Most of the week after Thanksgiving was spent wallowing in self-pity about having to limit my carbs. I made my traditional tetrazzini after a few days of leftovers, but could only eat a reasonable amount at a time. The Thanksgiving holiday is not about, reasonable amounts! I also had to watch the family chow down on appropriately gluttonous amounts of leftovers while I used a tiny plate to have my morsels. Thank goodness for my liverwurst pate, which was low carb if not what I would describe as “healthy.”
I did keep up my running and my book clubs, in between all the moping.
Goodreads thinks I am currently reading 53 books. Such progress! The library thinks I have 69 books checked out. I feel like I’m being so restrained and yet that number keeps creeping up. Maybe I better check the definition of restraint again.
Books Completed November 28 - December 4
Moon Of the Crusted Snow, Waubgeshig Rice. For Torches and Pitchforks. This was an interesting apocalypse book, set on a reservation in Canada where the power goes out and supplies stop coming.at first it seems like a local problem, but as supplies also stop coming the community gradually realizes something has happened. People react differently, and the question of how to handle refugees becomes important. We all liked it although finding out there was a sequel led me to realize I had misunderstood some parts.
Claudia and Mean Janine Graphic Novel, Ann Martin & Raina Telgemeier. I agree it’s a better start for Claudia’s book in the series. The hospital scenes give the artist some good scenery to work with.
The Frozen Menace, Ursula Vernon. I missed this one! I liked how Danny’s friends rallied to help him. And how the author manages to make his parents completely useless without becoming baddies.
Silver Lady, Mary Jo Putney. Another magical regency romance, with a loving found family and earnest lovers and cool horses and smuggling on the beach.
Bailey and the Blaze, Delores Andrul. A Girls Survive graphic novel about the burning of Atlanta in the American Civil War that somehow forgets to mention slavery.
Stitch in Snow, Anne McCaffrey. I loved revisiting this for the snowed in topic at Romance Book Club. It’s definitely got some dated elements (modern authors wouldn’t use “rape” to describe consensual sex used to avoid thinking) but the knitting stuff, the swimming pool, and the kids book author stuff a
Was all as much fun as I remembered. As was the travel systems, where airlines work to keep passengers happy.
Moonstruck Vol 1, Grace Ellis. This is a love letter to queer baristas everywhere, but it was a meh read for me. I found the centaur confusing visually and didn’t get why the werewolf main character was so worried about being “normal” when as far as I could tell humans were a fairly small minority, at least on these pages. I wasn’t sure why she considered them the standard.
Wildfire, Breena Bard. This came off as a little preachy to me, but it still worked as a story. The protagonist is not happy about her house burning down and her family having to relocate to a city, and when the boy who carelessly started the fire turns up in her neighborhood she has understandably negative feelings. Her journey is interestingly complex even as we learn a lot about systemic problems affecting disasters as well as individual mistakes, trauma and activism, and goat pen requirements.
Poor Mallory, Ann Martin. I admit my favorite part was the passel of kids working on ways to raise money while their dad is between jobs after being layed off. Mallory babysitting bratty rich kids was fine and gave her a chance to struggle with envy, but her younger sister’s beauty consultant gig was even more entertaining.
Floating Hotel, Grace Curtis. I liked this Sword and Laser pick; seeing the passengers and crew on basically an interstellar cruise ship was fun. And I enjoyed seeing how the different viewpoints were adding up to an overall plot involving spying and counterspying and resistance to the monarchy. But I felt the end didn’t really pull all the pieces together in a satisfying way. The sum was less than the parts, but I liked the parts.
Ice Cold, Tess Gerritsen. Next book in my Renton Library quest. I’m only vaguely aware of the series dynamics, but this one separates the main duo for most of the book so I didn’t need to know much about their partnership. It was fine but I’m not seeking out more Rizzoli and Ives stuff. On to the next shelf!
This Tender Land, William Kent Kruger. I’m a month or so late for this River Runs Under It pick, but I was out of town for the meeting so no hurry. I didn’t like the magical elements, which I felt lessened the tension of the historical stuff.
All the Beauty in the World, Patrick Brinkley. I think I forgot to mention finishing this last week. It was a librarian recommended book that took a while to arrive. It’s a memoir of a few years in the life of a guy who takes a job as a guard at the Metropolitan Museum of art after his brother dies, and he charts his grief as he stands around looking at art. Slowly his life moves on and after his second kid he changes jobs, but I liked how he talked about those years of learning about himself and life through a job that literally surrounded him with beauty. And a union card.
Books Started
Blood at the Root, LaDarrion Williams. Cybils finalist.
Silver Lady, Mary Jo Putney. I like her magical Regency romances.
Tom Lake, Ann Parchett. I like this author.
The Frozen Menace, Ursula Vernon. Apparently I missed the last one.
Bailey and the Blaze, Delores Andrul. A Girls Survive graphic novel.
Stitch in Snow, Anne McCaffrey. Romance club is doing snowed-in stories.
This Is Our Rainbow, Katherine Locke. Short stories about queer kids.
Kristy and the Snobs, Ann Martin. More babysitter’s club.
Moonstruck Vol 1, Grace Ellis. A graphic novel.
Tacoma Narrows, Perry Mitchell. Poetry book.
Wildfire, Breena Bard. Exciting looking middle grade graphic novel.
Poor Mallory, Ann Martin. Hey, the library has even more Babysitter’s Club as ebooks.
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
Alex Wise Vs the Cosmic Shift, Terry J Benton-Walker
The Luminaries, Eleanor Catton
Inventing the Renaissance, Ada Palmer
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, David Mitchell
Arabella of Venus, David Levine
Coyote Dreams, C.E. Murphy
How I Got My Shrunken Head, R.L. Stine
The Maid and the Crocodile, Jordan Ifueko. I started this back when I was reading all the Hugo finalists.
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
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
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
The Serviceberry, Robin Wall Kimmerer. I seem to have misplaced this.
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. Good chapters about things to do after and while reading the 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: Fair Trade
- Library Book: Set On You
- Friend Book Club: Lasagna Means I Love You
- Foolscap Book Club Book: The Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping
- Sword and Laser Club Book: Someplace to be Flying
- Scintillation Book Club: Kiss Myself Goodbye
- Cloudy Book Club: Love in Color
- Torches and Pitchfork Book Club: Self Love Poetry
- Romance Book Club: Art of Love
- River Runs Under It Book Club: The God of the Woods
