Monday, February 3, 2020

Groundhog Day!

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

This week was mostly getting ready for the Foolscap Convention next weekend, but I also had my triple book club (Sword & Laser, Torches & Pitchforks, Cloudy With a Chance of Clit Lit) and I managed to read all the books this time!

The movie this week was a repeat -- I misread the times so instead of whatever we intended to see we caught Frozen II again. I enjoyed the songs even more knowing what they were leading into.

If anyone is in the Seattle area and likes talking about books or SF, or just being interesting, come on down to Foolscap this weekend!

I managed to drop my currently reading shelf down to 17, which for me is impressively low.

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. My 2018 Cybils reading qualifies me there.

Started: 

In the Company of Others

In the Company of Others, Julie Czerneda. Sword and Laser pick for January.


Completed:

Hellbent (Cheshire Red Reports, #2)In the Company of OthersSon of the Black Sword (Saga of the Forgotten Warrior, #1)

Hellbent, Cherie Priest. By the current Foolscap GoH. I liked this second book even more than the first, even though it has big holes meant to be filled by the so far unwritten next book. It has a lot to do with the found family the protagonist is finally admitting to having. Structurally it's probably not her best, but thematically it really worked for me.

In the Company of Others, Julie Czerneda. Sword and Laser pick for January. Some members of the local group really disliked this, but I ended up appreciating it. It was very long and had some pacing issues, the romance was bland and unbelievable, the female main character wasn't awesome enough in the finale, there were many pieces that didn't really work. But the overall theme and message, that humanity is a moral quantity that is great at grand proclamations and terrible at individual situations, that worked well.

Son of the Black Sword, Larry Correia. This was a long serial, since Baen adds it to the end of their podcast in whatever space is left after the news and interview. Sometimes that's twenty minutes or more, sometimes five or less.


Bookmarks Moved (Or Languished) In:

Tender MorselsBook Lust: Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment, and ReasonThe Poppy War (The Poppy War, #1)The Tropic of Serpents (The Memoirs of Lady Trent, #2)
Jonathan Strange & Mr NorrellMasques (Sianim, #1)Kill the Farm Boy (The Tales of Pell, #1)


Tender Morsels, Margo Lanagan. 4/10 discs. The bear seems quite pleasant, which is why I was so confused when I thought he was also the dwarf.

Book Lust, Nancy Pearl. Inched ahead to the Ms.

The Poppy War, R.F. Kuang. I made some progress! Things are getting dark.

Tropic of Serpents, Marie Brennan. The library called this home.

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, Susanna Clarke. Luckily I have two libraries -- just as one called this home (I'm only at 26% with 24 hours left to go) the other one released it. Strange just started to do magic.

Masques, Patricia Briggs. Still enjoying this.

Kill the Farm Boy, Delilah Dawson and Kevin Hearne. My next RML book. This got mostly pushed aside in favor of the book club books.



Picture Books / Short Stories:

What Do You Do with a Voice Like That?: The Story of Extraordinary Congresswoman Barbara JordanSaving Fiona: The Story of the World’s Most Famous Baby HippoThe True Tale of a Giantess: The Story of Anna SwanJoan Procter, Dragon Doctor: The Woman Who Loved Reptiles
Chester Nez and the Unbreakable Code: A Navajo Code Talker's StoryFlying Deep: Climb Inside Deep-Sea Submersible AlvinA Frog's Life

What Do You Do With a Voice Like That, Chris Barton. 2018 Cybils nonfiction. A biography of Barbara Jordan.

Saving Fiona, Thane Maynard. 2018 Cybils nonfiction. Hey, I missed the rescue of this hippo!

The True Tale of a Giantess, Anne Renary. 2018 Cybils nonfiction. True story of one of the residents of the Barnum museum like in the movie.

Joan Proctor, Dragon Doctor, Patricia Valdez. 2018 Cybils nonfiction. Biography of an early zoologist at the London Zoo.

Chester Nez and the Unbreakable Code, Joseph Bruchac. 2018 Cybils nonfiction. This one had my favorite illustrations in terms of conveying meaning and enhancing the text.

Flying Deep, Michelle Cusolito. 2018 Cybils nonfiction. A book that puts you inside a deep sea submarine FOR SCIENCE.

A Frog's Life, Irene Kelly. Lovely illustrations along with solid facts about frogs. Like, toads don't have teeth!


Palate Cleansers

These books I'm barely reading; I use them as palate cleansers between books I'm actually reading. Of course, since I was off having Christmas in Utah, they were untouched.

A Traitor to Memory (Inspector Lynley, #11)The Educated Child: A Parents Guide from Preschool Through Eighth GradeCookieGive All to Love (Sanguinet Saga, #11)Tell the Wolves I'm HomeReading and Learning to Read

A Traitor to Memory, Elizabeth George. I'm almost done!

The Educated Child, William Bennett. How geography matters.

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. Have some middle grade fiction out from the library.
  2. Cybils 2018. Read the elementary nonfiction. Good stuff.
  3. Cybils 2019. Nothing. I guess I'm waiting for the winners!
  4. Reading My Library. I am reading one.
  5. Ten to Try. Of course I'm doing this again. Starting out with a bang -- I've got 3/10 already!
  6. Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge. 6/24. I'm ahead! Of course, those were the easy ones.
  7. Where Am I Reading: Six states so far.

1 comment:

2Shaye ♪♫ said...

Somehow I missed your last #imwayr post, Beth, so I'm going back to play catch up -- gotta make sure I don't miss any important tidbits. I really want to read the picture book biography of Anna Swan. I cannot recall reading one about anyone who was in Barnum's museum or show, so I look forward to learning more. We do have family in Seattle, so now I'm going to have to go see what Foolscap was about!