College Kid Gone

Well, I dropped my oldest boy back off at college. I can't even pretend there's any Christmas left. It was a fun drive with him, and then a dinner out, but he got in early enough that I couldn't force him to round up any friends for me to meet.

Now I've got to make sure everything is ready for FOOLSCAP since I'm in charge of the convention this year. Everyone should come!

I still have piles of last years Cybils, some started and some just glaring at me. Currently Reading is around 30 as a result.

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 that I'm going to sign up for. There's also a version that is kidlit focussed.  I'll go look to see what everyone else was reading at either Teach Mentor Text or UnLeashing Readers.

This Week I started:




Ghost, Jason Reynolds. Cybils middle grade.

Another Place in Time, ed. Tamara Allen. Recommended by Goodreads.

Benedict Hall, Cate Campbell. Next Reading My Library book.

Shrill: Notes From a Loud Woman, Lindy West. For my Feminist Book Club.

The Chocolate Bunny Brouhaha, Joanna Carl. The next Reading My Library book. I haven't finished the previous one, but this looks like a fast read and that does not.

Frankenstein, Mary Shelley. My Tuesday Night Book club and Sword & Laser are both reading this.

I finished:




Strangers In Their Own Land, Arlie Hochschild. I finished it in time for the Across the Aisles book club, which we actually had three people show up for! Hope springs eternal. We were all Democrats but we could argue respectfully with the book, which worked out all right.

Ghost, Jason Reynolds. Cybils middle grade. Wow, another book about running that I liked -- the Cybils books can work miracles! Hard-luck kid stumbles onto an elite track team, but has to prove he can follow the rules enough to stay in, even when some of the rules seem to block his progress. Good voice, reasonable problems, and a good variety of adults, both helpful and otherwise.

A Promise of Fire, Amanda Bouchet. OK, the guy kidnapping the girl is a trope I can sorta live with -- he does it for political reasons, not just because he thinks she's hot. But when Griffon and his friends constantly laugh at Cat for objecting to being kidnapped, or outright berate her for not trusting her captors instantly, I don't find them friendly and when Cat falls in love with him I'm just sickened. Especially since he never respects her and constantly overrides all her decisions, often with no justification. Even the fun Greek background and terms like Hoi Polloi could not reconcile me to the characters.

Treasured By Thursday, Catherine Bybee. The hero in this romance also coerces the heroine into a relationship, which made it a bad partner to Promise of Fire as two versions of this trope is too many. But in this case the guy never claims it's a good thing, or that she shouldn't be upset about it, and in fact ends up apologizing. So he looks good. He's also a billionaire with an evil twin, so he's easy to forgive. By the way, is it really illegal to agree to "pull the plug" on someone if you are the beneficiary of their life insurance policy?

Another Place in Time, ed. Tamara Allen. Recommended by Goodreads. Short stories set in various historical periods with a M/M romance in them. The introduction enthuses about reinforcing the idea that these relationships existed throughout time and allow people to identify with history, which gave an erudite feeling even when a few of the stories didn't really please me. The KJ Charles is a fun story but mostly about sex, which doesn't usually make me feel intellectual. Some others had fun history details (office work after WWI) but not much of a story. Not bad but not great overall.

Lucky Penny, Ananth Hirsh. Cybils Graphic Novel. I'm too old to enjoy this story of a new adult who hasn't really mastered the adulting part yet; the reality bits stressed me too much to enjoy the near-fantasy portions. The pictures were sharp and I only occasionally got confused.

The Chocolate Bunny Brouhaha, Joanna Carl. I was right about this being a fast read -- a cosy murder mystery in a chocolate factory in a small Michigan town. I liked the characters and the setting -- with a tourist town you can have lots of murders without decimating the neighborhood. And I spotted the bad guy, which made me feel clever.

Ms Bixby's Last Day, John David Anderson. Cybils MG. The kids rally with a bit of good luck and a bit of family affection, and they manage to give their teacher one last good day. It's a good story with independent kids getting stuff done while skating the edge of danger.

Bookmarks moved in:




Alliance of Equals, Sharon Lee & Steve Miller. Episode 32. The Captain is doing better, Daav may believe in his wife, and Shan may manage to have a conversation with his daughter without accidentally traumatizing her.

The Homesman, Glendon Swarthout. A Reading My Library audio. Yep, it got dumb. The main character, the only one with any depth to her character, is gone, and we are left with flat caricatures. For the last 2/7 of the book. This does not make for interesting listening. Oh well, at least it takes place in Nebraska.

The Borden Murders, Sarah Miller. Cybils Non-Fiction. Having been influenced by Cherie Priests take on this, I'm rooting for Lizzie. Which is odd, because in the Priest horror version, she did do it.

The Serpent King, Jeff Zentner. Cybils YA. I'm not sure whether to hope the girl gets into her chosen college or not. I'm not sure I like those online friends of hers.

Trashed, Derf Backderf. The history of trash and the hard life of a college drop out.

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 Quantum Universe, Brian Cox.

Sammy Keyes and the Art of Deception, Wendelin Van Draanen.

Reading and Learning to Read, Jo Anne Vaca.

2018 Challenge Progress:

1. Cybils 2017! 2/104-ish. I have received the first few from the library.
2. Cybils 2016!  74/107-ish. Knocked off another graphic novel and two middle grades. Pushed ahead in some others.
3. Reading My Library: Have pushed through to the last disk of The Homesman.  Finished two books (Treasured by Thursday and The Chocolate Brouhaha)  and made deadway in Benedict Hall.
4. Where Am I Reading 2017?: 5/51. Added Louisiana and Connecticut. And Michigan. I have Massachusetts and Tennessee (I think) and Nebraska in progress.