Mother's Day! Pomp And Circumstance

On Monday I drove my mom to the hospital to for a outpatient operation, and then spent the day waiting for them to release her. I had prepared a bag with a few zillion books, plus my ereader, and kept myself from worrying by starting a handful of new books and plugging along on a few old ones. So my progress last week of finishing more books than I started was completely reversed. But Mom did great and came home tired but hopefully ready for a lot more years of laughing at me for hauling so many books around.

On the weekend I drove to Pullman, Washington to cheer as my niece graduated from Washington State. She's finished in three years and graduated with honors! Woot! Wow, do people not worry at all about Covid19 over there. I wore my mask, but very few other people did. If I don't get corona from this then I guess those vaccinations really do work. Mother's Day was spent driving back home, but I got back in time to celebrate with my son and my mom, and then my other son brought me a cake after he got off work. We had agreed to do our family Mother's Day stuff next week (I usually get my breakfast in bed) so I was surprised and really pleased. It's good cake!

I am still second on my list of all the Cybils finalists. But I'm still working on the categories (as you see, middle grade nonfiction is showing up), so I have hopes of regaining the top spot. Look out, Shaye! I only need like thirty thirty-five forty more books to catch up! (Shaye continues to read the rest faster than me. I'm doomed but happy about it.) I'm currently reading about 38 books, so maybe I'll manage to finish some of them next week.

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" and I think I'm in time this week! Ditto for the children's lit version at either Teach Mentor Texts or Unleashing Readers.

Started

Across the Green Grass Fields, Seanan McGuire. Hugo reading.

The Girls I've Been, Tess Sharpe. A friend recommended this. Although now I realize it's also a Cybils book!

Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation, Vol 1,  Mo Xiang Tong Xiu. Because it looks fun.

Song of Blood and Stone, L. Penelope. Book club book.

Amari and the Night Brothers, B.B. Alston. Cybils finalist.

Breathless, Beverley Jenkins. A slow burn romance.

A Colourful Death, Carola Dunn. Cosy mystery.

Shifting Shadows, Patricia Briggs. Audio for my drive.

Emerald Blaze, Ilona Andrews. Fun book from my shelves.

Completed

Night Broken, Patricia Briggs. Audio re-read so I could read while driving during the read-a-thon. And then I remembered how much I like the Mercy Briggs books. Patricia Briggs novels tend to make great listening. My sister was in the car sometimes, and we talked about how we like when Mercy lies to herself, sometimes deliberately to make herself confirm to her own standards (I would not let that bother me...) and sometimes without knowing it, even as she assures herself that she understands things perfectly. This comes up sometimes in her relationship with Adam, where she is not as secure as she would like to imagine herself. And of course, this one has lots of adventure and Warren/Kyle arguing and a new Coyote relative and of course Christy.

Ikenga, Nnedi Okorafor. I really liked how consistent the kid was in terms of his emotions and character, especially as he was learning and changing because of the things that happen to him. These include mundane but profound things like his father dying, his mother dating, and his fights with his friends as well as things like transforming into a spiritual being with immense strength and aggressive emotions and then struggling to come back. He didn't suddenly change into a mini-adult; he was still a kid with a kid's understanding but he was a kid who had been through a lot. That's my adult reaction to the book; I think kids would like it for all the agency he has and because he and his friend has strongly defined characters and great adventures.

Across the Green Grass Fields, Seanan McGuire. Hugo novella finalist. This was joyful to read (which is great in a hospital waiting room), especially as the girl is growing up among the centaurs and rescuing herself from baddies and then accepting the quest to save the world and acquiring her companions. As a story, it felt a bit over stuffed; I didn't think I needed all the wonderful world building middle which unbalanced the short story feel of the beginning and end. But it was a great read when I needed it.

Heat, Mike Lupica. 2006 Cybils Middle Grade Fiction finalist. The best kind of sports novel, where there is also stuff (so much stuff) going on outside the field, but it integrates into the game bits, who the character is and what he does outside is directly tied to how he handles himself on the little league playing field. I sure how this team makes it all the way to the national championship!

Three Keys, Kelly Yang. These kids are again a lot of fun to hang out with (especially the Jason redemption arc) but this time the plot felt really forced into historic mode, with the book an excuse to show the effects and hysteria of Proposition 187. I remember feeling betrayed by my fellow Americans when that passed; it was so obviously a bigoted and horrific idea, and then finding individually that some people I thought of as friends, as decent people, had voted for it. Seeing it from the point of view of those directly affected was searing and raw, but in a nonfiction way that pulled a bit at the fictional tension. The girl's control of her family finances and business decisions seemed a bit unlikely.

A Colourful Death, Carola Dunn. Cosy mystery. I'm enjoying the small village characters, especially the widow. The mystery was just and excuse for them to be interesting; I cunningly solved it immediately because I trust Dunn to make sure I don't like the baddie. The detective sergeant seemed rather naive, but she's young; I thought the older detective had figured it out as early as I did, but he was worried about stuff like proof. Onto the next!

-----------------Book From Blogging Hiatus -----------------

Winter's Orbit, Everina Maxwell. I reread this on a plane ride last December. A science fiction romance with a cheerful but clueless man falling in love with his arranged marriage partner. Very sweet and I liked the world building enough to hope Maxwell goes back for more.

Bookmarks Moved (Or Languished) In:

Ok, I'm only going to put a book in here when I actually try to read it. Or at least actually pick it up and think about reading it. This week I made some progress in:

Sweep of the Heart, Ilona Andrews. Another Innkeeper story! The cat is doing better, and the story picks up.

Medicus, Ruth Downie. Book to keep at the table so I can read while eating. Downie makes Roman Britain feel very real; I hope she is accurate as my imagination is now completely set.

Risk, Dick Francis. Kidnappings is a plural word.

Winter Tide, Ruthanna Emrys. Cool scene. I like the elders.

Ancestral Night, Elizabeth Bear. I meant to listen to a lot on the drive, but Briggs seduced me. Also, the narrator got in trouble.

Vampire Trinity, Joey Hill. The sex bits aren't very interesting to me, so I tend to fall asleep quickly.

Red Hood, Elana K. Arnold. Cybils finalist. Go Gramma!

Forging a Nightmare, Patricia A. Jackson. 

Chernobyl: The History of a Nuclear Disaster, Serhii Plokhy. Read-a-thon gave me an excuse to sit and read; this is not a good book to dip in and out of.

Pandora's Star, Peter F. Hamilton. March Sword & Laser pick. It's funny how my instinct to side with the cops has been broken by the whole 2020 thing.

Phoenix Extravagant, Yoon Ha Lee. For local Sword and Laser group.

Coyote Dreams, C.E. Murphy. These are getting shaky in terms of whether they should stay on the list. 

Terra Nullius, Clare G. Colman. These are getting shaky in terms of whether they should stay on the list. 

Forfeit, Dick Francis. These are getting shaky in terms of whether they should stay on the list. 

Picture Books / Short Stories:

Mapping Sam, Joyce Hesselberth. This was recommended to me by a library at Renton Highlands Library, so it's my entry in the Ten to Try challenge. It's a lovely depiction of how maps and graphical representations show information, with a cat leading the way through the art to the science.

Welcome to Bobville, Jonah Winter. This is a strong message book, but it's a good message and the artwork is a lot of fun, so I would enjoy reading it to kids. There's a science fiction series about the Bobiverse, where a guy named Bob is replicated, so that has some relevance, although the SF Bobs are willing to differentiate. Winter had a lot of fun the Bobville, so that the ending where nonconformity threatens the town feels a bit rushed, but that's where the message is. Maybe Republicans would ban it, because the book definitely things individuality is great. From a Life Issues shelf at the library.

Mr Wayne's Masterpiece, Patricia Polacco. Polacco's picture books are generally great, with interesting and wholesome stories, and this is no exception. Good, kind teachers help a kid realize her potential. But I don't really like the art style -- I can tell it's really good, but it's not for me. It hits some uncanny valley stuff for me. From a Life Issues shelf at the library.

Palate Cleansers

These books I'm barely reading; lately I use them as bribes to get me to deal with the mail. I've been ignoring my mail.

The Educated Child, William Bennett. How to make changes at a political level.

 

Dates From Hell, Kim Harrison & others. 

50 Great Poets, ed. Milton Crane. 

Stinger, Nancy Kress. Making progress!

Year of Wonder, Clemency Burton-Hill. OK, I'm doing the day's song, and then jumping back to where I fell behind. So I'm catching some of April and working my way through December -- Christmas is over!.

Reading Challenges

1. Cybils 2021: Started Amari and the Night Brothers from the library.
2. Early Cybils: Working on Red Hood again. Finished Heat. 
3. Reading My Library. The library reopened! I got the next book. But maybe I'll keep working at the back-up library, because picture books are fun.
4. Where Am I Reading 2022. Picked up Nigeria.
5. Libraries: 34/55 for the Tacoma Extreme Challenge. 
   Read a librarian-recommend book for KCLS 10 to Try.

Future Plans

I'm putting this at the end because I suspect it's complete fiction, but I feel I should attempt some structure.

I am reading: 

• Book I own: Chernobyl Next: Forging a Nightmare
• Library Book: Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation Next: Girls I've Been
• Ebook I own:  Winter's Tale. Next: ???
• Library Ebook:  Breathless Next: Never Say You Can't Survive
• Book Club Book: Song of Blood and Stone
• Tuesday Book Club Book: Strange Love
• Hugo Book: Never Say You Can't Survive
• Review Book: Back Home  Next: 
• Rereading: Risk. Or Maybe Heidi.
• Meal Companion: 
• Audio:  Shifting Shadows