My son and his age-mate cousins are deep in the planning for their shared trip to Europe later this month. To prepare for this, my niece quit her job as a law clerk. Why is this the lead story in my little diary-blog? Because my gym membership lets me bring a guest for free, and she wants to get some workouts in before the trip. So I've been to the gym a LOT this week, and even explored some of the weight-machines since I'm there anyway and there is only so much running my knees can take.
I hope all my readers are considering throwing in their hats as a Cybils judge (I know some of you has talked about it already, either positively or why it can't happen this year). I just noticed that I'm way behind on reading last year's books! Oh well, my motto has always been "Do a little every day, and gradually the task will overwhelm you." I will keep reading along.
School has started for my nephew and my brother-in-law (the teacher) so it's time for me to see if I can organize my elementary school book club again. I waited too long last year, but that turned out to be a blessing because things were crazy and I would have had to skip so many of the sessions. But this year should be more normal.
Official Plug For Cybils: If anyone reading this talks about children's books on the internet (blog, goodreads, instagram, whatever form of twitter you use, etc), I highly encourage you to consider being a Cybils judge. It's a great chance to read a bunch of books and talk about what makes them great with other interesting people with the same passion. They have categories from picture books through nonfiction all the way up to young adult, so you can pick your favorite kind of reading.
--- End Official Plug ---
I'm back up to 3 pages of currently-reading on goodreads. I'm at 24 physical books checked out which includes some picture books plus five ebooks. I TURNED IN THE LOST picture book, so I acknowledge the librarian who told me to just hope it turns up as a genius.
I'm off to check out the other books at The Bookdate's It's Monday, What Are You Reading headquarters. And since I'm reading picture books as well as Cybils and other kidlit, I'll also sign up at the Children's Book central version, held at both Teach Mentor Texts and Unleashing Readers. And then I will dive around to see what everyone else has been reading.
Started
40-Love, Olivia Dade. I was supposed to read this for last month's Romance Reading Group (Summer Romances) but I didn't.
China Mountain Zhang, Maureen McHugh. Sword and Laser's September pick.
Empire Star, Samuel R. Delany. Scintillation book club pick.
Ninth House, Leigh Barduga. Sword and Laser August pick.
A Shadow in Summer, Daniel Abraham. Scintillation book club pick.
The Marvellers, Dhonielle Clayton. Cybils finalist.
The Walls Around Opportunity, Gary Orfield. For Torches and Pitchforks book club. This is my book about a topic address by a recent US Supreme Court decision.
Completed
Empire Star, Samuel R. Delany. Scintillation book club pick. Lucky for me this one is short -- I got the wrong book first and only got the right one the day before the meeting. But I love this book club -- everyone takes a love of reading seriously and we talk both about surface things and deeper things, about craft and theme, and I always learn a lot about the particular book and about how to make reading even more pleasurable. In this case we talked about the time travel aspect, about how the small cast reflected back on the themes, about slavery and how it quietly formed the foundations of the story even as shenanigans and puns distracted the reader until they felt the force, how the plot sometimes got too cute for itself and tripped up, what we thought the author meant to do and what was done and where those differered and where they didn't at all.
The next book for this club is a quartet, so I'd better get cracking!
Dusk, Night, Dawn, Anne Lamott. Just what I expected -- very competent essays on being ethical and good in a troubling world. Lamott writes from her particular situation (now dry alcoholic, Christian, parent) but writes to everyone, sharing her failures but continued efforts to live up to impossible ideals -- the effort is the point, because only God can love everyone, but we can all try. And remember that everyone includes ourselves, often the toughest nut to crack, love-wise. I've heard her say this stuff before in other books (starting with Operating Instructions) but I like getting a booster shot occasionally.
Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation, V5, Mò Xiāng Tóng Xiù. Completing a series, although I'm still in the middle of the Netflix show. The slow burn has definitely ignited, as the boys figured out they liked each other by the end of the previous book. Well kinda, but by the beginning of this one they had definitely reached an understanding. Also they mostly figured out how to defeat the big bad, and may have realized that this other guy manipulated them into doing it, but that's not such a bad thing, right? Anyway, there's room left in this volume for a lot of after stories, many of which feature rather uncomfortable sounding sex that was fascinating to me in terms of guessing what was translation quirks and what were tropes from a different culture of fanfiction type writing and what was unique to this book. Although I have to say I am more comfortable with that analysis when it's applied to dialogue and humor rather than dominance and submission sex games with vivid detail. I knew things would get tough when one story was the boys wandering together into each other's dreams...
Eden's Everdark, Karen Strong. 2023 Cybils Middle Grade SF finalist. I recently had a discussion with people lamenting that the kind of children's books they loved don't get written much anymore: complex stories with rich vocabulary starring kids with agency. Well, here is another one; I don't think the genre is as lost as they suppose. Eden is grappling with losing her mom, but doing it in a nuanced way, and she relies on her dad but also does her own thing. And when she crosses into the Everdark, the danger is real. There are good kids and bad kids, and she has to grapple with a much more powerful opponent. I did want more agency on her part for the conclusion; that is something that the best of the old books did (probably because I remember the ones that had the kids doing something that addressed the problem, rather than being solution-adjacent.). I wanted Eden to be part of the final magic, not just the carrier of it.
Daughter of the Moon Goddess, Sue Lynn Tan. Cloudy book club pick for August. I'm sorry to say that I just didn't enjoy this one. It's in first person and I found that annoying. The main character is a Young Adult, and I'm old and cranky and find their intense feelings tedious. This girl had the lamentable habit of judging other women first by whether they were rivals for her various boyfriends, and that's a bit red flag for me. She also was incredibly selfish and refused to believe that the job of Prince came with any obligations to subsume his private life for the good of the country -- the idea that he might have a political marriage that might override their adolescent crush on each other was appalling to her and she behaved very badly about it for several hundred pages. It made her rather unsympathetic, especially when she resented saving the life of the princess involved.
Picture Books
Footprints Across the Planet, Jennifer Swanson. 2022 Cybils nominee. This is the book that I thought was lost; I must have picked it up while my mom was in the hospital because I found it in a bag with some things I had been using then. Wow. It's a good science picture book with striking photos and an invitation to the reader to think further, especially with the last pages talking about carbon and media footprints.
The 1619 Project: Born on the Water, Nikole Hannah-Jones. 2022 Cybils Poetry Finalist. I like this as a picture book more than as a poetry (or nonfiction) book. Mostly because I have problems telling where a picture book stops and poetry begins -- all picture books should have beautiful language that is exactly what it needs to be. I wish the frame was thinner -- the book isn't really an answer to why someone might not know their great-grandparents, but it is a powerful message about the historical background of Black people in America.
Put Your Shoes On & Get Ready, Raphael Warnock. Reading My Library Quest: Renton Highlands Library, Easy Biography. I hadn't noticed the author when I started so it was a great revelation when the boy learning not only to start the day on time but also to prepare himself for the work of that particular day was now lacing up his senator shoes. Um, polishing up? Anyway I enjoyed this story of learning to do different things and facing them bravely.
Bookmarks Moved (Or Languished) In:
Yes, this is getting ridiculous. I'm definitely going to finish some of these. Real soon now!
Ascendance of a Bookworm, Miya Kazuki. Pausing my reread of Part 3 while I read the new book.
Ascendance of a Bookworm 5.5, Miya Kazuki. I have slowed my reading to a glacier pace and still cannot make it last. Oh well, I have my reread to console me. I like the stories at the beginning and end from other points of view.
Cobra, Timothy Zahn. Part 51. Huh, somehow I haven't been getting to the Baen podcast.
Warcross, Marie Lu. Made it a few pages. I'm getting my car serviced next week so that will be a good chance to actually read my emergency car book!
Priory of the Orange Tree, Samantha Shannon.
The Wine-Dark Sea, Patrick O'Brian.
New Suns 2, ed. Nisi Shawl. I'm almost done -- I need to find this collection in time for Hugo nominations.
Fourth Wing, Rebecca Yarros. The June Sword and Laser book club pick. Boy is she distractingly horny. And when dragons get it on, it's like a McCaffrey book!
Last Night at the Telegraph Club, Malinda Lo. Cybils finalist.
Into the Broken Lands, Tanya Huff. The scribes are here so we can see how smart the weapon is.
The Creeping Shadow, Jonathan Stroud. The next audio in my Reading My Library quest. I'm still liking the world and the suspense parts, but cringe whenever the narrator's jealousy comes up. Bleh.
The Serpent in Heaven, Charlaine Harris. I like how realistic the first person writing sounds. Sometimes reasonable, sometimes highly emotional, and sometimes she can tell which is which.
Maybe You Should Talk to Someone, Lori Gottlieb. Recommended by a friend. I sure hope I wasn't that moody about my husband leaving me as she is about her boyfriend. Please don't tell me!
Planetfall, Emma Newman. Sword & Laser pick.
Resurgence, C.J. Cherryh. Continuing the series. I like this but I'm not reading on my ipad much this week.
Ship Without Sails, Sherwood Smith.
Palate Cleansers
I'm slowly marching through these books.
50 Great Poets, ed. Milton Crane (no picture). Herbert and Herrick. A nice interlude. It's fun to recognize book titles in the lines.
Stinger, Nancy Kress.
Dragon's Breath, E.D. Baker.
The Writer's Stance: Reading and Writing in the Disciplines, Dorothy U. Seyler.
The Road to Mars, Eric Idle.
The Dark Fantastic, Ebony Elizabeth Thomas.
Year of Wonder, Clemency Burton-Hill. Ready for September!
Reading Challenges
- Cybils 2022: Working on middle grade SF.
- Early Cybils: Nope.
- Reading My Library. Working on an audio. On Easy Biography at Renton Highlands.
- Libraries: Working on the 10 to Try for 2023. Need an artist and a summer book.
Future Plans
I'm putting this at the end because I suspect it's complete fiction, but I feel I should attempt some structure.I am reading:
- Book I own: China Mountain Zhang
- Library Book: Faceoff
- Ebook I own: The Wine Dark Sea
- Library Ebook: Forty-Love
- Book Club Book: Ninth House
- Tuesday Book Club Book: a Pratchett, to be determined
- Review Book: Back Home
- Rereading:
- Audio: Serpent in Heaven
