This was a quieter week, with again a lot of nonfiction reading. I met up with several friends for lunch, and spent some time with my nephew while his parents were away hanging out with their college kid (and my college kid, come to think of it). He and I have both started playing Pokemon Go, so we wandered around the neighborhood a bit.
I'm cat sitting for a friend, so I get some guaranteed driving time, which meant I plowed through a few audio books. And on Sunday I zoomed over to Vashon Island to games at the library and an early dinner with my brother. My sister-in-law was feeling poorly, but not too poorly to box up some care packages for me so that my kids think I love them even though I loathe entering post offices. I also tried to vote but only brought along one pamphlet so I have to find details on the local candidates.
My reading pile is still dominated by the Cybils High School / Junior High nonfiction I'm working through, but so far it's really enjoyable. I'm enjoying the emphasis on true stuff.
This is a shout-out to my great libraries -- between King County Library System and the Seattle Public Library, I so far have access to every longlist book I want to read. I have summoned them ALL.
My currently reading shelf continues to hover around 20. 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, and an audio book from the library that I like better, a KINDLE app book, a Cybils longlist pick (this takes precedence over all else), a book for fun, and two book club picks, an old pick and another I'm reading on time. Also five books I'm only pretending to read but leave on my Goodreads list out of stubborness.
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 try to sign up there if I'm not too late. Ditto for the children's lit focussed version at sign up at either Teach Mentor Texts or Unleashing Readers. I'm certainly eligible this week with both Cybils books, a manga, and a picture book!
Started:
Fly Girls Young Reader's Edition: How Five Women Defied All Odds and Made Aviation History, Keith O'Brien. Cybils longlist.
Shakespeare's Champion, Charlaine Harris. Another Lily Bard audio.
Eiffel's Tower for Young People, Jill Jonnes. Cybil's longlist.
Shakespeare's Christmas, Charlaine Harris. Another Lily Bard audio. I'm not sure I read this one before!
Elon Musk: A Mission to Save the World, Anna Crowley Redding. Cybils longlist.
River of Night, John Ringo and Mike Massa. The next zombie book.
Giant Spider and Me: A Post Apocalyptic Tale Vol 1, Kikori Morino. I read a fun review and then hunted this up.
Completed:
Shakespeare's Landlord, Charlaine Harris. Audio. After settling in at 1.25 speed (a compromise between art and my impatience with the Arkansas drawl of the narrative) I started settle into Lily Bard's astringent view of the world. I like how the story is more about the effects of the murder on Lily's life (it blows apart many of her routines, and they settle into slightly different configurations) than the mystery, which she only kinda solves anyway.
Torpedoed: The True Story of the World War II Sinking of 'The Children's Ship', Deborah Heiligman. I found this engrossing -- even when Heiligman tells me what is going to happen, or I figure it out by reading the endnotes, I'm still gripped by the suspense and the tragedy. I really like how many points of view she sook out, down the the German men firing the torpedo that sent the children running for the lifeboats. The stories of the siblings who survived (or didn't) were particularly harrowing, and I liked her discussion at the end of how she find the documentations and interviews.
Fly Girls Young Reader's Edition: How Five Women Defied All Odds and Made Aviation History, Keith O'Brien. Five women may have been to many to focus on, as I had some problems remembering which last name went with which women, and then O'Brien would switch to first names because a chapter would be about her and her husband. But it was fun to read about early aviation, with some pauses for indignation at the casual way women were excluded and/or ridiculed.
Chasing King's Killer, James L. Swanson. 2018 Cybils nonfiction finalist. This knack of setting up histories of both a great figure and a nasty assassin works fairly well for mapping out the social context of the event. The tension rises as the bad guy gets closer, and then the tragedy. Swanson does a good job balancing both the grief and fall out around King's death and also tracking the manhunt and controversy around finding Ray. Sadly Ray is a bit of a loser, so his chapters are not as engrossing as King's.
Eiffel's Tower for Young People, Jill Jonnes. This is mostly a history of the Paris World's Fair, with an emphasis on its tallest feature. Jonnes does a good job of keeping suspense high during the development and construction (there's probably a good short book in the elevator saga alone) but doesn't hesitate to wander off to check in on artists at the exhibition or to settle down to enjoy the Wild West Show and Annie Oakley's feats.
Shakespeare's Champion, Charlaine Harris. A second Lily Bard audio. I like how champion refers literally to the body building medalist whose murder kicks off the plot, and also means the people who defend the nature of Shakespeare, both the bad guys who want it to be a white racist harbor and Lily who wants it to be full of decent people. And who wants her boyfriend back.
Giant Spider and Me: A Post Apocalyptic Tale Vol 1, Kikori Morino. The title sums it up. It's a charming manga about a girl and her spider companion, as she keeps house and cooks delicious meals (recipes included) while waiting for her father to return.
Bookmarks Moved In:
Son of the Black Sword, Larry Correia. 64/? Baen's podcast serial. Bad guys are cackling to themselves.
Tender Morsels, Margo Lanagan. 3/10 discs. Back to the female narrator and the little girls.
Book Lust, Nancy Pearl. Still in the B's. This is my emergency bag book, but I haven't had many reading emergencies.
One Good Dragon Deserves Another, Rachel Aaron. Dragon siblings are also a problem.
The Poppy War, R.F. Kuang. Last month's Sword and Laser pick. More war. It's hard on kids.
Inkheart, Cornelia Funke. For my Tuesday night book club. We find the characters rather unsympathetic so none of us are racing through this. Our goal is 100 pages a week.
Picture Books:
Camp Tiger, Susan Choi. I loved this book, how the art and the test worked together, how it made no apologies for nonsense -- of course the parents offer the tiger a tent. Of course the child is worried about starting school. It's about yearning and beauty and releasing the past. And a tiger.
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. Apparently if your kid brings home books by non-white authors you should check to see they are some pap chosen for being politically correct. But honest classics by white (men) are safe because those are there purely because of their merit!
Cookie, Jacqueline Wilson.
Give All to Love, Patricia Veryan.
Tell the Wolves I'm Home, Carol Rifka Brunt. The sisters are horrible to each other. The sick boyfriend is rather dependent on the younger sister, and she tends to abuse that.
Reading and Learning to Read, Jo Anne Vaca. How to respond to a reading journal.
Reading Challenges
- Cybils 2017. Nothing.
- Cybils 2018. Another junior high nonfiction.
- Reading My Library. Nothing.
- KCLS Ten to Try. All done!
1 comment:
Even your discussion of Torpedoed: The True Story of the World War II Sinking of 'The Children's Ship' had me on the edge of my seat. Can't wait to read this one! I've had The Poppy War on my list a long time and just haven't yet made it around to read it, yet. And I loved Camp Tiger. I remember being mesmerized by the shadows in some picture that cast stripes across the boy. Have a great reading week, Beth!
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