Zoë's 2016 Challenge, Part 1

Will I actually keep up with the group this year? Time will tell! But presumably everything will be much less crazy than this year, so I should be able to resume reading and posting semi-regularly. And I have lots of half-finished books that will give my numbers a boost if I ever manage to finish them.

This year I also want to be better about tracking acquisitions. I think it will be more satisfying if I separate the super-cheap books from the rest, because I don't think my shopping is really out of control if I buy ten books for $10. Or maybe this is just an excuse.

I'll eventually be listing books read in this first message.

Books Read

January
1. Shadows of Self by Brandon Sanderson
2. The Tyrant's Daughter by J.C. Carleson
3. A Complicated Kindness by Miriam Toews
4. Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon
5. I Am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced by Nujood Ali
6. Money Hungry by Sharon Flake
7. The Skin I'm In by Sharon Flake
8. Doll Bones by Holly Black
9. Bernie Sanders: In His Own Words by Chamois Holschuh (ed.)
10. The Iron Trial by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare

February
11. The Copper Gauntlet by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare
12. Black Boy White School by Brian F. Walker
13. $2 a Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America by Kathryn J. Edin and H. Luke Shaefer
14. Bernie by Ted Rall
15. The Tail of Emily Windsnap by Liz Kessler
16. George by Alex Gino

March
17. Moon Called by Patricia Briggs
18. Stars Above by Marissa Meyer

April
19. Doing Good Better by William MacAskill
20. The Bands of Mourning by Brandon Sanderson

May
21. Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy by Karen Foxlee
22. Cast in Shadow by Michelle Sagara
23. Cast in Courtlight by Michelle Sagara
24. Oneonta Then and Now by Mark Simonson

June
25. Foiled by Jane Yolen and Mike Cavallero (illustrator)
26. Redefining Realness by Janet Mock
27. Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire

Acquisitions

Reading Books - Purchased New
1. The Speech
2. Bernie Sanders: In His Own Words
3. The Bands of Mourning
4. Bernie
5. No One Left to Lie to
6. Moon Called
7. Blood Bound
8. Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City
9. The Skin We Speak: Thoughts on Language and Culture in the Classroom
10. Understanding Mass Incarceration
11. Our Kids
12. Oneonta (Then and Now)
13. The Math Myth: And Other STEM Delusions
14. Chronicles of Old New York

Reading Books - Purchased Used
1. Sidetracked
2. The Divide
3. 102 Minutes: The Untold Story of the Fight to Survive inside the Twin Towers
4. 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus
5. Hudson River from New York City to Albany

Reading Books - Purchased Super Cheap

Reading Books - Free
1. For White Folks Who Teach in the Hood... and the Rest of Y'All Too
2. Redefining Realness

E-books - Purchased

Other
1. Music of Morocco from the Library of Congress

Academic Books
1. Hemerologies of Assyrian and Babylonian Scholars
2. Battling the Gods: Atheism in the Ancient World
3. Mesopotamian Divination Texts: Conversing with the Gods
4. Mathematics in Ancient Egypt: A Contextual History
5. The Religion of the Etruscans
6. The Circulation of Astronomical Knowledge in the Ancient World (free)
7. Byzantium Viewed by the Arabs (used)
8. A Concise History of Byzantium (used)
9. The King of Infinite Space: Euclid and His Elements
10. An Introduction to the Early Development of Mathematics

Other Challenges

I'm also participating in the 2016 Category Challenge, where I'll be tracking my participation in the GeoCAT and DeweyCAT and BingoDOG. So this post is for other other challenges.

Books in Progress that I Didn't Read Last Month But Mean to Finish Eventually
Discussion in the College Classroom
Whistling Vivaldi
On Course
Mathematical Mindsets
The Kite Runner
Blood Bound
Understanding Mass Incarceration

Monthly Goals

Since I love making reading lists, I thought I'd list some planned reading for each month, so that I can then ignore it and read something else.

I'll track how far along I am in the various books, so that I can see progress even if my reading continues to be as scattered as it's been lately.

January
Shadows of Self by Brandon Sanderson (in progress, almost certain to finish)
The Bands of Mourning by Brandon Sanderson (Jan. 26 release, unlikely to finish)
Possessing the Secret of Joy by Alice Walker (35% done, slow going)
Whistling Vivaldi by Claude Steele (p. 98 of 219)
Mathematical Mindsets by Jo Boaler (p. 21 of 277; RandomCAT)
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (GeoCAT)
Doing Good Better by William MacAskill (p. 144 of 204; ER)
On Course by James Lang (p. 110 of 315)

February
The Bands of Mourning by Brandon Sanderson (arriving Feb. 2)
Possessing the Secret of Joy by Alice Walker (40% done; returned unfinished and waited 2/3 weeks, but it's back now)
Whistling Vivaldi by Claude Steele (p. 121 of 219)
Mathematical Mindsets by Jo Boaler (p. 21 of 277)
Doing Good Better by William MacAskill (p. 155 of 204)
On Course by James Lang (p. 110 of 315)
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (ebook currently available from library)
$2 a Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America by Kathryn Edin and H. Luke Shaefer (p. 126 of 177)
The Copper Gauntlet by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare (on hold list)
The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black (requested from library)

March
The Bands of Mourning by Brandon Sanderson (in progress, almost certain to finish)
The Illegal by Lawrence Hill (ebook hold just came in)
Begging for Change by Sharon Flake (ebook hold came in recently)
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (21% done; p. 81 of 402)
Doing Good Better by William MacAskill (p. 155 of 204)
How Learning Works by Susan A. Ambrose et al. (book club)
Organize Now! A Week-by-Week Action Plan for a Happier, Healthier Life by Jennifer Ford Berry (32% done; p. 72 of 226)
The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black (checked out from library)
City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare (awaiting library copy)
City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare (checked out from library)
Possessing the Secret of Joy by Alice Walker (40% done)
Whistling Vivaldi by Claude Steele (p. 121 of 219)
Mathematical Mindsets by Jo Boaler
On Course by James Lang (p. 110 of 315)
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (GeoCAT)

April

Finish three of:
The Bands of Mourning by Brandon Sanderson (p. 203 of 448)
Organize Now! A Week-by-Week Action Plan for a Happier, Healthier Life by Jennifer Ford Berry (39% done; p. 86 of 226)
The Speech by Bernie Sanders (p. 1 of 255 (read introduction))
Blood Bound by Patricia Briggs (p. 54 of 292)
Understanding Mass Incarceration by James Kilgore (p. 63 of 234)

Finish one of:
Doing Good Better by William MacAskill (p. 155 of 204)
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (21% done; p. 81 of 402)
Whistling Vivaldi by Claude Steele (p. 121 of 219)
Possessing the Secret of Joy by Alice Walker (40% done)

Make progress on one other of the above, or:
Mathematical Mindsets by Jo Boaler
On Course by James Lang
Discussion in the College Classroom by Jay Howard

April in Progress
Completed Doing Good Better
Completed The Bands of Mourning
Possessing the Secret of Joy by Alice Walker (70% done, p. 207 of 316)
Organize Now! A Week-by-Week Action Plan for a Happier, Healthier Life by Jennifer Ford Berry (47% done; p. 104 of 226)
The Speech by Bernie Sanders (p. 60 of 255)
Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy by Karen Foxlee (47% done, p. 102 of 240)
Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis by Robert D. Putnam (p. 32 of 277)
Oneonta by Mark Simonson (p. 41 of 95)

May

Finish four of:
Possessing the Secret of Joy by Alice Walker (70% done, p. 207 of 316)
Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy by Karen Foxlee (47% done, p. 102 of 240)
Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis by Robert D. Putnam (p. 32 of 277)
The Speech by Bernie Sanders (p. 60 of 255)
Snowden by Ted Rall (not started)
Oneonta by Mark Simonson (p. 41 of 95)

Finish one of:
Whistling Vivaldi by Claude Steele (p. 121 of 219)
Blood Bound by Patricia Briggs (p. 54 of 292)
Understanding Mass Incarceration by James Kilgore (p. 63 of 234)
Organize Now! A Week-by-Week Action Plan for a Happier, Healthier Life by Jennifer Ford Berry (47% done; p. 104 of 226)
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (21% done; p. 81 of 402)

Make progress on one other of the above, or:
Mathematical Mindsets by Jo Boaler
On Course by James Lang
Discussion in the College Classroom by Jay Howard

May in Progress
Completed Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy
Completed Cast in Shadow
Completed Cast in Courtlight
Completed Oneonta
The Math Myth: And Other STEM Delusions by Andrew Hacker
Redefining Realness by Janet Mock
The Speech by Bernie Sanders

June

Finish:
Redefining Realness by Janet Mock (p. 193 of 258)

Make progress on all of:
Possessing the Secret of Joy by Alice Walker (70% done, p. 207 of 316)
The Speech by Bernie Sanders (p. 72 of 255)
The Math Myth by Andrew Hacker (p. 34 of 204)
Discussion in the College Classroom by Jay Howard
Whistling Vivaldi by Claude Steele (p. 121 of 219)

Make progress on two of:
Mathematical Mindsets by Jo Boaler
On Course by James Lang
Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis by Robert D. Putnam (p. 32 of 277)
Organize Now! A Week-by-Week Action Plan for a Happier, Healthier Life by Jennifer Ford Berry (47% done; p. 104 of 226)
Understanding Mass Incarceration by James Kilgore (p. 63 of 234)

June in progress
Completed Foiled
Completed Redefining Realness
TRC report p. 9 of PDF
Missoula
Every Heart a Doorway

Welcome back!

Nice to see you back, Zoe.

Happy new thread!

Thank you all!

Belated edit: I've decided to co-opt this message to list series that I'm actively reading and expected new releases that I want to read in 2016 and 2017.

Released 2016
The Bands of Mourning by Brandon Sanderson
Calamity by Brandon Sanderson
Stars Above by Marissa Meyer
Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare

Coming 2016
Alcatraz Versus the Dark Talent by Brandon Sanderson
The Bronze Key by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare
Heartless by Marissa Meyer
League of Dragons by Naomi Novik

Coming 2017

Series that I'm reading
Mercy Thompson by Patricia Briggs (on #2 of 9)

Previously-released books by authors I like
Mistborn: The Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson
The Way of Kings and Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson
Prudence by Gail Carriger
Manners and Mutiny by Gail Carriger
Terrier trilogy by Tamora Pierce
The Water Knife by Paolo Bacigalupi
The Doubt Factory by Paolo Bacigalupi
Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor
Uprooted by Naomi Novik

>1 _Zoe_: presumably everything will be much less crazy than this year
Marriage, new job, new home... crazy in a good way, but I can imagine that a year of relative calm would be welcome.

Happy 2016!

Hi Zoe! Happy new year to you. Give a shout-out next time you hit Toronto and maybe we can meet up again. Happy reading!

*Waves* Hi Zoe! :)

Happy new year, Zoe! Glad to see you back!

Have a wonderful bookfilled 2016, Zoe.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year Zoe!

Happy New Year / Thread, Zoe! I agree with >9 jessibud2: , maybe if a number of us are in the area, we can try a Toronto meetup again this year. I know I wanted to get one going a few years back and then wasn't able to make it, but... maybe this year will be the year. Here's hoping!

Yes, we should definitely try for another Toronto meetup this year! I should be in the area in May and July. And if we plan far enough ahead I think we might even be able to get some of the Americans to come up as well.

Also, Happy New Year to all of you! I was distracted by meetup thoughts and forgot to respond to all of the New Year's greetings.

Hi Zoe, Happy New Year.

Hi Kerry! Happy New Year to you as well!

>16 _Zoe_:, >15 dk_phoenix: - Yay, sounds like a plan! :-)

>20 jessibud2: Excellent!

And I finished my first book of the year:



1. Shadows of Self by Brandon Sanderson



This is the second book in the "Mistborn Adventures" (Wax and Wayne) series, which is set in the same world as the main Mistborn trilogy, but several hundred years later. I read the first book last January, and really enjoyed it, but I found myself a bit disappointed by this one.

Part of that is my own fault: this book seemed to refer much more frequently to events of the previous series, and I've only read two of those three books, so I sometimes felt like I was missing something—and that was once I got beyond the initial hump of forgetting details from the first book Wax and Wayne book that I read a year ago.

Then throughout much of the book, I felt like there was more action and less character interaction than I would have liked. And the action felt sort of disconnected from anything else, at least initially: there was a new bad guy with a mysterious motive, and for too long we really didn't know anything about what was going on.

Finally, I thought the big reveal at the end was terrible. It was out-of-character and just didn't fit. I got the impression that it was more about emotional manipulation of the reader than about creating a logical narrative.

Basically, the enemy reveals herself as Lessie—really Lessie—at the very last moment, as she's dying and it's already too late. But she had interacted with Wax on several other occasions, and there was absolutely no reason for her to refrain from revealing this information. It might well have brought him over to her side. I can think of literally no explanation for the fact that she didn't try to tell him earlier, except that it wouldn't have made for such a dramatic and ending and wouldn't have worked with the desired plot trajectory. That's not a good enough reason for me. Blech.

Of course, bad Brandon Sanderson is still better than most other authors, so I'll probably buy the third book in hardcover when it comes out later this month (how is he so ridiculously prolific?). But I can't help feeling vaguely annoyed.

>16 _Zoe_: I could probably do May or July in Toronto with adequate notice.

P.S. Hi Zoe!

>22 norabelle414: Yay! I'll attempt to plan with adequate notice then. You should also come visit us again in New York at some other time during the summer.

Dangit dangit dangit. Shadows of Self is high on my list to read ASAP, hopefully before the third one (or at least by the time El Husbando finishes with it). I loved the first Wax & Wayne book, but I don't remember much of it at all. I'll have to come back here and read your spoiler text once I finish it, and see if I feel the same way...

>24 dk_phoenix: I'm looking forward to your thoughts! I've been searching out reviews elsewhere and no one else seems to have a problem with the ending, so hopefully it's just me.

2. The Tyrant's Daughter by J.C. Carleson



First, let me start with some comments unrelated to the book itself: I came across this book yesterday in a blog post about teen books that would work well for adult book clubs, and I was intrigued enough by the description that I immediately checked out the Kindle version from my local library.

I really love ebook library checkouts, now that they're at the point where I actually have a decent chance of finding the specific book I'm interested in (I'm much less a fan of randomly browsing the library's collection). It's great to be able to immediately start reading the exact book that has caught my interest at a given moment, without having to pay for it. I'm very glad that I finally got a Kindle last year; I'm much happier with it than I was with my first attempt at an e-reader in 2009.

So, here's the beginning of the blog blurb that caught my attention yesterday:

THERE: In an unnamed Middle Eastern country, 15-year-old Laila has always lived like royalty. Her father is a dictator of sorts, though she knows him as King — just as his father was, and just as her little brother Bastien will be one day. Then everything changes: Laila’s father is killed in a coup.

HERE: As war surges, Laila flees to a life of exile in the suburbs of Washington, DC. Overnight she becomes a nobody. Even as she adjusts to a new school and new friends, she is haunted by the past. Was her father really a dictator like the American newspapers say? What was the cost of her family’s privilege?

I always enjoy stories about people trying to fit in in new places, especially when the new place is a place that's familiar to me; it's fun to see my world presented as strange and different. So that was the initial hook.

Once I started reading, the writing really pulled me in and kept me up way too late last night. I'm not quite sure what was so compelling about it.

I did find that I enjoyed the first half of the book more than the second—in the first half, Laila is more focused on finding her way in her new world, while the second half shifts more toward the political drama of her homeland. So that ultimately reduced my rating from a 4.5 to a 4. But I'm still very glad I read this book; it's been a while since I was so caught up in a novel. I'll probably look for more by this writer in the future.

>26 _Zoe_: - Zoe, this year's edition of Canada Reads has *starting over* as its theme! Here's a link to the long list, with the 5 finalists to be announced January 20.

http://www.cbc.ca/books/canadareads/

Sounds like the book you just reviewed could easily have been one of them

>27 jessibud2: Ooh, thanks for that link! I haven't been following Canada Reads lately and didn't even remember how it worked—has there always been a longlist? I thought the five panelists just chose their books independently.

>28 _Zoe_: - To be honest, I haven't followed it either before a couple of years ago. I don't really know how the long list is chosen, or how the short list is arrived at, either, for that matter. Maybe it explains it somewhere on the site. Anyhow, Wab Kinew is a great host (he hosted last year, after the huge Jian Ghomeshi fiasco - he was supposed to host it, originally). Wab successfully defended the previous year's winner (Joseph Boyden's book, the title of which has just flown from my brain). Wab is great and in fact, totally not connected to Canada Reads, he has just published his own book, a memoir of his year with his own father, before the dad's death, that looks wonderful and I'd love to read it. He is quite an accomplished guy, himself!

>28 _Zoe_: As long as I've been a librarian (5 years this year!), there's been a long list for Canada Reads. However, I'm not sure who does the selection for it. I'm sure if you dig around the website a bit, they'll probably tell you. :)

Happy New Year Zoe. I look forward to following what you are reading in 2016.

Hi Zoe! I was somewhat annoyed by all the banter and action in Shadows of Self as well, I would've liked more meaningful character interaction. I think that gets better in Bands of Mourning, but I can't be sure because I read it when I was really affected by cough medication and couldn't focus very well, so I wasn't paying as much attention to the details as I usually do.

Well, I failed to find any of the previous Canada Reads longlists, but looking more closely at the website did lead me to notice that one of the current longlist books is a new one by Lawrence Hill (author of The Book of Negroes), which I hadn't even heard of!

>31 Whisper1: Happy New Year to you too, Linda!

>32 kgodey: I'm glad to hear that it may get better in Bands of Mourning. What did you think about the ending of Shadows of Self?

Why did Paalm not reveal that she was actually Lessie until it was too late?

>33 _Zoe_: - I heard Lawrence Hill interviewed on the radio a few weeks ago and he is thrilled to have another of his books included (you know that his Book of Negroes won a few years ago). His new one, The Illegal, is especially timely, given the current situation with Syrian immigrants. I know I will be reading it at some point

>34 jessibud2: Yup, I can imagine that he'd be excited! I didn't actually read his second(?) book because I saw that it wasn't nearly as highly rated, but the premise of The Illegal really appeals to me, so much that I'll probably buy it in hardcover. I wish I had become aware of it just a week earlier so that I could have bought it while I was in Canada for the holidays; it would have been much cheaper there and isn't even being released in the US until later this month.

Meanwhile, the discussion of Canada Reads inspired me to finally start reading A Complicated Kindness (the 2006 winner), which had been vaguely in the back of my mind for ages. I'm not quite halfway done, and so far I'm appreciating the writing style while not being fully sold on the plot, such as it is.

>26 _Zoe_: The Tyrant's Daughter sounds fascinating, I'll have to look it up.

>33 _Zoe_: Hah! Can't help laughing at the name Lawrence Hill - it's the part of Bristol I live in. We have the delightful accolade of most deprived ward in the South West but I love it here.

>36 eclecticdodo: I was literally just reading your thread this minute! I hope you do find and enjoy The Tyrant's Daughter. And now I'm trying to think of neighbourhood names around here that might also be the names of people.

>35 _Zoe_: I have The Illegal on my TBR shelves to read later this year. I love Lawrence Hill; if you haven't read Any Known Blood, I definitely recommend it. I think it's better than The Book of Negroes, though not nearly as famous.

>38 Cait86: I'm glad to hear that Any Known Blood is good after all. I'll probably seek it out after The Illegal.

>38 Cait86:,>39 _Zoe_: - Just as an FYI, Lawrence Hill did the Massey Lectures in 2013 (or was it 2014? Can't remember). His topic was Blood: The Stuff of Life and as with all the Massey Lectures, the book of the same name came out at that time. I have the book though haven't read it yet and only caught one of the lectures on the radio at the time although I am quite sure all are available on the cbc website

Hi Zoe! Hope you had a great weekend!

>40 jessibud2: Oh, right, I hadn't even looked at his non-fiction! I'm not sure blood is a topic that particularly appeals to me, but I would like to read Black Berry, Sweet Juice. Also Some Great Thing, which I also hadn't heard of.

Basically I was unfamiliar with Lawrence Hill until reading The Book of Negroes, which I loved and somehow assumed was his first book just because it was the best known. I did further research only to the extent of seeing that his second most-popular book, Any Known Blood, is not nearly as highly rated. And so I assumed he was a one-hit wonder and I didn't investigate further, until the topic of his new book sounded particularly interesting.

>41 The_Hibernator: I hope you had a great weekend as well!

3. A Complicated Kindness by Miriam Toews



As I mentioned earlier, this is a book that's always been vaguely on my radar; it was the 2006 Canada Reads winner, but was never the type that really appealed to me: the protagonist is a sort of aimless teenager going around smoking and doing drugs and not really getting anywhere, trying to deal with the fact that both her older sister and her mother have left. The interesting aspect is that she lives in a theoretically restrictive Mennonite community, though that turned out to be somewhat less extreme than I'd expected.

Anyway, I picked this book up now because of the discussion of Canada Reads; I figured I'd enjoyed the other winners that I'd read (specifically Lullabies for Little Criminals and The Book of Negroes), so I should probably read more of them. And I found this book strangely compelling. For maybe the first 25 pages I did wonder whether it would ever get anywhere, but eventually I became caught up in it anyway. I appreciated seeing Nomi's perspective on life even as I couldn't relate to it at all, and I came away satisfied. I wouldn't say that I loved this book, but I'm glad I read it.

4. Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon



This is a really compelling book about a girl with the "bubble boy" disease that I checked out after reading about it on Faith's thread. Madeline has always been confined to her house, in the company of only her mother and nurse, because she's basically allergic to the whole world. And she's more or less content with that life, until she starts communicating with the new guy next door....

As I mentioned, this was a thoroughly absorbing book that I read very quickly. I liked the writing and the humour and Maddy's character. But there were also several issues that bothered me about it, particularly the over-dramatic teenage romance: Maddy and Olly were very quickly "in love" when they hardly knew each other, and a significant part of their connection seemed to be just about physical attraction. And despite being "in love", there was absolutely zero consideration of building a future together in the face of Maddy's illness, no thought of living together with Olly in the way she currently lived together with her mother; she ultimately just cut off contact for months because she couldn't stand the thought of being with Olly while not being free to roam about the world. Because obviously love can't exist in the face of adversity, and if you can't have a normal life then it's better to avoid love altogether.

It also really bothered me how controlling Maddy's mother was. When Maddy first started connecting with Olly, and was supported by her nurse, Maddy's mother fired the nurse and forbade Maddy from using the internet except during school. There wasn't really any acknowledgement of how psychologically devastating it would be for someone who was permanently confined indoors to have their primary means of communication with the outside world cut off as punishment, or to have one of the two people she actually interacted with in person taken away from her. So it was a bit harder to enjoy the book when I thought of Maddy's mother as basically a horrible person.

Still, as I mentioned before, I was completely caught up in the story and tore through the book, so it certainly has a lot going for it. I just couldn't escape a vague feeling of annoyance in the end.

I wonder how this book is viewed among people who actually suffer from the ailment, or from other problems with similar effects. Because the message is basically that life with severe health issues is not worth living, and it's only when your illness magically goes away that you can pursue a romantic relationship and be happy.

I appreciated Maddy's initial decision to go outside and not let her illness control her, but I was less impressed when she then gave up on everything and relied on a deus ex machina for a happy ending

I should note that the last three books I read have been Kindle books borrowed from the library, and I really appreciate the ability to borrow whatever book I want to read at that given moment. The library's wishlist feature is a critical component of this, because I can just mark down any book that I want to read when I find it in their collection, and then browse a much more manageable list of books that I'm interested in when it comes time to actually choosing one.

The Kindle format did cause some issues with Everything, Everything, which includes drawings that really didn't convert very well (and I had to keep changing the margins when I came to a drawing, because my usual wide margins really caused problems). But it was still much less hassle than going to the library.

Also, I started using the GoodReads reading tracking today, and it tells me that I'm two books ahead of pace for my 75-book goal. Needless to say, this won't last (classes start up again next week), but I'll enjoy it for the moment anyway.

Yeah, I usually start strong, then about May things drop off for a bit until the final push in November/December. One day I'd love to hit 120...

Ohhh Zoe, I feel rather ashamed for being so glowing about Everything, Everything without pouring any real critical thought into it. The story was just so absorbing (I think I read it in an hour and a half max) that I devoured it and walked away without putting any extra thought into it.

Now that I think back on it, I find that the romance portion didn't really bother me...the melodrama of teen romance felt believable in the context of their situations (two people essentially "trapped" in their circumstances, discovering that they have an escape in each other) and the "will he/won't she" back and forth felt familiar and plausible in a relationship where hormones are running high.

With the rest...I'm going to take it into a spoilers tag, but I think this is a really, really important discussion...

I felt that the purpose of her mother's controlling behavior became very clear when we learn that she essentially has experienced a psychological break, hence her being placed in counseling and therapy at the end of the book. It was definitely disturbing throughout the story, but I figured there had to be a very compelling reason for it, and I was satisfied by the explanation.

However! What I'm frustrated that I didn't pick up on is this sentence you wrote: "the message is basically that life with severe health issues is not worth living, and it's only when your illness magically goes away that you can pursue a romantic relationship and be happy." I should have seen that very clearly, because a cousin of mine with CF (and who had a double-lung transplant in 2014 literally hours before she would have died) has stated this frustration before. She mentioned how upsetting and frustrating it is to read books where characters with severe / life-threatening illnesses only ever get three endings:

a) "they've been fine all along! now life can begin!"
b) "they're cured! now life can begin!"
c) "they're dead! how inspiring they were for us healthy people..."

...and she never gets to see, for example, the character with CF who gets to go out and live her life regardless of her illness, maybe get a lung transplant and then keep on going, because holy what, a person is a person apart from their illness?! Maybe they can live productive, fruitful, happy lives and find friends and true love and experience the world even while they're still "sick" because the Magical Cure to make them a Whole Human Being is unrealistic, upsetting, and frankly insulting.

Your comment was spot on. And I'm angry at myself for not identifying the trope immediately, especially when I'd pledged to my cousin to Never Write a Character Like That and to advocate for her through my own storytelling and actions. And here I am shouting to the world how great this book is.

It's a compelling book, a story that sucks you in and pulls you from page to page very easily. But you're right. That is a massive, massive problem and I'm sorry that I didn't latch onto it. It just goes to show how deep the "life-threatening illness" trope is ingrained in how we tell stories, and how desperately it needs to change.

>48 dk_phoenix: Don't be ashamed! It was definitely an absorbing book, and I often wish I could just read quickly for enjoyment. It probably took me six hours to read, spread over two days. And ultimately your comments here are much more illuminating than mine anyway :). Thank you in particular for mentioning your cousin's experience, which really helps bring home the issue.

I seem to be way more burnt out than expected from the craziness of the past year, with the result that I haven't been able to do much lately except sit around and read short easy books. I've been trying to find ones that are light in terms of writing but still deal with serious issues or otherwise make me more aware about people whose lives aren't like mine. I'm still enjoying the Kindle+library combination, which means that I don't have to think ahead about what to read and can just pick up whatever I'm feeling like at the moment.



5. I Am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced bu Nujood Ali



I've been looking at this book in the bookstore for ages, but never felt quite motivated enough to pick it up. I'm glad I finally did, because it's short but informative. The sections about Nujood's actual marriage are brutal but mercifully brief, and I feel like I learned something about life in Yemen. Non-fiction.



6. Money Hungry by Sharon G. Flake



I came across this book by doing a tagmash on "poverty, young adult" (and it also fits with one of my longer-term goals to read more books by Black authors). Raspberry has experienced homelessness, and it's made her determined never to go through that again. The result is that she's completely obsessed with money, always coming up with different schemes to earn a buck. I thought the obsession was a bit overdone, making Raspberry a bit one-dimensional, but I still enjoyed the story and would have read the sequel immediately if it had been available at the library. Fiction.



7. The Skin I'm In by Sharon G. Flake



Since the sequel wasn't available, I picked up another book by the same author. The protagonist of this one is constantly bullied, and it's led her to start hanging out with the wrong crowd in an attempt to get some respect. I have to say that I didn't love the character, and maybe it's a sign that I'm too old for YA because I found myself relating more to her new teacher, whom she inexplicably didn't like. Still, the pages went by quickly, and I'll probably read more by this author at some point.

>50 _Zoe_: - I read the one by Nujood Ali a few years ago and felt quite sickened by what I learned. I think I knew, peripherally, that this sort of thing still goes on but until I read the book, I guess I realized I had blinders on. It was indeed a harrowing story but I felt that somehow, certain parts just didn't ring entirely true for me. For example, if a child is that manipulated, in such a culture, how could she actually reach out to a westerner for help and in the end, succeed, and write the book. I seem to remember that it was the woman who helped her who also helped her write the book, and in some ways, even though that was a good thing, it felt a bit contrived, to me.

>51 jessibud2: I thought the person who wrote the book was someone else entirely, not involved in the situation until after the fact. My impression was the Nujood just went to the local courthouse and asked for help there, and it was the lawyers/judges who got the media involved.

>52 _Zoe_: - I am probably misremembering the details, then. It was a few years ago that I read it. Still, in such a repressive culture and society, I wondered how she could even know to do that and actually do it, without help from an adult.

>53 jessibud2: She did mention having some help and encouragement from an adult, I think her father's second wife. The adult suggested going to court and gave her some money. The actual process was surprisingly simple, after she had made enough of a fuss that her husband let her visit her family in the city: her mother sent her out to buy bread one morning; she got on the first bus she saw to get out of her own neighbourhood; and then she got in a taxi to the courthouse.

Maybe I'm just gullible, but it didn't strike me as too implausible that out of the thousands of girls who have suffered this fate over the years, one of them found the strength to run away.

>50 _Zoe_: more burnt out than expected from the craziness of the past year
It always hits as soon as you let up.

>55 qebo: Yup. It's become pretty standard for me to get sick almost much every time I get a break, like immediately after the wedding or at Thanksgiving. And of course, being sick at Thanksgiving meant that I fell behind a bit on grading and various other tasks, so that the end of the semester was even crazier. But even then, I think I would have been okay if it hadn't been for the requirement to submit final grades within 48h of each final exam. One of my exams was on Friday the 18th and the other on Monday the 21st, so I didn't get a weekend and had to push through the exhaustion for four days straight.

So I was pretty useless for two full weeks over Christmas, but eventually I started to feel normal again. But then I wanted to catch up on work this past week, even though I still felt too tired to do more than a couple of hours of work on any given day. On Wednesday I decided I'd just push through the tiredness and do more work, and that turned out to be a terrible idea. So now the brain fog or whatever is back, and I've missed a deadline and have hardly any time left to rest before the semester starts up again. Bah.

But on the bright side, this semester should be much much easier than the last one, since I'll be teaching the same two classes again and won't have to do nearly as much preparation.

HI Zoe

You are off to a strong start of reading in 2016. May it be a good year, one filled with reading, love and laughter!

>56 _Zoe_: requirement to submit final grades within 48h of each final exam
Yikes, that's demanding. I'd think you'd have to accommodate by giving less complex exams than you might wish.

>58 qebo: Yup, maybe. Though it really should have been fine, if only I'd been able to do my planned grading and preparation over Thanksgiving, so that I could have graded all the final papers when they came in the week before exams, and then I wouldn't have had some essays still to worry about along with the exams.... So many "if onlys". I've also heard that it's not actually a hard deadline, but obviously I wasn't about to be the person missing the deadline in my first semester there.

Anyway, it shouldn't be a problem for this semester because one of my classes has low enrollment due to poor scheduling. Seven exams will go much quicker than twenty-three.

8. Doll Bones by Holly Black



I bought this children's book for either 50 cents or a dollar last year, and I was surprised by how much I ended up liking it. I had enjoyed but not loved a couple of Black's YA books (Tithe and Valiant) many years ago, but I hadn't felt the urge to actively seek out any more of her writing. Partially I just found her YA books too "gritty" for me: in Valiant, for example (as far as I can remember it), the protagonist caught her boyfriend sleeping with her mother, so she ran away to New York City where she lived in the subway tunnels and did drugs. As a children's book, Doll Bones didn't go to quite the same extremes, and so I found the characters more relatable.

Poppy, Zach, and Alice are twelve years old, and they've been playing an elaborate ongoing game of make-believe that involves pirates and thieves and queens and such. But they're coming to a stage of awkward transitions: Alice has developed a secret crush on Zach, and Zach's father unexpectedly throws out all his action figures in an attempt to make him grow up faster, and basically their friendship is falling apart. Then Poppy starts having strange dreams about one of her dolls, who says that she's made from the bones of a dead child, and so the friends set out on one last adventure in an attempt to put the ghost to rest.

The story had just the right amount of creepiness for me (by which I mean, not too much), and I appreciated the balance between the doll's quest and the underlying friendship/growing up issues. I'm going to have to read some more Holly Black in the future.

>44 _Zoe_: I haven't heard about Everything Everything before, but it sounds very interesting.

>50 _Zoe_: You may be reading "short easy" books, but you're going for depth of subject.

>60 _Zoe_: I really enjoyed Doll Bones when I read it last year(?). I also didn't love the Tithe books, for the same reasons...they just went to a much darker, more disturbing place than I was willing to go as a reader...but I loved Black's Spiderwick Chronicles and I have a number of other books by her on my shelves (The Coldest Girl in Coldtown and two of the White Cat books) which I do plan to read. Their descriptions seem appropriately disturbing without delving into the abyss-like darkness of her early work.

>61 The_Hibernator: I'd definitely recommend Everything, Everything if you're looking for a compelling read. Even though I had some issues with one of the themes, I still thought it was a very enjoyable book overall.

And I like that way of looking at the short easy books :). Depth of theme sounds good. (Although there's only so much I can take of sad situations, so I've turned a bit more to fluff in my latest reads.)

>62 dk_phoenix: I'm glad to hear I wasn't the only one who had that issue with the Tithe books. I'll have to check out the Spiderwick Chronicles, and I'll look forward to hearing what you think of The Coldest Girl in Coldtown and the White Cat books. Meanwhile I've just started The Iron Trial, which she co-wrote with Cassandra Clare. So far so good, though it's early yet.

9. Bernie Sanders: In His Own Words by Chamois Holschuh (ed.)



This is a collection of quotes that I picked up mainly because I wanted to encourage my local bookstore to continue selling books like this. As a Canadian living in the US, universal healthcare is pretty much my #1 issue, but I'm not actually allowed to contribute to the election, so buying books seemed like one small way to have an impact.

But honestly, this is a sort of pointless book that's inferior in almost all ways to The Essential Bernie Sanders that I read last year. The quotes are short and given without context, as opposed to the lengthier passages and background information given in Tasini's book. I didn't come away feeling like I'd learned anything, and I could have found similar content by reading Sanders' Twitter feed or Facebook posts. It wasn't a bad reading experience because I do like Bernie Sanders, but I didn't really feel like it added anything. Some of the cartoon illustrations were fun, though.

>60 _Zoe_: I have had Doll Bones on my list for a while now. Nice review. I hope it will have just the right amount of creepiness for me, too!

>64 _Zoe_: I wish you could vote in our election! :)

Wow, I've been hit by one BB (The Tyrant's Daughter) and barely escaped being hit by a few others mentioned on your thread (I Am Nujood and Doll Bones) (and not sure it was a complete escape, just for the time being)! Thank you and Faith for your discussion of the problems with Everything, Everything. I read the spoilers, because I don't plan to read it, but just your comments on it were illuminating.

I also agree with you on how fantastic it is to be able to get library books and audiobooks online! And love the "wishlist" feature! Most of my reading these days is from library books, and most of those are eBooks and eAudios. I do like to get to the library every now and then and peruse the new and featured shelves, and the GN shelves, just in case there's something interesting that I haven't already heard/read about, but the days of my getting most of my reading serendipitously off the shelves are gone.

>63 _Zoe_: OH! The Iron Trial...I was just discussing that on someone else's thread yesterday...I don't want to say too much about it until you're done except...be sure to finish it. If at any point you find yourself rolling your eyes because it feels slightly derivative...finish it anyway. Trust me.

>67 Storeetllr: You're welcome. :) I've learned a lot from my cousin and what she's gone through. It's given me new perspective in a lot of things. Now to remember to maintain that perspective going forth...but that's always the hard part, isn't it? Putting new ways of thinking into practice.

>65 aktakukac: I hope you enjoy it! I was certainly happy with the creepiness level.

>66 SqueakyChu: Me too! I've actually vaguely considered whether I could get acknowledged as an American quickly enough: my father is American, so I should be American too, but it requires documenting that he lived in the US for 10 years. When we first looked into it, he only had his high school and college records, and his birth certificate, but that wasn't quite enough—his elementary school closed long ago. Then when his father passed away a few years ago, they found my father's fifth grade report card among his belongings, so it's possible that that could make for a persuasive enough case. But probably I won't have time to pursue it right now.

>67 Storeetllr: Excellent, I'm always happy to strike someone with a book bullet! And I hope you do eventually decide to read Doll Bones as well.

>68 DianaNL: I hope you have a relaxing weekend as well!

>69 dk_phoenix: Thank you for telling me to persevere with The Iron Trial. I enjoyed the beginning but it does seem to have bogged down a bit in the middle, so I really appreciate the encouragement.

I'm certainly curious enough to read on and find out whether Callum might possibly be "the child" that his mother wanted to be killed—could he be one of those secret chaos-infested creatures?—but the immediate action is less compelling. (Needless to say, I don't want to be told the answer to this question; I'll read on to the end eventually.)

>64 _Zoe_: Hmmm. Perhaps I should read The Essential Bernie Sanders. Wonder if there's an audiobook.

Hope you have a great week ahead!

ETA: OOOH. There is. It's not very long. Perhaps I should check it out next.

>60 _Zoe_: Someone just left Doll Bones in my Little Free Library! I now have to decide if I want to keep it to read...as I love creepy! :)

>64 _Zoe_: The more I listen to Bernie Sanders, the more I could just hug him. He's such a mensch!

>70 _Zoe_: So what are your plans regarding citizenship. Are you going to become an American citizen because you live here? Is Ted Cruz an American citizen (I hope not!)? ;)

>71 The_Hibernator: I'd definitely recommend it! It manages to be both very informative and very short.

>72 SqueakyChu: Yes, you should read Doll Bones! It's not a huge time commitment. But I don't know if it would be creepy enough for you.

Yup, Bernie Sanders is a good guy.

I can't really make any plans about citizenship because I still don't know where we'll be living two years from now. I should probably apply for a green card because that could make things easier in the future. I'm sort of reluctant to apply for actual citizenship immediately, even if I would be eligible, because I heard that if you turn out to be a US citizen after the fact then you need to re-do your last five years of taxes as if you had been a citizen. Blech! It's hard to imagine anything more annoying.

Anyway, I'd ultimately like to move back to Canada (say, in 5 years), because I don't think the US is really a good place to raise a family. The health care and education systems are just bad, or at least unreliable. But of course, academic jobs aren't the easiest to come by, so I can't just move to wherever I want and still hope to be employed. So who knows.

Oh, I forgot to comment on Ted Cruz! I don't know the details of American law (although apparently no one really does, somehow), but my vague impression is that he's an American citizen, just not natural-born.

>73 _Zoe_: I'll save Doll Bones then.

The tax consequences suck!! :(

>74 _Zoe_: American presidents must be natural-born.

>74 _Zoe_:, >75 SqueakyChu: The precise meaning of "natural-born" is disputed: http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2015/mar/26/ted-cruz-born-canada... .

>73 _Zoe_: Families have been in the US for generations! Somehow we scrape by.
The tax thing though sounds highly annoying.

I have no idea why it took me so long to find you thread, but here you are! I'm glad you liked Doll Bones. I've got it on the TBR sooner than later shelf.

I remember being confused when I looked into getting American citizenship years ago, and it wasn't clear whether I would be "naturalizing" or just asserting that I'd always had citizenship. Maybe it was the latter. Of course, now it's impossible to search for such things without getting lost in all the Ted Cruz articles.

>76 qebo: Yes, but "scraping by" isn't exactly the ideal! I'd rather know that good free health care and education were guaranteed.

>77 tapestry100: Hi David! I'm glad you found the thread eventually (and don't worry, I still haven't remotely finished sorting and starring threads myself). I hope you enjoy Doll Bones when you read it.

Meanwhile, I have no completed books to report because instead of finishing The Iron Trial, I started another book, $2 a Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America (non-fiction at last!). It's excellent so far. I haven't given up on The Iron Trial, but it hasn't been a priority.

Last night I read the part where he sneaks into Master Rufus' office to talk to his father. And at this point I sort of hope that I'm wrong about Callum being one of the chaos-born, because if he is, it's pretty heavy-handed:

"You don't know what you are."

"If you ever had any respect for me, please bind his magic."

Something something "animals and children."

I hope those of you who have read the book are enjoying seeing my speculations and not being able to say anything :P

And of course reading has slowed down now that the semester has started. But I can already tell that it's going to be a much easier semester than last one, as you'd expect when I'm doing the same two courses again. It makes a huge difference to know going in what level the students will be at and what they'll have trouble with. And I only teach on Tuesday and Thursday this semester, rather than Monday/Wednesday/Friday, so every weekend is a four-day weekend!

>78 _Zoe_: now it's impossible to search for such things without getting lost in all the Ted Cruz articles.

LOL!

every weekend is a four-day weekend!

Big improvement! :)

10. The Iron Trial by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare



I wanted to read more by Holly Black after Doll Bones, so I picked up this middle grade book that she wrote jointly with Cassandra Clare, about a boy from a regular family who gets taken off the magician's school despite his father's opposition. I thought it bogged down a bit in the middle (too many descriptions of various strange caves), but eventually the pace picked up again and I got re-absorbed in the story. I was happy to find that the outcome wasn't exactly what I'd been expecting. I've already put a hold on the next book, which is sadly the only other one available—books 3-5 in this planned series haven't been written yet.

>80 _Zoe_: I liked Clare's The Mortal Instruments - don't know much about Holly Black

Have a wonderful weekend!

>80 _Zoe_: I don't know if you've ever read Holly Black's The Coldest Girl in Coldtown, but it's an interesting take on vampires.

>81 magicians_nephew: I also enjoyed the Mortal Instruments books, though I still have to catch up on the second trilogy.

>82 DianaNL: I hope you have a wonderful weekend too!

>83 tapestry100: Nope, I haven't read it, but it's definitely on my short list now that I seem to be on a Holly Black kick. My library doesn't have the ebook, though, so I'd actually have to make an effort to get ahold of it.

I recommend The Coldest Girl in Coldtown, too.

Okay, I've put in a hold request.

>73 _Zoe_: I'll probably wait until the nonfiction challenge gets to politics (I think in October)? Then I can read that, and something about Clinton, and something about the Republican candidate of choice (not-Trump)?

>80 _Zoe_: Both of those are waiting for me at my local library branch!

>87 The_Hibernator: Makes sense, though I don't think I could handle three presidential non-fiction books in one month!

>88 ronincats: I'm glad to hear it! Meanwhile my hold on the sequel to The Iron Trial came through much faster than expected, so I'll probably be starting that one tonight.

January Summary

Since I actually read more than three books this month, I can do a summary!



Several good books of various types, but I think Doll Bones was my favourite.

Book sources:
7 library ebook loans
1 off the shelf (2015)
1 purchased new this year
1 borrowed from my sister

I can also recommend The Coldest Girl in Coldtown. I gave it 8/10 stars. I'm a little leery of starting Shadows of Self though since I've seen your review. Now that a few weeks have gone by, has your opinion changed at all?

>91 Morphidae: The NYPL tells me that The Coldest Girl in Coldtown is in transit to my local branch, so hopefully it will arrive in time for me to pick it up when I'm in the city this weekend :)

My opinion of Shadows of Self hasn't changed. I was hoping someone would explain to me how a certain character's behaviour makes any sense, but that hasn't happened, so I'm still vaguely annoyed at the ending. On the other hand, I ordered the next book anyway and will have in in my possession tomorrow. We'll see how soon I actually get around to reading it.

So, I have a minor problem: I have no bookshelves in my upstate apartment. Zero. Because I can't find any other bookcase that comes anywhere near the IKEA Billy in terms of quality and price (i.e., both good and cheap), and there are no IKEAs near here. So I have piles of books all over the floor.

Where do you get your bookcases when there's no IKEA?

>93 _Zoe_: Is there a Goodwill or Salvation Army nearby? Sometimes you can find IKEA Billy Bookcases there ;-)

ETA: I also recommend Home Depot or Lowe's. They have a wide variety of both bookcases and storage-type shelves.

>93 _Zoe_: Zoe, I agree with Norabelle but also, once the weather gets better, watch out for yard sales. I have bought 2 pretty decent (though smaller) bookcases at yard sales for next to nothing and they are still serving me well

>95 jessibud2: Ooh yeah! Spring cleaning!

Also, check and see if there is some kind of designated day for bulk trash pickup. In my city the garbagemen will only pick up large trash items two days a year and you can go out cruising the night before and get some really nice stuff.

Lots of good ideas, thank you!

My one concern about buying a bookcase that doesn't come flat in a box (or even a tall one that does) is that I'm not sure how I would transport it. Do bookcases fit into cars? I'm so accustomed to either getting things delivered (New York) or having access to a parent's van (Toronto).

>97 _Zoe_: Depends on the car, and how far you're going. You could strap it to the roof, or make friends with someone with a truck/van, or rent a truck/van.

Depending on aesthetics vs practicality, you might consider hardware storage shelves, the sort that come in a flat box with poles and shelves, assembly required. Typically they're deeper than necessary with too much distance between shelves, but they'd get your books off the floor for a non-exorbitant price and be easily disassembled. (Speaking from experience.) I like the industrial look, but it doesn't exactly say "furniture" to visitors.

Get a couple of cinder blocks and some boards from the local lumber yard? Worked for me all through college.

Haha, yeah, or ladders. :P

Happy reading this weekend!

Ahh, it sounds like book cases are hard. Realistically I don't think I'll be strapping anything to the roof. Maybe I'll stick to half-size bookcase, even though that's inefficient. Or maybe I'll just order everything from Amazon.

I'm probably more concerned with aesthetics than I should be, so I'm not going to go with any of the super-efficient suggestions. Probably I'll continue to do nothing for several more months.

>101 Ape: Those ladders look pretty impressive. That reminds me that I actually need a ladder because one of the lightbulbs in the bathroom ceiling just burned out. I have only a tiny stepladder, so I'm hoping Mark will turn out to be tall enough next time he's there.

>102 tapestry100: Happy reading to you as well!

>103 _Zoe_: book cases are hard
And expensive. I still haven't figured out what I'm doing in my new house, so most of the books remain in the old house.

11. The Copper Gauntlet by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare



The second book in the Magisterium series, and similar in its pros and cons. I really enjoy Callum's friendships with his classmates and how much he appreciates them after being an outsider in his previous life. The main storyline is interesting and I look forward to seeing what happens next. But I was occasionally bored by the descriptions of cool magical things that didn't really do anything to advance the plot (not so much the caves of the Magisterium this time as the attractions at a fancy party), and the foreshadowing/hint-dropping sometimes seemed a bit heavy-handed.

Call has a dream where Master Joseph says something about leaving the Magisterium to be with him and "the person who raised him", but Call doesn't even stop to consider whether his father might be associated with Master Joseph.

I'm also not a fan of the "let's go seek out the person who was trying to kill me!" plotline.

Call's whole relationship with his father was pretty weird. I didn't understand why he was so apologetic about slamming his father against the wall when he thought his father was trying to kill him. How did he jump from refusing to see his father when he came to the Magisterium, because his father was trying to kill him and Havoc, to apologizing for using force to get away? Why did his father never explain what he was doing with those child-size restraints in the garage, if not trying to kill Call? I felt like I was missing something in that whole interaction.

I'm curious to see what happens with Alex Strike in the future books, since he was the one who falsely told Call that the Magisterium would kill his father on sight. Does that mean he's the spy?

Anyway, this book had all the elements in place that should have made me love it, and I really wanted to love it—I was excited to read it and started right away when the whole came in from the library—but in the end I only liked it. I'll definitely be continuing with the series, though, and I wish the third book were out already.

>104 qebo: This sounds like my life. The vast majority of my books are still at my parents' house, with some in NYC, and not so many upstate.

>106 _Zoe_: Well, I can just walk over to the other house to get anything I want, and a number of books have migrated over the past month.

>107 qebo: Walking distance would certainly be much more convenient!

>103 _Zoe_: There are still a lot of options if you don't want to carry your own bookcase home.
Wayfair.com has free shipping over $50.
Home Depot has free shipping on most things over $45, including this bookcase which is the same price as an IKEA Billy and has a 5 year warranty: http://www.homedepot.com/p/South-Shore-Furniture-Freeport-5-Shelf-Bookcase-in-Ro...
Home Depot also has cheap truck rentals.

Yeah, I was about to suggest Home Depot's truck rental too.

Home Depot has a truck rental? Wow. Whoda known? I wanted to buy my boyfriend a book case for Christmas - he really needs a few of them so he doesn't lose them every time it floods. But they're way too expensive.

Yeah, I they charge an hourly rate and require a deposit, but it should be way cheaper than most delivery fees. Here is a page about it on their website. The prices may vary, when my mom rented one to haul home a fabricated sheet-metal shed-thing the truck they rented was just a standard pickup truck.

Hi Zoe

Good luck with the start of another semester! I read Doll Bones last year and liked it.

Thank you all for the information! Realistically I don't think I'm ambitious enough to rent a truck, but I'll definitely look into those places that offer free shipping. (For reference, the IKEA shipping would be $300, so that's just not happening. And the closest IKEA is about 3h away.)

>113 Whisper1: Thank you, Linda! The semester is off to a good start so far. I can't remember whether I posted about it already, but it makes such a huge difference to be teaching the same classes a second time. I can do a better job with a fraction of the preparation, which is very satisfying.



12. Black Boy White School by Brian F. Walker



This is part of my personal challenge to read more books by Black authors, and it also has a couple of themes that I generally like: boarding school, and someone seeing a familiar-to-me world from an outsider's perspective.

Anthony has grown up in a bad neighbourhood in East Cleveland, but goes to a boarding school in Maine for high school. It's a completely different world for him, and he's one of the few Black students there, so he has to deal with racial issues as well as class issues. The author himself went through a similar experience (the author blurb says that he "grew up in East Cleveland, where he ran with gangsters, drug dealers, and thugs until age fourteen, when he was sent to an elite boarding school and a world he had no way of understanding"), so there's an element of autobiography here.

It was initially a bit difficult to relate to the protagonist, but he grew on me over time and the story was ultimately compelling enough that I stayed up too late finishing it last night. I appreciated the way that it addressed issues of race directly, and presented an explicit contrast between East Cleveland and the boarding school; I think the author's familiarity with both worlds really helped here. I'd like to read a sequel, even though I don't think that's happening because the story came to a good conclusion.

13. $2 a Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America by Kathryn J. Edin and H. Luke Shaefer



This was a really excellent and eye-opening book that combines policy analysis with the personal stories of individuals who really are living on less than $2 of cash income per day. I learned a lot about the history of welfare reform in this country, and it was a pretty damning indictment of Bill Clinton's administration.

I kept thinking that this book deserved a proper long review, but now several days have passed and I still haven't written it, so I'm just going to post these brief comments rather than nothing. Highly recommended.

>115 _Zoe_: Wishlisted - thanks for the heads up on this one!

>115 _Zoe_: Sounds very interesting. Does it talk about the SNAP challenge at all? I've always been interested in trying.

>116 scaifea: I hope you enjoy it!

>117 rosylibrarian: Nope, no mention of the SNAP challenge, so I had to look it up. It would definitely be interesting to try, and I don't know if I could do it.

>188 qebo: I don't know if I could do it either. One of my favorite food bloggers (Budget Bytes) does a SNAP challenge every year, and she does seem to make it look doable, but I don't know...

>119 rosylibrarian: Yeah, I think it would be doable if I were more food-conscious and better at cooking in general. As it is, I suspect I'd just end up eating no meat, fruit, or vegetables.



14. Bernie by Ted Rall



I continue trying to encourage my local bookstore by buying displayed books on topics I care about. I'm not generally a huge fan of graphic novels (or non-fiction), but I was pleasantly surprised by this book, especially the beginning. It doesn't just start in with the life of Bernie Sanders as you might expect, but instead starts with a history of the Democratic Party and American politics more broadly, from the time of Jimmy Carter. Especially as an outsider, I found it really helpful to have all the background in one place. And the advantage of the graphic format is that it's relatively quick to read.

Of course, I still had some issues with this book. I still don't love the graphic format, and in particular I wasn't enamoured of either the art style or the font used here. I prefer political cartoons that actually look like the politicians represented, but I felt like the artist's style overwhelmed everyone's actual appearances, so that they were only recognizable by their most basic characteristics (Bernie is the guy with white hair and glasses, Obama is the black guy, Bill Clinton has brown hair—if he hadn't been labelled, I wouldn't have had any idea who he was). I also don't love reading text that's all in caps, and where commas and periods are difficult to distinguish.

Still, I enjoyed the book enough that I'll probably seek out the author's previous book on Edward Snowden, graphic format notwithstanding.

>Zoe, Darryl is looking for you on his thread (to weigh in on the ongoing political discussion from a younger person's perspective)...;-)

>121 jessibud2: Hehe, thank you for telling me—I'll go take a look.

Edit: Well, that was depressing.

15. The Tail of Emily Windsnap by Liz Kessler



One of the advantages of library ebooks is that I can easily pick up a book that catches my eye, with pretty much zero effort or commitment. So when I saw this children's book at the B&N, I decided to give it a try because it seemed cute and I liked the title.

The story is basically what you can imagine from the cover: when Emily goes into the water, she turns into a mermaid. I thought it was sort of slow to get going, because I wasn't particularly interested in the day-to-day drama of the situation, like her attempts to get out of school swimming lessons because going into the water would reveal her secret. Her discoveries about her heritage were much more interesting. Overall, it was a cute story and I might read the next one in the series eventually; even though all the conflicts got resolved way too neatly, it was still a nice ending. Not a thrilling story, but pleasant and harmless.

>122 _Zoe_: I'm sorry that you found the political discussion on my thread depressing, Zoë. Would it help if I said that I'm now leaning toward voting for Bernie Sanders as a result of it?

>124 kidzdoc: Hi Darryl! I did cheer up a bit as the thread went on. It just made me sad to see multiple people saying that they wouldn't support their preferred candidate because the situation seemed too hopeless, they had to be practical, etc. I find it so important to maintain hope that the world can get better. I'm glad to hear that my comments made some difference anyway :)

>125 _Zoe_: Your comments did make a difference to me, Zoë. I value your opinions, and since you have commented about the election and the two Democratic candidates I wanted to know what you thought before I cast my vote next week. I'm still undecided, but comments from you and others on LT and my reading elsewhere has me leaning toward voting for Bernie Sanders. I'll probably cast my vote on Wednesday, as I'll be off from work that day and early voting ends in Georgia on Friday, and I'll let you and everyone else know who I decide to vote for.

>126 kidzdoc: I look forward to hearing who you ultimately decide to vote for. This is the first time I've been in the US for a serious presidential contest, and the whole process is fascinating. And of course, the longer I end up living here, the more invested I become in the results. Bernie Sanders' vision for the future is one that I can actually imagine living in, whereas with Hillary Clinton I'd feel more pressure to return to Canada when it's time to start a family.

>122 _Zoe_: Well, that was depressing.
On the plus side, nobody there is advocating for Ted Cruz.

>128 qebo: Heh, this is true.

>127 _Zoe_: I've decided. I'm voting for Sanders.

>130 kidzdoc: I'm glad to hear it!

Happy Valentine's Day Zoe!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy weekend!

I love this semester's Tuesday-Thursday teaching schedule, so it's like the weekend is here already :D

Happy weekend! It seems I haven't been here all week. Hopefully this coming week will be better (although I suspect I'll be distracted by politics), but if not, spring break is the week after that!

>103 _Zoe_: FYI if you haven't happened upon this shelving option: http://www.containerstore.com/s/shelving/1 .

Oooh, any plans for spring break?

>138 qebo: Thanks for that link!

I've concluded that I basically want the cheapest nice-looking shelving available (i.e., basically the Billy aesthetic), so I'll probably order online from Amazon eventually. I'm just not willing to pay upwards of $100 per bookcase.

My sister is coming to visit in a few weeks and said she could bring me a Billy, but it would only be a small one. Still, I'll probably take her up on that offer.

>139 MickyFine: No real plans for spring break, but I'll be spending it in NYC, so there will be plenty to do. Hopefully I'll manage to get a lot of work done while also seeing some shows, visiting some museums, and catching up with friends. And reading, of course.



16. George by Alex Gino.



This is the story of a young girl trapped in a boy's body. Both heartbreaking and heartwarming at times—one of those books that's so powerful that you can't start another novel immediately after finishing it. Highly recommended.

After finishing George, my reading has been all over the place, and I'm now in the middle of way too many books.

Organize Now! Think and Live Clutter Free: A Week-by-Week Action Plan for a Happier, Healthier Life - This turned out to be less about clutter than the title suggested, and more about general life tips (e.g., pay attention when people are talking to you). It's mostly in bullet form, tiny bite-sized chunks, which makes it not particularly memorable but good for reading on short subway trips or other times when I only have a few minutes to spare. I'm 29% done, so I'm hoping I'll actually finish it eventually, but I'm not sure.

The Kite Runner - This year's GeoCAT finally inspired me to start this one at last, but it's slower-going than I'd expected. I'm on p. 81 of 402. Again, I'm hoping to finish it eventually, but I ended up setting it aside for now.

The Bands of Mourning - Since my sister is visiting in a few weeks, I decided to read this one sooner rather than later so that I can pass it on to her. I'm enjoying it much more than Shadows of Self, but it's also fairly slow going; I frequently find myself reading 20 or so pages and then setting it down. I remember tearing through The Alloy of Law in a day or two, so I'm not sure what happened here. Possibly it's just me. I have no doubts about finishing this one relatively soon, though; I'm on p. 194 of 447.

I just went through and made my list of books that I plan to read or at least make progress on during March, and there are 15 of them. It's not even a complete list, either. So many books to read and so little time.

February Summary



Not quite as many books as last month, but still more or less on pace. And there were some really excellent ones: both $2 a Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America and George are highly recommended.

Sources:
3 library ebook loans
2 purchased new this year (or at least, purchased new and obtained this year)
1 library paper book loan

>120 _Zoe_: I'll have to look for both of those graphic novels as both Bernie Sanders and Edward Snowden are my heroes.

(I'm probably going to be marked as subversive now by any government employee who's reading your thread!)

>142 SqueakyChu: Hehe, I'll probably be marked subversive too! I also think Snowden is a hero.

Meanwhile, I've been mentally fatigued this month and haven't managed to get a lot of reading done—and when I do read, I'm skipping between books rather than finishing any. I had high hopes for spring break this week, but somehow the time has flown. Oh well. On the bright side, I think this has been the first break in a while when I haven't actually gotten sick, so that may mean I'm starting to recover from the crazy exhaustion of last year.



17. Moon Called by Patricia Briggs.



I wanted something relatively light but good, so this one fit the bill perfectly. Werewolves and vampires and other supernatural creatures, in a complex world with rich character development and not too much focus on romance. And it's a series, so it can keep me busy for a while. I think I would have enjoyed this book even more if I hadn't been so tired.

I just wish the protagonist on the cover had a bit more clothing on.

>143 _Zoe_:: I'll probably be marked subversive too! I also think Snowden is a hero.

Yeah, but you can escape to Canada!

I'm skipping between books rather than finishing any

I'm doing that, too. I'm up to four books now. Usually when that happens, several get ditched. At this point, I'm not sure which ones those will be.

I just wish the protagonist on the cover had a bit more clothing on.

Heh!

Babysitting's getting better now that my grandson is older and I have playgroup parents with whom to interact. This past week, we had a picnic lunch and a small hike at a nearby nature center. Other activities I have planned for my grandson are (1) drum lessons by my friend who plays a djembe (African drum) and (2) a one-time yoga class for kids which the same friend will write and do. I just got permission from my daughter-in-law to do this. :)

Spring break's already over for you? That must have flown by! When do your classes end? What are your summer plans?

>143 _Zoe_:, >144 SqueakyChu: - It must be something in the air. I am also book-hopping, as it were. I have 3 on the bedside table at the moment that I am flitting between, and one audio going at the moment. I officially abandoned one earlier this week(The History of the World in 6 Glasses) but might count it anyhow as it's divided into 6 parts, with each section having 2 chapters and I have gone back to it. I read the first 2 sections (beer and wine) and decided to give up. Then I decided to read the section on coca-cola which was actually quite good. And since I do drink a lot of tea, I am just finishing off that section, too. So really, only 2 other sections (coffee and spirits) are left unread. I just don't have the patience. I got off to a good reading start in January but seem to have taken a nose-dive recently.

Maybe once we move the clocks ahead on Sunday, things will pick up!

Don't forget to let us know when you come to TO, Zoe

>144 SqueakyChu: True, and we may well escape to Canada depending on what happens in November! Except I really like my current job here.

I wish I had four books in progress; I seem to have more like ten. Of course, once it gets up so high it's not quite clear what "in progress" means; there are some that I haven't picked up in months. I still hope to finish them all eventually....

It's great that babysitting is getting easier! And those sound like some fun activities.

Spring break really has flown by too fast. Exams end around May 10. Then I'll take my ungraded exams and drive frantically back to Canada for my friend's wedding on May 13 (and bachelorette on May 11). I haven't quite decided whether I'll make that into a longer visit or just stay for the weekend; it depends on Mark's work schedule. We'll be back in Canada again for Canada Day (July 1), which is probably the more likely time to schedule a meetup. In fact, Shelley, we could probably start planning the meetup right now if we were so inclined....

Other summer plans involve writing my dissertation, going to a conference in Columbus, visiting Mark's parents in Richmond (probably around Memorial Day), and hopefully fitting in a visit to DC at some point—I haven't heard anything about planned LT meetups, but I try to get out there at least once a year anyway. Unless I can convince you all to come to Toronto this time :D.

>145 jessibud2: I'm having the same problem where the year got off to a good start reading-wise and deteriorated from there. GoodReads says I'm still three books ahead of schedule for my 75 Books Challenge, but I've been rapidly losing ground. Fingers crossed that the time change will work some magic!

Hi Zoe - I missed your thread this year and, as always, you've done some interesting reading.

I had forgotten about Nujood which Bianca had recommended highly a few years back. Also another BB with $2.00 a Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America.

I'm also keeping track of my reading on GR- although it's a bit discouraging because I'm still working on War & Peace so GR keeps helpfully reminding me that I need to speed up. Are you _Zoe_ over there, too? Would you mind a friend request?

Escaping to Canada sounds like a lovely idea. Have you seen this video? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCyzdD0vYOw

>147 streamsong: - OMG, that video is hilarious, and brilliant!! Thanks for it. I have just sent it to a bunch of friends, including my American friends, ;-)

>145 jessibud2: I wish I had four books in progress; I seem to have more like ten.

LOL!

>146 _Zoe_:

Other summer plans involve writing my dissertation

*applause* :)

hopefully fitting in a visit to DC at some point

Hurray! Your room is so empty! We need you both back. :)

Unless I can convince you all to come to Toronto this time

I really do want to make a trip to Toronto. I'll see if we can do it after you plan the LT/BC meetup. It will involve three people, though - Jose, Barbara and me. I'll have to see how we can coordinate this.

>147 streamsong:

Haha! I'd vote for Canada! ;)

>147 streamsong: I'm glad you've found your way here and been hit by a couple of book bullets! Mwahaha.

GR friend requests are always welcome; my profile is here. It would be great to have more challenge participants to follow. I have some friends who I added years ago when I first signed up for the site, but I really should make an effort to track down more people.

And that video is always amusing :)

>149 SqueakyChu: I'm excited at the thought of a big Toronto meetup this summer! I think Nora had also said she could potentially come with enough notice. It's convenient that Canada Day and July 4 are part of the same weekend this year (Canada Day is the Friday and July 4 is the Monday), so let's aim for something in there.

>149 SqueakyChu: - I would so love for you to make it, Madeline! I have room in my house for 2 people although I have been frantically working on my other upstairs bedroom, to convert it to a guest room. Not sure if it is doable by summer though it is definitely on its way. But I won't say never! Maybe I need the incentive...;-)

So let me know when the meet-up is planned, and we'll see what we can do. Not promising anything though.

P.S. We might start applying for our passports, though. :)

>152 SqueakyChu: - Yeah, hurry, before that wall goes up (see >147 streamsong:), haha

July 1-4 works for me

re Toronto meetup. Once we get closer to deciding on a date, I can suggest possible locations and book us a table.

Zoe, It happened again, I visited here and got hit with book bullets. Your reviews are so enticing. For now, I've added George, $2.00 a day, and Black Boy, White School. I'm not sure you've read illustrated books by Jerry Pinkney. If not, then I highly recommend them. He is a good illustrator who is very capable of making historical events come to life in the YA genre.

>145 jessibud2: Oh dear. I have A History of the World in 6 Glasses from the library and will be starting it soon. Any particular reason you didn't like it?

I don't think I could read $2 a day. It runs too close to home. This week we found out that our SNAP was reduced because I got MA. MA that I can't use because there is a $500 a month spend-down before it kicks in, i.e. I have to pay $500 in medical bills before MA pays any. Because I get this, we lost about 15% of our SNAP. They get you coming and going.

>157 Morphidae: - Well, it's not that I didn't like it, actually. It just didn't grab me. I had read another book by Tom Standage, The Victorian Internet and really enjoyed that one a lot so maybe I just had high expectations for this one. The first 2 sections, Beer and Wine, were interesting but not riveting. I am not a drinker of alcohol (basically, it puts me to sleep) so beyond the history, these sections just didn't hold my attention all that much. I don't drink spirits either so I skipped that section altogether. Same for coffee. I left the book for awhile and began a couple of others but did go back to read the section on Coca Cola and Tea. I think I will count it in my reading tally anyhow since I've read most of it, in the end. I expect that you (and anyone else, really) might enjoy it more than I did, overall. I think I chose it mostly because of the author rather than the subject matter!

>153 jessibud2: hurry, before that wall goes up

Haha! ...or maybe I shouldn't laugh!

>155 jessibud2: Yeah! With enough notice, I should be able to make it work, too! I do hate driving into Toronto and try to avoid it at all costs, but...I will do it, just for you all.

>160 dk_phoenix: - Where are you coming in from? Would it be easier or feasible to take a GO (or regular CN) train, or bus? I know what you mean, though, about driving into the city. I hate it, too

Let's say tentatively July 3 (Sunday) for the meetup? That way the people who are travelling farthest (from the US) will have the day before and after free to travel, and anyone who stays up late on Canada Day will have a day to rest in between.

>156 Whisper1: I'm glad you've been hit with some book bullets! I'm not familiar with Jerry Pinkney, so I'll have to look into his work.

>157 Morphidae: It makes me so angry that the system constantly seems to be punishing those who need help. I can understand why you wouldn't want to read $2 a Day while you're in the middle of experiencing similar issues yourself.

>160 dk_phoenix: Yeah, I agree that with Shelley that I'd probably take a train rather than driving. I don't remember where exactly you are, but last time I visited my brother in Kitchener I ended up taking a Via train back, and it was both pleasant and cheap. The GO trains from around there only seemed to go on a commuter schedule, i.e., horribly early.

Also: for anyone who plans to spend several days in Toronto, we could of course organize smaller group activities on the surrounding days as well!

>162 _Zoe_: - I take VIA all the time when I travel to visit friends near Belleville or when I visit my family in Montreal. I love the train (great reading time!) and now that Union Station downtown here is mostly finished their refurbishment, it's actually nice down there, and very easy access to public transit (TTC).

I'll check with Barbara to see if we can make it happen this summer.

I'd be coming from Brantford, so the train from Aldershot might be an option depending on where we decide to meet up!

Fingers crossed that everyone can make it work out!

Shelley, do you have any ideas about where to meet?

>167 _Zoe_: - Well, depending on how many of us there are, we could meet at By The Way again (that's where we met last time). It's central to transportation for anyone coming by TTC (which is right there to access from Union Station, from VIA rail). If we decide to meet for lunch, I could probably book us a table, once I know our numbers, at any of the many places along that stretch of Bloor. Or, I am open to suggestions. Maybe Cyrel will have some suggestions, too. Good that we have lots of time to plan. Of course, eating outdoors is always fun but that would obviously be weather-dependent, too

I am looking forward to it!

Don't forget that there are bookstores very close to By The Way (there's BMV and also a couple of used bookstores) in the vicinity. There are also a few museums (The ROM, The Bata Shoe Museum) within walking distance, too, among other things to do

Happy Weekend!

>169 jessibud2: Yup, that's always a good area! I seem to recall that last time we didn't get any farther than the BMV, because it's so large :D

>170 DianaNL: Aww, that's a cute one! Happy weekend to you too!

Have a wonderful Easter.

Happy Easter to you both!

Meanwhile, I actually finished a book yesterday, for a change. But it doesn't feel quite done because I didn't read the preview of another book at the back. But I already know I want to read that book when it comes out in November, so I had no need to read two chapters now. Still, it feels like the book is unfinished somehow.



18. Stars Above by Marissa Meyer



This is a collection of stories set in the world of the Lunar Chronicles. I was initially reluctant to read it because I don't love short stories, but Morphy assured me that I would like it and she was right. The difference between this book and typical short stories is that these were for the most part short stories involving characters that we already know and love, generally stories about their childhood that fleshed out incidents referred to briefly in the main series.

There was only one story, The Little Android, that focused on a completely new character. That story felt really out-of-place in the context of the book, and I spent the first half of it really confused because I thought the android was going to turn out to be Iko.

The final story is the only one that takes place after the events of the Lunar Chronicles. I appreciated the humor surrounding the main event of the story, and it was nice to see all the characters again, but on the whole I actually preferred the more focused earlier stories. When the eight main characters are all together, they sometimes seem to lose a bit of their personalities, especially Winter.

This may be the place to say that I didn't love the ending of Winter, where Cinder converted the government of Luna to a democracy and Winter became an irrelevant ambassador. I thought Winter should have become the queen after Cinder's abdication; she's the one who knew about Lunar government and was loved by the Lunar people, and that would have given her a meaningful role instead of basically turning her into an afterthought.

There's also something awkward about Cinder eliminating one monarchy only to become empress somewhere else.

In other news, I'm still theoretically one book ahead of schedule even though I've done hardly any reading lately.

>174 _Zoe_: Looks like a library book for me! I'm #15 on 10 copies for holds.

>176 ronincats: I hope you get your hands on it soon, if it hasn't come in already! I think my library ended up purchasing more copies, because my hold came in much sooner than expected.

This has been a bad reading month for me, with two out-of-town driving trips on consecutive weekends that didn't allow me to get much reading done, and a seminar presentation in the week between. There have also been a couple of nights this week when I slept for 10+ hours. I think I'm still recovering from last year.

Both of the trips somehow included Boston, which meant that some books were purchased. The Harvard Bookstore is my favourite. I've actually been quite restrained in my book purchases overall this year; the number of books purchased is still below the number of books read, though really I'm still falling behind when you consider that half of my books read were library books.

March Update

Books Read:


Books Continued:


Books Started, To Be Continued:


Books Started and Abandoned:


So much jumping around. Hopefully next month will be better. I made a ridiculously ambitious reading plan for March, which probably contributed to my failure. For April I'm going to try just to finish three of the books that were in progress in March, plus one other from my long list of earlier in-progress books.

ETA:

Sources of books completed this month:
1 purchased new this year
1 library paper book loan

Glad you liked Stars Above. I knew you would!

>179 Morphidae: Yup, you were right!

I finally got a FitBit, mostly because I'm interested in sleep tracking, but I'm already seeing an incentive to walk more after just half a day.

Unfortunately the Facebook friend finder isn't working, so if anyone wants to be FitBit friends, send me a PM with your email address.

Meanwhile things are looking up on the book front, even though I still haven't managed to finish any books this month. I feel much better about my progress now that I've set a reasonable and achievable monthly goal of just finishing four of the many books that I'm currently in the middle of, and I actually have made noticeable progress on three of them. It's nice to think that even with multiple books on the go, I can eventually get through some of them if I narrow my focus just a bit.

>33 _Zoe_: Hi Zoe! I completely lost track of your thread, and only just saw your message to me from Jan 7. :( It's probably too late now, but my interpretation of Paalm not revealing that she was Lessie was that she probably didn't want to hurt Wax by revealing that their marriage wasn't as straightfoward as it would seem. She seemed like someone being pulled in multiple directions throughout the book.

>182 kgodey: Not to worry, I'm always behind on LT! I'm definitely still interested in hearing your thoughts; it's a point that's continued to bother me long after finishing the book. I'm not quite sold on your interpretation of Lessie's motives—she certainly didn't seem to have a problem with hurting Wax in general, and surely should have known that letting him kill her (again) would hurt him more than anything else. But I agree that she was being pulled in multiple directions all at once. I guess I just prefer stories where the villain's behaviour is somewhat rational, rather than ones where the author falls back on insanity as an excuse for anything.

19. Doing Good Better: How Effective Altruism Can Help You Make a Difference by William MacAskill



I really wanted and expected to like this book, but ultimately I really didn't.

The basic premise seems solid enough: when trying to make a difference in the world, we should take a rational, evidence-based approach to determine what will have the biggest impact. This is something that I can get behind pretty fully when it comes to choosing a charity. For the most part, it turns out that our money goes farther when it's donated to health-related causes in very poor countries; even if we personally care a lot about, say, education, donating to a charity like Deworm the World Initiative can make more of a difference by making children healthy and therefore more able to attend school than donating textbooks directly.

But what happens if you take this coldly rational approach to extremes, and start applying it to every aspect of your life? It turns out that, instead of choosing a career where you can make a difference directly, you might well have more of an impact by choosing the highest-paying career possible, and then donating that money to effective charities. Instead of doing volunteer work in your community, you might well have more of an impact by working overtime to earn still more money that you can donate to charities helping the most impoverished people in Africa.

This seems perfectly reasonable in one way, but perfectly horrible in another way. Is the ideal world really one in which all the best and brightest work 80-hour weeks in hedge fund companies, doing work they don't even believe in, just so they can have the greatest possible impact by giving away money indirectly to people across the world whom they'll never meet? That sounds like a pretty awful existence to me. It wasn't immediately obvious what the problem was, but reading a review on GoodReads led me to an idea of what was missing here: any sense of community. I think there's ultimately more to life than making the largest quantitative difference, and it involves some sense of investment in the people around you.

The author acknowledges all this to some extent, discussing the risk of losing your own values and becoming disillusioned if you spend all your time surrounded by colleagues who prioritize earning money above all else. But he blithely dismisses the concern by citing the examples of a few people like Bill Gates who have become very wealthy while still being devoted to philanthropy. It may be telling that the author himself doesn't practice what he preaches: he himself is a professor at Oxford, not an investment banker.

Again, I think he makes a lot of valuable points, especially when focusing on the early-career stage. He emphasizes the value of developing skills and career capital at the start, rather than going directly out of college to do low-skilled admin work at a non-profit. And I think that's valuable advice; investing some time in yourself can allow you to make more of a difference later on. But there's a difference between that and focusing exclusively on making the most money possible.

One of my favourite sections of the book was actually the one where he talked about the research on job satisfaction; it's not actually following your passion that leads to the most happiness, but instead whether the job has five other factors: independence, sense of completion, variety, feedback, and contribution. (As a side note, looking at these factors made it clear why I'm so much happier teaching than working exclusively on my dissertation.) Pursuing a career solely for the salary would fail on the "contribution" metric, and I'm not convinced that you could compensate for that with the knowledge that your money was making more of a difference indirectly.

One of my least-favourite sections of the book, and the one that caused me to put it down for six months in the middle, came when he abandoned his evidence-based framework and started making the case for his personal pet cause. He had spent the first half of the book telling us that we shouldn't try to help people in North America because our money can go farther helping people in Africa, that we shouldn't focus on education because we can have more of an impact by focusing on health (with the impact measured in QALYs, or quality-adjusted life years), and so on. And then suddenly he was talking about animal rights, and how we could have more of an impact with our $100 by donating to an organization that would convince someone else to become a vegetarian than we would by becoming vegetarians ourselves (the author is a vegetarian). The hypocrisy was pretty unbearable: there was no mention of how we could justify donating $100 to convince someone to become a vegetarian, when that money could instead be going to the Deworm the World Initiative or one of the other highly-recommended organizations focused on human health in the developing world.

And that brings me to the final problem with the book: for all its evidence-based veneer, the major decisions ultimately come down to subjective value judgements. The final section talks about how to choose a cause, and the author rates the magnitude of various issues on a scale from 1-4. Extreme poverty is a 3; US criminal justice reform is a 1; catastrophic global climate change is a 2-4, "depending on value judgements" (i.e., whether you think there's any value in continuing the existence of human civilization far into the future). Factory farming is "up to 3, depending on value judgements". In other words, the reader is ultimately invited to dismiss all data and decide for themselves what issues are most important. And that sort of defeats the who purpose of the book.

This book still has a lot going for it. It's certainly thought-provoking, and the author makes a lot of interesting points. I finished it a couple of days ago and am nowhere near done engaging with the ideas that it raises. But it's also a fairly dry read, and one that ultimately doesn't reflect a vision of the world that I can support. I want to do more in life than earn a lot of money to help people I'll never meet, and I hope the people around me will choose to be more active agents of change as well.

So, that last book was an Early Reviewers book from June. And I struggled to get through it, putting it down for six months in the middle. At that time, I was maybe 3/4 of the way through.

Should I have written a review then? It would have seemed a bit like cheating the system, but it still would have been a more thorough review than half the ER reviews currently on the work page. As it is, I waited and did the "right" thing, but my review was extremely delayed. Would the publisher have preferred to have the review in a more timely fashion even if I hadn't finished the book? Or in cases where the book is such a slog that it takes almost a year to finish, are they happy to have the resulting negative review delayed as long as possible?

Dilemmas, dilemmas.

20. The Bands of Mourning by Brandon Sanderson



Phew, I've finally finished this one. For some reason it took me forever to read; I start it exactly two months ago and put in down at least a couple of times for long stretches. Partially I think I'm just tired towards the end of the semester, especially since at the end of March/beginning of April there was one period when I was out of town for four weekends in a row. But partially I think this book is just slower-paced than the others in the Wax and Wayne series; there's more technical discussion of Allomancy and Feruchemy and related powers, so it loses some of the fast-moving Western feel.

But I actually think this is a much better book than the second one in the series, not least because the villains are more complex and rational and have a much more detailed backstory underlying their actions. There are new worlds to be discovered, and lots of interesting stuff. Some of these features that I like more are actually features that make the book slower, compared to a single villain wreaking havoc on a familiar city.

So maybe I'm not being quite fair to this book; it's possible that I just wasn't in the right frame of mind for it, and that's why it took me so long to read. I sometimes found that I needed something lighter to read, whereas when I wanted something heavier I wanted to be reading non-fiction rather than fiction.

On the other hand, I came to the end of this book looking forward to reading more Brandon Sanderson; I'm going to look into the Mistborn Secret History novella to see whether it might make sense to read that now. (The end note says that it's meant to be read after The Bands of Mourning, but it's set during the first Mistborn trilogy. And still to this day I've only read the first two books of that trilogy, and forgotten most of it. So we'll see.) I'm also expecting my library hold on Calamity to come in in the next 2-3 weeks, so that's up soon. So much Brandon Sanderson and so little time.

ETA: Reading more about Mistborn: The Secret History, I've concluded that I should really read the last book of the first trilogy first. But I'm still not excited about it. One day.

Also, I forgot to say that I loved Steris in this book.

April Summary

Books Read:


Books Continued:


Books Started, To Be Continued:


On the one hand, it was another very slow reading month in terms of actually completing anything. This was partially because I didn't have as many long bus trips as usual, which is a good thing overall. Mark is switching to a new job upstate (only 1.5h away rather than 3.5-5h!), but it doesn't start until June, which means he's been able to spend this month here. And since I'm spending more time with him in the evenings, I'm reading less.

Anyway, I'm pretty happy with the two books that I did manage to complete, one of which had been in progress since last summer and one of which I'd started in February; it's nice to see that some older books do actually get finished eventually. I'm also very happy to have made progress on Possessing the Secret of Joy, which is now close enough to the end that I may actually finish it in May.

And even though I started more books than I finished, one of them is super-short and another is a children's book, so those two at least should get finished easily (famous last words, I know).

ETA:

Sources of books completed this month:

1 off the shelf
1 purchased new this year

>187 _Zoe_: So are you two leaving NYC completely?
The nice thing about books in progress is you get to present them for two (or more!) months. :-)

>188 qebo: Yup, we'll be leaving NYC completely at the end of August. I think it will be a good change on the whole; it's just too crowded there. But there are definitely things that I'll miss as well, and I expect that I'll still go back several times per year.

I'm really glad you gave me the idea of listing books in progress. Now it looks like I have something to report for the month!

Leaving NYC?! Wow! In what city is Mark's new job?

>190 SqueakyChu: It's in Rome, near Utica. Not the most exciting location, but it's that much closer to my family in Canada :).

Fortunately we'll still have plenty of reason to visit the DC area because Mark's parents are so close to there. In fact, we'll be going for the Memorial Day weekend and have been thinking about stopping in DC either before or after....

>191 _Zoe_: I'm babysitting the Friday of Memorial Day weekend, but have no idea about after the weekend though. I haven't gotten June's babysitting schedule yet. You are welcome to come when you want and stay as long as you want. The worst case scenario is that I won't have time to spend with you, but you'll be free to do what you want. Springtime is especially nice in DC because it's not too hot then yet.

Wow! Mark keeps getting closer to Toronto all the time! :D

>183 _Zoe_: That makes sense. The whole "kandra without both their spikes are insane" thing does seem like it would be a free pass to letting the character do whatever they want without any need to explain motivation.

>187 _Zoe_: I really liked Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy when I read it a few years ago. I'm still able to remember details, which is usually the sign of a good book for me. :P

>187 _Zoe_: >194 MickyFine: Oh, yes, I LOVED Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy! I hope you do, too.

>184 _Zoe_: regarding your review of Doing Good Better, I was caught by this:

"it's not actually following your passion that leads to the most happiness, but instead whether the job has five other factors: independence, sense of completion, variety, feedback, and contribution."

That explains my career exactly. I had not particular passion that led me anywhere, fell into IT, found that sense of completion, variety and feedback, and had enough money for both independence. Contribution wasn't necessarily related to money - it's more the participation in a team effort.

On the other hand, that's for reading this book for me and finding this information. The rest of the book sounds uninspiring.

De-lurking for a moment. I'll be back.

Very brief life update: the past week has involved giving and grading two final exams, with the expectation that final course grades would be submitted within 48h, and also being a bridesmaid in a friend's wedding, complete with bachelorette, rehearsal and dinner, the wedding itself, and a day-after board game party that I hosted for her. The wedding and the exams did not take place in the same country.

So I gave my two exams on Tuesday, drove from New York to Ontario on Wednesday (7h including stops, but fortunately I could trade off driving with Mark), attended the bachelorette on Wednesday night, graded all day Thursday, went to the rehearsal and dinner that night, graded some more when I got home, was out for 12+ hours on Friday for the wedding (including hair, makeup, etc.) and got home after midnight, went to my nephew's first birthday party at lunch on Saturday, hosted the board game party Saturday evening (another day that went past midnight), and had breakfast with another friend this morning, then went along for a few hours of driving (to and from Waterloo) that was basically the time I had to visit with my brother and sister. And now I'm completely exhausted. Responses to earlier messages will come later.

>198 _Zoe_: Yikes!

>198 _Zoe_: And now I'm completely exhausted.
Well that's a sensible response to crazy scheduling.

Wow, sounds like you had a crazy few days Zoe! Hopefully you've recovered now!

>194 MickyFine: >195 scaifea: I'm afraid I didn't enjoy Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy quite as much as everyone else seemed to.





21. Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy by Karen Foxlee

I picked up this children's book to read when I was too tired for anything heavier, so I may not have been in the right frame of mind to begin with. It's a retelling of the Snow Queen, and I generally enjoy fairy tale retellings, but I was actually completely unfamiliar with this story going in—I guess I've always tended more to Grimm than Hans Christian Andersen.

Ophelia's mother has recently passed away, and her father is an international expert on swords who takes Ophelia and her sister along to a strange museum where he's working on an exhibit after the previous curator left suddenly at the last minute. I felt like the book started to lose me here, at the very beginning—the description of what Ophelia's father had to do for the exhibition seemed completely unrealistic. Three days out, it should have been just a matter of tiny details, not doing all sorts of research etc. that required pulling an all-nighter the day before. The author didn't seem to have any particular familiarity with what went into a museum exhibition, even though it was a major element of the story.

But that's mostly just nitpicking; I mention it only because it started me out on the wrong foot with the story. The story itself has two main plotlines: Ophelia meets a mysterious boy locked in a room of the museum, and reluctantly sets out on a quest to save him; and the boy tells her his story, in which he was "chosen by a protectorate of wizards from east, west, and middle to deliver a sword to defeat the Snow Queen" (not quite an exact quote). The boy's story is told in classic fairy tale language, full of rhythmic repetition. It's well-crafted but has a distancing effect that prevented me from getting fully absorbed in the story. The distancing was increased by the fact that the story is basically split into these two parts, so that we're constantly separated from Ophelia's main storyline, and by the prophetic inevitability of the outcome: we're told what will happen long before it actually does happen; the wizards predicted it.

The overall result for me was a story that's easy to appreciate but hard to really get caught up in. But I seem to be in the extreme minority here, so I'd still recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good fairytale retelling.

>196 ffortsa: I'm glad the review was helpful to you!

>197 The_Hibernator: Hi!

I'm not yet recovered from all the craziness (or caught up on all the small tasks that were set aside over the past week), but I have nothing else to do today, so I'm optimistic that the recovery won't take too long.

22. Cast in Shadow by Michelle Sagara

Roni has been tearing through this series lately, and described them as compelling popcorn reads, which is exactly what I needed right now. The writing is extremely modern and colloquial, a contrast from typical written language in general and from the pseudo-Medieval veneer of many fantasy novels in particular, and I think this is what made the book so readable. The pacing is a bit odd (what seemed like the climax occurred about 2/3 of the way through the book, and I felt like it dragged a bit after that), but it's a very compelling read overall. I've already started the second one.

>198 _Zoe_: Sounds like a crazy weekend. Hopefully you get some downtime to recover.

>202 _Zoe_: Not every book is a hit with every reader. Sorry to hear your experience with this one didn't live up to my hype. :)

>203 _Zoe_: Thanks for understanding my typos! I really have to stop posting from my phone - disaster inevitably occurs.

You had quite a weekend with grades and driving and the wedding, all on top of one another. Are you teaching this summer? or do you have a restful season ahead?

Zoe, I found the pacing problem pretty much confined to the first book. And I'm starting book #10 tonight. And then there's only one more...

Dropping by to wish you a great weekend, Zoe.

Ahhh, behind as usual! So I'll just put these here without comment:





23. Cast in Courtlight by Michelle Sagara





24. Oneonta by Mark Simonson

Fortunately the summer is settling down now, so maybe I'll have more books to report soon. We were visiting the in-laws for Memorial Day, which is always less relaxing than I might hope (and I was too tired even to arrange a stopover in DC on the way back! Boo), but now I have no significant travel planned until Canada Day (and that LT meetup is approaching fast!). We'll be moving into a new apartment upstate about halfway through the month, though—I can't remember whether I mentioned this already, but Mark is starting a new job upstate in a couple of weeks, because the 4h+ weekend commute was pretty exhausting. It's not quite in the same city as me, 1.5h away, and there's pretty much nothing in the middle, so we've decided that we'll continue to maintain two apartments for now to avoid a really unpleasant daily commute. We'll still have far more nights together and far less driving.

Also, the new apartment has a real working fireplace, which I'm very excited about.

>206 ffortsa: I'm not teaching this summer, but I'm not quite resting either: I'll be working on my dissertation and hopefully getting it close to completion. I have zero regrets about taking the teaching position before finishing, but it's definitely slowed down the process a lot.

>24 dk_phoenix: I was too tired even to arrange a stopover in DC on the way back! Boo

I was wondering why I hadn't heard from you! You two are always welcome here...but you know that!

It sounds as if you've been so busy. I hope you have a fun summer. What did you guys do when you were in Richmond for the holiday weekend?

>209 _Zoe_: - We should probably start organizing more seriously about when and where to set our meetup. When do you arrive in Ont and how long will you be here?

>210 SqueakyChu: I know, I kept meaning to contact you and arrange something! We didn't even buy our return tickets until we were actually in Richmond, thinking that we'd figure out the DC trip eventually. And then we ended up having to travel most of the way back by bus, because last-minute Amtrak is way too expensive. I'm just glad that Mark's parents do live so close to DC, so I know there will always be future visits. Thank you for always making us welcome there :D

We didn't do too much in Richmond because we were only there for a couple of days. We did go to one nice used bookstore that had just opened recently, where I bought four or five books. We had lunch with one of Mark's high school friends, and we went to his favourite barbecue restaurant for dinner one night (but my favourite meal was actually the Red Lobster the day before, where we somehow managed to get 7 orders of the delicious cheddar biscuits, which may be the best food ever). I also attempted to do a 5k, but the course was misdirected, so it was more like 3.5k. Which is probably just as well, because it was very humid and we had just gone to the gym the evening before. And of course we played some board games. So it was a nice but relatively uneventful visit.

>211 jessibud2: I'll be arriving the day before Canada Day, and probably leaving on the 6th, though Mark will be leaving before that. Nora will also be in town that weekend, yay! I think we had said Sunday the 3rd for the meetup, probably in the same Annex-y area as last time? BMV is probably still the bookstore with the broadest appeal, and there are plenty of other bookstores in that general area (assuming there haven't been more tragic closures since my last visit). I think Nora would like Bakka Phoenix.

May Summary

Books Finished:


Books Continued:


Books Started, To Be Continued:


Well, not so much continuing of books in progress, but I did finish two of the three books I started last month, so that's something. And even though four books completed is still very much behind pace, it's a lot better than two.

I thought my book-starting habit was more out of control, but apparently not. Or maybe I just forgot to track some. At least one of those newly-started books should be finished very soon.

Sources of completed books:
3 library ebook loans
1 paper book purchased new this year

25. Foiled by Jane Yolen

I think I've been inspired by Madeline's manga reading, because I keep looking at the manga/graphic novel sections of bookstores and libraries. But I'd have no idea where to start among all the abundant and lengthy manga series, so I checked out this graphic novel by a familiar author instead.

I've never really loved graphic novels, but there are definitely days when I'm tired and just want a quick story that I can finish in one sitting; I generally read too slowly to do that with regular novels.

I did actually like the art in this one, but I wasn't a huge fan of a story. Aliera is a sort of loner in her New York City high school, devoting most of her time to fencing; she has hopes of competing nationally. But then a super-attractive new guy comes to school, and they're assigned to be lab partners, so she drops everything to spend time with him even though he's really obnoxious.

In particular, he asks her to go to a movie one Saturday, so she suggests that they meet at Grand Central Station at 4:00pm, which requires her to leave fencing an hour early and go there directly, bringing all her fencing stuff and wearing a change of clothes that she kept in her smelly fencing bag, and I have literally no idea why they weren't meeting at a movie theater at 7:00 instead. And she also has a standing weekly roleplaying date with her cousin who's permanently homebound with a serious illness, a commitment that she describes as "like an oath", but of course she ditches her to spend time with this guy without even suggesting that they see the movie on Sunday instead, even though she's just told us how her Sundays are completely free and she spends them at home reading and listening to music. Also, after making this plan with the guy on Friday after school, she doesn't tell her cousin that she's cancelling their Saturday plans until she's actually leaving fencing on Saturday at 3. So I guess she's supposed to be a typical teenager (hot guy with an unpleasant personality takes precedence over all else), but I couldn't really like her. There are interesting fantasy elements at the end, and the art was really effective there, but I wish the fantastical story had played a larger part in the book, instead of having pages and pages of her and this guy sniping at each other.

And to add to my complaints, I found the setting unconvincing. It's supposed to be set in a New York City high school in approximately the modern day (e.g., there are iPods, and the language is modern, and the book was published in 2010). But I couldn't help thinking that the author and illustrator hadn't set foot in a high school in a long time; there were just too many small details that seemed off, like the overhead projector in one image—even schools in poor areas of the Bronx are more likely to have a Smart Board these days, and the school portrayed in this book seemed more like a spacious suburban school than one in a struggling neighbourhood. It was mysteriously described as "the smallest school in the city", but then drawn as a big multi-story building with its name plastered on the front, despite the fact that NYC "schools" these days have been splintered into tiny pieces, with multiple schools located in the same building, thanks to the proliferation of charter schools.

That was a longer rant than I intended, and I didn't actually hate this book; it served its purpose, in that it was a light single-sitting bedtime read. But I've enjoyed Yolen's regular novels much more than this.

>212 _Zoe_: - Sunday the 3rd sounds fine and that area sounds fine too. If we have an idea of how many we might be, I can call By The Way and reserve a table or 2 for us (that's the middle eastern place we met at last time).

BMV is still there but Book City (on that same block) closed. There's still a few other bookstores and used bookstores around that area, though, for sure.

I will ask Cyrel if she is around that weekend, too

You, Mark, Nora, me, Cyrel, that's 5. More always welcome, of course.

>215 jessibud2: I think Faith was also hoping to make it out :)

Do we want to make a thread in the meet-ups group? I'm happy to start it.

>217 norabelle414: Yes, please do! It's been on my to-do list for ages and I keep putting it off.

>217 norabelle414: - Please put a link to it here so I can find it! (or pm me a link). Thanks

It will be fun to meet new (to me) LTers!

Toronto Meet-up Thread
https://www.librarything.com/topic/224425

So did you think the pacing went better in Cast in Courtlight? The story just keeps getting more and more complex.

>212 _Zoe_: So it was a nice but relatively uneventful visit.

Sometimes you just need some down time. It sounds as if it was a restful family-oriented weekend.

>221 ronincats: I definitely appreciated the unfolding complexity! It was nice to learn more about the Barrani. And I did think the pacing improved a bit, though I found the trial thing a bit slow and disconnected from the rest of the story. My only other complaint was some poor grammar that actually made it difficult to read at times—things like pronouns not agreeing in number with whatever they were referring to, occasionally to the point where I couldn't even tell what the antecedent was supposed to be at all.

But I'm definitely planning to continue with this series in the future! For now I'm just reading some more non-fiction since I've recovered a bit from the semester, and my hold of Every Heart a Doorway finally came in from the library, so I should read that too.

And I admit there's also some desire to read short books like graphic novels since I'm currently 6 or 7 books behind pace for 75 :P. Or failing that, I could just finish some of the many books that I'm in the middle of.... (So of course I started a new book last night, Missoula, inspired by current events.)

Oh, and I also had vague plans of doing a full Temeraire reread in advance of the final book in the series, which comes out in a few days. Hmm.

So many books, so little time. I wish I read as quickly as most of you.

>222 SqueakyChu: Yup, it was good not to jam-pack my schedule for once. I just couldn't find the energy to plan an ambitious weekend of sightseeing.

>223 _Zoe_: Missoula
I've been meaning to get to that one too, may as well plop it into the next Amazon order... considering current events.
I wish I read as quickly as most of you.
Sigh, yes, a paltry 75 is so much more than the general population but so insufficient for making a dent in what's out there.

>224 qebo: Missoula is excellent so far, like every other Krakauer book I've read. I sometimes wonder why I haven't read more of his work already.

75 really is insufficient. And I don't even achieve that target most years; I think i got there once, and came within easy reach another year but chose to read longer books instead in the end. Last year was one of the lowest since I started doing challenges on LT, at only 45 books. I seem to be on pace for about 60 this year, though of course I'm always hopeful that the pace can be increased.

Since I started using GoodReads this year, it has been sort of encouraging to see what non-LT friends are reading: numbers like 12 of 24, or 5 of 20. I often feel like I'm the slowest reader out there, but the LT perspective is definitely a bit skewed.

>225 _Zoe_: My 75 consists partly of magazines, so it's really more like 60 books per year, which cover a range from serious to fluff. The LT perspective is quite skewed.

> Zoe, I am a very slow reader, most especially compared to most LTers I have seen here. I doubt I will ever actually meet the 75 goal and am happy that it isn't a strict *requirement* to be part of this group, lol! I'd be booted in a heartbeat! That said, all we can do is keep reading... ;-)

I'm going to do something unusual and post about a book before I'm done reading it—I have about 10 pages left, but I'm not feeling compelled to finish it right now. So I'll post it here without a number, and hopefully come back and add the number before too long.





26. Redefining Realness by Janet Mock

This is the university's Common Read for 2016/17, so they were giving out free copies to everyone. I don't usually select memoirs for myself, though I'm not sure why—I tend to appreciate the ones that I do read (although this isn't the first time that I've found myself struggling to get through the last few pages of a memoir, when the main events are done and the author is just reflecting on their life).

Janet Mock grew up poor, black, and in a boy's body. This is basically an account of her struggles to achieve self-realization as a trans woman. The book is brutally honest and often very powerful, and I'm glad that I read it (or at least, most of it! I'll finish the epilogue soon). It's not always an easy read, both because of the content and sometimes because of the language; especially in the more self-reflective parts, the sentences sometimes seem so carefully crafted that they're slow to read, if that makes any sense, and the discourse of gender studies and fields is one that I'm not fully immersed in, which somehow also makes for slower reading despite being perfectly comprehensible.

I've had the opportunity to share space with folks around the country, speaking out about my experiences of privilege and oppression, my mission to be unapologetic about the layered identities I carry within my body, and reclaiming the often erased legacy of trans women's survival that enabled me to thrive as a young, poverty-raised trans woman of color.

So, I initially found this book slow-going and thought I would read a chapter at a time interspersed with other things. And yet when it came time to decide what to read each day, I found that I wanted to continue with this story. Mock describes her childhood experience with sexual abuse, her father's drug problem, her mother's relatively benign neglect, a period of homelessness when her whole family was living in a single hotel room, and throughout it all her experiences with gender identity.

I found her a very sympathetic narrator at first, but toward the end of the book it became harder not to be judgemental—not because of her actions, but because she didn't always accept responsibility for them, and because she sometimes seemed to judge other people for responding to society in the same way that she did.

As a teenager, Mock turned to prostitution. I don't have a problem with this; it's a very efficient way of making money. She describes how she got into it: first she would just hang around in the red-light district where there were a lot of other trans women, and she would perform various sexual acts with attractive guys for free, because it made her feel attractive etc.

What I initially chose to do with my body was wield it to gain the affection I craved.... I wished for someone to reach out and cradle me, to tell me I was beautiful and worthy and better than the world I had come from.... Coupled with my issues about my body and the instability of my home life, riding in cars with boys became a way to find relief.

At some point, one of the other women there referred her to a customer, telling her that she should be smart, getting money for something that she would otherwise do for free; she could earn $45 for a hand job. So she did it. Again, I have no problem with any of this; rational economics and all that.

But later in the book, Mock seemed to reinterpret her experiences as a prostitute, deeming the whole thing "survival sex work": that is, sex work done to meet basic needs, like food, a place to sleep, drugs, etc. And that didn't really seem to be the motivation for her early sex work at all.

I no longer had to rely on Mom for the medicine. I became the sole provider of my hormones, my clothes, my makeup, and my hair appointments.

There was no mentioning of contributing money for food or rent, even when her mother was struggling to provide for the family. And maybe it's just my privilege speaking, and maybe it's different given Mock's life experiences, but clothes, makeup, and hair appointments don't strike me as survival-level needs.

So then a part of me is thinking, How could I possibly judge Mock after all the horrible things that she's endured? And yet she seems to judge other people in precisely the same way. When she goes for gender reassignment surgery, she meets another woman who transitioned later in life, and they become good friends—but when the woman comments repeatedly on how lucky Mock is for her appearance, for the fact that she started hormones at a young age so that she looks like an attractive cis woman, Mock basically dismisses that attitude as misguided:

Genie's persistent reference to my appearance reflects many people's romanticized notions about trans women who transition at a young age. I've read articles by trans women who transitioned in their thirties and forties, who look at trans girls and women who can blend as cis with such longing, as if our ability to "pass" negates their experiences because they are more often perceived to be trans. The misconception of equating ease of life with "passing" must be dismantled in our culture.

Basically, when someone else acknowledges the difficulties that they face in comparison to Mock because of societal prejudices based on physical appearance, that's a problem. It's as if the fact that societal prejudices are bad means that they aren't real and shouldn't be acknowledged. But Mock herself is quick to point out the difficulties that she herself faces because of societal prejudices based on physical appearance, on the very same page:

I knew through various experiences that when I was presumed to be a cis woman, I was still operating in the world as a young black woman, subject to pervasive sexist and racist objectification as well as invisibility in the U.S. media....

This has become way too long and rambly, but I've found it helpful to write out some of my thoughts; there's a lot to process in this book, and it was eye-opening in various ways, and I still haven't come to terms with everything that I've read.

So, I should really read the last ten pages soon. But the story is basically done; she's living as a woman in NYC, and has just disclosed to her boyfriend-to-be(?) that she's trans, and it's clear that they're heading for a happy ending. I'll update later.

Have an awesome weekend Zoe.

Hope you have a great new week Zoe!

Have a lovely week Zoe.

Chiming in a little late (I'm just catching up on threads), but almost by definition if you're on LT you're a bigger reader than most of the population. I don't know anyone who reads as much as I do in RL so it's only on forums like LT where I feel my numbers are something like "average." Anyway, it's not about the numbers - reading long books, ones that take up a lot of thought or just for fun, and your in-depth responses are nothing to be sneezed at, whether you're talking about 4 books or 40.

>228 _Zoe_: Thanks for such a long review of this book. I'm not sure I'll be able to get hold of it, but feel like I have a good flavour of it from your comments. Difficult stuff.

Hi, everyone! Thank you all for stopping by, and I hope you're all having a great week!

>232 bell7: Thank you for the support! I really appreciate it. I feel like June has been a better reading month than many this year, but I still haven't managed to finish many books. I'm hoping to get through Every Heart a Doorway in the next couple of days since it's due back at the library, but I'm also still in the middle of Missoula, which I don't really want to read all at once because of the subject matter.

This month I'm also trying a new approach to the many, many books that I'm in the middle of: I want to focus on making progress on several of them, instead of trying to finish up one at a time. Because if I keep making progress, I'll eventually get through the, whereas if I pick one or two to finish I'll end up neglecting way too many others.

Of course, I haven't yet managed to implement this approach, but we're only halfway through the month. So we'll see.

Also, I have actually been successful at one book-related thing lately: I've managed to weed a lot of books from my collection. More than 100 books have left my collection in the past year, most of them in the past six months. After almost ten years of tracking my reading and acquisitions on LT, I think I've finally started to learn which books are worth keeping around and which are not.

Even though I wasn't very impressed with The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up when I read it last year, I've found that the basic principle did resonate with me: keep only items that "spark joy". I don't apply this to all aspects of my life, because I'm not a big shopper like the author, but of course I'm happy to buy books. And this means, somewhat paradoxically, that I don't mind getting rid of books because I know I'll always have more that I want to buy and read. I would never apply this principle to something like clothing, because the vast majority of my clothing doesn't spark joy and I would get even less joy from the prospect of having to replace it all, but it does work for some things.

Of course, the approaching move is also contributing to my eagerness to get rid of stuff. I'm really excited about having more space, and I don't want to fill it all immediately.

>233 charl08: I'm glad the review was helpful to you. It was definitely not the easiest content to deal with.

At least Every Heart a Doorway is short and reads quickly!

>235 ronincats: Yup, that is certainly an advantage! I even managed to read about 10 pages at the gym today.

Zoe, we forgot PICTURES!

>237 ffortsa: Well, I took a picture of that lit-up building.... Does that count? ;)

27. Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire

I knew very little about this book going in, and I think that was for the best, so I won't say too much about it here. The basic idea is that some children have access to doorways that take them to other worlds, and then have to learn how to come to terms and move on once they get back. The setting is a boarding school for these children/teens.

The book is interesting and powerful and short, so I'd certainly recommend it, though I'll add one word of warning for anyone else who prefers to go in blind and hasn't even looked at the tag cloud: there's a prominent "horror" tag for a reason. I had been expecting pure fantasy, so I was a bit caught off guard by how gruesome it was at parts.

I also hadn't realized in advance that Seanan McGuire also writes zombie novels as Mira Grant (I read Feed several years ago, but didn't continue with the series). It makes sense in retrospect. (No, there are no zombies in Every Heart a Doorway).

Anyway, I was impressed by this novella despite not being a huge horror fan and despite having some minor quibbles (e.g., there was a bit too much focus on physical characteristics rather than internal ones for determining where someone belonged). I'll certainly be looking for more books by this author. The obvious one to try would be Rosemary and Rue, which I've always avoided because it has a mystery element that I don't really care for and because the average rating is relatively low, but it looks like the series improves as it goes on, so it might be worth giving it a try. And I think McGuire will be writing more books in the world of Every Heart a Doorway, as evidenced by the LT series listing, so of course I'll read the next one of those whenever it appears.