I was dragging my feet on reading this week, so I gave up and just read and reread stuff that I knew I'd like from authors who I knew would deliver what I wanted. K J Charles, Courtney Milan, Lee Child, Norah McClintock -- all are authors that describe their contents on the tin and deliver what they promised. So I cheered my self up.
Friday was my friend's book club, which was a delight as always. These ladies are great. One jumped onto the plan to see THOR:RAGNAROK with me and my brother and son on Friday, and that was also a good time. And I got to zip around delivering people to places mostly on time, which makes me feel useful.
Currently Reading has wavered and stopped at 21. There are a few books I've been inching through that I need to finish up so I can get below 20 and stay there.
The Book Date does a weekly roundup of what people are reading, want to read, or have read each week called It's Monday! What Are You Reading and I'm signing up there. There's also a version that is kidlit focussed, and my Cybils reading qualifies me. I'll go look to see what everyone else was reading at either Teach Mentor Text or UnLeashing Readers.
This Week I started:
An Unnatural Vice, K J Charles. Ooo, one of my favorite tropes in a romance is where the problem is that one of the pair is a scoundrel. Not a "rake" but a crook or on the lam or, as in this case, a fraudulent spiritualist. Add in the rest of the friends crowd and this may be one of my favorites.
An Unsuitable Heir, K J Charles. This trilogy has the tightest over-all arc of the books of Charles that I've read so far. It will be fun to see if she sticks the landing.
A Case of Possession, K J Charles. When I go back to an author I go back with a vengeance.
The Third Degree, Norah McClintock. I'm trying to find more of her backlist.
A Flight of Magpies, K J Charles. More Charles.
Jackdaw, K J Charles. This one is set at the same time as Flight of Magpies but from a different perspective, so I'm going to read them in tandem.
Make Me, Lee Child. I'm not feeling like reading anything, so I'm going with random impulses. Also this may be set in Oklahoma.
A Kiss for Midwinter, Courtney Milan. Not only do I read anything I think of, I'm thinking of very short things.
The Keeper of the Mist, Rachel Neumeier. The next Cybils YA book.
Nothing to Lose, Lee Child. Another Jack Reacher story, this one hopefully in Colorado.
Strangers in Their Own Land, Arlie Hochschild. Apparently this book will explain how people can vote for Trump.
Expendable, James Alan Gardner. For my Tuesday BookClub, which is also now a Minecraft club.
I finished:
An Unnatural Vice, K J Charles. Just as fun as the first pages promised. The fogs of London are described in loathsome detail, and the tricks of communing with the dead also seem well researched. I like the dynamic between the characters, and the resolution of the conflict seemed fairly on and will lead into the next book well.
The Magpie Lord, K J Charles. It was fun to go back to Stephen and Lucien and the magic mixed in with a slightly earlier London.
A Case of Possession, K J Charles. These are short and fun and perfect for repelling a reading slump. The mix of interior and outer problems for our magician and the lord is finely balanced, along with a good mix of world building both fantastical and historical.
An Unsuitable Heir, K J Charles. This book was a bit distracted by having to wrap up the overarching mystery of the fog-killer, and the pairing didn't seem as strong, but the individuals were fascinating as they fit into their historical period as a one-armed man and a transgender acrobat. Or as the son of an anarchist and the lost heir to a title and estate.
A Kiss for Midwinter, Courtney Milan. I liked this but I couldn't really believe in the characters, so that limited its effectiveness for me. I'm also baffled on how it's a Brothers Sinister book but that's probably because it's been so long since I read the first ones. Again I had fun seeing the society from the viewpoints of Milan's always interesting people, but I didn't really buy their reactions to each other so it didn't really work as a romance for me.
A Flight of Magpies, K J Charles. It was interesting reading this alongside Jackdaw because you can really see the problems in the system with characters on both sides. I like how I can have such sympathy for people fighting between themselves. Stephen, Lucien, and Jonah had firmly held and completely incompatible ideas that had to be navigated.
Make Me, Lee Child. Jack Reacher and idle curiosity save the day. I find his relationships with women emotionally utterly opaque, but I guess he has a robust sex life? And he's probably good in bed, being athletic and all. On more important questions, they never give the state of the town he has to clean up, but the closest big city is Oklahoma City, so I'm counting this for Oklahoma. He goes there for supplies, anyway.
The Lust Killer, Ann Rule. Sarah Monette thinks this is a good example of true crime writing, and I agree that it gives a good sense of both the killer and the society he lives in (thirty years ago is a very different world). I also discovered that I'm far too squeamish to enjoy true crime stories.
I started 12 and finished 8. That's a bit of a backsliding for me.
Picture Books and Short Stories:
Lowriders to the Center of the Earth, Cathy Camper. Cybils finalist. This elementary graphic novel mixes Spanish and English easily as the impala, mosquito and octopus search for their lost cat in their cool hot rod. I liked the red toned pictures and the easy friendship and trust among the three amigos.
"The Ruin of Gabriel Ashleigh," K J Charles. I believe I have now consumed all of Charles's published works, so I feel like a good completist. This one was a bit stressful for me, even though I knew it worked out well because I've read all the later novels.
Bookmarks moved in:
Alliance of Equals, Sharon Lee & Steve Miller. Episode 23. I've started listening on higher speed because Alexander isn't here to either complain or change the speed back. Nonfiction podcasts are always on the highest speed diction allows, but audio books seem like a performance and it seems rude to alter the speed. But not as rude as crashing while driving because I tried to mess with my phone.
Someplace to Be Fying, Charles de Lint. Men are stomping around at each other.
Great Pumpkin Suite, Melanie Hill. The kids play with sharp tools.
First Impressions, Nora Roberts. My audio Reading my Library Quest book. Maryland again! And I keep forgetting that Shane is the girl.
These I'm barely reading; I use them as palate cleansers between books I'm actually reading.
Kenilworth, Sir Walter Scott.
A Traitor to Memory, Elizabeth George. The stalled musician is still asking after his sister in the form of annoying pretend letters to his psychiatrist.
The Quantum Universe, Brian Cox.
Reading and Learning to Read, Jo Anne Vaca.
2017 Challenge Progress:
- Cybils 2016! 49/107-ish. Working through elementary Graphic Novels and also back at the YAs. I'm not looking likely to finish by the end of the year.
- Reading My Library: Started First Impressions for my next audio, and picked up five more books from the next bookcase.
- Where Am I Reading?: 36/51. I'm still doomed, even after picking up Oklahoma, Oregon, and something else that I forget.
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