Of Monsters and Mainframes by Barbara Truelove

 Some books are just fun. Of Monsters and Mainframes is what would happen if you snatched up all the B-movie horror monsters from the 70's and 80's and tossed them into space on a ship driven by an AI. Demeter, the AI, has one job: get the ship from point A to point B while keeping the humans alive. She's not responsible for humans going crazy or their missteps, but when all 350 of them die without her having any record of how it happened, it raises some questions. 

When it happens a second time? and a third? well it's no wonder if the AI starts getting a little eccentric. Poor Demeter. 

The public outcry is enough to deal with, but the other ship's AIs make fun of her and call her ghost ship. The company says they'll scrap her, but she's too valuable to scrap. Instead they keep rechristening her with new serial numbers and sending her back out with new passengers who invariably end up dead. 

Demeter tries everything she can think of to break this bloody streak of bad luck. She even consults Steward, the medical AI, and puts up with her somewhat judgy assessments of Demeter's competency. 

In the end there's not a whole lot Demeter can do. If you can't beat the monsters... join them. 

My Imaginary Mary by Hand, Aston, & Meadows

 I love the series. I do. There is something satisfying about an alternate history laced through with magic and other fantasy elements. This one is loosely based off the lives of Mary Shelly and Ada Lovelace. I'm pretty that in reality they never met (and Mary Shelly was like 2 decades older than Ada) but the authors cheerfully ignore such inconvenient faces. Viva la plot! (and all that)

The story is about their friendship united as they are by a mystical fae heritage and a similar loathing of idiot boys and their rakish ways. It's fun and once I got into it, I enjoyed it. It didn't pop as well as the Mary Queen of Scots and Lady Jane Grey books did. However, I'm wondering if the fault there lies in me. I'm way more read up on the lives of various royalty of the British isles in a way that I am not when it comes to later less regal personages. It's possible that it didn't pop for me because I'm just not as familiar with the subject material.

It's hard to say. 

Regardless, it was a pleasant read. 

November - Changes

 It's 11 days into November and there's no list. Things have changed. I have been recently been acting as interim Assistant Principal at my school and it very much looks like the change will become permanent. While it seems like nothing should really change in terms of my free time, I am not reading as much and the big lists don't feel as productive. So I am, at least for this month, going to flip it around. Instead of putting together a huge to read list, I'm going to list here the books that I finish in the month.

1. Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross (11/11/2025)
2. My Imaginary Mary by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows (11/24/2025)
3. Of Monsters and Mainframes by Barbara Truelove (11/25/2025)
4. Working Stiff: Two Years, 262 Bodies, and the Making of a Medical Examiner by Judy Melinek, M.D. and T.J. Mitchell (11/26/2025)
5. Witch of Wild Things (11/27/2025)

October List

 Why does it always seem like time flies by? September went by in a flash. I did manage to read 4 books including a fun little romance set in a town that owes it's serene 1950's style wholesomeness to a pact with "the Dark." That one was a lot of fun and I hope that Huff continues to write in that world. I also read the graphic novel that was the basis for the netflix series "I Am Not Okay with This" which I didn't like. That's not fair. It was very good at getting to the point it was trying to make. It was just utterly bleak and I'm not into that so much in my literature.

Goal for the month is picking up the pace. There are a lot of library books on the list this time and about 19 of the books fill slots on the Dekalb 100 book Century Challenge. (That's what all those CC numbers are for). I'm only at about 40 of the 100 categories, so I'd have to read about 20 books every month that fit into the categories to finish before the end of the year. This is unlikely, to say the least. But hope springs eternal I guess.

October List

1. *Bears Discover Fire by Terry Bisson (CC-97)
2. *Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs (Library - CC89)
3. *In Cold Blood by Truman Capote (NF - CC 5)
4. Science Experiments You Can Eat by Vicki Cobb
5. The Expanse Series by James S.A. Corey
1. Leviathan Wakes (Finished 1/9/2025)
2. Caliban's War (Finished 1/25/2025)
3. Abaddon's Gate (Finished 3/31/2025)
4. Cibola Burn (Finished 6/28/2025)
5. *Nemesis Games (CC-78)
6. Babylon's Ashes
7. Tiamat's Wrath
8. Persepolis Rising
9. Leviathan Falls
6. Atlas of AI by Kate Crawford (NF)
7. *Thornhold by Elaine Cunningham (CC55)
8. Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman
9. Mary Series by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, & Jodi Meadows
1. *My Contrary Mary (CC51)
2. My Imaginary Mary
3. My Salty Mary
10. *Neil Patrick Harris: Choose your own Autobiography by Neil Patrick Harris (Library - CC10)
11. Act your age, Eve Brown by Talia Hibbert (Finished 10/10/2025) 
12. J.W. Wells & Co. Series by Tom Holt
1. The Portable Door
2. In Your Dreams
3. Earth, Air, Fire and Custard
4. You Don't Have to Be Evil to Work Here, But it Helps
5. The Better Mousetrap
6. May Contain Traces of Magic
7. Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Sausages
8. The Eight Reindeer of the Apocalypse
13. *The Weary Blues by Langston Hughes (Library - CC90)
14. *The Ruba'iyat of Omar Khayyam by Omar Khayyam (Library - CC 45)
15. A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher
16. Arrows of the Queen by Mercedes Lackey (Finished 10/2/2025)
17. Breaking Free of Child Anxiety and OCD: a scientifically proven program for parents by Eli Lebowitz
18. Working Stiff: Two years, 262 bodies, and the making of a medical examiner by Judy Melinek (Library - CC21)
19. *Learning America: One Woman's Fight for Educational Justice for Refugee Children  by Luma Mufleh (Library - CC57)
20. *The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North (Library - CC8)
21. *Six Wild Crowns by Holly Race (Library - CC81)
22. Fable for the End of the World by Ava Reid (Library)
23. *Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross (Library - CC65)
24. The Ruin of a Rake by Cat Sebastian (Finished 10/4/2025)
25. The Writing Rope by Joan Sedita (NF)
26. Dear Manny by Nic Stone (Library)
27. The Incandescent by Emily Tesh (Library)
28. Cook as You Are by Ruby Tandoh
29. *Of Monsters and Mainframes by Barbara Truelove (Library - CC84)
30. *Witch of Wild Things by Raquel Vasquez Gilliland (Library - CC9)

September List

It's been hard to get any reading done since school started. I'm not surprised, but I think I need to find a way to take some me time apart from from the breakneck pace. I also definitely need to get back to the blogging. 

On the upside, we've been very productive in the last couple of months. The backyard looks great, 600 books were culled from the library, and we've been eating more homecooked meals. There just isn't time enough in the day, I guess. 

The list is pretty much the same as last month mainly because I really want to read most of those books. I might add a few as the month goes on. 

September List

1. The Wrath & the Dawn Series by Renee Ahdieh
1. The Wrath & the Dawn
2. The Rose & the Dagger
2. The Last Windwitch by Jennifer Adam (Finished 9/16/2025)
3. *Bears Discover Fire by Terry Bisson (CC-97)
4. *In Cold Blood by Truman Capote (NF - CC 5)
5. Science Experiments You Can Eat by Vicki Cobb
6. The Expanse Series by James S.A. Corey
1. Leviathan Wakes (Finished 1/9/2025)
2. Caliban's War (Finished 1/25/2025)
3. Abaddon's Gate (Finished 3/31/2025)
4. Cibola Burn (Finished 6/28/2025)
5. *Nemesis Games (CC-78)
6. Babylon's Ashes
7. Tiamat's Wrath
8. Persepolis Rising
9. Leviathan Falls
7. Atlas of AI by Kate Crawford (NF)
8. The Faebound Trilogy by Saara El-Arifi
1. Faebound (Library)
2. Cursebound (Library)
9. Thornhold by Elaine Cunningham
10. Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman
11. *I Am Not Okay With This by Charles Forsman (Finished 9/4/2025)
12. *Anita de Monte Laughs Last by Xochitl Gonzalez (TBR - Library CC-9)
13. Mary Series by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, & Jodi Meadows
1. My Contrary Mary
2. My Imaginary Mary
3. My Salty Mary
14. *The Girl From Everywhere Heidi Heilig (CC 29)
15. J.W. Wells & Co. Series by Tom Holt
1. The Portable Door
2. In Your Dreams
3. Earth, Air, Fire and Custard
4. You Don't Have to Be Evil to Work Here, But it Helps
5. The Better Mousetrap
6. May Contain Traces of Magic
7. Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Sausages
8. The Eight Reindeer of the Apocalypse
16. Direct Descendant by Tanya Huff (Finished 9/23/2025)
17. *The Ruba'iyat of Omar Khayyam by Omar Khayyam (CC 45)
18. A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher
19. *At the Fount of Creation by Tobi Obundiran (Library CC-50)
20. She Who Knows Series by Nnedi Okorafor
1. She Who Knows (Finished 9/6/2025)
2. One Way Witch (Finished 9/13/2025)
21. Fable for the End of the World by Ava Reid (Library)
22. The Writing Rope by Joan Sedita (NF)
23. Dear Manny by Nic Stone (Library)
24. *Shroud by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Library CC-78)
25. The Incandescent by Emily Tesh (Library)
26. Cook as You Are by Ruby Tandoh

August List

 July got away from me. It went by fast too. We spent a big chunk of the month doing a massive book sort and cull. We off-loaded around 500 books so far and still are tight on shelf space. We got through all of the fiction at least and have started work on the nonfiction. I also started a new running program and managed to get a bad case of poison ivy (again). 

Busy month, but I'm looking forward to August.

August List

1. The Wrath & the Dawn Series by Renee Ahdieh
1. The Wrath & the Dawn
2. The Rose & the Dagger
2.  The Most by Jessica Anthony (Library)
3. *The Last Windwitch by Jennifer Adam (Library CC38)
4. *A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah (NF - CC82)
5. *Bears Discover Fire by Terry Bisson (CC-97)
6. *In Cold Blood by Truman Capote (NF - CC 5)
7. *The Storm We Made by Vanessa Chan (Finished 8/30/2025)
8. Science Experiments You Can Eat by Vicki Cobb
9. The Expanse Series by James S.A. Corey
1. Leviathan Wakes (Finished 1/9/2025)
2. Caliban's War (Finished 1/25/2025)
3. Abaddon's Gate (Finished 3/31/2025)
4. Cibola Burn (Finished 6/28/2025)
5. *Nemesis Games (CC-78)
6. Babylon's Ashes
7. Tiamat's Wrath
8. Persepolis Rising
9. Leviathan Falls
10. Atlas of AI by Kate Crawford (NF)
11. The Faebound Trilogy by Saara El-Arifi
1. Faebound (Library)
2. Cursebound (Library)
12. *I Am Not Okay With This by Charles Forsman (CC 42)
13. *Anita de Monte Laughs Last by Xochitl Gonzalez (TBR - Library CC-9)
14. Mary Series by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, & Jodi Meadows
1. My Contrary Mary
2. My Imaginary Mary
3. My Salty Mary
15. *The Girl From Everywhere Heidi Heilig (CC 29)
16. J.W. Wells & Co. Series by Tom Holt
1. The Portable Door
2. In Your Dreams
3. Earth, Air, Fire and Custard
4. You Don't Have to Be Evil to Work Here, But it Helps
5. The Better Mousetrap
6. May Contain Traces of Magic
7. Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Sausages
8. The Eight Reindeer of the Apocalypse
17. Direct Descendant by Tanya Huff (Library)
18. *The Ruba'iyat of Omar Khayyam by Omar Khayyam (CC 45)
19. A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher
20. *At the Fount of Creation by Tobi Obundiran (Library CC-50)
21. She Who Knows Series by Nnedi Okorafor
1. She Who Knows (Library CC 69)
2. One Way Witch
22. Green Teeth by Molly O'Neill (Finished 8/23/2025)
23. Fable for the End of the World by Ava Reid (Library)
24. The Writing Rope by Joan Sedita (NF)
25. All Better Now by Neal Shusterman (Library)
26. *White Teeth by Zadie Smith (CC 13)
27. Dear Manny by Nic Stone (Library)
28. *Shroud by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Library CC-78)
29. The Incandescent by Emily Tesh (Library)
30. Cook as You Are by Ruby Tandoh

A House with Good Bones by T. Kingfisher

  (The current list) 

I am quickly becoming a fan of T. Kingfisher. While most of her books have some sort of fantasy element, her books fun the gambit from high fantasy to magical realism. This short novel is a delightful modern attempt at a Southern Gothic.

Sam is an archeoentomologist whose dig was shut down when they found human remains. Sam studies bugs, so definitely not her jam. So while she waits for the dig to reopen, she decides to visit her mother in North Carolina. Partly because she misses her mom, partly because her apartment is already subletted out, and partly because her brother thinks something isn't quite right with mom. 

From the minute Sam arrives it is clear that things have changed. There's a vulture watching the house from its perch on the mail box. Mom has repainted all the walls to match Sam's grandmother's taste. Mom seems unusually nervous. She's not even swearing.  However it's easy to ignore such minor, nebulous things and focus on box wine and murder mystery shows. 

What's harder to ignore are the strange things happening to Sam while she's in the house. Sam needs to find the truth but its like the house itself is fighting her.

It's not a perfect book, but it was a thoroughly enjoyable read. I only wish that it had been a little longer. 

Morning Star by Pierce Brown

 (The current list) 

Finished April 17, so it's been a minute and the details are fuzzy at this point. 

As a reminder, Darrow was born a Red in a sci-fi world with a strict class based society. Reds are at the bottom of the heap; Golds are at the top. So, in book 1, Red Rising, Darrow gets a genetic make-over and is turned into a Gold by a rebel group. The idea is that he work his way to the top of Gold society and then use his influence to dismantle it. It was always going to come apart. Eventually someone was going to figure out that Darrow was not who he said he was and that's the main thrust of Morning Star.

It wasn't a bad book. In many ways, it was an improvement over the first two. However, I just got so tired of watching Darrow make choices that were predictably bad and horrible consequences always followed. Brown built this expectation that horrible things were going to happen to all my favorite characters and Darrow and it got a little tedious. Strangely, I get why my students are so fond of the books. For me though, I think I'm putting the series down. 

I hope the vague whispers of a show pan out. It could make for some really good TV. 

July List

June was a phenomenal month for reading. I managed 18 books over the month which is a lot. I do love the summer. I don't realistically think that I can do it again in July but I'm sure going to try.  I also discovered the Centennial Challenged for the Dekalb Library System which is celebrating a 100 years of service to the community. So, the CC numbers on some of these are books that meet some category in the challenge. You can mostly ignore them but if you are interested in the challenge you can find it here. 

I'm really having a hard time keeping up with the reviews. There's no real reason that should be true; I have plenty of time right now. I'll keep working on it.

July List

1. The Most by Jessica Anthony (Library)
2. *The Last Windwitch by Jennifer Adam (Library CC38)
3. *A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah (NF - CC82)
4. *Bears Discover Fire by Terry Bisson (CC-97)
5. *In Cold Blood by Truman Capote (NF - CC 5)
6. *The Storm We Made by Vanessa Chan (TBR - Library CC38)
7. Dead Girls Don't Dream by Nino Cipri (Library)
8. The Chinese Cookbook by Craig Claiborne and Virginia Lee (NF)
9. Science Experiments You Can Eat by Vicki Cobb
10. The Expanse Series by James S.A. Corey
1. Leviathan Wakes (Finished 1/9/2025)
2. Caliban's War (Finished 1/25/2025)
3. Abaddon's Gate (Finished 3/31/2025)
4. Cibola Burn (Finished 6/28/2025)
5. *Nemesis Games (CC-78)
6. Babylon's Ashes
7. Tiamat's Wrath
8. Persepolis Rising
9. Leviathan Falls
11. Atlas of AI by Kate Crawford (NF)
12. Inspector Morse: The Daughters of Cain by Colin Dexter
13. Radicalized by Cory Doctorow
14. The French Girl by Lexie Elliott (Finished 7/7/2025)
15. *Anita de Monte Laughs Last by Xochitl Gonzalez (TBR - Library CC-9)
16. The Appeal by Janice Hallett (Finished 7/5/2025)
17. *The Girl From Everywhere Heidi Heilig (CC 29)
18. J.W. Wells & Co. Series by Tom Holt
1. The Portable Door
2. In Your Dreams
3. Earth, Air, Fire and Custard
4. You Don't Have to Be Evil to Work Here, But it Helps
5. The Better Mousetrap
6. May Contain Traces of Magic
7. Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Sausages
8. The Eight Reindeer of the Apocalypse
19. Direct Descendant by Tanya Huff (Library)
20. A Map of Home by Randa Jarrar 
21. *The Ruba'iyat of Omar Khayyam by Omar Khayyam (CC 45)
22. A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher (Finished 7/9/2025)
23. A House with Good Bones by T. Kingfisher (Finished 7/2/2025)
24. Smithsonian American Table by Lisa Kingsley (NF)
25. The Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery (NF)
26. *At the Fount of Creation by Tobi Obundiran (Library CC-50)
27. Umami Bomb by Raquel Pelzel (NF)
28. Project-Based Writing by Liz Prather (NF)
29. The Fragile Threads of Power by V.E. Schwab
30. The Writing Rope by Joan Sedita (NF)
31. Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart
32. All Better Now by Neal Shusterman
33. *White Teeth by Zadie Smith (CC 13)
34. John Cleaver Series by Dan Wells
1. I Am Not a Serial Killer (Finished 5/15/2025)
2. Mr. Monster - (Finished 6/3/2025)
3. I Don't Want to Kill You (Finished 6/24/2025)
4. The Devil's Only Friend  (Finished 2/17/20250 )
5. Over Your Dead Body (Library)
6. Nothing Left to Lose
35. Crosstalk by Connie Willis

Boy 2.0 by Tracey Baptiste

 (The current list) 

I swiped this one off of the Dekalb Library's new YA display mostly because the cover art is just so cool. It feels like a shallow reason to pick up a book, but packaging is a large part of book promotion. People get a little sniffy about that, but illustration and cover art are very important to the success of new books. There are a lot of new books out there, and getting the attention of readers is difficult. 

Of course, the most amazing cover art in the world won't help if the book isn't also good. In this case, the story is quite good. Coal is a foster kid who's bounced around a bit. Tom has been his foster father for the last three years, but one day has a kind of psychotic break and is convinced there are people after Coal. Protective services come and Coal ends up with the McKays who are a large and boisterous family. They seem like good people, but it's a hard adjustment.

One day, he nearly gets shot by some old guy in the neighborhood. While trying to get away he realizes that he's turned invisible. Not his clothes, but still, a pretty cool super power. However, for a foster kid who has just shifted families, Coal has to figure out what this new power means all on his own. 

The plot is a touch predictable, but this is offset by the by the way that Baptiste addresses real-world issues. It's unflinching, but also avoids feeling preachy. The invisibility seems to work on a metaphoric level  as well. All in all, it's a great read and I'm planning to get a copy for my classroom library.