Groundhogs Day Again

 

I got to perform another marriage! A kid I knew when she was a child suddenly decided she wanted to marry the father of the baby she was about to have, so we met up for brunch and I solemnly married them. Alexander also attended because I had to take him to work afterward. This was months ago, and  so far all three of them are doing well. 

Goodreads thinks I am currently reading 54 books. It’s right. The library says I have 52 books checked out but nothing overdue, which at least isn’t higher than last week. 

Books Completed January 30 - February 5

A Little Too Familiar, Lish McBride. This exceeded expectations. I expected a fun romance with cozy supernatural types, and I got that. He’s a werewolf with back trauma, she’s an animal witch working as a vet. He’s an alpha wolf who protests his pack (aka the found family sharing a house) by cleaning a lot and packing lunches for people. That is such a beautiful piece of wish fulfillment and I adore it. And then there was a cool action sequence when his last trauma shows up to do some more trauma. It all worked well.

Star-Crossed, Barbara Dee. This was a bit of a romance, which usually makes me recoil in kidlit books, but it worked this time. I liked how the kid dealt with the play and figuring out her emotions while also starting to understand complexities in other relationships. 

3 Days, 9 Months, 27 Years, John Scalzi. This short piece does a lot of fun Scalzi things. The narrator is snarky and smart and doesn't tell you everything until it’s time for a twist and a reveal.

Set On You, Amy Lea. This romance had a dreaded third act breakup that really didn’t work for me; it relied on a sudden stupid ball to be juggled back and forth. And the first act also didn’t sell me; he was being a jerk because he liked her, but that isn’t cute in grade school and it’s downright creepy in adults. Even spending the second act as a Perfect Boyfriend didn’t redeem him in my eyes,

Planet of the Lawn Gnomes, R.L. Stine. I find most of the protagonists in these to be unpleasant, but this kid bordered on psychopathic. I mean, there was a guy who kicked a dog and this kid was less appealing that that guy. So I liked the penultimate twist and then was disappointed when there was a last page twist that mitigated it.

Ascendance of a Bookworm, Fanbook 7, Miya Kazuki. I like the extra stories and I’m delighted to read about the recording of the CDs.

Revenge of the Lawn Gnomes, R. L. Stine. This kid was not unpleasant! So refreshing. The book was barely horror, but the final chapters scraped up some excitement. And of course a final twist.

The Blood Guard, Carter Roy.  A fun kidlit book with a boy discovering his family’s big secret (well, both of them) and heading off to save the world. I think I want to read the sequels.

Thea and the Mischief Makers, Tracy Badua. Hey, I finished this ages ago! I liked how the kids had to work both athletically and socially to deal with the problem, and how no one thought the consequences were proportionate, which seems very appropriate for a kids book. My kids often did things they thought were small potatoes but that turned out to be big deals.

The Library of Borrowed Hearts, Lucy Gilmore. Hey I finished this donkey’s years ago! I had to struggle to finish it; I found the two time lines made me forget to care about the one I wasn’t in, and the solutions at the end seemed kinda unlikely. I was probably just being cranky.

Books Started

Star-Crossed, Barbara Dee. I had it on a list.

Planet of the Lawn Gnomes, R.L. Stine. Another Goosebumps.

Set On You, Amy Lea. Also on a list.

Josephine Against the Sea, Shakira’s Bourne. From the next shelf of the Renton Highlands library.

The Blood Guard, Carter Roy. An author I met at WorldCon.

Revenge of the Lawn Gnomes, R. L. Stine. I think this is Goosebumps #34.

Pokémon Journeys Vol 3, Machito Gomi. Talbot Hill recommended.

The Only Black Girls In Town, Brandi Colbert. A good author. 

Bookmarks Moved

Promise the Night, Michaela MacColl

The Way of Kings, Brandon Sanderson

Gold Dust, Catherine Asaro

The Mysterious Island, Jules Verne

Self Love Poetry, Melody Godfred

The Luminaries, Eleanor Catton

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, David Mitchell 

Inventing the Renaissance, Ada Palmer

Blood at the Root, LaDarrion Williams

One Jump Ahead, Mark L Von Name

Flor Fights Back, Joy Michael Ellison

Bookmarks Languished

I have given up on a few of these, actually. 

                                                                                 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                     

                                 Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel

                     Lepunia: Kingdom of the Gallopers, Kevin Ford

         The Gilded Crown, Marianne Gordon

      The Morgaine Chronicles, C.J. Cherry

      Champion of Fate, Kendare Blake

   Ariel, Sylvia Plath. Poetry book from my shelves

Fair Trade, Sharon Lee and Steve Miller

Picture Books, Poems, and Short Stories

None.

Books on Slow Mode

Home Comforts, Cheryl Mendleson. I read one section a day. Laundry and fabric stains is our current concern.

50 Great Poets, ed. Milton Crane. Mail bribe. Hopkins is hard core.

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: Shifter and Shadow
• Library Book: The Gilded Crown
• Friend Book Club: The Rom-Comers
• Foolscap Book Club Book:  Penric’s Demon
• Sword and Laser Club Book: Slow Gods
• Hugo Reading: The Raven Scholar
• Talbot Hill School: The War I Finally Won
• Scintillation Book Club: Weave a Circle around
• Cloudy Book Club:  The Ones We’re Meant to Find
• Torches and Pitchfork Book: Elinor Oliphant Is Completely Fine
• Romance Book Club: Award Winner
• River Runs Under It Book Club: The Demon of Unrest

Book Clubs Are Fun

Big news in Seattle — Seahawks are going to the Super Bowl! Also someone hit my car very gently while turning into my subdivision, which was a bit scary. Otherwise I cooked some and ran some.

Goodreads thinks I am currently reading 57 books, which is higher than the truth but I’m trying to mark things as done. The library thinks I have 52 books checked out but nothing overdue.

Books Completed January 23 - 29

The Martian, Andy Weir. This was a fun reread, and it’s the sort of book that pairs well with the movie, which I also watched. It was interesting to see what worked for both kinds of art, the suspenseful pages that would have been boring on screen, of the vivid impact of movie events and explosions. Both are good entertainment. foolscap bookclub was pleased.

Hazel Bly and the Deep Blue Sea, Ashley Herring Blake. I liked the exploration of the girls feelings as things change and she encounters kindred spirits.

The Book That Wouldn't Burn, Mark Lawrence. This was fun but it had many pages. So many pages.

Invasion of the Body Squeezers, Part 1, R.L. Stine. This was not fun but I read it.

Books Started

Hazel Bly and the Deep Blue Sea, Ashley Herring Blake. Maybe this was a Cybils nominee?

Invasion of the Body Squeezers, Part 1, R.L. Stine. Still working through this series.

A Little Too Familiar, Lish McBride. I think this was for the romance book group.

Self Love Poetry, Melody Godfred. For Torches and Pitchforks kicking off our Making Things Better year.

.

Bookmarks Moved

Promise the Night, Michaela MacColl

The Way of Kings, Brandon Sanderson

Ascendance of a Bookworm, Fanbook 7, Miya Kazuki

Gold Dust, Catherine Asaro

The Mysterious Island, Jules Verne

Flor Fights Back, Joy Michael Ellison

Fair Trade, Sharon Lee and Steve Miller

3 Days, 9 Months, 27 Years, John Scalzi

The Luminaries, Eleanor Catton

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, David Mitchell 

Bookmarks Languished

I have given up on a few of these, actually. 

                                                                              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                     

                              Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel

                              The Library of Borrowed Hearts, Lucy Gilmore

                  Lepunia: Kingdom of the Gallopers, Kevin Ford

      The Gilded Crown, Marianne Gordon

   The Morgaine Chronicles, C.J. Cherry

   Champion of Fate, Kendare Blake

Thea and the Mischief Makers, Tracy Badua. Cybils nominee I started last year.

Blood at the Root, LaDarrion Williams

Inventing the Renaissance, Ada Palmer

One Jump Ahead, Mark L Von Name

Ariel, Sylvia Plath. Poetry book from my shelves

Picture Books, Poems, and Short Stories

None.

Books on Slow Mode

Home Comforts, Cheryl Mendleson. I read one section a day. On to ventilation and heating! Apparently 61 degrees Fahrenheit is a good temperature for healthy adults.

50 Great Poets, ed. Milton Crane. Mail bribe. Hopkins is hard core.

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: Shirter and Shadow
• Library Book: The Gilded Crown
• Friend Book Club: Devil in Winter
• Foolscap Book Club Book:  Penric’s Demon
• Sword and Laser Club Book: Slow Gods
• Hugo Reading: The Raven Scholar
• Talbot Hill School: The War I Finally Won
• Scintillation Book Club: Half-Built Garden
• Cloudy Book Club:  The Ones We’re Meant to Find
• Torches and Pitchfork Book: Elinor Oliphant Is Completely Fine
• Romance Book Club: Award Winner
• River Runs Under It Book Club: The Demon of Unrest

Any Resolutions?

This was a lovely week for bookclubs. We spent the weekend at Seaside, where one member has moved, and watched our traditional movie: Bullet Train in honor of the host’s trip to Japan. She agreed that it was a near identical depiction of their holiday. Her husband made us delicious omelets, my sister and I enjoyed listening to Venetia and Silver Borne on the drive, and it was all a great time. 

Then I came home and got my new crown put in, which wasn’t as much fun. But I also enjoyed several more book clubs, including the library club’s reading of Orbital, which was an adventurous leap for many of them.

Goodreads thinks I am currently reading 64 books, which is higher than the truth but I’m trying to mark things as done. The library thinks I have 50 books checked out. One is overdue, but I’m almost done. Also, I found the lost book in my car, so that was a relief!

Books Completed January 16 - 23

Ghosted, Amanda Quain. I spent too much time trying to see how this matched with Northhanger Abbey, which the jacket promised me it was a rewriting of. If it had just been a cute high school story of a dysfunctional family and a first love it would have been fine, but the distraction of trying to see the parallels pulled it down.

Venetia, Georgette Heyer. The audience version was nice, but we noticed the deletions in this abridged version; sometimes they made the scenes rather nonsensical. I now see there is a complete version in the library so maybe I’ll grab that next road trip.

Abominable Snowman of Pasadena, R.L. Stine. Goosebumps book. Grump. The kids were annoying and dumb, the dad was a complete idiot, the dangerous snow was so goofy I could even be mildly alarmed. Not my favorite.

Education For Empire, Clif Stratton. Well, this was depressing. Colonialism involves a lot of racism and murder, but doing it to kids is grim reading.

Danger on Peaks: Poems, Gary Snyder. I liked these sparse poems, especially the ones about the mountains.

The Lotteries Plus One, Emma Donahue. Cosy story about a queer blended family in a big house and how they make room from a cranky grandfather.

Silver Borne, Patricia Briggs. A delicious reread. I liked watching Mercy spin deception by telling the truth very carefully.

I’m Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom, Jason Parkin. This was a bit long for what it did, and it was a bit too proud of what it thought it was doing with all the internet craziness stuff. The ending was a bit of a letdown.

Books Started

Silver Borne, Patricia Briggs. Because she’s always worth rereading.

The Lotteries Plus One, Emma Donahue. Kidlit that looks cosy.

Flor Fights Back, Joy Michael Ellison. A Girls Survive book.

Promise the Night, Michaela MacColl. Kidlit about Beryl Markham, the aviator.

I’m Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom, Jason Parkin. Sword & Laser pick.

Ariel, Sylvia Plath. Poetry book from my shelves.

Bookmarks Moved

Thea and the Mischief Makers, Tracy Badua. Cybils nominee I started last year.

The Martian, Andy Weir

The Way of Kings, Brandon Sanderson

Gold Dust, Catherine Asaro

Ascendance of a Bookworm, Fanbook 7, Miya Kazuki

Blood at the Root, LaDarrion Williams

The Luminaries, Eleanor Catton

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, David Mitchell 

Inventing the Renaissance, Ada Palmer

The Mysterious Island, Jules Verne

One Jump Ahead, Mark L Von Name

Bookmarks Languished

I have given up on a few of these, actually. 

                                                                           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                     

                           Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel

                           The Library of Borrowed Hearts, Lucy Gilmore

                        3 Days, 9 Months, 27 Years, John Scalzi

               Lepunia: Kingdom of the Gallopers, Kevin Ford

   The Book That Wouldnt Burn, Mark Lawrence

   The Gilded Crown, Marianne Gordon

The Morgaine Chronicles, C.J. Cherry

Fair Trade, Sharon Lee and Steve Miller

Champion of Fate, Kendare Blake

Picture Books, Poems, and Short Stories

Help Me Find My Hamster, Brook Hartman. Hilarious.

Wanda Hears the Stars, Amy S. Hansen. It’s cool how this scientist works with her strengths to make new discoveries, and how she handled her blindness.

Dream For the Land, Laeka Zea Kemp. A girl on a small farm doesn’t like big farms. It’s pretty but I’m not seeing how plowing up desert to make a small farm is a huge win environmentally over big farms.

I Am the Subway, Kim Hyo-eun. I read this imagining my train-loving son of twenty five years ago sitting next to me. He would have loved it.

Return to the Most Beautiful Village in the World, Yutaka Kobayashi. I was not prepared for this. Neither was the kid.

Books on Slow Mode

Home Comforts, Cheryl Mendleson. I read one section a day. On to ventilation and heating! Apparently 61 degrees Fahrenheit is a good temperature for healthy adults.

50 Great Poets, ed. Milton Crane. Mail bribe. Hopkins is hard core.

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: Feeding the Ghosts
• Friend Book Club: Devil in Winter
• Foolscap Book Club Book:  Penric’s Demon
• Sword and Laser Club Book: Slow Gods
• Hugo Reading: The Raven Scholar
• Talbot Hill School: Series Book, war Book
• Scintillation Book Club: Half-Built Garden
• Cloudy Book Club:  The Ones We’re Meant to Find
• Torches and Pitchfork Book: Elinor Oliphant Is Completely Fine
• Romance Book Club: Award Winner
• River Runs Under It Book Club: The Demon of Unrest

Remember When

I hadn’t quite finished feeling sorry for myself about my dental work, so I did some more of that this week. I also had some book clubs, including our traditional “judge the judges” look at the Hugo short story finalists of the year. I also met with my elementary kids and showed up to the library, but that last one was short because the library club meets on the next Tuesday, not this one.

Goodreads thinks I am currently reading 74 books, but I’m way behind on marking things done. The library thinks I have 48 books checked out. One is overdue, because I’ve lost it. Well, I thought I checked it in. The library and I may have to agree to disagree, but I’ll have to pay for it.

Books Completed January 9 - 15

First Comes Scandal, Julia Quinn. Tons of fun. The cats were great, the friendship was great, the butlers were great, and the medical stuff was great.

Coyote Dreams, C.E. Murphy. I finished it! It was fine; it did what it was trying to do well but some of that stuff uses tropes I don’t like. She has a crush on her grumpy boss despite the fact that he doesn’t treat her with respect, for example. And she borrows guilt from miles away without ever acknowledging that this is silly. But the magic is cool and I liked her struggles to accept it, especially when that paid off in this book.

Alex Wise Vs the Cosmic Shift, Terry J Benton-Walker. This is book two in the series. It has the same flaws as the first - too much Unresolved Crush Tension, which I have never outgrown disliking in my kidlit, and a slight tip towards focusing emotional growth over action. I like the therapy stuff to be shown, not thought through. But it’s also got interesting characters and events and a strong through line and I’ll probably go looking for the third book.

What To Read and Why, Francine Prose. A book by someone passionate about reading, which is always a delight for me, even when I tend to read different things.

Orbital, Samantha Harvey. I liked this literary book which is probably as close to SF as this club will ever get. Itks a study of the people on a space station over one day, as they both tend to their tasks and grapple with being in a unique vantage point. Not much happens, but we get to know the astronauts (and cosmonauts) very well. Some club members found it dull, and some were too distracted by the science to notice the character work.

Memory Thieves (Conjureverse #2), Dhonielle Clayton. The series is definitely a Harry Potter genre, but the kids are very much themselves and I like how the two different magical societies are trying to integrate and I find the reasons for conflict more thought out than in the original. I’ll keep picking these up as good kid school adventure. (I started this book over a year ago and finally got back to it.)

Attack of the Jack-o-Lanterns, R.L. Stine. Goosebumps book. I guess this will introduce kids to the concept of an unreliable narrator, and how authors can use and abuse this technique.

I Survived the Japanese Tsunami: Graphic Novel, Lauren Tarshis. This did a good job with the worthy source material.

Books Started

First Comes Scandal, Julia Quinn. Doctor romance.

What To Read and Why, Francine Prose. I like reading about reading.

I Survived the Japanese Tsunami: Graphic Novel, Lauren Tarshis. I Survived book.

Abominable Snowman of Pasadena, R.L. Stine. Goosebumps book.

Bookmarks Moved

Education For Empire, Clif Stratton

The Way of Kings, Brandon Sanderson

Gold Dust, Catherine Asaro

The Martian, Andy Weir

Venetia, Georgette Heyer

The Mysterious Island, Jules Verne

The Morgaine Chronicles, C.J. Cherry

Fair Trade, Sharon Lee and Steve Miller

Blood at the Root, LaDarrion Williams

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, David Mitchell 

Champion of Fate, Kendare Blake

Inventing the Renaissance, Ada Palmer

Danger on Peaks: Poems, Gary Snyder 

The Luminaries, Eleanor Catton

Ascendance of a Bookworm, Fanbook 7, Miya Kazuki

Ghosted, Amanda Quain

Bookmarks Languished

I have given up on a few of these, actually. 

                                                                        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                     

                        Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel

                        The Library of Borrowed Hearts, Lucy Gilmore

                     3 Days, 9 Months, 27 Years, John Scalzi

            Lepunia: Kingdom of the Gallopers, Kevin Ford

         One Jump Ahead, Mark L Von Name

The Martian, Andy Weir

The Book That Wouldnt Burn, Mark Lawrence

The Gilded Crown, Marianne Gordon

Picture Books, Poems, and Short Stories

I reread the Hugo short story finalists for the traditional Foolscap bookclub December meeting, which this year took place in January. 

“Marginalia,” Mary Robinette Kowal. A fun idea executed well, fleshed out with rounded characters that each have their own small arc.

“Five Views of the Planet Tartarus” by Rachael K. Jones. Another cool idea, but with fewer personalities.

 “Stitched to Skin Like Family Is” by Nghi Vo. A revenge story with nifty world building.

Books on Slow Mode

Home Comforts, Cheryl Mendleson. I read one section a day. On to ventilation and heating! Apparently 61 degrees Fahrenheit is a good temperature for healthy adults.

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: Better Than People
• Friend Book Club: Devil in Winter
• Foolscap Book Club Book:  Double Star
• Sword and Laser Club Book: The Raven Scholar
• Talbot Hill School: Protagonist is different than reader
• Scintillation Book Club: Eifelheim
• Cloudy Book Club:  Instructions For Dancing
• Torches and Pitchfork Book: Strong Towns
• Romance Book Club: Award Winner
• River Runs Under It Book Club: Hiroshima

January Brings the Cold

I started the year off with a new crown on my tooth. Ow. So I spent most of the week feeling sorry for myself. Oh, I went to a bunch of book clubs, mostly with the books only partly read.

Goodreads thinks I am currently reading 63 books, but I’m behind on marking things done. The library thinks I have 49 books checked. One is overdue, because I’ve lost it.

Books Completed January 2 - 8

Bluebird, Ciel Pierrot. I forgot to mention finishing this one last week. I liked it, although it was too long for what it did and the main character suffered from idiot responsibility syndrome, where if a bad guy does something either to blame her for making him do it or to coerce her into doing something, she feels like it’s her fault, not just in a general sense but in a very action oriented way. Her sister at the end seemed to agree with this, which didn’t help. (For the record, if anyone I know is kidnapped and I’m told they will be killed if I don’t do something, I am formally stating that I have no control over this nefarious person and while I really hope no one dies, I’m not doing any killing.) But the action was fun, the librarian and the library system were cool, and I’m always up for some damaged assssins on a redemption journey.

Hello Stranger, Lisa Kleypas. Another forgotten completion. She’s a lady doctor olden days, so a rare sighting, and he’s like a spy who has realized his agency has some ethical problems. Lots of fun medical and spy stuff, along with UST and assorted useful competencies. Kleypas is really fun and I should go back to reading more from her.

Haunting With the Stars, R.L. Stone. A Goosebumps book. Although the field trip is the most unbelievable part (and this book has interplanetary teleportation and bi-headed aliens) the kids weren’t mean bullies so I enjoyed it more than average. I’m not sure what the haunting part was (maybe the invisibility stuff?) but I liked the twist aimed at the adult antagonist at the end.

Pokémon Sun and Moon V. 8, Hidenori Kusaka. I’m getting a bit lost. The book does a good job catching me up on the events but the themes seem a bit disjointed. I’m super confused about how old the protagonists are. Do they have family who worry about them?

A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter Miller, Jr. Torches and Pitchforks pick. I’m sorry I didn’t finish my audio reread in time in time for book club, because I understood the Catholic priest’s viewpoint much better because I was reading Palmer’s Renaissance book. I didn’t agree with it (most of book club was just appalled) but I understood it.

Educating, LaRee Westover. I gather LaRee didn’t like her kid’s book very much and this was written as a sort of rebuttal. It’s too bad, because I lost a lot of respect for the mom hearing how she describes the same events. She seemed amazingly careless of her kids’ safety, willingly credulous, and often sorta spiteful.

Cora and the Terrible Twister, Julie Gilbert. Not one of the better Girls Survive books. Cora seems petty and spoiled (I had clocked her several years below her age before she got to the school), but also wildly inconsistent as a character, being either unrealistically heroic or crying depending on what aspect of the tornado needs to be highlighted. The medical details seem very anachronistic. It wasn’t fun. 

Books Started

Orbital, Samantha Harvey. River Runs Under it book club pick.

Cora and the Terrible Twister, Julie Gilbert. A Girls Survive book.

Pokémon Sun and Moon V. 8, Hidenori Kusaka. Talbot Hill recommendation.

The Martian, Andy Weir. Foolscap book club.

The Mysterious Island, Jules Verne. Tuesday book club commences our project Gutenberg year!

Educating, LaRee Westover. Because I read her kid’s book.

Attack of the Jack-o-Lanterns, R.L. Stine. Goosebumps book.

Venetia, Georgette Heyer. Trying the audio. Wait, it’s abridged!

The Morgaine Chronicles, C.J. Cherry. Scintillation book club pick.

Bookmarks Moved

Education For Empire, Clif Stratton

The Book That Wouldnt Burn, Mark Lawrence

The Way of Kings, Brandon Sanderson

Gold Dust, Catherine Asaro

Gilded Crown, Marianne Gordon

Danger on Peaks: Poems, Gary Snyder 

The Luminaries, Eleanor Catton

Champion of Fate, Kendare Blake

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, David Mitchell 

Inventing the Renaissance, Ada Palmer

Ascendance of a Bookworm, Fanbook 7, Miya Kazuki

Fair Trade, Sharon Lee and Steve Miller

Alex Wise Vs the Cosmic Shift, Terry J Benton-Walker

Bookmarks Languished

I have given up on a few of these, actually. 

                                                                     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                     

                     Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel

                     The Library of Borrowed Hearts, Lucy Gilmore

                  3 Days, 9 Months, 27 Years, John Scalzi

         Lepunia: Kingdom of the Gallopers, Kevin Ford

      One Jump Ahead, Mark L Von Name

   Ghosted, Amanda Quain

   Blood at the Root, LaDarrion Williams

Coyote Dreams, C.E. Murphy

Picture Books, Poems, and Short Stories

I reread the Hugo short story finalists for the traditional Foolscap bookclub December meeting, which this year took place in January. 

“Three Faces of a Beheading”, Arkady Martine. This had strong opinions on social media.

“We Will Teach You How to Read | We Will Teach You How to Read,” Caroline M. Yoachim. Reading this was a continuous delight.

“Why Don’t We Just Kill the Kid in the Omelas Hole,” Isabel J. Kim. This seemed to miss the point of the original story but did some interesting things out on its own.

(More next week)

Books on Slow Mode

Home Comforts, Cheryl Mendleson. I read one section a day. On to ventilation and heating! Apparently 61 degrees Fahrenheit is a good temperature for healthy adults.

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: Shattering Peace
• Friend Book Club: Restoree
• Foolscap Book Club Book:  Double Star
• Sword and Laser Club Book: Automatic Noodle
• Talbot Hill School: Protagonist is different than reader
• Scintillation Book Club: 
• Cloudy Book Club:  Direct Descendant 
• Torches and Pitchfork Book Club:  Remarkably Bright Creatures
• Romance Book Club: Robot Love
• River Runs Under It Book Club: Hiroshima

Happy New Year!

After Christmas Utah noticed that it was winter and snow fell down. Luckily I didn’t have to drive to our family trip to give platelets. Apparently I have no veins in my right arm so I got the coveted single arm set-up, and sat around watching a Jason Statham movie while bits of my blood were siphoned off. It was the one where he shoots a bunch of people and we think he’s dead but he isn’t and the bad guys lose.

Anyway, then I got my new shirt as a reward and went home to feel virtuous. To celebrate the family spirit we went out to do some group painting, along with the crucial bottles of wine to help our creative juices flow. Mine was the best, of course (that is a lie).

Time to head home, with a nice easy drive. Easy for me, at any rate; I think Kevin did about 90% of the driving. New Years was a dinner with a book club, and I got to bring a partner - my sister read our extra book and joined us. More fun and we headed home before scary people took to the roads.

And then I celebrated the New Year by donating whole blood. Renton blood people gave me socks.

Goodreads thinks I am currently reading 63 books. Oops! The library thinks I have 45 books checked. One is overdue, because the missing one hasn’t turned up yet.

Books Completed December 26 - January 1

Anne Fights for Freedom: an Underground Railroad Survival Story, Nikki Shannon Smith. Again, better at facts and vibes than characterization. It was fun that Ann had to take over from her mom for planning and gumption, although it made her mom seem a bit of a loser.

The Sailor Cipher, Trudi Trueit. I jumped from one series to the following one, but I like the science kids even if there’s some psychic magic sprinkled in with the science. That’s kinda old school SF so I accept it. I like the kids doing real stuff both in science and the plot, and the school bits are fun.

Greta and the Night Fire, Julie Gilbert. A Girls Survive graphic novel. This is an interesting take on the bombing of Dresden, where we see the effects on deliberately innocent victims: one of the last remaining Jews in Dresden and a German girl whose family has been trying to support her family. So the destruction and loss are shown but Nazis are absent from the page. 

Foxglove Summer, Ben Aaronovitch. Audio book for drive home. These are a lot of fun, although the deep bass voice used for one of the characters kept matching and disappearing into the tire noise.

Millie and the Great Drought, Natasha Deen. A Girls Survive book. This hit a lot of beats around the Dust Bowl and treatment of the refugees. But I found the young girl who was sure she understood the ecological, financial, and societal situation better than either of her parents both ahistorical and frequently disproved by the actual facts.

I Survived the Galveston Hurricane, 1900, Lauren Tarshis. I liked this historical fiction much better. The kid had both an adventure and a believable arc, and the results of the disaster seemed realistic.

Books Started

Greta and the Night Fire, Julie Gilbert. A Girls Survive graphic novel.

Foxglove Summer, Ben Aaronovitch. Audio book for drive home.

Danger on Peaks: Poems, Gary Snyder. Poetry book. 

Millie and the Great Drought, Natasha Deen. A Girls Survive book.

A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter Miller, Jr. Torches and Pitchforks pick.

Gilded Crown, Marianne Gordon. cloudy pick.

Haunting With the Stars, R.L. Stone. A Goosebumps book.

The Book That Wouldnt Burn, Mark Lawrence. Sword and Laser pick.

Bookmarks Moved

Education For Empire, Clif Stratton

The Way of Kings, Brandon Sanderson

Ascendance of a Bookworm, Fanbook 7, Miya Kazuki

Gold Dust, Catherine Asaro

Fair Trade, Sharon Lee and Steve Miller

The Luminaries, Eleanor Catton

Champion of Fate, Kendare Blake

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, David Mitchell 

Bluebird, Ciel Pierrot

Inventing the Renaissance, Ada Palmer

Alex Wise Vs the Cosmic Shift, Terry J Benton-Walker

Coyote Dreams, C.E. Murphy

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   

                  Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel

                  The Library of Borrowed Hearts, Lucy Gilmore

               3 Days, 9 Months, 27 Years, John Scalzi

      Lepunia: Kingdom of the Gallopers, Kevin Ford

   One Jump Ahead, Mark L Von Name

Ghosted, Amanda Quain

Blood at the Root, LaDarrion Williams

Picture Books, Poems, and Short Stories

None.

Books on Slow Mode

Home Comforts, Cheryl Mendleson. I read one section a day. Laundry problems that have not been an issue for me.

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: Clean Getaway 
• Friend Book Club: Riddlemaster of Hed
• Foolscap Book Club Book:  Fevered Star
• Sword and Laser Club Book: Automatic Noodle
• Talbot Hill School:  Graphic Novels and poetry
• Scintillation Book Club: Malafrena
• Cloudy Book Club:  Direct Descendant 
• Torches and Pitchfork Book Club:  Remarkably Bright Creatures
• Romance Book Club: Old people love! Old being fifteen years younger than me, and up.
• River Runs Under It Book Club: The Grey Wolf

Over the Mountain and Thru the Snow

We were planning to drive to Utah to Sunday before Christmas, but the weather looked ominous and the pass kept closing. So we decided to leave a day early and drive through Portland instead of the more direct route over Snoqualmie. Turns out there wasn’t much snow but this way we were relaxed. We also stopped a few hours short of Salt Lake and found a hotel room because we wanted to give our hosts a chance to clear out the guest bedrooms.

Christmas with my family was lovely. I played cards and even managed to win a game! We took a trip to the local aviary and saw a bunch of birds. It was unseasonably warm so the birds were lively and we were happy to stay all afternoon. I did some runs; it was social because sometimes my son would walk alongside me (I run incredibly slowly) and sometimes I’d run ahead and back as my brother and his wife walked the dog. Hank, the dog, and I have a long feud going on so I refused to go just with him. Hank also made Christmas Day a bit exciting by fixing a box of chocolate truffles to snack on just before everyone got up, so presents were delayed by the emergency vet visit. The truffles turned out not to be a problem, but the large rock Hank had somehow swallowed was an expensive issue. But eventually he came home in his coned glory and napped as we opened presents. 

Goodreads thinks I am currently reading 57 books. Oops! The library thinks I have 50 books checked. 6 are overdue. The missing one hasn’t turned up yet.

Books Completed December 19 - 25

The Maid and the Crocodile, Jordan Ifueko. Although occasionally a bit preachy, this YA entertained me enough that I want to go back and read the other books set in this kingdom. I liked the exploration of what kind of hero the world needs for different things and how to make a life after the hero stuff is done.

Broken Homes, Ben Aaronovitch. A fun audio for our car ride, with lots of English accents and cool magic stuff.

This Is Our Rainbow, Katherine Locke. This was a bit of a slog for me. It’s a collection of short stories about queer kids, which meant there were a lot of crushes and young love, and I’m not really into little kid romance since I mostly skipped that stuff in my own childhood. But the kids were mostly cool.

Jersey Rains, Robert Pinsky. This didn’t make much of an impression on me, and nothing made it into my poetry notebook.

Books Started

Broken Homes, Ben Aaronovitch. Audio for the drive.

Jersey Rains, Robert Pinsky. Poetry to end the year with.

Champion of Fate, Kendare Blake. Cybils? Hugo? I forget.

I Survived the Galveston Hurricane, 1900, Lauren Tarshis. Hey I was in Galveston last year.

Fair Trade, Sharon Lee and Steve Miller. Next Liaden book.

Bookmarks Moved

Education For Empire, Clif Stratton

The Way of Kings, Brandon Sanderson

Ascendance of a Bookworm, Fanbook 7, Miya Kazuki

Gold Dust, Catherine Asaro

The Luminaries, Eleanor Catton

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, David Mitchell 

Inventing the Renaissance, Ada Palmer

The Sailor Cipher, Trudi Trueit

Blood at the Root, LaDarrion Williams

Anne Fights for Freedom: an Underground Railroad Survival Story, Nikki Shannon Smith

Alex Wise Vs the Cosmic Shift, Terry J Benton-Walker

Bluebird, Ciel Pierrot

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   

               Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel

               The Library of Borrowed Hearts, Lucy Gilmore

            3 Days, 9 Months, 27 Years, John Scalzi

   Lepunia: Kingdom of the Gallopers, Kevin Ford

One Jump Ahead, Mark L Von Name

Coyote Dreams, C.E. Murphy

Ghosted, Amanda Quain

Picture Books, Poems, and Short Stories

None.

Books on Slow Mode

Home Comforts, Cheryl Mendleson. I read one section a day. Laundry as lifestyle.

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: On Air With Zoe Washington
• 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
• Talbot Hill School:  Graphic Novels and poetry
• Scintillation Book Club: The Enchanted April
• Cloudy Book Club:  Love in Color
• Torches and Pitchfork Book Club:  Self Love Poetry
• Romance Book Club: Old people love! Old being fifteen years younger than me, and up.
• River Runs Under It Book Club: The God of the Woods