So, last year, on Friday before Thanksgiving, I had my meeting with a dietician to discuss my pre-diabetic blood sugar readings. Wow, what bad timing. Apparently it’s not just a matter of the right fractions on a plate but a need to maintain a low total of carbs per meal. Even if that meal is Thanksgiving dinner.
Two bookclubs in the weekend cheered me up a bit, and I managed to make the sides assigned to me (pinwheels, pumpkin pie, and a last minute liverwurst thing that appears to have no carbs). And on Thanksgiving itself my family supported me by never passing the rolls and stealing all the pie.
Goodreads thinks I am currently reading 61 books. That’s creeping back down. The library thinks I have 65 books checked out, which is way too many and many of them are approaching their due dates. But, a few more are picture books so I’ll finish them on time.
Books Completed November 21 - 27
Semiotics, Sue Burke. This was full of cool ideas, with a band of idealists trying to colonize a new planet and their struggles to survive over generations as technology fails and their understanding of the environment evolves. The human relationships are complex and often difficult, although we don’t spend much time with anyone as the book moves over five or so generations. The relationships across species introduce questions about what it means to be a person, to be exploited, to be intelligent. The conversation with book club went over literary, intellectual and scientific questions and was really engaging.
Diary of an 8 Bit Warrior: Shadow Over Aetheria, Cube Kid. Yeah, this is aimed squarely at the early reader market and missed me by a mile. Starting with book 8 didn’t help. Some jokes went under my feet and others over my head because of my limited Minecraft nous.
I’m Nobody, Who Are You?, Emily Dickinson. I like how some poems are moments in nature, some are facets of humanity, and some are ice cold understandings of death.
Please Pay Attention, Jamie Sumner. Eh, I hadn’t realized this was a free verse book. It mostly read like a lot of hitting return on the typewriter. But I like seeing the world from a wheelchair view.
Framed in Death, J.D. Robb. Bad guy was bad, Eve is good, torture scenes not super graphic. So a fun one.
Sarah Journeys West, Nikki Shannon Smith. I liked this one. It’s an African American’s family view of the Oregon trail, which is an angle I haven’t seen. The kid is still ahistorical and I found it annoying how often she was right and her family was wrong and how well they ok that, but there were lots of factual details which are the strengths of this series so the ungrounded characters didn’t ruin things for me.
What Feasts At Night, T. Kingfisher. On this reread I noticed how much I like the relationship with the batman and how much horror I had managed to forget. The dream horse stuff will hopefully disappear from my nightmares again.
The Farwalker’s Quest, John Sensel. A really cool Cybils fantasy from 2008. I like these kids books that don’t stop to explain the child’s emotional state and problems, instead focusing on action that lets me see that stuff for myself. There was real risk and trauma, which was a problem for squeamish adult me but should be fine for kids.
Books Started
How I Got My Shrunken Head, R.L. Stine. Goosebumps book.
Sarah Journeys West, Nikki Shannon Smith. A Girls Survive book.
Diary of an 8 Bit Warrior: Shadow Over Aetheria, Cube Kid. A MineCraft book.
Alex Wise Vs the Cosmic Shift, Terry J Benton-Walker. Sequel.
Please Pay Attention, Jamie Sumner. Grabbed on sight while library sampling.
The Serviceberry, Robin Wall Kimmerer. Wanted more from this author.
What Feasts At Night, T. Kingfisher. Reread for Cloudy book club.
Moon Of the Crusted Snow, Waubgeshig Rice. For Torches and Pitchforks.
Claudia and Mean Janine Graphic Novel, Ann Martin & Raina Telgemeier. Comparing to the text one.
Bookmarks Moved
The Pursuit of… , Courtney Milan
The Way of Kings, Brandon Sanderson
Ascendance of a Bookworm, Fanbook 7, Miya Kazuki
Gold Dust, Catherine Asaro
The Luminaries, Eleanor Catton
Ice Cold, Tess Gerritsen.
All the Beauty in the World, Patrick Brinkley
This Tender Land, William Kent Kruger
Inventing the Renaissance, Ada Palmer
Arabella of Venus, David Levine
Floating Hotel, Grace Curtis
Bookmarks Languished
I have not given up on these! Ignore all evidence!
True Colors, Abby Cooper
South Riding, Winifred Holtby
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
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, David Mitchell
Read Dangerously, Azar Nifisi
The Last Witchfinder, James K. Morrow. Scintillation book club.
An Exchange of Hostages, Susan R. Matthews
So Let Them Burn, Kamilah Cole
Hello Stranger, Lisa Kleypas
Coyote Dreams, C.E. Murphy
One Jump Ahead, Mark L Von Name
Lepunia: Kingdom of the Gallopers, Kevin Ford
Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel
The Library of Borrowed Hearts, Lucy Gilmore
Bluebird, Ciel Pierrot
3 Days, 9 Months, 27 Years, John Scalzi
Picture Books, Poems, and Short Stories
None.
Books on Slow Mode
Home Comforts, Cheryl Mendleson. I read one section a day. Organizing one’s laundry is the current topic.
50 Great Poets, ed. Milton Crane. Mail bribe. Emily Dickinson is cool.
The Writer's Stance: Reading and Writing in the Disciplines, Dorothy U. Seyler. Mail bribe.
Black Leopard, Red Wolf, Marlon James. The ending moves back to the personal.
War Cross, Marie Lu. Mail bribe. My gaming is not on this level.
Teaching With Caldecott Books, Scholastic books. Mail bribe. I’m getting some good ideas for kid management.
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: Fair Trade
- Library Book: Hazel Boy and the Deep Blue Sea
- Friend Book Club: Ladagna Means I Love You
- Foolscap Book Club Book: The Witch’s Guide to Innkeeping
- Sword and Laser Club Book: I’m Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom
- Scintillation Book Club: Aunt Munda
- Cloudy Book Club: Wooing the Witch Queen
- Torches and Pitchfork Book Club: How to Fall in Love With Questions
- Romance Book Club: Art of Love
- River Runs Under It Book Club: The God of the Woods
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