New Normal

We are now settling into a new normal, with the kids home doing college remotely, the adults preparing  family dinners six days a week, a a complete lack of going anywhere. Since I've almost always shared custody with the boy's dad, this is a pleasant routine. Except for the corona deaths, including that of a dear family friend. That was a stark reminder of why all this is happening.


My cooking offerings were not very popular this week. I made an emergency lasagna for my vegetarian son, so he would always have food even if the rest of us had steak. But the store was out of ricotta, so I substituted yogurt. That usually works out, but they were also out of our usual yogurt, so I substituted this organic strained uber-Greek stuff that had a very different consistency. Then on my night I made a big black bean salad, which is a transparent excuse to have nachos for leftovers on the following days. But the store was out of red pepper (?) so I substituted carrots which wasn't as nice. And I had made myself a sardine pasta dish that the family tried and hated, which was what I expected, but I liked it. A lot. Which was why the family thought it was for them -- I made enough for a weeks worth of lunches. For me.

On Friday I made my son cook, and he made his tasty lentil stew, which is also only popular among about half of our crowd. But I redeemed myself by showing up with freshly made bread to the amazement of all. And Alexander had also made a new batch of his chocolate chip cookies, so even the lentil averse showed up for dinner and left happy, although they probably made themselves a frozen pizza for a midnight snack.

Another pandemic accomplishment, which is almost a cliche -- I finished the Duolingo Greek course! Which is probably one of their shorter offerings, and I still can't really speak Greek. But to celebrate I've started working through some of the Greek picture books I have in boxes from when we used to take the boys to Greece in the summer. I remember reading them to my infants and having to fake it since I only understood about half of what I read, but without toddlers on my lap I can stop and look up words. So I apparently did learn a language in my time at home. Please put quotes around "learn" there.

Stay safe, everyone!

My currently reading has slid back up to 22, since this was a week of starting books, not finishing them. I'm making progress on most of the new ones though so I don't feel too bad.

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 Cybils reading and my picture books qualify me this week.

Started: 



The Great Alone, Kristin Hannah. This library book has been on my TBR list for ages. I've even checked it out before. But now I have time to read this historical book set during my childhood.

Rediscover Catholicism, Matthew Kelly. My local church gave this to me years ago when I took my mom to Mass. She kinda hoped I'd read it. So I will.

The Countdown Conspiracy, Katie Slivensky. A 2017 Cybils finalist.

Grand Theft Horse, G. Neri. A 2018 Cybils finalist.

Wolfsbane, Patricia Briggs. This book from my shelves will finally complete my interrupted 2018 reread of all her books.


Completed:



Hadriana In All My Dreams, Rene Depestre. For my Cloudy book club. The language in this was incredible -- so sensual and evocative. The main character dragged things down a bit; he was a bit dull when young and rather creepy when adult. I liked when I could forget about him and just read him as the voice of the Haitian town. The last section in Hadriana's voice was my favorite -- she came out from the veil of Philip's obsession into her own personality and ambition. I'm just sad she apparently ended up with him; in my head canon he made that part up and she just took her pleasure and went on with her life. The book really celebrated humanity's ability to take pleasure.

As the Crow Flies, Melanie Gillman. 2018 Cybils graphic book. This had the feel of a short story, as its arc isn't really concerned with events but with the emotions of the main character. So there's a lot of discussion and concern about the ceremony to be performed at their final destination, but the book ends the night before they reach it, when our protagonist has realized that she doesn't need to accept the weight the adults put on this ceremony, that if it is so narrowly constructed that it doesn't acknowledge women from diverse racial, sexual or other backgrounds then the problem lies with the inadequate founders, not with the girls it leaves out. The illustrations were lovely but I am easily distracted.

Bookmarks Moved (Or Languished) In:





Tender Morsels, Margo Lanagan. 5/10 discs. Started the new disc while making my donut run. I feel like Liga is being unfaithful to Bear, which is an odd thought.

Tropic of Serpents, Marie Brennan. The library called this home. I will try to get it back after I finish Jonathan Strange. They are a bit too close together to read simultaneously.

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, Susanna Clarke. I'm in part III! There's no stopping me now! I should be done within two months. She's killed off another character I liked, leaving me with the dull and unpleasant ones.

Uncompromising Honor, David Weber. Baen Free Radio Hour's serial. Got through Part 6 and started 7! I'm hoping we are close to finishing the background info so the action can start, but I admit I needed all the reminders I was given.

Gideon the Ninth, Tamsyn Muir. More deaths, which are helpful, so I think now I know all the active characters. Unfortunately the two main ones have reverted to prioritizing unpleasantness over effectiveness. Bleh.

Gathering Edge, Sharon Lee & Steve Miller. I like the Liaden series, although I've somehow fallen behind. This one follows Theo, which means it moves a bit more slowly than I'd prefer as we stop to watch her navigate between the very different people on her crew. I like the complications she finds.



Picture Books / Short Stories:

I found some picture books on my shelves that I haven't read in decades. I haven't actually figured out the Greek keyboard on my laptop yet, so I can't capitalize all the titles.

My Grandson Lew, Charlotte Zolotow. I see why I kept this little book, honoring both the memory of children and the love they share with their family. Also, from studies of how memories work I think the boy would lose his memories of his grandfather as time went on, so his choice to share them with his mom means that he will preserve them. He'll remember the conversations.

πάμε στο μύλο, Susan Muhlhouser-Tritsis. (Let's Go the the Mill) I have vague memories of reading this with my oldest, but at that time I would have been mostly faking it. Now that I have completed the Duolingo Greek course, I decided to try again. This time I read it by myself, and made myself double check any words I was unsure about. And I made it through! This is a major accomplishment for me. I feel like my Greek skills are at a low three-year old level, but with literacy! Go me! Also, it's a fun book with wheels you turn to see different animals in little windows on the pages and a warm sibling relationship between the sisters.

Πού είναι το Spot, Erik Hill. (Where's Spot?) This board book was easier for me to understand and does a good job working on my prepositions, which are a week area for me.  I think I remember reading this one as well, because there are lots of animals hidden in the spots where Spot is not, and I'm good at animals.  So I would have been able to talk about the pictures a bit with him as I pretended that Greek was a language that I spoke. Now that there is no toddler in my lap I have the luxury of checking my vocabulary on each page.


Palate Cleansers

These books I'm barely reading; I use them as palate cleansers between books I'm actually reading.




The Educated Child, William Bennett. I am proud to say that my college junior son aced that "What a 8th Grader Should Know About History" checklists.

Cookie, Jacqueline Wilson.

Give All to Love, Patricia Veryan. Getting ready for the ball, and learning to like women who rejected your favorite guy.

Tell the Wolves I'm Home, Carol Rifka Brunt. Chickens come home to roost.

Reading and Learning to Read, Jo Anne Vaca. Why it's often not best to use all the stuff provided in the basal reader teacher workbooks, and how experienced teachers decide on the best stuff for a class.

Reading Challenges

1. Cybils TBR Challenge: #CybilsReaddown: I counted As the Crow Flies. 
2. Cybils 2017. Started The Countdown Conspiracy.
3. Cybils 2018. Finished As the Crow Flies. Started Grand Theft Horse. 
4. Cybils 2019. Nothing.
5. Reading My Library. Nothing. It's patiently waiting on my shelf.
6. Ten to Try. At 8/10. But it was a weak pick for a musician book.
7. Where Am I Reading: 13/51 states. 12 Countries. 
8. Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge. 17/24. Hadriana is officially a horror book and it's published by an indie press. Still need 2 (retelling by PoC author), 6 (play by PoC or queer author), 13 (food book about a new to me cuisine), 15 (climate change), 17 (sci-fi novella), 23 (literary magazine), and 24 (Indigenous author)