Monday, March 25, 2019

Spring Has Sprung

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?
I'm still not back to full addiction reading, but my page count is creeping up. And look -- I've blogged two weeks in a row!

Spring has really arrived -- we can wander about in t-shirts, the weather is nice that I gave my son the option of walking in from the bus stop just to enjoy the nice weather and he accepted (in winter I pick him up at the transfer point to save him time and exposure to the weather). And then my older son came home for his spring break, and he's always fun to have around the house.

I saw the new Captain Marvel movie; actually I've seen it several times since the people I wanted to see it with couldn't agree on a time and I had somehow agreed to see it with several sets. It held up to rewatching, and I think I've caught all the Easter Eggs that would have meaning to me. I liked it -- pretty people, good themes, nice music.

My currently reading has stayed at 20. Wow -- that's a single page on Goodreads! I'm actively looking at finishing or admitting I stopped some of the books on my currently reading shelf and I guess it's slowly paying off. Now to go start a dozen more books without finishing anything!

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. There's also a version that is kidlit focussed at either Teach Mentor Texts or Unleashing Readers so I'll sign up over there as my Harry Potter read qualifies me. Oh, and I read a few picture books while at the library.

Started: 

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Harry Potter, #1)The Honor of the Queen (Honor Harrington, #2)Black Ink: Literary Legends on the Peril, Power, and Pleasure of Reading and Writing

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, J.K. Rowling. March's Sword and Laser pick. Wow -- I'm current!

The Honor of the Queen, David Weber. My Tuesday's book club pick. I'm supposed to get through chapter 7 or so.

Black Ink, Stephanie Oliver (editor). From the library's table of temptation that they artfully place by the front door. It's a book about books.

Completed:

Wonder Woman: Warbringer (DC Icons, #1)Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Harry Potter, #1)Black Ink: Literary Legends on the Peril, Power, and Pleasure of Reading and Writing

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, J.K. Rowling. I enjoyed rereading this and remembering reading it out loud. Also enjoyed fighting with the author a bit -- I deliberately kept trying to see other kids' points of view to see if Harry was still the hero. Sometimes he's not.

Wonder Woman: Warbringer, Leigh Bardugo. I liked the ending of this better than the movie, and thought it had better things to say about friendship and responsibility.

Black Ink, Stephanie Oliver (editor). Wow, this was powerful. A lot of the selections really brought out how hard Black people had to fight to write their own books and to access meaningful literature. Great book showcasing both the strength of writing and of authors.


Bookmarks Moved In:

Son of the Black Sword (Saga of the Forgotten Warrior, #1)The Road to Little Dribbling: Adventures of an American in BritainCyteen (Cyteen, #1-3)
Luminescent Threads: Connections to Octavia E. ButlerVirtues of War (Virtues of War, #1)Terran Tomorrow (Yesterday's Kin Trilogy, #3)


Son of the Black Sword, Larry Correia. 35/? Baen's podcast serial. The society has rather dull gender politics, but at least occasionally a girl gets to do something within those rules. As long as she stays safely conventional and doesn't try to be independent or think without a man's help, of course.

The Road to Little Dribbling, Bill Bryson. My current Reading-My-Library audio. I enjoy Bryson's reminiscing about the past as he looks at modern England.

Cyteen, C.J. Cherryh. Finished from when Ari gets her azi up to adolescence. Now jumping back to her birth.

Luminscent Threads, ed. Alexandra Pierce. Still reading a few essays at a time, and enjoying them.

Virtues of War, Bennett R. Coles. Our heroes, wait, wrong word. Our characters have rushed into battle!

Terran Tomorrow, Nancy Kress. I put this down while listening to an audiobook by the same author as I found that confusing, but now I'm back with it.

Picture Books:

The Princess and the PonyI'm Brave!Cancer Hates KissesThe Truly Brave Princesses

The Princess and the Pony, Kate Beaton. Cute little book about thinking outside the box. Also being polite pays off.

I'm Brave!, Kate McMullen. My kids would have lived this when they were young preschoolers. Bright but simple pages with vocabulary and a description of a fire trucks parts, tools and process. Not too long but not condescending.

Cancer Hates Kisses, Jessica Reid Sliwerski. Definite bibliotherapy but well done. Kids who pick it up accidentally should still like the clear concepts and appealing illustrations. Kids in a similar situation get a good way to frame events and ask questions.

The Truly Brave Princesses, Dolores Brown. Random book of random people with the gimmick that everyone is a princess because words don’t have meanings. I think they forgot transgender people or maybe they are above noticing ? Very earnest but the pictures are nice so a good book listing various professions.

Palate Cleansers

These books I'm barely reading; I use them as palate cleansers between books I'm actually reading.

A Traitor to Memory (Inspector Lynley, #11)Sammy Keyes and the Art of DeceptionChange of Heart (Robyn Hunter, #7)The Inn of the Sixth HappinessReading and Learning to Read

A Traitor to Memory, Elizabeth George. I am surprised how much I am not enjoying this.

Sammy Keyes and the Art of Deception, Wendelin Van Draanen.

Change of Heart, Norah McClintock.

Inn of the Sixth Happiness, Alan Burgess.

Reading and Learning to Read, Jo Anne Vaca.


Monday, March 18, 2019

Wearing Of the Green

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?
My reading this week is small, but that's partly because it's only half a week, so I decided not to delay when ending my blog hiatus. But I like the community of Monday posting, so I'm back!

Spring is finally arriving here in western Washington -- after snow continuing into March, which is awful and frightening and inconvenient, the sun has returned and I can now drive around without seeing snow banks and having panic attacks. The middle of March has a nice run of minor holidays -- my birthday, pie day (pizza and cake for me, thanks!) Ides of March, and St Patrick's Day.

I wore a green shirt and nagged my son to do the same, and then we met up with a friend and my brother to see Captain Marvel which was a fun if not very ambitious movie. Goose was our favorite; she was a very pretty kitty. And then my sister served up an Irish feast for family dinner, which we all enjoyed.

My currently reading has stayed at 22. Not unreasonable for me, especially since this week I only really looked at nine or so books.

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.

Completed:

With the Lightnings (Lt. Leary, #1)Ninefox Gambit (The Machineries of Empire #1)


With the Lightnings
, David Drake. This one rolled along happily to the end, with a kind of reverse O. Henry twist where the two protagonists thought they gave up something they wanted to give the other person a gift, and they both ended up with what they wanted without giving up their dreams. And we get a second henchman so they can both have a left hand to complement their strong rights. It was fun to go back to the start of this series because it's a bit hazy now and I'm still reading them as I trip across them. Tuesday book club seems happy.

Ninefox Gambit, Yoon Ha Lee. The Sword and Laser pick I think in January; this time around I managed to make it through! I was not impressed with the conceit of mathematical calendars causing magical effects because it involved a lot of handwavium and also gave the characters unpredictable powers -- I never knew how much trouble anyone was in because maybe the handwavium calculations would solve something? The bits at the end where we see Jadeo's plan and could start deciding whether to root for it was a lot better but again, it was at the end.

Bookmarks Moved In:

Son of the Black Sword (Saga of the Forgotten Warrior, #1)The Road to Little Dribbling: Adventures of an American in BritainCyteen (Cyteen, #1-3)
Luminescent Threads: Connections to Octavia E. ButlerVirtues of War (Virtues of War, #1)Wonder Woman: Warbringer (DC Icons, #1)


Son of the Black Sword, Larry Correia. 35/? Baen's podcast serial. The society has rather dull gender politics, but at least occasionally a girl gets to do something within those rules.

The Road to Little Dribbling, Bill Bryson. My current Reading-My-Library audio. Bryson would be an annoying companion although he's good for a car audio book. I heartily approve of his long-suffering coterie grabbing his elbow and leading him away from innocent contacts. I especially smiled at his description of the mental patient who would yell insults at new acquaintances, since a lot of Bryson's schtick seems to involve replicating this.

Cyteen, C.J. Cherryh. OK, I made it from adolescence to the end. Now deciding whether to jump back to her toddlerhood or to where she meets her personal azi...

Luminscent Threads, ed. Alexandra Pierce. I'm enjoying reading a few of the essays at a time, with an added thrill when I recognize the contributors. On my Kindle App.

Virtues of War, Bennett R. Coles. The unpleasant woman's distaste for suicide missions has endeared her to me. On the NOOK app.

Wonder Woman: Warbringer, Leigh Bardugo. It's interesting to read this as the plot of the movie screens in the back of my mind and the contrasts and similarities throw shadows across each other. I like the way Diana meets some cute guys but no one expects them to warp her life for decades. Unless she gets killed by one, I guess -- I haven't finished it yet.


Palate Cleansers

These books I'm barely reading; I use them as palate cleansers between books I'm actually reading.

A Traitor to Memory (Inspector Lynley, #11)Sammy Keyes and the Art of DeceptionChange of Heart (Robyn Hunter, #7)The Inn of the Sixth HappinessReading and Learning to Read

A Traitor to Memory, Elizabeth George. I continue to find the violinist's interaction with his annoying neighbor trying.

Sammy Keyes and the Art of Deception, Wendelin Van Draanen.

Change of Heart, Norah McClintock.

Inn of the Sixth Happiness, Alan Burgess.

Reading and Learning to Read, Jo Anne Vaca.


Wednesday, March 13, 2019

What Am I Reading?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?
Well, I fell so far behind while doing all my Cybils reading that I gave up on blogging. And then I was so far behind that I was discouraged. But I like looking back to see what I was reading and when, so I'm declaring a book amnesty and just starting again with what I'm reading now.

This is a good time for resolutions, since I just had a birthday. I'm 51, which is a nicely symmetric age for our binary birthday candles: 110011. No worries about whether the cake is upside down. I had a lovely day -- lunch with my SIL, dinner out with my family, and calls from my mom and my college son. Oh, and cake! There are still specks of snow to be seen in crannies around the neighborhood, so I feel all rugged.

My currently reading is hovering around 23. I'll eventually finish a few of them. Or admit that I'm not reading them -- a few are back in the public library waiting to be requested again.

Completed:

The Left Hand of Darkness (Hainish Cycle #6)Spinning SilverBeggars and Choosers (Sleepless, #2)

Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula LeGuin. I was supposed to read this for Tuesday book club but I fell behind. Too bad, because I like it and I always remember different bits. I had forgotten most of the friendship the travelers build although I remembered their epic trip. I remembered the confusion of kemmer and how perverted the permanently male (and sexually available) spaceman looked but I forgot how his perceptions shifted when the locals suddenly struck him as womanly instead of male (his default for important people).

Spinning Silver, Naomi Novak. Lovely and intricate. Novak has a knack for making me care deeply about all of her characters so sometimes I would put the book down because their needs seemed so wildly opposed, or just their perceptions so that it was hard to care so much for all of them. But the ending was lovely and powerful and I liked the moneylending girl most of all.

Beggars and Choosers, Nancy Kress. This is only available in audio, and then it took me ages because I didn't drive much in February. I'm enjoying the wreck society is making of itself, and how the "smartest" people do the dumbest things. Of course, the dumb people also do dumb things; that may be Kress's theme -- people rarely do the "right" thing.

Bookmarks Moved In:

Son of the Black Sword (Saga of the Forgotten Warrior, #1)The Road to Little Dribbling: Adventures of an American in BritainCyteen (Cyteen, #1-3)Ninefox Gambit (The Machineries of Empire #1)
Luminescent Threads: Connections to Octavia E. ButlerVirtues of War (Virtues of War, #1)With the Lightnings (Lt. Leary, #1)Wonder Woman: Warbringer (DC Icons, #1)


Son of the Black Sword, Larry Correia. 35/? Baen's podcast serial. All the characters come from stock images, but they run around in entertaining ways.

The Road to Little Dribbling, Bill Bryson. My current Reading-My-Library audio. Bryson would be an annoying companion although he's good for a car audio book.

Cyteen, C.J. Cherryh. I'm re-reading this, starting with the end. I'll probably go backward by chucks, although I'm not sure I'll finish the beginning because it doesn't get fun until Ari II gets interesting.

Ninefox Gambit, Yoon Ha Lee. The Sword and Laser pick I think in January; I didn't get traction on it back then but I have a week left before the library calls it home so I'm trying again.

Luminscent Threads, ed. Alexandra Pierce. This collection of essays about Octavia Butler's works makes me want to read them all over again. On my Kindle App.

Virtues of War, Bennett R. Coles. There's a bit too much of the horrors of war for me to really enjoy this. I'm a wimp. On the NOOK app.

With the Lightnings, David Drake. This has a lighter touch so I can happily read over all the carnage. It's our Tuesday book club pick.

Wonder Woman: Warbringer, Leigh Bardugo. Apparently this is not a novelization of the movie, although it is a Cybils pick from last year. I need to finish last year so I can start this year's list!


Palate Cleansers

These books I'm barely reading; I use them as palate cleansers between books I'm actually reading.

A Traitor to Memory (Inspector Lynley, #11)Sammy Keyes and the Art of DeceptionChange of Heart (Robyn Hunter, #7)The Inn of the Sixth HappinessReading and Learning to Read

A Traitor to Memory, Elizabeth George. I find the violinist's interaction with his annoying neighbor trying.

Sammy Keyes and the Art of Deception, Wendelin Van Draanen.

Change of Heart, Norah McClintock.

Inn of the Sixth Happiness, Alan Burgess.

Reading and Learning to Read, Jo Anne Vaca.
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