Friendship Is Golden

I had a wonderful trip to Colorado where I met up with many of the women from the pregnancy list I joined while expecting my oldest son. I known these women for twenty years! (Well, most of them. A few joined along the way.) It was absolutely lovely. We had rented to big houses and spent the days doing grouping together in various configurations to poke through art shows, solve an escape room in record time, hike, sightsee, etc. We are all incredibly good people, so things went swimmingly and Breckenridge is friendly and scenic.

On the last day I discovered the local library was practically next door so I popped in and joined their summer reading program. The librarians was so amused that they gave me one of the library sale books (well, I had earned most of it by rapidly completing several steps of the reading program) which I happily read before my flight took off the next day.

Then I came home and the next weekend my book club met for the second (?) annual Picture Book Review. I had gotten copies of the Picture Book and Board book categories, so we sat around and read through them all and commented, then enjoyed a delicious meal of assorted homemade pizzas prepared by the host's spouse. We made him read a few of the books too. This is a perfect summer book club -- relaxed and slightly different but still a good chance for discussion.

My currently reading is back up to 25. I made a little progress with some of the dusty books, but haven't finished any yet.

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 as I read about 15 Cybils kidlit books I'll sign up there.

This Fortnight I started:




Tricks For Free, Seanan McGuire. Because I like Seanan McGuire and the library had this out. I jumped ahead in the InCryptid series but it worked out; the younger sister had an exciting story as she hides out from everyone in an amusement park that has some secrets of its own. There's lot of fun park stuff (roller coasters powering train magicians, etc.) and I'll probably eventually get back to the other books.

Laughing All the Way to the Mosque, Zarqa Nawaz. I forget why I pulled this out of my TBR list.

Yes, Please, Amy Poehler. A Colorado library GAVE this to me when I joined their summer reading program.

Mortal Engines, Philip Reeve. Sword and Laser pick (I'm late again).

Artificial Condition, Martha Wells. I'm a Murderbot fan.

Son of the Black Sword, Larry Correia. Baen is serializing this on their podcast, and I'm on board for the ride.

Long Time Gone, Mary Connealy. My next Reading My Library book.

The Midnight Line, Lee Child. Jack Reacher rides again!

I finished:




The Burning Page, Genevieve Cogman. A RML book. This is the third (I think) in a series about magical librarians, but I figured out the rules fairly quickly. I did find that the author assumed I was invested in various people more than my late arrival actually delivered, so some of the suspense was lost. But it was tricky and fun and I just noticed I have the first on my shelves, so I'll probably read that at some point.

Tricks For Free, Seanan McGuire. This was an excellent plane/vacation book. I jumped ahead in the InCryptid series but it worked out; the younger sister had an exciting story as she hides out from everyone in an amusement park that has some secrets of its own. There's lot of fun park stuff (roller coasters powering train magicians, etc.) and I'll probably eventually get back to the other books.

Yes, Please, Amy Poehler. I felt pressure to read this since the librarian gave me instant credit on my summer reading sheet when she recommended it, but it was a fun read that I finished before leaving Colorado. I liked the mix of voices and fonts, with the loud colored pages marking my progress. It gives me hope for comedy, especially women in comedy. I also now want to watch Parks and Recreation.

Laughing All the Way to the Mosque, Zarqa Nawaz. This started slowly (I have less sympathy for children laughing at their parents' old fashioned ways) but I really started liking it when her career in film took off. My airplane seat partner wanted to know what I was reading because I kept laughing out loud. I'm now watching the show she starts, Little Mosque on the Prairie, because I want more of her work.

Circe, Madeline Miller. June's Sword & Laser pick. This ended very strongly for me, although at first I wasn't sure I was going to like where it was going. The words had the feel of epic poetry behind them, as if somewhere there was a long dramatic poem describing the action. I liked the look at women's roles in the ancient stories, and maybe in the ancient world.

The Hearts We Sold, Emily Lloyd-Jones. Cybis YA. I took a little while to warm up to this tale of teens saving the world, but at the end I was all in. I enjoyed how the problems of the kids were local -- trying to afford an expensive school, dealing with families, but their solutions brought them into a wider conflict when the daemon hires them to close portals, which turns out to be rather an important job. I liked that it seems to be a stand alone book, even though there are many unanswered questions.

Artificial Condition, Martha Wells. Murderbot continues to dislike humans even as they constantly need help, which of course is supplied. I like how the plot toddles along and meanwhile the questions about humanity, social responsibility, and the nature of the individual slink along underneath.


Bookmarks moved in:




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

Boys in the Boat, Daniel James Brown. We are back from the East Coast and confronting unemployment back in Washington.

Robots vs Fairies, ed. Dominick Parisien. The race is on to finish it before the library calls it home.

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

A Closed and Common Orbit, Becky Chambers. I heroically stopped at the agreed on place only to find that the rest of book club had finished the book. Oops.

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

Virtues of War, Bennett R. Coles. The assault is in progress.


Cybils Books

I read through several categories of short books, Short Chapter on my own and Picture Books and Board books with my book club. For my reactions, see my Cybils Finalist list. Here are the covers:








These books 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. Everything possible happens.

Sammy Keyes and the Art of Deception, Wendelin Van Draanen. Art appreciation seems limited by other emotions.

Change of Heart, Norah McClintock.

Reading and Learning to Read, Jo Anne Vaca.

2018 Challenge Progress:

1. Cybils 2017! 36/104-ish. Finished Hearts We Stole and then polished off three younger categories.
2. Reading My Library: Continued The Compleat Gentleman. Finished The Burning Page and started Long Time Gone.
3. Where Am I Reading 2018?: 36/51. Florida and Oregon are duplicates; I did add Greece and Canada.