March Reading

March will not see a return to diary blogging, but I'm keeping a toe-hold with this monthly update. It was a rough month. My mom entered hospice and died. My family (and I include some lifelong friends in that) rallied around to turn my front room from a storage dump for furniture that had no place into a cozy bedroom for her to spend her last days as comfortably as possible. The family was wonderful and Providence Hospice was great and my mom is gone. Death is really final and I hate it.

This post is, like the last one, exceeding boring. It's just lists. Books that I started or continued during March and books I finished. You can go look on Goodreads (see Currently Reading links) if you are dying to see what I thought about them...

Started

 

Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation: Mo Dao Zu Shi, Vol 4, Mò Xiāng Tóng Xiù.  Continuing the series.

Supreme Courtship, Christopher Buckley. For Torches and Pitchforks bookclub. 

You Sexy Thing, Cat Rambo. For Cloudy bookclub. 

Making of a Marchioness, Frances Hodgson Burnett. Adult book by a favorite classic children's author (she wrote The Secret Garden). 

Tracker, C.J. Cherryh. 16 in the series. The series is the next Foolscap Book Club pick. 

Archangel's Resurrection, Nalini Singh. The KCLS Romance Book club, which I missed, was doing this author.

A Handful of Stars, Cynthia Lord. Next up in my attempt to read a book from every shelf in the Renton Highlands Library. (I'm on Children's Audio)

Under Fortunate Stars, Ren Hutchings. March Sword and Laser pick. 

Breach of Trust, Rachel Dylan. Next up in my attempt to read a book from every shelf in the Renton Library. (I'm on Adult Fiction)

Death of Mrs Westaway, Ruth Ware. For my River Runs Under It book club (my local library, which actually has a river running under it). I'm not going to finish in time for the meeting tomorrow, but at least I'll know the characters.

Quiet In Her Bones, Nalini Singh. I had planned to be ultra ready for the March book club when I ordered the books.

Supreme Inequality, Adam Cohen. For Torches and Pitchforks book club. This will be an very pitchforks kind of read, I suspect.

Priory of the Orange Tree, Samantha Shannon. I skipped this book club book before, and now I've let my Tuesday book club slide by -- I'm on page 25 of so and we just wrapped it up. I'm catching up, though!

H Is For Hawk, Helen MacDonald. The new Tuesday Book Club pick, which we aren't even supposed to start until next week. I'm ahead! (Also, I've already read it, but I forgot everything but the tone.)

Prairie Lotus, Linda Sue Park. Grabbed at library. 

Boyfriend Material, Alexis Hall. The next Romance Book club pick is male authors!

How to Bang a Billionaire, Alexis Hall. Hey, I had one on my shelves at home!

There, There, Tommy Orange. The next River Runs Under It pick. 

Legends and Lattes, Travis Baldree. The next Sword and Laser pick. 

How to Say Goodbye in Robot, Natalie Standiford. Cybils finalist from way back.

Get a Life, Chloe Brown, Talia Tibbert. I read the second book in this series, not I'm getting around here.

Completed

Nettle and Bone, T. Kingfisher. Sword and Laser pick. I ended up missing the book club meeting, but I enjoyed reading this story of good people trying to do good things, even when it's hard. 

Aspects, Mike Ford. This was a lovely dark chocolate of a book, rich and to be savored. I didn't always have the attention I needed, so I read it in more contemplative moments. But the worldbuilding, the characters, the magic, all made for an incredibly satisfying experience, even though the book is unfinished. 

Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation: Mo Dao Zu Shi, Vol 4, Mò Xiāng Tóng Xiù.  I like the story and the characters, and the complex plots of the baddie, and the sudden plunge into more R rated territory. But what really fascinates me is the peek into the world of the Chinese web novel (my only other experience is with the Japanese web novel Ascendance of a Bookworm) and the translation choices to show me what the difference in expectations are. And I also like that I'm comparing the Netflix show to the books as I go along, because I still haven't finished that either. 

Tin, Padraig Kenny. Although I found the science a bit silly, and the idea that Jack or Rob don't have souls seems preposterous, this was a moving and thoughtful story with lots of actions. Given that I had to pause for long times to read it (I listen in my car, but only when I'm alone, and there were lots of trips with people) it had to do great work to hold my attention and it did. And the narrator's accent was delightful.

Supreme Courtship, Christopher Buckley. For Torches and Pitchforks book club, although I ended up missing the meeting. One thing that was depressing is how naive the assumption that senators would pretend to have ethics -- Buckley satire is that they come up with ridiculous reasons to turn down candidates they don't approve up, but nowadays the it's just "this is they guy we bought, we want him." (Or occasionally "her.") Or that it's surprising to nominate someone unqualified. Buckley also seems to think that following law and precedent is a bad idea, which I find alarming as a baseline consideration for what we expect from the supreme court but apparently this is now standard legal practice. Yikes. 

Inaugural Ballers, Andrew Maraniss. Cybils nominee. I like how Maraniss brings in the wide social aspects to his sports history -- this had a lot about women's sports and how hard it was for women to get the recognition and support that men just take for granted. I'm now even more interested in Russian basketball.

Sweep of the Heart, Ilona Andrews. Finally! Lots of fun, as Andrews always delivers. The tone shift between the crazy-sauce bridal competition and the kidnapped friend/lost parents was a little rough, but both were good enough that I just rolled with it.

Making of a Marchioness, Frances Hodgson Burnett. This was a really interesting read. It's basically the same plot as Little Lord Fauntleroy, but instead of an innocent kid who is the heir by birth, it's an innocent girl picked out by Super Rich Dude because she has the personality of an innocent kid, which is apparently the ideal for of Womanhood. So, lots to interrogate about society there! Some of which Burnett does deliberately, and some of which probably not but is obviously from this vanpoint. I am pretty sure I read an edition that has the first and the second books combined; the second stuff had the crazy murder plot that was all told sorta sideways so as not to shock the reader. I learned a lot about how rich people could hide their pregnancies, for example.

Call Him Jack: The Story of Jackie Robinson, Black Freedom Fighter, Yohuru Williams. Cybils nominee. I started with a hardback but doubled up with audio and enjoyed both. I went back to the paper to catch up on all the illustrations I missed. It was good to learn about the complexities of this sports figure, who had been fighting for civil rights all his life. I'm enjoying the chance the Cybils gives me to read more about famous people I've had only a superficial knowledge of. I also hadn't realized how young he was at his death. 

Under Fortunate Stars, Ren Hutchings. March Sword and Laser pick. I enjoyed this! The characters were interesting, even the ones I didn't really like, and those were more making poor choices on an individual level rather than big evil decisions. I liked the way it dealt with causality and free choice, and the science handwaving, and Leeg's arc. The romance at the end was odd, but luckily didn't take much page time. Looking forward to book club!

Breach of Trust, Rachel Dylan. Library Quest book! This was an enjoyable Christian legal thriller/romance, which was a nice blend of genres. I did not notice how the Christian part was signaled, but I'm not very deep in that world. I liked the legal stuff, which took precedence over the romance, and did not mind it being the third in the series -- there wasn't a sense of stuff I didn't know. I do find the character's relationship with their faith interesting -- religion is all about having God in your life, but that's a purely personal thing that doesn't seem to have much impact on ethical or moral choices. God is there to call out for when someone is scared or in danger or just lonely, but not there to help influences career choices or decisions on how to treat people or stuff like that. It's a different world to me, and one that is fun to visit while being entertained by all the action.

Prairie Lotus, Linda Sue Park. Great read. It's both a response to and akin to the South Dakota bits of the Little House series, with the same kind of town and school but from an outsider's perspective. It's got a vivid main character who exists in her own time but is relatable to modern readers. It would make a great read aloud or a book to hand to kids. (Content warning: There is a near sexual assault.) I liked the diploma scores and the potato turnips and how she uses sewing both as a future profession and as a bridge back to her mother. 

Tracker, C.J. Cherryh. 16 in the series. It started slowly, but then there was a lot of stuff to remind me of. Cherryh does this thing where her characters think about how they will do a thing, and then they do the thing, and they do it a bit differently, and that shows a lot about who they are as characters and how they react to other people and how they are growing, which is good but also doesn't make for a fast book. But once action starts she has a fine grasp of suspense and anxiety and I left the book really wanting to read the next one. 

In Wild Light, Jeff Zentner. Cybils 2021 YA Finalist. The kids are perhaps too amazing, but they are so well realized emotionally that I accept it all. As usual Zentner breaks my heart with the setting and the characters, but in a way that heals it as well. Even the poems didn't really bother me, and I am poetry resistant. 

Me and White Supremacy: Young Reader's Edition, Layla S. Saad. Cybils nominee. I wasn't completely satisfied with the simplications made for the children's version; I thought some important concepts were lost rather than explained at a kid's level. 

Picture Books

Hello World: Garden Time, Jill McDonald. 2023 Cybils Board Book finalist. I liked the sense of capabilities this assumes for the child audience. 

The Bruce Swap, Ryan T. Higgins. Picture book. I enjoyed wondering about where the mice came from as much as I enjoyed watching a Kevin person disrupt the household (my brother Kevin was the fun uncle when my kids were young). 

Ty's Travels: Zip Zoom, Kelly Starling Lyons. First Reader. This is my least favorite of the Ty books. In this case, his imagination actually slows down his enjoyment of learning to ride his scooter, instead of enhancing his experience. 

Bruce's Big Fun Day, Ryan T. Higgins. Level 1. Still baffled about where the mouse came from, but Bruce is great. 

Ty's Travels: Beach Day!, Kelly Starling Lyons. First Reader. This was a perfect example of the magic of the Ty books. His imagination works with reality to create a great day for himself, his dad, and his neighbor. 

Ty's Travels: Lab Magic, Kelly Starling Lyons. First Reader. 2022 Cybils Early Reader finalist. What I really liked about this was how much Ty is cherished by his older brother. When Ty is too young for the science lab at the museum, his brother graciously moves on to the things Ty can also do, and then eagerly enters into the lab Ty sets up at home.

Gigi and Ojiji, Melissa Iwai. Level 3. 2022 Cybils Early Reader finalist. I didn't bond with this one so much because I was busy being astonished at how little Gigi's mom had shared with her. A handful of words, no sense of culture, almost nothing. And yet they invited the grandfather to live with them? I found Gigi was encouraged to be selfish, and also complacent about how her manners were better than other peoples (as when she is encouraged to open her gift in front of her grandfather after being told how he would consider that rude). 

Frank and the Bad Surprise, Martha Brockenbrough. 2022 Cybils Early Chapter Book finalist. A great twist on the new sibling genre, with Frank being an adorable letter-writing cat. And I liked how the puppy helped Frank get home with dignity, and that was what helped them bond. 

Ty's Travels: Winter Wonderland, Kelly Starling Lyons. First Reader. This is fun because Ty barely has to imagine to make things marvelous. So it's sometimes hard to see when we are in his fantasy and when we are in reality -- sledding is just that awesome. 

Gigi and Ojiji: What's In a Name, Melissa Iwai. I enjoyed this more, although again I'm not very impressed with the parents. Gigi experiments with her name, and we learn that her parents gave her a first name that is almost impossible for a native Japanese speaker to pronounce. Of course they did. Gigi also learns that if something doesn't immediately work perfectly, one should give up. But she also learns that her grandfather cares about her and values her, so at least I like that adult member of her family. 

Bookmarks Moved (Or Languished) In:

Ascendance of a Bookworm, Miya Kazuki. I'm endlessly rereading this while waiting for the next version. The bookworm's universe is my happy place. Currently I'm on Part III.

Cobra, Timothy Zahn. Still catching up. I keep thinking I'm in the last section. Maybe I'm right this time!

Threadbare, Elle E. Ire. Book club pick from a few months back. I'm still working on it; it's my car book.

Clock Dance, Anne Tyler. This was January's River Runs Under It book club. I want to finish it, but I keep reading the current club pick first.

Island of the Mad, Laurie R. King. I lost this! But now I found it again.

Your Perfect Year, Charlotte Lucas. When a side character developed medical problems it became less fun to read in the hospital.

Flood Circle, Harry Connolly. YAY! Another Twenty Palaces book. Ok, past the gruesome bits. 

Indigenous America, Liam McDonald. Cybils nominee. I'm now concentrating on one Cybils book at a time, and library books take precedence.

The Heart Principle, Helen Huang. The B plot involves the protagonist's dad getting sick and he might possibly die and I'm not in the mood. So the bookmark is languishing.

Ship Without Sails, Sherwood Smith. This is still cool. Very immersive.

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.

 

50 Great Poets, ed. Milton Crane (no picture). Slogging through some dull old guys.

Stinger, Nancy Kress.  I like this.

Dragon's Breath, E.D. Baker. I like the recurring sneeze into frogs bit.

The Writer's Stance: Reading and Writing in the Disciplines, Dorothy U. Seyler.  (no picture) Essays and journal writing.

You Can Write Children's Books, Tracey E. Dils. Nonfiction ideas. Then how not to embarrass yourself when submitting to a publisher. 

Year of Wonder, Clemency Burton-Hill. March has marched on! Into April. Although I did skip a few days.

Reading Challenges

1. Cybils 2022: Started. 
2. Early Cybils:  Not done.
3. Reading My Library. Read Breach of Trust and checked out the next few shelf picks. Working on audio from backup library. 
4. Where Am I Reading 2022. Never finished updating this. Not sure I'll do it in 2023.
5. Libraries: Started the 10 to Try for 2023. 

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: How to Bang a Billionaire
• Library Book: Clock Dance
• Ebook I own: Flood Circle
• Library Ebook: Boyfriend Material
• Book Club Book: There There
• Tuesday Book Club Book: H Is For Hawk
• Review Book: Back Home 
• Rereading: 
• Audio: H Is For Hawk