We continue to stay home and now have plans to do that at least through the beginning of May. At this point the only question is how we are going to get my sons' stuff out of their dorm rooms.
Small things become big adventures in these times. I went to Costco! I made my niece do the regular grocery shopping! I cooked a dinner (well, two). Ever year (usually at Thanksgiving) I take the leftover turkey and make The Pioneer Woman's Turkey Tetrazzine which me and a few others enjoy and the rest put up with. Last week we had our Social Isolation Turkey, so this week I made my dish. I served a pesto lasagna on the side so my vegetarian son and the mushroom-adverse wouldn't feel obligated to hog some of my tetrazzini.
Having exhausted myself cooking double on Wednesday, I ordered pizza from a local restaurant on Friday. I even tried out Door Dash for extra sloth. Smoking Monkey employed both my kids last summer, so I was glad to support them in this time of Take Out. I also like their pizza -- they use provolone instead of mozzarella as a base and it's a distinctive and flavorful variation. Xan and I went for the Vegetarian which has kale and potato and is really good, while Paulos got something with Rosemary and goat cheese that smelled great but disappeared before I made a move on it.
Socially, I went many places from the comfort of the office. Tuesday was book club/Eve day, where we zoomed around in space ships and blew people up and chatted about John Scalzi's Redshirts, which Tor.com gave us a few weeks ago. That club is always online so we were all set for the pandemic.
Thursday was the day scheduled for my Triple Book Club, where ordinarily the local Sword and Laser, the local Vaginal Fantasies that is now the independent Cloudy With a Chance of Clit Lit, and the topical Torches and Pitchforks clubs meet for three one hour discussions. But obviously we couldn't meet, so we ZOOMED. Lots of cat crashing, a few cute kids, and I had the fun of slowly going dark since we started in sunlight and I was too lazy to turn the light on as the light faded over the evening. Good discussions of The Light Brigade, The Vagina Monologues, and American Dreamer.
Then on Sunday I had a committee meeting for my Foolscap convention that went really well -- we figured out what was unknowable and decided to wait until we knew stuff before making decisions. Fast and efficient.
The we tried to have a family dinner across three states and four TVs to eat and watch Star Trek: Picard. That was plagued by technical difficulties so I think we need to rethink things. But it was nice to see my mom and my brothers and the show is interesting if a bit confusing with all the distractions.
Stay safe, everyone!
My currently reading has lurched back up to 20, including the books that I'm going to get back to real soon now, really.
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. I read some kidlit this week, both CYBILS and free range.
Started:
Beatrice On Her Own, Rosemary Zibart. A present from LibraryThing, several months ago.
Redshirts, John Scalzi. For my Tuesday book club. Also because Tor.com gave it away in their book club recently.
The Enchanting Hour, Meghan Gurdon. A book about reading aloud to kids -- how could I resist?
Her Other Secret, HelenKay Dimon. For my monthly Friday book club.
Dogsbody, Diana Wynne Jones. For my newly reconstituted Family Book Club. Gotta take advantage of having my boys home.
Anne Frank's Diary: The Graphic Adaptation, Ari Folman. A Cybils book.
Completed:
Beatrice On Her Own, Rosemary Zibart. I have a fondness for WWII stories, and as a child I read books about children in war all over the world. This one would have been great for me -- a British evacuee settled in Sante Fe New Mexico, set just as America also enters the world. There are details of the London Blitz conveyed in deliberately cheerful letters from her family back home, and details of America gearing up for war, from the recruiting of dogs for the army to the surge in racism as Japanese-Americans were rounded up, some to be dispatched to a camp near Santa Fe. Meanwhile Beatrice is growing up, having already adapted to the self-reliance prized by her American host, but now facing new challenges as that host is called away by the war. And with growing up comes complications in her relationships with boys and a deeper understanding of the adults around her. I think I'll go looking for the previous book.
The Dragon With a Chocolate Heart, Stephanie Burgess. 2017 Cybils middle grade fiction. A fun book about a girl turned into a dragon who faces her predicament with almost heartbreaking courage and drive. My impression of this book was colored by my seeing it on a list of books where "nothing bad happens" and boy was that recommendation wrong. I mean, it ends well, but the that kid goes through a lot. It's set in a standard fantasy city, but with chocolate houses, and she makes friends and has adversaries and gets things wrong and despairs and then rallies and there's a king and a crown princess and it's all a lot of fun. But just because the bad stuff gets resolved doesn't mean it doesn't happen!
Ink Knows No Boundaries: Poems of the Immigrant and Refugee Experience, Patrice Vecchione. Cybils 2019 poetry book. Nothing struck me as something I wanted to add to my poetry book (I tend towards more structured verse) but this collection was a powerful and illuminating insight into the experiences and emotions of the poets. If anything, I might quibble that some of the feelings are more universal than that -- everyone is a stranger in their own land at times. I hope many high schoolers find and are inspired by this collection.
Dogsbody, Diana Wynne Jones. I've read this a bit early as book club was pushed back a week (which will hopefully give the sushi place time to reopen!) but it's hard to resist. I love Sirius with his mix of luminary and dog, and how the two natures trade dominance (just as they do in everyone), and his love of Katherine and how it's reciprocated, and Sol and Earth, and everything. I can't believe I neglected to read this to my kids when they were young, and now it's too late! (I offered and was firmly rejected.)
Bookmarks Moved (Or Languished) In:
Tender Morsels, Margo Lanagan. 4/10 discs. I am about to finish this disc, and am very worried about Urdu, but rarely get in the car. And the car has my only convenient CD player.
Tropic of Serpents, Marie Brennan. The library called this home. I will try to get it back, probably after I finish Jonathan Strange. They are a bit too close together to read simultaneously.
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, Susanna Clarke. I dug up some headphones and now try to listen while doing chores, and am making progress. Not enough, since it is due back at the library in two days, but some.
Uncompromising Honor, David Weber. Baen Free Radio Hour's serial. OK, I made it through a podcast but it had a special short story instead of the installment of this book. But I've started the next podcast so soon!
Gideon the Ninth, Tamsyn Muir. Action is starting! The girls are still unappealing but some of the side characters are interesting. Oops.
Picture Books / Short Stories:
Soccerverse, Elizabeth Steinglass. Cybils 2019 poetry book. OK, how in the world do the judges compare this to stuff like SHOUT or Ink Knows No Borders? It's a energetic picture book that combines words and pictures to bring soccer to life, and I warm towards it because it's probably a picture book I could've snuck past my poetry-allergic sons at bedtime. I liked the variety of poems (there's even a list of poetry types in the back for the nerd parent) and was delighted to see a reverso.
The Proper Way to Meet a Hedgehog and Other How-To Poems, Paul B. Janeczko. This is the kind of children's poetry book I like and my children hated -- an anthology with pictures. Some charmed me, some were so-so, but I liked the theme and most of the poems (I added "Rules" to my poetry notebook).
"The Age of the Warrior" by Hank Reinhardt. An old guy still has some moves in a world where women have very little agency. From the Baen Free Radio Hour. (Also available in the 2012 Free Stories collection.)
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. A previously burnt bridge is disastrously discovered, causing more wreckage.
Reading and Learning to Read, Jo Anne Vaca. Watching for bias or stereotypes in basal readers.
Reading Challenges
- Cybils 2017. Finished Dragon With a Chocolate Heart and grabbed the next one from the library.
- Cybils 2018. Started Anne Frank's Diary.
- Cybils 2019. Finished Ink Knows No Boundaries and the two poetry picture books. I've got Other Words For Home on hold for the ecopy, and I'm next up for the print copy of Ordinary Hazards, but who knows when libraries will open for me to get it.
- Reading My Library. Nothing. It's patiently waiting on my shelf.
- Ten to Try. Still at 7/10.
- Where Am I Reading: 13/51 states -- Beatrice gave me New Mexico.
- Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge. 14/24. Did not get lucky. Most of the rest seem unlikely to happen through serendipity.
4 comments:
So far, our community is scheduled to self-isolate through May 11th. But that doesn't mean there aren't still a whole lot of people ignoring this practice, altogether. As you were talking about the CD player for Tender Morsels, I couldn't help but think about how I avoid all audiobooks on CD since I'm not sure how I would listen if I wasn't in the car unless I was sitting down with a set of earphones on. And even if I could, I wouldn't be able to speed it up any. Some of the narrators talk so sloooowwwwlllly and I find myself having to at least bump it up to sound normal. I kinda wish my public library would move all their audiobook purchases to being online downloads or Overdrive. But... enough about me. I hope you have a safe and product week. As I've shared before, we have family in Seattle. My brother-in-law, his wife, and their three little boys. He's an electrician, so he is basically out of work right now. It's such a tough time for so many going without an income. :(
We just finished watching Picard! Before that we caught up with Star Trek Discovery which we had to pay for access to, since I couldn't get it through the public library on DVD once the libraries closed down here in Massachusetts.
We've been doing a lot of stuff on Zoom and Facebook Live. So far, we've had two game nights with our adult children (in NYC, Maryland, and Oakland, CA) and taken a lot of online dance lessons!
I do think it's important to try and support local small businesses through carry out. And there is only so many times I can make meals and plan meals! But I try to be extra cautious and safe. I am ready for this to be done although from what I am hearing we've still awhile to go.
So many things are changing. I've not ordered from any restaurants but have bought gift certificates for the future. You've shared so many books that sound great. I loved Ink Has No Borders, Soccer Verse & The Proper Way to Meet A Hedgehog, have listed a few on your list like Beatrice on Her Own. Thanks, Beth! Best wishes to you & your family this challenging time.
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