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.