Argh, I’m falling behind again. This post is a week late. No siblings had birthdays, I had several in person book clubs, and I added four library stamps to my collection, two new libraries and two return visits to get the stamp.

I think I am now reading 66 books, according to goodreads. Oops.

Books Completed March 1 - 6

Oceans Godori, Elaine U. Cho. Cloudy bookclub pick. This had fun worldbuilding and a good crew-as-family (but the captain is not really in the group) vibe, but also it’s the first half of the story! It’s not quite that bad, the emotional arcs end in decent places, but the plot arc is still in media res. This was not reflected in the cover and so the pacing felt very odd. I’ll want to read the back half when in comes out in a few months.

The Will of Many, James Islington. Sword and Laser book club pick. This Romans-with-magic would have been much better with about 30% fewer pages. It had a neat concept and some good characters but tended to repeat things both ona small scale (narrator ruminates over something until the author is sure the reader got it) and a bigger scale, where he learns the same lesson several times. This matters a lot at the end when Islington does something fairly cool with the last two short chapters, after training the reader not to pay close attention. I knew the Sword and Laser hosts were confused and so were several people in our local meetup. I mean, maybe I missed some stuff as well.

The Adventures of Amina Al-Serafi, Shannon Chakraborty. The 2024 Hugo finalist I didn’t quite finish is now finished! I can now nominate for 2025 with a clear conscience! This was a fun pirate vs evil wizards book set in the Indian Ocean, although I got a little tired of the protagonist proclaiming she wanted to go home and be boring. Nobody wanted that, including her. Oh, it’s in the romantic past, so scimitars and sails, not machine guns and cargo ships.

Fresh Brewed Murder, Emmeline Duncan. For my main book club. I’ve been in a bit of a reading slump lately and I liked this low stakes cosy murder mystery with lots of nice food and competent adults.

Claudia and the New Girl, Babysitters Club Graphic Novel, Gabriela Epstein. I was a little confused by the timeline; did the club really get that mad when Claudia was befriending a new girl for a week? Was it more? Didn’t anybody ever get overwhelmed at school or something before? These kids are usually much calmer.

Death Unfiltered, Emmeline Duncan. I was in the mood to stay in this safe (well, except for all the dead people) version of Portland, so I gobbled down the whole series, numbers 1, 4, 2, and 3. The little company grew from one food truck to an additional traveling cart and a store front, the protagonist gets engaged and has an adoring almost-stepchild, and the shadow of her criminal mom looms and shrinks and looms.

The Year We Disappeared, Cylin Busby & John Busby. 2008 Cybils finalist. This was a gripping story from two different directions, telling how a family decided to handle the policeman dad getting shot by a guy who probably would be coming back to try again. I thought it was going to be about remaking themselves, but it mostly focused on the months after the late 1970s attack. John spends a lot of time thinking about vengeance, especially when the police department lets both his case and the case he was shot over die. Cylin goes from enjoying the treat-filled chance to live with her cousins (with their pool!) to an understanding of the damage to her daddy and the new restrictions and fear in their lives. The two perspectives reinforce the reality of each other.

Double Shot Death, Emmeline Duncan. Jumped back to number 2.

Flat White Fatality, Emmeline Duncan. Stepped ahead with the third. I think a fifth is coming out this year.

Books Started

Nova, Samuel R. Delaney. For Scintillation book club. Which I missed, so not finishing in time was not an issue.

Claudia and the New Girl, Babysitters Club Graphic Novel, Gabriela Epstein. Still liking these.

Tough Boy Sonatas, Curtis L. Crisler. Poetry from library.

Fresh Brewed Murder, Emmeline Duncan. For my main book club.

Masters in this Hall, K.J. Charles. Ebook I bought because this author is great.

Claudia and Mean Janine, Babysitters Club, Ann Martin. Text version.

Death Unfiltered, Emmeline Duncan. It is always acceptable at this book club to read on in a series. I jumped to number 4.

Double Shot Death, Emmeline Duncan. And back to #2.

Flat White Fatality, Emmeline Duncan. And now I’ve caught up with the author by reading #3.

Never After 1: The Thirteenth Fairy, Melissa de la Cruz. Talbot Hill book club pick.

The Caphelon, Fletcher DeLancey. Spaceships! I have no idea why I checked this out but it looks fun.

Bookmarks Moved

Ascendancy of a Bookworm: Short Story Collection Volume 2, Miya Kazuki.

All the Hidden Paths, Foz Meadows.

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, David Mitchell.

Chernobyl, Serhii Plokhy.

Fourth Wing, Rebecca Yarros.

Tinker, Wen Spencer. Audio.

The Rook, Daniel O’Malley. (Audio)

An Immense World, Ed Yong.

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.

Into the Broken Lands, Tanya Huff

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.

Lamplighters, D. M. Cornish.

Poems, R. Hawley Truax. This will get displaced by a library book again.

Airs Above the Ground, Mary Stewart.

True Colors, Abby Cooper.

Picture Books and Short Stories

Am I Small? Mol ke Idek?, Philipp Winterberg. This is a fun picture book about relativity (big things think you are small, little things think you are big, lots of chance for fun illustrations) but the main gimmick seems to be that its many editions are bilingual across all sorts of languages. The one I read was English/Marshallese, a language I am so unfamiliar with that at first I thought it was a made up language used by the creatures the narrator converses with. I was very impressed with it for working as a real language, which made sense because it is!

44 Uses For a Dog, Harriet Ziefert. Nice concept, worth the time, but the illustration style was not my cup of tea.

How Does Chocolate Taste on Everest?, Leisa Stewart-Sharpe. The life of an intrepid explorer involves all the senses as well as a good sense of humor, and this picture books shows them all. The frame of the reader zooming around the world is a good vehicle for the information and makes for a fun read.

Books on Slow Mode

Home Comforts, Cheryl Mendleson. I read one section a day. We’re on to keeping your kitchen clean. I feel very judged.

At the Feet of the Sun, Victoria Goddard. Kip is a nice guy to be marooned with.

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

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.

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. Back in October.