August Readathon Time

The movie this week was Yesterday, which was a great excuse to listen to a lot of Beatles music. The romantic comedy was a bit flimsy, but who cares when you have an excuse to see how well you remember song lyrics. (Not well at all, I would not have been much help to the guy in the movie.) The other fun part was that I signed up for Regals' Unlimited Movie club, since I go to about a movie a week. Now I don't have to pay!

Then a mean truck kicked a pebble at my car and cracked my windshield. I was all adult about it and had an appointment to fix it within the week, which given my dedication to procrastination this summer was impressive. I also picked up some gossip on the big fire in our little downtown a few years ago, because it was at this company's main location.

I don't get to enjoy my new windshield because I switched cars with my niece so she could drive far away and go camping somewhere or other. It is sad how alien a key feels to me now; I sit in the car and wonder why the engine is going. Or I stop the car and yet it keeps rumbling away.

The pile of books this week was a bit over the top, but that was because there was a Dewey Reverse Readathon. So I had an excuse to lie around and read for a day. I mean it's not like I need one, but...

And then I went to Sunday's Shakespeare in the Park (Romeo and Juliet) in attempt to get back into a proper wake/sleep schedule, since staying up all night on Friday had messed that up a bit...

My currently reading is back up to 19. Two library books (one ebook, one physical), two books from my shelves, an audiobook for the car, the serial audiobook I get a few minutes of each week, a book from my KINDLE Mount Tsundoku, a book on my NOOK,  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. So really only nine.

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 but I didn't read any this year so I'll just check out the other bloggers.

Started: 





No Time To Spare, Ursula Le Guin. Essays. Library dangled this on their QuickReads shelves.

The Emperor's Blades, Brian Staveley. My Tuesday book club book, another gift from Tor.com.

Past Tense, Lee Child. I'm in the mood for some Jack Reacher.

Leverage in Death, J.D. Robb. I was in the Fairwood Library for something else and I noticed this was on the shelf so it fell into my hands.

Connections in Death, J.D. Robb. And the latest one was sitting right next to it. Score!

Founding Martyr, Christian di Spigna. An autobiography of Joseph Warren.

The Best We Could Do, Thi Bui. I grabbed this at the library because I've heard good things.

Book Lust, Nancy Pearl.  At this point in the readathon I was pretty groggy. I tried to read more about Warren but my head was too fuzzy. I thought this would be simpler since it's all short sections.

Charlaine Harris' Cemetery Girl Two-in-One: The Pretenders and the Inheritance, Charlaine Harris. See, when you read a book like Book Lust you go to the library to see what's there and you might accidentally notice that a book on your interest list is immediately available and decide to check out this HOOPLA thing.

Haunted (Cemetery Girl 3), Charlaine Harris. This was the one actually on my interested list, but then I realized I had skipped 2 and forgotten what happened in 1.

Green and Pleasant Land, Judith Cutler. Finally starting my next RML book!

One Good Dragon Deserves Another, Rachel Aaron. I liked the first, and bought the rest as my son really likes them to, but now I can catch up.


Completed:




How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe, Charles Yu. This works better as a book rather than as a science fiction book, although I guess the metaphor and vocabulary mean that readers will come mostly from the SF side. I felt that the author forced the language and events to be representations of what he wanted to show emotionally rather than that the plot naturally illuminated these truths. So it felt rather kludgy and shallow. On the other hand, when I stopped wanting a plot and just admired the emotions it worked really well.

No Time To Spare, Ursula Le Guin. Essays about living and creating, especially about how being 80 years and more old affect how you do these things. Great and refreshing.

Leverage in Death, J.D. Robb. We've entered the readathon! This was a fun book to start with because it's a very strict format. I really liked the subplot of Eve does a favor for her friend and dreads the Oscar ceremony. The murders were brutal and interesting although the psychology stuff at the end during the interviews isn't my favorite. I enjoyed the baby scene with Bella both because of "Sumshit" and because it's not threatening to have Eve and Roarke have kids.

Connections in Death, J.D. Robb. I don't usually read these back-to-back because then the structure becomes constraining rather than comfortable, but this one worked out as I enjoyed the transition from Oscar night to Oscar party a few weeks later. The plot wasn't as memorable as the theme of connections binding a community would have worked better if there were more relationships important to Eve. I mean, Crack is an old friend but they aren't really close and the first murder was a friend of a friend thing. Still, good easy read to start off my day of reading.

Hunger: A Memoir of My Body, Roxane Gay. This was a great memoir, one that gave a window into a life that I have never experienced. Gay is black, deeply committed to having relationships, a writer, a rape victim, and fat, things I have either never experienced or never experienced to such an extent. Her clear prose and powerful chapters convey both the events of her life and their emotional weight. I learned more about myself and humanity from this book than anything else read this week, and seeing the Le Guin up there, that is saying a lot.

The Best We Could Do, Thi Bui. Graphic novels are great for a readathon because they let your eyes do slightly different things. This memoir also showed me a life both different and similar to mine -- she starts with the birth of her son and how that redefines a lot of how she thinks of herself. The family history is vastly different from mine, but the struggle to understand and live within the pressures of family are relatable. I'm not impressed with the maternity care at that New York hospital though.

Cyteen, C.J. Cherryh. Readathons are great for finishing up books that have been dragging around. This was a reread, and since I was going backward in chunks and my favorite parts are with Ari II, and the beginning involves the rape of a teen and general horridness, I wasn't very motivated to finish the beginning section. And when I did of course I want to go on and reread all the fun bits again. This is a great book and I should make my sons read it.

Charlaine Harris' Cemetery Girl Two-in-One: The Pretenders and the Inheritance, and Haunted (Cemetery Girl 3), Charlaine Harris. I've read the first one before but only vaguely remembered it, definitely not well enough to figure out the break between 1 and 2, so I just reread it and went on through to the end. Mostly I liked figuring out how to read on HOOPLA, a library website for comics and other stuff. It took me a sadly long time to figure out a best practice for me, but I was operating on very little sleep. Anyway, the protagonist was a bit too whiny to be wholly sympathetic, but the story moved along well and I could follow the art. Sure seemed dangerous to be her friend, though.


Bookmarks Moved In:




Son of the Black Sword, Larry Correia. 54/? Baen's podcast serial. I guess it's grim dark when I don't know who to root for because everyone is kind of a jerk.

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

Tender Morsels, Margo Lanagan. 1/10 discs. One rapist exits stage left, and another enters stage right. I'm not really set up for this!

Picture Books:

No chance to lurk in the library this week, so no picture books.

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. More war.

The Educated Child, William Bennett.

Cookie, Jacqueline Wilson.

Reading and Learning to Read, Jo Anne Vaca.

Reading Challenges

1. Cybils 2017. Nothing.
2. Cybils 2018. The picture books are waiting to go.
3. Reading My Library. Started a Judith Cutler book.
4. KCLS Ten to Try. Read a library recommend! Now I only need poetry.