Blood and Protests

Well, I'm in Phase One and a half, which is like Phase Two but not as reassuring, as far as I can tell. But it means a lot is reopening.  The Renton Farmer's Market is open on Tuesday, although with a lot of social distancing and a lot less socializing. I'm going to make my cooking son do the shopping there in hopes that he remembers what veggies he is supposed to cook on the side. 

Restaurants are open at reduced capacity. Since it's hard to eat with a mask on we're only going to to places with outside seating, which in our Jun-uary's cold and raininess is not always pleasant. But we are venturing out -- we had our first meal back at the Whistle Stop since all this began. Hmm, I think we went out to eat there the day before everything closed down too...

Alexander and I gave blood on Wednesday. We treated ourselves to our favorite Mexican place, Casa Durango beforehand. Take-out, since we let Paulos tag along and the only outdoor eating is part of the bar, where he can't go. After that we took off our extra restrictions we'd put on ourselves to ensure the purity of our blood donation so I went shopping that afternoon. My personal shopper has gone back to full time work so is no longer available. I will miss it! My niece wasn't as likely to throw extra potato chips into my order because she was hungry.

On Wednesday Paulos made us Lentil Stew and a salad. My recipe for this says simply "Tell Alexander to make lentils for dinner" but it turns out both boys know how to do this. And the salad was again great. I meant to make bread on the side but forgot until too late, and then made it in such a rush that I forgot the salt. So it was fine for mopping up the last of the salad before bed but not good on its own. We were also supposed to have roasted asparagus but he forgot. Friday was pizza night but I had asked him to make a salad and the asparagus for sides, but he forgot again. Luckily Susan was willing to take my asparagus as part of her delicious Sunday dinner. Otherwise I might have hidden it in his bed. Oh, he also finally made the pesto lasagna we're supposed to have as leftovers for Alexander. He's the only vegetarian so he's sometimes hungry after meals involving a lot of meat. Poor guy had some lean times last week so I'm glad he finally had his back-up food ready.

Socially I had my weekly Minecraft book club. One member went off to read something else, so we are inching along on the "official" book. I suspect some people will just finish it though. It's a reread for me so I'm savoring it slowly. Thursday night we played in the Library Trivia Contest instead of having a game night. We acquitted ourselves honorably, although Geography is hard. Friday night was a friend book club, with low attendance but a good chance to catch up with some friends. Sunday we had our usual ZOOM meeting with the family, and it was good to catch up with people in California and Texas. It's interesting how different things are with respect to both the virus and the protests.

Speaking of protests, we attended several. The boys went with their uncle to the silent Black Lives Matter march in the city on Friday. Susan and I stayed local but went to the rally at the Renton City Hall. And then the boys went up to see their dad and sisters on Saturday and Sunday and went for a walk through the CHAZ which is a few blocks from their home in Seattle. Afterwards the walk to downtown for the other Black Lives Matter march but asked me to pick them up from there. My timing was atrocious as I accidentally asked them to leave early, and then managed to circle around the empty downtown and almost got overtaken by the march several times. Oops. But I got home without disrupting anything.

My currently reading is 19, three of which I probably won't touch this week so they won't appear on this blog. Two are books on racism I'm reading for obvious reasons. 

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

Arcade or Bust, Nickelodeon Publishing. Or maybe Amaris Glass. For my elementary book club.

Penric and the Physicians of Vilnoc, Lois McMaster Bujold. I like Penric.

Stamped From the Beginning, Ibram X Kendi. For an online book club.

So You Want to Talk About Race, Ijeoma Oluo. Because of what's going on.

Mr Penguin and the Lost Treasure, Alex T. Smith. Cybils finalist.

The City of Brass, S.A. Chakraborty. I've been wanting to read this.

A Memory Called Empire, Arkady Martine. Sword and Laser pick.

The Prince and the Dressmaker, Jen Wang. Cybils finalist.

Completed

Cookie, Jacqueline Wilson. Most of the fun in this was because of the Englishness, which gave it a tasty exotic flavor for me. Otherwise it was a set tale of a girl with a mean dad and a nice mom and they run away. The ending left a lot of loose ends, but I guess the girl is happy where she ended up.

Arcade or Bust, Nickelodeon Publishing. We let the kids pick the book, and they choose this one which is based on a TV show I have not seen. So I asked about that and we debated whether the show was necessary (nope), and whether Lincoln was a good brother (still debating), and whether they would like a family that big. I also asked whether they would really be that excited about playing an ancient video game and they laughed at the primitive graphics. It worked well as a video call.

Orphan Band of Springdale, Anne Nesbit. Cybils 2018 Middle Grade Fiction book. I loved this! I've always had a fondness for WWII books, the more obscure the better, so this one set in pre-war small town Maine fit that niche. And I like the complicated motives and actions of the adults, who were struggling to do what they thought was right but that didn't always work out. Or did work out but the definition of right has moved on so I wasn't happy with their efforts even I appreciated what they did. And the details of the friendships and the pigeons and the three girls supporting each other was great. 

A Is For Elizabeth, Rachel Vail. Cybils 2019 Chapter Book finalist. OK, the name had me from the first page. It's always fun to read books where you share the protagonist's name. And this Elizabeth had a great attitude towards school work and art, and I liked the short chapters and the illustrations. It would have been a fun read to share with first and second graders.

Mr Penguin and the Lost Treasure, Alex T. Smith. Cybils 2019 Chapter book finalist. A cute mystery that was a bit light on female characters. Mr Penguin is still a beginning detective but he's learning the ropes. 

Magic for Liars, Sarah Gailey. This had a great premise -- the story of the sibling who didn't go to magic school, so the life of someone who knew there was magic but also knew that it wasn't for them. The specific situation strained my credibility more than the magic, which I happily accepted -- the protagonist is called in to solve a murder at the magic school her sister teaches at, and immediately starts dating one of the other staff. Because apparently this private investigator (and the school) doesn't understand "conflict of interest." But the character herself is a deeply flawed and interesting person, still struggling with the death of her mother some fifteen or so years earlier, leaning heavily on alcohol as a support mechanism, but still determined to live a version of her childhood ambition. The familial love of the estranged sisters is strong, but so is the twisted knots of envy and resentment.

Penric and the Physicians of Vilnoc, Lois McMaster Bujold. I like Penric. Here we see him with his new family which is fun, but the meat of it is medical mystery and description of why Penric doesn't make a good front line medical worker. The unknown plague plot is a bit topical right now, but that made it more intense for me. 

Bookmarks Moved (Or Languished) In:

Tender Morsels, Margo Lanagan. 6/10 discs. All this protesting and shopping means more time in the car. I'll be on disc 7 soon!

Uncompromising Honor, David Weber. Baen Free Radio Hour's serial, part 16. Not sure I have a good sense of the plot yet. I think Honor's mom is pregnant.

13 Reasons Why, Jay Asher. I'm not really liking the frame story of the whiny boy listening to the tapes.

The Ballad of Huck and Miguel, Tim DeRoche. My next RML book. This is working really well! It's both a good book and a good retelling of Huckleberry Finn.

Tooth and Claw, Jo Walton. For my Tuesday book club. Some members are starting to enjoy this so they may finish before the one we are waiting for can start. Good problems!

The Aeronaut's Windlass, Jim Butcher. This is working well on audio. I don't know if it's just because of the times, but boy is it political! Lots of polemics mixed in with the action. I'm here for the action.

Picture Books / Short Stories:

  

None this week.

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. 

Give All to Love, Patricia Veryan. 

Wool, Hugh Howey. The new sheriff starts an investigation. The investigation bites back.

The Wind Gourd of La'amaomao, Moses Nakuima. So far I've read the front matter, about the writer, the legends he draws from, and the translators. Now onto the good stuff!

Reading and Learning to Read, Jo Anne Vaca. Using regular nonfiction books in the classroom.

Reading Challenges

1. Cybils TBR Challenge: #CybilsReaddown: Count now at 25! And I haven't updated with all this weeks books yet.  
2. Cybils 2017. Nothing. 
3. Cybils 2018. Finished Orphan Band. Started Prince and the Dressmaker. 
4. Cybils 2019.  Finished two. 
5. Reading My Library. Reading The Ballad of Huck and Miguel. 
6. Ten to Try. At 9/10. I now have my KCLS staff recommendation on hold. And I'm going to replace my musician book with Orphan Band. 
7. Where Am I Reading: 1/51 states. 14 Countries. Added Maine. 
8. Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge. 20/24.  Penric is a novella! Four left:  6 (play by PoC or queer author), 13 (food book about a new to me cuisine),  23 (literary magazine), and 24 (Indigenous author).