Hooray For Moms!

Another week of staying at home, and I'm getting pretty good at it.

I pushed off cooking to my younger son, and then made his life easier by ordering out twice. A local restaurant that we've been visiting for as long as I've lived in Washington finally opened after a month of closure, so I celebrated with a nice meal. And then on Friday I suddenly realized that it was book club night so that meant PIZZA! He finally got a chance to shine on Saturday and made a tasty pesto lasagna. Any food I don't have to cook is delicious to me, so I was happy.
Minecraft Meeting

I did leave the neighborhood on Saturday, when I accidentally woke up early so drove to Krispy Kreme for two dozen donuts. It was a nice surprise for my oldest who had to wake up at nine for an exam. He has been very nice about going for walks with me so I felt good surprising him. I even wore shorts for a few of those walks -- it's been up in the 80's! Which is apparently not that hot according to my Greek son, but I felt warm.

Mother's Day was very pleasant. The boys delivered my breakfast in bed, complete with napkins, drink, silverware and flowers. So I lounged about and skipped most of my chores.

My currently reading drifted up to 21, but it doesn't feel overwhelming. I do have some library books coming due and some book clubs coming up, so I'd better finish stuff since I'll be starting more soon.

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.

Started: 




Artificial Condition, Martha Wells. Murderbot #2. For my Tuesday book club.

Spirit Hunters, Ellen Oh. Cybils Finalist.

Rogue Protocol, Martha Wells. Murderbot #3. For my Tuesday book club.

On a Sunbeam, Tillie Walden. Cybils finalist.

Other Words For Home, Jasmine Warga. Cybils finalist.

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?, Mindy Kaling. For my Friday monthly book club.

The Witches Are Coming, Lindy West. For my feminist book club. I'm not sure when we are meeting.

Ship of Ruin, Lindsay Buroker. She's a fun author.


Completed:




Artificial Condition, Martha Wells. Murderbot #2. For my Tuesday book club. Technically I was supposed to read all four novellas, but I'm slow. Luckily another member was moving at about my speed. I like this on the read as much as the first time; I like how Murderbot gives AIs the same respect as people as he does humans. Even limited AIs are treated as having a soul, although it would not describe it like that. There's a situation where an AI is controlled by the same kind of governor that Murderbot had removed from itself, and the book club discussed the ethics of removing it, especially as the AI had spoken of its hatred of humans. I like these kinds of questions.

Hey Kiddo, Jarrett J Krosoczka. A Cybils 2018 YA graphic finalist. I was very impressed by the depth of this book. I felt the graphics and text really worked together, especially the background colors that set the emotional tone that the child in the pictures didn't understand yet. This was a great memoir about a complex childhood that Krosoczka only understood in retrospect. The way the colors helped build the effect reminded me a bit of The Best We Could Do.

Spirit Hunters, Ellen Oh. Cybils Finalist. Cybils 2017 middle grade fantasy. I really liked the family dynamics, even as the older sister remained two-dimensional. (And I frown on intensive classes for the SAT.) I did wish our protagonist solved more problems herself instead of being constantly saved, although at least the supporting characters who did the saving were interesting. And I liked how her memory slowly came back, although I had suspected a magical problem but apparently the counselors were right -- it was an emotional block. Fun book and I will look out for the sequel.

Other Words For Home, Jasmine Warga. Cybils 2019 poetry finalist. This was a strong middle grade book about Jude, a Syrian girl whose family sends her and her pregnant mother to relatives in Ohio where she must master English and junior high. It felt more like a book than poetry to me, although occasionally the format worked to heighten her emotional response. Jude was unfailingly compassionate and kind, so much that it made her a bit unbelievable since we were seeing her interior as she effortlessly defeated any inclination to be less than saintly. Also I was distracted by worries about how her family was paying the hospital bill for the birth, because this is America.

Important question: My library challenge has us read a book about current events. Does this qualify?

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?, Mindy Kaling. For my Friday monthly book club. This was acclaimed as an excellent pandemic book, because it was light and avoided any heavy topic, either personal or political. Our little band of nerds included people who had never seen any of her shows, but most of us have seen some or all of The Office. I liked her confidence and her belief in family, although reading about her hope for a real partner was a bit sad since she hasn't found that yet. But she does has a kid so she still fulfils her dream of a family. And it was good to see most of the friends (a few couldn't make it) and to have an excuse to order pizza. 

Shockwave, Lindsay Buroker. Speaking of good pandemic books, Buroker writes lighthearted fantasy or science fiction with a nice blend of characters and romance. This one mostly skipped the romance as it set up three sets of people and then made their goals seemingly incompatible. It made for a interesting by-plays and loyalties as they all struggled to survive and as a reading I wanted to root for all of them, even the killer pirate who I suspect has layers. I'm looking forward to the series.

Wolfsbane, Patricia Briggs. Woot! I finally finished my complete reread of all Patricia Brigg's works! I like this earlier Sianam one, especially now that I don't have the misconception that Wolf is hundreds of years older than Aralorn, which I cannot fathom since they mention his age a lot. I liked how Aralorn went back to her family, and Wolf got to see how a real family worked -- with love and teasing and a willingness to forgive. The characters from damaged or damaging families took a while to understand what they were being offered. That was the interesting emotional plot, while the action plot had lots of magic and black arts and wild creatures and stuff.

Bookmarks Moved (Or Languished) In:






Tender Morsels, Margo Lanagan. 5/10 discs. Still on disc 5, but I made some progress on my donut run. I'm worried about Urda!

Tropic of Serpents, Marie Brennan. The library called this home. I will try to get it back after I finish Jonathan Strange. 

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, Susanna Clarke. It's annoying how people forget about magic even when arguing about magicians.

Uncompromising Honor, David Weber. Baen Free Radio Hour's serial. I'm ready for episode 12. And Honor is back on screen!

Rediscover Catholicism, Matthew Kelly. Interesting chapters on the Mass and the Bible.

The Great Alone, Kristin Hannah. The main character is too stupid to live. I hate that.

Winter Sisters, Robin Oliveira. The family is trying to protect the girls. The boyfriend is getting confused.


Picture Books / Short Stories:

I working my way through a Greek picture book. Slowly.

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.

Cookie, Jacqueline Wilson.

Give All to Love, Patricia Veryan. Uh oh. There may be a SCENE at the ball.

Tell the Wolves I'm Home, Carol Rifka Brunt.

Wool, Hugh Howey.

Reading and Learning to Read, Jo Anne Vaca.

Reading Challenges

1. Cybils TBR Challenge: #CybilsReaddown: Count now at 10! 
2. Cybils 2017. Finished Spirit Hunters. 
3. Cybils 2018. Finished Hey Kiddo. Started On a Sunbeam. 
4. Cybils 2019. Read Other Words For Home. That's the last poetry until my library lets us have books again. 
5. Reading My Library. As soon as I finish Great Alone this is coming off my shelf.
6. Ten to Try. At 8/10. I now have my KCLS staff recommendation. I want a better musician book. And I'm wondering if Other Words For Home counts as current events.
7. Where Am I Reading: 15/51 states. 13 Countries. I put Other Words For Home in Ohio rather than Syria. 
8. Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge. 17/24. Six left:  #2 (retelling by PoC author), 6 (play by PoC or queer author), 13 (food book about a new to me cuisine), 15 (climate change), 17 (sci-fi novella), 23 (literary magazine), and 24 (Indigenous author). I think the Hugos and Book Riot define novella differently, since I've read several novellas but they were all between 121-150 pages, not under 120 pages. 

Send It To Zoom

Does anyone else remember the TV show ZOOM? I just checked the internet and they had email addresses and shows in the 21 century, so I guess it lasted long past my childhood (OK, looks a remake started up in 1999), but I don't remember seeing it around for my kids. Maybe Californian PBS was too cool for this East Coast kinda thing. Although really the only reason I associate it with the East Coast is because it came on after The Electric Company which I always vaguely assumed was the utility powering Sesame Street.

But I bet any alums are feeling very ahead of the curve lately, since everybody is rushing to Zoom. My kids do college over Zoom, my family has transcontinental dinner parties over Zoom, any important (ha!) committees I'm on that tracked me down in the pandemic are held over Zoom, and vitally for my mental health, book clubs are held on Zoom.

My poor mom was complaining about how complicated it all was as we hauled her into the family dinner. This involved several texts and phone calls before we could all settle down. It's a good thing we have so many communication devices so we can use some to explain the intricacies of the others. It's a bootstrapping process, you see. Mom may have thought I was exaggerating when I said I was almost as clueless as she was, but it's all too true. But now I've used it at least five times so I'm an expert.

Here are my tips:

* Find the best decorated part of your house and sit in front of that for the meeting. Sadly, I prefer to zoom on a giant screen, which means my desktop computer. The office containing it has scuffed white walls over a fading couch and no artwork. Not even bookcases -- somehow this is the only room where you can be out of arms reach of literary goodies. I've been stealing artwork from other parts of the house and precariously balancing them on the back of the couch. My safety conscious children keep exclaiming in horror and returning them to their proper places. At this point I graduated to --

* Virtual Backgrounds. After the third time a cat almost knocked over a glass frame, my son asked why I just didn't use a virtual background. I said I didn't know how to make one. With a long-suffering sigh of deep patience he showed me the free ones that come with Zoom. Now I could relax on a beach, soar over the Golden Gate Bridge, or float in space while attending my meetings. I also enjoyed the way bits of my body would vanish and reappear as I shifted as apparently virtual reality is almost as complex as the real thing so computers have problems integrating them. This was particularly fun when my cats joined the meeting, so that focus shot to their tails waving where my suddenly decapitated head had been a moment before.

* Pets are also a vitally important part of any Zoom gathering. When a pet enters the camera view, everyone must stop and appreciate it. If the pet is short (like a dog) then this may involve moving the camera so everyone can appreciate the fuzzy one. Cats will often make it easier to see them by sitting directly in front of the camera, or sometimes walking onto the head of the person in the meeting for a better vantage part. Agin, this is the most important part of the meeting, so don't rush them. Imagine how much more useful Trump's briefings would have been if he stopped talking and let the camera look at a dog or cat?

* I also highly recommend gallery view over speaker view, unless you are a student in a class. Before I realized this was an option I got to watch people in book club jumping all over the screen as Zoom tried to figure who was going to finish their sentence. Amusing for a while, but luckily I discovered the Gallery button before my interest waned.

* Speaking of these highly technical points, how often should one change one's virtual background? Are we supposed to keep the same one for a whole call? Are they like cocktail dresses where people aren't supposed to reuse them in the same crowd? Should I use the beach for day time calls but switch into outer space for evening meetings? If I have the fix that will save the day for my team, is it appropriate to show up in front of a superhero headquarters? These are fine details of Zoom etiquette I haven't worked out yet.

May Days

Don't tell the government, because I'm not sure they'd consider this essential, but this week my son and I hopped in my car and drove to Salem where his college and all his stuff is. We had a two hour window of time assigned by the college to pack up all his stuff, and actually we were a little worried because with zero traffic anywhere between Seattle and Salem we were running ahead of schedule. I asked him about it and he said not to worry, we'd just stop somewhere for lunch. I just let that sit there in the car with us for a mile or so before he facepalmed as he realized nowhere was open because of the pandemic; you know, the reason we were driving down in the middle of the semester to get his stuff after he'd been home since before spring break?

But luckily I managed to slow down enough that we pulled up to his dorm on the stroke of the correct time. We hiked up to his third floor room where he through everything into his suitcase, his laundry bag, and a few spare shopping bags I had brought along. I helped by loading one bag with his extra shaving lotion bottles, and one promptly opened up and sprayed everything with shaving cream. So I stopped helping and just carried stuff down all the stairs. He went back up while I called to tell the school that we would be done in ten minutes and could they come early to inspect his room; Xan had assumed we'd just have to wait but I said parents can be pushy. And then we were done and driving home. In a normal year I get a hotel room because I'm lazy about driving there and back again (so much harder than driving to a "there" that is three times as far somehow) but this year it was a one day event.

One thing that was fun was we caught up on over a months worth of a weekly podcast we enjoy together (All the President's Lawyers). I'd stop the audio as each one started and we'd recreate what was happening -- had classes moved online? What were the disease counts? What were the expectations? It really reinforced how quickly things changed.

The rest of the week was less exciting. I had a video lunch with a friend, remote gaming and bookclubbing on Tuesday (I was robbed of the special buff everyone else got during a Minecraft village raid where I died inconveniently), my triple book club (video) for Sword & Laser, Torches & Pitchforks, and Cloudy With a Chance of Clit Lit, which was fun. We probably had about fifty percent book discussion and fifty percent catching up with all the craziness in our homebound lives.

Oh -- I cooked twice. Chickpea falafels which were pretty popular; in fact as I prepared it I got worried that my niece would be eating with us because I had forgotten to enlarge the recipe for pandemic sized families. But I lucked out as she was doing a paper so we had enough. And I had made muffins so when people started muttering about second helpings I whipped out some chocolate chip banana muffins and my May Day strawberry muffins.

Friday was May Day, and I googled "May Day traditional food" and the internet told me chipped beef on toast. And strawberry muffins. I have no idea what chipped beef is but it sounds intimidating so I looked in my recipe book and decided that "Steak and Goat Cheese Quesadillas" from the old Gathering Table people was close enough. And they were fairly popular even though I think I overcooked the steak. Or as the rest of the family puts it, cooked the meat.

My currently reading is back to 20. But I'm hoping to clear off some of the books from my bedside table and not replace them as fast. But I've got my Tuesday book club and my Friday book club coming up, so I may be optimistic.

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 funny autism and the Cybils reading qualify me this week.

Started: 



No Time to Spare, Ursula K. Le Guin. For my Torches and Pitchforks book club.

Golden in Death, J.D. Robb. I had fun reading #49, so I requested #50. Because of the pandemic my library can get it in ebook form.


Completed:




Funny, You Don't Look Autistic, Michael McCreary. This was a fun choice for the library pick. McCreary has a pleasant tone, and his appreciation for his parents warmed my parental heart. I see why many places shelve this in the YA section -- he's barely old enough to buy alcohol in my state, let alone write a memoir. An amusing and cheerful light read, despite the note of tragedy in the last chapter.

No Time to Spare, Ursula K. Le Guin. For my Torches and Pitchforks book club. We split between people who thought it deadly dull and those who found it insightful and delightful. I suspect age was the main divisor. The young wanted a more direct confrontation with the limitations of age, and us old people appreciated the way a long perspective affected every essay, even the ones about the cute cat Pard. It was a reread for me, and I'm not young, so I liked it. But we all enjoyed catching up with each other.

Golden in Death, J.D. Robb. Another fun read! Now I'll go another year or so. I really enjoy how Robb makes Eve's reluctant acceptance of her ginormous wealth entertaining -- the problem of having unlimited resources is as real to her as the problem of the office chocolate thief. And there was a merciful lack of torture in the murders; just some jerks thinking their money made them untouchable. Well, Eve kicked 'em in the nuts -- that's pretty touchy.

Bookmarks Moved (Or Languished) In:






Tender Morsels, Margo Lanagan. 5/10 discs. Again, since I listen in my car, and I rarely go anywhere, progress is slow. But not nonexistent! I was happy to see the bear, the dwarf and the girls all meet up.

Tropic of Serpents, Marie Brennan. The library called this home. I will try to get it back after I finish Jonathan Strange. They are a bit too close together to read simultaneously. It's kind of cheating to keep it on my currently reading list, but I really do intend to get back to it! I have a plan.

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, Susanna Clarke. Again made some progress. I think I'm too stubborn to give up, and I'm not hating it, just not super positive.

Uncompromising Honor, David Weber. Baen Free Radio Hour's serial. I'm caught up!

Rediscover Catholicism, Matthew Kelly. I took a break here. Not on purpose -- I've got six books on my bedside table and I pick them up at random. Literally -- I roll a die. The gods of chance apparently do not like Catholicism.

The Great Alone, Kristin Hannah. Another book ignored by the die.

Wolfsbane, Patricia Briggs. This one I got to read a bit, and I'm enjoying it.

Winter Sisters, Robin Oliveira. For my Renton River Runs Under It bookclub (March meeting). I'm in the grim aftermath-of-trauma part, so it's hard reading.

Shockwave, Lindsay Buroker. Pleasant space adventure reading. Hmm, it's fun to imagine Weber's characters and Buroker's meeting in a space port somewhere.

Hey Kiddo, Jarrett J Krosoczka. A Cybils 2018 YA graphic finalist. This is very interesting but I have no idea whom I would hand this to.

Picture Books / Short Stories:

None this week. My dabble into Spanish has distracted me from my Greek reading, but I have the next book poised and ready to go. It's just harder.

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.

Cookie, Jacqueline Wilson.

Give All to Love, Patricia Veryan. Guest have gathered for the ball. One social antagonism has been reconciled, but Guy's family connections are a bridge too far for some.

Tell the Wolves I'm Home, Carol Rifka Brunt. The kids are alright. Too bad some of the characters aren't kids.

Wool, Hugh Howey. This has been lurking on my to-read stick for almost a decade, and every year I pick it up again and get distracted. I'm easily distracted.

Reading and Learning to Read, Jo Anne Vaca. OK, the section on using the internet was not very useful but did charm me with nostalgia. (I have an old edition.)

Reading Challenges

1. Cybils TBR Challenge: #CybilsReaddown: Count now at 7!. 
2. Cybils 2017. Oops. Nothing. 
3. Cybils 2018. Continued Hey Kiddo. 
4. Cybils 2019. Nothing. I should probably get on this. 
5. Reading My Library. As soon as I finish Great Alone this is coming off my shelf.
6. Ten to Try. At 8/10. I now how my KCLS staff recommendation.
7. Where Am I Reading: 14/51 states. 13 Countries. Le Guin's book is very local to Oregon.
8. Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge. 17/24. Six left:  #2 (retelling by PoC author), 6 (play by PoC or queer author), 13 (food book about a new to me cuisine), 15 (climate change), 17 (sci-fi novella), 23 (literary magazine), and 24 (Indigenous author). I think the Hugos and Book Riot define novella differently, since I've read several novellas but they were all between 121-150 pages, not under 120 pages. 

Space Week

Gathering Edge, Sharon Lee & Steve Miller. 
The Countdown Conspiracy, Katie Slivensky. 
Killing Gravity, Corey J. White. 
Gideon the Ninth, Tamsyn Muir. 
Last Day on Mars, Kevin Emerson. 


Completely unintentionally, I looked up last week to realize that the majority of my completed books had their characters journeying through outer space. One was a novella from Tor, one from a series I've enjoyed for decades, one a Hugo nominee I read (belatedly) for Sword and Laser and two were Cybils nominees from 2017. SF (which I consider to stand for both Science Fiction and Fantasy) is a genre that I love so it's not surprising that I read any of these books, but so many in one week gives me a chance to see what I like and dislike in my space travels.

My first impression is that it's important not to tell me the details. The two more realistic books (the middle grade ones) spend some time talking about orbital paths and how to make their rocket ships catch up with other ships or to match orbits or whatever. Unfortunately I know a tiny bit about that stuff, which was enough to make what they said sound very wrong, but not enough to figure out what they could have really meant. On the other hand, the adult books did completely impossible things (wormholes, hyperjumps, bone magic) but since they never tried to explain it to me in a way that I would not accept I just accepted it. The lesson is that it important to not engage my science brain unless you meet it exactly right. And for the kids books, I expect my level is higher than a fifth grader's (although probably not as high as an 11th grader who took AP Physics).

My second thought is rather obvious -- it's really all about the characters. Gathering Edge is set in a long established story with people from highly varied cultures that mix across different planets and specifically in our little space ship, which has a crew made of of people from many different flavors of background. It brings interesting complexity both to the setting and the characters; there is a Liaden culture and on the ship we have someone from the main homeworld, someone from a less prestigious planet where she grew up as a minority, and a captain who only recently found out her father had been a high ranking member of that culture. They way they approach each other and the other members of the crew shows a lot about them as individuals and deepens the world building of the setting.

Since I've read over a dozen books set in this world, it's easy for me to see these distinctions. I know what it means to be of Clan Korval, how people across the universe see Liaden culture and the planet itself, and how much emphasis is placed on subtle acknowledgements of status or respect. I'm not sure it would be as much fun for a newcomer, but they'd probably get the general ida.

Killing Gravity and Gideon the Ninth have to build their settings and characters from scratch. Killing Gravity is a novella, so it has only a few pages to give the reader an idea of what the setting is like and who the characters are and why I should care. I thought White did a good job with the opening scene -- the viewpoint character is in dire peril, and seeing her thoughts about it told me about the technology and the society (there are rules for rescue and scavenge, and they will most likely be observed), and laid trails for the more detailed explanations of what she can do and why that will complicate her life. I also got a sense of her independence and her prickliness. I felt Gideon was less interested in telling me about the world; there was bone magic and space shuttles and a space army to join, but no one really cared about how it worked. And Gideon herself felt like an anachronism -- she grew up alone in a strange world but still knew all the latest memes. The danger Gideon started in felt more contrived and less sympathetic; and the end of the scene I was hoping she would fail rather than pulling for her.

The words "hard" and "soft" are used to describe science fiction, although they are a lot fuzzier than they seem. Much like the distinction between science fiction and fantasy, the extremes are clear but the middle is more of a hazy blur than a sharp line. The Cybils finalists are clearly hard SF, although traditionalists might be shocked at the emotional and communitarian subplots that run through The Countdown Conspiracy. Gideon waves spaceships around mainly to indicate that the bone magic is a real science -- the characters will need vast intelligence to figure out the theorems, and us readers can skip the details without feelings inadequate; you need a doctorate to know that stuff and our schools didn't cover skeletons. And both Killing Gravity and Gathering Edge have no concern for how things works, and the reader isn't expected to worry about it either.

So I guess I don't need science in my science fiction. I want characters who are competent, who expect to deal with problems by solving them. I like when they are also emotionally realistic people who are dealing with themselves while dealing with these problems. And I like these problems to be solved -- I go to science fiction for optimism, so if you plan to go dark and despairing there had better be powerful writing and catharsis to justify it; otherwise I'm not nearly as forgiving as I would be with a story that has a lot of plot and character action. And finally, if the author explains things, I can't think the explanation is wrong, either because of my (limited) understanding of the real world or because it seems internally contradictory. And I'll forgive the first a bit if I'm clearly not the target audience and you entertain me otherwise. But I'll feel a little smug on the inside.