Category Archives: Books

Favorite Books

Reading Goal

A couple of days ago I started reading The Book Whisperer: Awakening the Inner Reader in Every Child by Donalyn Miller. I saw Miller’s newest book, Reading in the Wild pop up in our “new at the library” email. It looked interesting but was described as a companion to her first book so I put a hold on The Book Whisperer instead. I’m only about half-way through it but I’ve really enjoyed what I’ve read so far.

Miller expects each child in her class to read at least 40 books during the school year. She allows her students a lot of latitude in what they read but does request a certain number from specific genres. Her requirements are as follows:

Poetry anthologies 5
Traditional literature 5
Realistic fiction 5
Historical fiction 2
Fantasy 4
Science Fiction 2
Mystery 2
Informational 4
Biography, autobiography, memoir 2
Chapter-book choice 9

As I was reading this list, I realized my personal reading would profit from a wider selection. I mainly read for comfort at night and it’s easy to get in a rut. As a result, I’ve decided to create my own reading goal for the next year. I’m still mulling this over but I’m leaning toward the following:

Best Sellers 2
Biography, Autobiography, Memoir 2
Fiction Books Jaeger Recommends 2
Christian Fiction 2
Graphic Novels 2
Historical Fiction 2
Informational 2
Juvenile Books 12
Literature 2
Mystery 2
Poetry Anthologies 2
Realistic Fiction 2
Short Story Anthologies 2

Best Sellers
I have a tendency to avoid obvious best sellers. It’s not that I automatically think they’re going to be bad. After all, most best sellers are best sellers for a reason. However, I think I get author fatigue when I see an author consistently in the best seller list. I see the titles and names so much I feel like I’ve already read the books, even when I haven’t, and don’t want to take my time to do so again.

Biography, Autobiography, Memoir
I have a had time reading non-fiction that isn’t immediately useful to me. I have no doubt that biographies, and memoirs have value but I find it hard to care.

Fiction Books Jaeger Recommends
When it comes to fiction, Jaeger and I read the same genres but read different sub-genres. I’ll let Jaeger come up with a list of books he thinks I should try and I’ll pick a couple of them. Note: I have specified fiction books. I have no desire to try to wade through The Generalissimo.

Christian, Graphic Novels, Historical, and Mystery Fiction
These are all genres that are hugely popular within our library district. As a result, I feel like I should have a bit more familiarity with them than I do. I did read a lot of Christian fiction back when I was a teenager but I’m not very familiar with the recent trends. I’m also going to exclude the few mystery authors that I already read regularly from qualifying for this list since the idea is to expand my horizons.

Informational
I’m somewhat ambivalent about this one. I do read a fair amount of non-fiction but it’s all very specifically targeted to whatever is currently relevant in my life. I read a subject obsessively and then stop when the books start repeating each other. I wonder if I should pick specific informational subjects to read. I’ll have to think about this one a bit more.

Juvenile Books
My main purpose for reading in this category is to become more familiar with books Calvin is likely to enjoy in the coming years. Of course, I remember (and usually still own) all my favorites from when I was young. However, I’m sure there are many wonderful books that have been published since I was a child. At the moment, I don’t have a good feel for what types of books are available for the juvenile audience these days.

Literature
Growing up, I read a lot of classic literature. However, I haven’t read much recently and should probably get back into the habit. Contemporary literature might be a good place to start.

Poetry Anthologies
I don’t like poetry. I really don’t. It’ll be good for me to see if I can find poetry I do enjoy. If nothing else, it’ll be a good experience for me. Maybe. My main reason for caring about poetry is I want Calvin to have an appreciation for it. I doubt it’s something he’ll acquire unless I, or someone around him, can get excited about it.

Realistic Fiction
I’ve always been a genre reader. I think it’ll be good for me to try reading whatever it is that gets shelved in the regular fiction section.

Short Story Anthologies
Like poetry, I don’t like short stories. I think it’s because by the time I get into the story, it ends. It’s very annoying. Maybe I can consider short stories little trailers for the type of stuff different authors write.

Caveats

  • Donalyn Miller had a rule for her students that if a book was over 350 pages, it could count as two books. I think that bar is a bit low for me. However, if a book is particularly large, I might consider counting it as two books. Steve Jobs, by Walter Isaacson, is on our bookshelf and is staring me in the face. It might be interesting but it looks awfully thick.
  • I reserve the right to cross two categories off at once if a book falls into both.

Favorite Recent(ish) Reads

I’ve been trying to keep track of my reading in LibraryThing. This is mostly to prevent me from re-reading books I’ve already read. However, I also use it to remind me of authors I’ve enjoyed in the past so I can check and see if they have anything new out. I was doing fairly well documenting my books until this year when the whirlwind of house cleaning, repairing, staging, selling, buying, cleaning, and repairing descending on me.

I’ve been attempting to rectify my neglect of LibraryThing and have been adding a lot of the books I’ve read in the last year. At this point, I’ve entered as much as I remember. Unfortunately, while I have evidence I read various titles I don’t necessarily remember much about them. However, below is my list of books I’ve particularly enjoyed this last year.

Romance
I really enjoy reading historical romances. I particularly like the almost-guaranteed happy ending at the end because it helps me relax enough to fall asleep at night.

  • The Duke is Mine and The Ugly Duchess by Eloisa James – Both of these books are very loosely based on fairy tales.

  • Heiress in Love and Mad About the Earl by Christina Brooke – She’s a new author to me but I’ve enjoyed the books I’ve read.

  • Ravishing the Heiress by Sherry Thomas – Most of this story happens several years after the couple get married. I’m not sure why but I particularly enjoy arranged marriage-type stories where the couples have to learn to work together.

  • Bedding Lord Ned by Sally MacKenzie – This was a really fun romance. One of the main side characters is a irrepressible cat who keeps making life difficult for the heroine.

Fantasy

  • Ironskin by Tina Connolly – similar to the classic Jane Eyre story. I was surprised by the low ratings on Amazon as I thought this was really good. I’m putting this in the fantasy category because the fantasy elements were subperb and I felt the romance was one of the weaker parts of the story.

  • Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas – I read this YA book in one sitting. I loved many aspects of it. However, if I sit and think about it too long, I’m not sure the heroine’s attitudes really make sense but I don’t care because it was a great story. This one is obviously setup to have a sequel.

  • The Killing Moon and The Shadowed Sun by N.K. Jemisin – Jemisin is a fantastic writer. I had a bit of trouble getting through the 3rd book in the Inheritance Trilogy, The Kingdom of Gods, but flew threw both of the books in the new Dreamblood series. Not only is the story great but Jemisin provides a lot of moral and ethical issues to mull over.

  • Cast in Peril by Michelle Sagara – I’ve really been enjoying this series but the last couple of books didn’t grab my attention as much as the first ones. However, I felt this book was another strong addition to the series.

  • Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore – I’m always nervous when I love an author’s previous works because I’m afraid the new one won’t live up to my expectations. However, this one exceeded them. I think it’s her strongest book yet.

  • The Steel Seraglio by Mike Carey, Linda Carey, Louise Carey, and Nimit Malavia – A very compelling read though intense and I’m not sure if I’d want to pick up more by the authors or not. However, very interestingly crafted.

  • Timeless by Gail Carriger – Usually I read paranormal fantasy grudgingly wishing that good authors would turn their talents to some other sub-genre. However, I really enjoy the Parasol Protectorate series. I adore the humor in it. I think the first one in the series was the best but I really enjoyed Timeless also.

  • Making Money by Terry Pratchett – I not a huge fan of the earlier Discworld books. However, I really enjoy listening to the later ones (I can’t manage to read them, I guess I need Stephen Briggs narrating for me to get all the humor). In this one Moist von Lipwig returns to take over Royal Mint. The Terry Pratchett/Stephen Briggs combo manages to produce audiobooks that I listen to over and over again. I just finished re-listening to the first Mois von Lipwig book, Going Postal and enjoyed it as much the second time as I did the first. In case you’re interested, I don’t think Going Postal requires any prior Discworld knowledge in order to get the gist of what’s going on.

Mystery
Usually I listen to mysteries as audiobooks, for some reason that format works better for me when dealing with mysteries. I particularly like the J.D. Robb futuristic In Death series. I love watching Eve and Roarke’s relationship evolve. However, there are two series that I’ve enjoyed reading instead of listening to.

  • When Maidens Mourn by C.S. Harris – I’ve really, really enjoyed this series. There was one book where the subject matter was a little difficult for me but even then the book was well-written. This book, like all the others, is very good.

  • Dark Enquiry by Deanna Raybourn – another historical mystery that I really enjoy.

Science Fiction
For some reason I haven’t found much science fiction compelling. I’m not sure if stuff I like just isn’t getting published or if it’s something else but I haven’t read much recently. I did find Redshirts by John Scalzi amusing but I suspect it would be close to incomprehensible if I hadn’t had a long history of watching science fiction space opera on TV.

Book Sale

Down

  • I’ve been eating too much recently. Not sure why. Just always seem hungry. I probably should increase my breakfast and lunch calories.

Ups

  • I got a couple more Indian cookbooks as well as a Persian cookbook that have been fun to peruse. I also finished reading Cryoburn by Bujold which was a great deal of fun. For audio books I’ve been in a bit of a slump. I started listening to a Nora Robert’s book but they never seem to grab me. So, I decided to relisten to Naked in Death by J.D. Robb (who happens to be Nora Roberts but I still like Robb’s books. I can’t explain it). I haven’t finished the In Death series yet but I thought it would be good to go back for a refresher on how it all started. The great thing about my memory is it’s bad enough I can just wait a couple of years and can enjoy the book all over again for the first time.

  • The 16th set of Midsomer Murders arrived at the library for me early in the week and I finished watching it on Friday. It’s a British mystery series so the set consists of 4 1 1/2 hr episodes. It’s not for everyone but I like the British sense of humor and it’s not as gratuitously gory as American mysteries often are.

  • The Friends of Longmont Library had their annual book sale this week. A couple of years ago, before Calvin was born, I was a member of the friends and got a chance to go to the “preview” book sale. Friends got first chance to buy the used books. It was insane, kind of like Black Friday. There were people everywhere and once the book sale was officially open, a wave of people descended on the books. This year I didn’t go until the sale was open to the general public. There were still a lot of people and it was very awkward flipping through books while carrying Calvin on my hip but it was much less scary than the last time I went. We also got quite a few truck, train, and Curious George books as well as a couple of piano books with children’s songs in them. Most of the books cost $0.50 so I could buy books and not feel bad if Calvin ruined them. I would have liked to spend longer sorting through the books but Calvin was restless. There’s always next year.

Calvin Moment

  • Calvin is once again refusing to nap. He skipped a nap two days at daycare last week and then didn’t want to nap over the weekend either. I walked for 1 1/2 hrs yesterday but he insisted on staying perky. Of course, it could have been because it was a little cold outside and he refused to let me wrap him in a blanket. Then, half way back to the car, he took off his socks and shoes and I didn’t notice for several minutes. He objected when I told him we had to put the shoes back on but I told him it was either the shoes or the blanket. He stayed wide awake on the 1/2 hr ride back home until we were turning into our subdivision at which point he slept. So, I had Jaeger bring a book out for me to read in the car while he napped for an hour.

  • I started making supper a little before 5 this evening which apparently wasn’t fast enough for Calvin. He climbed into his high chair before it was time. I popped him out and he climbed back in again. Finally, we gave up and just took a video of him doing it for posterity. He’s a very determined boy.

Simplification

  • I cleaned out Calvin’s closet again and organized the stuff he’ll no longer need into boxes. The closet looks much better. Of course, this just moves the “Calvin stuff” down to the basement instead of actually getting it out of the house. I have this idea that we should keep baby stuff around until we can give it to someone. However, I’m not sure we want to wait until our friends or relatives start having babies. Some stuff is easy to store but the changing table has got to go . . . somewhere.

Reading Update

Down

  • I walked 7 miles on Saturday while Calvin napped. Great exercise but my calves hurt enough that I reduced exercising this week. So, I probably lost exercise time instead of gaining.

  • I’ve been fighting with Qwest about our static IP. For some mysterious reason, they canceled it a couple of weeks ago. I’ve been trying to get them to fix it and repeatedly was shuffled between tech support and billing. Finally someone in tech support said they could reorder it for me but it’d be a $20 setup fee since they had no record I’d ever had a static IP. I was tempted to tell them that I would be happy to pay the $20 fee if they could refund the $5.95/month I’ve been paying for years for a static IP. However, Jaeger found what our old static IP was and using that they somehow confirmed that, yes, they did make some sort of mistake though no one seems to know what or how. Anyway, we have a static IP back but I’m still waiting for the next bill to see if they forget and try to charge us a $20 install fee. They claimed they put a note on my record that my fee should be “refunded” but we’ll see what really happens. I’m particularly annoyed that even though it was because of nothing on our end, they’ve wasted multiple hours of my time of this issue.

Ups

  • It was good weather so Calvin and I went to the park today. As usual, he loved it and had a lot of fun running all over the place.

  • Thanks to the RRA-L listserv I subscribe to, I got a huge number of books to read. I’m not sure they’re all exactly my style but it still is interesting to at least try them. The first one I read was Dark Mirror, by M.J. Putney. She’s written romances before under a different name but this is her first young adult book. I did enjoy it though it was very obviously young adult and I’m not much into time travel adventures. I finished Dark Mirror last night and immediately started reading Briar Rose by Jane Yolen. I also finished it last night. This is a young adult retelling of the story of Sleeping Beauty set during the Holocaust. It’s funny. I’ve read a lot of holocaust non-fiction but for some reason, this fiction book made the horror more real to me. The non-fiction books seem to emphasize the triumphant survivors of the concentration camps and it’s easy to not pay as much attention to the millions that were murdered. I suppose it also could be different because I read a lot of the non-fiction books as a teen before I had a child. Anyway, very good book but also very disturbing. Glad I read it but probably won’t re-read it. I can’t decide what book I’ll read next. Possibly The Greyfriar by Clay Griffith and Susan Griffith. I’m really tired of vampire novels but I’ve heard pretty good things about it and the vampires being evil again would be a novel change.

Calvin Moment

Calvin is growing up. Today in the park he started climbing the rope pyramid (Kind of like this. I really need to take pictures of these playgrounds so you can actually see what he’s doing). He’s been enjoying hanging on to the bottom rope for a while. However, today is the first day I saw him actually trying to climb several levels up. I decided the rule was that if he requested help at the higher levels, I would help but then bring him back to the ground and he’d have to start the climb over. This seemed to work fairly well. He did fall a couple of times but pretty close to the ground. Anytime he got higher I hovered underneath him. It’s very encouraging to see him grow up and achieve new abilities.

Piano Playing

Down

  • It’s very hard for Jaeger and I to find a good equilibrium in caring for Calvin.

Ups

  • I’m starting to get adjusted to the time change.

  • Calvin did take a nap both yesterday and today though for a while I wasn’t sure he was going to.

  • Finished reading An Unlikely Countess, by Jo Beverly, yesterday and The Lifecycle of Software Objects, by Ted Chiang, today. Very different books but both were good. I’m also currently listening to The Blessing of a Skinned Knee, by Wendy Mogel. I listened to it before I had Calvin but am re-listening to it now.

  • I’ve been exercising consistently for several months now.

  • Calvin’s birthday is this Saturday and he will be two. Jaeger’s mother (and possibly father) will be coming out. Jaeger is going to make Sushi for lunch and we’re going to having German Chocolate Cake for dessert. It’s a really strange combo but both should be good :-)

Calvin Moment

  • I got called Friday night and asked if I could play piano for Cradle Roll as a sub yesterday. I said that I could try but I wasn’t sure how Calvin would deal with it. To my surprise, it mostly worked. Calvin did spend one song wrapped around my middle as I tried to play over him. Also, for a couple of songs he was a little too enthusiastic and banged on the top keys as I was playing a couple of songs. However, I think the other parents were amused more than anything else. Every time Calvin managed to sneak in a banging session on the piano another kid would come over and try their luck. It’s very interesting trying to play music while intermittently reaching out and preventing other hands from helping.