Summer Is E-Going Out

Some coolth descended upon as as summer is winding up. The boys are back at college. Local schools here are planning to start up (remotely). The library summer reading programs are wrapping up -- WAIT. I'm not done yet! I'm mean, obviously I clocked a few thousand minutes in my county library program, but I only have a BINGO or two on the city SPL Summer Book Bingo. I'd better get cracking if I want a blackout!

I'm still working on running, although my intervals have moved out to three days between runs. I'm old! I need a lot of recovery time. Also, it's lonely on my own. 

And I have to get back in the kitchen since my live-in personal chef has moved out to be next to his virtual college. I skipped my first turn by taking us out to our favorite local restaurant and its lovely outdoor dining to celebrate Empty Nesting, but on Friday I ponied up and made a Mexican lasagna with fresh bread (yes I made that too) to accompany my Greek salad made from mostly farmer's market ingredients. We all agreed that my salads are not nearly as flavorful as Paulos's. He has a more profound understanding of oil and vinegar. 

I met up with my friend for a walk in the park, and then saw many of my family (including my son!) on the weekly ZOOM call, so that was pleasant. We also had a meeting for the FOOLSCAP convention concom to address how we'll handle the whole virtual world that conventions have to face. We thought we were safe since we were among the last pre-pandemic cons last February, but next February is not looking as safe as we initially hoped it would be. We've got some good ideas for things we can do though.

My currently reading has lurched back up to 21 including the three I'm just pretending to read, but also including things like serials that I subscribe to and my Greek picture book which I aim to read 2 pages a day in. Because I don't actually speak Greek despite what Duolingo thinks. 

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. The Cybils poetry run makes me eligible.

Started

The Miscalculations of Lightning Girl, Stacy McAnulty. Cybils finalist.

Slippery Creatures, KJ Charles. I bought it because I want to read it!

Judgment in Death, JD Robb. A reread because these are great.

The Tree that Time Built, ed. Mary Ann Hoberman & Linda Winston. Cybils finalist.

The Bill Martin Jr. Big Book of Poetry, ed. Bill Martin Jr. Cybils finalist.

Cities in Layers, Philip Steele. Book to review.

Deal of a Lifetime, Fredrik Backman. I need to finish my SPL Summer bingo! This is a translated work.

Completed

Minor Mage, T. Kingfisher.  I liked this kid and his armadillo. They did a good job working together, evading ghouls and bandits, and navigating complex emotional territory such as having compassion for while still resenting the way the neighbors betrayed him, and how to feel if a bad guy dies because you dodged his murder attempt. I would have delighted in this book as a kid.

Me and White Supremacy, Layla Saad. I kinda cheated because I'm only half-way through the journaling, but I wanted to get an overview of how it worked and also to be able to participate in the book club. I think it's a very worthwhile plan to examine how racism has shaped thinking patterns in ways I wasn't conscious of, but the writing itself isn't as impressive as Stamped From the Beginning. That is probably an unfair comparison, but this poor book came in right behind that one! 

The Tree that Time Built: A Celebration of Nature, Science and the Imagination, ed. Mary Ann Hoberman & Linda Winston. 2009 Cybils poetry finalist. This was a great concept for anthology, and I read it at the perfect time. Last week I finished Braiding Sweetgrass, another peon for the merging of science and literature, so I was very open to listening to how poets interpret the world around them and how science learns from and teaches these efforts. I enjoyed the notes at the bottom which were equally likely to discuss scientific progress as the poetic techniques used. A real delight. 

Judgment in Death, JD Robb. A reread. The series is on #50 or so and this is (I think) #11 and written 20 years ago, so it was a big jump back and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I got to see the early days of Eve and Roarke's marriage as they fight and then figure out how to meet each other in an acceptable middle ground, both of them proud and confident and determined to protect the other (which infuriates them both). I also loved seeing young Peabody and realizing how far she's advanced in her career and there were touches at Charles, Mavis, etc. One bit that didn't work as well was the plot about the bad cops and the bad IAD that investigated them; these days it's harder to laugh at a police officer who is accepted because he wears the uniform and everyone just shrugs about his bad attitudes towards women, minorities, or anyone different from him. But if he starts working with a rich guy (instead of just assaulting poor people) then he crosses a line! Nowadays I suspect Eve would draw the line a little differently. 

Deal of a Lifetime, Fredrik Backman. Quick story (is it really a novela?) about a guy realizing he made have made some poor choices. 

Bookmarks Moved (Or Languished) In:

Tender Morsels, Margo Lanagan. 9/10 discs. People are awful. I'm on Bransa's side here.

Uncompromising Honor 27-28/??, David Weber. Baen Free Radio Hour's serial. Still stuck in a battle.

Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling. I'm listening to celebrities read this to me. 

Black Leopard, Red Wolf, Marlon James. Sword and Laser pick. I need to get back to this, but I want to spend time with it. It's not a book for reading in five minute spurts.

A Long Time Until Now, Michael Z Williamson. I'm not used to Williamson protagonists being goofballs with flashes of competence; they are usually competent with flashes of goofiness. Does he not like the modern military?

Polaris Rising, Jessie Mihalik. For my Cloudy book club. For some reason I thought this was going to be fraught and angsty, and instead it's a lighthearted space opera. Yay!

The Illustrated Brief History of Time, Stephen Hawking. For my Tuesday book club. I did not finish this on time, but I think I've already read the next book so I can take my time with this one.

Children of Time, Adrian Tchaikovsky. I jumped to another book with a book teammate picked the same category. I should have doubled up -- this would have been a huge point earner!

Picture Books / Short Stories:

 

Αλφαβητάρι με γλωσσοδέτες, Eugene Trivizas. Continuing through the Greek alphabet.

Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich, Adam Rex. 2006 Cybils Poetry finalist. Fun collection of poems featuring famous monsters in strangely domestic places. My kids would have enjoyed this until they realized it was full of POETRY.

Red Sings From Treetops: A Year in Colors, Joyce Sidman. 2009 Cybils Poetry finalist. At first I found the triangular character who tiptoes through the illustrations a bit repellent, but by the end of the book I was won over. But although I enjoyed the verbal play and sharp sense of each moment, I don't know whom I could share this with. It was hard living with a family of poetry-averse barbarians.

Handsprings, Douglas Florian. 2006 Cybils Poetry finalist. Again, I enjoyed this but I don't know which kids I could share it with. I did get an addition to my poetry notebook out of it though.

Tour America, Diane Siebert. 2006 Cybils Poetry finalist. I adore the concept but it would've been hard to sustain my kids in this given their aversion to poetry. I liked the combination of poems and art and imagining her travels from small town to small town. 

African Acrostics, Aven Harley. 2009 Cybils Poetry finalist. I'm not a huge acrostic fan so I didn't fall in love with any of the poems, but the photographs were exquisite. I can definitely see a teacher reading this out loud to a class and then the kids making their own acrostics.

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 Wind Gourd of La'amaomao, Moses Nakuima.  The trickster child works with his dad to defeat their enemies, help their lord, and regain their status. 

Sorcerer to the Crown, Zen Cho. Our hero battles with the bureaucracy, and is forced to lecture to a girl's school. I think this has brought us another major character.

Reading and Learning to Read, Jo Anne Vaca. How to teach kids to leverage information out of nonfiction books.

Reading Challenges

1. Cybils 2017. None. I just need 3 YA books to be done.
2. Cybils 2018. Started Lightning Girl. 
3. Cybils 2019. Only one picture book left -- the library seems to have gotten it lost in transit. Then all the fiction novels.
4. Early Cybils: Read a bunch of poetry.
5. Reading My Library. Haven't started the next one yet.
6. Ten to Try. At 9/10. Haven't read it yet, but I've got #10 on my tablet. It's also here in paper. 
7. Where Am I Reading: 16/51 states. 22 Countries. 
8. Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge. Got Indigenous author! I'm technically done, although a few of my entries are pretty feeble.