Chess Is a Mystery

The movie this week was 15:17 to London, which is about what you'd expect if Clint Eastwood made a movie where three young men played themselves saving a French train from terrorists. Pretty scenery, amateur acting, and a happy ending. Grade: It Does What It Says on the Tin; a good time was had by all.

Friday and Saturday I drove back and forth to my son's chess tournament because I'm a softie who likes hanging out with him. He did fairly well on his school's B-team, and watched the bureaucratic shenanigans with amused distaste. The officials messed up another's team's score, which affected the bracket, and his team pointed out the error and the simple fix (selfishly, because it is always ethically difficult for a school's A & B teams to play each other, which the messed-up bracket required). The officials told them to stuff it, and then as a result the event ended chaotically with a 5-way tie that included a team who had never won a game against any of the top 12 teams and now no one really knows if anyone will be allowed to go to nationals. But my kid played some good games and is adjusting to longer tournament games after a lifetime of speed chess.

I'm still as young as my youngest sister, and MUCH younger than my older brother who is like, really old.

And the big excitement of my week is that Kenneth Davis replied to a tweet of mine! I immediately bragged to my history teacher BIL, who was duly impressed and might even read the book I was tweeting about.

I finished another Cybils from last year, as well as one of this year's, but in general I didn't read much which is probably a good thing as I have been overindulging. Currently Reading is still hovering around 30 but I hope to clear some stuff off it this week.

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 so I'll join in there. There's also a version that is kidlit focussed at either Teach Mentor Text or UnLeashing Readers. All my Cybils reading keeps me very eligible for that.

This Week I started:



The Collapsing Empire, John Scalzi. For my Tuesday book club.

Amina's Voice, Hena Khan. 2017 Cybils.

The Firefly Code, Megan Blackmore. A 2016 Cybils pick. I'm almost done!

I finished:



Sarah's Orphans, Vannetta Chapman. I enjoyed this slow moving Amish story about a family of orphans who adopt two homeless Hispanic children they find one winter, and how they open themselves up to help from the community and to each other and find their way even after the death of the father and the mother's abandonment. And Oklahoma!

Voyage to Magical North, Claire Fayers. Cybils middle grade. This was fun and had interesting characters, scenery and ideas, but for me it never rose above that. I'd recommend it to people but wouldn't push copies into their hands.

Amina's Voice, Hena Khan. 2017 Cybils middle grade. Light story of a shy girl starting sixth grade and struggling with some of the more complex social situations. She's believably young for her age and panics fairly easily, especially when eavesdropping on her parents and her more religiously strict uncle who is visiting. The attack on the local mosque is exciting and also bails her out of a misstep at school in an narratively interesting way.

Bookmarks moved in:




Alliance of Equals, Sharon Lee & Steve Miller. Episode 39. All teams are being smart! Shan noticed his kid is struggling, Tully's friends don't buy his self-sacrificing shtick, and trade has a chance to grow. Yay competence!

London Rain, Nicola Upson. RML audio book. Blah blah. The killer is confessing. I'm bored and I don't want to be here.

The Power, Naomi Alderman. For my Feminist book club. Well, it's going back unfinished but I'll put myself on the waiting list again and hope it shows up closer to the meeting time.

Silent in the Sanctuary, Deanna Raybourn. Second in the Lady Grey series. These are longer than my interest really holds up for, although I was enjoying it until the library wanted it back. I have requested it again.

The Evil Wizard Smallbone, Delia Sherman. Cybils middle grade. It's happening in Maine! It never rains but it pours, I guess.

Arabella and the Battle of Venus, David Levine.The problem with setting your book in a time when gender politics were annoying is that they are annoying. I need more space battles!

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. Off to the Renaissance Festival!

Change of Heart, Norah McClintock.

Reading and Learning to Read, Jo Anne Vaca.

2018 Challenge Progress:

1. Cybils 2017! 7/104-ish. Finished a middle grade. Have a nonfiction lined up.
2. Cybils 2016!  101/10-ish. Reading a middle grade SF. I need to find the missing board book.
3. Reading My Library: Working on London Rain which I'm disliking for the mystery. Finished Sarah's Orphans and have the next one lined up..
4. Where Am I Reading 2018?: 22/51. Well, I've certainly zipped out to a fast start this year, although I still don't have North Dakota, Delaware, and Utah which I've missed two years running. I found a Utah at the library though, so maybe I'll read it.