The Shape of My Name by Nino Cipri
Started: 1/19/19
Finished: 1/19/19
A short story about identity and acceptance and time travel. I’d like to see it expanded into a novel so I can get more.
Author: Zannah
The Queen of Blood by Sarah Beth Durst
Started: 1/17/19
Finished: 1/18/19
For some reason, I thought there were dragons in this series, but there are not. Figured you should know that up front. However, I REALLY liked this book, and I’m eager to read the next one.
Updraft by Fran Wilde
Started: 1/14/19
Finished: 1/17/19
Cool fantasy, steampunk-ish, and it’s the start of a series, thank goodness, because I need to know more about the world. The main character is a teenage girl who matures as the book continues (also thank goodness), but I’m less invested in her than I am in finding out what on earth the city actually IS.
Everything is blurry
There must be a trick to transferring a sleeping baby from your arms to the crib, but the internet won’t tell me what it is. I get a lot of “put the baby down sleepy but not asleep so he can learn to put himself to sleep”, but 1) he still falls asleep nursing, so that’s harder than it seems, and 2) he screams when he hits the mattress whether he’s sleepy or sleeping, so drowsy disappears fast.
He does sleep at night, so it’s not like we can’t get him to sleep in the crib at all, but bedtime is the most stressful time of day for me. The last two nights (three? too tired to remember), it was John who was able to put him down quietly, so we’re going to keep going with that and hope it works. Of course, that limits bedtime and will eventually get us into trouble. Eventually being in two weekends, when John is out of town.
Fun times ahead.
Wintersong by S. Jae-Jones
Started: 1/13/19
Finished: 1/14/19
The Goblin King in this book is SO very David Bowie, which is great. I think the characterization of the main character shifts halfway through, and not for the better. Her motivations aren’t consistent, and she gets all worked up about things that could be resolved if she would just TALK to the guy. Same goes for him, of course. On the other hand, she’s a teenager, and she’s acting like a teenager, so maybe I should be praising the author for her realism instead.
Seraphina by Rachel Hartman
Started: 1/11/19
Finished: 1/12/19
Music and humans and dragons and secrets and love and a plucky heroine. There’s a sequel!
Points of Impact by Marko Kloos
Started: 1/8/19
Finished: 1/11/19
Book 6 in the Frontlines series. It’s book 6 of 6, but it clearly isn’t the end. I’m happy to believe there will be more. I’ve been enjoying this series.
Fields of Fire by Marko Kloos
Started: 1/7/19
Finished: 1/8/19
Book 5 in the Frontlines series. Have I mentioned that these are all written in the present tense? I always notice when the book starts and then stop noticing because I’m in the story.
Jarring
You know how some people spend a lot of time on playlists (the same type of people who used to spend a lot of time on mix tapes)? They want to get the right songs in the right order because it matters. There’s a scene in High Fidelity (book and movie) where the main character talks about that.
I have never been that kind of person, and it shows most blatantly in my book choices. Occasionally I’ll pick a book because I’m looking for a certain kind of experience (one year, I timed it so that I would be reading a book by Robin McKinley on my birthday because I knew I would love it and I wanted to be reading something I’d love on my birthday), but that choice (or any other book choice I make) almost never has anything to do with the book I just finished. It leads to some pretty abrupt transitions.
Case in point: today, I finished a light and lovely book about two girls making their debuts in society in Regency England. A few hours later, I started book 5 in a series about an alien invasion and the soldiers who have to fight them in space.
Keeps me on my toes.
Sorcery & Cecilia or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot by Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer
Started: 1/5/19
Finished: 1/7/19
Delightful! A story told in letters between two cousins/best friends, set in Regency England with a bit of magic.
The Oracle Year by Charles Soule
Started: 1/4/19
Finished: 1/5/19
Fun story, couldn’t put it down. I feel like I haven’t read one of those in a while.
Revenger by Alistair Reynolds
Started: 1/3/19
Gave up: 1/4/19
The dialogue killed me. The story could be good – combination of magic (special abilities, anyway) and space adventures – but the dialogue between every character in the first few chapters is PAINFUL. I quit.
In The Stacks by Scott Lynch
Started: 1/3/19
Finished: 1/3/19
Short story about a wizard university where to pass your fifth year, you have to return a library book. Harder than it seems. Cute story.
One Way by S.J. Morden
Started: 12/30/18
Finished: 1/3/19
The Mars base has to be built, but it’s risky and dangerous, so let’s get convicts with life sentences to do it. Pretty good, but the main character has this lack of curiosity (that gets lampshaded in the story) that means I was frustrated when he wouldn’t take the next logical step. A built-in character flaw is one thing, but when that character is the reader stand-in, it’s hard not to see it as a clumsy attempt to keep the reader from figuring out what’s going on. There’s a sequel. I might read it.
Hello 2019
Did we make it to midnight last night? Yes, but barely. Jack was in his crib by 10:30, and we were struggling to make it 90 more minutes. Our plan for the evening was TV, Chinese food, and champagne. TV and Chinese food happened, but if we had added champagne, we would have been unconscious. Now we’ve got two bottles of champagne in the fridge, which is a nice problem to have.
Our New Year’s Day started with a happy baby (he woke up quiet, no screaming – yay!) who had a massive diaper blowout overnight (ew), then a walk to Dunkin Donuts for breakfast, then a trip to the grocery store, and then a long walk just because the sun was out. Now we’re in, warming back up, and I’m waiting for Jack to wake up. He fell asleep in the cart at the grocery store and has been asleep ever since. Too much partying last night.
Goodbye 2018
I don’t usually do end-of-year wrap-up posts*, but I’ve never had a year like this last one, either. I mean, we got pregnant, bought a house, and had a baby, all conveniently within the confines of one calendar year. So that was weird.
How’s 2019 gonna top that?
*Does one sentence count as a wrap-up post?
The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang
Started: 12/27/18
Finished: 12/30/18
It got rave reviews, but now that I’ve read it, I’m not sure why. The story jumps from section to section, there are parts that don’t fit at all, and we’re inside the main character’s head, but the character’s not fully developed. There’s too much telling instead of showing, and at the same time not enough telling to understand her motivations.
And many more
Happy 18th anniversary to us! Today, our marriage is as old as we were when we met. Are we doing anything special to celebrate, you ask? Ha ha, you’re hilarious. We have a three-month-old. We’re ordering food for dinner, probably, and we’ll be lucky if we have any champagne. We sure know how to party. (Look for a repeat of that sentiment on New Year’s Eve. Our night is likely to look like TV, Chinese food, and MAYBE champagne. We’ll only see midnight if Jack refuses to go to sleep earlier.)
The Enchanted Life of Adam Hope by Rhonda Riley
Started: 12/19/18
Finished: 12/27/18
This was an odd one, and I’m not sure I liked it. I didn’t dislike it, and I was interested enough to finish it, but I’m feeling kind of meh about it.
This will be…interesting
Tomorrow morning we head for PA for Christmas. This will the first time we’ve driven more than half an hour with Jack, the first time we’ve spent a night somewhere other than home with Jack (not counting the hospital), and the first time he’ll be around more than five people at once.
I’m not terribly worried about the drive. He’ll probably sleep much of it (although I most likely just jinxed it). And the people – he’ll be fine. It’s the nights away from home that have me a little worried. No, I’m not worried. I’m resigned to the likelihood that we won’t get any sleep. He’ll be in a new place, in an unfamiliar crib (or something), new noises (including another baby), so he’s likely to have trouble settling down, and since he’ll be in our room, I think I’m likely to have trouble settling down.
Maybe he and I can tire each other out during the days enough to sleep like logs at night. That’s actually pretty likely. 🙂 And maybe, just maybe, the experience of sleeping somewhere other than home will make sleeping at home that much more attractive to him and he’ll go down for naps easier.
I can dream.