommendations: Babysitter’s Little Sister, Pokémon 
• Friday Book Club: Catfishing on Catnet
• Romance Book Club: Amnesia

Ready To WorldCon

This was a very pleasant weeks. I planned and ate nice dinners, actually went on a run, met my friend for a hike, and in general was on top of things. This is good because I was also preparing for the Seattle WorldCon, a five day convention celebrating SF fandom and creators. This convention is held yearly but moves around each time, and I’ve started attending the past few years because I like books and authors and other nerdy things. This year it was in my hometown, and a bunch of us from one of my book clubs planned to go.

Since I had been to some I was the local expert, and also I was somehow also placed on several panels, discussing kids books and book clubs, and moderating a librarian, a kidlit author, and a SF legend on how to get kids to read more SF. So I spent some time collecting some thought on this stuff, and hopefully managed to pull off my imposter syndrome on the two Thursday panels.

Oh, also my iPad died.

Goodreads thinks I am down to 63 books. Almost to three pages! The library thinks I have 77 physical books checked out, because I had to go to 4 libraries to get picture books for my book club and I had no shelf control. 

Books Completed  Aug 7 - Aug 13

Lawless, Leah Litman. All Supreme Court justices are political. They decide what the decision should be based on what they like, and then look for laws to justify that. But the current court is distinctive in not even pretending to be consistent either with the law or with prior decisions. They are also openly corrupt, and think the problem is with people pointing it out. Why shouldn’t they accept large sums from the people in front of them? That doesn’t create even an appearance of bias, according to their greedy framing. It’s rather discouraging in terms of making our country deplorable.

When the Moon Met the Sun, Alaina Hope. I bought it because it was written by a relative of a friend. But I read it because the writing was good and the worldbuilding was fun. It had a young vibe but I’m here for that. I’ll look out for the next one.

Castle, David Macaulay. This was a quality recommendation from my elementary book club. The illustrations were the driver, showing how the construction worked, with the text explaining the pieces. I may have read the earlier edition ages ago with my kids, but this color version is redone enough that I’m counting it as new.

Not That Kind of Good Guy, John Ringo. A big disappointment. The competence porn was unbelievable and usually buried beneath a pile of alt-right misunderstandings, which kind of diminished the sense of competence. Like, our your teen hero was super smart and had won early admittance to places like Stanford and a random assortment of Ivies, but he couldn’t go because he was white. Apparently those schools never admit white males, and definitely never give them scholarships. I had a long paragraph complaining about a fraction of the problems, but when you read John Ringo you expect some “OH JOHN RINGO NO” moments (rape is genetically essential for human survival, etc). But in this book the ratio of OH NO to story is way too high; it should be no higher than 1:4 and this felt like 4:1. Even if some of the NOs were softer (Bill Clinton was on watch for 9/11) they still weren’t story.

Karen’s Roller Skates (Babysitter’s Little Sister book), Ann M. Martin. I enjoyed watching Karen’s explanation for the fall that broke her arm get better and more elaborate. It was a pity when mean people kept pushing it back towards reality.

Year of Wonder, Clemency Burton-Hill. Yay, I’m done! Now I’ll read the appropriate one for the day and if I need more music maybe I’ll just spin the wheel.

Long Live Evil, Sarah Rees Brennan. I paused while reading this because I didn’t want the thing that had to happen to happen. But I had to see and it happened. Brennan does this sort of thing very well. 

Because Internet, Gretchen McCulloch. wut? Ikr! Words, she knows them.

Books Started

Castle, David Macaulay. Talbot Hill rec. 

The Color of Ice, Barbara Lynn Probst. I got this ages ago for the Vacation Romance book, but it’s not a romance so good thing it wasn’t my pick for that.

Not That Kind of Good Guy, John Ringo. Sometimes Ringo writes good competence porn.

Karen’s Roller Skates (Babysitter’s Little Sister book), Ann M. Martin. Talbot Hill rec.

Ascendance of a Bookworm Fanbook 5, Miya Kazuki. I need all the bookworm content.

I Survived the Joplin Tornado 2011, Lauren Tarshis. Hey, a new state!

Miss Pollifax, Accidental Tourist, Dorothy Gilman. Reread.

Death in the Spires, K.J. Charles. Reliable author.

Bookmarks Moved

Tribute, Sherwood Smith

Devils, Joe Ambercrombie

Sheine Lende, Darcy Little Badger

The Unravelling, Benjamin Rosenbaum

Bourne Supremacy, Robert Ludlum

Endling: The First, Katherine Applegate

The Selected Poetry of Robinson Jeffers, Robinson Jeffers

The Honey Witch, Sydney J. Shields

The Wild Girls, Pat Murphy

Hearts Still Beating, Brooke Archer

Coyote Dreams, C.E. Murphy

The Luminaries, Eleanor Catton

Bookmarks Languished

I have not given up on these! Ignore all evidence.

                                                                                                

                                                                                    Into the Vast Nothing, J. Bruno.

                                                                                Marry Me By Midnight, Felicia Grossmann       

                                                                    True Colors, Abby Cooper.

                                                              South Riding, Winifred Holtby     

                      The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, David Mitchell         

                  A, B, C: Three Short Novels, Samuel Delany

         An Exchange of Hostages, Susan R. Matthews

      I’m Nobody, Who Are You?, Emily Dickinson

      Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel

      Calypso, Oliver K Langmead

      Monstress Vol. 9, Marjorie M. Liu

      The Hunger and the Dusk, G. Willow Wilson

      Speculative Whiteness, Jordan S. Carroll

      Track Changes, Abigail Nussbaum

   Heavenly Tyrants, Xiran Jay Zhao

One Jump Ahead, Mark L Von Name

Lepunia: Kingdom of the Gallopers, Kevin Ford

Picture Books, Poems, and Short Stories

 None. 

Books on Slow Mode

Home Comforts, Cheryl Mendleson. I read one section a day. On to laundry and linens.

At the Feet of the Sun, Victoria Goddard. Reintegration.

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

The Writer's Stance: Reading and Writing in the Disciplines, Dorothy U. Seyler. (no picture). Mail bribe. Student essays are not as polished as professional work. On to social sciences!

Black Leopard, Red Wolf, Marlon. Mail bribe.

War Cross, Marie Lu. Mail bribe. Teen romance is hard.

Teaching With Caldecott Books, Scholastic books. Mail bribe. Onto book 2!

Books Acquired

I only notice when I’m caught up.

Future Plans

This is for the actual future, so weeks beyond the books in this post. It is also probably wrong.

I am reading: 

• Book I own: Devils
• Library Book: The Bright and Breaking Sea
• Hugo Finalist: Sheine Lende
• Ebook I own: The Demonic Ox
• Foolscap Book Club Book:  Every Heart a Doorway
• Sword and Laser Club Book:  She Who became the Sun
• Scintillation Book Club: Accident of Stars
• Cloudy Book Club:  The Bright and Breaking Sea
• Torches and Pitchfork Book Club:  Who Fears Death
• River Runs Under It Book Club: This Tender Land
• Talbot Hill Book:  Recommendations: Babysitter’s Little Sister, Pokémon 
• Friday Book Club: Dune
• Romance Book Club: Amnesia

The Plays The Thing

This was a fun week. I had a second trip to the zoo, this time including a scavenger hunt with friends. My washing machine broke (it had a long and respectable run) and we replaced it. I saw a move: She Rides Shotgun. I had lunch with one friend and a walk with another. Summertime is good.

Oh, and we met up with my brother and family to see Much Ado About Nothing which is an importance summer milestone. 

Goodreads still thinks I am reading 65 books. At least it’s not going up? The library thinks I have 69 physical books checked out, which seems maybe a wee bit high. Maybe if I finished a few book I could turn them in and work on both statistics at the same time. 

Books Completed  Aug 1 - Aug 6

Rosalie Lightning, Tom Hart. Wow. This was a moving and powerful chronicle of a family dealing with the sudden, unexplained death of their toddler. The graphics manage to echo the drowning, formless grief that encompassed them, as well as the gifts and support of their friends and the meaningless rhythms of life that continue on in heartless disregard of their loss. 

I Survived the Black Death, 1348, Lauren Tarshis. Most of these are based in America, but this one j7mps to England a the distant past. I appreciated how Tarshis worked to capture the flavor of the times while keeping to the style of the series.

Of Solids And Surds, Samuel R. Delany. These essays on why he writes were fun to read. The length varied from a sentence to a full chapter and the tone varied from witty to deeply analytical to almost nostalgic. The occasional discussion in the footnotes with the editor were an unexpectedly charming note.

I Survived The Attacks of September 11, 2001, Lauren Tarshis. I vividly remember this day, although I was on the west coast getting my kids ready for preschool. My best friend called because she knew my husband was flying back from the east coast and she wanted to check his flight number before I turned on the TV. I also liked the football concussion side plot, and I appreciated the essay about the writing process and the uncle.

Mary-Anne’s Bad Luck Mystery, Ann M Martin. This had a definite jump the shark feel to it. At least when I read the graphic novel they had fun illustrating the graveyard scenes; this just had the club passing the idiot ball around a lot, sometimes squabbling so they could all hold it at once.

Books Started

I Survived the Black Death, 1348, Lauren Tarshis. Not American!

The Unravelling, Benjamin Rosenbaum. Scintillation book club. I will miss the meeting.

Hearts Still Beating, Brooke Archer. Cybils finalist.

Bookmarks Moved

When the Moon Met the Sun, Alaina Hope. 

Tribute, Sherwood Smith

Devils, Joe Ambercrombie. Sword and Laser pick. 

One Jump Ahead, Mark L Von Name

Coyote Dreams, C.E. Murphy

Lawless, Leah Litman. 

Sheine Lende, Darcy Little Badger. Hugo finalist.

The Selected Poetry of Robinson Jeffers, Robinson Jeffers

Long Live Evil, Sarah Rees Brennan

The Honey Witch, Sydney J. Shields

Because Internet, Gretchen McCulloch

Lepunia: Kingdom of the Gallopers, Kevin Ford

Bourne Supremacy, Robert Ludlum

Endling: The First, Katherine Applegate

The Wild Girls, Pat Murphy

Bookmarks Languished

I have not given up on these! Ignore all evidence.

                                                                                                

                                                                                 Into the Vast Nothing, J. Bruno.

                                                                             Marry Me By Midnight, Felicia Grossmann       

                                                                 True Colors, Abby Cooper.

                                                           South Riding, Winifred Holtby     

                   The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, David Mitchell         

               A, B, C: Three Short Novels, Samuel Delany

      An Exchange of Hostages, Susan R. Matthews

   I’m Nobody, Who Are You?, Emily Dickinson

   Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel

   Calypso, Oliver K Langmead

   Monstress Vol. 9, Marjorie M. Liu

   The Hunger and the Dusk, G. Willow Wilson

   Speculative Whiteness, Jordan S. Carroll

   Track Changes, Abigail Nussbaum

Heavenly Tyrants, Xiran Jay Zhao

Picture Books, Poems, and Short Stories

 None. 

Books on Slow Mode

Home Comforts, Cheryl Mendleson. I read one section a day. On to laundry and linens.

At the Feet of the Sun, Victoria Goddard. Reintegration.

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

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

Black Leopard, Red Wolf, Marlon. Mail bribe. Moving back to personal stuff. 

War Cross, Marie Lu. Mail bribe. Teen romance is hard.

Teaching With Caldecott Books, Scholastic books. Mail bribe. To the Market.

Year of Wonder, Clemency Burton-Hill. Mail bribe. I’m past Christmas!

Books Acquired

I only notice when I’m caught up.

Future Plans

This is for the actual future, so weeks beyond the books in this post. It is also probably wrong.

I am reading: 

• Book I own: Devils
• Library Book: A, B, C: Three Short Novels
• Hugo Finalist: Sheine Lende
• Ebook I own: The Demonic Ox
• Foolscap Book Club Book:  Arabella of Mars
• Sword and Laser Club Book:  She Who became the Sun
• Scintillation Book Club: Accident of Stars
• Cloudy Book Club:  The Bright and Breaking Sea
• Torches and Pitchfork Book Club:  Who Fears Death
• River Runs Under It Book Club: This Tender Land
• Talbot Hill Book:  Recommendations: Babysitter’s Little Sister, Pokémon 
• Friday Book Club: Dune
• Romance Book Club: Amnesia

Going to the Zoo, Zoo

I was invited to a Zoo Event where we met a lynx and discussed his favorite colognes and then had pizza and then I rushed home to an online book club. Lynxes have big puffy feet and invisible tails and never make mistakes, just like a cat. 

And I’m returning to the zoo next week for a company party. 

I hung out with my niblings and sometimes my son so they wouldn’t miss my sister and BiL too much. And I hung out with my friend because we’ve been missing our walks for reasons (travel, bad weather, desire to sleep late, I’ve got REASONS ok) and had delicious food and reaffirmed our walking goals. 

Goodreads thinks I am reading 65 books. I swear I’m trying to bring that down. The library thinks I have 67 physical books checked out, which seems maybe a wee bit high. Maybe if I finished a few book I could turn them in and work on both statistics at the same time. 

Books Completed  July 25 - July 31

Pokémon Sun and Moon 1, Hidenori Kusaka. Recommended by Talbot Hill kids. I think this book assumes you have seen the anime; there were several bits that seemed more a reference that a description of what was happening. But I’m a Pokémon expert and I kept up. 

Prince and Assassin, Tania Lark. Lightweight but fun romance. I liked how pretty the prince found the assassin. If I see this author again I’ll read more. 

Kristy and the Mothers Day Surprise, Ann M. Martin. I’m always happy when the club gathers together a legion of children. Even Stacey came back!

Poverty By America, Matthew Desmond. Torches and Pitchforks selection. Well documented and grim, showing how much America is willing to do and pay to be racist. It also reinforced my distrust of zoning rules.  

Books Started

Kristy and the Mothers Day Surprise, Ann M. Martin. This is number 22. Big numbers are hard to find. Of course technically there are hundreds. . 

Poverty By America, Matthew Desmond. Torches and Pitchforks selection. 

Rosalie Lightning, Tom Hart. Graphic novel. I think I need to read something with Lightning in the title. 

Devils, Joe Ambercrombie. Sword and Laser pick. 

Lawless, Leah Litman. I liked the podcast. 

I Survived The Attacks of September 11, 2001, Lauren Tarshis. Working my way along. 

Mary-Anne’s Bad Luck Mystery, Ann M Martin. My other list. 

Bookmarks Moved

When the Moon Met the Sun, Alaina Hope. 

Tribute, Sherwood Smith

Of Solids And Surds, Samuel R. Delany

The Honey Witch, Sydney J. Shields

Because Internet, Gretchen McCulloch

The Selected Poetry of Robinson Jeffers, Robinson Jeffers

Coyote Dreams, C.E. Murphy

Long Live Evil, Sarah Rees Brennan

Bourne Supremacy, Robert Ludlum

Endling: The First, Katherine Applegate

Heavenly Tyrants, Xiran Jay Zhao

The Wild Girls, Pat Murphy

Bookmarks Languished

I have not given up on these! Ignore all evidence.

                                                                                                

                                                                              Into the Vast Nothing, J. Bruno.

                                                                          Marry Me By Midnight, Felicia Grossmann       

                                                              True Colors, Abby Cooper.

                                                        South Riding, Winifred Holtby.                   

                                 Lepunia: Kingdom of the Gallopers, Kevin Ford

                The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, David Mitchell         

            A, B, C: Three Short Novels, Samuel Delany

       One Jump Ahead, Mark L Von Name

   An Exchange of Hostages, Susan R. Matthews

I’m Nobody, Who Are You?, Emily Dickinson

Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel

Calypso, Oliver K Langmead

Monstress Vol. 9, Marjorie M. Liu

The Hunger and the Dusk, G. Willow Wilson

Speculative Whiteness, Jordan S. Carroll

Track Changes, Abigail Nussbaum

Picture Books, Poems, and Short Stories

 None. 

Books on Slow Mode

Home Comforts, Cheryl Mendleson. I read one section a day. What can kill you if you eat food is the current topic. 

At the Feet of the Sun, Victoria Goddard. BFFs for ever!

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

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

Black Leopard, Red Wolf, Marlon. Mail bribe. Lots of violence.

War Cross, Marie Lu. Mail bribe. 

Teaching With Caldecott Books, Scholastic books. Mail bribe. 

Year of Wonder, Clemency Burton-Hill. Mail bribe. Last days of the year! Then I’ll declare victory and just do the song of the day.

Books Acquired

I only notice when I’m caught up.

Future Plans

This is for the actual future, so weeks beyond the books in this post. It is also probably wrong.

I am reading: 

• Book I own: Devils
• Library Book: Ordinary Time
• Hugo Finalist: Sheine Lende
• Ebook I own: The Demonic Ox
• Foolscap Book Club Book:  Arabella of Mars
• Sword and Laser Club Book:  She Who became the Sun
• Scintillation Book Club: Unravelling
• Cloudy Book Club:  The Bright and Breaking Sea
• Torches and Pitchfork Book Club:  Who Fears Death
• River Runs Under It Book Club: This Tender Land
• Talbot Hill Book:  Recommendations: Babysitter’s Little Sister, Pokémon 
• Friday Book Club: Dune
• Romance Book Club: Jane Austin!

Reading Vacation

This is the weekend I drove down to catsit for friends on the Oregon coast, always a lovely vacation. I brought the nearly due library books as well as all the Hugo reading I wanted to get to before the vote. And it was a lovely time. Lots of reading, nice walks on the beach, reading on the balcony, friendly cats to feed and play with, birds to admire, and I only forgot one sweatshirt and one book when I left, which is about average for me.

Then I came home in time to provide transport for my nephew, who was batching it at home while his parents cruised the Mediterranean.

Goodreads thinks I am reading 63 books. I started a lot of Hugo books to sample them, so this is expected.. The library thinks I have 72 physical books checked out, which seems maybe a tad high… oops.

Books Completed  July 18 - July 24

Graceling Graphic Novel, Kristen Cashore, Gareth Hinds. Hinds did a great job of capturing much of the spirit and strength of the original. Now I want to rereads the whole thing.

We Called Them Giants, Kieran Gilles. Hugo graphic novel finalist. I am very proud I could mostly tell the two main characters apart. And the giants! 

Deep Dark, Molly Knox Ostertag. Hugo graphic novel finalist. A bit too romance heavy for me, although I always love Ostertag’s drawings. I liked the metaphor but the story ended up a bit metaphorical forward.

The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, Robert Heinlein. Foolscap book club. I grabbed the audio from the library, and the Russian accent really worked for Manny. I liked seeing what American Revolution parallels Heinlein managed to drag even, even as America itself was now a decadent empire lover. Some club members thought Prof was a Ben Franklin stand-in but I was not convinced. Women remain strange alien creatures to Heinlein who remains convinced that they and men share very little. No common humanity for this author!

Kristy and the Walking Disaster, Ann M. Martin. This one was better as a graphic novel, since the little kids playing their best baseball makes for great visuals. But I liked seeing the nuance in Kristy’s relationship with her stepfather.

Play Like a Girl, Misty Wilson. This was a fun story of a girl finding her place in middle school by joining the football team. It’s a lot of work, and some boys are prejudiced, but it also gives her confidence in herself as she accomplishes stuff, which helps her make friends and set boundaries with shifting relationships among her old peers.

I Survived the Sinking of the Titanic, 1912, Lauren Tarshis. We get up and down stairs with this kid and his sister, and the two families combine to save as many as they can. A good installment,

Liar’s Test, Ambelin Kwaymullina. Interesting worldbuilding made for a good kidlit adventure, with sentient plants and bad policies and strong kids.

Good-bye Stacey Good-bye Graphic Novel, Gabriela Epstein and Ann M Martin. This one was better as text, ad it’s all about their internal feelings and the big event is a garage sale, which isn’t as fun as a baseball game or something.

Warp Your Own Way, Ryan North. Hugo graphic novel finalist. It was clear early on the the book was doing something twisty and new, but it also became clear that I didn’t care enough to figure it out. I just read it straight through. I don’t think I ever noticed how to get on a productive track. I haven’t gotten to Lower Decks yet on my Star Trek watching; that definitely didn’t help.

Books Started

Prince and Assassin, Tania Lark. I think I got this for Romance book club, but I’m reading it late.

Kristy and the Walking Disaster, Ann M. Martin. The original version so I can compare with the graphic novel.

Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel. Scintillation Book Club, but I won’t finish in time.

Liar’s Test, Ambelin Kwaymullina. Cloudy book club pick.

Graceling Graphic Novel, Kristen Cashore, Gareth Hinds. I loved the original so I grabbed this when I saw it.

Calypso, Oliver K Langmead. Hugo poetry finalist.

Play Like a Girl, Misty Wilson. Graphic novel I saw at a library.

We Called Them Giants, Kieran Gilles. Hugo graphic novel finalist.

Monstress Vol. 9, Marjorie M. Liu. Hugo graphic novel finalist.

The Hunger and the Dusk, G. Willow Wilson. Hugo graphic novel finalist.

Deep Dark, Molly Knox Ostertag. Hugo graphic novel finalist.

Warp Your Own Way, Ryan North. Hugo graphic novel finalist.

Speculative Whiteness, Jordan S. Carroll. Hugo related works finalist.

Track Changes, Abigail Nussbaum. Hugo related works finalist.

Of Solids And Surds, Samuel R. Delany. Having been reminded how well Delany writes I wanted to try his nonfiction essays.

Good-bye Stacey Good-bye Graphic Novel, Gabriela Epstein and Ann M Martin. Gotta read them all!

Pokémon Sun and Moon 1, Hidenori Kusaka. Recommended by Talbot Hill kids.

I also started a bunch of other Hugo finalists as I tried to sample everything. I’ll try to note them when I get back to them.

Bookmarks Moved

When the Moon Met the Sun, Alaina Hope. 

Tribute, Sherwood Smith

 I’m Nobody, Who Are You?, Emily Dickinson

The Honey Witch, Sydney J. Shields

Because Internet, Gretchen McCulloch

The Selected Poetry of Robinson Jeffers, Robinson Jeffers

Endling: The First, Katherine Applegate

Coyote Dreams, C.E. Murphy

Long Live Evil, Sarah Rees Brennan

Heavenly Tyrants, Xiran Jay Zhao

Bookmarks Languished

I have not given up on these! Ignore all evidence.

 

                                                                                                

                                                                         Into the Vast Nothing, J. Bruno.

                                                                       Marry Me By Midnight, Felicia Grossmann       

                                                           True Colors, Abby Cooper.

                                                     South Riding, Winifred Holtby.                   

                              Lepunia: Kingdom of the Gallopers, Kevin Ford

             The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, David Mitchell         

         A, B, C: Three Short Novels, Samuel Delany

One Jump Ahead, Mark L Von Name

An Exchange of Hostages, Susan R. Matthews

The Wild Girls, Pat Murphy

Picture Books, Poems, and Short Stories

 “Ever Noir” by Mari Ness. Fine.

“there are no taxis for the dead” by Angela Liu. Fine.

“A War of Words” by Marie Brennan. Fine.

 “We Drink Lava” by Ai Jiang. Good. I kept rereading it.

“Your Visiting Dragon” by Devan Barlow. Curled up in my brain and smoked.

"The Brotherhood of Montague St. Video” by Thomas Ha. Fine.

“By Salt, By Sea, By Light of Stars” by Premee Mohamed. 

“The Four Sisters Overlooking the Sea” by Naomi Kritzer. I like how Kritzer’s protagonists tend to be very practical and handy.

“Lake of Souls” by Ann Leckie. 

“Loneliness Universe” by Eugenia Triantafyllou.

“Signs of Life” by Sarah Pinsker. 

“Five Views of the Planet Tartarus” by Rachael K. Jones. Ouch.

“Marginalia” by Mary Robinette Kowal . Witty.

 “Stitched to Skin Like Family Is” by Nghi Vo. Ouch again. 

“Three Faces of a Beheading” by Arkady Martine. Witty.

 “We Will Teach You How to Read | We Will Teach You How to Read” by Caroline M. Yoachim. I loved this. 

“Why Don’t We Just Kill the Kid in the Omelas Hole” by Isabel J. Kim. I felt this was dodging a tough question by answering a simpler one.

Books on Slow Mode

Home Comforts, Cheryl Mendleson. I read one section a day. What can kill you if you eat food.

At the Feet of the Sun, Victoria Goddard. Out of the sky and into the sea. 

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

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

Black Leopard, Red Wolf, Marlon. Mail bribe. Lots of violence.

War Cross, Marie Lu. Mail bribe. 

Teaching With Caldecott Books, Scholastic books. Mail bribe. 

Year of Wonder, Clemency Burton-Hill. Mail bribe. Last days of the year! Then I’ll declare victory and just do the song of the day.

Books Acquired

I only notice when I’m caught up.

Future Plans

This is for the actual future, so weeks beyond the books in this post. It is also probably wrong.

I am reading: 

• Book I own: Devils
• Library Book: Not That Kind of Good Guy
• Hugo Finalist: Sheine Lende
• Ebook I own: Ascendance of a Bookworm:Fanbook 6
• Foolscap Book Club Book:  Arabella of Mars
• Sword and Laser Club Book:  She Who became the Sun
• Scintillation Book Club: Unravelling
• Cloudy Book Club:  The Bright and Breaking Sea
• Torches and Pitchfork Book Club:  Who Fears Death
• River Runs Under It Book Club: This Tender Land
• Talbot Hill Book:  Summer Time! No Book.
• Friday Book Club: Dune
• Romance Book Club: Jane Austin!

Vacations For Everybody!

This was time for everyone to go on vacation! My niece went to Europe, my sister and brother-in-law went to Europe (30th Anniversary trip!), and I went to Oregon. Also I had a nice book club. Failed to give blood and skipped a book club because my arm was sore from all the attempts to get blood out of it, and my mother’s birthing chair came back from the restorer and looks great!

Goodreads thinks I am reading 67 books. But I know I finished a bunch of them. The library thinks I have 54 physical books checked out, which seems maybe a tad high..

Books Completed  July 11 - July 17

Hannelore’s Fifth Year at the Royal Academy, Miya Kazuki. I’m still enjoying going back to this world. Hannelore seems to have as much confusion about what is going on as Rosemyne, and she’s not living an isekai.

I Survived Hurricane Katrina, 2005, Lauren Tarshis. Great balance of realistic danger but also comforting notes such as saving the dog. My older son remembers when Katrina was in the news, so this is his first time seeing an historical book about his own life.

Karen’s Grandmothers Graphic Novel, DK Yingst & Ann M Martin. Finally working on my summer reading list! Karen is a bit selfish, and I wish someone would talk to her about happiness is not a zero-sum game.

Karen’s Haircut (Baby-sitters Little Sister) Graphic Novel, Katy Farina. Wow, this tiny book had a lot of hidden stuff about the pressure on girls to be beautiful. Also, I can kinda buy little kids pretending to get married, but planning it for weeks and having adults attend the ceremony? That’s weird, right? And with the corrupt idiots on the American Supreme Court clutching their pearls over the existence of gay people in books for children, it makes you think about how embedded much more explicit stuff for straight people  is in kidlit. Literacy is dangerous, y’all. 

Lyorn, Steven Brust. This leaned a lot on the delightful lyrics, but also made me think Brust might manage a giant conclusion. I believed he might make it to the end of the cycle, but assumed it would be more picaresque. I guess I’d better plan on a complete reread in a few years.

Threads That Bind, Kika Hatzopoulou. Cybils YA SF finalist. This had some cool worldbuilding based on an alternative world with some people have powers, making them feared by the majority. And in it our heroine has a complicated family, a possible boyfriend/soulmate, and a prophecy about bringing about a disaster. All the strands work together well. 

Autistic Community and the Neurodiversity Movement, Steven K. Kapp (editor). This gave me a lot of insights into the different ways autism can present itself and how that will impact people differently. 

Wooing the Witch Queen, Stephanie Burgis. A fun, somewhat frothy fantasy romance. Lots of misunderstandings, but not based on assumptions about the other’s opinions, so it was fun rather than frustrating. And Burgis have a light hand in making both people deal with their own selves and save themselves while also providing each other support. There are some background villains, some annoying exes, and some fun worldbuilding.

Dawn and the Impossible Three, Ann M Martin. This was very nostalgic in how divorced worked back then (possibly still). A kid reader would probably appreciate how much more capable Dawn is than the flailing parents. I appreciated it too, but I also know about the collateral damage.

Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver. Gut punching but also lovely. I’m very squicked by drug addiction so it took me a few extra months to read his after The River Runs Under It bookclub, but I’m glad I persevered. And I thought the David Copperfield association really helped me deal.

Banned Together, Ashley Hope Perez. Essays by authors who faced having their writings censored. There was a variety of responses; poems, stories, bits of memoir, all showing how much they longed for books about people like them as children, and how cruel it is to actively work to make kids today miserable by blocking access to texts that could be lifelines.

Float Plan, Trish Doller. This was supposed to be for Vacation Month in the romance book club. Good thing I read it late, because there are no vacations in it. Instead it’s a romance that leans into women’s fiction, spending as much time on the protagonist’s work on grieving her ex, and learning to let go and start living again. He gets a wee bit of character growth as well, but the dude is mostly there to support her. I also liked the sailing details, and if I see another book by Doller I’ll probably pick it up.

Wow No Thank You, Samantha Irby. Some amusing essays, some baffling as our lives are very different, but a fun read.

Books Started

When the Moon Met the Sun, Alaina Hope. Author is a niece of a friend. Hope I like it!

I Survived the Sinking of the Titanic, 1912, Lauren Tarshis. More history.

Because Internet, Gretchen McCulloch. Looks interesting and I’ve met her.

Karen’s Haircut (Baby-sitters Little Sister) Graphic Novel, Katy Farina. I’m of course reading all things babysitter, and this is on my Talbot Summer Reading List.

Dawn and the Impossible Three, Ann M Martin. Babysitters raising your children.

The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, Robert Heinlein. Foolscap book club. I grabbed the audio from the library.

Banned Together, Ashley Hope Perez. Essays by authors who faced having their writings censored.

Float Plan, Trish Doller. This was supposed to be for Vacation Month in the romance book club.

Bookmarks Moved

Heavenly Tyrants, Xiran Jay Zhao

One Jump Ahead, Mark L Von Name

Tribute, Sherwood Smith

An Exchange of Hostages, Susan R. Matthews. I put it down when they guy learns something about himself but I’ve picked it up again.

The Selected Poetry of Robinson Jeffers, Robinson Jeffers

The Wild Girls, Pat Murphy

Endling: The First, Katherine Applegate

Long Live Evil, Sarah Rees Brennan

The Honey Witch, Sydney J. Shields

Bookmarks Languished

I have not given up on these! Ignore all evidence.

 

                                                                                                

                                                                      Into the Vast Nothing, J. Bruno.

                                                                    Marry Me By Midnight, Felicia Grossmann       

                                                        True Colors, Abby Cooper.

                                                  South Riding, Winifred Holtby.                   

                           Lepunia: Kingdom of the Gallopers, Kevin Ford

          The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, David Mitchell  

         I’m Nobody, Who Are You?, Emily Dickinson

      A, B, C: Three Short Novels, Samuel Delaney. The A novel is the Foolscap pick.

Coyote Dreams, C.E. Murphy

Picture Books and Short Stories

I’ve been requesting the books the bigots got the Supreme Court to protect their kids from, and it’s clear that now any parent can object to any book for pretty much any reason, so have fun with that, teachers!

Born Ready: The True Story of a Boy Named Penelope, Jodie Patterson. A OK picture book, the Supreme Court remains crazed and bigoted, but I have no idea why anyone would pick this book if they were intending to help people accept trans kids. It reads like it was written by someone who has never met a trans kid or a parent of one, despite being written by an obviously compassionate parent of a trans kid. The first page has the kid declaring “I’m a ninja.” This is swiftly followed by “I’m a boy.” The argument is weakened by the list of boy things the kid enjoys, like skateboarding. 

Look, if your very young daughter tells you that she likes doing boy things and she is a boy, the first assumption is that they think girls can’t do boy things, a misapprehension of zillions of young kids. You don’t immediately move to being trans. I don’t think the author did that, but this is how she simplified it for a picture book, and it really does a disservice. But would make for some good discussions for early elementary grades, so maybe this was intentional? It’s above the intellectual level of the US Supreme Court, but they seem mostly concerned with who pays their bribes.

Books on Slow Mode

Home Comforts, Cheryl Mendleson. I read one section a day. I am learning about kitchen cleaning.

At the Feet of the Sun, Victoria Goddard. Friendship is the best magic.

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

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

Black Leopard, Red Wolf, Marlon. Mail bribe.

War Cross, Marie Lu. Mail bribe. 

Teaching With Caldecott Books, Scholastic books. Mail bribe. 

Year of Wonder, Clemency Burton-Hill. Mail bribe. Made it to December. Lots of Christmas stuff, but obscure and foreign so it doesn’t seem out of place in Jusy.

Books Acquired

I only notice when I’m caught up.

Future Plans

This is for the actual future, so weeks beyond the books in this post. It is also probably wrong.

I am reading: 

• Book I own: Wolf Hall
• Library Book: Lawless
• Hugo Finalist: Heavenly Tyrant
• Ebook I own: When the Moon Met the Sun
• Foolscap Book Club Book:  Arabella of Mars
• Sword and Laser Club Book:  She Who became the Sun
• Scintillation Book Club: Unravelling
• Cloudy Book Club:  The Bright and Breaking Sea
• Torches and Pitchfork Book Club:  Poverty, By America 
• River Runs Under It Book Club: This Tender Land
• Talbot Hill Book:  Summer Time! No Book.
• Friday Book Club: Dune
• Romance Book Club: Jane Austin!