Heat Wave!

I remember when 80 degrees was a cool spring day. Now I wilt all over the place. Wilt wilt wilt. Also, here in Washington it gets hottest in the late afternoon, while I remember in Texas it was scorchy by noon. Weather is odd. Anyway, I picked the one decent day to head up to the zoo with my friend Linda. We admired the hippos swimming in circles and then said hey to the rhinos. Also the baby giraffe was out and about so we cooed at that.

My brother in law had a birthday, so me and the boys turned out to honor him. We joined up with his family to check out the MoPOCP in Seattle, especially enjoying the Prince and Jimi Hendrix exhibitions. Although you wouldn't know it from that exhibition, Jimi Hendrix is actually from our hometown of Renton. We then enjoyed poking around the science fiction and fantasy wings, and I put my toe into Horror before scurrying back out. Then off to see the Apollo 11 IMAX film.

And then DONUTS for dinner. Well, also food, but let's look at the donuts some more.

Family dinner with the little brother again, and well as Frito Pie. The good kid, not the kind in the Frito bag.

My currently reading is steady at 16, which is very low for me! Two library books, an audio book for the car, a reread from my shelves, the serial audio book I get a few minutes of each week, five books I'm just kidding myself that I'm reading, one ancient book that I'm trying to actually finish, and my five books that I'm only sorta reading.

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 so I'll sign up over there, since I read a few picture books.

Started: 




Stone Cold, David Baldacci. For the last week of the reading challenge. I needed the stripes. I'm not sure how this got on my TBR list (it's the 3rd of a series I haven't read) but I usually like Baldacci. He has a tasty formula for me.

Princess Cora and the Crocodile, Laura Amy Schlitz. This was sent to me for review and put in the wrong pile, so I'm terribly late. But it is a wonderful book.

How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe, Charles Yu. My local Sword and Laser book club has gone rogue and read this instead of this month's pick.

Mr. Serious, Danica Winters. This was a gift from the author! And I need a book with a vehicle on it for the reading challenge.

Hunger: A Memoir of My Body, Roxane Gay. Recommended by a librarian.

Vessel, Lisa Nichols. The actual Sword and Laser pick for July.

Completed:





Princess Cora and the Crocodile, Laura Amy Schlitz. I read this in the library last year (it was deservedly on the Cybils list). It ran in the Early Chapter books division and didn't win, but it seems to me a book that deserves to be shared. I guess there's no Older Picture Book division? Share Read Possibility? This is the kind of book I'd love to sit beside a kid as he read it, maybe taking turns with the pages. I loved the crocodile.

Stone Cold, David Baldacci. Sometimes formula books are very relaxing. Although this is book 3 of 5, it was easy to slip into the world of good guys, bad guys, and (for tension!) guys who could go either way. Violence is a way of life, but only occasionally has an effect on people. The government is people with deeply sinister characters seeking power or heroic types who spare no exertion in saving the world (or a single person!).

Silvered, Tanya Huff. I loved the different paths the three main viewpoint characters took, and how Miriam redefined her goals and accepted sacrifices. Reiter's journey from a soldier following orders to a man refusing to take part in atrocity was well handled, and Danica's experience as a prisoner was harrowing. I'm just sad that we don't get more, because Miriam's next steps will also be interesting.

Mr. Serious, Danica Winters. The plot and the romance in this didn't work together. The murder mystery plot was too clunky and unformed, making the characters seem dim and incompetent, and its gravity made the romance seem trivial and childish. And I'm appalled by the secret this guy's family kept from him, and that he was so isolated he never figured it out on his own. They all appeared utterly oblivious to each other's emotions and characters, and that's the only thing that made the plot work. Not the fun little romance I was hoping for.

Vessel, Lisa Nichols. The actual Sword and Laser pick for July. I'm DNF-ing (lemming) this, because it does a lot of things I don't want to read about right now. It's a good book -- I like the writing, the characters are well drawn, and they are dealing with normal and supernormal things in a realistic way. It's just that among the things they are dealing with are regrets about adultery, turning to alcohol to deal with stuff and thereby messing up relationships with family, etc. I skimmed through for the SF stuff -- also good-- but the library wants it back so I don't have time to pick it up and put it down often enough to get through the emotional tough parts.

Bookmarks Moved In:




Son of the Black Sword, Larry Correia. 53/? Baen's podcast serial. The main character is not a very likable person lately.

Cyteen, C.J. Cherryh. Reread. Well, that was the rape scene. After this the death scene will be a relief.

Tell the Wolves I'm Home, Carol Rifka Brunt. Still inching along.

Tender Morsels, Margo Lanagan. 1/10 discs. Well, this is a bit of a shock. I was casually expecting a fantasy with kids and magical bears and whatnot, and I've just spent a disk listening to a child getting routinely raped by her dad. She's also stupid, which may be a result of the rapes. If this were a library book I'd give up right here, but I own it so I can read it in as tiny chunks as I need.

Picture Books:



Music, Music For Everyone, Vera Williams. Further adventures for the kid from A Chair For My Mother. Pretty but not as sharp.

Ruby's Birds, Mya Thompson. Book about birdwatching. Which I am terrible at. But I liked the book.

Palate Cleansers

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



A Traitor to Memory, Elizabeth George.

Inn of the Sixth Happiness, Alan Burgess. She's in love! This is not the cute guy from the movie.

The Educated Child, William Bennett. What to look for in an elementary school. Wow, I never asked any of these questions.

Cookie, Jacqueline Wilson.

Reading and Learning to Read, Jo Anne Vaca. Onward!

Reading Challenges

1. Cybils 2017. Nothing.
2. Cybils 2018. Accumulated some poetry books.
3. Reading My Library. Haven't started the next print book.
4. KCLS Ten to Try. Three books, two from my shelves. I didn't score very high, but I cleared off a few from my TBR piles so I'm pleased.