Wow, I’m falling far behind! I blame the head injury.
So, the morning I started my restful catsitting vacation in Seaside, I went out for a run. I’m working my way through a Couch Potato to 5k program, and this was finishing up Week 4. And at the turnaround point I tripped and hit my head pretty hard. My nose was bleeding all the way home and I felt very sorry for myself as I gorily made my way back up the hill. Luckily the bear that had been sniffing around garbage cans the night before did not make an appearance.
I managed not to bleed on anything in the lovely house, and I called the nurse hotline to make sure I wasn’t forgetting how to handle a sports injury. Since I never get sports injuries I hadn’t paid attention to what to do about them, but they just checked for a concussion. The next few days I played with the cats and enjoyed the town, walking to the beach, sampling restaurants and the library and the bookstore, and swapping out my run program for some dedicated ice cream savoring. But my face felt weird and at night I’d worry, until finally I called the nurse line again (at three in the morning) and she asked questions that helped me identify the weirdness as numbness and made me an appointment to see a doctor on Thursday. And one long day involving a lot of driving, a nice doctor who was very reassuring, several rounds of X-rays, a drive to another town where I found a delicious gyro place and a nice book store while waiting to see if I needed an MRI, and finally a last long drive back to Seaside through a rainstorm and I was ready to enjoy my second week.
But I wasn’t gonna try running again.
Goodreads thinks I am currently reading 63 books, but I’ve finished a few of those so I think I’m trending downward. The library thinks I have 66 physical books checked out. Oops.
Books Completed Sept 26 - Oct 2
Pokémon Journeys 2, Machito Gomi. My old friend Ash! And some Pokémon.
Trader’s Leap, Sharon Lee and Steve Miller. I like watching Shan deal with stuff, including his daughter. Even though I think his mom was a bad person.
Emmi in the City: A Great Chicago Survival Story, Salima Alikhan. Burying stuff before a fire is good thinking.
In the Beginning, Chaim Potok. No, I’ve definitely read this before, but spending time in a Potok world is never a bad thing. It repeats some tropes — childhood illness, studying the wrong stuff, family rejecting sons for your life choices but still loving them despite years of separation, and the worth of good study habits.
A, B, C: Three Short Novels, Samuel Delany. A book club read one of these but I ended up reading all three. I think of Delany for language and ideas but he’s also a great storyteller.
Jessi’s Secret Language, Ann M. Martin. More proof that I prefer text to graphic novels. I liked seeing Jessi adapt to her Deaf babysitting charge and how she incorporates her dance into her world and her matter of fact awareness of how being Black affects her life.
The Dragonet Prophecy, Tui T. Sutherland. Ok, I did like this but honestly dragons are so cool to look at that I might have actually liked the graphic novel better. But I’m more likely to read on in the text series.
Leah Braves the Flood: A Great Molasses Flood Survival Story, Julie Gilbert. I’m not enjoying the Girls Survive! Books as much as I do the I Survived! books; they lack the emotional depth and aren’t as good at capturing a sense of the historical period. And yet it’s hard for me to abandon a series like this.
A Witch’s Guide to Magical Inn-keeping, Sanguine Mandanna. The romance is sweet and the quirky family is fun but I ended up uncomfortable with the parallels between ableism and magic and what it means to lose an ability so close to your heart.
Pokémon Sun and Moon 5, Hidenori Kusaka. I’m baffled by action but I like watching the people run about.
Pokémon Sun and Moon 6, Hidenori Kusaka. See above. It helps to read them close together.
I Survived the San Francisco Earthquake, 1906, Lauren Tarshis. Tarshis works hard to have a kid living a life that is interrupted and complicated by the titular disaster as opposed to standing there to tell us about the disaster.
Claudia and the Bad Joke, Ann M. Martin. This works much better emotionally than the graphic novel, which did not really sell me on Claudia’s fear or returning to babysitting or the kid’s callousness about what she caused.
Ghost Island, Jordan Quinn. Cute dragons! Apparently this is the middle of the series, but it worked out fine.
Books Started
Pokémon Journeys 2, Machito Gomi. Talbot Hill recommended.
Emmi in the City: A Great Chicago Survival Story, Salima Alikhan. I’m now a series addict.
The Dragonet Prophecy, Tui T. Sutherland. Talbot Hill recommended.
Jessi’s Secret Language, Ann M. Martin. The original version.
Toll of Honor, David Weber. Back to the Honorverse!
Leah Braves the Flood: A Great Molasses Flood Survival Story,
The Last Witchfinder, James K. Morrow. Scintillation book club.
A Witch’s Guide to Magical. Inn-keeping, Sanguine Mandanna. Cloudy book club pick.
War of the Wind, Victoria Williamson. A Cybils nominee I went back to finish.
Pokémon Sun and Moon 5, Hidenori Kusaka. Talbot Hill recommendation.
Pokémon Sun and Moon 6, Hidenori Kusaka. Talbot Hill recommendation.
I Survived the San Francisco Earthquake, 1906, Lauren Tarshis. It would be easier to keep track if these were numbered.
Claudia and the Bad Joke, Ann M. Martin. Number 19.
Ghost Island, Jordan Quinn. I had to wait near a bookstore for my medical results. So I waited in the bookstore.
Bookmarks Moved
The Way of Kings, Brandon Sanderson
Track Changes, Abigail Nussbaum
Hundredfold, Anthony Esolen
The Luminaries, Eleanor Catton
This Tender Land, William Kent Kruger
Year of the Tiger, Alice Wong
Inventing the Renaissance, Ada Palmer
Some Sunny Day, Adam Baron
Beowulf, J. R. R. Tolkien
Come See the Fair, Gabriel Savin
Bookmarks Languished
I have not given up on these! Ignore all evidence!
Into the Vast Nothing, J. Bruno
Marry Me By Midnight, Felicia Grossman
True Colors, Abby Cooper.
South Riding, Winifred Holtby
Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel
Calypso, Oliver K Langmead
The Hunger and the Dusk, G. Willow Wilson
Speculative Whiteness, Jordan S. Carroll
Bourne Supremacy, Robert Ludlum
Death in the Spires, K.J. Charles
So Let Them Burn, Kamilah Cole
Coyote Dreams, C.E. Murphy
I’m Nobody, Who Are You?, Emily Dickinson
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, David Mitchell
Heavenly Tyrants, Xiran Jay Zhao
Lepunia: Kingdom of the Gallopers, Kevin Ford
An Exchange of Hostages, Susan R. Matthews
Arabella of Venus, David Levine
Read Dangerously, Azar Nifisi
Hearts Still Beating, Brooke Archer
The Farwalker’s Quest, John Sensel
One Jump Ahead, Mark L Von Name
Picture Books, Poems, and Short Stories
None.
Books on Slow Mode
Home Comforts, Cheryl Mendleson. I read one section a day. Currently learning laundry details for rayon..
At the Feet of the Sun, Victoria Goddard. Relationships are affirmed.
50 Great Poets, ed. Milton Crane. Mail bribe.
The Writer's Stance: Reading and Writing in the Disciplines, Dorothy U. Seyler. Mail bribe.
Black Leopard, Red Wolf, Marlon. I’m in the end game and I think I missed some things.
War Cross, Marie Lu. Mail bribe.
Teaching With Caldecott Books, Scholastic books. Mail bribe. I like that I remember these books.
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: Wolf Hall
- Library Book: The Library of Borrowed Hearts
- Hugo Finalist: Heavenly Tyrant
- Foolscap Book Club Book: Wooing the Witch King
- Sword and Laser Club Book: Floating Hotel
- Scintillation Book Club: Semiosis
- Cloudy Book Club: What Feasts At Night
- Torches and Pitchfork Book Club: Moon of the Crusted Snow
- River Runs Under It Book Club: North Woods
- Talbot Hill Book: Fantasy, Historical/biography
- Friday Book Club: Black Wolves of Boston 1 & 2
- Romance Book Club: Doctor romance (Hello Stranger)
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