My Reading Log- August 2020

 I did a little better this month, reading-wise. In numbers, anyway. The majority of my month has been comfort reading- silly story books to pass the time pleasantly. Mostly so I can avoid the continuing unpleasantness of the real world. (Seriously, is this year ever going to improve? Or at least end? It feels as though 2020 has lasted at least a decade now...) On to the books!

August 2020

Fiction:

Wayward Son- Rainbow Rowell (This is the one the library yanked away. Got it back!)

Star Trek (movie novelization)- 

Star Trek: The Unsettling Stars-      both of these are in the reboot Kelvin universe and both are by Alan Dean Foster

Half Off Ragnarok-  

Pocket Apocalypse-        both of these are Seanan McGuire's InCryptid series (which I am loving)

Sparrow Hill Road- also Seanan McGuire.  (Rose Marshall is very entertaining. Glad I have another book about her waiting on my shelf...)

The Shadow Grail series by Mercedes Lackey:

1-Legacies

2-Conspiracies

3-Sacrifices

4-Victories -My first time through these books, even though Mercedes Lackey is one of my favorites. It's a young adult series and it isn't at all bad. I enjoyed them but I feel like I would have enjoyed them more if I had any affection at all for the King Arthur mythologies. (But I really don't. The closest I come is Disney's Sword in the Stone cartoon from forever ago.)

Boyfriend Material- Alexis Hall (Surprisingly entertaining. Enjoyed it very much.)

Midnight Sun- Stephenie Meyer 

Nonfiction:

The View From the Cheap Seats- Neil Gaiman

George Washington- James MacGregor Burns and Susan Dunn (this is part of The American Presidents series edited by Arthur M. Schlesinger)

Brilliant Maps for Curious Minds- Ian Wright 

And that's it for the month of August. There is no way I will even get close to finishing anything else before midnight. Time to start next month's list. Yay!

You Should Be Reading...

Abby Jimenez

- author of  The Friend Zone, The Happy Ever After Playlist, and the upcoming Life's Too Short

I have a confession to make. I don't read romance novels. Like, ever.  At least, I didn't.

Once upon a time, long, long ago, having read pretty much the entire public library, I looked around for something -anything!- else to read. Pickings were slim. If it looked even remotely interesting, I had already read it. Except... there was one shelf. It was the 'here, just take it' shelf where they keep all the books they don't care about getting back. More properly called the 'Book Exchange', it was the only place in the library that operated on the 'have a penny, need a penny' principle. And it was completely full of romance novels. You know the ones, with their matching covers and swirly writing. The half-naked characters in various swooning poses. Yeah, those.

Up until then, I had never really paid attention to these books. Being only in junior high, they had never caught my notice and there was a whole library full of dragons and spaceships that were much more important. But now desperation loomed and, needing a new story, their little matching covers called to be explored. So, I took a few home to try.

Please don't scream at me. I am well aware that very many people LOVE these books and if that happens to be your jam, congratulations. I wish you much joy. But.

They were not for me. Maybe I was too young. Maybe I grabbed the wrong books. Maybe they were from the wrong printing company. Whatever the reason- I hated them. Every single one that I looked at.

The result was rereading a lot of my favorite books a lot of times and an almost allergic reaction at any suggestion that I might read *gasp* a love story. Ever since then, I have religiously avoided the entire romance section of every bookstore I have entered and I have never willingly or knowingly read anything that would be labeled romance.  

But then...

One day my social media pages were covered with photos of a cake. Yeah, that one, with the now trademarked name. And the hilarious tweets and photos from the woman responsible for it going viral. Enter the cupcake lady, Abby Jimenez. This was the first I had heard of her, but she was hilarious and entertaining. I quickly followed her social media accounts for much needed laughs.

Then she announced that she had written a book and was being published. I was so excited! Then she told me it was a romance. Cue the tears (see aforementioned life-long prejudice). I was so upset. This woman was hilarious and entertaining and she was wasting all that talent on a romance. (I know, I know. Please don't scream at me.)

Time went by. Everyone was LOVING this book (The Friend Zone). I was just sad that I couldn't read it. (I know!)

And then I couldn't stand it anymore. I signed up for the wait list at my library. It was forever long. So I waited. And waited. And then, it was finally my turn. I loaded it onto my kindle and settled down to give it a go.

I did not stand up again until that book was over. I laughed, I cried, I got caught up in the plot and the characters. I fell in love with this story. There was only one thing left to do. 

I immediately jumped on the waiting list for The Happy Ever After Playlist. And it was every bit as good as The Friend Zone. I promptly bought myself copies of both. And I have pre-ordered my copy of the new book, Life's Too Short. The only horrible thing about that is it isn't due to be released until April. I don't want to wait that long!

And, I believe now I can officially claim that I am cured of my decades-long shunning of an entire genre. I've even read another romance (knowingly and willingly) since. And I'm giving all the credit to the hilarious Abby Jimenez, who showed me that a good romance should indeed have an actual plot in addition to the sex scenes. Although, those are good too. (I'm still not ready to revisit any of the old imprint series that started this whole problem, though. Please don't ask.)

One important note: You need to be aware that these books contain some of the same characters. At least, the first two definitely do. (I have not yet gotten my hands on the new one. And I NEED April to get here as soon as possible. But what little story summary information I have seen suggests there may be some relation to previous characters.) For best reading without spoilers, you should definitely start with The Friend Zone. If you don't mind spoilers, then disregard this entirely. :)

I highly recommend you give Abby Jimenez and her books a try. Even if you think you don't like romance novels. 

My Reading Log- July 2020

 I thought it might be interesting to post some of the books I read every month. I won't post everything.

 Some of the things I won't post include: 

-anything I couldn't finish for whatever reason,

-any picture books and such I read (or re-read, for the millionth time) with my girl(s)- unless it's super, super adorable,                                                           

-anything I hated reading.

Everything else is fair game for the list. I'll generally try to sort things into categories, however broad. I'll at least tell you if it's fiction or nonfiction. Fair enough? Okay, let's get started.

July 2020

July was a weird month for me. I had several things that had to share reading time, so my book count was way down. In addition, the online library yanked my book away in the middle and it totally threw off my reading groove. I was left reeling, trying to figure out what to read when I couldn't finish the one I wanted to read. (I still haven't actually recovered. I'm floundering here. But I'm back on the waiting list, so- fingers crossed...)

Fiction:

Network Effect- Martha Wells (I LOVE me some Murderbot! Need more immediately!)

Good Omens Script Book- Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett

Twilight- Stephenie Meyer (I'm so glad my spellcheck also hates the way she spells her name...)

New Moon- also by Meyer.

Graphic Novels/Comics:

Strange Planet

Stranger Planet             both by Nathan W Pyle

Cooking:

Turns out that Anne McCaffrey, one of my all time faves, did a couple of cookbooks... I had no idea, but when I found out, I had to hunt them down so...

Cooking Out of This World

Serve It Forth

(They were interesting and entertaining, but I don't see myself actually making any of the recipes...)

Wow. That was a very short reading month... And not a single non-fiction in the bunch... 

I would swear to do better in August, but I am not off to a promising start. I'm still floundering around waiting for the end of my interrupted book. And I just struggled my way through a truly awful book that will hopefully never be mentioned here by name, so that's most of a week wasted there. Well, that and trying to read three different books simultaneously. (See above floundering.)

I need to focus. And I need to get that book back!

It's Been A Long Time, Been A Long Time...

...been a long-   You know what? I'll save you the rest of the Zeppelin song. I'm sure we all know it by heart. Just imagine me caterwauling very badly and off-key with the volume cranked way up and fill in the rest of the lyrics for me. You now have the perfect mental picture.

Life is weird. And unexpected. And constantly changing.

Once upon a time, in what now seems like another lifetime entirely, I started a little blog. I was a new stay-at-home mom, trying to figure out what in the world people were thinking when they gave me a tiny little person to care for, alone a lot of the time and very overwhelmed. Looking for someone to talk to.

Life rolls on, and changes come- good and bad. Now that little blog that used to live here is completely alien to me. I look back at it and I don't even recognize the person who wrote it. Most things in my life are very different.

But life rolls on and changes come. Especially in this craziest of crazy years, where things are very different. Strange. Scary. Hard. Lonely.


Things that have not changed:

       My beautiful girls are my world. Most of my time and energy are directed toward seeing their needs are met to the best of my ability. As all parents can imagine, this is at times challenging. And terrifying.
       Books are a huge part of our lives. I've always been a reader, hunting for comfort and wisdom in the pages of my favorite stories. This joy in reading is something I'm trying to teach my girls. So far, it seems to be working.
       The world is still crazy (and seeming to get crazier every day, unfortunately) and it is still overwhelming and scary trying to keep little people alive and well. Even when they are no longer completely helpless.
   
 And I guess I'm still looking for someone to talk to.

Feel free to pop in and listen. I can't guarantee what the topic of the moment may be. Just lately, I feel the need to babble about books, but I won't swear that's all you'll ever find. This space is likely to contain any number of ramblings, not just about stories, but also... oh, I don't know. Various craft projects. My kids (maybe). Life in general. It'll be a surprise. And hopefully, it will be a pleasant one. This crazy year definitely needs more pleasant everything...


So, welcome back to my blog. Let's see where it takes me this time. :)