Tired!

Most of this week I felt fairly sad, so not much reading happened. I picked up a few books, but quickly put them down again. Finishing anything seemed impossible.


My currently reading edged back up to 27. I keep starting books to talk myself into reading, and then putting them back down.

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 some Cybils poetry books plus Whiskerella I'll sign up there.

This Week I started:




Rogue Protocol, Martha Wells. The next Murderbot story!

The Wonder Engine, T. Kingfisher. My son let me have it back, as he is off being collegiate now. I promptly put it down somewhere very safe.

Ascendant, Jack Campbell. Sequel to Vangaurd.

Lady Rogue, Teresa Romain. Regency romance across class lines, a trope I find interesting.

Whiskerella, Ursula Vernon. Because nothing looked good to read, so I searched for something that made me want to turn pages.

Darkness Visible, William Styron. My Tuesday night book pick. I think. I may have the weeks wrong.


Cybils Reading

I got through some of the poetry books:



These make me glad not to be a poetry judge, as they are doing very different things and yet are the most similar books in the category as they are all functionally picture books. One is a collection of classic poems and a poet's reaction to them, one a lyrical biography of a foundational author, and one is a charming evocation of a familiar event. They are all good at what they do, and they do it with poetry, but which is the winner? And that's not even considering the other four books, which are also very different and which I'll try to read next week.

I finished:



Vanguard, Jack Campbell. Campbells prose is still earnest and a bit stodgy, but then so are most of his characters. It's clearly a story by a military person who has a keen understanding and contempt for the bureaucracy that can displace competence in large organizations and for the heroism and cowardice that combat elicits from professionals and volunteers. The romances are more rosy than realistic, but again that can be fun.

Rogue Protocol, Martha Wells. Murderbot wants to pay back the people who freed him, which involves solving another mystery. And interacting with another AI, this one almost childlike in its affection for the humans who own it. Things do not go according to plan, which means many things blow up. This was an attempt to make reading fun again, since not of my bookmarked books looked enticing.

Makoons, Louise Erdrich. Definitely North Dakota. It's a fun story of some boys running around on the north prarie towards the end of the 19th century. It's not as fun as the Laura Ingalls books because boys. I think I skipped two or three books, because my viewpoint character is now the dull mom.

Whiskerella, Ursula Vernon. This was a delight, with Harriet dealing with the stresses of multiple balls by haring off to rescue an older girl with uncomfortable shoes. It unfortunately did end with a bit of a happy-ever-after, but that's what happens when you rescue older teens instead of fun tweens like yourself.

Bookmarks moved in:




The Compleat Gentleman, Brad Minor. My audio RML book. 6-7/7. The narrator sounds smug, but it's probably not his fault. I particularly liked when the book that has just spent 6 discs talking about the best practice of people and men (the two terms seem to be interchangeable) takes a break to laugh at some silly feminists who seem to think that some men forget that women exist. He then appears to disparage worries about rape culture before returning to extolling that supreme human being: The Compleat Gentleman. Ladies need not apply. They've been forgotten again.

Son of the Black Sword, Larry Correia. 6/? Baen's podcast serial. It's cold on the high mountain, but the view is nice.

Jade City, Fonda Lee. Last month's Sword and Laser pick. More crooks and their attempts at career advancement through murder and mayhem.

Stinger, Nancy Kress. Kress is the next Foolscap GoH. Real life is hard.

The Eye of Truth, Lindsay Buroker. She keeps arresting him, but then he gets rescued. Or captured. It depends on your viewpoint, I guess.

Honor Among Thieves, James A. Corey. My next Reading My Library book. Time for a daring rescue!

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



A Traitor to Memory, Elizabeth George.

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

Change of Heart, Norah McClintock.

Inn of the Sixth Happiness, Alan Burgess.

Reading and Learning to Read, Jo Anne Vaca.

2018 Challenge Progress:

1. Cybils 2017! 49/104-ish. Working my way through poetry.
2. Reading My Library: Started a James Corey book. Disliking the Gentleman audio but have Mary Roach's Stiff  ready to take the taste out.
3. Where Am I Reading 2018?: 38/51. Makoons was choosen for its North Dakota location.