Hot and Home

The heat came back. I've been in the Northwest long enough that 80 seems hot, and these days in the mid-90's are painful. I huddled in my house with fans. My sister and her family went on a vacation to a lovely lake, which was a wise move, but at least I had the joy of switching cars -- they drove off in my minivan while I plugged her Leaf into my garage. It even enticed my older son into practicing his driving a bit more.

And then my younger boy came home from his month abroad, tanned and tired. I swear his hair grew inches! He's not quite fluent in Greek now, but seems more comfortable with strangers and independent. Of course, my ex and his wife immediately got to work on crushing that growth; somehow they think successfully showing independence is to do everything they say. Humph.

My currently reading is back up to 26. I need to finish some of the books gathering dust in my reading bag. On the plus side, I seem to be finishing most of the stuff I start, and so there is hope.

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 sign up there. There's also a version that is kidlit focussed at either Teach Mentor Texts or Unleashing Readers and last week I read a Cybils YA so I'll sign up there.

This Week I started:





A Closed and Common Orbit, Becky Chambers. My brother was complaining that all the recent Hugo nominees were OK but not great books (or books we found actively annoying) so the Tuesday book club is looking at other recently lauded books to see if anything catches his fancy or if he's just a hopeless curmudgeon.

Soupy Leaves Home, Cecil Castellucci. Cybils YA graphic novel.

The Burning Page, Genevieve Cogman. My next Reading My Library shelf book.

Gone Gull, Donna Andrews. It was lying around.

The Hearts We Sold, Emily Lloyd-Jones. Cybis YA.

If Tomorrow Comes, Nancy Kress. Another book from Foolscap 2019 GoH.

The Compleat Gentleman, Brad Minor. My next audio RML book.

I finished:




Princess in Theory, Alyssa Cole. Happily they toured not-Wakanda, reconnected, discussed the importance of honesty and the difficulties of expectations, and reached happily ever after.

The Power, Naomi Alderman. Each page leads to the next, but it definitely falls into the genre of "tough people who do rotten things, usually with competence" except that the tough people tend to be women and the men need a lot of rescuing and emotional support. Very well done as an interrogation of the genre, though.

Soupy Leaves Home, Cecil Castellucci. Cybils YA graphic novel. I liked this story of a teenager riding the rails during America's Depression, teaming up with a mentor to learn the rules of the life. Complications include the mentor's illness (tuberculosis?), her masquerade as a boy, and the complex question of The Professor, whom nobody seems to trust. Strangely, I had no problems distinguishing the characters, so I adore the artist.

Gone Gull, Donna Andrews. I love Meg's family, always ready to help each other or at least take their calls. I think I'd better back off a bit from the series before I overdose; I find Meg's superiority a bit grating this time. But I did feel clever when I recognized the killer first.

Tomorrow's Kin, Nancy Kress. I liked all the different kinds of books: a SF first-contact story, a mediation on family and connection and parenting and loss, and an environmental warning about linchpin species. I thought they had interesting things to say on their own and in conversation with each other.

Bookmarks moved in:



Too Like the Lightning, Ada Palmer. I like it but the tone means a little bit is enough.

Circe, Madeline Miller. June's Sword & Laser pick. I like the feel of the immortals although it doesn't quite match Renault's Ancient Greece for me.

Boys in the Boat, Daniel James Brown. I have pulled it out of my reading-any-second bag!

Robots vs Fairies, ed. Dominick Parisien. I found it! It was under my bed.

These I'm barely reading; I use them as palate cleansers between books I'm actually reading.




Kenilworth, Sir Walter Scott. Kenilworth is sorry he was a jerk and plans to make amends. Queen Elizabeth is Not Amused.

A Traitor to Memory, Elizabeth George. More interviews. The violinist still can't play.

The Quantum Universe, Brian Cox.Transistors.

Sammy Keyes and the Art of Deception, Wendelin Van Draanen. Sammy's Gramma is having relationship drama. And things seem strange with Casey.

Change of Heart, Norah McClintock. Having high drama friends is exhausting even when your other friends aren't in jail awaiting a murder trial.

Reading and Learning to Read, Jo Anne Vaca. Techniques to solidify new vocabulary.

2018 Challenge Progress:

1. Cybils 2017! 15/104-ish. I started (and finished) Soupy and then plowed into The Hearts We Sold.  I also amassed a pile of younger books.
2. Reading My Library: Started The Compleat Gentleman. So far my sons are resisting listenign along with me. Started The Burning Page.
3. Where Am I Reading 2018?: 36/51. Hmm, almost all of this weeks books were perambulators; I guess I can count Alternate London as the UK.