The Court Magician by Sarah Pinsker
Started: 7/25/19
Finished: 7/25/19
An eerie short story by the author of that portal fantasy with clones from last year that I liked so much. This one was pretty good. Learn the rules before you use magic!
The Tale of the Three Beautiful Raptor Sisters, and the Prince Who Was Made of Meat by Brooke Bolander
Started: 7/24/19
Finished: 7/25/19
I loved the voice of the narrator in this short story. Same author as the sad elephant novella, but I would never have guessed that. I feel like the plot is given away in the title, and I’m okay with that.
Artificial Condition by Martha Wells
Started: 7/18/19
Finished: 7/24/19
This is the second novella in the Murderbot Diaries series, and it’s so great! Poor Murderbot.
The Only Harmless Great Thing by Brooke Bolander
Started: 7/14/19
Finished: 7/18/19
I had heard such wonderful things about this story, but at its start, all I can think of is how SAD it is. Update: at its end, all I can think of how sad it is. It’s an alternate history that combines two true events tragedies: Topsy the Elephant and the Radium Girls. It’s very good, but very hard to read. I suppose it’s a good thing it’s a novelette…
Gods, Monsters, and the Lucky Peach by Kelly Robson
Started: 7/8/19
Finished: 7/14/19
I was just getting into the swing of things when it ended! That’s the problem with novellas, I suppose. Good story, but there’s a lot about the world and their mission that I didn’t completely follow. I care enough to wish I could find out more, but that also means I’m a little disappointed in it.
Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
Started: 7/1/19
Finished: 7/8/19
I read this a LONG time ago. Like, I think I bought it in an airport bookstore on our honeymoon in London in 2000, and I didn’t like it. I wasn’t ready for Terry Pratchett, and it was my first experience with Neil Gaiman. This time I was totally ready, reaching for it with both hands and a foot (the other foot was preventing a crawling Jack from reaching for the trash can), and I read as quickly as I could in an era where I’ve lost my free time. Ridiculous, absurd, and funny. I am ready for the TV show.
Even more adorable in June
He just keeps getting cuter.
Record of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers
Started: 6/22/19
Finished: 7/1/19
Book 3 in the Wayfarers series. This was a NICE story, but I had a hard time getting into it at first. I enjoyed it, and I wholeheartedly recommend it (the whole series), but I don’t think it’s Hugo-worthy (this book is nominated, as is the series).
Not on the plane, either!
Ugh, I just realized I won’t be able to read on the plane, either, because I’ll have a baby in my lap. He might be in John’s lap. But more likely mine. BOO! Airplane reading is the good reading. Talk about life changes I didn’t expect…
A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers
Started: 6/15/19
Finished: 6/22/19
Book 2 in the Wayfarers series. Instead of an episodic adventure story like the first one, this book follows two characters as they struggle with their identities. Universal in a very science-fictional way. It’s also a found-family story. I’m a sucker for found-family stories.
I should have done this weeks ago
Our grocery cart/high chair cover came weeks ago, and I FINALLY tried it out at the store with Jack the other day. He did great. I still have to work on getting it in place quickly and with one hand. For this outing, I put the car seat in the cart, got the cover on, moved Jack into the seat, and then piled groceries on top of the car seat.
Plenty adorable, right? It got so much better. I turned back to the cart after picking up milk, and found this:
Poor sad baby chicken. Not quite 9 months old and already completely done with grocery shopping.
May flowers
Jack in May!
One month at a time
You guys are overdue for some cute baby pictures, and boy, do I have some good ones for you. Let’s start with April.
I thought I’d have more time!
Nursing Jack, wonderful in itself, has been especially great because it’s time I’ve been able to read. Even if only for 5-10 minutes, I get to read multiple times a day. Lately…not so much. I’m still nursing him as much as ever, but he rarely settles down and just eats anymore. Instead, he does gymnastics. Or parkour. Sometimes he ends up practically upside down. I need both hands, making it pretty difficult to read. He does it almost every time, even before bed and in the middle of the night, and especially before naps, and once he settles into sleep, I’m getting him into the crib pretty quickly. I am NOT complaining about him napping in the crib instead of on me – that is WONDERFUL and HELPFUL and I use that time to get work done so I don’t have to work as late at night. Occasionally (okay, all the time), I wish I were holding him for a nap instead because he’s so cuddly and warm and sweet, but really, he sleeps longer in the crib, and we all need that. A napping baby is a charming, adorable, and funny baby who sleeps better at night.
What was my point?
Right.
So I lost my nursing/reading time to acrobatics, and I have to use napping time for work (like, ahem, right now). I try to read in bed at night, but that’s not working, either. For the last five nights in a row I’ve done that thing where you’re reading and then you wonder why you can’t see your book anymore and you realize your eyes are closed and when you open them the words on the page don’t look at all familiar so you go back a page or two and try again but then, whoops, you can’t see the book anymore and who flipped ahead to that page and oh, crap, I’m just going to go to sleep.
Can’t watch any more
I’m calling it quits on Call The Midwife. I was enjoying it, and there’s plenty to enjoy (and how I will miss Miranda Hart), but I can’t take it anymore for two reasons:
- The narration is AWFUL. It’s cloying, it’s saccharine, and it makes me want to punch the main character (whose story this is). Vanessa Redgrave’s voice can’t save it.
- The lengths these story lines will go to impress upon us just how bad life was for poor mothers in East London are getting ridiculous, and we only just started season 2. My final straw was the Swedish woman whose father brought her onto his cargo ship when she was young to, ahem, service the crew. But you know, he loves her.
DONE.
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
Started: 6/7/19
Finished: 6/15/19
This one keeps popping up in my recommendations, usually described as being like Firefly, and I finally got a copy in this year’s Hugo voter’s packet (the 3rd book and the series have been nominated). I can say that yes, it IS like Firefly (not as much shooting), and I enjoyed it very much. It’s light and fun, much lighter than what I’ve been reading lately, so that was a pleasant surprise. It’s not heavy on plot – there’s an episodic feel to it which probably also led to the Firefly comparisons, but it’s nice.
Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse
Started: 6/1/19
Finished: 6/7/19
I’ve been meaning to read this one for a year, and then it got nominated for a Hugo and I got it in the voter’s packet, so yay for me! It’s a story about monsters and monsterslayers in a post-apocalyptic US, set on a Navajo reservation, and it’s pretty great.
The babiest baby to ever baby
Jack hit peak baby today in the grocery store. He was wearing a romper (one piece, short sleeves, short pants), no shoes or socks, so his baby thighs and baby feet were visible in the car seat (which was in the grocery cart). He was looking around the aisles, kicking his feet, fingers in his mouth, babbling “ba ba ba ba ba” at everyone and no one. It was the cutest thing I’ve ever seen (or heard).
I regret to inform you that I did not get video, so you’ll have to take my word for it. Peak baby.
Eleven minutes is not a nap!
After a long break, we have officially restarted nap training. Sleep training. Crib training? I mean I’m working on getting Jack to nap in the crib. We were working on it months ago, but I gave it up when the teething started in earnest and nighttime sleep was being disrupted. For however many months that’s been (maybe two?), Jack has been napping semi-well, but exclusively while being held (mostly by me) or in the car seat (stroller and car). The advantage of the car seat is that I can usually bring the car seat in from outside without waking Jack up, and he can sleep in it, in the house, and let me do other things. But wouldn’t it be nice if he would just sleep in the crib? I’m starting (restarting) now for a couple of reasons:
- He’s going to grow out of the car seat. I’ve been talking about it for months, and he hasn’t done it yet, but it’s inevitable, and I feel like it’ll be soon. We’ll have to replace the infant car seat, which can be carried around, with a convertible car seat, which is one of those that will last for years but which doesn’t leave the car. What if (WHEN) he falls asleep in the car in the new car seat? I will have to unbuckle him, carry him inside, and put him down without waking him up. So far, he hasn’t proven to be that sound of a sleeper. Same for sitting in the stroller without the car seat. So he needs to learn to nap in the crib.
- Teething’s not over, of course, but his second top tooth has broken through and we have a pretty good routine at bedtime. He sleeps pretty well in the crib, mostly through the night, so I’m not too worried that these attempts to nap in the crib during the day will screw that up.
I just want the flexibility. We’re at home at naptime? Sleep in the crib! We’re on a walk and he gets sleepy? Sleep in the stroller! We’re in the car? Sleep in the car! And if he’ll really nap in the crib, I can get work done during the day. Probably not the full four hours, but it means I won’t have to stay up as late EVERY SINGLE NIGHT.
The worst thing about this is the crying, of course. I’ve tried all kinds of things, read all kinds of books, and I really don’t know how to make this work without any crying. Thankfully, today, new attempt #1, he only cried for a couple of minutes. Then he tossed and turned but quietly, and he was sleeping 6 minutes later. Of course, as I type this, I can see (and hear) him kicking the back of the crib, but I’m pretty sure he’s still sleeping. Weird kid. He wiggled around a ton during those first few minutes, so I can’t see his face in the monitor anymore.
Shoot, I think I jinxed it. He’s definitely awake. Eleven minutes isn’t enough!
Update: Attempt #2 is going well so far. He stayed asleep when I put him in the crib, and he’s been asleep for 14 minutes.
Dressed for Death by Donna Leon
Started: 5/25/19
Finished: 6/1/19
Commissario Brunetti series book 3. I think I see what Jo Walton meant when she said this series was about integrity. Brunetti solves the mystery, but the ultimate bad guy doesn’t get punished (or not for the right thing). If there’s a larger character arc, I wonder if Brunetti will go through a depression.