Where Is My Evil Fairy?

This week I spent a lot of time doing some volunteer work. Most of this work involved talking to other people, so I had to procrastinate for several hours before each event. I don't know whether to be satisfied or worried at how happy I would be to live as a recluse in a library at the top of a tower or something. Does anyone else watch Disney's Beauty and think the Beast's curse would not be much of a problem? Doomed to live in a castle stuffed with servants who only live to serve and an enormous library? What was the downside again?

 So now The Book Date is collecting the roundups of what everyone is reading and talking about this week at back at her blog. I'll also look in with Teach Mentor Texts which does the same thing for kidlit, but I didn't actually finish any kid books this week so I probably won't sign in.

This week I finished 3 books:

Autobiography of a Face, Lucy Grealy.  I remember reading a book catalog (Daedalus books? something like that) almost twenty years ago and putting this on my to-read list. And then I read Ann Pratchett's memoir about Lucy Grealy, and a few years after that I finally read it myself. Her descriptions of growing up with disfiguring cancer and subsequent surgeries really hit on issues of self awareness, appearance, and identity. And knowing her eventual history lent even more poignancy to the story.

Ming Tea Murder, Laura Childs. The next Library Quest book. I think the large print made the mystery seem even more simplistic, and the cops sillier.

Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen, Lois McMaster Bujold. I grabbed the e-ARC of the newest Bujold book, and it was a fun although light read. It's about Cordelia and her plans for the next phase of her life, not that Aral is gone. It felt more like a novella than a novel -- the concerns were domestic and there wasn't really that much conflict. The final madcap scenes were less a firework display than a fun sparkler routine, and I was a bit disappointed that the small contracter dispute subplot was solved with a deus machina by Mark rather than by a genius plot by Miles, preferably involving a Cetegandan plumber.

Bookmarks Moved in a few other books:

audio: Defender of Shannara: Druids Blade, Terry Brooks. This is a disconcerting lack of agency in many women here. Kris, the sister, gets kidnapped again, tries to rescue herself, but is thwarted and tortured. The book explicitly spells out that she was vulnerable because of the lies her brother told her, but I don't get any sense that the author (or the brother) thinks he made a mistake. Girls are just prone to kidnapping and failure, that's all, and telling them the truth about the world would just make them worry more before it happens.

Plague of Doves, Louise Erdrich. I'm enjoying the different sections from different points of view, all with different views of the town and its events.

Dreams Underfoot, Charles de Lint. This is the author of the Tuesday book club, and I'm reading these stories as well as per the recommendation of my friend. I like them, although paired with the Druid book the casual acceptance of sexual violence against women is marked. This women at least know how to combat and avoid it, even when accepting how central it is in this world.

Almost Amish, Kathryn Cushman. My next Library Quest book! At first I thought it was a Christian romance based in Amish life. Now I realize that it's a Christian romance based on people forced to imitate Amish life, but I'm enjoying the sibling dynamics, both between the kids and the parental sisters.

Tell the Wolves I'm Home, Carol Rifka Brunt. Time wise the setting book is not that far off from Dreams Underfoot, so it's interesting to see how huge the gulf is in expectations around homosexuality.

Anna of Byzantium, Tracey Barrett. This is going to end badly for Anna, so I'm reluctant to finish this. On the other hand, it's all history now anyway.

Primary Immersion, Catherine Asaro. I was reshelving some books when I saw this one and grabbed it to reread the middle section, where the protagonist picks up some young boy and enjoys a fling before going back to her destiny in the final section. Asaro's world building is a bit dodgy, but her characters are always fun, especially as they are as bewildered in their worlds as the reader might be.

The next few books I'm not really reading, just dipping into between the books I'm trying to finish so that I can pretend that I'm going to read the books on my bookcases.



The October Country, Ray Bradbury. Back to horror, with cute kids.
If I'm Jewish and You're Christian, What Are the Kids?, Andrea King. The book's assumption seems to be that it's better to raise the kids Jewish, although King admit that she slants it that way because you don't need a book to raise kids Christians in America. She focuses on the problems with raising them as nothing.
Rob Roy, Walter Scott
Waiting For the Party, Ann Thwaite
A Traitor To Memory, Elizabeth George
Reading and Learning To Read, Jo Vacca

And I started two new books:

Gateway, Sharon Shinn. I like Shinn's books partly because most of the characters are good people. Most of the people I know are good people too, so it makes things more realistic.

Mischief and Mistletoe. Christmas themed Regency romance stories from some of my best known authors.

2015 Challenge Progress:

1. Reading My Library: Finished another and started the next (a C). Moving along with the B's in audio books.
2. Where Am I Reading?: 35/51. ANOTHER SOUTH Carolina! Why don't interesting stories happen in North Carolina? Still reading a North Dakota, and I have Maine and Hawaii books on deck.
3. Award Winning Book Challenge: I have apparently stopped reviewing books. But I've ticked off many awards. 
4. Book Riot Read Harder: 23/24. I still need an African author.
5. Alphabetically Inclined:  I V X  Z still missing. 22/26. Since I only count books I own, this is hard.
6. Best of the Best 2012: 52/25.  I am stalled. Maybe time to go back?
7. Cybils 2014: Complete! I bought the last one as the libraries didn't seem to have it. WOOT!

The Library Is My Community Center

Again I made several trips to the library, but all on a Thursday. I went in the morning to do some work for the local PTA, and to take advantage of the free printing for some flyers. I went in the early afternoon to pick up my kid and check in with him before heading out to a meeting. And after the meeting I went back to pick up the other kid.

I really like using the library as a pick up point. If I'm early, great! If I'm late, fine! Much better than having to worry about weather or whatever. I still managed to avoid checking out too many things, because I'm trying to read what I have.

The hold shelf five books:



The Eigth Day, Dianne K. Saleri. I saw several positive reviews for this in a row, so I ordered it up.

Sideways Stories from Wayside School, Louis Sachar. This is the first book club book for the Talbot Hill Book Club.

The Princess in Black, Shannon Hale & Dean Hale. A fun little graphic novel, I hope.

Wandering Son Vol 2., Shimura Takako. The continuing adventures of a cross dressing boy.

The Gospel of Loki, Joanne M. Harris. Technically I got this for my son (who has already absconded with it), but I'm hoping I'll get a chance to read it as well.

I've currently got 44 things out from the library, including ebooks, music, books for me, and books for the kids. That's a good month's reading, right? (I'm one down from last week, so that's good!)

I finished C.J. Box's Breaking Point as well as Laura Child's Ming Tea Murder for my library quest. I've just started almost amish by Kathryn Cushman. It's probably time for me to get the next batch since these Large Print books look really long but read very quickly.

I'll go sign in to Library Loot which is at The Captive Reader this week to see what everyone else is getting.  Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and Linda from Silly Little Mischief that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. 

PostDewey Readathon Post

For years Book Journey has run IMWAYR (It's Monday, What Are You Reading) from her blog, but she has announced that the time has come to pass on the mantle of the meme. So now The Book Date is collecting the roundups of what everyone is reading and talking about this week at back at her blog. I'll also sign in with Teach Mentor Texts since at least three and possibly four of these books could show up in a school library.

This week I actually managed to finish a few books, because I participated in the Dewey 24 Hour Readathon. I once again dedicated myself to finishing all the books I've been an hour or so away from finishing for the past, oh months. After missing the start (5:00 AM for me), I managed to spend from 6:30 until 5:00 the next morning reading, with only about an hour doing mundane things like showering, seeing my family, blah blah blah). So probably a bit over 21 hours reading, although some of that was spent roaming the Internet to see what everyone else was reading, which led to me WINNING a prize in hour 23. I love winning.

This week I finished 8 (7 during the Readathon) books:

Forged in Blood II, Lindsay Buroker. The end of the Emperor's Edge series, although there's now one more book. These are fun fantasy books with entertaining characters and a fast moving plot, mixing magic and technology with skillful abandon.

Harriet the Invincible, Ursula Vernon. The latest Vernon graphic novel (well, novel with pictures? the pictures are part of the story), and a wonderful take on the Sleeping Beauty story. Recommended for beginning readers and up.

Lulu Walks the Dogs, Judith Viorst. Most books about brats leave me fairly cold (Eloise, the Olivia books), but Viorst's books about Lulu make me smile. No one (including Lulu) excuses her behavior, but it's definitely a fact that the author reports. I say the author because there's a lot of fourth wall crossing in these. This would be a fun read aloud, aimed at literate children.

Morning Glory LaVyrle Spencer. A gentle romance about an ex-con and a recluse in the 1940's. It follows the standard romance arc, then adds on a war story and a murder accusation. The final bits left a bad taste though, since the heroic lawyer gets our guy off by slut-shaming the victim, and I kept distracting myself by wondering if the details were accurate (were there court-appointed lawyers back then?).

Leviathan, Jack Campbell. This might be the final book in The Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier books, as it wraps up a lot of the overarching story lines. I like these books despite their flaws -- the characters are drawn from stereotypes, but stereotypes that are based on real people, so that they ring true despite their standard construction. The aliens provide helpful hints just in time.

Seven Wild Sisters, Charles de Lint. Oops. I didn't mean to finish this book, as usually out Tuesday book club only asks for about 100 pages a week. But I like de Lint, and this book flowed, and once I switched to the paper copy the pictures made it even smoother going.

Breaking Point, C.J. Box. Another Library Quest Book! On to the C's.

Runemarks, Joanne Harris. This take on Norse mythology has a lot to say about story, identity and the power of words as it mixes together a sympathetic teenager, Loki, and a variety of villains and heroes who haven't all sorted themselves into the right side yet.

Bookmarks Moved in a few other books:

audio: Defender of Shannara: Druids Blade, Terry Brooks. We are starting with a damsel in distress story, starring the main character's idiot little sister. 

Plague of Doves, Louise Erdrich. The print was too small to read much during the readathon, but I'm enjoying the language and sense of community depicted.

The next few books I'm not really reading, just dipping into between the books I'm trying to finish so that I can pretend that I'm going to read the books on my bookcases.
The October Country, Ray Bradbury.
If I'm Jewish and You're Christian, What Are the Kids?
Rob Roy, Walter Scott
Waiting For the Party, Ann Thwaite
A Traitor To Memory, Elizabeth George
Reading and Learning To Read, Jo Vacca

And I started three new books:


Autobiography of a Face, Lucy Grealy. I think I can remember adding this to my to-read list while pregnant with my first child.
The Ming Tea Murder, Laura Childs. Another Library Quest book.
Dreams Underfoot, Charles de Lint. Highly recommended by a friend, plus it'll be a companion book the the book club book I accidentally finished.

2015 Challenge Progress:

1. Reading My Library: Finished the first Large Print book and started the second. Moving along with the B's in audio books.
2. Where Am I Reading?: 35/51. Breaking Point was a Wyoming book, and I've got a Hawaii option on the waiting shelf. Currently reading a North Dakota.
3. Award Winning Book Challenge: I have apparently stopped reviewing books. But I've ticked off many awards. 
4. Book Riot Read Harder: 23/24. I still need an African author.
5. Alphabetically Inclined:  I V X  Z still missing. 22/26. Since I only count books I own, this is hard.
6. Best of the Best 2012: 52/25.  I am stalled. Maybe time to go back?
7. Cybils 2014: Complete! I bought the last one as the libraries didn't seem to have it. WOOT!

October 2015 Dewey 24 Hour Readathon

This Readathon officially starts for me at 5:00 AM, and it seems highly unlikely that I managed to get myself to wake up at that time, but thanks to the wonders of the internet my blog can start without me!

Once again I'm hoping to trim down my "currently reading" pile, although I wouldn't mind also knocking off some books from my "reading any minute now" stack. I've got an audio book queued up in the car for the few errands I have to run, and I hope I got to bed early last night. Off I go!

5:00 ZZZZZZ

6:30: Go! (I tried to wake up at 5:00, but instead I fell asleep and dreamed I was reading a variety of children's books about cats. I was also reading them by the pool at the house of my BFF back in Texas, which should have been a clue that I wasn't really awake.) I've started reading Breaking Point by C.J. Box, starting at page 351.

7:30. Finished Breaking Point. Woot! Picking up Seven Wild Sisters by Charles de Lint at page 155.
Just checked in at the Dewey web site, so I'll do the introduction meme:

1. What fine part of the world are you reading from today? Renton, Washington, USA
2. Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to? Havoc, Ann Aguirre
3. Which snack are you most looking forward to? Anything brought to me by my kids while I read on the upstairs couch
4. Tell us a little something about yourself! I will take a break to day to give my son a driving lesson. If this post stops updating, all was lost!
5. If you participated in the last read-a-thon, what’s one thing you’ll do different today? I think I'll take the time off to shower. 

8:30 Finished Seven Wild Sisters. Next up is Jack Campbell's Leviathan, from page 209.

10:30. Had to drive kids to their weekend D&D party. Listened to The High Druid's Blade while driving, but we also took a small detour so oldest son could try driving an automatic for the first time. So I dock 30 minutes of non-reading time here.

11:30 Finished Leviathan: The Lost Fleet : Beyond the Frontier. Possible the longest title with the most colons of any fiction written in the past century that I've read. I celebrated by looking at the Dewey Mini-Challenges, and found THE POWER OF LOVE. I fell in love while reading Uprooted by Naomi Novak because of the narrating character with her courage and wavering self-confidence, along with her determination to protect the ones she loves. I like bright, heroic young people (women?) who don't have all the answers but refuse to give up.

I think I'll nibble on Morning Glory next, although I probably won't make it all the way to the end before jumping onto something else.

12:30 Still reading Morning Glory, from page 103. Did another challenge -- Armchair Traveling.

1:30. Cats are sleeping on me, so I guess I'll stick with Morning Glory.  I hope it brings me luck for the scavenger hunt:

Book Scavenger Hunt List

                                                     1.  Something hard: Oak tables in the library

                                                     2.  Something fast: Will & Elly's joy in each other once they talk in bed

                                                     3.  Something sweet: The librarian gives Will a key to the library

                                                     4.  Something high: the level of Will's fear during Elly's labor

                                                     5.  Something funny: Will hearing that Elly is in labor

2:30 I went downstairs to reheat some crockpot lasagna that I cleverly made yesterday. Cats pointed out their empty food bowl, which explains their affectionate nature. We'll see if their love dims now that their stomachs are full.

3:30. I am happy to report that the cats still love me. As soon as I settle down with a book, they jump on my legs to encourage me to keep reading. Thanks for the support, kitties!

4:30 (ish). Finally finished Morning Glory. I'm kind of a slow reader. Time to take the mid-event survey:
1. What are you reading right now? Nothing! But I'm about to go get Plague of Doves and continue that. 
2. How many books have you read so far? I finished four (started them ages ago). I look at three more but only a few pages.
3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon? Underground Abductor
4. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those? Nope. I keep reading during them until people get the hint.
5. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far? People visited my blog and commented! (This is not a common occurrence.) Last year I must have signed up wrong because I wasn't expecting this. It feels very friendly!

6:30 I detoured a bit to read a few chapters of a biography of Francis Burnett (author of Little Lord Fauntleroy and The Little Princess) but then went back to my fiction love with Plague of Doves (from page 57). Also annoyed the children by forcing everyone to listen to my audio of The High Druid's Blade while I did all the car pool drop-offs. Hey, Readathon is important!

7:30. I took 30 minutes out to have dinner with my family. We made plans for me to be utterly useless tomorrow. Continued reading Plague of Doves, but if things get rough I'll take a break and read some kidlit.

9:30 Although Plague of Doves is a lovely book, it's the kind of book I want to savor and enjoy and read slowly. Not really readathon material. So I grabbed Lulu Walks the Dogs, by Judith Viorst so I could finish something quickly and now I'm picking out my next read. Maybe a book from my Library Quest (the quest to read a book from each shelf of my library)?

10:30 I've made some progress in Ming Tea Murder by Laura Child (yes, the Library Quest book, I'm on the C's of the Large Print shelves), but now I crave more immediate gratification. So I'm going to pause and read Harriet the Invincible by Ursula Vernon (of Dragonbreath fame).

11:30 Finished (and thoroughly enjoyed) Harriet the Invincible. Fun fact -- this was the first non-library reading I've done. I think I'll pick up my NOOK for a while now. Lindsay Buroker, here I come!

12:30. Actually I got distracted by my computer and wondered all over the challenges but then got confused by my phone and failed to take any pictures, so I guess I'm not actually doing any challenges. So I read some fanfiction on my NOOK but now I'll read Forged in Blood II. In other words, I'm going to FOCUS goshdarnit. Page 106-ish? See next note.

1:30 Read into Forged in Blood II. I had a slight delay when my NOOK ran out of power, refused to connect to my computer, and then apparently threw out my book. Luckily I had noticed it getting flaky and prepared myself with a back-up NOOK with no such personality flaws.

2:30 Still reading!

4:00 - ish Still reading! I think I'm going to make it to Hour 24, or 5:00 AM. I finished Forged in Blood and now have to find something to keep my eyes propped open for another 40 minutes...


5:00! Hour 25! Made it! I finished up reading some more in Ming Tea Murder, which is from the Large Print section of the library. Mostly I find that annoying, but tonight (this morning?) it came in very handy for my blurry eyes.


I managed to finish seven books, although five were already started, and I moved bookmarks along in three others. Now I can finally fall asleep!

Stocking Up For a Readathon

As I walked into the library, I saw the librarian just finishing restocking the QuickPick/new paperback section with all the new books they bought this month. Woot! When the universe talks to me, I try to listen. And I assume the universe will also provide me with my own pocket universe of extra hours to read these books in.

I also had to go pick up some holds I had that were about to expire.  They had even sent me the "your holds are about to expire" email, but I resisted coming in early because it is never good for me to have books with due dates on all the days of the week. It's bad enough I check out enough books for a month each week; I don't need to do that daily.

The hold shelf five good looking books:


Twin Spica, Ko Yagimuma. I was reading this manga series a while back, and I want to continue it.

Station Eleven, Emily St. John Mandel. My Friday book club is reading this.

Silver City, Cliff McNish. This is from the first Cybils shortlist, back before I was doing my Cybils Challenge.

Mischief and Mistletoe. I enjoyed the Joanna Bourne book last week, and I like Putney and the Wenches in general, so I got this.

Lulu Walks the Dogs, Judith Viorst. The last Lulu book for me -- word on the street is that there will be no more. Which makes sense, as in the final book she learns to be an undercover spy.



Ancillary Mercy, Ann Leckie. The last in the trilogy -- all MINE.

Hush, Laura Lippman. I liked the other Lippman I read, and it is also set in Maryland.

Only a Kiss, Mary Balogh. I like the Survivor's Club books, and this is another one.

I've currently got 45 things out from the library, including ebooks, music, books for me, and books for the kids. That's a good month's reading, right?

Didn't finish anything for my Library Quest but I'm plugging along in the C.J. Box book and the audio.

I'll go sign in to Library Loot which is at somewhere that I can't find at Silly Little Mischief this week to see what everyone else is getting.  Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and Linda from Silly Little Mischief that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week.