Space Station Mir

Just Finished I finished listening to the audiobook this week. It was enjoyable, but I'm not sure whether or not I will continue the Dresden Files series. On the one hand, I'd like to learn more about protagonist Harry Dresden's world of technology-disrupting wizards; batlike, skinwearing vampires; and summonable demons in contemporary Chicago. On the other hand, I'm annoyed by Dresden's casual sexism and apparent belief that women are somehow different from people. I wonder if his character evolves in his conception of women throughout the series, or it's just an uninterrogated feature. Currently Reading Still enjoying this collection of Norse poetry and mythology! I didn't realize how big frost-giants were in the lore, or how many names Tolkien took from the Edda--Durin the father of dwarves is straight out of here; there's also a Greybeard, Gudrun, and many similar-sounding names. Also, didn't realize that Freya was a male god, who is...

Happy Top Ten Tuesday over at the Broke and the Bookish ! Top Ten Favorite Books I Read in 2017 1. Resistance, Rebellion, Life 50 Poems Now ed. Amit Majmudar 2. The Cooking Gene by Michael W. Twitty 3. Fledgling by Octavia Butler 4. Wizard of the Crow by Ngugi wa Thiong'o 5. Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 6. Victims and Neighbors by Frances Henry 7. Diving into the Wreck by Adrienne Rich 8. The Magician King and The Magician's Land by Lev Grossman 9. Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell 10. Small Changes by Marge Piercy 11. Lab Girl by Hope Jahren

State of the Book-Buying Ban My  pre-NaNoWriMo  book-buying ban remains intact. I've bought no books for myself since late October, and plan to continue the ban at least through New Year's. As a result, I've been hitting my TBR shelf and the library... State of the TBR shelf I've made some progress since I took this picture in August 2016. Recently, I read and enjoyed Wizard of the Crow, and I finished the two Oz books not too long after this picture was taken. However, some of these books and others not pictured have remained unsullied on the shelf. Just Finished I finished Warp by Lev Grossman, which deserves its status as a little-known forerunner of The Magicians trilogy (to be clear, it's not a prequel, but I can see where its talents and influences bloomed into The Magicians ). I finished Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell, a library audiobook, and now I see what the fuss is about. It's a clever mash-up of fantasy, contemporary, and romance set in...

Hanukkah starts Tues. Dec. 12 this year, so I'm jumping ahead from this week's Top Ten Tuesday over at the Broke and the Bookish ! Top Ten Books I'd Like for Hanukkah 1.  Brave New Girls : Stories of Girls Who Science and Scheme Ed. Paige Daniels and Mary Fan I found the first  Brave New Girls  book at Shore Leave con, where I met Mary Fan.  I loved every. single. story.  They were strong, adventurous scifi tales with female protagonists and next to zero romance. I hope the second anthology is just as strong! 2. Steles of the Sky by Elizabeth Bear I need to finally finish this trilogy! 3. L'Appart: The Delights and Disasters of Making My Paris Home by David Lebovitz The Sweet Life in Paris makes me laugh so hard, and I've reread it so many times. I hope this is more of the same! 4. Blood of Elves by Andrzej Sapkowski I enjoy watching my husband play the Witcher game that's based on this n...

This year, I hit not quite 29k. Better than last year, but no 50,000 word win. I'm not feeling as disappointed as last year, however. As opposed to last year, I didn't restrict myself only to the novel, and so I've written a number of shorter pieces that I could edit and publish. Plus, I've learned that I need more research, and have a better idea of the details I need to finish.  NaNoWriMo has been helpful in getting me to just write, and I realize that, even if 1, 667 words a day is unrealistic for my life right now, 500 or so daily words are achievable.  I'm looking forward to writing more for the rest of this month and in 2018. The adventure continues.