Books and fall plants July - September 2021

 What I've been reading and fun fall plants I saw on my walk.  

People are starting their Halloween decorations-fun

-by Christina Soontornvat

A Wish in the Dark:  Nice story of justice, befriending you enemies, it all works out in the end.  Not super memorable a few months later.

-by Nghi Vo

The Empress of Salt and Fortune:  Great story packed into a small space.  It has the bit by bit reveal of the full story as you go.

These are the fruits on a palm tree

-by Emma Newman

Planetfall:  Recommendation by the author of Murderbot stories...and like those, super competent, broken person does interesting stuff in space.  Would read more.

Multi colored Lantanas are some of my favorites.

-by Justin Torres

We the Animals:  Coming of age story.  Picked it up because it was on a library recommended list and short, lol.  

-by Alessandra Torre

The Ghostwriter:  Another story about writers.  Adjacent to thriller genre.  Also picked it up because it was on a library list.  Good read, not sure if it will be memorable in the long run.

-by Martha Wells
Network Effect:  Murderbot series!  This is the one novel in the series, love it!!

One perfect pomegranate

-by Naomi Novik

Deadly Education:  Book 1 in a series.  Think Hogwarts but much much deadlier.  Perhaps a bit over the top with shear number of baddies, but I am all in for the story and relationships.  The second book comes out soon!

End of season roses

-by Kelly Yang

Three Keys:  a follow up to Front Desk, YA, relentlessly upbeat, but fun and fresh.

- by Kate Stayman-London

One To Watch:  Famous by social media, Bea becomes the first fat lady on a Bachlorette type reality show.  A fast read, but nothing really surprising in the story.  Good ending.

-by Gretchen Rubin

Happier at Home:  One of her earlier books.  Follow on to her Happiness Project with some nice ideas.  Not strictly necessary if you have read her later stuff, but easy to finish.

-by Lauren Oyler

Fake Accounts:  Not sure how to classify this, adjacent to thriller type fiction, but only for a small percent of the book.  My biggest take-away was that she convincingly writes about the effect social media has on one mental health and thoughts.  I wanted to see the ending, which was mostly satisfying, but there is a large chunk in the middle that you can skip if you aren't feeling it.

Artichoke!

-by Pamela Ribon and Cat Farris

My Boyfriend is a Bear:  Short graphic novel.  Story is exactly as the title says.  Super cute and worth the time.

-by Kim Harrison

Dead Witch Walking:  First in a series.  World has a virus apocalypse, halves the human population, but not the witches, vampires, pixies etc.  I like the idea, but the style is too non-stop.  The cranky guys is always cranky, the vampire tension only shuts down for 5 seconds at a time, etc.  Fine for an airplane read.

-by Cynthia Ozick

The Messiah of Stockholm:  Hmm, super literary short novel.  The author has popped up here and there and I figured I should read something she wrote.  I don't think I need to read more though.

Passion fruit flower and then fruit

DNF

-by Hank Green
An Absolutely Remarkable Thing:  Only got through the first chapter and just couldn't get into it before time was up.  Not meant to be at this time.

-by Earl Stanley Gardner
The Case of the Lazy Lover:  I remember loving these as a kid.  My aunt had a huge set of them.  There was a waitlist for the electronic version at the library.  Are they popular again?  I read about a third and it just seemed so boring.   

-by Torrey Peters

Detransition, Baby:  Not bad, just not as exciting as the others I was reading.  I got about 15% in, time was running out on my checkout so it fell off the bottom of the pile.

Persimmons

-by Andre Aciman

Call Me By Your Name:  I read the first third, then Wikipedia about the rest.  It is good writing, minute by minute of what is going on in a 17 yr old boys head.  Didn't feel the need to finish.

-by Jacqueline Carey

Banewrecker:  The first of two books telling a Lord of the Rings style story from the point of view of the villains.    I love the idea, but I just could not handle the style.  Just a little too...old fashioned?  turgid?  romantic? full of thuses?  This was not even a DNF but a Couldn't Get Started.  I only managed 20 pages.

 

Milkweed pods and flowers

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.

Weekend in Denver, March 2020

Weekend in Denver, March 2020

This was the last trip we took before staying home for this last year.  Even though we are still at home, we are tentatively planning trips again so I am optimistically posting.

We  chose this cute little downtown classic hotel.  The spa was extensive and delightful.  It covered 2 floors and I was able to get a combo massage and mud bath.  Gotta love the patterns in the hotel, like this carpet.

Modified Greek key around the edges.

The hotel partners with the restaurant next door and we got the cutest Caesar salad

and breakfast sandwich.

An excellent evening of festive food and friends.

The next day we checked out the local parks.

This area is full of people who do tons of hiking and there are tons of parks to accommodate everyone.  There is a path up through the trees to reach the top of that rock.

Starting at the bottom is intimidating.

This is the river as seen from the road.

As seen from halfway up.

And as seen from the top!

All of the hiking was great-lots of little points of interest.

Books and Chocolate: October 2020 - January 2021

I did not read as many books as I had planned on, but way more than I would have guessed, given the circumstances of 2020!

-by Becky Chambers

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet:  Fantastic!!  Space fantasy / sci-fi.  The super fun type.  Way stranger aliens than most in the genre and yet it is a ton about the relationships, with people that you like.  Can't wait for the next one!

-by Ibram X Kendi

How to be Anti-racist:  Very of the moment.  It is a great mix of the deeply personal version of his life and an academic writing style that makes the reading super fast.  I am already on board and didn't feel like it gave me enough specific tools on how to be anti-racist.  But it did help clarify some language for me, definitely recommend.

Celebrated the end of 2020 with a giant box of Jacques Torres chocolate.  Everything was fantastic.  The cocoa has solid bits that melt slowly.  

-by Trenton Lee Stewart

The Mysterious Benedict Society:  Read a review that talked about how this kids book eerily fits in with 2020 in America.  They were not wrong!  And a pretty fun read, not interesting enough for me to read more in the series. Elementary reader

-by SJ Kincaid

Diabolic:  Nothing surprising in the plot, all newness is in the POV.  Kept me reading, but not sure I need the rest of the series.  If you want the more adult version, try Gideon the 9th.

-by Varian Johnson and Shannon Wright

Twins:  Graphic novel on par with Telgemeier...in fact they have a nod to Smile in the book.  Super cute, about twins becoming their own person.  Would totally read more from Varian, love the art style of Shannon.

-by Nicola Yoon

Everything Everything:  Reminds me of John Green.  YA. I would read more, even though I can't remember the details.

-by Amy Timberlake

Skunk and Badger:  Elementary reader.  Super cute.  About learning to be friends with someone with different points of view.

-by Ann Patchet

Small Wonders:  Last time I had to put this in the 'didn't finish' pile.  But it came back into my queue! I loved so much about this book...but hated the ending!  It leaves some threads open and gives most people their happy-ish ending.  But there is one child and I'm not sure if the intent is that his ending is happy or not.  I was distressed, but the book is memorable.

-by Darcie Little Badger

Elatsoe:  Teens solving a murder, with a good bit of supernatural.  Middle reader.

-by Kelly Yang

Front Desk:  Child of immigrant parents who are running a motel.  Super fun, based on her life.  Middle reader.

-by Allie Brosch

Solutions and Other Problems:  Few things can make me laugh as hard as Allie's blog and first book, Hyperbole and a Half.  This is not quite as good, and it goes a bit more adult.  

-by Natalie Zina Walschots

Hench:  What if your life was working for a Villain?  You would have a different view of Super heros for sure.  Tight writing, just enough story to move forward and great characters.  I hope she writes more.

-by Martha Wells

All Systems Red:  First in the Murderbot Diaries.  Sentient robot or augmented human...our protagonist is right in the middle.  Love the novella format.

Didn't finish

-by Eric Gansworth

Apple:  This might not be the best first book to read as it is autobiography.  Poetry adjacent.  I read about 1/3.  Might read more if I didn't feel like I have sooooo many in my tbr pile.