Thursday, August 12, 2021

Books and train car graffiti Feb - June 2021

What I've been reading and pictures of train car graffiti


Photos are from our train trip March 2020, just out of Denver they used old train cars as a wind break.  The graffiti is kind of fun.

-by Shannon Hale
Kind of a Big Deal:  Love all Shannon Hale.  What happens after high school when your dreams don't come true right away, touch of magic.
Real Friends:  Elementary school, autobiographical

- by Martha Wells
Murderbot Diaries:  1) All Systems Red  2) Artificial Condition  3) Rogue Protocol 4) Exit Strategy:  These are all totally up my alley!  Murderbot is the POV.  A highly augmented human who is built to have no autonomy, but circumvents that and goes off to do her own thing.  These are all short form, which helped me focus. 



-by Lacey Lamar and Amber Ruffin
You'll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey:  If you know someone who thinks racism "Isn't that bad" send this book!  It is funny and enlightening, not scolding, but gets the point of micro aggression across. 

-by Kevin Kwan
Sex and Vanity:  A Room with a View set in the current era on an Italian island and Long Island.  I had no idea when I started, but came to appreciate the clever rework.  Though I've read the original, the movie is one of my all time favorites, so I'm a bit biased.

by Julie Clark
The Last Flight:  Genre is Gone Girl, thriller, summer reading. I stayed up waaaay too late reading this.  

-by Ann Leckie
The Raven Tower:  Author is known for her space sci-fi trilogy where the POV is unusual.  Same is true here, but it is fantasy.  Slow burn, but then I loved the last third and how it wrapped up.


-by Jincey Willets (recommendation off of Reddit of all things)  I love this author!  Slightly unusual set ups, but not so far off that it could happen.  These are her only books, may have to try to find her short stories. 

National Book Award:  oh man, how to describe without giving anything away.  A tale of two sisters, writing and writers.  

The Writing Group:  A mystery novel, but the book is really about the different people.  Yes, they solve the murder, but only incidentally.  Love the realistic POV descriptions.  

Amy Falls Down: Sort of a sequel to The Writing Group in that it is the same group of people.  Amy is the focus.  If you loved her in the first book, you'll want to follow up with this.    

Pandemic Reading
by Sigrid Nunez
Salvation City:  Read this super fast and later forgot many of the details.  Mostly a coming of age story that happens to be after a pandemic.

by Emily St John Mandel
Station Eleven:  Pandemic where 99% of the population dies and we loose all modern conveniences.  A number of storylines weave together.  Written 2014, so kind of weird to read during a pandemic.   Better than Salvation City for me.



Kids books

-by Ann Barrows
Ivy and Bean, 1-10:  Two little neighbor girls with different personalities become best friends and have fun adventures.  I loved these so much!  Of all the books I tried recently, these were the only ones where I read the whole set.

-by Emily Calandrelli
Ada Lace on the Case:  Great protagonist, would read more of these.

Spooky chapter books
-by Troy Cummings
The Binder of Doom:  Cute, each monster has their own baseball card.  Kids have to team up.

-by Barbara Cantini
Ghoulia: Super cute.  Little girl monster can't go out of the house in fear of scaring people, goes out on Halloween.

Graphic Novels
-by Lucy Knisley
Stepping Stones:  Real life, teen years are awkward with family mix and match.

-by Kazu Kibuishi
The Amulet:  I like the artwork, this is the first in a popular series.  I didn't love it enough to read more, but it is pretty.


DNF

-by Kameron Hurley
The Light Brigade: Apparently a good time travel book, but I could not get through the incredibly cliche "You're in the army now and we will break you down to build you up" section.  ugg

There were a handful of others that I checked out of the electronic library, but couldn't get myself to read.  They don't even get a listing, in case I ever give them another chance.