Midweek July 4ths are a bit smaller. Wednesday I went to a friends for gaming and grills. We did some Bards Dispense Profanity, which is a literary version of Cards Against Humanity, then ate all sorts of goodies (I brought potato chips and a cheese plate) from exotic fruit salads (figs! marinated raisons! blueberries!) to pork rinds and hamburgers and hot dogs. Thursday my BIL put on 1776 and and then in a manly way grilled us some food. He knows me well enough to keep my burgers way over on the side so they are beautifully rare, just the way we like 'em.
Then as the evening wore on he read out some of the president's speech so we could fall about laughing and looking up more jokes about the Revolutionary Air Force. Sit down, John!
My currently reading has steadied at 19. Two book club books (one is running late, and the other needs to be done by Wednesday, a library book, an audio book for the car, a book on my NOOK, 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 six 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 pile of picture books, plus the Cybils YA books.
Started:
Votes for Women, Winifred Conkling. YA Cybils history book.
The Faithful Spy, John Hendrix. YA Cybils history book.
Beginnings, Middles, and Ends, Nancy Kress. I picked this up at Foolscap.
We Are Not Yet Equal, Carol Anderson. YA Cybils nonfiction book.
The Lawrence Browne Affair, Cat Sebastian. For Renton library book club.
Completed:
A Natural History of Dragons, Marie Brennan. I really enjoyed the viewpoint character and the setting, which was all new names in a quintessential historical British setting. There was real danger but we knew our heroine would make it through as she was writing this from memory in her old age, another conceit I enjoy. I will look out for the rest of these.
Envy of Angels, Matt Wallace. A fun short book about New York cooks. Our hard working line chefs find themselves hired by a team that caters to the supernatural, and confront tough moral questions like: is it OK to eat an angel? And what goes into those chicken nuggets anyway? It's fun and lighthearted, playing on folk myths and cooking biographies.
Votes for Women, Winifred Conkling. YA Cybils history book. The problem with YA history is that it tends to circle the same topics, so this has to stand against the other books on the history of women's suffrage I've read in the past few years. It is a clear timeline, showing the warts and successes of the varied politicians, although most of the new information was about harsh choices they made (women betraying African-Americans, and vice versa), which was a bit depressing. In a good way -- that meant the book was doing its job!
The Faithful Spy, John Hendrix. YA Cybils history book. This is almost a graphic novel -- it uses a lot of drawings, typography and images to convey the information, which makes it appealing. As an amateur, YA history often feels like watered down nonfiction to me, and as a high schooler (a high achieving one) I just went straight for regular nonfiction. In this case the author/designer is appealing more directly to the high school audience in a powerful way. Despite having read a biography of Benhoffer for last year, this felt fresh and powerful to me.
Beginnings, Middles, and Ends, Nancy Kress. This is a great instruction book for a beginner writer, which maybe I'll be someday. It encourages a look at what you want your prose to do, how to see what it is actually doing, and ways to help yourself make sure these things line up, all written in a clear and encouraging manner, including some exercises to do to apply the ideas to your work.
Bookmarks Moved In:
Son of the Black Sword, Larry Correia. 50/? Baen's podcast serial. Lots of people died. This is not unusual in this book, and I'm a little sad that it's harder to skim the gross bits on audio.
Cyteen, C.J. Cherryh. Reread. Still creeping through my least favorite part of the reread. Grant is getting himself in trouble, on Justin's immature plan. We are seeing the horrors of the azi system.
Tell the Wolves I'm Home, Carol Rifka Brunt. Sisters being good to each other, which was apparently much more common in my life than in most literature, so I'm always glad to see it.
The Way Into Darkness, Harry Connolly. And they are zipping around again, with plans for the End Game!
Stories of My Life, Katherine Paterson. 5-6/7 Discs. Library Quest audio that I'm enjoying. It matches up in time with Inn of the Sixth Happiness so I get two looks at pre-WWII China, and it gives a good view of an intelligent woman who embraces the life of wife and mother (and famous author). Right now we see the birth and adoption of her four kids.
The Last Unicorn, Peter Beagle. The June Sword and Laser pick. I'm still dealing with the sadness of the thing Schmendrink did to the unicorn to save her.
Picture Books (Lots this week!):
The Whole Wide World and Me, Toni Yuli. This was really good. I'm putting it on my Cybils nomination list. It was recommended to me by one of the guys who hang around the library so I took it so I would seem friendly and he was right -- it's a great book. The pictures and words work together to give a sense that we are all part of the world and the world is part of us, and we are small and we are mighty.
Maggie McGillicuddy's Eye For Trouble, Susan Hughes. This would be a fun book to share with kids. I liked the intergenerational friendship and the emphasis on imagination, and the kids would like being in on the joke and the patterns established and then tweaked.
Baby Boo I LOVE YOU, Sheryl Haft. Sweet book about a girl who likes her doll. Cosy.
What Do You Do With an Idea?, Kobi Yamada. This seemed to be mostly talking past the kids to the adults reading it, but it's a nice little allegory of an idea as an egg that a kid eventually hatches after a few struggles of the metaphoric kind.
In Your Hands, Carole Boston Weatherford. This is one of those watercolor swirls about the love for a child as he grows and moves off on his own, but with the extra shadows of racism that threaten the child. Lovely and a bit sad.
Love Monster and the Scary Something, Rachel Bright. I think this works better if you already know the Love Monster character -- I think there's a series? But for me it was rather paint-by-numbers: fear, friendship, rejoice.
The Dragon Tribe, Kim Xiong. I was completely distracted from this legend about dragon killers becoming dragon-huggers by concerns about the biology of the villagers. The children all seem sexless, although they mark their age by their beards. Maybe they reproduce by budding?
Mad at Mommy, Kamako Sakia. A preschool rabbit throws a tantrum. Mom is not fussed.
Dad's First Day, Mike Wohnoutka. Reverse story where a dad is the one nervous about the son's first day of school. Even funnier to think that it probably rings true for some overinvested parents. Not me, of course. I was cool.
Night Out, Daniel Miyares. Lovely detailed illustrations show a boy on an midnight adventure involving his pet turtle and wild dancing critters, although the emotional story of a lonely boy opening up and making friends is also clear.
The Little Barbarian, Renato Moriconi. Spoiler -- it's a carousel ride! Which is why the static nature of the horse and rider is a feature, not a defect. And the child at the end is the best part -- the true little barbarian.
The Name Jar, Yangsook Choi. Friendly story about a girl who moves internationally to a welcoming multicultural neighborhood and makes friends while learning that it's OK to be herself.
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.
Sammy Keyes and the Art of Deception, Wendelin Van Draanen.
Inn of the Sixth Happiness, Alan Burgess. I keep picturing another little missionary -- the tiny child Katherine Paterson (not Paterson yet) who is in another part of China for this part.
The Educated Child, William Bennett. I finished the Preschool Chapter smug in how educated my boys were before the age of five.
Cookie, Jacqueline Wilson.
Reading and Learning to Read, Jo Anne Vaca. It's quaint to see the eager ideas of incorporating this "internet" thing into writing and reading lessons.
Reading Challenges
- Cybils 2017. No progress
- Cybils 2018. Finished two of the YA nonfiction, started a third.
- Reading My Library. Enjoying Stories of My Life, which I think is the last audio CD. Haven't started the next print book.
- KCLS Ten to Try. Still need to read a poetry book and the librarian recommend.
- The Hunt Is On! Four books, but all from within my house and two from my TBR bookcase. Which is supposed to be the point. so go me!
2 comments:
Boards Dispense Profanity sounds fun, we play Cards Against Humanity fairly regularly with friends. Men and their grills are funny things, our meat is always well done though, hubby doesn’t get the subtleties of medium .
Have a great reading week
I really like what you said about The Faithful Spy. I'll have to go look this one up! And The Whole Wide World to Me is going on my list, for sure. Is The Name Jar a re-release? I'm asking because this is the second time it's come up for me just this week (and I could only see a publication date of 2001 and 2003). It looks really good, though, so I'm going to see if I can find a local copy. Thanks for sharing, Beth!
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