This week started with a burst of energy. I started reestablishing my morning walk or run habit, I got through my errands in a time,y fashion, and I made some appointments I had been procrastinating on. Unfortunately one of these involved sending a picture of a minor blemish to a dermatologist, and they told me to come in next week for a biopsy. So much for my energy burst!

Now I had hours of moping to work in around my day. It’s depressing when my best case scenario is being told I have a wart on my face, like a witch. It is true that I’ve entered lakes and not drowned, so I think my odds are good.

Goodreads thinks I am currently reading 63 books, but I’ve finished several of those so I think I’m not really trending upward. The library thinks I have physical books checked out but I’ve lost one so that shouldn’t count. I think that’s still bit too high. This paragraph seems very familiar.

Books Completed Sept 5 - Sept 11

Accident of Stars, Foz Meadows. I liked this more than the one with the arranged marriage. It was more action based and had a brisker tone, with less navel-gazing protagonists. I think I also liked the multitude of viewpoints more than a first person, which gave insights into the secondary world from both its residents (immigrant and natives) and the accidental visitor.

Karen’s Worst Day, Baby-sitter’s Little Sister, Ann Martin. A lot of this bad day involves watching other people have a good thing. I don’t think seeing someone you love get a surprise present counts as something bad happening to you, and I think helping little kids realize that is important. Karen is still working on this, and she isn’t getting much help. But her very extended family is very compassionate in other ways so maybe she’ll get there on her own. I notice that neither of her little brothers complain when the big kids take her out for ice cream to cheer her up.

Karen’s Kittycat Club, Baby-sitters Little Sister Graphic Novel, Katy Farina & Ann Martin. This one worked better for me with text because the whole point is her being carried away and being mean.

The Unravelling, Benjamin Rosenbaum. Man this must have been a great book club. There’s so much to unpack here! The worldbuilding was doing amazing things; lots of cool ideas and then showing what follows from them.

Tribute, Sherwood Smith. I’m going to miss these characters a lot. I ran out to get the next in the series but I think it’s a big jump down the timeline.

Who Fears Death, Nnedi Okorafor. As an apocalypse book it wasn’t great, since it’s set in the future where no one worries about how it happened beyond some founding myths. But as a good read about kids with too much power and a society with a lot of casual injustices it really works.

Parable of the Talents Graphic Novel, Octavia E. Butler & Damian Duffy. I think this did a great job of translating the book to graphic form and retaining its power. And I still think Lauren’s kid is a huge jerk, but Butler makes her a believable one. (The brother is a bigger jerk, but at least he knows it.)

Sheine Lende, Darcy Little Badger. I love how capable Little Badgers’s teens are, and I like seeing how the live as both Americans and tribal members. And the magical touches in her alternate world work for me. Good going, Hugo voters.

Karen’s Witch, Baby-sitters Little Sister, Ann Martin. As an adult, it is hilarious to me when Karen storms the garden club with accusations of witchcraft because it would have been embarrassing as a parent but unlikely to happen to me with my unimaginative children.

Karen’s Worst Day: Baby-sitters Little Sister Graphic Novel, Katy Farina & Ann Martin. Yeah, it definitely feels more bratty from the outside when Karen feels sorry for herself because her siblings have nice stuff.

The Selected Poetry of Robinson Jeffers, Robinson Jeffers. I like that he really pushed old fashioned poetry back into the mainstream. But honestly a lot of his stuff didn’t land for me. The people in his long poems were unlike anyone I’ve ever met, although maybe they were the kind of people he hung out with, although I’m assuming all the murders were poetic license. Some of the shorter works resonated.

Bonded In Death, J. D. Robb. Other than a short bit of child torture this one was more pleasant than gruesome. I liked seeing the cadre of the butler’s old resistance buddies, although so many of them crowded most of the usual social crowd off the pages.

I Survived the Battle of Gettysburg, 1863, Lauren Tarshis. Wow, a lot of deaths in this one.

Monstress Vol. 9, Marjorie M. Liu. I like the idea and the story, but the illustrations are so rich I find them exhausting. (Yes, I’m complaining the art in a comic is too good). I see why it keeps getting Hugo nominations but I’m not going to pick it up on my own.

Books Started

Karen’s Kittycat Club, Baby-sitters Little Sister Graphic Novel, Katy Farina & Ann Martin. Checking them off.

Karen’s Witch, Baby-sitters Little Sister, Ann Martin. This is the first Karen book.

Bonded In Death, J. D. Robb. Oops. I’m one behind.

This Tender Land, William Kent Kruger. Missed book club book.

Karen’s Worst Day: Baby-sitters Little Sister Graphic Novel, Katy Farina & Ann Martin. These are fast reads.

Daisy and the Deadly Flu (Girls Survive), Julie Gilbert. I’m comparing to the I Survived series.

Every Heart a Doorway, Seanan McGuire. Foolscap book for Back To School month.

The Last Wizard’s Ball, Charlaine Harris. I really like her characters.

Bookmarks Moved

Track Changes, Abigail Nussbaum

Braiding Sweetgrass, Robin Wall Kimmerer

Hearts Still Beating, Brooke Archer

Endling: The First, Katherine Applegate

The Luminaries, Eleanor Catton

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, David Mitchell

Read Dangerously, Azar Nifisi

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

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

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

Lepunia: Kingdom of the Gallopers, Kevin Ford

One Jump Ahead, Mark L Von Name

Picture Books, Poems, and Short Stories

“Meetings on the Stair: an Essay ” by Diane Duane. What are we doing when we tell fantasy stories? Where is the line between lying and dreaming? If you saw a Tardis would you go in?

Books on Slow Mode

Home Comforts, Cheryl Mendleson. I read one section a day. Currently learning laundry details.

At the Feet of the Sun, Victoria Goddard. Trusting magicians is exhilarating.

50 Great Poets, ed. Milton Crane. Mail bribe. More dull Arnold stuff.

The Writer's Stance: Reading and Writing in the Disciplines, Dorothy U. Seyler. Mail bribe.

Black Leopard, Red Wolf, Marlon. Mail bribe.

War Cross, Marie Lu. Mail bribe.

Teaching With Caldecott Books, Scholastic books. Mail bribe.