Happy Thanksgiving To All! And Into December!

A good Thanksgiving -- a full table and fun conversation. My mom was in town, and we got my brother and his wife and my BIL's mom, and even a couple of local friends. I even got my sons to do some of the cooking, which is asking a lot as they actually spend the day with their dad. But they came back on Friday for leftovers.

I made pinwheels as appetisers, crockpot pearl onions and a turkey. The boys made a chocolate pudding pie, and an extra pie crust (for the blueberry pie). I bought a ham and a pumpkin pie.

My sister made spinach balls, a cheese plate, soup, broccoli casserole, corn bread stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce, and mashed potatoes (and probably a few other things as well). My BIL made a pecan pie, deviled eggs, and roasted vegetables. There were rolls. Guests brought an apple pie and a green bean casserole.

And then the weekend came, and my friend Trish invited my brother, my mom and me along on her zoo excursion. We got to hang out with keepers and watch them interact with the animals. I fed a rhinoceros and got rhino drool on my hand. I helped acclimate an arctic fox to strangers. I fed a hornbill bird a grape. A burrowing owl flew to my hand and perched there. I hung out with a tree kangaroo. It was amazing!

And then all the college kids drove off and left my house empty until Christmas break.

My currently reading shelf continues to hover around 20, but really I'm only actively reading about five books.

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. Ditto for the children's lit version at either Teach Mentor Texts or Unleashing Readers. 

Started: 






Dead Reckoning, Charlaine Harris. Sookie Stackhouse #11.

Deadlocked, Charlaine Harris. Sookie Stackhouse #12.

Dead Ever After, Charlaine Harris. Sookie Stackhouse #13.

After Dead, Charlaine Harris. Sookie Stackhouse wrap-up book.

Dead But Not Forgotten, Ed. by Charlaine Harris. Other authors jump into Sookie's world.

One Person, No Vote, Carol Anderson, Nancy Holder. Cybils nonfiction.

George Washington's Secret Six, Brian Kilmeade. Cybils nonfiction.

The Life Heroic, Elizabeth Svoboda. Cybils Nonfiction.

The First Dinosaur, Ian Lendler. Cybils nonfiction.


Completed:





Sookie Stackhouse 11-13, Charlaine Harris. Whew, I made it! Sookie life gets complicated, and then she unravels a lot of stuff. I appreciate how much she changed and matured while her essentials stayed consistent. And I'm glad that I managed to finish so I can get back to real life.

After Dead, Charlaine Harris. Sookie Stackhouse wrap-up book. This is a list of all the characters and where Harris imagines them ending up. It is also a sign of my completist tendencies, which probably border on actual OCD issues.

Sookie Stackhouse Companion, Charlaine Harris. I'm not sure I ever officially started this, but I definitely finished it. I got it for one of the short stories, and then since I had it I finished it. It's just a hodgepodge of stuff Sookie fans might light -- the short stories, interviews, recipes, trivia games, etc.

1919, Martin Sandler. Cyblis nonfiction longlist. Yay! I finally finished one. This was a gorgeously photographed and well written history of a year, with a good background for each topic and then it would trace the effects of those events through to the modern day. I liked the balance of serious topics (suffrage, racism, prohibition) with quirky ones like the Boston Molasses Flood that actually had an effect on company liability laws.

One Person, No Vote, Carol Anderson, Nancy Holder. Cybils nonfiction. Thanks goodness I managed to make myself read something I'm supposed to be reading! Of course, this was a very depressing read about how consistent America has been in denying votes to non-whites, and how very current and blatant the latest moves are, and how many Americans are enthusiastically embracing any chance of keeping the vote and any political power from people who are different (which apparently means "less worthy"). So people of color, but also poor people and people who decide differently are all to be disenfranchised with patriotic fervor. It's a statement about America when the uplifting chapter is how the Republicans did not succeed in electing a child molestor to the senate because of efforts supporting black turnout.

George Washington's Secret Six, Brian Kilmeade. Cybils nonfiction. The tense story of the spy ring that sent Washington information about New York during the American Revolution, without whom it's possible that the British would have managed to crush the rebellion. It was so secret that even today we don't know the name or fate of one of the members (probably the only woman), but Kilmeade traces the lives and careers of all the others. The biggest weakness is the abundant illustrations, most based on original art or documents that would be fascinating if they weren't so hard to see. Fewer, brighter choices might have been better.

The Life Heroic, Elizabeth Svoboda. Cybils Nonfiction. A book on how to train oneself for heroism, from how to define heroism, and the difference between immediate and deliberate acts (stepping forward in a crisis vs planning to do something amazing), and how to prepare oneself for either or both. It's definitely aimed at the idealistic youth, which I was myself long long ago.


Bookmarks Moved In:





Son of the Black Sword, Larry Correia. 69/? Baen's podcast serial. I need to go check a physical book to see how far along I am.

Tender Morsels, Margo Lanagan. 3/10 discs. Even riches won't make this guy likable.

Book Lust, Nancy Pearl. Still reading in tiny bursts.

One Good Dragon Deserves Another, Rachel Aaron. Justin is in trouble.

The Poppy War, R.F. Kuang. Last month's Sword and Laser pick. Waiting to recover it.

Brave Face, Shaun Hutchinson. Cybils nonfiction longlist. Wow, this kid does not do himself any favors, and the world rarely does either.

Tropic of Serpents, Marie Brennan. I  like the audio better.

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, Susanna Clarke. I'm now about thirty chapter behind where I should be.
Picture Books / Short Stories:




"Playing Possum," Charlaine Harris. Sookie and Hunter face a school shooting.

"If I Had a Hammer," Charlaine Harris. Sookie and Sam solve the mystery in Tara's babies' bedroom.

"In the Blue Hereafter," Charlaine Harris. Sookie meets Manifred!

"Brittlangers", Charlaine Harris. Familiar characters meet Amelia Eirhart.


Palate Cleansers

These books I'm barely reading; I use them as palate cleansers between books I'm actually reading. And since I wasn't home, I didn't read them this week.



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. Nothing.
2. Cybils 2018.  Nothing.
3. Reading My Library. Nothing.
4. KCLS Ten to Try. All done!