Birthday Boys

My oldest son turned 21 this weekend, so I'm proud that I dumped some presents on my sister-in-law to send him (she is kind enough to help me circumvent my post office phobia, which drastically increases the number of care packages my boys get). I sent him a Tee Fury t-shirt that proudly claimed he was Adulting, some home-made cookies, some Oreos, and new headphones (a gift from his brother). She also added some games, so he was very pleased with his haul.

My own brother has a birthday very close, so we got together with a friend to play some games of our own. I made my LEGO cake for him, which consists of baking both a cake and some cupcakes, putting the cupcakes on the cake, and then icing it all together so that if you squint a bit it looks like a giant lego brick. The cake was from a box, but I upped the game a little by making the frosting at home with whipped cream and a tiny bit of cream cheese (for structure? that's what the internet told me). It tasted pretty good. If anyone wants to try this at home, ice the cupcakes before you put them on the cake because it's much harder to do it after.

Anyway, it was a lot of fun. We played mostly the same games we did last August, because my brother had been sad about missing that one, but swapped out Simon's Cat for the end. Nicky and I watched the world burn in our Pandemic attempt, as usual.


In book news, I've been accepted as a Cybils Judge again! A Phase One Judge for Junior High/High School Nonfiction, to be specific. I'm very excited and delighted to bury myself under a mountain of books. Everyone should go nominate their favorite new books!

My currently reading shelf is a more reasonable 17, including five books I'm just kidding myself about. This includes six I only touch in between other books, one from my shelves, a serial audio from Baen, an audio CD for the car, a KINDLE app book, and two book club pick, one for last month's meeting and another I'm reading on time.

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 I've a picture book and the Cybils books to keep me eligible.

Started: 





Motor Girls, Sue Macy. A 2017 Cybils Junior High Nonfiction finalist.

Can't Escape Love, Alyssa Cole. For my book team.

The Whydah, Martin W. Sandler. Another 2017 Cybils JH nonfiction book.

Sleep Like a Baby, Charlaine Harris. The next (and currently the last) Aurora Teagarden book. I'm enjoying these audios.

Bound In Ice, Sandra Wallace and husband. Another 2017 Cybils JH nonfiction finalist.

The Gentle Art of Murder, Jeanne M. Dams. My next Reading My Library book.

Spooked!, Gail Jarrow. Another Cybils JH nonfiction finalist, but from 2018.

Undefeated, Steve Sheinkin. Another 2017 Cybils nonfiction finalist.

Facing Frederick, Tonya Bolden. Another 2017 Cybils JH nonfiction finalist.

The Cobbler's Boy, Elizabeth Bear. For my book team. And because Bear is awesome.

Completed:





Motor Girls, Sue Macy. 2017 Cybils book. This oversized, illustrated book covers the role of women in early automobile history, particularly racing. It's a longer book than you might think, although it ends when women get kicked out of racing because men kept crashing; the fear was that if a woman did crash, people might shut down racing altogether. Fun pictures and history, giving a sense of what life was like for people in a world that was starting to include cars.

Can't Escape Love, Alyssa Cole. I enjoyed this novella set in the Reluctant Royals series. It takes place at the same time as Duke in Disguise and it was fun to see the events from the sister's point of view. The guy was a perfect boyfriend, and when I thought an annoying misunderstanding would ruin the end it instead wrapped up in a few pages! Apparently there was a big teaser for the next Royals book at the end. So far I really like Cole's novellas -- the shorter form keeps things tauter.

I Am Princess X, Cherie Priest. It stuck the ending! It was fun having it set in Seattle so I could picture how they zoomed around in the last chapters. I'm enjoying Priest's ventures into YA.

The Whydah, Martin W. Sandler. Another 2017 Cybils JH nonfiction book. This book followed the boat's career from slave hauling to piracy to wreck, taking backsteps to review the life histories of its captains and then leaping forward to its discovery by archeologists looking for treasure (academic treasures!). I liked learning about how we learn about things from shipwrecks, as well as the look into the world of pirates and the lands they came from.

Bound In Ice, Sandra Wallace and husband. Another 2017 Cybils JH nonfiction finalist. A suspenseful tale of a crew who got stuck far up north and had to fight their way out of the ice. The focus was on the captain, starting with his childhood, naval career, and family, but that was mostly because he's the one who left a detailed diary. No one's survival is guaranteed. I could tell this was a book aimed at kids because the author was squeamish about naming the syphilis one officer suffered from; it came out eventually but for a few chapters it was just a "sexually transmitted disease" or something. Hee hee. (I'm obviously still twelve.)

Spooked!, Gail Jarrow. 2018 Cybils JH nonfiction finalist. This description of Orson Welles's radio broadcast of The War of the Worlds manages to keep several layers of suspense high. We get background on why people were so jumpy, the people involved in the production, and then chapters lead through the broadcast itself, balancing tension between the story of the Martian invasion, the panicked activities of the more credulous listeners, and the reactions of the powers-that-be to these activities and against the unwitting live performers. And the wrap-up discusses how the story of these over-reactions was packaged and manipulated. It's a good look at how fake-news is made and sold.

The Gentle Art of Murder, Jeanne M. Dams. Reading My Library book. Although the author clearly expects me to know these characters (it's #16 in a series) I had no trouble slipping into their quiet retired world with its splashes of murder. This is good because the emphasis is clearly on the details of their lives together with their friends, and the murder is there to give them something to do. A good light book.

Undefeated, Steve Sheinkin. 2017 Cybils nonfiction finalist. I admire Sheinkin's tone, which was clear about when he was making judgements and when he was disagreeing with people's statements. Although he's willing to believe in some people's good intentions, he's definite about the damage and horror of the Indian Boarding schools that existed to destroy Native American culture. He's also unimpressed with the American Olympic committee's singling out Jim Thorpe (among dozens of college students who picked up money from athletics during summer vacations) for disqualification. It's a moving, emotional story, even for someone like me who is left utterly cold by football.

Sleep Like a Baby, Charlaine Harris. The final (so far!) Aurora Teagarden book was another audio win for me. I enjoyed hearing about her adoration of her little baby, her attempts to be a good sport about her husband's hope for a dog (and more kids), and even her exhaustion from the flu. The narrator had me eagerly driving around to get a little more time in, and I'll be sorry not to visit her small town (or Atlantan suburb?) again.

The Cobbler's Boy, Elizabeth Bear. I never quite sunk into this short book. I liked how keenly it brought life in Marlowe's time to vivid reality, but Kit himself was a bit too whiny for my taste.


Bookmarks Moved In:




Son of the Black Sword, Larry Correia. 60/? Baen's podcast serial. Still inching along, although I'm a few podcasts behind. Aurora Teagarden has been taking up all my listening time.

Tender Morsels, Margo Lanagan. 3/10 discs. Male narrator not very engaging so far.

Book Lust, Nancy Pearl. Almost done with the B's.

One Good Dragon Deserves Another, Rachel Aaron. This is fun but I keep reading the disappearing library books.

The Poppy War, R.F. Kuang. Last month's Sword and Laser pick. I am concerned about the war stuff and dragging my feet on reading.

The Grief Keeper, Allesandra Villasante. I think this is about to get sad. The title should have been a clue

Picture Books:



Traveling the Blue Road, Lee Bennett Hopkins. 2018 Cybils poetry book. I read the poems aloud to myself and found they rolled well in my mouth. The historical connection made them more powerful even then they were on their own (My favorite was Jane Yolen's one). I can see this working well in an elementary classroom as a read-aloud, both as historical context and as literature.

Jumping Off Library Shelves, Lee Bennett Hopkins. See, now I know to look at this name for enjoyable picture book anthologies. I enjoyed the light-hearted collection of poems extolling a library, although I think my grouchy kids wouldn't have appreciated it. More word savvy kids might, though.

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.

The Educated Child, William Bennett.

Cookie, Jacqueline Wilson.

Give All to Love, Patricia Veryan.

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

Reading and Learning to Read, Jo Anne Vaca.

Reading Challenges

1. Cybils 2017. Almost done with nonfiction books.
2. Cybils 2018. Read another poetry and a nonfiction.
3. Reading My Library. Finished one!
4. KCLS Ten to Try. All done!