Goals 2023 - Reading and Otherwise

I'm feeling ambitious. I always get a little over enthusiastic about planning because planning is still just all good ideas. The actual achievement is in the doing and that's what gets tough. Part of it's time, but I think part of it is having sub-goals to break down the big thing. I set these big reading goals every year and often achieve them but I think part of that is because every book is a little goal step on the way. So instead of focusing on the big goal, I just focus on the step in my hands at the time. Those steps build up fast and before I know it, I'm at my goal. So that's what I'm going to do this year. I think this is actually all possible especially with support from Ryan and Thomas. Just one step at a time.

The goals:

• Beginning Grad School - This is pretty self explanatory but I'm going back to school. I've been putting it off mainly because I didn't know what to pursue. I've mulled over many things over the years, but I just couldn't settle. However, events this year have made it obvious that I am suited in many ways for leadership. Not having the degree is really the biggest thing standing in my way. So let's knock it out. I hope to start on the summer semester, or fall at the latest.
•  Applying to Kennesaw - the obvious sub-goal.
• Reading Challenges - It's going to be a busy year, so I need to scale back my challenge. I'm only aiming for 100 books this year. I love reading, but I've got to make space for other things in my time.
• The Backlog - I have thousands of unread books in the house filling bookcases and sitting in stacks on the floor. Some of them have been sitting around for over a decade. It's all very out of sight, out of mind. It's natural to gravitate to the new shiny books and there are always new shiny books. So I'm going to pull half my list every month randomly from the shelves and stacks. The goal is either to read them or decide I'm never going to and get rid of them.
• Writing - I want to go back to starting every day with writing. It doesn't have to be a lot, but writing does something for me. It's subtle. My brain works better, I have a easier time finding my words, and my moods are more stable. I'm just happier when I write. But it is subtle. If I miss a day, there is no observable effect. One day turns into another, and then it's been weeks. I need to write, it doesn't even matter what, but I'm out of the habit. So, goal - write every day.
• Book Journal - I got away from journaling my reads because I thought I was boring people. Let's face it, there are about four people who read my blog. I'm writing for myself; it's just an open journal. I need to journal the books to fix the details in my brain. They get fuzzy if I don't write about them. If I'm going to be writing every day anyway, I should go back to what works for me and use at least some of that time writing about books. I need to go back to writing something for everything that I read.
• A Clean House - there's a whole post coming on January 2nd about this but in brief, I'm tired of living in a sea of clutter. I want to have a home that I can breathe in and don't need to feel like I'm apologizing constantly for the clutter. I'm not looking for a perfect home. That's just not who we are. We are cluttered people who are busy and full of ideas. We start projects and they sit around sometimes in pieces. That's ok, but everything needs a home. The house should never be more than 2 hours away from clean enough for company. That's going to take some work and I don't just want it to look surface good. I want it to be good, which means attending to the spaces that aren't in the public eye. It's going to be . . . a thing. There will be updates.
• Board Games - We used to play board games. I don't know what happened. We used to fit them in on the weekends or meet up with other people to play. We always had a collection of games, but over the years we've accumulated more. Our dedicated board game bookshelf is overflowing and there is, yet another, stack on the floor. Some of them have never been played. Some of them are old favorites that haven't been played in years but they are just sitting around collecting dust because we haven't made the time (which does exist) to pick them up and play. So one game a week every week, and every game played at least once by the end of the year. That's the goal.
• Yarn Projects - When I started poking around in the basement I discovered bin after bin of half finished yarn projects. It's all really well organized. I packed up the half-finished work with the hook, yarn, and instructions to finish all in one place. I then forgot about them. I don't even remember packing them away. It's crazy. But they are sitting around and taking up space. I want to try finishing one per month. I'm not sure if it's a doable goal, but it's a starting place and if I manage it, it'll more than knock out the backlog. The big question will be what to do with the finished blankets.... maybe I'll have to give them away.
• The Great Kudzu Project - Progress has been made in the back yard. Last summer was mostly a holding pattern because of the big road trip. I have the sense that with a little concerted effort and some chemical help, we can probably finish knocking it out of the back yard. It won't be a lasting fix, we'll have to continually work to keep it out, but I think this year could be the real turning point.
• Run a 5k - I want to lose weight, of course. Who doesn't, but I realized recently that I really more want to be fit. After having Thomas, we got a little sedentary then just when we were turning it around the lock down happened. I've gotten locked into some bad habits and I got focused on the wrong things trying to fix it. I'm going to let my weight take care of itself for the time being. (I only get to check my weight once a month.) Instead, I'm going to focus on running a 5k. My goal is to be able to run the entire Big Pumpkin Run in October which is one of our school's big community events. That's about 10 months which should be very doable but I have to admit....it just feels big. So, I got to break it down. I'm not really sure what a training plan should look like or what my benchmarks should be but to start with:
• Run a mile by February 1st - as sedentary as I feel and am, I'm not a disaster. I'm a teacher so we're up on our feet a fair bit. I actually tend to lose weight during the week naturally and gain it back on the weekends. We have a treadmill and a recumbent stationary bike so let's start there. 20 - 30 minutes a day 6 days of the week. I'm betting if I do that, I'll be able to run a mile, albeit a slow one, by the end of January. It'll be a confidence booster if nothing else.

2022 Retro-Spective

 I didn't make my goal of 150 books. That's ok, it was a stretch goal. I got close and this has been a year that tests a person. There was the planned massive cross-country road trip this summer that spanned almost 4 weeks and sucked down plenty of other logistical time. It was a wonderful experience that I'm sure I will think back on often. On the other side of things, there was the Fall semester of school. I often comment on how being a teacher is a demanding profession but this just wasn't the same.

Being the head of a department in a school is a position of leadership and responsibility, but that doesn't mean I necessarily have control. When we lost two English teachers over the summer, it wasn't a huge surprise. It's been a hairy few years and things have been brewing for a while. Neither of my teachers left in a good way, but I can't blame them for their choices and I wish them both well. One of their replacements is wonderfully competent. She's green but she's going to be wonderful. We hired her in May. The second position we didn't know we needed to fill until a week before pre-planning. Because of the situation, I didn't get to meet any of the candidates. 

To say it was a disaster is probably casting disasters under a bad light. When things don't work out with an employee, many different things can be at fault. I've seen bad fits and unhappy employees before. This was something else. Suffice it to say, it's probably a blessing on all sides that the situation only lasted 7 weeks, but when the new hire left, they left a mess and we had no replacement on hand. When this happen, it falls on the department head to fill in the gaps. I went from usual teacher busy to busy with double the workload. 50 hour weeks became70 and I did it for 7 weeks while I assessed the damage and helped the long term sub prep. I did all the grading for both my set and the open position's. Once we hired a replacement, it all shifted to training - still busy but more positive feeling. 

When I stop to consider it, it's actually a marvel that I got as close as I did to my goal. I also learned a lot about my own capabilities. I can work harder and longer for my students than I ever thought I was capable of. I can deal with a difficult situation and maintain a mostly impartial sense of judgement. I also learned that my capacity for forgiveness is uncommon. I let go of the anger almost immediately after it happened. I find myself more mystified, but that's not new; I've never really understood what makes other people tick. 

To sum up, crazy year. Tough year. Yet, still a good one. I don't think I could have gotten through it without my reading. A good book is like a band-aid for the brain. A story provides relief in the form of escapism. It provides context and perspective in the form of the trials and tribulations the main characters suffer through. Sometimes a good book can nudge the reader towards understanding or insight. Books can be a kind of haphazard therapy.

In a more subtle sense of success, I lent out and successfully recommended more books to more different people than any year prior. Finding a book for someone else is a tricky proposition because you need to not only understand the person you are recommending to, you have to have a sense of what kind of narrative appeals to them. It can be hard and it takes time and patience on both sides.

In terms of books - I've read 142 books this year (I might manage one more before the new year, maybe not). Here are my favorites:

Far From the Tree by Robert Benway - I keep handing this book to people. It's a story of three siblings who were put up for adoption at a young age. They are now all teens in different home situations. Grace didn't even know that she was adopted until her own unplanned pregnancy. Once she finds out, she wants to find her siblings. The novel covers that quest. It's a bittersweet read. While it all turns out in a kind of best case scenario, the story doesn't hide from the realities of an imperfect system. It had me crying from about page 20 on.

How Rory Thorne Destroyed the Multiverse by K. Eason - a kind of twisted recast fairy tale turned into a sci-fi intrigue. Rory Thorne is a princes with a fairy tale blessing at her naming complete with real fairies. When her father is assassinated, things go down hill and Rory finds herself in an arranged marriage to end an interstellar war. Unfortunately, when she gets to her new home, it isn't clear that her intended prince is even still alive. This is great and the sequel is good too.

Still Life by Louise Penny - I'm not sure about the whole series, but this in one of the best mysteries I've read in a long time. It's set in Montreal, in a small village where someone dies. Inspector Gamache is sent to figure out what happened in the dead of a Montreal winter with a trainee detective with unclear motives.  

A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik - The whole series is wonderful. This is like a grown up scary version of Hogwarts run amok. Young magic users enter the Scholomance for training. There are no teachers and the school seems to be trying very hard to kill its students, but it's better than being out in the world where monsters hunt young magic users as a morning snack. If that's not enticing enough, the main character El has the capacity to be the most powerful sorceress in the world, but only if she's willing to give into her dark side which she flat out refuses to do.

Machine Man by Max Barry - a weird read that kind of lingers. Charlie Neumann is an engineer who loses a leg in an industrial accident. He becomes obsessed with his prosthetic and soon views it as an opportunity for an upgrade. But why stop at one leg? No one really understands what he's doing except his prosthetics expert Lola Shanks. Thus begins a very odd love story. 

The Cassidy Blake Series by Victoria Schwab - A YA ghost story. Cassidy Blake can see restless ghosts ever since she died and was brought back. Her best friend Jacob is a ghost in fact. However, when she goes with her parents to Edinburgh, she discovers that her ability comes with a price and a responsibility. The first book is set in Edinburgh, the second in Paris, and the final in New Orleans.

The 22 Murders of Madison May by Max Barry - Another Barry book and also odd. Start by imagining that every decision a person is presented with spawns a whole universe for each choice. Basic multiverse theory. Ok, so in this novel there is a very small group of people who have figured out how to jump between universes into the different versions of themselves. One of these jumpers is a serial killer and his victim type is a woman named Madison May. Now imagine you are a reporter who has to report on the grisly murder of a woman named Madison May. Your name is Felicity in this scenario, by the way. You bump into Madison's murder and the next thing you know you are in a different version of the world that is just a little different and Madison is still alive. What would you do? I would try to save her.

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz - A YA that won almost all the awards. I tend to be a little leery of something with that much acclaim but it's really quite good. This is a coming of age novel mixed with a buddy story spiced with a hint of romance. Dante and Ari have very little in common, at least on the surface. Ari is guarded. He's a loner. He doubts himself and he thinks about his older brother in prison. Dante is articulate and loves poetry. He has a perfect family and somehow he's just the person to break down Ari's walls. It's a good story and not quite like anything I had read before. It's nice when something lives up to its press.

Quest for A Maid by Mary Hendry - I'm not sure where I picked this one up. It's been sitting on my stack forever and I finally got around to reading it. Historical fiction requires a deft balance between historical detail and story. Too much detail and the story is hard to follow, the pacing gets bogged down and it's all boring. Too little detail and the setting is lost. Hendry is a master. I now know so much more about Scottish history and culture, yet the story flowed just fine. It's about a girl named Meg who hears her sister plot the murder of the King of Scotland by witchcraft. The resulting power struggle pulls Meg into the world of European politics in a way that she's not ready for but will have to navigate. The book is intended for middle grade readers but I would have no hesitation handing it to an adult; it's that good.

Several People Are Typing by Calvin Kasulke - Traditional epistolary novels can be a bit of a drag, but digital communication has breathed new life into the form. Several People Are Typing is about a guy named Gerald who gets his consciousness stuck in the internal Slack channels of his public relations firm. He's lost connection to his body but his productivity is way up and his bosses are more than happy to let the situation continue. It's bizarre, it's nutty, it's absurd, and it's a lot of fun.

If you are interested in looking at a complete page of the my year's reads, you can find that here :-)

The Harper Hall trilogy by Anne McCaffrey (part of the Dragon Riders of Pern)

 When I was in middle school, these were my favorite books (specifically the first two.) I read them over and over again. I think I identified strongly with Menolly, the main character of the first two books. Not the specifics of course, but more the sense of isolation that she felt. It's a common enough feeling for an adolescent but nevertheless the books really spoke to me. Ultimately, I think I can pin the idea I had to be a musician on these books too. 

When I discovered Mercedes Lackey, I practically forgot about Anne McCaffrey and as a result I hadn't reread them in about 25 years. I was over due and they really held up.

Dragonsong opens with Menolly leading the death singing for her mentor Harper Petiron. He was the only harper stationed at Half-Circle Seahold and the only person, aside from her older brother, who really got her. Menolly's dearest dream is to be a harper and study at Harper Hall. However, Half-Circle follows traditions and traditions say that girls can't be Harpers. Yet, with Petrion dead there's no one to take up the teaching of the hold's young and it could be months before a new harper arrives. So, tradition bows to necessity and Menolly undertakes the teaching songs and ballads while they wait for a replacement with a fierce injunction against "twiddling" (composing new tunes). Of course something goes wrong with disasterous consequences and before long she's living holdless and surviving on her own. 

Dragonsinger picks up Menolly's story after she arrives at Harper Hall. It should be a dream come true but all the other girls hate her and her obscene number of fire lizards set her apart and incites envy. All Menolly wants to do is immerse herself in music but a harper is more than just a musician. A harper is a politician, a spy, a teacher, and an influencer of public opinion. As such, a harper can wield an incredable amount of power. That's not what Menolly is concerned with though. Instead she finds herself concerned with the hostility of her peers and even some of the masters who object to her gender, her talent, and her luck.

Menolly is determined to live a life of music and that determination coupled with her talent paves her way to acceptance.

Dragondrums is a bit of a break from the previous two. It actually follows Piemur which first appears in Dragonsinger as one of Menolly's new friends. He's mischevious and a scamp - a troublemaker. He's also possessed of a transcendent soprano voice. That is he does, until his voice cracks in the middle of choral rehearsal for the upcoming festival. Piemur is devistated that his voice chose the worst of all times to change. 

He's slightly mollified, however, when he's selected by the Masterharper himself as his new apprentice provided that he can prove his discretion. Of course, he sets out to do just that despite the other apprentices that have it in for him and journeymen who expect the worst of him.

All these books are excellent for young readers. I don't think thats what McCaffrey intended when she wrote them, but they are each wonderful for middle school readers on up and I still enjoy them as an adult. 

The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna

 I was oddly hesitant to dive into this one, but I really should just trust my TBR recommender at this point. Back in September when the last round of recommendations was scheduled to come out, I was in a bit of a hectic bind. I knew some things were likely to come to a head at the school and that I needed comfort more than challenge in my reading, so that's what I asked for. Amanda, my recommender, delivered and this was one of that batch.

This is a silly book. Very silly, but also very sweet. It's a kind of paranormal romance centered around witches. In the world of The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches all witches are orphans. Because of a miscast spell in the 1700's, all witches lose their parents soon after birth. As a result, modern witches all seem to be traumatized women living by a series of restrictive rules to avoid notice by the larger mundane world. 

Magic in this world is an almost living power that likes to gather around witches. The more witches present, the more magic that gathers, and the more unruly it is. As a result one, of the super restrictive rules is that witches cannot live with other witches and, outside of a few secret meetings per year, they shouldn't even have contact with each other. This is the world that Mika Moon was raised in and it left her with a deep sense of loneliness.

Mika doesn't like the rules. She wants something more out of life than a never ending secret and lonely existence. So, when an unexpected and mysterious message arrives in her inbox looking to hire a "witch" to tutor three young girls at Nowhere House, Mika is intrigued. What she discovers is three young witches being raised in the care of four normal human adults. It breaks all the rules, but maybe this is her chance to find a different way to be a witch. 

There is a fun little mystery running in the background of the story, but the story is really much more about relationships. The three girls are all just as isolated in their way as Mika was despite having each other, and the adults are a diverse and quirky bunch. There is, of course, a grumpy yet dashingly handsome romantic candidate for Mika to be distracted by.

It's a fun book and it looks like it's set up well to turn into a series. 

Planetary by Warren Ellis (Series)

 When I talk to people about graphic novels, I find that I have a tendency to get defensive. I like graphic novels and I think that they are, in their own way, every bit as worthwhile as any bit of fiction on a bestseller list. (More, in some cases) Yet, somehow I always end up almost apologetic for my obvious enjoyment. 

It's probably me just showing my age but somehow I just can't shake the attitude that there is something frivolous about graphic novels and comics. Certainly, there was a time when many comic book plot lines were more than a little silly, but that isn't generally the case any more.

Something happened in the 80's and 90's. Comic books became something more complex. The stories became more involved, the characters became more complex and interesting. When someone asks me why I like graphic novels, I have a handful of favorites that I can hand them, but maybe the best example I can give that shows the validity of the form without having to downplay the shortcomings is Planetary by Warren Ellis. 

I'm a big fan of Ellis in general (he has a couple novels which are quite good too.) The original 4 volume run of planetary though takes the idea of a super hero and elevates it. If you stop to think about it, super-heroes are really just the inheritors of the epic hero architype. Looking at super heroes can tell you a lot about the culture that enjoys them. They speak to what we value and what we worry about or fear just as the old epic heros did. Because comics and graphic novels are marketed at a younger audience, it can be a good indicator of how the culture is shifting and developing. 

Coming out originally in the 90's, Planetary speaks very much to my generation. The super-heroes follow the older forms like comic book versions of Victorian hero explorers. A whole batch of them were born specifically on January 1st, 1900. They are century babies which makes sense as my generation felt the millenium hurtling towards us. These heros  (and villians) are all in some way confronting the rapidly changing world represented by the idea of a multiverse controlled and influence by large corporations running out of control. A generation raised venerating classical values confronting rapid change - yeah that's my generation in a nutshell.

So if you're curious what the graphic novel craze is all about, I recommend giving Planetary a try.

The Shadow and Bone Trilogy by Leigh Bardugo

 It's a sad reality that cover art has a lot to do with a book's success. It's awful when a book with enticing cover art doesn't live up to the promise of its wrapper, but then, why should it? It's not like anyone is going to deliberately put a bad design around a book as a quality statement. Generally, if it gets published than somebody must of thought it was a worthwhile read. 

This is a little off point. I bring up cover art because Bardugo's books have excellent cover art and long before the Netflix show I was enticed to pick up some book in the series over and over again. I'd read the back and note the price and put it back down. I put it down because even used the prices tended to be up over $10 which certainly indicates an enduring demand. As a general rule, I try to keep my book purchases under $10. With a reading habit like mine, it can add up quick and I don't tend to splurge on a book unless I have a compelling reason to suspect that I will like it.

It wasn't until Netflix release their adaptation that I finally relented and bought them. I'm glad I did. The whole trilogy is excellent.

Most fantasy worlds are built around a vaguely European model, usually quasi British to be specific. The Grishaverse is interesting partly because it's built around a Russian base. The rulers are modeled after the tsars and tsarinas and the religion is reminiscent of the Eastern Orthodox church with it's saints and icons. There's even a crazy political mystic that is vaguely reminiscent of Rasputin in the character of the Apparat. 

The story follows Alina Starkov, a mousey military cartographer in the Ravkan first army. She discovers in book one that she's a grisha, specifically a Sun Summoner. Grisha all have magic-type powers. Some of them have elemental abilities, some can affect the human body, and some can manipulate materials. There are many grisha and their powers are uncommon but not rare. Except for the darkling who can summon shadows and the sun summoner who can summon the light - in each case there's only theoretically one of each of those which makes Alina very, very special.

Additionally, Ravka is divided into two by the fold, a magical accident that cuts across the entire country. It's a magical darkness inhabited by the nightmare volcra that prey on humans who venture into the darkness. The only way to cross is on a sand skiff powered by Squallers (grisha who control air currents).

In Shadow and Bone, Alina's power is discovered while crossing the fold. She's whisked away to the small palace for training where the story quickly turns into a court intrigue. Alina pines for her childhood friend Mal, and she struggles to access her power. The most powerful grisha in Ravka, the Darkling, seems to be making overtures. Something is wrong however, and Alina is not destined for a romance.

By the Siege and Storm, the second book, Alina and Mal are on the run. All they want is a simple life away from the politics of the Ravkan court and Second Army (the Grisha army). The Darkling can't let Alina's power go though and when he finds her, she is forced back into the fray. 

By the Ruin and Rising, the people are calling Alina a saint. It's not how she views herself, but she'll do just about anything to consolidate her power and confront the Darkling. The price will be high though. Everyone has an agenda, everyone wants to make use of the Living Saint. 

I don't want to give too many spoilers so the reviews are skimpy but its a fascinating, richly imagined world and I'll looking forward to hunting down the spin-off duology. (They also have really compelling cover art :-P )

December List

 November went by too quickly. While the amount of my reading was about average, my enjoyment was up. I need 25 books in December to meet my goal and I don't really think that I will make it, however, there's no use giving up so I'm going to plow on forward with a continuation of last month. I managed to finish off 5 series last month and finished 5 off of my urgent list. This month's list is primarily the same. I'm only adding in two series. The first is a graphic novel series that has been lingering for a while which I'm adding with an eye to getting my numbers up. The second is really just a continuation of one from last month. I'm putting on the next three Pern books by Ann McCaffrey. Ultimately, there are 16 of the books to read, but the beginning of the series falls into two neat little trilogies. 

1. Shadow and Bone Trilogy by Leigh Bardugo (Series YA)
1. Ruin and Rising (Finished 12/3/2022)
2. The Inheritance Games Series by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (YA)
1. The Inheritance Games 
2. The Hawthorne Legacy
3. The Final Gambit
3. Flavia de Luce Series by Alan Bradley
1. A Red Herring Without Mustard
2. I Am Half-Sick of Shadows
3. Speaking from Among the Bones
4. The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches
5. As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust
6. Thrice the Brindled Cat Hath Mew'd
7. The Grave's a Fine and Private Place
8. The Golden Tresses of the Dead
4. The Bone Witch Series by Rin Chupeco (YA)
1. The Heart Forger (Finished 12/20/2022)
2. The Shadowglass (Finished 12/27/2022)
5. Remembrance of Earth's Past Series by Liu Cixin
1. The Dark Forest
2. Death's End
6. The Expanse Series by James S.A. Corey
1. Abaddon's Gate
2. Cibola Burn
3. Nemesis Games
4. Babylon's Ashes
5. Persepolis Rising
6. Tiamat's Wrath
7. Leviathan Falls
7. The Ropemaker Series by Peter Dickinson (YA)
1. The Rope Maker
2. Angel Isle
8. Planetary by Warren Ellis 
1. All Over the World and Other Stories (Finished 12/3/2022)
2. The Fourth Man (Finished 12/3/2022)
3. Leaving the 20th Century (Finished 12/4/2022)
4. Spacetime Archaeology (Finished 12/4/2022)
5. Crossing Worlds (Finished 12/5/2022)
9. Kingsbridge by Ken Follett
1. The Pillars of the Earth
2. World Without End
3. A Column of Fire
10. The Silver Arrow Series by Lev Grossman (YA)
1. The Silver Arrow 
2. The Golden Swift
11. Doctor Dolittle Vol 1 by Hugh Lofting
1. The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle
2. The Story of Doctor Dolittle
3. Doctor Dolittle's Post Office
12. Harpers of Pern by Ann McCaffery
1. Dragonsong (Finished 12/6/2022)
2. Dragonsinger (Finished 12/7/2022)
3. Dragondrums (Finished 12/11/2022)
13. Ghost Roads by Seanan McGuire (YA)
1. Sparrow Hill Road
2. The Girl in the Green Silk Gown
3. Angel of the Overpass
14. Dragonwatch Series by Brandon Mull (YA)
1. Dragonwatch
2. Wrath of the Dragon King
3. Master of the Phantom Isle
4. Champion of the Titan Games
5. Return of the Dragon Slayers
15. The Borrowers by Mary Norton (series YA)
1. The Borrowers (Finished 12/16/2022)
2. The Borrowers Afield (Dropped - Keeping books for Thomas)
3. The Borrowers Afloat (Dropped - Keeping books for Thomas)
4. The Borrowers Aloft (Dropped - Keeping books for Thomas)
5. The Borrowers Avenged (Dropped - Keeping books for Thomas)
16. Chief Inspector Armand Gamache Series by Louise Penny
1. The Cruelest Month
2. A Rule Against Murder
3. The Brutal Telling
4. Bury Your Dead
5. A Trick of the Light
6. The Beautiful Mystery
7. How the Light Gets In
8. The Long Way Home
17. Villians by V.E. Schwab
1. Vicious 
2. Vengeful 
18. What Goes Around by Courtney Summers (Series YA)
1. Cracked Up to Be
2. Some Girls Are

The Urgent List:

1. Kill All Happies by Rachel Cohn (YA, Library)
2. Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie (borrowed from Dad)
3. Circuit of Heaven by Dennis Danvers (Ryan Pick, because he really wants me to read it)
4. Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas (Classic, finishing up)
5. The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories by Ken Liu (Finished 12/12/2022)
6. Monstrous Devices by Damien Love (Finished 12/15/2022)
7. The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna (Finished 12/9/2022)
8. Everything Sad is Untrue by Daniel Nayeri (Finished 12/31/2022))
9. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens (YA, borrowed from Amanda)
10. Life as We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer (YA, Library)
11. The Five Wounds by Kirstin Valdez Quade (old TBR)
12. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid (borrowed from Stephanie)
13. Battle Royale by Koushun Takami (Because I am insanely curious)
14. Gastro Obscura: A Food Adventure's Guide by Cecily Wong and Dylan Thuras (NF, finishing it up)

The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill

 The Girl Who Drank the Moon made a splash when it came out. Not a big one, mind you, but a little one. The kind of splash where the ripples grow as they move into great waves. Winning the Newberry helped. A few years back it seemed like everyone I knew was reading it. I wanted to read it, but I had a hard time getting a hold of a copy. It was that popular. 

And then, I forgot about it for a time until a battered water-stained copy showed up on a clearance shelf at Half Price Books. Once I got ahold of it, it didn't take me long to read it.

I can see why everyone was excited by this one. The Girl Who Drank the Moon is a deceptively light read. One the surface, it's something akin to an expanded fairy tale. There's witches, dragons, bog monsters, villages, and magic towers. The story opens with a bedtime story about a witch in the woods and a baby being left as a sacrifice. However, the witch in the woods is quickly recast as the good guy when she rescues the babe and the baby becomes something very special indeed.

The mystery driving the story is why do the villagers think they have to sacrifice a baby every year to witch who has no idea why they are abandoning their babies. There is something sinister going on, but it's not in the forest.

The narrative switches view points and styles. The challenge is in putting the scattered pieces together in a story where half the characters have some form of memory loss. It all comes together in the end.

There were several themes that I really liked in this. First, I like that the ugly old witch isn't evil even though she ugly, and old, and in fact a witch. In fact almost all the fairy tale expectations are turned on their heads. The bog monster is benevolent too. I like that decisions, even when made for the right reasons, have negative consequences and that the characters acknowledge and deal with that fact. I really like the message about death and how sometimes it is just time. Given the target age range, those are all tough ideas and they are handled with a deft touch.

I really liked this one and recommend it. I just have to find a better copy for my classroom library

November List

 Life continues to be. . . interesting and I'm in need for a slightly different approach. More than anything I need engrossing easy reads for a little while. So, here's the deal. I'm closing out series. I'm in the middles of something like 35 series which is ridiculous... even for me. I've listed out 21 of them, it's not all of them, but it's a good start. 

Series literature is great. It lets an author explore a world and it lets the readers wallow in a familiar setting. Instead of doing random picks, I'm knocking out the fewest volumes first. The idea is to just get things off the list.

I also have 20 books on my urgent list which are all pressing in some way. Weirdly though, I'm in the middle of 6 of them which is odd. I will often have a couple books going at a time, but six is unusual.

November List:

1. Shadow and Bone Trilogy by Leigh Bardugo (Series YA)
1. Siege and Storm (Finished 11/29/2022)
2. Ruin and Rising (YA)
2. The Inheritance Games Series by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (YA)
1. The Inheritance Games 
2. The Hawthorne Legacy
3. The Final Gambit
3. Flavia de Luce Series by Alan Bradley
1. A Red Herring Without Mustard
2. I Am Half-Sick of Shadows
3. Speaking from Among the Bones
4. The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches
5. As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust
6. Thrice the Brindled Cat Hath Mew'd
7. The Grave's a Fine and Private Place
8. The Golden Tresses of the Dead
4. The Bone Witch Series by Rin Chupeco (YA)
1. The Heart Forger
2. The Shadowglass
5. Remembrance of Earth's Past Series by Liu Cixin
1. The Dark Forest
2. Death's End
6. The Expanse Series by James S.A. Corey
1. Abaddon's Gate
2. Cibola Burn
3. Nemesis Games
4. Babylon's Ashes
5. Persepolis Rising
6. Tiamat's Wrath
7. Leviathan Falls
7. The Ropemaker Series by Peter Dickinson (YA)
1. The Rope Maker
2. Angel Isle
8. The Thorne Chronicles Series by K. Eason 
1. How the Multiverse Got Its Revenge (Finished 11/15/2022)
9. Kingsbridge by Ken Follett
1. The Pillars of the Earth
2. World Without End
3. A Column of Fire
10. The Silver Arrow Series by Lev Grossman (YA)
1. The Silver Arrow 
2. The Golden Swift
11. Doctor Dolittle Vol 1 by Hugh Lofting
1. The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle
2. The Story of Doctor Dolittle
3. Doctor Dolittle's Post Office
12. The Dragonriders of Pern by Anne McCaffrey
1. The White Dragon (Finished 11/7/2022)
13. Ghost Roads by Seanan McGuire (YA)
1. Sparrow Hill Road
2. The Girl in the Green Silk Gown
3. Angel of the Overpass
14. Dragonwatch Series by Brandon Mull (YA)
1. Dragonwatch
2. Wrath of the Dragon King
3. Master of the Phantom Isle
4. Champion of the Titan Games
5. Return of the Dragon Slayers
15. The Borrowers by Mary Norton (series YA)
1. The Borrowers
2. The Borrowers Afield
3. The Borrowers Afloat
4. The Borrowers Aloft
5. The Borrowers Avenged
16. Chief Inspector Armand Gamache Series by Louise Penny
1. The Cruelest Month
2. A Rule Against Murder
3. The Brutal Telling
4. Bury Your Dead
5. A Trick of the Light
6. The Beautiful Mystery
7. How the Light Gets In
8. The Long Way Home
17. Brigertons by Julia Quinn
1. It's in His Kiss (Finished 11/21/2022)
2. On the Way to the Wedding (Finished 11/27/202)
18. Villians by V.E. Schwab
1. Vicious 
2. Vengeful 
19. What Goes Around by Courtney Summers (Series YA)
1. Cracked Up to Be
2. Some Girls Are
20. Phantom Dream by Natsuki Takaya (Series YA)
1. Vol 4 (Finished 11/16/2022)
2. Vol 5 (Finished 11/16/2022)
21. Tsubasa by Natsuki Takaya(Series YA)
1. Vol 3 (Finished 11/8/2022)

The Urgent List:

1. The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill (Finished 11/3/2022)
2. The Carnival of Ash by Tom Beckerlegge (had to return it to the library)
3. How to Cook Everything Fast by Mark Bittman (Finished 11/18/2022)
4. Kill All Happies by Rachel Cohn (YA, Library)
5. Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie (borrowed from Dad)
6. Circuit of Heaven by Dennis Danvers (Ryan Pick, because he really wants me to read it)
7. Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Duymas (Classic, finishing up)
8. Nevermore by Neil Gaiman (Finished 11/30/2022)
9. The Chef's Secret by Crystal King (Finished 11/25/2022)
10. The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories by Ken Liu (finishing it up)
11. Monstrous Devices by Damien Love (borrowed from a student)
12. The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna (TBR)
13. Everything Sad is Untrue by Daniel Nayeri (YA, Library)
14. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens (YA, borrowed from Amanda)
15. Life as We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer (YA, Library)
16. The Five Wounds by Kirstin Valdez Quade (old TBR)
17. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid (borrowed from Stephanie)
18. Battle Royale by Koushun Takami (Because I am insanely curious)
19. The Sword in the Stone by T.H. White (Finished 11/9/2022)
20. Gastro Obscura: A Food Adventure's Guide by Cecily Wong and Dylan Thuras (NF, finishing it up)

bold means that I don't actually own the thing.

October List

Ok, so remember when I said August was busy and stressful and September just about had to be better?  Turns out that was deeply and ironically wrong. Strangely I read tremendously more which just shows that reading is not actually impeded by my stress. Who knew. 

Anyway, let's cross our fingers for October. October's always been my favorite month anyway. The list has gotten quite large. On the one hand, I'm pretty excited about every one of these books. On the other, I'm probably not going to make much of a dent. Does that really matter? No idea. I might look at doing a complete shake up on the list for November though. 

My urgency list is a bit deep at the moment. Part of this is that we've been going to the library with Thomas so those books are on a clock, but it also includes my TBR.co books and books that have been lent to me. My students have started lending me books again which is both cool and kind of time sensitive. I might add to the urgency books to cover library visits or more lent books. The system needs to be flexible after all.

October List:

1. Shadow and Bone Trilogy by Leigh Bardugo (Series YA)
1. Siege and Storm (YA)
2. Ruin and Rising (YA)
2. The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (YA)
3. The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill (YA)
4. The Second Chance of Benjamin Waterfalls by James Bird (YA)
5. How to Cook Everything Fast by Mark Bittman (NF)
6. The Bone Witch Series by Rin Chupeco
1. The Heart Forger
2. The Shadowglass
7. Abaddon's Gate by James S. A. Corey 
8. Circuit of Heaven by Dennis Danvers (Ryan Pick)
9. The Rope Maker by Peter Dickinson (YA)
10. Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom by Cory Doctorow (YA)
11. Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Duymas (Classic)
12. How the Multiverse Got Its Revenge by K. Eason (Book 2)
13. The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
14. The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke (YA)
15. The Devil & Sherlock Holmes by David Grann (NF)
16. The Silver Arrow by Lev Grossman (YA)
17. The Fireman by Joe Hill
18. The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories by Ken Liu
19. Doctor Dolittle Vol 1 by Hugh Lofting
1. The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle
2. The Story of Doctor Dolittle
3. Doctor Dolittle's Post Office
20. The Casket of Time by Andri Snaer Magnason (YA)
21. The Dragonriders of Pern by Anne McCaffrey
1. Dragonflight (Finished 10/23/2022)
2. Dragonquest (Finished 10/25/2022)
3. The White Dragon
22. Sparrow Hill Road by Seanan McGuire (YA)
23. Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
24. The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern (YA?)
25. Dragonwatch by Brandon Mull (YA)
26. The Borrowers by Mary Norton (series YA)
1. The Borrowers
2. The Borrowers Afield
3. The Borrowers Afloat
4. The Borrowers Aloft
5. The Borrowers Avenged
27. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens (YA)
28. The Cruelest Month by Louise Penny
29. I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sanchez (YA) 
30. Vicious by V.E. Schwab 
31. The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett by Chelsea Sedoti  (YA)
32. What Goes Around by Courtney Summers (Series YA)
1. Cracked Up to Be
2. Some Girls Are
33. Battle Royale by Koushun Takami
34. Phantom Dream by Natsuki Takaya (Series YA)
1. Vol 4
2. Vol 5
35. Tsubasa by Natsuki Takaya Vol 3(Series YA)
36. Taste: My Life Through Food by Stanley Tucci (NF)
37. The Science of Murder: The Forensics of Agatha Christie by Carla Valentine (NF)
38. The Gap of Time by Jeanette Winterson (YA)
39. Gastro Obscura: A Food Adventure's Guide by Cecily Wong and Dylan Thuras (NF)
40. Instructions for Dancing by Nicola Yoon (YA)

The Urgent List:

1. The Carnival of Ash by Tom Beckerlegge (Library)
2. Kill All Happies by Rachel Cohn (YA, Library)
3. Several People Are Typing by Calvin Kasulke (Finished 10/8/2022)
4. Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie (borrowed from Dad)
5. The Chef's Secret by Crystal King (TBR)
6. Monstrous Devices by Damien Love (borrowed from a student)
7. The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna (TBR)
8. Ranger in Time in Kate Messner (Finished 10/10/2022)
9. From the Rooftops by Grant D Muller (Couldn't finish - not really appropriate for High School)
10. Everything Sad is Untrue by Daniel Nayeri (YA, Library)
11. Kingdom of Ink & Paper by Matthew Newman (Didn't finish - fine for school but not very well written)
12. Life as We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer (YA, Library)
13. The Five Wounds by Kirstin Valdez Quade (old TBR)
14. No Gods, No Monster by Cadwell Turnbull (Finished 10/5/2022)
15. The Sword in the Stone by T.H. White (reread for fantasy Lit)

September List

Well, I didn't make my goal. I didn't really expect to, but I didn't think I would have such a hard time in August getting in time for reading. However August ended up being much more brutal than usual. The start of school is always a busy time but it also tends to be one of my better months for reading. Not this year as it turns out. It's a rough time for teachers.

Nevertheless, I did manage 14 books last month and all of them YA, so I made up some ground. I'm now only a month and a half behind on YA lol.

Ok, so this month is a long, long list. There's about 30 YA on there so I can keep working on my YA deficit. There's also a 10 deep urgency list tacked on to the end. I'm very behind on my library and TBR reads. I'm going to need to take a break to finish out my TBR reads before the next cycle comes up. I'm hoping the stress rating on September is going to be a little more reasonable than August was.

 September List:

1. Kids of Appetite by David Arnold (Finished 9/15/2022)
2. Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo (Finished 9/8/2022)
3. The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (YA)
4. The Second Chance of Benjamin Waterfalls by James Bird (YA)
5. The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall (Finished 9/19/2022)
6. Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink (Finished 9/5/2022)
7. Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie (borrowed)
8. Abaddon's Gate by James S. A. Corey 
9. Circuit of Heaven by Dennis Danvers (Ryan Pick)
10. The Rope Maker by Peter Dickinson (YA)
11. Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom by Cory Doctorow (YA)
12. Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Duymas (Classic)
13. The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
14. The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke (YA)
15. The Devil & Sherlock Holmes by David Grann (NF)
16. The Silver Arrow by Lev Grossman (YA)
17. The Fireman by Joe Hill
18. The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories by Ken Liu
19. Doctor Dolittle Vol 1 by Hugh Lofting
1. The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle
2. The Story of Doctor Dolittle
3. Doctor Dolittle's Post Office
20. The Casket of Time by Andri Snaer Magnason (YA)
21. Sparrow Hill Road by Seanan McGuire (YA)
22. Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
23. The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern (YA?)
24. Dragonwatch by Brandon Mull (YA)
25. The Borrowers by Mary Norton (series YA)
1. The Borrowers
2. The Borrowers Afield
3. The Borrowers Afloat
4. The Borrowers Aloft
5. The Borrowers Avenged
26. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens (YA)
27. Hilda by Luke Pearson (Series YA)
1. Hilda and the Troll (Finished 9/2/2022)
2. Hilda and the Midnight Giant (Finished 9/3/2022)
3. Hilda and the Bird Parade (Finished 9/3/2022)
4. Hilda and the Black Hound (Finished 9/3/2022)
5. Hilda and the Stone Forest (Finished 9/4/2022)
6. Hilda and the Mountain King (Finished 9/4/2022)
28. The Cruelest Month by Louise Penny
29. I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sanchez (YA) 
30. The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett by Chelsea Sedoti  (YA)
31. What Goes Around by Courtney Summers (Series YA)
1. Cracked Up to Be
2. Some Girls Are
32. Battle Royale by Koushun Takami
33. Liselotte & Witch's Forest by Natsuki Takaya (Series YA)
1. Vol 2 (Finished 9/7/2022)
2. Vol 3 (Finished 9/7/2022)
3. Vol 4 (Finished 9/7/2022)
34. Phantom Dream by Natsuki Takaya (Series YA)
1. Vol 3 (Finished 9/27/2022)
2. Vol 4
3. Vol 5
35. Tsubasa by Natsuki Takaya Vol 3(Series YA)
36. Taste: My Life Through Food by Stanley Tucci (NF)
37. The Science of Murder: The Forensics of Agatha Christie by Carla Valentine (NF)
38. The Gap of Time by Jeanette Winterson (YA)
39. Gastro Obscura: A Food Adventure's Guide by Cecily Wong and Dylan Thuras (NF)
40. Instructions for Dancing by Nicola Yoon (YA)

The Urgent List:

1. The Carnival of Ash by Tom Beckerlegge (Library)
2. Kill All Happies by Rachel Cohn (YA, Library)
3. Star Mother by Charlie N. Holmberg (Finished 9/20/2022)
4. Portrait of a Thief by Grace D. Li (Finished 9/3/2022)
5. Everything Sad is Untrue by Daniel Nayeri (YA, Library)
6. Life as We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer (YA, Library)
7. The Five Wounds by Kirstin Valdez Quade (TBR)
8. Maximillian Fly by Angie Sage (Finished 9/24/2022)
9. No Gods, No Monster by Cadwell Turnbull (Library)
10. The Sword in the Stone by T.H.White (reread for fantasy Lit)

Mid Year Assessment and August List

Usually, I do a kind of informal assessment at the halfway point of the year to see how I'm doing and make plans to catch up if I'm behind. That should have been at the beginning of July, however I was a bit busy at the time trekking across the country and back. As a result, I'm assessing now. 

It's not a surprise to find that I'm a little over a month behind overall and about three months behind in my YA goals. It sounds dire, but it actually works out great for a catch up month of reading. It works out that I need to read about 30 books in August to get entirely back on track. Coincidently, I need about 30 books to get back on track in my YA sub-goal.  This is great. I tend to read YA at a much faster clip than other things and while 30 books in a month is still a pretty steep order, it's not impossible either. Even if I don't quite make it, I'm sure I can certainly make up ground by focusing on YA. Anything over 15 means that I'm catching up. (I will worry about my other sub goals in September). 

As a result, I have here a list of 35 YA books and series to work through. I'll be using my random number selection to keep motivated with a bit of a twist. There's a second list of 15 books that are not YA to use to cut the YA with. I love YA, but after a while it gets a little mind numbing. That second list is only open after every 5 YA books read. I don't have to pick from the second list, but it's there if I need it to cut the YA with.

Cross your fingers for me.

1. Kids of Appetite by David Arnold (YA)
2. Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo (YA)
3. The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (YA)
4. The Second Chance of Benjamin Waterfalls by James Bird (YA)
5. The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall (YA)
6. Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink (Classic, YA)
7. The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco (Finished 8/21/2022)
8. Kill All Happies by Rachel Cohn (YA, Library)
9. The Rope Maker by Peter Dickinson (YA)
10. Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom by Cory Doctorow (YA)
11. The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke (YA)
12. The Silver Arrow by Lev Grossman (YA)
13. Quest For A Kelpie by Frances Hendry (Finished 8/16/2022)
14. The Night Diary by Veera Hiranandani (Finished 8/27/2022)
15. Doctor Dolittle Vol 1 by Hugh Lofting
1. The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle
2. The Story of Doctor Dolittle
3. Doctor Dolittle's Post Office
16. The Casket of Time by Andri Snaer Magnason (YA)
17. Sparrow Hill Road by Seanan McGuire (YA)
18. The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern (YA?)
19. Dragonwatch by Brandon Mull (YA)
20. Everything Sad is Untrue by Daniel Nayeri (YA, Library)
21. Avatar the Last Airbender: Smoke and Shadow by Nickelodeon (Finished 8/2/2022)
22. The Borrowers by Mary Norton (series YA)
1. The Borrowers
2. The Borrowers Afield
3. The Borrowers Afloat
4. The Borrowers Aloft
5. The Borrowers Avenged
23. Life as We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer (YA, Library)
24. The End and Other Beginnings by Veronica Roth (Finished 8/25/2022)
25. The Midnight Lie by Marie Rutkoski (Finished 8/11/2022)
26. Maximillian Fly by Angie Sage (YA, Library)
27. I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sanchez (YA) 
28. The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett by Chelsea Sedoti  (YA)
29. What Goes Around by Courtney Summers (Series YA)
1. Cracked Up to Be
2. Some Girls Are
30. Fruits Basket Another by Natsuki  Takaya (Series YA)
1. Vol 1 (Finished 8/2/2022)
2. Vol 2 (Finished 8/13/2022)
3. Vol 3 (Finished 8/17/2022)
31. Songs to Make You Smile by Natsuki Takaya  (finish 8/3/2022)
32. Tsubasa by Natsuki Takaya
1. Vol 1  (Finished 8/09/2022)
2. Vol 2 (Finished 8/30/2022)
3. Vol 3
33. Twinkle Stars Vol 1 by Natsuki Takaya  (Finished 8/19/2022)
34. The Gap of Time by Jeanette Winterson (YA)
35. The Magic Three of Solatia by Jane Yolen (Finished 8/5/2022)

Non YA for Sanity's Sake Cut List:

1. Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie (borrowed)
2. Abaddon's Gate by James S. A. Corey 
3. Circuit of Heaven by Dennis Danvers (Ryan Pick)
4. Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas
5. The Devil & Sherlock Holmes by David Grann (NF)
6. The Fireman by Joe Hill
7. Star Mother by Charlie N. Holmberg (Library)
8. Portrait of a Thief by Grace D. Li (TBR)
9. The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories by Ken Liu
10. Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
11. The Cruelest Month by Louise Penny
12. The Five Wounds by Kirstin Valdez Quade (TBR)
13. Taste: My Life Through Food by Stanley Tucci (NF)
14. No Gods, No Monster by Cadwell Turnbull (Library)
15. The Science of Murder: The Forensics of Agatha Christie by Carla Valentine (NF)

July Retrospective

 It's been a while since I just went rogue and read according to my whims. It was a pretty successful month. I read 14 books and liked or loved just about everything that I read. I finally got around to reading Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz. I have this thing (just ask Ryan) where anything that is pushed too hard as being the next great whatever causes me to get reflexively resistant. I don't do it on purpose and I don't know whether its a natural skepticism or anxiety that it can't live up to the hype, but I just get entrenched and avoidant. Aristotle and Dante won about 20 awards the year it came out, and even though I try to read all the award winners, somehow I just couldn't get around to it. I'm not sure it's as transcendentally awesome as it's hype would suggest, but it is an extraordinary book about identity and growing up. Completely worthwhile on any reading list.

I read four books by Victoria Schwab. Yes, four! I finished out the Cassidy Blake series (which I already posted about) and started the Monsters of Verity Series. Victoria (or V.E.) is swiftly emerging as one of my favorite writers. I love her fantasy worlds. While they are far from drear, there's a darkness to all of them and they are all so very different. 

I also read five books that weren't YA, which is none too shabby. I particularly liked The 22 Murders of Madison May by Max Barry which is delightfully surreal. So, it's been a great month in reading. Below is the list of read books for July:

1. City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab
2. John Eyre: A Tale of Darkness and Shadow by Mimi Matthews
3. Dance Hall of the Dead by Tony Hillerman
4. The 22 Murders of Madison May by Max Barry
5. A Fatal Grace by  Louise Penny
6. Tunnel of Bones by Victoria Schwab
7. Phantom Dream, Vol 1 by Natsuki Takaya
8. Liselotte &Witch's Forest, Vol 1 by Natsuki Takaya
9. Bridge of Souls by Victoria Schwab
10. Spin by Robert Charles Wilson
11. This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab
12. Phantom Dream Vol 2 by Natsuki Takaya
13. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz
14. When He Was Wicked by Julia Quinn

Spin by Robert Charles Wilson

 There are different kinds of science fiction. Some varieties are pretty light on the science and really are more like fantasy with aliens. Those books are easy to read. If there is something challenging, it is usually the ordinary character line sorts of things. Spin isn't the easy kind of science fiction. It's an intense read from beginning to end and it's a long book. 

Spin walks the line between speculative fiction and hard science fiction. The premise is that one day a mysterious membrane envelopes the earth. All the stars go out and the moon disappears, but a facsimile of the sun rises and sets each day. The biggest problem is that for ever second on earth, about three years goes by outside the membrane. Clearly it is not a natural occurrence and at that rate, the life cycle of the sun quickly becomes a concern. From their perspective, the expansion of the sun is imminent event; the world is going to end.

The novel is from the perspective of Tyler Dupree who is a child at the beginning of the story. He is with his friends, the twins Jason and Diane, when the membrane shuts down the sky. He later becomes a doctor and ends up working at a super elite aero-space agency for his friend Jason who is now the leading genius researching the membrane, which they end up calling the spin. Diane joins one of the many extreme religious groups that pop up.

The central line of the story is the mystery of the membrane. Who created it and why? The more they figure out about it, the less sense it seems to make. It really feels like the world is ending and society's reaction to it is down-right depressing mainly because it feels accurate. 

I had a hard time reading this one, not because it wasn't good, but because it crawled into my head and tanked my mood. Spin is the first of a series and I spent most of the read convinced of two things: 1. I was absolutely going to finish the book and 2. I was absolutely never going to pick up the second book. Well, I did finish it and the last 100 pages changed my mind on the second point.

It's a fascinating read, but you have to have faith in the story. Otherwise, it's just incredibly grim and depressing for over half the book.

Cassidy Blake Series by Victoria Schwab

 Part of the reason for my renewed interest in reading YA is that I've had a lot of requests lately for genres that I just didn't have a lot of ideas for. The two big ones causing difficulty are horror and mystery. For many of my kids, I have no problem handing them a non-YA if it's in their interest area, but I don't feel as comfortable doing that with either Horror or Mystery.  It's probably already obvious, but both those genres tend to have disturbing or graphic scenes. (There can also be a surprising amount of sex.) Classic authors are a little safer than contemporary ones, but getting a kid to read something described as classic has its own pitfalls. 

In any case, I'm delighted when I find something good that meets my needs. I've been a fan of V.E. Schwab for a while, but this is my first foray into her YA material. I just finished the Cassidy Blake series and I really hope that she's planning to write more (although I suspect she's done with this one.) Cassidy is a 12 year old who had a nearly tragic accident the year before the beginning of the series. She fell into an icy river and temporarily died. She was saved by a ghost named Jacob who is now tangled up with her and is, in effect, haunting her. Additionally, she can now cross the veil and interact with ghosts.

Cassidy's parents are co-authors of a series of books about ghosts. Their books get optioned for a television series, so Cassidy gets to go on a whirlwind tour of the most haunted cities in the world. Of course, this turns into a problem since A-it turns out that Cassidy is supposed to be doing something with the ghosts and B-not all ghosts are friendly.

City of Ghosts - set in Edinburgh. Cassidy meets a fellow veil-walker and encounters a murderous ghost. In this volume Cassidy transitions from a miserable pre-teen to a young woman with a purpose. It's a solid self-discovery story with a seriously creepy opponent.

Tunnel of Bones - set in Paris. After the events of the previous book, Cassidy has to work to regain the trust of her parents while dealing with a violent poltergeist she accidently attracted. None of the methods she learned in the previous book seem to be working. In this volume, Cassidy solidifies her abilities and gains confidence.

Bridge of Souls - set in New Orleans. Maybe the end of the series...maybe not. This one's all about relationships. Cassidy must work to save both Jacob (her ghost) and Lara (the other veil-walker from the first book) after she attracts the attention of an Emissary of Death. 

Overall, it's an excellent series with a lot of good character growth for Cassidy. I'm really pleased to add them to my classroom library.

Machine Man by Max Berry

I'm a sucker for a weird romance and it doesn't get much weirder than this one. Max Berry is a master of the unexpected love story but they don't always appear in his stories which makes them all the more satisfying when they appear. Berry is really more of a science or speculative fiction satirist. His stories always take some element of society or social trend and twists it. In the case of Machine Man, he's playing with people's obsession with technology and body modification to create a story firmly seated in transhumanist philosophy. The whole idea of it is to used science and technology to become something more than just human. It's not a new idea. The term 'transhuman' was coined in the fifties and I've read several stories and novels that feature it in the plot. Many of those stories are hard to immerse in. While it's an intriguing idea to leave behind messy biology, we do tend to be pretty attached to our bodies. Characters who do so willingly are often hard to relate to.

Charles Neumann is a scientist or an engineer (it's never entirely clear which) who starts thinking about how to improve human functionality after losing a leg in an industrial accident. The (somewhat sinister) company he works for gives him carte blanche to tinker with advanced prosthetics and a massive team to assist. It isn't long before he starts to view the synthetic limbs as superior to the biological ones. It goes from there as one would expect. What's unexpected is the strange little love story that crops up between Charles and his prosthetist, Lola.

The love story is odd for a couple reasons. First, Charles Neumann is incredibly detached about his biological body and ridiculously cut off from other people. It's amazing that Berry gets us to connect with him in the first place and it's quite the feat that he makes it believable that he would fall in love at all. Second, Lola is perhaps an even stranger character. At first, she doesn't seem all that odd. She's a softer, more emotional character. It's tempting to see her as hapless or swept along by Charles, but in reality, it's pretty clear that she knows what he's up to pretty early in the story. She's not swept along, she's a willing, even eager, participant in Charles schemes.

It all should be a little horrifying, and it is on some level, but there is also something sweet and tender in the relationship between Charles and Lola. I think the love story humanizes the two characters and helps us relate to two otherwise alien characters.

I greatly enjoyed the read. I always marvel at Berry's characters.

Packing List (Books) for the Car Trip

Alright, going rogue is all well and good but I need to be at least a little organized for a three week road trip. I was originally going to bring only doorstoppers, and there are still a few in there, but a lot of those fell under "should read" rather than "excited to read." Every book on this list is something I'm excited about for some reason or another and there is limited space in a civic with three passengers. (I'll probably be shipping boxes home as I finish things.)

1. Abaddon's Gate by James S. A. Corey (Book 3 in The Expanse) - It could be considered a doorstopper but more importantly is the third book in a series and it's been sitting on my list for a few months so I've been staring at it, wanting to find out what happens next and the randomizer just wasn't picking it.
2. Cibola Burn by James S.A. Corey (Book 4 in The Expanse) - Same as Abaddon's Gate.
3. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas - I've been wanting to read this book actively for over a year but it's been a comedy of errors. On my first attempt I realized that I had a heavily abridged copy, so I put it down. I received this more complete copy and it's just been sitting on my list. Got to love random systems. I've always liked Dumas, I first read The Three Musketeers in middle school.
4. Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett - Mom recommended this one to me years ago and because it is a doorstopper, I just haven't picked it up but it does look like a really good book. My literature taste doesn't overlap with Mom's all that much, but where it does I can attest to her excellent sense of writing so I'm looking forward to this one.
5. The Devil & Sherlock Holmes by David Grann - A year ago or so, I read The Killers of the Flower Moon with my mystery class kids. I'm not a big one for true crime but it was an excellent read and several of my mystery kids became dedicated fans (These were not big readers to begin with.) I tripped across this one, randomly, at a used book store and I'm super psyched to read it just so I can share it with my mystery kids.
6. Beggars in Spain by Nancy Kress - I do a lot of research for my Literature Electives and I tripped across this one while researching for Sci Fi. I know there are some content issues with reading it in high school so I didn't select it for the class that year. However, it seemed like an interesting read so I bought a copy. It's sat on a stack ever since. I'm going to read it. I'm teaching Sci Fi again in the spring so maybe I'll get to teach it too.
7. Portrait of a Thief by Grace D. Li - TBR recommendation. There are three of these on this list but I really trust my recommender: Amanda. 
8. John Eyre by Mimi Matthews - Another TBR rec. (Finished 7/15/2022)
9. The Five Wounds by Kirstin Valdez Quade - The third TBR rec.
10. Romancing Mister Bridgerton by Julia Quinn (Bridgerton Series Book 4) - I'm not a huge romance reader but when I like them, I really love them. So this is a guilty pleasure that I don't generally make time for. This particular one has been sitting on my lists for a least three months and Rando just wasn't selecting it. I'm preempting it just cause I want to. (Finished 6/28/2022)
11. To Sir Philip, With Love by Julia Quinn (Bridgerton Series Book 5) - Same as Romancing Mister Bridgerton. (Finished 6/30/2022)
12. City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab - Victoria Schwab and V.E. Schwab are the same writer. She, wisely, publishes her adult work as V.E. and her YA as Victoria. That's the only difference. She's written so much work that I haven't read yet, but I'm an intense fan of her "Shades of Magic" series. I bought this one for my classroom library but I've been sitting on it because I want to read it. Enough of that; I need to read it and stop hoarding it. (Finished 7/6/2022)
13. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy - Doorstopper of all doorstoppers. This one probably seems like it should fit into the category of "literature bran muffin" and I suppose it is, but I also really want to read it. I read Anna Karenina  a few years ago and loved it, even though it was one of the more difficult books I've read. However, picking up War and Peace is this weird proposition. Karenina took me close to a month to get through, and I suspect that this could as much of an undertaking. Nevertheless, I really want to do it.
14. Spin by Robert Charles Wilson - This is another book I discovered in my research for Sci Fi lit class. This one I did take a risk on and offered to the kids even though I hadn't read it, which is why I have a copy. The kids picked something else, but I'm thinking I might read it and try again. (Finished 7/26/2022)

Going Rogue

 In general, I like a good system. I like creating rules for myself and applying them. It's fun to construct and satisfying to follow. In the end though, it's just a way of making something intimidating feel more manageable and reading the way I do is intimidating even for me. My rules keep me on track or at least close to on track. Every summer, however, I somehow fall behind in reading and the techniques that keep me on track during the school year fail me. Part of that is distraction for sure, but part of it is also that all my lists and rules are about keeping me moving when I don't have the mental space to make decisions. When I have the time and space to consider my options, it appears that all my lists and rules are a little chafing.

Additionally, I often end up putting off reading things I'm excited about in favor of things I think are good for me. It's the reading equivalent of eating fiber. There's nothing wrong with any of that, but somehow I just get bogged down in it when I actually have the most free time for reading. It started happening again this year too. So, I've gone rogue.

I've dispensed entirely with the randomizer and I'm just picking up whatever excites me. While I'm still grabbing things from my lists, I'm not letting a list stop me from picking something up. Patience is all well and good, but not when I never get around to reading things I'm excited about. 

Since making that decision, I've blasted through three books: 2 brand new ones and one I've been meaning to get around to forever. It's felt really good, so I think I'm going to keep it up which might be a bit of a challenge on the road trip, but still worth doing.

June List

Ok, for the sake of variety I'm officially increasing the size of the list to 40. It's still half YA, but that gives me 20 slots for the other categories and other sorts of non YA. This particular list will end when I head out for my massive road trip. I will create a separate road-trip list - I'm thinking dense doorstoppers. I have a lot of those building up in the backlog. 

1. Love, Hate, and Other Filters by Samira Ahmed* (Finished 6/2/2022)
2. Kids of Appetite by David Arnold* (YA)
3. Machine Man by Max Barry* (Finished 6/24/2022)
4. Beard on Food by James Beard* (nonfiction, gift)
5. Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie (Borrowed)
6. Kill All Happies by Rachel Cohn (YA)
7. Abaddon's Gate by James S. Corey* (Series Book 3)
8. Circuit of Heaven by Dennis Danvers* (Ryan Pick)
9. Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom by Corey Doctorow* (YA)
10. Avatar the Last Airbender: The Official Cookbook by Jenny Dorsey* (Finished 6/4/2022)
11. Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas (Classic)
12. The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke* (YA)
13. The Silver Arrow by Lev Grossman (YA)
14. The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han* (Finished 6/4/2022)
15. Quest for a Kelpie  by Frances Hendry (YA)
16. The Fireman by Joe Hill
17. The Returning by Christine Hinwood* (YA)
18. The Night Diary by Veera Hiranandani (YA)
19. The Metamorphosis and other Stories by Kafka (classic)
20. Beggars in Spain by Nancy Kress*
21. The Dark Forest by Cixin Liu* (Series book 2)
22. The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories by Ken Liu*
23. Sparrow Hill Road by Seanan McGuire* (YA)
24. Wildwood by Colin Meloy (YA, Series Book 1)
25. Coyote's Pantry by Mark Miller and Mark Kiffin* (Cookbook)
26. The Misanthrope, Tartuffe, and Other Plays by Moliere* (Plays)
27. Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
28. Dragonwatch by Brandon Mull* (YA)
29. The Borrowers by Mary Norton (YA)
30. The Borrowers Afield by Mary Norton (YA)
31. Life as We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer (YA)
32. Romancing Mister Bridgerton by Julia Quinn (Series book 4)
33. Maximillian Fly by Angie Sage (YA)
34. I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika Sanchez* (YA)
35. City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab* (YA)
36. School Struggles by Richard Selznick (borrowed Professional Reading)
37. Science Fiction 101 by Robert Silverberg (borrowed)
38. What Goes Around by Courtney Summers* (YA)
39. All the Rage by Courtney Summers* (Finished 6/13/2022)
40. Darwinia by Robert Charles Wilson*

The necessary overflow:

1. Her Majesty's Royal Coven by Juno Dawson (Finished 6/16/2022)
2. Dear Bully edited by Megan Kelley Hall and Carrie Jones (Read for my Principal)
3. Still Life by Louise Penny (Finished 6/8/2022)
4. The Road Trip Survival Guide by Rob Taylor (Nonfiction)
5. Taste: My Life Through Food by Stanley Tucci* (Nonfiction, gift)

May Retrospective

 May always sucks in terms of personal projects. Closing out the school year is full of little details and lots of paperwork. Even so I managed to read 11 books which is none too shabby. (One book dropped off the list because it turned out I'd already read it and kind of forgot). I also really enjoyed all but two of the books that I read. 

My favorite for the month was the last one: The Patron Saints of Nothing. I read the whole thing in about a day and I tangentially learned a lot about what is going on in the Philippines. My least favorite was Puffs the Play: One Act Edition for Young Wizards (Sorry Laurel). 

June and July are going to be a little unusual. I have a big road trip coming up and I'll need to modify my procedures.

The Problem of Classics

I've been idly working on reading more classics as a part of my overall goals. It's had mixed success. Some of them, like Jane Eyre or Anna Karenina, hold up well. Their place as classics makes sense and the struggle of reading is clearly worth the reward. Some, however, like Kim, don't fare as well and I'm left wondering why they are held up as classics. Come to that, how does it get decided what is a classic anyway. It can't just be longevity. While publishing rates have picked up tremendously, there are still plenty of old books that have faded into obscurity or even disappeared. So, who makes this decision exactly?

According to the dictionary a classic is "judged over a period of time to be of the highest quality and outstanding of its kind." Or an alternate definition: "remarkably and instructively typical." Who makes that determination? Certainly educators over the decades have had a hand in it. However, I suspect that it's also partially a byproduct of the publishing industry and advertising. Most problematic to me is the thought that some books persist purely out of name recognition. It's a lingering popularity that confers an artificial value. 

I'm not saying that "classic" isn't a meaningful designation, I'm just a little leery of the lack critical judgement involved in the label.

Perhaps it seems like a silly thing to worry about, but as an English teacher I find it troubling. In the world of literature, classics get a pass. No one really scrutinizes what their value actually is. Some people discount them entirely as being old and fussy, others venerate them blindly. I've seen this play out in the attitudes of my students, other teaching staff, and with my student's parents which has led to some very odd conversations over the years.

I've spent most of my career as a teacher defending literature as a whole. All of it from the classics written hundreds of years ago to the silliest bit of teen fluff that dropped last week. I have my reading preferences just like anyone else and there are certainly books that I don't enjoy, but usually I can see or at least accept the value in them even so. I try to reserve any judgement until I read it, and if I'm not going to read it, I try to keep my mouth shut and listen to the people who have.

The thing I've observed is that there is a tendency to accept the value of a classic without feeling the need to read it at all. I suppose that would be fine if there was some sort of vetting body assuring that a classic really was "remarkably and instructively typical." Certainly there have been groups who have tried to do just that. Penguin has done this, so has the New York Library, and PBS. However, it still tends to come down to an odd popularity contest where the voters haven't even read all the candidates (which is an impossible undertaking anyway.) So its a vague mob designation fueled by name recognition and people voting for the only book on a very long list that they've actually read or possibly even heard of. Seems more indicative of a good ad campaign than actual literary worth to me.

One thing that I know is happening is that educators, through text choices, in their classes are keeping certain titles in the classic category. Through the 70's into the early 2000's many educators fell into trap of teaching from a list specific titles which is part of why most adults I know have all read "Romeo & Juliet," To Kill a Mockingbird, "The Odyssey," The Diary of Anne Frank, as well as a handful others. There's value in creating a shared body of experience, to be sure, but most adults I know also stopped reading literature for its own sake sometime right after high school. Their development as readers stalls out and these handful of texts, for better or worse, form almost their entire basis of comparison. (I have a lot to say about how pushing classics solely destroys a reading habit, but that's a different post.)

Okay, so what's the problem with that? I can come up with a handful of issues, not least of which that if the public is deciding what a classic is, they should actually be reading them and have a basis of comparison. However, I'd like to focus on the blind faith we put into something labeled a classic. I've had many conversations with parents lately who object to a novel study one of my teachers are doing in their classes. I don't have a problem with that. Parents look out for their kids and, while I hope they take the time to actually read the novel study book with an open mind, I know that it's a scary world out there and literature is by its nature challenging. So when a parent comes to me with a concern, I listen. I do my best to convince them of the merit of the book and sometimes they read it themselves and see the merit too. Sometimes, we end up with an alternate text for that student and therein lies the issue with "classics". Oftentimes, the parents suggest something off that old list of canon favorites they learned in high school. Oftentimes, that classic is just as problematic as the one they want to replace. What it has going for it usually is a label (classic) and possibly some historical relevance.

For example, To Kill a Mockingbird is a good book and tremendously relevant when talking through the civil rights movement of the 60's. However, it also makes use of the n- word excessively, portrays a certain level of institutional racism as acceptable, and is an awful portrayal of the mentally ill. 

How about "The Crucible"? Excellent play that does a great job of illustrating how public hysteria can turn otherwise decent people into a mob who obsess over a literal witch hunt that ends up corrupting the honesty of probably the most honest character in literature. Great values there and worthwhile. The only problem is that lit teachers tend to teach it as an example of Puritan Lit. It's not....it was written in 1953 as a metaphor for and attack on McCarthyism. (There's a similar issue with A Scarlet Letter - it's Victorian lit and not Puritan lit.) Context matters. 

I'm not even willing to give Shakespeare a pass here. "Romeo and Juliet" has more dirty (like blush-worthy) jokes in the first two acts than I'm particularly comfortable talking through with 14 year-olds. If I tried to teach a contemporary book with that many sex jokes in it, I'd be hauled up in front of my school board. Additionally, there is a tendency to teach this play as a romance but doing so promotes the idea of suicide as a reasonable outcome for lost love. In reality, its about two very impulsive teens with distant parents who make a series of bad choices because they don't feel like they can reach out to the adults around them. (If it was taught that way, I'd have fewer objections.)

I could keep going.

Let's be clear. I like classics most of the time and I do think they have value both in and outside the classroom. I just don't think they should receive blanket approval. All literature should be carefully considered, regardless of its status.  

The Month and Half Project: Kim

 I'm not sure really why I was so fired up to read Kim. I'm a fan of Rudyard Kipling's short fiction. I teach "Mark of the Beast" every year in my British Literature class. "Riki Tiki Tavi" was one of my big favorites as a kid, yet some how I've never read any of Kipling's novels. 

For some reason I fixed on Kim for a first try. I think it is because Puffin picked it up and started marking it for young readers. The story follows the early life of Kim O'Hara who is the son of an Irish Maverick and an English nursemaid both of whom are dead by the time young Kim is a toddler. As a result, Kim is raised on the streets of Lahore and is fully enculturated into the native population. He's a scamp and trickster, a talented mimic, and an amateur disguise artist. His ability to move between cultures makes him valuable and the British spy masters eventually become aware of him and see that he is educated and trained. The novel follows life through this phase and into his first mission afterwards. 

To say that the story meanders is an understatement. Kim takes up with a wandering Tibetan lama, a horse trader, and a whole other cast of characters. The language is artificially antiquated and the action is hard to follow. The attitudes of the time period come through to an almost problematic level. It's dense. Over all, I have to disagree with Puffin books; I would not hand this to your average young readier.

It is interesting though. It took me a month and a half to struggle through the thing and even so, I wasn't tempted to abandon the read. Yet, I found myself having to reread whole sections over and over to tease out what was happening. There's a lot of discussion of philosophy and eastern religions which may or may not be entirely accurate. 

I'm hoping that my next Kipling attempt is a little more smooth going. Maybe I'll try the Jungle Book.