Got my autumn vaccinations in -- went in for my flu shot and got my covid shot as well. That gave me the excuse to call out for pizza for dinner. I managed to make my weekly walk the next morning, but that was about all I got done. I was fine the next day, though. I think I have one more vision appointment and then my medical chores are done for a few months.
CERT training continues to be good, and it reminds me to get to the gym so I can do all the cool stuff I'm learning. I need to get more books on audio so I can listen as I run along.
And I need to get those books done because CYBILS has started so I should be pounding down a book a day. And I sorta am but I'm starting more than I finish because apparently that's how I roll as a reader.
Official Plug For Cybils: It's time for CYBILS NOMINATIONS. You will have a chance to nominate the picture books, middle grade books, YA books, fiction and nonfiction and poetry books for kids that came out in the past year and that were great to read and great to recommend! I need you to look over middle grade speculative fiction and find me the best of the best from the past year!
--- End Official Plug ---
I'm still at 3 pages of currently-reading on goodreads. I've entered Cybils season. I'm at 48 physical books checked out which includes some picture books and then there are a pile of ebooks.
This post is late so I'm not posting at The Bookdate's It's Monday, What Are You Reading headquarters. But I'll check out what everyone else is reading in the kitlit version of that at Unleashing Readers.
Started
Allegiance, Kermit Roosevelt. For Torchers and Pitchforks. I may have put this off too late.
Who Was First, Russell Freedman. Cybils finalist.
Ellie Engle Saves Herself, Leah Johnson. Cybils nominee.
Speculation, Nisi Shawl. Cybils nominee.
The Demon Sword Asperides, Sarah Jean Horowitz.
Encore in Death, J.D. Robb. Nobody cares if I read this book.
Smart-opedia, Eve Drobot. Cybils finalist.
Completed
The Witch's Heart, Genevieve Gornichec. Cloudy pick this month. I was the only one who both showed up and read it, but I enjoyed it. I liked that it was lower on the steamy level -- more a novel than a romance novel, and that it was a retelling of the Norse myths but from the point of view of Angboda. So we see Loki both as someone she might fall for and as someone who she eventually rejects. And in the meantime there are other interesting takes on immortality and the slippery nature of time and rebirth, and what it means to be a parent, and who takes priority in our lives -- ourselves, our images of ourselves, our family, or what?
The Creeping Shadow, Jonathan Stroud. The next audio in my Reading My Library quest. This really came together in an exciting way! I really like the situation (ghosts that can only be fought by young teens) and the way the team works together. I disliked the whole "everyone thinks Lucy is jealous of Holly" plotline, both the parts in which Lucy is jealous of Holly and also how everyone assumes Lucy's motivations are based there, but luckily that gets tidied away in this book so we can go back to fighting ghosts and corrupt adults. Also I remembered that there's a TV show so I'll watch a bit of that. On to the next shelf!
The Hunt for the Hollower, Callie Miller. Warm-up for Cybils. First of all, Merlynda is a great name. Also, I really liked how this treated the relationship between the sister and brother, who were loyal to each other despite one being a magical prodigy and the other being a hopeless magical screw-up. I also enjoyed the best friend's knightly quest, and how she never noticed it was supposed to be a card game. Moving the point of view around also gave us the chance to see into the lost bard's motivations, both when he was messing up all opportunities to communicate and later when he was managing to be friendly for minutes at a time. I liked the various problems, I liked the inevitable confrontation and what the author did to put her own spin on the predicted reveal (probably not as predicted by fresher readers), and I liked the mix of justice and compassion and how that was a theme throughout the book.
Ellie Engle Saves Herself, Leah Johnson. Cybils nominee. This had a good mix of exaggeration and realism. The internet star and the media frenzy worked for exaggeration, but the friendship shifting and worries about crushes at the start of middle school seemed emotionally spot-on. I'm not sure that these elements, plus the developing super powers, really worked together, but most of them worked at the time. Emotionally, tying puberty and super powers together really works for me, especially as Ellie worries about hiding her abilities, learns that she can't take without giving (well, sometimes), and thinks she's the only person ever to have these problems. I do have some refrigerator thoughts -- the cost of her powers seems inconsistent (who paid for the beta fish?), I'm worried that her best friend's gymnastics team is too pressured, and who would write a contract that didn't pay off if the miracle wasn't successful? Did the mom not involve a lawyer there?
Speculation, Nisi Shawl. Cybils nominee. This had a great sense of agency for the main character -- she had a mostly loving family (looking at you, cousin Benny! and I guess the dad was out of the picture) but she expected to solve her problems by herself and to be a support for her little sister. The magic in the glasses was cool, as were the call-outs to older books about magic that she uses for guidance. HowWinna approached "twinning" was nifty, and the only magic that Benny did sure raised the stakes.
I did feel the sense of history wasn't really strong; occasionally we'd get a reminder that things were in the past but 1962 is a while ago and I sorta expected more. I guess they couldn't look things up on the internet much. And I wanted more direct action from Winna for the final solution; it seemed that luck played a rather large part in that.
Picture Books
Bookmarks Moved (Or Languished) In:
While still ridiculous, this is slightly less so than last week. Progress!
Ascendance of a Bookworm, Miya Kazuki. Abandoning my reread of Part 3 now since the new one just dropped. I'll get back to it, don't worry!
Ascendance of a Bookworm, Part 5, Vol 6, Miya Kazuki. I am slowly savoring this.
Cobra, Timothy Zahn. Part 51. Huh, somehow I haven't been getting to the Baen podcast. OK, I have one in my queue now.
Warcross, Marie Lu. Made progress.
Priory of the Orange Tree, Samantha Shannon. Bookmark moved.
The Wine-Dark Sea, Patrick O'Brian.
Fourth Wing, Rebecca Yarros. Good intentions, no follow through.
Last Night at the Telegraph Club, Malinda Lo. Cybils finalist.
Into the Broken Lands, Tanya Huff. I need more time in my day.
Maybe You Should Talk to Someone, Lori Gottlieb.
Resurgence, C.J. Cherryh.
A Shadow in Summer, Daniel Abraham. Scintillation book club pick. Missed the book club.
40-Love, Olivia Dade.
Borderland, Anna Reid. Got through another chapter.
The Clackity, Lora Senf. Cybils finalist. I sorta ignored laundry for a week, and laundry is when I read old Cybils finalists.
Going Postal, Terry Pratchett. For my Tuesday book club. I'm behind. And now I've misplaced my copy.
Marie Curie, Kathleen Krull. Cybils finalist. Library due dates have forced a drastic rethink of my reading order here.
Palate Cleansers
I'm slowly marching through these books.
50 Great Poets, ed. Milton Crane (no picture).
Dragon's Breath, E.D. Baker. If lost in a magic market, ask the dogs for directions.
The Writer's Stance: Reading and Writing in the Disciplines, Dorothy U. Seyler. (no picture). More personal essays. I liked the bicycling in New Hampshire one.
The Road to Mars, Eric Idle.
The Dark Fantastic, Ebony Elizabeth Thomas. I hope my fanfiction knowledge of Merlin carries me through.
Year of Wonder, Clemency Burton-Hill. Whew, caught up. Also caught up with my mail.
Reading Challenges
- Cybils 2022: Working on middle grade SF.
- Early Cybils: Working on some nonfiction. Unfortunately they all showed up at once.
- Reading My Library. Working on an audio. Picked up some Easy fairy tales at Renton Highlands.
- Libraries: Working on the 10 to Try for 2023. Need an artist and a summer book.
Future Plans
I'm putting this at the end because I suspect it's complete fiction, but I feel I should attempt some structure. Also, really I'm just reading Cybils so I'll be lucky to get 20 pages a day of these other books.I am reading:
- Book I own: Into the Broken Lands
- Library Book: Going Postal
- Ebook I own: The Wine Dark Sea
- Library Ebook: Borderland
- Book Club Book: The Flight Attendant
- Tuesday Book Club Book: Falling Out of Time
- Review Book: Back Home
- Rereading: Chalet School books
- Audio: considering my next one. Many options.
No comments:
Post a Comment