Is June Spring or Summer?

This was a nice week. I finished some library books that were due, checked out the farmers market, made some fresh bread, and generally enjoyed myself before flying off to Montreal for Scintillation, a small SF literary convention filled with good topics, good conversations, good people, and surrounded by good food. 

Goodreads thinks I am reading 63 books. There are a few more I haven’t marked as complete, so I should dip under 60 soon. Maybe I can hit 50 by the end of the year!.

Books Completed May 30 - June 5

Little Miss Stoneybrook… and Dawn, Ann M. Martin. This was was very silly and utterly charming. It starts with an out of character spat about who is the best baby-sitter, which is an excuse for everyone to enter random kids in a beauty contest. Luckily we spend the most time with the ones whose idea of a talent is peeling a banana with your foot.

Mickey7, Edward Ashton. Sword and Laser pick. This was an odd reading experience because I saw the movie first. Usually I’m firmly in the “read the book first” camp but I wasn’t hreally planning on reading it so I watched the movie on my trip to Texas last April, and then S&L picked it to read. I thought the movie had more interesting questions about capitalism and aliens and personhood, and the book had more interesting aliens and tried harder to grapple with the whole identity thing. The in person book club thought the movie was obviously playing up to Trump, but I thought it was more playing to a rather stock evil rich dude but since Trump also leans hard into that trope there are a lot of similarities. And the book club did wish they had gotten the Ship of Theseus stuff right.

A Dark and Drowning Tide, Allison Saft. For Cloudy book club. I liked the grumpiness of the protagonist and the setting in a magical not-1800s-German-unification country, but I thought the romance would have worked more as a friendship thing; as it was the romance dragged down the book first because I didn’t believe in it and second because there were so many problems, which the characters even discussed in their third act “we can never be together” speech but then at the end they remembered they were in a romance so they got together anyway and I have no idea how they will deal with the problems. I liked the roll the fake Jewish fantasy religion played in the protagonist’s life, even if that was one of the ignores issues at the end.

Hello, Mallory, Ann M. Martin. It was nice seeing the club be idiots from an outside point of view, with the dumb test. Jessi and Mallory’s friendship seemed real and the reconciliation with the club proceeded on track. The race stuff was handled in a very matter of fact way; people are racist, Jessi’s family is disappointed but not really surprised, and good guys like our club members reach out without thinking about it and we know they are good guys.

The Tainted Cup, Robert Jackson Bennett. Hugo finalist. This was a fun mystery with a master detective who rarely leaves her room and her Watson who gathers the clues and is not an idiot but has his own limitations. They have biological science that is pretty much magic and the world is under attack so maybe the empire is needed. This should be an entertaining series.

Cracker!, Cynthia Kadohata. 2007 Cybils finalist. An old fashioned kind of book bu tin a good way. We get a dog-eyes view of the Vietnam War, along with the perspective of the boy who loses the dog and the older boy who inherits her when he joins the army. The boys are not much more sophisticated than the dog, so it’s a very sensory based history but that makes for a great reading experience.

Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, T.S. Eliot. Poetry book. I haven’t read this for some decades so I grabbed it off the library shelf, it’s got the fun stuff I remember, and also the racist bits and the occasional dip into twee. I’m still croggled by the musical.

Exadelic, Jon Evans. This will be my present to my brother on his birthday. He occasionally reads this blog, so don’t tell him!

Books Started

Hello, Mallory, Ann M. Martin. It will be a long time before I run out of Baby-sitters Club books.

I Survived the Battle of D-Day 1944 Graphic Novel, Lauren Tarshis, Georgia Ball, Brian Churilla. Brian is a new name to me but I guess the art does look a bit different. 

The Road to Roswell, Connie Willis. For my friends book club. The one that is my friends.

The Sun Also Rises, Earnest Hemingway. For the library’s The River Runs Under It Bookclub.

Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, T.S. Eliot. Poetry book.

Baby-sitter’s Winter Vacation, Ann M. Martin. One of the supers-specials, which apparently means alternating narrators.

Tusks of Extinction, Ray Naylor. Hugo finalist novella.

Bookmarks Moved

Alibi, Sharon Shinn

Hannelore’s Fifth Year at the Royal Academy, Miya Kazuki. 

Autistic Community and the Neurodiversity Movement, Steven K. Kapp (editor)

System Collapse, Martha Wells. 

Beauty Like the Night, Joanna Bourne

Watership Down:the Graphic Novek, James Sturm. 

Threads That Bind, Kika Hatzopoulo

The City, Christian McKay Heidicker

Eva Evergreen and the Cursed Witch, Julie Abe

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

Lyorn, Steven Brust

The Way Spring Arrives and Other Stories, Yu Chen (editor)

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, David Mitchell

Tomb of Dragons, Katherine Addison

Tales From Watership Down, Richard Adams

One Jump Ahead, Mark L Von Name

Bookmarks Languished

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

 

                                                                     Poppy and Marigold, Meg Welch Dendler.  

                                                             Wow, No Thank You, Samantha Irby.                                   

                                                        Samantha Smee: A Pirate’s Life, M.C. Dingman. 

                                                   Into the Vast Nothing, J. Bruno.

                                                  Marry Me By Midnight, Felicia Grossmann. 

                                             Long Live Evil, Sarah Rees Brennan.

                                      True Colors, Abby Cooper.

                              South Riding, Winifred Holtby.                   

         Lepunia: Kingdom of the Gallopers, Kevin Ford

Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver. River Runs Under It pick

Picture Books and Short Stories

“The Green Glass Paperweight,” by Sarah Monette. Great depiction of internal anger.

Books on Slow Mode

Home Comforts, Cheryl Mendleson. I read one section a day. Except when I’m reading a Bookworm novel.

At the Feet of the Sun, Victoria Goddard. Kip having an adventure in a castle at the top of the ocean..

50 Great Poets, ed. Milton Crane (no picture). Mail bribe. Robert Browning slaps hard.

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

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!

Books Acquired

I’m too far behind to do this.

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: Downeast Genius
• Library Book: I Escaped the Salem Witch Trials
• Ebook I own: Alibi
• Foolscap Book Club Book:  The Jewels of Aptor
• Sword and Laser Club Book:  (finished)
• Scintillation Book Club: Camp Concentration (I won’t get this in time), Wolf Hall 
• Cloudy Book Club:  Honey Witch
• Torches and Pitchfork Book Club:  Hell Followed With Us
• River Runs Under It Book Club: None of This Is True
• Talbot Hill Book Summer Reading! Baby-sitter Little Sister
• Friday Book Club: Sorceress Comes to Call (finished!)
• Romance Book Club: A vacation romance

Final Happy Birthday!

Well, for now. Nobody's dying or anything, it's just that the monthly birthday rounds are taking a pause. We'll get a few more in the fall, but nothing like the monthly cake the spring delivers. To celebrate my niece we went out to a fancy restaurant and toasted here and then came home for ice cream cake. 

I had some nice book clubs; the one covering Watership Down was probably my favorite.

Goodreads thinks I am reading 67 books. But I’ve been very slack an out marking things done while keeping up with books I’ve started so it’s probably not much over 60. I’d like to get below 60 though.

Books Completed May 23 - May 29

Death From the Skies!, Philip Plait. For Torches and Pitforks, a nice apocalypse book. Fun tone, interesting facts, I’ll forget them all in a week.

I Survived the Hindenburg Disaster 1937, Lauren Tarshis. This spent more time on the spies when I was rocking the voyage with bonus Kenyan farm life, but still entertained me.

Watership Down, Richard Adams. Definitely held up in the reread. The foolscap club also enjoyed it and we talked about the parallel tracks of animal stories and fantasy, and the spectrum of anthromorphic vs naturalist creatures, the Chekhov’s mice and dreams and boats, and other favorite bits.

Mallory and the Trouble With Twins Graphic Novel, Arlen Nopla. This shines as a graphic novel because the visuals of identical twins are fun and the subplot of wanting parents to acknowledge maturity is fairly straightforward. Mallory is a lot of fun.

Playlist For the Apocalypse, Rita Dove. These were a great way to end the day. Concentredated bits of experience or emotion ready to chew over,

I Survived the American Revolution 1776, Graphic Novel, Lauren Tarshis, Georgia Ball. I like the ones that are more concentrated, but the illustrations carried me along.

Books Started

Hannelore’s Fifth Year at the Royal Academy, Miya Kazuki. My beloved author continues her most precious series!

I Survived the American Revolution 1776, Lauren Tarshis, Georgia Ball. I’m still grabbing these from libraries.

Watership Down:the Graphic Novek, James Sturm. I had hoped to read this before the book club, but oh well.

The Tainted Cup, Robert Jackson Bennett. Hugo finalist.

A Dark and Drowning Tide, Allison Saft. Cloudy book pick

Lyorn, Steven Brust. Borrowed from my brother.

Mickey7, Edward Ashton. Sword and Laser pick.

Little Miss Stoneybrook… and Dawn, Ann M. Martin.

The City, Christian McKay Heidicker. Sequel to a book club book.

System Collapse, Martha Wells

Bookmarks Moved

Alibi, Sharon Shinn

Autistic Community and the Neurodiversity Movement, Steven K. Kapp (editor)

The Way Spring Arrives and Other Stories, Yu Chen (editor)

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, David Mitchell

Tomb of Dragons, Katherine Addison

Beauty Like the Night, Joanna Bourne

Exadelic, Jon Evans

Cracker!, Cynthia Kadohata. 2007 Cybils finalist.

Eva Evergreen and the Cursed Witch, Julie Abe

Tales From Watership Down, Richard Adams

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

One Jump Ahead, Mark L Von Name

Bookmarks Languished

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

 

                                                                     Poppy and Marigold, Meg Welch Dendler.  

                                                             Wow, No Thank You, Samantha Irby.                                   

                                                       Samantha Smee: A Pirate’s Life, M.C. Dingman. 

                                                   Into the Vast Nothing, J. Bruno.

                                                   Marry Me By Midnight, Felicia Grossmann. 

                                          Long Live Evil, Sarah Rees Brennan.

                                      True Colors, Abby Cooper.

                              South Riding, Winifred Holtby.                   

         Lepunia: Kingdom of the Gallopers, Kevin Ford

Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver. River Runs Under It pick

Threads That Bind, Kika Hatzopoulos

Picture Books and Short Stories

None.

Books on Slow Mode

Home Comforts, Cheryl Mendleson. I read one section a day. Except when I’m reading a Bookworm novel.

At the Feet of the Sun, Victoria Goddard. Kip having an adventure. Into himself. Beautifully.

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

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

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. Still in November.

Books Acquired

Library:

Someone You Can Build a Nest In, John Wiswell

Float Plan, Trish Doller

Her Aussie Holiday,  Stephanie London

Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, T.S. Eliot

Bought:

None

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: The Final Reflection
• Library Book: I Escaped the Salem Witch Trials
• Ebook I own: Alibi
• Foolscap Book Club Book:  The Jewels of Aptor
• Sword and Laser Club Book:  The Lives of Tao
• Scintillation Book Club: on hiatus
• Cloudy Book Club:  Honey Witch
• Torches and Pitchfork Book Club:  Hell Followed With Us
• River Runs Under It Book Club: The Sun Also Rises (finish Demon Copperhead)
• Talbot Hill Book: Party Time! No Book.
• Friday Book Club: The Road to Roswell
• Romance Book Club: A vacation romance

Homebody

Had my penultimate elementary book club at Talbot Hill this week. The June meeting is a big party, so I just have to buy cookies and I’m ready. Still lots of kids, though!

Goodreads thinks I am reading 69 books. But I’ve been very slack about marking things done while keeping up with books I’ve started so it’s probably not much over 65. Much better, right?

Books Completed May 16 - May 22

Rissa Kerguelen, F.M Busby. Finally finished this — I didn’t not quite manage by the book club but the remit was only the first two books in this omnibus. The style was interesting in that the narrator felt like an authentic unreliable narrator but we weren’t sure that was what the author intended. Many of the things we suspected were part of the 70s zeitgeist now worked to give it an almost futuristic feel but in a “people adapt to strange circumstances” way rather than this is the natural progress of people. The sexual dynamics were often jarring. It was also fun for me to have flashes of memory, because I read some of this decades ago.

The Practice, the Horizon, and the Chain, Sofia Samara. Hugo finalist. Definitely in conversation with River Solomon’s generation book. I enjoyed the rich, descriptive, emphatic language and how it contrasted with the setting; I’m not sure I buy the mystical stuff that was maybe advanced use of technology. But a very satisfying and contemplative read. 

Jessie and the Superbrat, Ann Martin. The title is a bit deceiving, because Jessi and the brat get along well and even help each other a lot. Instead we see a celebrity kid who keeps getting jumped back and forth between his suburban home and Hollywood, and how the reintegration into mundane world isn’t seamless. And then as he works it out he is yanked back to stardom, but we are sure it will all be fine.

Network Effect, Martha Wells. Definitely not supposed to finish this. Oh well. I like the introduction of three and how Murderbot’s friends help it navigate its relationship with Art, and seeing what Art did and didn’t tell its crew.

Saving Verakko, Victoria Avelina. I started this for the romance club but didn’t finish in time for the alien skies discussion. I liked some of the worldbuilding; the author talks in the afterward about wanting to have two beloved tropes in the same book (alpha male and matriarchy) and I think she succeeded pretty well. Both main characters had to make some silly but unquestioned assumptions but they were in character.

I Survived the Attack of the Grizzlies, 1967, Lauren Tarshis. This has the protagonist’s aunt writing the crucial National Geographic article about the grizzly situation at Glacier Park, which seems counter-factual, but probably the fatal deaths had more to do with the policy changes that discouraged rather than encouraged the eating of tourists.

Stacey’s Mistake Graphic Novel, Ellen T. Crenshaw. A good match with the text version, replacing some of Stacey’s realizations with cute pictures but keeping the core of the stories, both babysitting and girl drama. It was fun seeing the changes in a fun afternoon out for unchaperoned girls with realistic budgets.

When the Moon Hits Your Eye, John Scalzi. The many different characters kept me from caring too much about any of them, but I think that was intentional. It was an interesting angle on apocalyptic fiction, appropriate for this year when that’s a theme for one of my book clubs,

Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition, David Okrent. I liked this book my brother-in-law recommended; it put many things in context and showed me how long lasting the effects of this experiment are. 

Books Started

Mallory and the Trouble With Twins Graphic Novel,  Arlen Nopla. Still on my babysitter kick.

The Way Spring Arrives and Other Stories, Yu Chen (editor). Some friends have a book club that reads short stories so I checked this out to see if I should join. The club met in March and I’m just starting, so I guess I have enough book clubs.

One Jump Ahead, Mark L Von Name. Baen Podcast next book. It will probably last a bit over a year.

Stacey’s Mistake Graphic Novel, Ellen T. Crenshaw. I am enjoying grabbing these from all the libraries I visit.

Death From the Skies!, Philip Plait. For Torches and Pitforks, a nice apocalypse book.

I Survived the Hindenburg Disaster 1937, Lauren Tarshis. Just because book club is over doesn’t mean I can’t keep reading these.

Bookmarks Moved

Alibi, Sharon Shinn

Autistic Community and the Neurodiversity Movement, Steven K. Kapp (editor)

Playlist For the Apocalypse, Rita Ball

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, David Mitchell

Tomb of Dragons, Katherine Addison

Watership Down, Richard Adams

Beauty Like the Night, Joanna Bourne

Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver. River Runs Under It pick

Exadelic, Jon Evans

Eva Evergreen and the Cursed Witch, Julie Abe

Cracker!, Cynthia Kadohata. 2007 Cybils finalist.

Threads That Bind, Kika Hatzopoulos

Bookmarks Languished

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

 

                                                                     Poppy and Marigold, Meg Welch Dendler.  

                                                             Wow, No Thank You, Samantha Irby.                                   

                                                       Samantha Smee: A Pirate’s Life, M.C. Dingman. 

                                                   Into the Vast Nothing, J. Bruno.

                                                  Marry Me By Midnight, Felicia Grossmann. 

                                             Long Live Evil, Sarah Rees Brennan.

                                      True Colors, Abby Cooper.

                              South Riding, Winifred Holtby.                   

         Lepunia: Kingdom of the Gallopers, Kevin Ford

   Tales From Watership Down, Richard Adams

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

Picture Books and Short Stories  

“Human Resource,” Adrian Tchaikovsky. Grim story about the future of H.R.

Books on Slow Mode

Home Comforts, Cheryl Mendleson. I read one section a day. Except when I’m reading a Bookworm novel.

At the Feet of the Sun, Victoria Goddard. Kip having an adventure. Into himself. 

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

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

Black Leopard, Red Wolf, Marlon. Mail bribe.

War Cross, Marie Lu. Mail bribe. I don’t like spectator sports much.

Teaching With Caldecott Books, Scholastic books. Mail bribe. Making reading analysis fun.

Year of Wonder, Clemency Burton-Hill. Mail bribe. Still in November.

Books Acquired

Library:

The Brides of High Hill, Nghi Vo

Alien Clay, Adrian Tchaikovsky

Navigational Entanglements, Aliette de Bodard

I Survived the Nazi Invasion 1944, Lauren Tarshis

Wow, No Thank You, Samantha Irby

Kristy and the Walking Disaster, Ann M. Martin

Dawn and the Impossible Three Graphic Novel, Gale Gallican from Ann M. Martin

The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway

Bought:

From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frank Weiler, E.L. Königsberg

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: Exadelic
• Library Book: Scary Stories For Young Foxes:The City
• Ebook I own: Alibi
• Foolscap Book Club Book:  The Jewels of Aptor
• Sword and Laser Club Book:  Micky7
• Scintillation Book Club: 
• Cloudy Book Club:  A Dark and Drowning Tide
• Torches and Pitchfork Book Club:  Hell Followed With Us
• River Runs Under It Book Club: The Sun Also Rises (finish Demon Copperhead)
• Talbot Hill Book: Party Time! No Book.
• Friday Book Club: The Road to Roswell
• Romance Book Club: A vacation romance

Another Week Goes By

I’m officially a week behind. Really two. But, I had a great Mother’s Day, starting with an online book club for Tam Lin, with much discussion of how college was, or could have been, or was dreamt of being, and how magic is integrated with a story, of how a spiral plot structure works, of how the right to abortion is crucial for women, and many other things.

Goodreads thinks I am reading 72 books. But I’ve been very slack an out marking things done while keeping up with books I’ve started so it’s probably not much over 60. Gosh that’s not much better, is it? 

Books Completed May 9 - May 15

Eat a Peach, David Chang. The second chef memoir I’ve read in a year, which helps a bit with context. I enjoyed the mix of life history and chef jargon and the insight into experiences so alien to me, whether being a golf prodigy, navigating Korean immigrant culture, or caring so deeply about food.

Fatal Brouhaha, Emmeline Duncan. Although I still liked the business and family stuff, I found the murder part less satisfying. I especially grimaced at her willingness to chase suspected killer down dim and isolated fairground areas.

I Survived the Japanese Tsunami 2011, Lauren Tarshis. Talbot book club. I’m starting to wonder if losing a parent puts children at higher risk of natural catastrophes. But I liked this one kids were impressed that I remembered it when we talked about the timeline of these books.

Wrecking Ball: Wimpy Kid 14, Jeff Kinney. Talbot book club. Reading these close to each other really emphasizes how unpleasant the whole family but particularly Greg is. The situations are comic but too often come from people being awful to each other. The club did talk about the sibling relationships and how they were exaggerated version of real feelings.

Rogue Protocol, Martha Wells. Prepare for TV show. I finished this between elementary book clubs and was ready for Tuesday’s discussion. I managed to follow the plot this time! I’m sure I will forget all the details before this post goes up though.

Exit Strategy, Martha Wells. Tuesday Gamers Club. This time through I’m tracking Murderbot’s emotional fragility, which it kinda plays for laughs but is definitely reaching a critical point. Also I accidentally read this right away and really I should wait until next Tuesday.

Fugitive Telemetry, Martha Wells.  Oops. I’m not supposed to start this yet. Finishing it was bad form. But I liked the murder mystery tropes and also seeing more people come to appreciate my favorite SecUnit.

I Survived the Shark Attacks of 1916, Lauren Tarshis. Talbot book club. Prior to this book I would have doubted a reference to any shark attack in New Jersey, let alone one in a river and not on the coast. And I liked it better once I realized how young the kid was.

Books Started

I Survived the Japanese Tsunami 2011, Lauren Tarshis. Talbot book club.

Jessie and the Superbrat, Ann Martin. Only a zillion more to go.

Watership Down, Richard Adams. I’m reading and doing the audio so I finish in time for the Foolscap Book Club.

Fatal Brouhaha, Emmeline Duncan. Wow, the library got this fast. Well, I’m here for a cosy read.

Wrecking Ball: Wimpy Kid 14, Jeff Kinney. Talbot book club.

When the Moon Hits Your Eye, John Scalzi. Looked fun.

The Practice, the Horizon, and the Chain, Sofia Samara. Hugo finalist.

Exit Strategy, Martha Wells. Tuesday Gamers Club.

I Survived the Shark Attacks of 1916, Lauren Tarshis. Talbot book club.

Fugitive Telemetry, Martha Wells.  Oops. I’m not supposed to start this yet.

Network Effect, Martha Wells. Definitely not supposed to start this.

I Survived the Attack of the Grizzlies, 1967, Lauren Tarshis. May as well read them all…

Bookmarks Moved

Alibi, Sharon Shinn

Autistic Community and the Neurodiversity Movement, Steven K. Kapp (editor)

Rissa Kerguelen, F.M Busby

Playlist For the Apocalypse, Rita Ball

Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition, David Okrent

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, David Mitchell

Saving Verakko, Victoria Avelina

Tomb of Dragons, Katherine Addison

Beauty Like the Night, Joanna Bourne

Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver. River Runs Under It pick.

Eva Evergreen and the Cursed Witch, Julie Abe

Bookmarks Languished

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

 

                                                                  Poppy and Marigold, Meg Welch Dendler.  

                                                          Wow, No Thank You, Samantha Irby.                                   

                                                    Samantha Smee: A Pirate’s Life, M.C. Dingman. 

                                                Into the Vast Nothing, J. Bruno.

                                               Marry Me By Midnight, Felicia Grossmann. 

                                          Long Live Evil, Sarah Rees Brennan.

                                   True Colors, Abby Cooper.

                           South Riding, Winifred Holtby.                   

      Lepunia: Kingdom of the Gallopers, Kevin Ford

Cracker!, Cynthia Kadohata. 2007 Cybils finalist.

Tales From Watership Down, Richard Adams

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

Threads That Bind, Kika Hatzopoulos

Picture Books and Short Stories  

“Compulsory,” Martha Wells.

“Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory,” Martha Wells. For Murderbot completion.

Books on Slow Mode

Home Comforts, Cheryl Mendleson. I read one section a day. I’m too extravagant to freeze a single egg, let alone a single yolk or white; I’d either eat it or offer it to the cats.

At the Feet of the Sun, Victoria Goddard. Kip having an adventure. Into himself. 

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

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

Black Leopard, Red Wolf, Marlon. Mail bribe.

War Cross, Marie Lu. Mail bribe. I don’t like spectator sports much.

Teaching With Caldecott Books, Scholastic books. Mail bribe. Making reading analysis fun.

Year of Wonder, Clemency Burton-Hill. Mail bribe. Made it to November.

Books Acquired

Let’s skip this again.

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: Exadelic
• Library Book: Scary Stories For Young Foxes:The City
• Ebook I own: Alibi
• Foolscap Book Club Book:  The Jewels of Aptor
• Sword and Laser Club Book:  Micky7
• Scintillation Book Club: 
• Cloudy Book Club:  A Dark and Drowning Tide
• Torches and Pitchfork Book Club:  Death From the Skys!
• River Runs Under It Book Club: The Sun Also Rises (finish Demon Copperhead)
• Talbot Hill Book: Party Time! No Book.
• Friday Book Club: The Road to Roswell
• Romance Book Club: A vacation romance

May Days

This week I was organized and responsible. I went to several book clubs, all prepared with the books completed. I signed my will. A friend and I toured through the MoPop museum, which I had booked using the library free museum pass benefit. I got new running shows and made progress on incorporating a movement habit into my day, a practice that somehow fell by the wayside this past year. I even managed to give blood and see a movie, and then I talked to a doctor about my rising blood pressure and we came up with a plan to manage it. And then the following week I’ve been super disorganized and never finish the last 5% of anything I do, including posting this tiny blog.    

I think I am now reading 68 books, according to goodreads. But I’m pretty sure that I’ve just neglected to mark about 8 of them as completed.

Books Completed May 2 - May 8

Mallory and the Trouble With Twins, Ann Martin. Mallory is a very chill kid to be the oldest of eight siblings. She handles the babysit challenge of twins tired of being identical and the personal challenge of convincing her parents that she is growing up and should get more freedom. So the two plots reinforce each other pleasingly.

I Survived the Great Chicago Fire Graphic Novel, Georgia Ball, Lauren Tarshis. Talbot book club. Really great fire illustrations made this a good choice for trying out the graphic novel version. I also liked the b-plot about the stepfather.

Artificial Condition, Martha Wells. Reread in anticipation of the TV show. The book club poked more at the plot this time, and sometimes we helped shore it up and sometimes some holes got ripped bigger. Still a great read though.

I Survived the Great Alaskan Earthquake, Lauren Tarshis. Talbot book club. Not my favorite despite a great start. Not much detail on the earthquake and I felt sad that the protagonist had to give up his cool life in the woods to go to a dull town.

Tam Lin, Pamela Dean. Reread for Scintillation Bookclub, where we talked about whether it matched our college experiences (varied) and how the structure worked with the timeline, detail immersion, and introduction of fantasy elements, and how much of Janet’s flaws were repeated in the text. Great book, great discussion.

I Survived the Great Molasses Flood, Lauren Tarshis. Talbot book club. The molasses flood was cool and I liked the immigrant story wrapped around it.

Tinker, Wen Spencer. Baen Free Radio Hour podcast usually ends with a short installment of an audio book, sometimes only a few minutes, sometimes up to twenty. It’s like being read a bedtime story by someone who is a real stickler for bedtime. It does work better when it’s a book I know and live, and I’m sorry to see Tinker end. Now to see what they’ve been reading next! (I’m a few months behind on the podcast).

Serpent Rider, Yxavel Magno Diño. This was a Cybils nominee that I started but didn’t get traction on. I found myself struggling with many decisions by many of the people, which didn’t seem to match with their importance. And the basic premise wasn’t good for my adult eyes — a (non-boarding) training academy where the kids eventually get powerful magical companions, but everyone does training and competitions together, which makes the kids who get their companions late constant losers and easily bullied, and the beloved (?) trainers encourage this. It’s a relief when the quest part starts, but I never trusted any of the adults.

Service Model, Adrian Tchaikovsky. Hugo finalist. Someone was asking for a non-depressing pick for their next Hugo read, and midway through I said this one was depressing but funny. Which held true but by the end I was feeling rather preached at.

Logan Likes Mary Anne, Babysitter’s Club Graphic Novel #8, Gail Galligan. I like this as I liked the text version. This one was much less complex but still charming.

Wimpy Kid 12: The Getaway, Jeff Kinney. Talbot book club. The odd thing about this one is that the ageless Jeff is sorta in the time the book was written but sorta still in the past where the series started. So travel details are weird. It’s a mix of funny and too-mean-to work humor for me, but probably hits better for the target audience.

Books Started

Logan Likes Mary Anne, Babysitter’s Club Graphic Novel #8, Gail Galligan. I’m on a roll.

Wimpy Kid 12: The Getaway, Jeff Kinney. Talbot book club.

I Survived the Great Chicago Fire Graphic Novel, Georgia Ball, Lauren Tarshis. Talbot book club.

I Survived the Great Alaskan Earthquake, Lauren Tarshis. Talbot book club.

I Survived the Great Molasses Flood, Lauren Tarshis. Talbot book club.

Beauty Like the Night, Joanna Bourne. Romance book club (spies).

Rogue Protocol, Martha Wells. Prepare for TV show. 

Playlist For the Apocalypse, Rita Ball. Bedtime poems.

Cracker!, Cynthia Kadohata. 2007 Cybils finalist.

Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver. River Runs Under It pick.

Bookmarks Moved

Alibi, Sharon Shinn

Autistic Community and the Neurodiversity Movement, Steven K. Kapp (editor)

Tales From Watership Down, Richard Adams

Rissa Kerguelen, F.M Busby

Eat a Peach, David Chang

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

Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition, David Okrent

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, David Mitchell

Tomb of Dragons, Katherine Addison

Eva Evergreen and the Cursed Witch, Julie Abe

Threads That Bind, Kika Hatzopoulos

Bookmarks Languished

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

 

                                                               Poppy and Marigold, Meg Welch Dendler.  

                                                       Wow, No Thank You, Samantha Irby.                                   

                                                 Samantha Smee: A Pirate’s Life, M.C. Dingman. 

                                             Into the Vast Nothing, J. Bruno.

                                            Marry Me By Midnight, Felicia Grossmann. 

                                       Long Live Evil, Sarah Rees Brennan.

                                True Colors, Abby Cooper.

                        South Riding, Winifred Holtby. 

                    Saving Verakko, Victoria Avelina.

   Lepunia: Kingdom of the Gallopers, Kevin Ford

Picture Books and Short Stories  

None.

Books on Slow Mode

Home Comforts, Cheryl Mendleson. I read one section a day. How to shop for produce and meat, which I can forget because I do drive-up-and-go.

At the Feet of the Sun, Victoria Goddard. Kip having an adventure. Less bureaucracy, more ship wrecks here.

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

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

Black Leopard, Red Wolf, Marlon. Mail bribe. No, I remember the characters now.

War Cross, Marie Lu. Mail bribe. I don’t like spectator sports much.

Teaching With Caldecott Books, Scholastic books. Mail bribe. Making reading analysis fun.

Year of Wonder, Clemency Burton-Hill. Mail bribe. Made it to November.

Future Plans

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

I am reading: 

• Book I own: Exadelic
• Library Book: When the Moon Hits Your Eye
• Ebook I own: Alibi
• Foolscap Book Club Book:  Watership Downs
• Sword and Laser Club Book:  Micky7
• Scintillation Book Club: London In Chains 
• Cloudy Book Club:  A Dark and Drowning Tide
• Torches and Pitchfork Book Club:  Death From the Skys!
• River Runs Under It Book Club: Demon Copperhead
• Talbot Hill Book: Party Time! No Book.
• Friday Book Club: The Road to Roswell
• Romance Book Club: A spy romance! Beauty Like the Night

I Will Miss the Cool Nights When They Are Gone

I had a good, normal week. Went to the dentist, did some walks, got stuff done around the house, visited some new libraries, had some good book clubs. I’m enjoying my Murderbot rereads, and the chance to talk to people about books in general.          

I think I am now reading 60 books, according to goodreads. It’s staying stead at only 3 screens of currently reading!

Books Completed April 25 - May 1st

All Systems Red, Martha Wells. Tuesday Gaming group, prepping for the TV show. We all enjoyed this reread, although some people remarked that the first read through was better. We then checked out the trailers for the show and tried to guess on choices made, which somehow moved onto why I am not invited into any top-secret SIGNAL chats, and then to a map of 50 US states set so population is equal among them.

Into the Broken Lands, Tanya Huff. I liked the page by page insights and world descriptions better than the overall arc which felt a bit lopsided. The end especially was anticlimactic. I really like Huff’s series best, because she’s really good at long spearpoint stuff, and if this were the start of a trilogy or something I’d like it better. Maybe I’ll get lucky. It’s not the her stand-alone are bad, it’s that her worlds and characters are rich enough that I want more.

The Road to Mars, Eric Idle. Not really my cup of tea. A lot of the humor comes from the idea that men and women are fundamentally different, and men are often jerks to women because that’s how men are, ha ha ha, and isn’t it bitchy of women to complain about it, boo. And how men aren’t really parents, and jerky women mode is often incompetent showboating, and many other tropes that are fine for a sketch but not really for a novel. It meant that I found most of the characters unlikable and didn’t care what happened to them, which is not a good thing in a book.

The Future of Silence: Fiction by Korean Women, Jong-hee Oh (editor). I chose this from the library shelf as part of my quest to read a book from each shelf of the Renton Library. I thought it would be an interesting change of pace, and it was that. It felt very science fictional, because there were some magic realism bits and even the realistic bits had people very alien to me, house wives who saw their role as very different to anything I’ve experienced. I think I gained some appreciation of the boundaries of Korean women’s lives but few of the stories worked for me as stories. On to the next shelf!

Lamplighters, D. M. Cornish. Cybils finalist from 2007. I loved the rich and demanding prose, full of great vocabulary both real and invented for the world, and appreciated the complicated situations and relationships our protagonist Rosamund faced. But I was handicapped by coming in at book two and also found him frustratingly passive, where things tended to happen to him and he’d react but he rarely had much scope to initiate things. 

A Fate Inked in Blood, Danielle L. Jensen. I didn’t like the voice of the first person narrator. I think a third person perspective would have worked better for me. Part of it is that so many books nowadays feature characters who feel garrulously guilty for things they have no control over, which conveniently leaves them no time to take responsibility for the things they actually do. So this book was a backbreaking straw for me. I did like the magic idea and the society.

I Survived the Children’s Blizzard, 1888, Lauren Tarshis. Talbot Hill book club. Very fun! A bit of history I was vague on, but stuff that Laura Ingalls dealt with so it was sorta familiar. And I liked the back matter with the research information, context for the events, and further reading.

Just Saying, Rae Armantrout. Torches and Pitchforks is doing “Apocalypse Poetry” and when I searched the library catalog it suggested this book. What I got is delightful - small twists of words that glitter in the sun, casting beams of color in all directions. Armantrout has a deft way of sliding words from one meaning to a different one, and giving the first image a richer understanding through the transition. 

Books Started

Eat a Peach, David Chang. Saw it at the library and grabbed it. Turns out it was in my TBR list!

Service Model, Adrian Tchaikovsky. Hugo finalist.

Mallory and the Trouble With Twins, Ann Martin. Gotta get them all! Just kidding. I haven’t seen any numbers higher than 30 at the libraries.

Eva Evergreen and the Cursed Witch, Julie Abe. Next shelf in Renton Highlands library for my quest.

Tales From Watership Down, Richard Adam’s. Warm up to reread Watership Down with Foolscap book club.

I Survived the Children’s Blizzard, 1888, Lauren Tarshis. Talbot Hill book club.

Artificial Condition, Martha Wells. Reread in anticipation of the TV show.

Bookmarks Moved

Alibi, Sharon Shinn

Autistic Community and the Neurodiversity Movement, Steven K. Kapp (editor)

Rissa Kerguelen, F.M Busby. Foolscap book club.

Tomb of Dragons, Katherine Addison. 

Tam Lin, Pamela Dean

Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition, David Okrent

Serpent Rider, Yxavel Magno Diño.   

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, David Mitchell

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

Threads That Bind, Kika Hatzopoulou. Cybils 

Tinker, Wen Spencer. Audio

Bookmarks Languished

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

 

                                                            Poppy and Marigold, Meg Welch Dendler.  

                                                    Wow, No Thank You, Samantha Irby.                                   

                                              Samantha Smee: A Pirate’s Life, M.C. Dingman. 

                                          Into the Vast Nothing, J. Bruno.

                                         Marry Me By Midnight, Felicia Grossmann. 

                                    Long Live Evil, Sarah Rees Brennan.

                             True Colors, Abby Cooper.

                     South Riding, Winifred Holtby. 

                 Saving Verakko, Victoria Avelina.

Lepunia: Kingdom of the Gallopers, Kevin Ford

Books Acquired

From the library:

I forget,

For my shelves:

Enid Blyton compilation. Now I should see if I can send out the paperback versions.

Picture Books and Short Stories  

I Love My Bike, Simon Mole. Fun an energetic book about a little girl's first bike and how she learns to ride it with her dad. It’s as delightful as the podcast Even the Trunchbull promised.

Books on Slow Mode

Home Comforts, Cheryl Mendleson. I read one section a day. More kitchen stuff. I need to clean my fridge.

At the Feet of the Sun, Victoria Goddard. Kip having an adventure. In a bureaucratic kind of way.

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

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

Black Leopard, Red Wolf, Marlon. Mail bribe. Uh oh. I think I forgot all these characters from the start of the book.

War Cross, Marie Lu. Mail bribe. 

Teaching With Caldecott Books, Scholastic books. Mail bribe. Making reading analysis fun.

Year of Wonder, Clemency Burton-Hill. Mail bribe. Made it to November.

Future Plans

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

I am reading: 

• Book I own: Rissa Kerguelen 
• Library Book: Saving Verakko
• Ebook I own: Alibi
• Foolscap Book Club Book:  Watership Downs
• Sword and Laser Club Book:  Micky7
• Scintillation Book Club: Tam Lin
• Cloudy Book Club:  A Dark and Drowning Tide
• Torches and Pitchfork Book Club:  Death From the Sky’s!
• River Runs Under It Book Club: Demon Copperhead
• Talbot Hill Book: Wimpy Kid and I Survived 
• Friday Book Club: Lavender Blue
• Romance Book Club: A spy romance! Beauty Like the Night

Like Running A Marathon

I finished up my Austin vacation with a lovely brunch with my childhood friend, and then a nice drive back to the brunch place with her husband an hour later, since I left my iPad there. Leave ‘em wanting more, that’s my guesting motto! 

I flew home to have Easter with my brother and sister, and then several book clubs, and then celebrate the second time I gave birth. That kid doesn’t like attention so I appropriated the day so we’d have cake and all, but everyone can praise me because after all I was the one doing all the work all those years ago. His aunt cooked his favorite food, I made a cake, his brother made the frosting, and I set up some binary candle lighting to commemorate all those years.

I think I am now reading 60 books, according to goodreads. It’s trending down! Only 3 screens of currently reading!

Books Completed April 18 - April 24

Bad Guys 15: Open Wide and Say Arrrgh!

Bad Guys 18: The Bad Guys in Look Who’s Talking, Aaron Blakey. Ok, the kids in The book club were right; it would have been better not to skip ahead. There was an awful lot to deconstruct and things had gotten a lot more convoluted than I expected. Luckily #18 had a lot of call backs so I had a chance. These aren’t my favorite; the art work isn’t really to my taste, I miss color, and the sight gags are a bit too broad. Also I still have trouble telling the characters apart which is ridiculous because they are literally completely different shapes, like a wolf vs a piranha.

Dungeon Crawler Carl, Matt Dinniman. Sword and Laser bookclub pick. It was fun, with more depth than I expected, and a very cute cat. It just sorta ends, because it started as a web serial so isn’t really novel shaped. Not quite enough to make me go on, but if I want more like this when the mood hits me I will know where to find it.

Scary Stories For Young Foxes, Christian McKay Heidegger. Talbot Hill 5th grade pick. I liked the scary stuff and the frame story and the friendship between Uly and Mia and how they handled disability, but I didn’t like the smear on Beatrice Potter. Apparently some people are mad about casting the cosy picture book author as a taxidermist, but that wasn’t my beef. Heidegger portrayed her as an incompetent animal handler, and I don’t think there is any evidence for that at all. He was just being rude about her, probably because abuse he was giggling so much about revealing her reality as a person who was a scientist and did science stuff to study animals, which yes, includes killing them sometimes. Also, as a metaphor for writing stories, sucking out characters’ souls and leaving them for dead didn’t work for me.

Leak, Kate Reed Petty. Moving through Renton Highlands Library, I enjoyed this graphic novel about a kid whose newsletter gets more important to her when she accidentally discovers a real story about local pollution. She gets some mentorship that helps her learn from some ethical and reporteral missteps, and faces down pressure from adults and peers who don’t like what she discovers.

Logan Likes Mary Anne (Baby-sitter Club 10), Ann M. Martin. Wow, I actually liked the one with middle school romance. Boy babysitters are cool, even if they would change the tenor of the club. Good compromise kids!

The Honey Pot Plot, Jennifer Cruise & Bob Meyer. Because Cruise is so good. The plot wasn’t the big strength of this book, but so many scenes were both emotionally true and/or hilarious that I didn’t really care.

Books Started

Bad Guys 15: Open Wide and Say Arrrgh!

Bad Guys 18: The Bad Guys in Look Who’s Talking, Aaron Blakey. Years 3-4 are doing the Bad Guys series for elementary book club.

A Fate Inked in Blood, Danielle L. Jensen.Cloudy book club pick, and I can also use it for my Romance book group.

Rissa Kerguelen, F.M Busby. Foolscap book club.

All Systems Red, Martha Wells. Tuesday Gaming group, prepping for the TV show.

Bookmarks Moved

The Future of Silence: Fiction by Korean Women, Jong-hee Oh (editor)

Tam Lin, Pamela Dean

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

Alibi, Sharon Shinn

Autistic Community and the Neurodiversity Movement, Steven K. Kapp (editor)

Just Saying, Rae Armantrout

Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition, David Okrent

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, David Mitchell

Tomb of Dragons, Katherine Addison. 

Lepunia: Kingdom of the Gallopers, Kevin Ford

Into the Broken Lands, Tanya Huff

Serpent Rider, Yxavel Magno Diño.   

Bookmarks Languished

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

 

                                                         Poppy and Marigold, Meg Welch Dendler.  

                                                 Wow, No Thank You, Samantha Irby.                                   

                                          Samantha Smee: A Pirate’s Life, M.C. Dingman. 

                                       Into the Vast Nothing, J. Bruno.

                                      Marry Me By Midnight, Felicia Grossmann. 

                                 Long Live Evil, Sarah Rees Brennan.

                          True Colors, Abby Cooper.

                  South Riding, Winifred Holtby. 

             Saving Verakko, Victoria Avelina.

    Tinker, Wen Spencer. Audio.

Lamplighters, D. M. Cornish

Threads That Bind, Kika Hatzopoulou. Cybils finalist.

Books Acquired

From the library:

Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver. River Run Under It pick.

Moon Hits Your Eye, John Scalzi. I let my son have this one. 

For my shelves:

Nothing. 

Picture Books and Short Stories  

None.

Books on Slow Mode

Home Comforts, Cheryl Mendleson. I read one section a day. More kitchen stuff. I need to clean my fridge.

At the Feet of the Sun, Victoria Goddard. Kip having an adventure. In a bureaucratic kind of way.

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

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

The Road to Mars, Eric Idle. Mail bribe. Home stretch.

Black Leopard, Red Wolf, Marlon. Mail bribe. 

War Cross, Marie Lu. Mail bribe. 

Teaching With Caldecott Books, Scholastic books. Mail bribe. Making reading analysis fun.

Year of Wonder, Clemency Burton-Hill. Mail bribe. Made it to November.

Future Plans

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

I am reading: 

• Book I own: Rissa Kerguelen 
• Library Book: The Serpent Rider
• Ebook I own: Alibi
• Foolscap Book Club Book:  Watership Downs
• Sword and Laser Club Book:  Micky7
• Scintillation Book Club: Tam Lin
• Cloudy Book Club:  Fate Inked in Blood
• Torches and Pitchfork Book Club:  Just Saying
• River Runs Under It Book Club: Demon Copperhead
• Talbot Hill Book: Wimpy Kid and I Survived 
• Friday Book Club: Lavender Blue
• Romance Book Club: A spy romance!

Beautiful Bat City

After my lovely vacation in Galveston I went off to spend a week with my childhood best friend and her family in Austin, because two vacations are twice as good as one. I lazed around her lovely house (managing to binge all episodes of Ascendance of a Bookworm on Crunchyroll), made her permit-holding son drive me to a handful of bookstores when we discovered there was a bookstore crawl going on during our expedition to get him some birthday presents, spent a morning walking around the Lastbird Johnson nature place where my friend’s wedding took place, surprised said son with a birthday party, ate delicious food both from her kitchen and from good restaurants, and in general had a great time. 

Oh, I saw the Minecraft Movie. La-la-Lava Chicken!

I think I am now reading 61 books, according to goodreads. It’s trending down!

Books Completed April 11 - April 17

Chaos at the Lazy Bones Bookshop, Emmeline Duncan. I enjoyed the small business and small town vibes, especially her tension with her uncle and relationship with her grandfather. The book festival was delightful if improbable, and her tendency to rush out to confront people she suspects of murder stood in contrast to the coffee lady’s common sense. I’m enjoying this cost author.

Airs Above the Ground, Mary Stewart. Even though I didn’t get to see the dancing horses in France I can still enjoy this book about a vet who sees some in Austrian, her eager your traveling companion and her slightly dark husband. The train sequence was really good, but of course the best scene is the dancing in the meadow.

The Fall of Roe, Elizabeth Dias & Lisa Lerner. Oh this was so sad. So many women working so hard to ruin other women’s lives and then wanting to be thanked for it. So many self-centered people who made their own choices, and then want to justify them by forcing all others, no matter how different their circumstances, to make the same choices. People willing to lie and cheat so that women can’t control their health. People happy to use those cruel but dedicated people in a climb for power and riches. So many really hateful people in America. The writing was clear and the book well organized, although it was a bit too proud of his excellent hind sight.

A Sorceress Comes to Call, T.K. Kingfisher. Hugo finalist. Kingfisher is excellent with character and here we get three wonderful ones plus a villain. The sister and the young girl are very sympathetic and the horse is really scary. I’m not sure it’s doing anything really new, but it’s a lot of fun.

Diamond Eye, Kate Quinn. I enjoyed the glimpse of Soviet Russia in World War II when they were fighting the Russians, when patriotism and localism existed uneasily together, where propaganda and reality never quite met. Our heroine faces a lot of extra burdens from sexist soldiers, husbands, and journalists, and then different versions of this again on her tour of America. The view of the Roosevelts was also good, and the final action sequence was a lot of fun and a reminder that this is fiction so I shouldn’t rely too much on its authenticity.

Ascendance of a Bookworm Fanbook 5, Miya Kazuki. I am here for the long interview and details of the world, and the pictures were good as I was busily binging the entire anime collection on Crunchyroll and so it was fun to see where a lot of the images came from.

Books Started

The Honey Pot Plot, Jennifer Cruise & Bob Meyer. Because Cruise is so good.

Threads That Bind, Kika Hatzopoulou. Cybils finalist.

Ascendance of a Bookworm Fanbook 5, Miya Kazuki. This is catnip to me.

I’m Nobody, Who Are You?, Emily Dickinson. Small poetry book for traveling.

Dungeon Crawler Carl, Matt Dinniman. Sword and Laser bookclub pick.

Scary Stories For Young Foxes, Christian McKay Heidegger. Talbot Hill 5th grade pick.

Tam Lin, Pamela Dean. Scintillation book pick.

Bookmarks Moved

Autistic Community and the Neurodiversity Movement, Steven K. Kapp (editor)

The Future of Silence: Fiction by Korean Women, Jong-hee Oh (editor)

Tomb of Dragons, Katherine Addison. N

Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition, David Okrent

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, David Mitchell

Lamplighters, D. M. Cornish

Into the Broken Lands, Tanya Huff

Bookmarks Languished

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

 

                                                      Poppy and Marigold, Meg Welch Dendler. 

                                                      Serpent Rider, Yxavel Magno Diño.          

                                              Wow, No Thank You, Samantha Irby.                                   

                                       Samantha Smee: A Pirate’s Life, M.C. Dingman. 

                                    Into the Vast Nothing, J. Bruno.

                                   Marry Me By Midnight, Felicia Grossmann. 

                              Long Live Evil, Sarah Rees Brennan.

                       True Colors, Abby Cooper.

               South Riding, Winifred Holtby. Scintillation book club. I did not finish in time.

          Saving Verakko, Victoria Avelina. I won’t finish this in time for the Romance bookclub. 

   Logan Likes Mary Anne (Baby-sitter Club 10), Ann M. Martin.

Just Saying, Rae Armantrout

Leak, Kate Reed Petty

Tinker, Wen Spencer. Audio.

Books Acquired

From the library:

Nothing! I was on vacation.

For my shelves:

Well. Maybe I found a few things while supporting local bookstores…

Picture Books and Short Stories  

None.

Books on Slow Mode

Home Comforts, Cheryl Mendleson. I read one section a day. More kitchen stuff. I need to clean my fridge.

At the Feet of the Sun, Victoria Goddard. Kip having an adventure.

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

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

The Road to Mars, Eric Idle. Mail bribe. Home stretch.

Black Leopard, Red Wolf, Marlon. Mail bribe. 

War Cross, Marie Lu. Mail bribe. 

Teaching With Caldecott Books, Scholastic books. Mail bribe. Making reading analysis fun.

Year of Wonder, Clemency Burton-Hill. Mail bribe. Made it to November.

Future Plans

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

I am reading: 

• Book I own: Into the Broken Lands
• Library Book: The Future of Silence
• Ebook I own: Alibi
• Foolscap Book Club Book:  Watership Downs
• Sword and Laser Club Book:  Micky7
• Scintillation Book Club: Tam Lin
• Cloudy Book Club:  Fate Inked in Blood
• Torches and Pitchfork Book Club:  Just Saying
• River Runs Under It Book Club: Demon Copperhead
• Talbot Hill Book: Wimpy Kid and I Survived 
• Friday Book Club: Lavender Blue
• Romance Book Club: A spy romance!