Well, I've had a week of empty nesting and I don't think I can keep up this pace.
After an emotional, protracted parting from my son on Sunday (He yelled "I gotta get the door" as he dove out of the car. His key card wasn't working at his dorm yet so he had to catch someone else going in.) I planned to drive straight home from the hotel on Monday morning. But while unpacking his backpack he found a Seattle library book I had asked him to drop off for me, so on Monday I started by going back by the college. This time I forced him to hug me. Then I settled into my Charlaine Harris audio book and drove back home, stopping for a lunch somewhere north of Olympia.
Tuesday Linda and I took ourselves out to enjoy Blinded By The Light, which had English accents and Bruce Springsteen songs. Like chocolate and peanut butter, it turns out those are great things that taste great together. Wednesday I went out to my local breakfast place and actually shopped for meals, so that I made dinner on both Wednesday and Friday. This may not seem like much but I've been ducking cooking for almost a month now. Wednesday was linguine with Brie and roasted red bell peppers, and Friday was a Mexican lasagna with cheese.
Thursday was time to meet up with a friend for lunch. Parking was hard! Friday was another lunch and than a movie with a friend from out of town -- Kathy and I met online while pregnant with our now almost 21-year olds. We ate at BOILING POINT, which was fun because you get to have fire on your table while you eat. And then we went to see Decker and Shaw, the Fast & Furious movie. We sat chatting as the credits rolled at the end, and I discovered that there are two extra scenes that I missed when seeing the film with Linda and Alexander.
When I mentioned this at dinner with the family, Susan said she was thinking of seeing it herself. So I ended up going again on Sunday. I am sure getting my money's worth out of my Regal Unlimited pass. And for more movie fun, I joined in with my nephew and sister as he finished his Twilight movie watching -- the third movie on Saturday night and then both parts of Breaking Dawn on Sunday. That's a lot of movie watching!
My currently reading is amazingly steady at 22. Three from my shelves, six I only touch in between other books, five that have bookmarks but I'm not really reading them, a serial audio from Baen, an audio CD for the car, a KINDLE app book, a library book, a Foolscap GoH book, two poetry Cybils books and a book club book.
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 several YA books and the poetry to qualify me.
Started:
Voices of the Fall, edited by John Ringo and Gary Poole. The second anthology from various authors set in Ringo's zombie apocalypse.
Last Scene Alive, Charlaine Harris. Another reread in the Aurora Teagarden saga.
Side Jobs, Jim Butcher. For my Tuesday book club.
Last Chance, Norah McClintock. From my shelves, for my book team.
The Desperate Mission, Jude Watson. From my shelves, for my book team.
Give All to Love, Patricia Veryan. When I buy books I've already read, they go in the slow-read pile.
Long Way Down, Jason Reynolds. Cybils poetry book.
Mary's Monster, Lita Judge. Another Cybils poetry book, because the first one was really sad.
Completed:
Voices of the Fall, edited by John Ringo and Gary Poole. After a really sad introduction by Gary Poole (apparently most of the people he talks to about this book would shoot their mother BEFORE she became a zombie just on general principles) the stories kicked in. There are a lot more survivors on land than the Sea Wolves knew about, and we hear a lot of their stories. These range from stories of survival and the societies that make that happen to more straightforward task completions. And the first thing that happens when the zombies come is that women forget about birth control. About the third thing that happens is the men decide that's just as well because now we have to repopulate the earth anyway. Personally I would postpone the repopulation until after the need to run away very fast goes down a bit, but apparently I don't understand physics or something. Anyway, it was fun to see how authors imagined life with zombies everywhere from Maine to New Zealand.
Last Chance, Norah McClintock. I've been hopping around in this YA mystery series, and I've finally tripped across the first one. Robyn is caught up in a misunderstanding at a protest march, and after her parents completely betray her she bargains for a sentence of mandatory volunteering at a pet shelter in lieu of being charged for dropping a bag of dog poop she was holding when a security guard attacked her. There she sees Nick, the boy who stole all the money she raised at a junior high fundraiser (also for pets). She and Nick start a maybe-friendship/maybe more while dealing with thefts and vehicle homicide (he confesses, she proves he didn't do it). I like how Robyn solves this, but was left with a very bad taste in my mouth for the way her parents treat her.
The Emperor's Blades, Brian Staveley. My brother and I kept reading this as the story of how the three children of an evil emperor try to keep power after he is disposed, but I think the author regards the kids as heroic. They don't do anything heroic, though. Occasionally their opponents will do something SUPER evil to encourage us to cheer for these only sorta bad guys though. The author also tends to forget that women are people -- he tries for a while but keeps absentmindedly treating them like pieces of plot that motivate or inspire the men to do real character type things.
Last Scene Alive, Charlaine Harris. Another audio to brighten my drive. This one starts with Roe at the end of the black grief period after the death of Martin. She is just starting to open her eys again when Robin comes back, as does another murder. The emphasis was on her steps forward (and back) in engaging with life again, helped along by frustrations with her step-son and an awareness of the selfishness of grief.
The Desperate Mission, Jude Watson. It's a kids book about a sad Jedi zooming off to a mystery planet to have adventures. He also has regrets. Does what it says on the tin.
Side Jobs, Jim Butcher. Well, I was behind at the meeting on Tuesday and I think I'll be ahead on the next meeting, but these were fairly fun adventures in the life of Harry Dresden and friends. I love it when the author puts in little details about when and how the story got written, although I prefer it when they don't trash talk the story I'm about to read. My favorite was the final story, about Murphy after Harry's death. Maybe I'll pick the series up again now that I'm reminded where I left off.
Nightchaser, Amanda Bouchet. The library Romance Club pick. I missed the meeting, and it's probably just as well since I didn't really like the book. I think this author and I just don't really mesh; the science fiction background seems rather generic, the main character seems a bit dim, and the romance is glacial and I wavered between thinking the couple shouldn't get together and then not really seeing why they did but whatever.
Bookmarks Moved In:
Son of the Black Sword, Larry Correia. 56/? Baen's podcast serial. I just started the podcast. Aurora Teagarden takes all of my listening time.
Tell the Wolves I'm Home, Carol Rifka Brunt. Still inching along. This kid is looking for emotional pain and it's not that hard to find.
Tender Morsels, Margo Lanagan. 2/10 discs. Another two tracks down!
Book Lust, Nancy Pearl. Still in the A's.
Founding Martyr, Christian di Spigna. I'm waiting to hear about his kids.
One Good Dragon Deserves Another, Rachel Aaron. They are starting to run around the board now.
I Am Princess X, Cherie Priest. I am starting to like these kids. I hope they are worth it!
The Stars My Destination, Alfred Bester. I am not liking these characters, but I think they will do interesting things.
Picture Books:
None this week.
Palate Cleansers
These books I'm barely reading; I use them as palate cleansers between books I'm actually reading. Give All to Love will be one of these.
A Traitor to Memory, Elizabeth George.
Inn of the Sixth Happiness, Alan Burgess.
The Educated Child, William Bennett.
Cookie, Jacqueline Wilson.
Reading and Learning to Read, Jo Anne Vaca.
Reading Challenges
- Cybils 2017. Nothing.
- Cybils 2018. Working on the longer poetry books.
- Reading My Library. Nothing.
- KCLS Ten to Try. Poetry!
2 comments:
Wow, you had a whirlwind week after that 'second' goodbye! I scanned your reading list, want to tell you that I like Long Way Down & Mary's Monster a lot. Hope you enjoy them along with all the others!
Oh my. That quick, unexpected goodbye can be an especially difficult parting. Glad you were able to grab that hug the second time around! It's been a while since I read Long Way Down, but I remember enjoying it and being a little unnerved. I've always wanted to read Mary's Monster and I meant to purchase a copy for my husband when it first came out. He did a lot of reading and research on Frankenstein and I thought he would find it interesting. Thanks for the shares and I hope you've had a fantastic week, Beth!
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