Leaping Across the Stage

A friend called to say they had an extra ticket to Cirque du Soleil -- Alegria and did I want to go? Yes, yes I did! This is the first time I saw a whole show and it was amazing. The seats were great -- very close to the stage, and the performances were spectacular. One trapeze artist fell into the net, which sorta emphasized how hard most of the stuff they were doing was. I really liked the dances with long poles at the beginning and the trampoline stuff. 

I've been applying the cleanser, cream, and ointment properly to my face, but my lesion is not responding, which I think means it's time to cut it off and check for cancer, which will not be fun. (Spoiler, since this is so late -- it was not fun.) On the bright side, the rest of my face looks great! Too bad I'm so good at mask wearing.

Birthday season is about to gear up: my mom, my nephew, my sister, me, my niece, my son, and my other niece. I'm always glad to have an excuse for cake come up every two weeks or so.

Cooking was two very different lasagnas -- the pesto spinach one made in the crockpot, and the "Mexican lasagna" made with chicken and tortillas. I am pretty sure it was not invented in Mexico and is named after the tortillas, but I like it. I still hope for falafels soon. 

Um, Foolscap had a fun Thursday Game night, with Jackbox games. I went for a pleasant walk. I kept forgetting to post this blog. 

I went back to my list of all the Cybils finalists to reclaim my top score. Ha!

Deep Space 9 has fixed the past, so I'm on to the next. But I keep forgetting to fold laundry, so my TV viewing is limited.

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" but I'm going to go sign up because I'm posting this so late. Ditto for the children's lit version at either Teach Mentor Texts or Unleashing Readers.

Started

In the Shadow of the Fallen Towers, Don Brown. Cybils finalist. 

Sisters, Raina Telgemeier. From my shelves.

Sweep of the Heart, Ilona Andrews. Another Innkeeper story! They are serializing it.

Child of Fire, Harry Connolly. Foolscap book club pick for  "NO ROMANCE" theme.

Empress of Salt and Fortune, Nghi Vo. Sword and Laser February pick. I'm rereading on audio.

Completed

Of Curses and Kisses, Sandhya Menon. So, I could kind of get into the heroine's problem, especially as I have complete sympathy for all royal members of imaginary countries. There were a lot of expectations that she felt she and her sister had to uphold, and it took a while for her to examine them. The conflict between the individual and society is interesting to me, so I liked that her arc was all about that. His arc was that he believed in some oddball curse that his evil dad foisted on him, with the proof being that he killed his mother by being born. Which I would accept in a historical gothic type book as a motive, but since he was supposed to be in this rich kid modern boarding school, where he had lived since childhood, it felt contrived and made him deeply unlikeable. Then he doubled down by betraying the heroine, and only reluctantly accepting her apology for being someone he could betray, and I was cranky and sad that they got back together, which is the opposite of how I want to feel at the end of a romance, but I acknowledge that the problem is mostly my old person perspective and teens would probably find the curse romantic and not be so down on him for being a drama king about it.

Sal and Gabi Fix the Universe, Carlos Hernandez. Although it wasn't as surprising as the first, since I already new about magic and their complex families, I really enjoyed going back to see how Sal and Gabi were handling their lives. I like books where compassion is the most important superpower, for children as well as for adults. Sal is a bit too eager to take responsibility for everything (it's not actually a crime to say you don't like what someone is doing, especially when you don't say it to them). Probably my favorite feature is the mix of wildly fantastic, slightly fantastic, and solidly realistic in the story, which works on both a narrative and emotional level.

The Guinevere Deception, Kiersten White. 2020 Cybils YA Speculative Fiction finalist. This did a lot of interesting things with the Arthurian legend which I really enjoyed. I do find myself exhausted by the emotional rollercoaster of teens even when they seem very realistic. Guinevere is dealt a very bad hand and then isolated as she tries to make sense of it. It's not set in history -- I didn't get any sense that they were trying recreate the emotional lives of people from a different time, but although the emotional beats are modern the characters fully inhabit their setting. It helps that Guinevere is explicitly from an different society than Arthur, so the other characters as well as the reader expects that she'll be baffled by normal life.

In the Shadow of the Fallen Towers, Don Brown. 2021 Cybils Young Adult Graphic Novel finalist. I thought this did a good job of showing the history, not just the facts but the emotions that American dealt with. Graphic books are really good for that. Since I am old I already knew most of the information. I liked the color choices for the illustrations.

Decrypted, Lindsay Buroker. I finally decided I deserve to read whatever I want, and what I wanted was an adventure story with two likable, quirky and amusing people who were awkwardly in love in a fantasy world with interesting geography but that doesn't take itself too seriously. So I settled in and just read this for an hour to finish it and enjoyed myself tremendously. I will now start working on my ebook Buroker backlog, because reading fun books is a joy that I want in my life. It's self-care!

Sisters, Raina Telgemeier. From my shelves. I'm keeping an eye on this challenge where every two weeks they send you to your TBR shelves to find a book based on the cover or the author's last name or something. This one had a blue cover, and blue is my favorite color, so I grabbed it off my TBR bookcase and read it. The family is funny and honest, but I was uncomfortable with how mean the kids were to each other. That's how my siblings and I rolled as kids, and I know my mom was very concerned that we didn't like each other (we grew up to be incredibly close). My sons were always much nicer to each other (they tell me they fought a lot but they have no idea of what "a lot" would mean) and I have to tell you that is much more pleasant for the family as a whole. 

-------  And now a book from my blogging hiatus! Someday I will mention them all -----

Fearing the Black Body: The Racial Origins of Fat Phobia, Sabrina Strings. I read this for a book club (Torches and Pitchforks) that I then missed, but I'm glad to have read it. I appreciated the historical context given to mostly English and American attitudes how weight and size reflect character, especially for women, and how the need to enforce racial ideas affected this. I'm not sure it completely addresses the changing nature of definitions of race, especially as these differed in America vs elsewhere, but it gave me a lot to think about.

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:

Mexican Whiteboy, Matt de los Pena. This has been banned somewhere, so I'm reading it for my Torches and Pitchforks banned book month. Except then I got tickets to Cirque du Soleil: Alegria, so I'm skipping bookclub and can finish this whenever.

Winter Tide, Ruthanna Emyrs. There is small problem of my Spaceward Ho! addiction cramping my ebook reading time.

Never Fall For Your Fiance, Virginia Heath. OK, they are having a Dumb Misunderstanding that lasted over a chapter and I hate those. 

Forfeit, Dick Francis. Hmm, maybe I should read another Francis while I get up the nerve to read the hard part.

Live Free or Die, John Ringo. This is The Baen Free Radio Podcast serial, so every week they read a few pages to me. I'm so far behind that my phone keeps trying to remove the downloads and then I can't listen while driving. Humph.

Picture Books / Short Stories:

"The Plasticity of Youth", Marissa Lingen in Clarksworld. This gave me neat parental vibes, about how priorities shift with children and how it changes things.

"The Haunting of Dr. Claudius Winterson," Sarah Monette in Uncanny Magazine. Very creepy and sneaky, although I'm not sure it works for people who haven't read other Booth stories; I know who Booth is and what he's likely to encounter and that may had shaped my reading.

Palate Cleansers

These books I'm barely reading; lately I use them as bribes to get me to deal with the mail. Hmm. I should get back to that. 

The Educated Child, William Bennett.

Wool, Hugh Howey.  

Sorcerer to the Crown, Zen Cho. All the men and the spunky young girl are in a showdown!

 

Dates From Hell, Kim Harrison & others.

50 Great Poets, ed. Milton Crane. We start off with Homer, Virgil, and the Bible. 

Year of Wonder, Clemency Burton-Hill. Heading into the end of December. Maybe I should just skip February altogether.. 

Reading Challenges

1. Cybils 2021: Read a graphic novel!
2. Early Cybils: Finished Guinevere Deception. Looking at Framed.
3. Reading My Library. The library had a pipe break and is closed for repairs!
4. Where Am I Reading 2022. Two more -- Florida and New York. I can't believe I've read three books in Colorado this year ALREADY.
5. Libraries: Forgot to check, but last weeks Yasmin the Librarian would count for Book Set in Library!

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: Forging a Nightmare Next: Running the Books
• Library Book: Mexican Whiteboy. Next: Perks of Being a Wallflower
• Ebook I own:   Winter's Tale. Next: ???
• Library Ebook: Chaos Reigning.  Next: Ascendance of a Bookworm Vol 1
• Book Club Book: Mexican Whiteboy Next: Ghost
• Tuesday Book Club Book: Perks of Being a Wallflower
• Review Book: The Queer Principles of Kit Webb  Next: Back Home
• Rereading: Forfeit
• Meal Companion: 
• Audio:  Probably just podcasts

My Calm Response to a Medical Issue

The closest thing I came to excitement this week was complaining to a chat nurse about a soreness on my face, right where my mask hits. I was thinking pimple. They were thinking dermatologist, which resulted in my getting an appointment the next day to see if I needed a biopsy. (I called and got an appointment for next week; they called back and fit me in that day, which was a bit alarming.) 

So I figured I was doomed and told my kids they'd better take care of the lawn and arranged a special knock so they'd recognize me after the doctor had to perform a face-ectomy. I always prefer to panic in a very flamboyant and ridiculous way; I mean, I wasn't really worried, lots of my family have had basal bits removed, but it's still seemed a bit fast to go from "I'm too old to have a pimple" to "facial lesion" to "five days seems a long time to wait" all between an idle evening check with my phone health app to see if my mask issue could be addressed and waking up to phone calls from the doctor.

Getting a "facial lesion" evaluated in COVID times is a fun dance, since they perform elaborate contortions to keep the mask on my face as much as possible. The consensus was that it's probably an infection, so now I have a cleanser, a cream, and an ointment that all need to be applied twice a day, as well as antibiotics that should be taken with food to avoid nausea, but not with calcium or other minerals, so between the pills and my vitamins my meals are very carefully planned. 

Speaking of meals, I made a spanakopita thing, since my son was ignoring my menu hints. It's basically the inside of the spanakopita, baked in a dish instead of messing about with phyllo. I've always avoided making spanakopita because phyllo is so fiddly, but we all really like it. So this was a fun alternative. The boy did make the red-pepper/spinach and brie pasta thing, so he wasn't a complete slacker.

I had fun walking in the Botanical gardens on the weekend. I showed up with my mask, but mainly because the medications also make me very sensitive to the sun and I wasn't sure I'd remember to keep my hood up. It was really nice, and my walking buddy and I plan to keep it in our walk rotation as the spring approaches.

Some people checked out the list of all the Cybils finalists I made, and Max has tied my high score! But watch out -- I ordered a bunch of graphic novels so soon I will top the lists again!

Deep Space 9 has gone into the past, so I'm watching the riots in 2024. It's always fun to see what the past thought the future would be like. 

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'm going to go sign up. Ditto for the children's lit version at either Teach Mentor Texts or Unleashing Readers.

Started

Mexican Whiteboy, Matt de los Pena. This has been banned somewhere, so I'm reading it for my Torches and Pitchforks banned book month.

Sal and Gabi Fix the Universe, Carlos Hernandez. Because it was a lot of fun watching them break it.

Completed

The Real Thing, Brenda Jackson. For the Fake Relationship Romance series meeting next week. This reminds me why I'm very picky about my contemporary romance reads; there's a lot of fake conflict over why they don't just get together, especially if the author really pushes how wildly sexy they are for each other. The plot doesn't really work. Also, I was much more interested in the problem that caused the fake relationship -- she was being harassed at work, HR told her to put up with it because the dude was well connected, and so she thought faking having a boyfriend would make him back off. So the B plot was dealing with this situation, but I didn't really care about the love story (I mean, they were fine together! story over) and wanted more action on the work problem.

Ice Planet Barbarians, Ruby Dixon. This is the most Vaginal Fantasy of all the Cloudy book club books I've seen since we had to go on without Felicia Day's show. I approached it with some trepidation, but it was fine. A short story worth of plot, tucked in with a lot of sex and thinking about sex, much of which I skimmed. The character was interesting in the way she broke the mold I've come to expect in modern romance; she's openly willing to trade sex for favors, has no intellectual pretensions, and embraces her sexuality in an enthusiastic but very gendered way. If she had stayed on earth, I can see her not getting vaccinated because nobody she knows believes in the threat of COVID. But I won't get to discuss this at book club because I've just received free tickets to a Cirque du Soleil performance!

One Good Deed, David Baldacci. Once I sat down with this the pages turned themselves -- our hero is a very Baldacci guy, so he's very observant and smart and a good fighter, but still barely manages to get himself out of jams. The author's hand came down heavily a few times (the nice murder detective's help and then collapse) but it's good to see our guy figure things out. And since Baldacci often doesn't even let me see the clues, I don't have to feel like a slacker for not figuring things out. The courtroom scene at the end was a lot of fun, and then the reunion ending was well done.

-------  And now a book from my blogging hiatus! Someday I will mention them all -----

The Last Graduate, Naomi Novik. I had instructed my kids to get me this for Christmas, as it came out in the midst of Cybil judging madness. But then they left it at home! So I didn't get it until New Years. Novik again had me gripped to the page, although I did find the intensity of super-powered angsty teens a bit much sometimes. I picked up on a lot of clues as to where things were heading, so the ending wasn't as big a shock as it was for my son, who read it much faster. I like how both El and Orion and learning new things about relationships, both between themselves and also their relationships to their peers -- friends, colleagues and rivals. And, of course, now I really want the third book. 

Bookmarks Moved (Or Languished) In:

Ok, I'm only going to put a book in here when I actually try to read it. This week I made some progress in:

Decrypted, Lindsay Buroker. I carry this around but have been distracted by library books.

Winter Tide, Ruthanna Emyrs. I am at an exposition bit so I've paused.

Forfeit, Dick Francis. Hmm, maybe I should read another Francis while I get up the nerve to read the hard part.

Of Curses and Kisses, Sandhya Menon. I'm trying to finish this, but neither protagonist is much fun. 

The Guinevere Deception, Kiersten White. 2020 Cybils YA Speculative Fiction finalist. Oof. Every ambitious teen's nightmare just happened.

Never Fall For Your Fiance, Virginia Heath. I enjoy this if I impress on myself that it takes place in an alternate reality, not on a historical Earth.

Live Free or Die, John Ringo. This is The Baen Free Radio Podcast serial, so every week they read a few pages to me. 

Picture Books / Short Stories:

None.

Palate Cleansers

These books I'm barely reading; lately I use them as bribes to get me to deal with the mail. Hmm. I should get back to that. 

The Educated Child, William Bennett. I'm very close to the end. 

Wool, Hugh Howey.  

Sorcerer to the Crown, Zen Cho. 

 

Dates From Hell, Kim Harrison & others.

Year of Wonder, Clemency Burton-Hill. Still on pre-Christmas music. 

Reading Challenges

1. Cybils 2021: I've ordered up all the graphic novels for February.
2. Early Cybils: Working on Guinevere Deception. 
3. Reading My Library. The library had a pipe break and is closed for repairs!
4. Where Am I Reading 2022. Two more -- I have declared One Good Deed to be set in Oklahoma, but it's dry but has major storms. And Texas is in driving distance. Plus Colorado for The Real Thing.
5. Libraries! I'm working on a Ten to Try and have checked off 5 Extreme Categories.

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: Decrypted. Next: Forging a Nightmare
• Library Book: Mexican Whiteboy. Next: Sal & Gabi Fix the Universe
• Ebook I own:   Winter's Tale. Next: ???
• Library Ebook: Of Curses and Kisses.  Next: Never Fall For Your Fiancee
• Book Club Book: Mexican Whiteboy Next: Child of Fire
• Tuesday Book Club Book: Perks of Being a Wallflower
• Review Book: The Queer Principles of Kit Webb  Next: Back Home
• Rereading: Forfeit
• Meal Companion: Sal and Gabi Fix the Universe
• Audio: Empress of Salt and Fortune  Next: ??

Still COVID-19 Free

Another week where it's hard to say what I've done because I don't think I did anything. Hmm. I did read some books, and I shuttled people around, and I even went to the gym a few times. Go me!

Oh, I forgot to tell people that I made a list of all the Cybils finalists this year. So if you read kids books, check it out! Warning, it runs from board books to YA, so unless you are a VERY broad reader you aren't going to do all that well! Let me know if you beat my score :-) 

My older son got a pizza job while waiting to go back for more education; I'm pushing him to switch to working in the meal area of my mom's senior community. For one thing, he could hang out with his gramma after work, and for another it's be much closer to the bus depot so if I didn't feel like picking him up he could get home safely. 

My local library has a Romance Readers series where we read from different types of romance and talk about what makes them work or what they mean as a sub-genre. Last week we discussed Young Adult Romance -- what I really want from those is to avoid first person, but I think that's the opposite of what actual teens want. 

I finished an episode of Deep Space Nine and then jumped to watching Nailed It because I like watching people have fun trying to cook silly cakes. I managed to plan some dinners, and then baked bread to go with the tomato cream pasta dish. Then the resident cook got a COVID booster but I didn't notice he had fallen asleep until it was too late to pinch-cook for him. Crockpot meals are very handy but they make it hard to react quickly when they fall through!  

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'm going to go sign up. Ditto for the children's lit version at either Teach Mentor Texts or Unleashing Readers. 

Started

Of Curses and Kisses, Sandhya Menon. Need to read something for the KCLS Romance Reader Series, although I figure I'll mostly be relying on my backlist.

Straight, Dick Francis. A so-called friend is decluttering and offered me this hardback. Hmm, I've been meaning to replace paperbacks with hardbacks where feasible. I'll just glance at my favorite scenes...

Warcross, Marie Lu. For the Foolscap Book Club, our pick of a book that's a cliffhanger.

Audrey L and Audrey W: Best Friends-ish, Carter Higgins. Cybils finalist. 

Never Fall For Your Fiance, Virginia Heath. For next month's Romance Reader Series. The book lists are really great. February is Fake Relationship month. 

The Real Thing, Brenda Jackson. Another Fake Relationship. See, I put both on my hold list, and I meant to pause one but I accidentally accepted both because they came in at the same time, and...

Ice Planet Barbarians, Ruby Dixon. This is the most Vaginal Fantasy of all the Cloudy book club books I've seen since we had to go on without Felicia Day's show.

Smoke Bitten, Patricia Briggs. I was going to reread this last year, but never got around to it. It's been next to my bed for months. So I picked it up to return it to my shelves, and started reading it...

The Guinevere Deception, Kiersten White. 2020 Cybils YA Speculative Fiction finalist. I like to read Cybils books while doing laundry. It helps if I actually do the laundry...

Completed

Maze Runner, James Dashner. My Tuesday book club/Minecraft group read this. The concept of the maze was cool, but I found the characters really thin or incomprehensible. My brother felt the same. But the kids liked and like it -- we read it because one member wanted to read along with his kid, and she is going through the whole series. I'm happy because it inspired the very fun maze build. Now we are back to our usual Minecraft world, where everyone does amazing things and I stack blocks on top of each other and fall off them a lot.

Light From Uncommon Stars, Ryka Aoki. Sword and Laser January Pick. This was sweet; I found the experiences of the trans girl the best glimpse into a world outside my own, although I still liked the starship captain and her crew. The violin teacher and her housekeeper were delightful and fun but they felt the most alien (this is before the soul-buying demon showed up); it was like the musicians in Pern where it's all cool but I'm not convinced music really works like that. I look forward to talking about this book next month, although I hope I remember the details -- usually I finish the books the day before the meeting and suddenly I'm two weeks ahead!

Straight, Dick Francis. Turns out if you string my favorite scenes together, I read the whole book! I was interested in how long it took him to figure out all the little puzzles his brother left him; in my memory he was making many more small discoveries along the way. But he only really solves the big ones -- who stole the diamonds, who betrayed his brother, how to save the firm. I'm glad I have it in hardcover now; I bet I enjoy rereading it again in another few years.

Audrey L and Audrey W: Best Friends-ish, Carter Higgins. 2021 Cybils Early Chapter Book finalist. I'm counting this as a book rather than a picture book because that's how it feels. It has the shape of a book rather than a collection of anecdotes. And I found it very stressful -- Audrey L. is so anxious, so convinced that she's not the best at anything and that makes her unworthy, and her parents have no idea that anything is wrong and I'm terrified of what will happen in middle school. Meanwhile, I suspect the actual audience is enjoying the age appropriate worries and successes, and I'm clearly projecting all sorts of parental worries. But maybe I should read some of the sequels to reassure myself that Audrey is all right.

Smoke Bitten, Patricia Briggs. The reread gave me a greater appreciation of this book. I was able to concentrate on Mercy and what she is doing and thinking about rather than be distracted by all the problems she is facing. I am impressed at how well Briggs is juggling all the themes and characters in this very long series; there is a lot going on but the book stays focussed and provides a lot of action and the info dumps are done smoothly enough that even though I notice them I don't mind them (and I do need a lot of reminding, so I'm glad to have them). I'm looking forward to the next book which comes out in a few months.

 ----  And now for a book from my blogging hiatus! Someday I will mention them all! -----

Dear Justyce, Nic Stone. 2020 Cybils Young Adult Fiction finalist. This worked so well for me that the ending didn't work. Somehow I could believe all the bad stuff, which really worked in terms of establishing his characters and how he grew up twisted but also resisting the constant negative reinforcement, telling him that he was worthless and doomed and untrustworthy and dumb. I also bought the present timeline, as he waits in juvenile jail for years to see if he will be tried. But the ending felt almost like a fairy tale. Somehow I don't believe justice works. So great book, but I don't trust my country that much right now. Argh.

Bookmarks Moved (Or Languished) In:

Ok, I'm only going to put a book in here when I actually try to read it. This week I made some progress in:

Decrypted, Lindsay Buroker. I'm at an embarrassing cringe moment so I only read a smidge at a time.

Winter Tide, Ruthanna Emyrs. I'm reading this in Apple Books, which is where the Harbinger ARC was, so I went straight back into this.

Forfeit, Dick Francis. The one where he loves his paralyzed wife but also cheats on her. I only read a few pages because the bad stuff in Straight is more physical than emotional so I can handle it better.

One Good Deed, David Baldacci. I started this, then it got buried other books. Now I've found it and I'd better finish it before I drop it in a puddle and have to pay for it.

Picture Books / Short Stories:

Comparrotives (A Grammar Zoo Book) by Coat, Janik. 2021 Cybils Board Book finalist. I had a lot of fun with this, and I think the babies I have known would too. It has simple pictures but lots of action and chances for laughter. And grammar is always fun. Probably more fun than quantum physics for babies!

Animals Go Vroom! by Cushman, Abi. 2021 Cybils Board Book finalist. I'm a little bit leery about the pages -- these are sturdy paper, not the stiff cardboard stuff I think of for picture books. And the peek-through bits might not last through excited fingers. But for the sophisticated toddler, the tricks with the animal sounds will appeal, and then there are the little stories around the pages (the crow family, the enterprising artist) for added appeal. This is almost a picture book, but it squeaks into the board book category.

Big Bear, Little Bear by Schneider, Marine. 2021 Cybils Board Book finalist. This is sweet and cosy, and all about the love and security in a family. Big Bear and Little Bear are together, and Big Bear is there to take Little Bear places, to hold Little Bear, to make sure there are things to eat and places to sleep. 

Caution! Road Signs Ahead by Buzzeo, Toni, illustrated by Birmingham, Chi. 2021 Cybils Board Book finalist. Hmm. I'm not sure my babies could actually see road signs until they moved into older child seats. But if they can see out, this would be a fun book to read before and then let them hold during car trips. Probably also for the older baby.

Turn Seek Find:Habitats Newman, Ben (Artist). 2021 Cybils Board Book finalist. On the cusp between an activity and a book, this entry is lovely and has vibrant illustrations that draw the reader in, and then there are knobs to spin and colors to match.

Circle Under Berry by Higgins, Carter. 2021 Cybils Board Book finalist. Although I like the spare white pages that concentrate attention on the shapes, I didn't feel the execution quite lived up to the presentation. The shapes into illustrations were a bit too complex, and the text seemed to concentrate on lecturing/leading rather than enthusiastic sharing. 

This Is Still Not A Book Jullien, Jean (Artist). 2021 Cybils Board Book finalist. Um, this is totally a book. The images are clear and simple, but not really to my taste. I do like how the book uses different orientations and perspectives. 

Sydney and Taylor Explore the Whole Wide World, Jacqueline Davies. 2021 Cybils Early Chapter Book finalist. These two friends were charming and I enjoyed spending time with them. Their problems and solutions were the perfect blend of cosy but a little bit exciting, and they supported and encouraged each other just the perfect amount. The conversation about lunch was probably my favorite.

Kitty and Dragon, Meika Hashimoto. 2021 Cybils Early Chapter Book finalist. Another great couple! I liked the balance between Kitty as a stand-in for the child reader and Kitty as an actual cat, especially in the first chapter when she is rejecting all advice and sniffing at the noisiness of the world. Kitty as neat freak was a harder sell, but worth it for Dragon's response.

A Long Road on a Short Day, Gary D. Schmidt & Elizabeth Stickney. 2021 Cybils Early Chapter Book finalist. A really good kid accompanies his dad on an extended expedition to get the mom something she wants. I really liked it, but it's for a more contemplative kid. Rich language, evocative details, strong family connections. 

Give It a Try, Yasmin, Saadia Faruqi. 2021 Cybils Easy Reader & Early Chapter Book finalists. This contained 4 Yasmin stories, and two were Cybils finalists in slightly different categories. Well done! Yasmin is a fun kid with a lot of enthusiasm; she's maybe a bit too much of a teacher pleaser which made me very happy to see she had forgotten about the science project in Yasmin the Scientist. But then she delighted me by sending her dad out of the room while she worked on his suggestion of a baking soda volcano; I'm not sure I'd have left my kid unsupervised for that. And any book titled Yasmin the Librarian was going to make me happy (I'm not a librarian, but I like what they do).

 

Palate Cleansers

These books I'm barely reading; lately I use them as bribes to get me to deal with the mail. Hmm. I should get back to that. 

The Educated Child, William Bennett. I will be charitable and assume that a lot of their blind spots is because we have more data from the last twenty years. Or that things have changed a lot. But their discussion of ESL seems based on headlines rather than actual data. 

Wool, Hugh Howey.  

Sorcerer to the Crown, Zen Cho. 

 

Dates From Hell, Kim Harrison & others.

Reading and Learning to Read, Jo Anne Vaca. 

Year of Wonder, Clemency Burton-Hill. I listen while dealing with the post. I'm currently a few weeks behind.

Reading Challenges

1. Cybils 2021. Finished Easy Readers and Early Chapter books. I'm ahead of my schedule!
2. Early Cybils: Working on Guinevere Deception. 
3. Reading My Library. The library had a pipe break and is closed for repairs!
4. Where Am I Reading 2022. Five! California, Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Washington! And one non-US country: Ecuador.
5. Libraries! I'm working on a Ten to Try and have checked off 5 Extreme Categories.

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: Ice Planet Barbarians. Next: Decrypted
• Library Book: One Good Deed. Next: Mexican Whiteboy
• Ebook I own:   Winter's Tale. Next: ???
• Library Ebook: Of Curses and Kisses.  Next: Never Fall For Your Fiancee
• Book Club Book: Ice Planet Barbarians Next: Mexican Whiteboy
• Tuesday Book Club Book: Perks of Being a Wallflower
• Review Book: The Queer Principles of Kit Webb  Next: Back Home
• Rereading: Forfeit
• Meal Companion: Sal and Gabi Fix the Universe
• Audio: None  Next: I ordered the audio of Empress of Salt and Fortune from the library. I read it recently so I think I'd enjoy the audio.