Late Again

Nothing much to report. School inches towards the end, which includes a high school graduation, the weather wavers between lovely and hot, and summer plans have not yet been made, because apparently I'm incapable of looking into the future.

The Book Date does a weekly roundup of what people are reading, want to read, or have read each week called It's Monday! What Are You Reading and I'm going to sign up. There's also a version that is kidlit focussed, and as I finished some kidlit books and a few picture books, I'll check in with either Teach Mentor Text or UnLeashing Readers for their version.

My completed books for this week:



Maplecroft, Cherie Priest. Well, not *everybody* died, but a lot of friendships are broken, and I still don't know if Emma sent out the original evil package by accident, out of malice, or because she was corrupted. But satisfying. The doctor performed particularly well.

The Innocent, David Baldacci. I was plugging along until I hit about chapter 50, and then I raced through the next 50 pages. I don't think the plot holds up to examination, but I liked the man/kid interactions, and that I spotted the assassin (who had basically no motive, so was easier to spot from a Doylist rather than Watsonian perspective) before our Hero. I think I'll read more Baldacci. Oh, and it turns out I needed D.C. anyway.

* Snow Hunters, Paul Yoon. I picked this up from the Asian authors display at the library, although I think by the time I got to it they had moved onto something else. It was a quiet story of a slowly recovering man, surrounded by kind people he didn't really understand and who didn't seem that real to me either, but I appreciated the compassion the filled the world with.

* Books I started and completed this week

Picture Books (most read in the library while waiting for my kids to rendezvous):



Red: A Crayon's Story, Michael Hall. Hip and self referential. A mislabeled crayon's story, told by a pencil, and with many nods to the identity crises of today's youth. And older people, I guess.

Virginia Wolf, Kyo Maclear. As I read this, I kept thinking I was missing literary references. Without them the story is fine but not brilliant, but lacking them I felt distracted from the emotional plotline.

The Boy Who Didn't Believe in Spring, Lucille Clifton. This book had drama and daring -- the boys cross the street! It had moral ambiguity and the courage to change one's mind. It's almost historical (from the 1970's) but still feels fresh to me.

Moo!, David LaRochelle. Single word picture book that would be a blast to read with a smart toddler or preschooler. The naughty pleasure of car theft, the thrill of fast driving, and the agony of the crash, and then the attempt to shift the blame would all amuse small kids and their readers.

Happy Birthday, Hamster, Cynthia Lord. I didn't like getting directly questioned but kids probably do. Definitely aimed at children but not in a bad way.

The Uncorker of Ocean Bottles, Michelle Cuevas. Delicate illustrations set a mood, but I was unsympathetic with the gormless protagonist.

Dad and Pop: An Ode to Fathers and Stepfathers, Kelly Bennett. Two dads can be fun even when they are in a divorce story rather than a gay family story.

Space Boy and the Space Pirate, Dian Curtis Regan. A story of unkindness told by the utterly unreflective main perpetrator, showing how casual self-centeredness, aided by childish misogyny, keeps friendships from forming.

I started but didn't finish:



Pilot X, Tom Merritt. Merritt is the host of Sword & Laser, a podcast/book club I tend to follow along, and he wrote a book, so I'm reading it. So far it's fun with a lot of intelligent time travel bits.

You, Caroline Kepnes. This is a bonus book for the reading team I'm on, and it's creepy -- you are deeply immersed in the brain of an evil stalker guy as he attempts to take over the life of a rather stereotypical New York young adult / writer grad student.

Book Scavenger, Jennifer Bertman. The last of the 2015 Cybils! Two friends hunt for books, and I think for a particular book pretty soon. 

Shadow's Seduction, Kresley Cole. The Vaginal Fantasy pick.

Angeleyes, Michael Z Williamson. The latest book in the Freehold universe, with Angie (codenamed Angeleyes) as a contractor to a bunch of Freehold superspies during the war with the Evil Earth U.N. The libertarian crunchiness was spoiled a bit by the emphasis on Angie's sex drive, which came off a bit creepy.

Bookmarks moved in several books:



Alliance of Equals, Sharon Lee & Steve Miller. Part 4. Trade is not going so well for the rebuilding Liadens.

The Best Man, Richard Peck. (Disc 3/4) Cybils audio finalist. A lot of the characters seem to be mainly built on cliches of children's literature, with the clueless protagonist giving his companions an excuse to explain what is going on. But the narration is cheerful and I like Uncle Paul.

The Golden Mean, Annabel Lyon. The two timelines are both reaching pivot points -- Aristotle has met Plato, and Alexander has found battle.

These I'm barely reading; I use them as palate cleansers between books I'm actually reading.



The Quantum Universe, Brian Cox.

Kenilworth, Sir Walter Scott. It's rude not to dress for a party with the Queen, but what can you do when your ex-girlfriend has set up shop in your rooms?

Sammy Keyes and the Psycho Kitty Queen, Wendelin Van Draanen.

Reading and Learning to Read, Jo Anne Vaca.

2017 Challenge Progress:

1. Cybils 2015: 81 out of 82. I started the last one!
2. Cybils 2016! 6 / a lot. Halfway through The Best Man. Picked up the next book from library.
3. Reading My Library: Picked up final two books for the B bookcase.
4. Where Am I Reading?: 21/51. D.C. counts!

Long Hot Sleepy Weekends

So far I've mostly kept up with my ridiculously easy walking pledge, except for the day Thick as Thieves came out. It wasn't quite nice enough to walk around a track while reading, so I abandoned all forms of motion and lay around reading it all day. And then rereading the best bits.

The Book Date does a weekly roundup of what people are reading, want to read, or have read each week called It's Monday! What Are You Reading and I'm going to sign up. There's also a version that is kidlit focussed, and as I finished some kidlit books and a few picture books, I'll check in with either Teach Mentor Text or UnLeashing Readers for their version.

My completed books for this week:


* Wanted: A Gentleman, K J Charles. Another fun M/M romance set in historical England. Charles moves away from the lords and ladies, this time giving us a struggling middle-class writer and a black merchant who has mixed loyalties to the family that owned him as a child. And interesting look at history I didn't know much about mixed with an unconventional relationship and then (of course) sex.

The Hate U Give, Angie Thomas. This is a strong YA book told in first person by a teenaged African American who feels split between her swank high school (mostly white) and her "ghetto" home life. When her childhood friend is shot by a racist cop who mistook a hair brush for a gun, she finds these conflicts almost overwhelming. It did seem to make an effort to tick off as many current affair boxes as possible -- her uncle is a cop, her father is an ex-con, her best friend is absorbed in her white privilege, her boyfriend is a well meaning white guy who wonders why black kids have funny names, etc. But the voice is strong and true throughout.

The Door at the Crossroads, Zetta Elliott. A Cybils finalist. I liked the way that in the time it took Genna to figure out how to get back to the past with Judah, he had moved on. These kids are 16 and 17 -- a bit young for long distance relationships. I didn't like how all the boys blamed their problems on anyone (preferably a female anyone). For example, Philip gets dragged back into the past because he insists on beating Genna up (for her own good). Uh, Genna, don't apologize for that. I did feel some of the changes were incompletely documented -- I bought Judah growing away from Genna, but not that he then blamed her for everything. That seemed unsupported and contrived. Maybe it would have made more sense if I had read the first book.

Boy, Snow, Bird,  Helen Oyeyemi. My reading-my-library audio. At this point the bizarre things that happen to this family have overwhelmed the character development. I could almost buy two grown women have a make-up slug fest in the kitchen (almost). But the final twist with Bird's dad being transgender and her friend coping with her childlessness by investigating this was completely unbelievable. The mix of magic realism (ghost blankets) and realism (rape and transgendering) just didn't work.

* Ghost of a Potion, Heather Blake. My next Reading-My-Library book. I jumped into the middle of a cozy mystery set in a small Alabama town, with easy-going race relations and lots of southern belle antics. The mystery involved an improbable will, convoluted family trees, and bad health care. And pushy ghosts as seen by our paranormal protagonist. Fluffy but fun enough.

Dead Silent, (Mike & Riel #5),  Norah McClintock. This was not one of my favorites from McClintock, which is a shame because in looking up details of this book I discovered that she died earlier this year. She was only 64. But Mike in this book is dumb in a way that annoys me (useless, unearned guilt) and the final bad guy didn't have much to do in the story before he shows up to be unveiled.

* The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making, Catherynne Valente. My Tuesday book club chose this one because adult Valente books were deemed too weird for our taste. We assumed her children's books would be more accessible, but we were wrong; her children's books just have less sex in them. I found the baroque details and conceits too rich, possibly because I had just finished Valente's Palimpsest, so it was a case of over-indulging in over-rich text.

* National Geographic Traveler: Dominican Republic, 3rd Edition, Christopher Baker. I got this book by asking a librarian to recommend a book as per the Ten To Try program. She was planning a trip this summer so came up with this title. It was fun in an armchair-traveler kind of way, although I was left with no inclination to visit the DR (too many bugs; too much poverty), but I think I'll use it in the new genre category so I need to go back and get another library recommendation. If I did want to go to Hispaniola, this book would help me arrange that trip.

* Books I started and completed this week

Picture Books (most read in the library while waiting for my kids to rendezvous):



Shawn Loves Sharks, Curtis Manley. Fun. I liked Shawn's use of the library and books to fuel his obsessions, and the respect the kids have for school, but the plot twist to teach people to be kind was a bit too much moral. Also Shawn spells his name wrong -- it should be Sean.

Miss Lina's Ballerinas, Grace Maccarone.No conflict but cute. Echoes of Madeline but without individual personalities. The dust jacket made me think the story was about a class learning to accept change as a new students joins, but it was really about the chance to draw delicately vibrant pictures of little girls dancing. Which was fine and well done, but I was distracted by looking for the emotional conflict which wasn't really there; the girls take two pages to adjust from dancing four by two to dancing three by three and then seamlessly return to dancing all over town. It was more about math than about conflict.

I Want to Eat Your Books, Karin Lafranc. Fun but doesn't do much with the conceit. The words rhyme, the colors are bright and cheerful, but there were no big surprises or insights.

I started but didn't finish:



The Golden Mean, Annabel Lyon. A friend picked this from my to-read pile, and so far I'm enjoying this story of Aristotle at King Philip's court. I'm going to trust that Lyon knows her stuff, because I didn't know that Aristotle and Philip were boys together.

The Best Man, Richard Peck. Cybils audio finalist. Looks like a growing-up story of a boy in elementary school. I'm a bit put off by his casual misogyny, which is a staple of children's literature but not my experience with kids in elementary school, but also attracted by the setting in Illinois, which is a state I need this year.

Bookmarks moved in several books:



Maplecroft, Cherie Priest. Events are coming together -- the investigator, the doctor, the sisters, the lover, and the insane professor are all coming to the sisters' door.

Alliance of Equals, Sharon Lee & Steve Miller. Part 2-3. I am very annoyed at the teacher's dismissal of Padi's combat stance, and how no one even discusses things with her. Her giant burly teacher is apparently appalled that she does not intend to get in tight situations with attackers -- her plan to escape if possible, but react decisively and even lethally if necessary is treated with contempt even though it saved her and her younger siblings a few books ago. An acknowledgement of her potential to overreact and the reasons she might be prone to that would seem a basic common sense first step, but all the super wise elders are too busy condescending to her.

The Innocent, David Baldacci. The two story lines have already intersected, and we aren't even at 20 chapters yet (very short chapters). And they ran off the bus, so maybe they'll settle down somewhere. I didn't notice where they exited; I hope they are in Delaware.

These I'm barely reading; I use them as palate cleansers between books I'm actually reading.



The Quantum Universe, Brian Cox.

Kenilworth, Sir Walter Scott.

Sammy Keyes and the Psycho Kitty Queen, Wendelin Van Draanen.

Reading and Learning to Read, Jo Anne Vaca.



2017 Challenge Progress:

1. Cybils 2015: 81 out of 82. (No change from last week)
2. Cybils 2016! 6 / a lot. Finish Door at the Crossroads. Started new audio The Best Man.
3. Reading My Library: Finished Boy Snow Bird. Waiting to finish Cybils audios before I continue. Finished Ghost of a Potion by Blake and will get the next one on Thursday.
4. Where Am I Reading?: 20/51. Picked up Alabama and Nebraska. 

Passing It On

My boys and I went to give blood last weekend. I was rejected for my low iron (apparently buying vitamins is not enough; you are supposed to actually consume them), but my muscle-bound older son as well as the just-turned-sixteen younger one passed easily. So I guess I did my duty.

Now I'll finally find out if that crazy nurse was justified in stabbing with a needle after my second childbirth. I kept asking her what the blood type was but she just laughed at me and chased me down with her sharp pointy weapon. It's hard to run fast a few hours after giving birth to a 9 pound + baby.

So far I've mostly kept up with my ridiculously easy walking pledge, except for the day Thick as Thieves came out. It wasn't quite nice enough to walk around a track while reading, so I abandoned all forms of motion and lay around reading it all day. And then rereading the best bits.

The Book Date does a weekly roundup of what people are reading, want to read, or have read each week called It's Monday! What Are You Reading and I'm going to sign up. There's also a version that is kidlit focussed, and as I finished some kidlit books and a few picture books, I'll check in with either Teach Mentor Text or UnLeashing Readers for their version.

My completed books for this week:




Palimpsest, Catherynne Valente.  The ending wasn't all that satisfying, because I didn't really like any of the main characters so I had no concerns about whether they achieved their goals or happiness or anything. But the scenery throughout was varied enough to be interesting.

City of Stairs, Robert Jackson Bennett. I've finally finished this book. It was good, but somehow I wasn't driven to finish it and as I owned both paper and e-copies the library due dates didn't come into play. I'm glad I finally carved out time for it, and I'll try to work in the sequels.

* Civil War II (Ms Marvel 6), G. Willow Wilson.  I enjoyed it, and it had a good balance of life vs. super-heroing, although I thought the kids were dumb. No one seemed to understand that planning to blow up the school was a problem, or trying to blow up the building where the school bomber was being "extra-legally" held was also a choice with consequences. Kamela has a very believable teenage understanding that everything is her fault, and view that is also believably echoed by Bruno, who blames her for his injuries even though he built the bomb himself.

Thick As Thieves, Megan Whalen Turner. The latest in the Attolia series did not disappoint, although it was not what I expected (this is a good thing). It examines the effects of slavery as well as friendship and betrayal, and shows us beloved characters from new angles.

In Fire Forged (Worlds of Honor 5), David Weber.  I liked the Lindskold story, thought the Zahn one was over-long but OK, which was the same for the Weber story. The final bit on the specifications and history of development of a bunch of imaginary spaceships left me drooling with boredom.

* An Unseen Attraction, K J Charles. The idea of a taxidermist and a lodging house keeper with an apparent spectrum disorder finding love in Victorian England is fascinating, and when you add in mysterious family connections and murder things get even better.

* Wounded, Laurell K. Hamilton. Outtake from the previous Anita Blake book, with a chance to discuss what Anita, Micah, Nathaniel and Jean-Claude wear. Some of it is pretty out there -- Jean Claude wears a black suit to the wedding! I'm sure no more than 50% of the other guys there did that. Also they take a chance to tell the kid who got shot in the book to stop whining and start doing his PT; after all, everyone they know had it much worse and came back stronger. It did exactly what it said on the tin.

* Books I started and completed this week

I started but didn't finish:



The Innocent, David Baldacci. This in on top of my virtual pile of ebooks I own but haven't read, so I'm adding it to my reading rotation. I'm cranky because the protagonist hasn't settled down somewhere yet.

Dead Silent, (Mike & Riel #5),  Norah McClintock. I'm a bit irritated by the protagonist, which is unfair because his self-absorbed guilt for things that are manifestly not his responsibility is just the latest of a pile of YA books with this problem. But maybe I should find another way into this series, because I don't have enough background with this guy to cut him any slack. OMG, I just looked for her website so I could find a picture of the book and found out that she died this February. She was only 64; I'm going to miss the rest of her books. She was a great author of YA mystery; the Dooleys are among my favorite books in that genre.

The Hate U Give, Angie Thomas. This is a strong YA book told in first person by a teenaged African American who feels split between her swank high school (mostly white) and her "ghetto" home life. When her childhood friend is shot by a racist cop who mistook a hair brush for a gun, she finds these conflicts almost overwhelming. It did seem to make an effort to tick off as many current affair boxes as possible -- her uncle is a cop, her father is an ex-con, her best friend is absorbed in her white privilege, her boyfriend is a well meaning white guy who wonders why black kids have funny names, etc. But the voice is strong and true throughout.

Bookmarks moved in several books:



Boy, Snow, Bird,  Helen Oyeyemi. My reading-my-library audio. At this point the bizarre things that happen to this family have overwhelmed the character development. I get the theme of choosing an identity as society tries to force you into one, although I'm not sure why that would cause you to kick your seven year old out of your house (or why her dad would be OK with that), but finding out in the same book that the white man you married was black and that the abusive man who raised you was your mother?  Disc  7-8/8.

Maplecroft, Cherie Priest. The whiny lover has sold herself to the beast, but at least it gives a chance for the doctor to join with them in opposing the eldritch aquatic evils.

The Door at the Crossroads, Zetta Elliott. Another Cybils finalist, I'm having trouble making progress because these teenagers are in definite peril. I'm proud of Judah for fighting for his freedom, but it's still hard to read about his tortures.

Alliance of Equals, Sharon Lee & Steve Miller. Part 2. Hey, the feed was late! Shocking. So I didn't actually get to listen to this, but I did track down the audio so I can.

These I'm barely reading; I use them as palate cleansers between books I'm actually reading.



The Quantum Universe, Brian Cox.

Kenilworth, Sir Walter Scott. Men drink a lot and lose things.

Sammy Keyes and the Psycho Kitty Queen, Wendelin Van Draanen.

Reading and Learning to Read, Jo Anne Vaca.


Picture Books (most read in the library while waiting for my kids to rendezvous):




The Journey, Francesca Sanna. Gentle pictures complement the child's-eye view of war and displacement and illegal border crossings.

Waiting for Ice, Sandra Markle. True story, my favorite kind of nature story. Good pictures, not graphic but fairly lifelike.

An Armadillo in New York, Julie Kraulis. Cute and educational. I'm not sure why an armadillo, but I think this is a series.

Before I Leave, Jessixa Bagley. I am now completely distracted by this spelling of Jessixa. Is it pronounced Jessiksa?Anyway, the book has good pictures and a strong story of two friends coming to terms with the smaller one's impending move. A bit didactic.

My Name Is Blessing, Eric Walters. True story of a boy sent to an orphanage in Kenya when his grandmother cannot feed him. They change his name from "Suffering" to "Blessing" (to his and her approval). I'm a bit concerned because institutional care is almost always worse for the kid, but Blessing seems to be doing OK. I liked the real-life update and photos in the back, as well as the way his physical handicaps are acknowledged but not the whole story.

The Legend of Rock, Scissors, Paper, Drew Daywalt. This is a fun crowd-pleaser, with vibrant personalities for each of these titans of the suburban fight scene and a solid mix of colorful images and dramatic wording. It's fairly long, so good for an experienced pre-schooler or early elementary crowd.

Dragons Love Tacos, Adam Rubin. A good mix of pictures and humor make for a fun book. I know a boy with the same name as our dragon-loving protagonist, so it's a possibility for a gift.


2017 Challenge Progress:

1. Cybils 2015: 81 out of 82. (No change from last week)
2. Cybils 2016! 5 / a lot. No change. Ordered the next audio from the library.
3. Reading My Library: Now on disc 8 of Boy Snow Bird. Picked up a book from the next shelf.
4. Where Am I Reading?: 18/51. The author thinks his book was set somewhere around Kentucky or West Virginia, and I need Kentucky -- can I just tell him the setting is now definitely Kentucky?