Happy Birthday to me! My son Alexander took the extended family out to dinner to Whistle Stop, one of my favorite local restaurants. And then we went home for cake, made by my kids. The other son has been experimenting with different spices in his whipped cream frosting; this one came out really well. And then I got a new book bag and a game of Never Have I Ever cards, which everyone cheerfully played with me. Really a lively day.

Also I had my usually enthusiastic elementary book club who broke into singing Happy Birthday when I let slip that it was my day. Now we pause birthdays until April. And finally I picked up a new library (Newport Way, very nice) and went back to Newcastle to get a picture and a stamp.

I think I am now reading 64 books, according to goodreads. Maybe I should have made a resolution to start a whole bunch of books from my shelves, not to finish them…

Books Completed March 7-13

Claudia and Mean Janine, Babysitters Club, Ann Martin. Text version. This one is really about Claudia’s grandmother’s stroke. It’s interesting that no one suggests anyone else learn any Japanese as Mimi works at regaining her voice and especially with remembering English words. I liked how Claudia was worried that she had caused the stroke and so she apologizes and learns and accepts that it was not her fault. Done.

Tough Boy Sonatas, Curtis L. Crisler. With this one I could always see what the poems were trying to do, or at least have some ideas of what and how they were doing. Much more to my liking, even if none of them sank deep into my heart. They mostly weren’t aimed at me anyway.

Fudge-a-Mania, Judy Blume. For Talbot Hill book club. Huh, this was written about ten years after the previous ones, but the family picks up where we left them. Family vacations to Maine are eternal, I guess. It’s a funny book, although I wish the parents didn’t let Fudge bully his older brother so much; the boy is plenty old enough to practice compassion. The kids liked the parrot stuff the most.

Poems, R. Hawley Truax. I think these are by my cousin’s grandfather. He was a little too fond of word enjambment (splitting a word so he gets a rhyme out of an inside syllable). Good read.

Babysitters Club: Kristy’s Big Day, Ann Martin. Original version. I liked seeing the differences in the graphic novel and the text, which mostly reflected the medium. So, complicated shenanigans were more in the text, and the drive to create a beautiful picture was more in the comic.

Never After 1: The Thirteenth Fairy, Melissa de la Cruz. Talbot Hill book club pick. We talked about the meta aspect of writing a book series about a girl who loves a book series and then gets to go into that book series and change it, and which series the kids would go into and whether they’d change things. And about fairy tales and truth.

Good-bye Stacey Good-bye (Babysitters Club), Anne Martin. Original version. I like the garage sale stuff because it’s nostalgic, and then it’s endearing how the other kids use the money to throw a big party with all the little ones.

The Great Space Iguana (Hilo), Judd Winick. Another good mix of snappy plot, compassionate choices, and Hilo humor.

All the Hidden Paths, Foz Meadows. As I feared it leaned more into the character angst stuff that I found slow and away from the super fun worldbuilding, but I got enough to keep the pages turning. I did wonder at making the mystery so prominent if our protagonists weren’t going to solve it. They could have been smart enough.

Books Started

Fudge-a-Mania, Judy Blume. For Talbot Hill book club.

The Night Librarian, Christopher Lincoln. Next shelf in Renton Highlands.

Babysitters Club: Kristy’s Big Day, Ann Martin. Original version.

South Riding, Winifred Holtby. Scintillation book club. I’ll never finish in time.

Good-bye Stacey Good-bye (Babysitters Club), Anne Martin. Original version.

The Great Space Iguana (Hilo), Judd Winick. These are great. I’ve been on hold for ages.

The City and the City, China Mieville. Sword and Laser Book Club.

The City Beyond the Sea (Greenwild 2), Pari Thomson. Kidlit fantasy.

The Fall of Roe, Elizabeth Dias & Lisa Lerner. Torches & Pitchforks book club pick.

The Firekeeper’s Daughter, Angeline Boulley. River Runs Under It Book Club pick. I’ll probably skim this as I read it recently.

American Smooth, Rita Dove. My next poetry book.

Stacey’s Mistake (Babysitter Club), Ann M. Martin. This is number 18.

Bookmarks Moved

Ascendancy of a Bookworm: Short Story Collection Volume 2, Miya Kazuki.

Masters in this Hall, K.J. Charles.

The Caphelon, Fletcher DeLancey.

An Immense World, Ed Yong.

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, David Mitchell.

Chernobyl, Serhii Plokhy.

Fourth Wing, Rebecca Yarros.

The Rook, Daniel O’Malley. (Audio)

Lamplighters, D. M. Cornish.

Bookmarks Languished

I have not given up on these! Ignore all evidence.

Poppy and Marigold, Meg Welch Dendler.

Serpent Rider, Yxavel Magno Diño.

Wow, No Thank You, Samantha Irby.

Into the Broken Lands, Tanya Huff

Samantha Smee: A Pirate’s Life, M.C. Dingman.

Into the Vast Nothing, J. Bruno.

Marry Me By Midnight, Felicia Grossmann.

Long Live Evil, Sarah Rees Brennan.

Airs Above the Ground, Mary Stewart.

True Colors, Abby Cooper.

Tinker, Wen Spencer. Audio.

Nova, Samuel R. Delaney.

Books Acquired

From the library:

Scary Stories For Young Foxes: The City, Christian McKay Heidicker.

Scary Stories For Young Foxes, Christian McKay Heidicker.

Embers of War, Gareth L. Powell.

A Fate Inked in Blood, Danielle L. Jensen.

For my shelves:

The Tomb of Dragons, Katherine Addison.

Mrs. Pollifax, Innocent Tourist, Dorothy Gilman.

Picture Books and Short Stories

“Bravado” by Carrie Vaughn. This is on Reactor, and as a stand alone it’s ok but apparently there are other stories about the guy and I think it would be fun to read more stuff in the setting.

Books on Slow Mode

Home Comforts, Cheryl Mendleson. I read one section a day. I’m never inviting this lady over to dinner.

At the Feet of the Sun, Victoria Goddard. Kip meeting his heroes is hilarious.

50 Great Poets, ed. Milton Crane (no picture). Mail bribe. Tennyson.

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

The Road to Mars, Eric Idle. Mail bribe.

Black Leopard, Red Wolf, Marlon. Mail bribe.

War Cross, Marie Lu. Mail bribe.

Teaching With Caldecott Books, Scholastic books. Mail bribe.

Year of Wonder, Clemency Burton-Hill. Mail bribe. Still back in October.