You Can Now Say Merry Christmas

   

Most of the week after Thanksgiving was spent wallowing in self-pity about having to limit my carbs. I made my traditional tetrazzini after a few days of leftovers, but could only eat a reasonable amount at a time. The Thanksgiving holiday is not about, reasonable amounts! I also had to watch the family chow down on appropriately gluttonous amounts of leftovers while I used a tiny plate to have my morsels. Thank goodness for my liverwurst pate, which was low carb if not what I would describe as “healthy.”

I did keep up my running and my book clubs, in between all the moping.

Goodreads thinks I am currently reading 53 books. Such progress! The library thinks I have 69 books checked out. I feel like I’m being so restrained and yet that number keeps creeping up. Maybe I better check the definition of restraint again.

Books Completed November 28 - December 4

Moon Of the Crusted Snow, Waubgeshig Rice. For Torches and Pitchforks. This was an interesting apocalypse book, set on a reservation in Canada where the power goes out and supplies stop coming.at first it seems like a local problem, but as supplies also stop coming the community gradually realizes something has happened. People react differently, and the question of how to handle refugees becomes important. We all liked it although finding out there was a sequel led me to realize I had misunderstood some parts.

Claudia and Mean Janine Graphic Novel, Ann Martin & Raina Telgemeier. I agree it’s a better start for Claudia’s book in the series. The hospital scenes give the artist some good scenery to work with.

The Frozen Menace, Ursula Vernon. I missed this one! I liked how Danny’s friends rallied to help him. And how the author manages to make his parents completely useless without becoming baddies.

Silver Lady, Mary Jo Putney. Another magical regency romance, with a loving found family and earnest lovers and cool horses and smuggling on the beach.

Bailey and the Blaze, Delores Andrul. A Girls Survive graphic novel about the burning of Atlanta in the American Civil War that somehow forgets to mention slavery.

Stitch in Snow, Anne McCaffrey. I loved revisiting this for the snowed in topic at Romance Book Club. It’s definitely got some dated elements (modern authors wouldn’t use “rape” to describe consensual sex used to avoid thinking) but the knitting stuff, the swimming pool, and the kids book author stuff a

Was all as much fun as I remembered. As was the travel systems, where airlines work to keep passengers happy.

Moonstruck Vol 1, Grace Ellis. This is a love letter to queer baristas everywhere, but it was a meh read for me. I found the centaur confusing visually and didn’t get why the werewolf main character was so worried about being “normal” when as far as I could tell humans were a fairly small minority, at least on these pages. I wasn’t sure why she considered them the standard.

Wildfire, Breena Bard. This came off as a little preachy to me, but it still worked as a story. The protagonist is not happy about her house burning down and her family having to relocate to a city, and when the boy who carelessly started the fire turns up in her neighborhood she has understandably negative feelings. Her journey is interestingly complex even as we learn a lot about systemic problems affecting disasters as well as individual mistakes, trauma and activism, and goat pen requirements.

Poor Mallory, Ann Martin. I admit my favorite part was the passel of kids working on ways to raise money while their dad is between jobs after being layed off. Mallory babysitting bratty rich kids was fine and gave her a chance to struggle with envy, but her younger sister’s beauty consultant gig was even more entertaining.

Floating Hotel, Grace Curtis. I liked this Sword and Laser pick; seeing the passengers and crew on basically an interstellar cruise ship was fun. And I enjoyed seeing how the different viewpoints were adding up to an overall plot involving spying and counterspying and resistance to the monarchy. But I felt the end didn’t really pull all the pieces together in a satisfying way. The sum was less than the parts, but I liked the parts.

Ice Cold, Tess Gerritsen. Next book in my Renton Library quest. I’m only vaguely aware of the series dynamics, but this one separates the main duo for most of the book so I didn’t need to know much about their partnership. It was fine but I’m not seeking out more Rizzoli and Ives stuff. On to the next shelf!

This Tender Land, William Kent Kruger. I’m a month or so late for this River Runs Under It pick, but I was out of town for the meeting so no hurry. I didn’t like the magical elements, which I felt lessened the tension of the historical stuff.

All the Beauty in the World, Patrick Brinkley. I think I forgot to mention finishing this last week. It was a librarian recommended book that took a while to arrive. It’s a memoir of a few years in the life of a guy who takes a job as a guard at the Metropolitan Museum of art after his brother dies, and he charts his grief as he stands around looking at art. Slowly his life moves on and after his second kid he changes jobs, but I liked how he talked about those years of learning about himself and life through a job that literally surrounded him with beauty. And a union card.

Books Started

Blood at the Root, LaDarrion Williams. Cybils finalist.

Silver Lady, Mary Jo Putney. I like her magical Regency romances.

Tom Lake, Ann Parchett. I like this author.

The Frozen Menace, Ursula Vernon. Apparently I missed the last one.

Bailey and the Blaze, Delores Andrul. A Girls Survive graphic novel.

Stitch in Snow, Anne McCaffrey. Romance club is doing snowed-in stories.

This Is Our Rainbow, Katherine Locke. Short stories about queer kids.

Kristy and the Snobs, Ann Martin. More babysitter’s club. 

Moonstruck Vol 1, Grace Ellis. A graphic novel.

Tacoma Narrows, Perry Mitchell. Poetry book.

Wildfire, Breena Bard. Exciting looking middle grade graphic novel.

Poor Mallory, Ann Martin. Hey, the library has even more Babysitter’s Club as ebooks.

Bookmarks Moved

The Pursuit of… , Courtney Milan

The Way of Kings, Brandon Sanderson

Ascendance of a Bookworm, Fanbook 7, Miya Kazuki

Gold Dust, Catherine Asaro

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

The Luminaries, Eleanor Catton

Inventing the Renaissance, Ada Palmer

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, David Mitchell 

Arabella of Venus, David Levine

Coyote Dreams, C.E. Murphy

How I Got My Shrunken Head, R.L. Stine

The Maid and the Crocodile, Jordan Ifueko. I started this back when I was reading all the Hugo finalists.

Bookmarks Languished

I have not given up on these! Ignore all evidence!                                       

                                                                                                                               

                                                                                                                    True Colors, Abby Cooper

                                                                                                              South Riding, Winifred Holtby                     

                                                      Calypso, Oliver K Langmead       

                                                      The Hunger and the Dusk, G. Willow Wilson

                                                      Speculative Whiteness, Jordan S. Carroll

                                              Bourne Supremacy, Robert Ludlum

                                             Death in the Spires, K.J. Charles                       

                           Read Dangerously, Azar Nifisi

                  The Last Witchfinder, James K. Morrow. Scintillation book club.  

            An Exchange of Hostages, Susan R. Matthews   

            So Let Them Burn, Kamilah Cole

            Hello Stranger, Lisa Kleypas

      One Jump Ahead, Mark L Von Name

      Lepunia: Kingdom of the Gallopers, Kevin Ford

      Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel

      The Library of Borrowed Hearts, Lucy Gilmore

      Bluebird, Ciel Pierrot

   3 Days, 9 Months, 27 Years, John Scalzi

The Serviceberry, Robin Wall Kimmerer. I seem to have misplaced this.

Picture Books, Poems, and Short Stories

None.

Books on Slow Mode

Home Comforts, Cheryl Mendleson. I read one section a day. Organizing one’s laundry is the current topic.

50 Great Poets, ed. Milton Crane. Mail bribe. Emily Dickinson is cool.

The Writer's Stance: Reading and Writing in the Disciplines, Dorothy U. Seyler. Mail bribe.

Black Leopard, Red Wolf, Marlon James. The ending moves back to the personal.

War Cross, Marie Lu. Mail bribe. My gaming is not on this level.

Teaching With Caldecott Books, Scholastic books. Mail bribe. Good chapters about things to do after and while reading the books.

Books Acquired

I only notice when I’m caught up.

Future Plans

This is for the actual future, so weeks beyond the books in this post. It is also probably wrong.

I am reading: 

• Book I own: Fair Trade
• Library Book: Set On You
• Friend Book Club: Lasagna Means I Love You
• Foolscap Book Club Book:  The Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping
• Sword and Laser Club Book: Someplace  to be Flying
• Scintillation Book Club: Kiss Myself Goodbye
• Cloudy Book Club:  Love in Color
• Torches and Pitchfork Book Club:  Self Love Poetry
• Romance Book Club: Art of Love
• River Runs Under It Book Club: The God of the Woods

Super Bad Timing

  

So, last year, on Friday before Thanksgiving, I had my meeting with a dietician to discuss my pre-diabetic blood sugar readings. Wow, what bad timing. Apparently it’s not just a matter of the right fractions on a plate but a need to maintain a low total of carbs per meal. Even if that meal is Thanksgiving dinner.

Two bookclubs in the weekend cheered me up a bit, and I managed to make the sides assigned to me (pinwheels, pumpkin pie, and a last minute liverwurst thing that appears to have no carbs). And on Thanksgiving itself my family supported me by never passing the rolls and stealing all the pie.

Goodreads thinks I am currently reading 61 books. That’s creeping back down. The library thinks I have 65 books checked out, which is way too many and many of them are approaching their due dates. But, a few more are picture books so I’ll finish them on time. 

Books Completed November 21 - 27

Semiotics, Sue Burke. This was full of cool ideas, with a band of idealists trying to colonize a new planet and their struggles to survive over generations as technology fails and their understanding of the environment evolves. The human relationships are complex and often difficult, although we don’t spend much time with anyone as the book moves over five or so generations. The relationships across species introduce questions about what it means to be a person, to be exploited, to be intelligent. The conversation with book club went over literary, intellectual and scientific questions and was really engaging.

Diary of an 8 Bit Warrior: Shadow Over Aetheria, Cube Kid. Yeah, this is aimed squarely at the early reader market and missed me by a mile. Starting with book 8 didn’t help. Some jokes went under my feet and others over my head because of my limited Minecraft nous.

I’m Nobody, Who Are You?, Emily Dickinson. I like how some poems are moments in nature, some are facets of humanity, and some are ice cold understandings of death.

Please Pay Attention, Jamie Sumner. Eh, I hadn’t realized this was a free verse book. It mostly read like a lot of hitting return on the typewriter. But I like seeing the world from a wheelchair view.

Framed in Death, J.D. Robb. Bad guy was bad, Eve is good, torture scenes not super graphic. So a fun one.

Sarah Journeys West, Nikki Shannon Smith. I liked this one. It’s an African American’s family view of the Oregon trail, which is an angle I haven’t seen. The kid is still ahistorical and I found it annoying how often she was right and her family was wrong and how well they ok that, but there were lots of factual details which are the strengths of this series so the ungrounded characters didn’t ruin things for me.

What Feasts At Night, T. Kingfisher. On this reread I noticed how much I like the relationship with the batman and how much horror I had managed to forget. The dream horse stuff will hopefully disappear from my nightmares again.

The Farwalker’s Quest, John Sensel. A really cool Cybils fantasy from 2008. I like these kids books that don’t stop to explain the child’s emotional state and problems, instead focusing on action that lets me see that stuff for myself. There was real risk and trauma, which was a problem for squeamish adult me but should be fine for kids.

Books Started

How I Got My Shrunken Head, R.L. Stine. Goosebumps book.

Sarah Journeys West, Nikki Shannon Smith. A Girls Survive book.

Diary of an 8 Bit Warrior: Shadow Over Aetheria, Cube Kid. A MineCraft book.

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

Please Pay Attention, Jamie Sumner. Grabbed on sight while library sampling.

The Serviceberry, Robin Wall Kimmerer. Wanted more from this author.

What Feasts At Night, T. Kingfisher. Reread for Cloudy book club.

Moon Of the Crusted Snow, Waubgeshig Rice. For Torches and Pitchforks.

Claudia and Mean Janine Graphic Novel, Ann Martin & Raina Telgemeier. Comparing to the text one.

Bookmarks Moved

The Pursuit of… , Courtney Milan

The Way of Kings, Brandon Sanderson

Ascendance of a Bookworm, Fanbook 7, Miya Kazuki

Gold Dust, Catherine Asaro

The Luminaries, Eleanor Catton

Ice Cold, Tess Gerritsen.

All the Beauty in the World, Patrick Brinkley

This Tender Land, William Kent Kruger

Inventing the Renaissance, Ada Palmer

Arabella of Venus, David Levine

Floating Hotel, Grace Curtis

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                        

                                 The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, David Mitchell 

                        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

      Coyote Dreams, C.E. Murphy

   One Jump Ahead, Mark L Von Name

   Lepunia: Kingdom of the Gallopers, Kevin Ford

   Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel

   The Library of Borrowed Hearts, Lucy Gilmore

   Bluebird, Ciel Pierrot

3 Days, 9 Months, 27 Years, John Scalzi

Picture Books, Poems, and Short Stories

None.

Books on Slow Mode

Home Comforts, Cheryl Mendleson. I read one section a day. Organizing one’s laundry is the current topic.

50 Great Poets, ed. Milton Crane. Mail bribe. Emily Dickinson is cool.

The Writer's Stance: Reading and Writing in the Disciplines, Dorothy U. Seyler. Mail bribe.

Black Leopard, Red Wolf, Marlon James. The ending moves back to the personal.

War Cross, Marie Lu. Mail bribe. My gaming is not on this level.

Teaching With Caldecott Books, Scholastic books. Mail bribe. I’m getting some good ideas for kid management. 

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: Hazel Bly and the Deep Blue Sea
• Friend Book Club: Ladagna Means I Love You
• Foolscap Book Club Book:  The Witch’s Guide to Innkeeping
• Sword and Laser Club Book: I’m Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom
• Scintillation Book Club: Aunt Munda
• Cloudy Book Club:  Wooing the Witch Queen
• Torches and Pitchfork Book Club:  How to Fall in Love With Questions
• Romance Book Club: Art of Love
• River Runs Under It Book Club: The God of the Woods

Days Getting Dark

 

Hmm. Back in November my sister, my son, and I volunteered again at the CERT graduation exercise, playing very annoying victims. We always show up early to get some wounds painted on. It’s a good review of my CERT skills as well. I’m also getting back into running, with an emphasis on not falling down. And I snuck into the local school’s book fair and got some books and some book adjacent toys, mainly notebooks.

Goodreads thinks I am currently reading 67 books (I’m actually writing this on New Years Day). That’s creeping up again but I’m falling behind on marking things done so not as badly as it appears. The library thinks I have 65 books checked out, which is way too many and many of them are approaching their due dates.

Books Completed November 14 - 20

Heavenly Tyrant, Xiran Jay Zhao. This Lodestar (not a Hugo) nominee took me a few tries to get through. I couldn’t  get immersed in the protagonist’s voice, partly because I’m old and she’s definitely a very passionate teen, and partly because she kept angrily circling the same emotional paths. But I like the worldbuilding and the questions it raises. I like how revolution is messy and demands compromises as well as determination, and how decisions can be reevaluated after seeing how things are working.

North Woods, Daniel Mason. I enjoyed this biography of an apple orchard, but I felt the pieces were stronger than the sum of its parts. I didn’t like the occasional dips into ghosts and mysticism, which grew stronger at the end, leaving me with a feeling of emptiness. But it was an interesting read and the library book group had some good things to say.

Some Sunny Day, Adam Baron. Great luck with this pick from the next shelf at the Renton Highlands library. Cam was a fun kid with an interesting family and an exotic life (he’s English). I liked his intense way of dealing with the world and his loyalty to the people who make him food.

Dad Rock Dragon Quest, Joan Reardon. I liked the character development in these books, which felt necessary but not very didactic. Seeing the protagonist learn to understand her dad’s flaws as well as his good points was fun, especially when there are dragons. I kinda hope she learns to do that with her mom and the mom’s boyfriend, because they kinda seemed to be using dad’s more flamboyant flaws to get away with taking their own shortcuts. 

The Babysitters’ Summer Vacation, Ann M. Martin. Kid summer camps are always a fun fantasy for me, and now I’m enjoying seeing how different the TV show take on this is.

Rafe: A Buff Male Nanny, Rebekah Witherspoon. This felt a little odd to me, because it was half a sensitive story of two adults working out good boundaries for a loving relationship and half those same adults having very raunchy sex along the way. Witherspoon was good at both, but for me those are different reading experiences so not knowing what the page would bring me kept me on my toes.

The Gentleman’s Book of Vices, Jess Everlee. I’m glad I finished this; it was sweet.

Thirst, Mary Oliver. Very good bedtime reading. Some poems that knock the top of your head off.

Books Started

The Pursuit of… , Courtney Milan. A trusty and trusted writer of  historical romance. 

Ascendance of a Bookworm, Fanbook 7, Miya Kazuki. I’m still addicted.

Framed in Death, J. D. Robb. I’m here for another one.

3 Days, 9 Months, 27 Years, John Scalzi. I’m getting a kindle for Xmas (shh, don’t tell me what I got me) and it comes with Kindle Unlimited so this fell into my electronic hands).

Dad Rock Dragon Quest, Joan Reardon. Fun fantasy I saw while visiting libraries.

Rafe: A Buff Male Nanny, Rebekah Witherspoon. For Doctor month at our romance club.

The Gentleman’s Book of Vices, Jess Everlee. Huh, this was a dnf (did not finish) that I meant to get back to.

Ice Cold, Tess Gerritsen. I’m jumping into the Rizzoli & Isles series at #8, but I’ve seen at least ten minutes of the tv show so I grabbed this from the G shelf for my Renton Reading My Library Quest.

Bookmarks Moved

The Way of Kings, Brandon Sanderson

Gold Dust, Catherine Asaro

Semiotics, Sue Burke

The Luminaries, Eleanor Catton

All the Beauty in the World, Patrick Brinkley

This Tender Land, William Kent Kruger

Inventing the Renaissance, Ada Palmer

Arabella of Venus, David Levine

The Farwalker’s Quest, John Sensel

Floating Hotel, Grace Curtis

I’m Nobody, Who Are You?, Emily Dickinson    

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                        

                              The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, David Mitchell 

                     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

   Coyote Dreams, C.E. Murphy

One Jump Ahead, Mark L Von Name

Lepunia: Kingdom of the Gallopers, Kevin Ford

Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel

The Library of Borrowed Hearts, Lucy Gilmore

Bluebird, Ciel Pierrot

Picture Books, Poems, and Short Stories

Iggy Peck, Architect, Andrea Beaty. This series is great it all its formats. I liked the concept, the illustrations and the rhymes.

Do You Want to Be My Friend?, Eric Carle. This book is very proud of how it is teaching all these pre reading skills, but I think it is so fun that even the parents won’t notice.

The Princess and the Pony, Kate Beaton. Ugly pony, polite Princess, and a good example of thinking outside the box. I read this a few years ago and enjoyed it again.

Still a Family: a Story About Homelessness, Breanna Reeves Sturgis. Does what it says on the tin.

SumoKitty, David Beidrzycki. Excellent life lessons from an excellent kitty.

Robobaby, David Weisner. Excellent book about the importance of older siblings when getting a new robobaby.

The World Needs More Purple People, Kristen Bell. Kinda preachy but I liked it. I think one of my kids would have resented the didacticism and the other would have only heard a suggestion to dye himself purple.

Yes You Can, Cow!, Rashmi Sirdeshpandi. Recommended by the Even the Trunchbull podcast, this was as good as I expected. I think stage families would appreciate it.

Dim Sum Palace, X. Fang. Another winner from the Even the Trunchbull podcast. It’s a bedtime story, a love story to dumplings, a cosy story, and now I’m hungry.

Books on Slow Mode

Home Comforts, Cheryl Mendleson. I read one section a day. Organizing one’s laundry days is the current topic.

50 Great Poets, ed. Milton Crane. Mail bribe. Emily Dickinson is cool.

The Writer's Stance: Reading and Writing in the Disciplines, Dorothy U. Seyler. Mail bribe.

Black Leopard, Red Wolf, Marlon James. The ending moves back to the personal.

War Cross, Marie Lu. Mail bribe. My gaming is not on this level.

Teaching With Caldecott Books, Scholastic books. Mail bribe. I’m getting some good ideas for kid management. 

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: The Memory Thieves
• Friend Book Club: Movie month!
• Foolscap Book Club Book:  The Martian
• Sword and Laser Club Book: I’m Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom
• Scintillation Book Club: Morgaine Chronicles
• Cloudy Book Club:  Wooing the Witch Queen
• Torches and Pitchfork Book Club:  How to Fall in Love With Questions
• Romance Book Club: Snowed in together: Stitch in Snow
• River Runs Under It Book Club: Orbital 

Funny Faces

In early November I slowly started getting back into running, with not falling my highest priority. I hiked and walked as well. The numbness on my face has receded to mostly a small part of my lip which somehow I mostly notice while driving. Not while talking or eating really, just while driving.

So I guess I make a lot of funny faces and contorting my mouth as part of my driving process? No wonder I’m such an excellent driver! 

Goodreads thinks I am currently reading 61 books (I’m actually writing this on New Years Day). That’s accurate as I worked at cleaning up the list yesterday.

Books Completed November 7 - 13

What Stalks the Deep, T. Kingfisher. A reread that I was looking forward to; I like the sworn-soldier idea and its implementation. I had managed to forget how far into horror this got; the whole sequence with the horses shedding and stuff was very vivid.

Boy-Crazy Stacey, Ann M. Martin. I liked how the kids would talk to the babysitters and how they dealt with some fears that way. The TV adaption changed that to a crush on the babysitters. Humph.

I Survived the Great Chicago Fire, 1871, Lauren Tarshis. Although the illustrations of the fire were great, I still prefer the written version because of the greater character development and period details.

Faye and the Dangerous Journey, Kim Sigafus. This one is good at period details, although once again the kid seems modern.  Good history but duller stories.

Pokémon Sun and Moon 7, Hidenori Kusaka. I am definitely losing track of the sub plots, but I’m all in on the million dollar quest and also better pharmaceuticals.

At the Feet of the Sun, Victoria Goddard. I loved falling into this book and hanging out with the characters.

Hearts Still Beating, Brooke Archer. I’m too old for teen romance. Even with zombies. But I see why it was a Cybils finalist.

Books Started

What Stalks the Deep, T. Kingfisher. Cloudy pick.

Floating Hotel, Grace Curtis. Sword and Laser pick.

Faye and the Dangerous Journey, Kim Sigafus. A Girl Survives book.

Thirst, Mary Oliver. Next poetry book and I’m here for it.

Gold Dust, Catherine Asaro. More about Bhaaj and her Dust Knights.

Pokémon Sun and Moon 7, Hidenori Kusaka. Gotta get the whole series!

Semiotics, Sue Burke. Scintillation book club pick.

The Babysitters’ Summer Vacation, Ann M. Martin. It’s a super special! (That means all the girls get to narrate.)

Bookmarks Moved

The Way of Kings, Brandon Sanderson

One Jump Ahead, Mark L Von Name

Lepunia: Kingdom of the Gallopers, Kevin Ford

Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel

Arabella of Venus, David Levine

The Farwalker’s Quest, John Sensel

Some Sunny Day, Adam Baron

The Luminaries, Eleanor Catton

This Tender Land, William Kent Kruger

Inventing the Renaissance, Ada Palmer

All the Beauty in the World, Patrick Brinkley.

The Library of Borrowed Hearts, Lucy Gilmore

North Woods, Daniel Mason

Bluebird, Ciel Pierrot

Heavenly Tyrants, Xiran Jay Zhao

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                        

                           The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, David Mitchell 

                  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

I’m Nobody, Who Are You?, Emily Dickinson    

Coyote Dreams, C.E. Murphy

Picture Books, Poems, and Short Stories

I’m Sorry You Got Mad, Kyle Lukoff. A shade too didactic, but I still enjoyed it. It’s a kid forced to rewrite an apology until it has the actual shape of an apology, with illustrations showing the context of the kid’s emotions and his relationship with the one he harmed as well as other classmates. I like it when picture books use illustrations and text separately to build a bigger story.

The Book That Kibo Wrote, Mariana Ruiz Johnson. Kind of funky illustrations but a neat idea of how a book affects different people. It’s the teacher saying of doors and windows, but shown in how each animals relates to Kibo’s book - as an exotic other world or as nostalgia or whatever.

Books on Slow Mode

Home Comforts, Cheryl Mendleson. I read one section a day. Shopping for towels.

50 Great Poets, ed. Milton Crane. Mail bribe.

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. I’m getting some good ideas for kid management. 

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: Ghosted
• Friend Book Club: Movie month!
• Hugo Finalist: Reread Short Stories
• Foolscap Book Club Book:  Hugo Short Stories, 
• Sword and Laser Club Book:   The Book That Wouldn’t Burn
• Scintillation Book Club: Morgaine Chronicles
• Cloudy Book Club:  The Gilded Crown
• Torches and Pitchfork Book Club:  Canticle For Leiberwitz
• Romance Book Club: Snowed in together: Stitch in Snow
• River Runs Under It Book Club: Orbital 

Candy For Everyone!

On Halloween day I realized I hadn’t decorated at all, so I dragged out the bin and put up stuff. Then I went to get my COVID shot. I had just enough candy to last the evening, although I was lucky it was rainy and unpleasant because I had no spares. The streets were pretty empty when I turned off all the lights and went to hide upstairs.

The next day I was tired from the shot but still managed a bit of a run; my face still is numb in spots so I’m fairly careful how I step. And this week I managed to knock off a few more libraries for my list.

Goodreads thinks I am currently reading 80 books, but I’m so far behind at marking things as complete that who knows. The library thinks I have 74 physical books checked out. In unrelated news, I have completed my quest to visit all KCLC libraries (in real time, not back in October). 

Books Completed  Oct 31 - Nov 6

Lily and the Great Quake, Veeda Bybee. A Girl Survives book. I’m still chugging through these but they aren’t as rich as the Tarshis books. Lily is a girl who likes her book and is there for the San Francisco earthquake; the book is strong on action and some facts but light on historical feel and character development.

Interview With the Vampire, Anne Rice. Wow did this make me feel old, because I have vague memories of reading it back in the day and I was so clueless. I missed all the erotic bits between the guys. These men are professing their love for each other and it went right over my head. Also I had completely forgotten the interviewer until the scene at the very end; what a gormless chump.

Rei Escapes Disaster Graphic Novel, Susan Griner. Another depiction of the tidal wave (I read an I Survived book about it). This one has the viewpoint of local school kids. I’m still hung up on the teacher sending two of the kids back on their own for some reason, because that made the narrative better but the teacher seem incompetent. Also I’m so old it’s hard for me to read the black and white comics.

Come See the Fair, Gabriel Savin. I got halfway through this as a Cybils reader a year ago before deciding it wasn’t strong enough, but I hate unfinished books so I went back. It took a lot for me to sympathize with the main character as she stopped doing things quickly and didn’t start again until two-thirds through when there was no one else to do things. And the ending didn’t satisfy me. But it’s a good story and brings 1800s Chicago to life.

Hundredfold, Anthony Esolen. These poems respect both poetic forms and the Roman Catholic understanding of Christ. I appreciated the love and effort that went into them although none begged me to take it home. But each one is part of the bigger edifice Esolen is building, and I enjoyed reading through his book.

Mary Anne Saves the Day, Graphic Novel, Ann Martin and Raina Telgemeier. Fun but not as good as the original. I like the nuance of a written book.

I Survived the California Wildfires, 2018, Lauren Tarshis. Wow, this kid has such a big problem that even the wildfire takes a while to get his attention. And history is getting very recent — probably school kids can remember the fires.

Anya Flees the Fallout, Erin Falligant. Early year I read an adult history of Chernobyl, so I was interested to see how the Girls Survived book showed the experience from a kid’s point of view. Needless to say it was not encouraging to hear her dad was a fireman (sent in to literally shovel on top of the radioactive pile) and that she had a beloved pet (all pets were abandoned and then shot as radioactive), and that was before her grandfather opted not to evacuate his home. Anya seemed to vary in age according to narrative requirements and her parents clearly kept their opinions of Russian news veracity from her and her older brother.

Spook, Mary Roach. For Torches & Pitchforks book club. Roach is always fun as she wanders about to experts and asks questions even if they are dumb. Sometimes the questions are dumb, sometimes the experts are, but it mostly works. The chapter in India didn’t age that well but after that rough start we mostly had fun.

Track Changes, Abigail Nussbaum. For my Hugo judging I skipped to the essays about things I’ve read or seen, but it was worth going back to read the rest. I like her way of taking literature seriously on its own terms, judging it by what questions it asks and how it answers them. Even when I disagreed with her I appreciated how she made her points. 

The Poisoned King, Katherine Rundall. Although not as perfect as the previous book, that’s a high bar that leaves a lot of room for a good read. I liked the characters and the situations and the illustrations and the way actions had consequences.

Books Started

Rei Escapes Disaster Graphic Novel, Susan Griner. A Girls Survive book.

All the Beauty in the World, Patrick Brinkley. Recommended by a librarian.

Anya Flees the Fallout, Erin Falligant. A Girls Survive book.

The Poisoned King, Katherine Rundall. Because I loved book 1.

I Survived the Great Chicago Fire, 1871, Lauren Tarshis. I’ve already read the graphic novel.

Boy-Crazy Stacey, Ann M. Martin. Another babysitter club book.

Bookmarks Moved

The Way of Kings, Brandon Sanderson

Bluebird, Ciel Pierrot. 

Arabella of Venus, David Levine

Some Sunny Day, Adam Baron

Hello Stranger, Lisa Kleypas

The Luminaries, Eleanor Catton

This Tender Land, William Kent Kruger

I’m Nobody, Who Are You?, Emily Dickinson    

Inventing the Renaissance, Ada Palmer

North Woods, Daniel Mason. 

Heavenly Tyrants, Xiran Jay Zhao

Coyote Dreams, C.E. Murphy

Hearts Still Beating, Brooke Archer

The Farwalker’s Quest, John Sensel

One Jump Ahead, Mark L Von Name

Bookmarks Languished

I have not given up on these! Ignore all evidence!   

                                        

                                                                                                                        Into the Vast Nothing, J. Bruno             

                                                                                                        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                        

                        The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, David Mitchell 

               Read Dangerously, Azar Nifisi

         The Last Witchfinder, James K. Morrow. Scintillation book club.

      Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel

      Lepunia: Kingdom of the Gallopers, Kevin Ford

An Exchange of Hostages, Susan R. Matthews   

So Let Them Burn, Kamilah Cole

Picture Books, Poems, and Short Stories

Ahoy, Sophie Blackall. A good story about imaginative play with the illustrations dancing between reality and the game, but I found the artistic style a bit repellent. The people fell into an uncanny valley for me. But this was a personal thing;I bet most kids would like it.

Books on Slow Mode

Home Comforts, Cheryl Mendleson. I read one section a day. Shopping for towels.

At the Feet of the Sun, Victoria Goddard. Long slow ending is like finishing a milkshake; good to last drop.

50 Great Poets, ed. Milton Crane. Mail bribe.

The Writer's Stance: Reading and Writing in the Disciplines, Dorothy U. Seyler. Mail bribe.

Black Leopard, Red Wolf, Marlon James. I liked the essay in Track Changes about this book.

War Cross, Marie Lu. Mail bribe. 

Teaching With Caldecott Books, Scholastic books. Mail bribe. I like that I remember these books. Or not; I had confused Last Stop On Market Street with a different book.

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: Red Dragon Codex
• Library Book: The Sailor Cipher
• Hugo Finalist: So Let Them Burn
• Foolscap Book Club Book:  Hugo Short Stories, 
• Sword and Laser Club Book:   The Book That Wouldn’t Burn
• Scintillation Book Club: My Name Is Red
• Cloudy Book Club:  The Gilded Crown
• Torches and Pitchfork Book Club:  Canticle For Leiberwitz
• Romance Book Club: Snowed in together: Stitch in Snow
• River Runs Under It Book Club: Orbital 
• Talbot Hill Book:  realistic fiction, school stories
• Friday Book Club:  Movie Night!

Volunteer and Make Friends, They Said

I’m so far behind I barely remember what was going on. I marched in a rally (No Kings!), gave blood, met my new Ukrainian friend so she could practice English with me, went to see Patricia Briggs talk about her new book (and bought said new book), and complained about my slowly de-numbing face. Oh, the power went out for a day so we went out to brunch and they let us recharge all our devices. Thank you, Countryside Cafe!

Goodreads thinks I am currently reading 77 books, but I’m so far behind at marking things as complete that who knows. The library thinks I have 80 physical books checked out. In unrelated news, I have completed my quest to visit all KCLC libraries (in real time, not back in October). 

Books Completed  Oct 24 - 30

I Survived the American Revolution, Lauren Tarshis. An I Survived book. Once again I prefer the original to the graphic novel retelling, despite the latter’s great illustrations. I enjoy seeing the interiority of the character, and Tarshis makes each one individual and complex. I felt his friendship with the Black workers was earned, not just pushing modern sensibilities back into the past to make a character more,sympathetic.

Blind Date With a Werewolf, Patricia Briggs. I went to hear the author talk about this book and her writing in general, and she was great. Then I wandered over to buy a copy, and my friends joined me although they have moved completely digital in their reading. I thought she did a great job taking some stories originally written as a lark and building a book with an arc and a theme from them; I expected a book of short stories and got a novel.

Where the Woods End, Charlotte Salter. I met this author so I went out to get her book, and it was good and powerful and far too scary for wimpy me. The danger to the kids, both physical and psychological, was very real and conveyed with skill and yikes, it was hard to finish. But I think it would be great for kids.

Give Me a Reason, Jayci Lee. The Tacoma Extreme Library Challenge has a Slot for K-drama, so I grabbed this book about a star returning to California where she has a second chance romance. It was fun, but emotionally the couple came across more as the late teens they were when they tragically parted so she could go off and save the family fortune by become a K-drama star. Hey, I don’t think she ever learns about the zillions he made as a nebulous investment guy before becoming a fireman. 

Books Started

Lily and the Great Quake, Veeda Bybee. A Girl Survives book.

Spook, Mary Roach. For Torches & Pitchforks book club.

Bluebird, Ciel Pierrot. Partner read for a book club.

Blind Date With a Werewolf, Patricia Briggs. Buy on sight author.

I Survived the California Wildfires, 2018, Lauren Tarshis. Only a few left.

North Woods, Daniel Mason. River Runs Under It pick.

Mary Anne Saves the Day, Graphic Novel, Ann Martin and Raina Telgemeier. Fun but not as good as the original.

Hello Stranger, Lisa Kleypas. Romance with a doctor, for Romance book club.

Bookmarks Moved

The Way of Kings, Brandon Sanderson

Track Changes, Abigail Nussbaum

Coyote Dreams, C.E. Murphy

Arabella of Venus, David Levine

Hearts Still Beating, Brooke Archer

The Farwalker’s Quest, John Sensel

Interview With the Vampire, Anne Rice

Hundredfold, Anthony Esolen

The Luminaries, Eleanor Catton

Some Sunny Day, Adam Baron

This Tender Land, William Kent Kruger

An Exchange of Hostages, Susan R. Matthews   

Come See the Fair, Gabriel Savin

Heavenly Tyrants, Xiran Jay Zhao

So Let Them Burn, Kamilah Cole

Inventing the Renaissance, Ada Palmer

Bookmarks Languished

I have not given up on these! Ignore all evidence!   

                                        

                                                                                                                     Into the Vast Nothing, J. Bruno             

                                                                                                     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

                        I’m Nobody, Who Are You?, Emily Dickinson    

                     The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, David Mitchell 

            Read Dangerously, Azar Nifisi

            One Jump Ahead, Mark L Von Name

      The Last Witchfinder, James K. Morrow. Scintillation book club.

   Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel

   Lepunia: Kingdom of the Gallopers, Kevin Ford

Picture Books, Poems, and Short Stories

Super Goat Girl, Tracey Baptiste. Recommended by the podcast Even the Trunchbull, this is a fun book about a new kid in a class of superheroes. She’s unsure of herself but has hidden strengths, yet her classmates are a little hesitant to accept her. There are great illustrations and clever puns (the teacher, who gets rescues a lot, is Miss Damsel) and goats are cool.

Books on Slow Mode

Home Comforts, Cheryl Mendleson. I read one section a day. On to picking the right material for a household linen job. Or a carpet.

At the Feet of the Sun, Victoria Goddard. Long slow ending is like finishing a milkshake; good to last drop.

50 Great Poets, ed. Milton Crane. Mail bribe.

The Writer's Stance: Reading and Writing in the Disciplines, Dorothy U. Seyler. Mail bribe.

Black Leopard, Red Wolf, Marlon James.

War Cross, Marie Lu. Mail bribe. 

Teaching With Caldecott Books, Scholastic books. Mail bribe. I like that I remember these books. Or not; I had confused Last Stop On Market Street with a different book.

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: Red Dragon Codex
• Library Book: Tom Lake
• Hugo Finalist: So Let Them Burn
• Foolscap Book Club Book:  Hugo Short Stories, 
• Sword and Laser Club Book:  Floating Hotel, The Book That Wouldn’t Burn
• Scintillation Book Club: Fangirl
• Cloudy Book Club:  What Feasts At Night, The Gilded Crown
• Torches and Pitchfork Book Club:  Moon of the Crusted Snow, Canticle For Leiberwitz
• River Runs Under It Book Club: Barracoon
• Talbot Hill Book:  Animal Stories, nonfiction
• Friday Book Club: Some Sherlock Holmes pastiche

Numb Face, Faint Heart

I’m so far behind I barely remember what was going on. I marched in a NomKings rally and complained about my slowly de-numbing face. We had a friends bookclub but over zoom because of traffic, and we heard more stories about a member’s recent trip to Japan.

Goodreads thinks I am currently reading 72 books, but I’m so far behind at marking things as complete that who knows. The library thinks I have 80 physical books checked out. In unrelated news, I have completed my quest to visit all KCLC libraries (in real time, not back in October). 

Books Completed  Oct 17 - 23

Year of the Tiger, Alice Wong. I just heard that Alice Wong died, so that is coloring my memories of the book. She felt very vibrant on the page, pushing to be heard and refusing to sit quietly. I didn’t always agree with her, but I did appreciate how much she did to clear the way for quieter people with disabilities to be heard as well. And her family strikes me as regular people being quietly amazing for their kids.

Beowulf, J. R. R. Tolkien. I read the translation ages ago for a book club, but I finally managed to get through all the end notes, which weren’t really worth it. I believe that Tolkien worked hard and knew a lot of Old English, but I don’t and can’t really appreciate whether or not a letter dropped out of words I don’t know.

The Stars Did Wander Darkling, Colin Meloy. Horror for kids is still too scary for me; I probably am much worse at seeing kids in danger than kids are. I did like the nostalgia factor as it was set in the last century. 

Lady Tan’s Circle of Women, Lisa See. Lots of conversations about historical medicine, foot binding (that was a tough one), and marriage and privileges. I liked this view into a period I don’t know much about, and will look out for this author.

Redshirts, John Scalzi. I enjoyed this reread, although I again noticed my biggest complaint with this; it’s hard for me to tell his characters apart by voice and they have long bantering conversations. There’s a fun bit where it’s plot relevant that someone doesn’t talk much but I hadn’t noticed because I treated the main groups conversations as kind of an internal hive mind stream of consciousness. But there was plenty to talk about.

Ruth and the Night of Broken Glass, Emma Carlson Berne. Good competent writing that gives an overview of the historical event but I didn’t get a strong sense of place and time from the characters.

Books Started

Give Me a Reason, Jayci Lee. I need a K-drama book.

Where the Woods End, Charlotte Salter. I met her at the Seattle WorldCon.

Ruth and the Night of Broken Glass, Emma Carlson Berne. A Girls Survive book.

I Survived the American Revolution, Lauren Tarshis. An I Survived book.

Bookmarks Moved

The Way of Kings, Brandon Sanderson

Track Changes, Abigail Nussbaum

Interview With the Vampire, Anne Rice

Hundredfold, Anthony Esolen

The Luminaries, Eleanor Catton

This Tender Land, William Kent Kruger

Inventing the Renaissance, Ada Palmer

Come See the Fair, Gabriel Savin

Hearts Still Beating, Brooke Archer

Some Sunny Day, Adam Baron

An Exchange of Hostages, Susan R. Matthews   

Heavenly Tyrants, Xiran Jay Zhao

Coyote Dreams, C.E. Murphy

Bookmarks Languished

I have not given up on these! Ignore all evidence!   

                                        

                                                                                                                  Into the Vast Nothing, J. Bruno             

                                                                                                  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

                        So Let Them Burn, Kamilah Cole

                     I’m Nobody, Who Are You?, Emily Dickinson    

                  The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, David Mitchell 

         Read Dangerously, Azar Nifisi

         The Farwalker’s Quest, John Sensel

         One Jump Ahead, Mark L Von Name

   The Last Witchfinder, James K. Morrow. Scintillation book club.

Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel

Lepunia: Kingdom of the Gallopers, Kevin Ford

Arabella of Venus, David Levine

Picture Books, Poems, and Short Stories

None.

Books on Slow Mode

Home Comforts, Cheryl Mendleson. I read one section a day. Currently learning laundry details for more polyesters. 

At the Feet of the Sun, Victoria Goddard. Long slow ending is like finishing a milkshake; good to last drop.

50 Great Poets, ed. Milton Crane. Mail bribe.

The Writer's Stance: Reading and Writing in the Disciplines, Dorothy U. Seyler. Mail bribe.

Black Leopard, Red Wolf, Marlon. I’m in the end game and I think I missed some things.

War Cross, Marie Lu. Mail bribe. The teen romance stuff isn’t working for me, but it’s true it’s just as easy to fall in love with a rich guy (as my grandmother used to say).

Teaching With Caldecott Books, Scholastic books. Mail bribe. I like that I remember these 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: Wolf Hall
• Library Book: Tom Lake
• Hugo Finalist: So Let Them Burn
• Foolscap Book Club Book:  Hugo Short Stories, 
• Sword and Laser Club Book:  Floating Hotel, The Book That Wouldn’t Burn
• Scintillation Book Club: Fangirl
• Cloudy Book Club:  What Feasts At Night, The Gilded Crown
• Torches and Pitchfork Book Club:  Moon of the Crusted Snow, Canticle For Leiberwitz
• River Runs Under It Book Club: Barracoon
• Talbot Hill Book:  Animal Stories
• Friday Book Club: Some Sherlock Holmes pastiche