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
