My Reading Frenzy

What I've Read - What I am Reading - January 25, 2021

I thoroughly enjoyed Amanda Gorman's inauguration poem and have listened and watched it on repeat. I have written about it for my Library of Congress Teacher's Corner post this month. 

 

Read:

• Just Last Night (egalley) by Mhairi McFarlane - I enjoyed this as much as I have McFarlane's other novels. It was certainly more sad than the others, but still contained a health dose of satisfying romance. 
• Brain on Fire by Susannah Cahalan - I think my expectations were high, which may explain why I was somewhat disappointed overall. What happened to Cahalan as documented in the book was a medical mystery for weeks at the beginning of her illness. The segment of the book chronicling her downward spiral and the early attempted to diagnose her illness were interesting. After that the story plodded along through her treatments and return to regular life activities. I would be surprised to discover that teens stay engage all the way through.
• This is the Story of a Happy Marriage (eaudio library book)  by Ann Patchett - This is a collection of essays, one of the which is the title essay, written over a decade and published in a variety of magazines. I think Patchett may be as engaged an essayist as she is novelist. BONUS: Patchett does the reading 

 

Reading:

• Gideon the Ninth (purchased book) by Tamsyn Muir - I am close to finishing, but one night, right before bed I read a few chapters and realized when I tried to pick up the next day that I had forgotten important details. This is why I try to avoid reading right before bed or when I am sleepy. I should finish within the next two days. Then will move immediately on to the next installment, Harrow the Ninth, to avoid losing the momentum of the first book. 
• Angel Mage (library ebook) by Garth Nix - I have not read any more of this than I had last week, because life got busy and then the book was due back to the library. I have put it on hold again and am first on the list for when it is available again. 
• In the Presence of the Enemy (elibrary book) by Elizabeth George - I had this once from the library then it was due, so when it popped back up again I moved it to the top of the TBR. I am not sorry to have done so. George mixed things up a bit by delaying the murder until almost half-way through the book, taking us slowly into the story through investigating a kidnapping before a murder occurs. The focus also begins with Simon St. James, rather than Lynley. This is the 8th Lynley mystery, but I have also read the 6 most recent works. I started over at the beginning and have 6 to read after this to catch up. I hope she has something new in the works too, I don't want to run out.  

 

Listening:

• The Best of Me (audiobook purchased from Audible) by David Sedaris I mentioned this one a few weeks ago, but had to skip it in favor of the Patchett book that came in from my library holds list. But after finishing that this one rose to the top. As expected I snort laughed a number of times already. Luckily I was by myself in the car so I didn't get any funny looks from strangers.

 

 

What have you read? What are you reading and listening to?

 

 

**A note on the picture. I always use an image from the Prints and Photographs collections of the Library of Congress. I like these because they are interesting, and freely available because they are in the public domain. I mainly choose images of people reading. If you click the image in any of my posts you will be able to see the Library's bibliographic record which includes whatever they know about the image including its creator. There are also usually links to other similar items or to the collection the image is a part of.***

Holly Black is AWESOME and so is the National Book Festival

So, it has been a woefully long time since I posted a review, or anything at all for that matter, but the good news is I have been reading and have something to talk about.  I reviewed Doll Bones by Holly Black in my previous post.  Since then I have also read The Coldest Girl in Coldtown and bought her graphic novel series The Good Neighbors: Kin, Kith, and Kind.  I am pretty excited to read them.  I picked up a couple of other graphic novels when I went to Politics and Prose to see Rainbow Rowell last Wednesday - more about that in another post. 

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown is a vampire book...I know, I know haven't we all had enough vampire books, but this one is different I promise.  First of all, the heroine is not a ridiculous, swoony girl who can't bear to be without her vampire (I think we all know to whom I am alluding here.)  Tana is remarkably strong-willed in the face of some pretty harrowing stuff.  There is no way around it, this book is not afraid to talk about what vampires do, which is suck the blood out of people and sometimes kill them. 

Tana wakes up after a party to find that only she, a friend who has been bitten, and a vampire have survived a huge and horrific vampire attack.  It is only through guts and some probably unwise behavior that Tana gets the survivors away.  Not knowing their fate, she heads for the nearest coldtown where Aidan (the bitten friend), and Gavriel (the vampire) probably need to be and where she herself may need to be if she has been infected by a slight encounter.  I really do not want to give much away, but this is certainly a vampire novel to redeem YA vampire novels and to realign with the greats of vampire fiction: Dracula and Interview with the Vampire.  I for one would not mind more of Tana and Gavriel.  (My insider info. tells me Holly Black is not done with this world.)  WHAT INSIDER INFO. YOU SAY???

Well, in my previous post I revealed that I would be introducing Holly Black at the National Book Festival. 

This is Holly Black speaking to the crowd after my introduction.  She was funny, and gracious to all those who asked questions and came up to her afterwards for pictures and to ask questions.  She even signed my book before going on.  Now you might be saying that I could have just snuck up by the side of the stage and snapped this shot.....but

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This one is indisputable...this is me WITH Holly Black after her talk.  After this I wandered around the Book Festival in a bit of a daze until I got my act together to go see Patrick Ness give his talk.  His was actually in an interview format with a Washington Post reporter, but he did take questions afterwards.

 

 

 

He is super adorable, and has a husband....I did not know this.  My crush is however unabated.  His newest book More Than This is one at the top of my TBR pile.  I loved A Monster Calls and have been looking forward to reading others for a while now.   I was walking by the fiction tent when I happened across Brad Meltzer and stopped, became entranced by his stories about the Archives, Washington DC, and being invited to the White  House.  As you can see I was quite far away, but had a perfect line right to him.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After that I had to head to the Library of Congress for my presentation that went quite well despite the windyness.  My final author of the day was Paulo Bacigalupi author of Ship Breaker and The Drowned Cities.  In the Q & A he specifically address the idea of sequels which he does not like to do.  But he also said, he does not think he is done with the world he created in those two novels.  The book he spoke about was Zombie Baseball Beatdown, which I bought on the off chance I got to introduce him, but I doubt I will read it now because does not sound like my thing.  I think I'll send it to my favorite nephew who may really enjoy it.                  

I truly appreciated the opportunity to hear all these wonderful authors.  But all that pales in comparison with the experience I had today. I began by being present for the "Book that Changed Me" awards for which I had been a judge in the final round.  The three kids who were the top winners almost brought me to tears with their sweet and wonderful readings.  The essays were not really sad, but to know that these kids were so deeply affected by books is why librarians, teachers, and parents work so hard to get kids to read.  Part of the ceremony was also the "Letters about Literature" national winner who happens to live in DC.  She wrote to Laura Ingalls Wilder and connected her works to the life of her father who had grown up in Eritrea and then back to her own life during which she has not had to struggle to find food, water, or education.  That one made me cry because is was a sweet homage to her father and Little House on the Prairie. 

 

 

I then worked our booth through the afternoon talking to many librarians and teachers from around the nation who are eager to use or already use primary sources with their students.  Near the end of the day, Dr. James H. Billington, Librarian of Congress stopped by, and this happened.   What a day and what a weekend!

The end of the challenge

As I am moving TONIGHT/TOMORROW to Washington, DC, and will begin work on Monday, my book-a-day challenge for myself is officially ended. 

I read The Penderwicks at Point Mouette by Jeanne Birdsall.  I have enjoyed the first three books in this series.  They feel a bit old timey to me.  The stories are far from saccharine, but feel less heavy than other modern stories.  The Penderwicks have issues - dead mother, remarriage of father, and in this latest tale, close family friend Jeffrey deals with his difficult mother and step-father while also working through the problems associated with having never known his father.  The continual and strong presence of adults is reassuring to the characters and the reader.  In some middle-grade and YA book the adults are just absent, which is clearly realistic.  I believe these stories are also realistic in that while the kids try to deal with problems on their own, they always know there is an adult ready to bear the burden if needed.  I think it is a healthy portrayal of families that are not perfect, but are strong in their devotion to each other. 

After this I was able to finish The Hundred Dresses.  This is not the children's story by Eleanor Estes, but instead a look at 100 dress styles that have been significant in history.  The book was written by blogger and lexicographer Erin McKean who also wrote the novel The Secret Lives of Dresses which I enjoyed immensely.  I have been reading this one slowly at a pace of two to three dress styles a day. 

Currently I am reading Bellman and Black by Diane Setterfield who wrote The Thirteenth Tale, a gothic novel if ever there was one, which I loved.  (I remember clearly reading it on Christmas day 2007 which was a dreary, rainy day in NJ.  I was cozy by the fireplace and flew through the story, taking breaks only to help with dinner.)  I was lucky enough to receive an ARC and would love to post my review before release.  Hopefully if my exploring DC schedule is not too hectic, I will finish and blog about it next week. 

I am off to finish packing and maybe get a reading break this afternoon.