Space Station Mir

Happy Top Ten Tuesday over at  That Artsy Reader Girl! Honestly, I'm not sure if I would want to read any of these for the first time right now, but as I can't keep my mind off the pandemic, here are several speculative fiction books that deal with either pandemics or other forms of apocalypse. Top Ten Speculative Fiction Books That Feel Too Close for Comfort Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler Parable of the Talents by Octavia Butler (sequel to above) Dawn by Octavia Butler The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin (#1 in the Broken Earth trilogy) The School of Night by Louis Bayard The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood (#2 in the MaddAddam trilogy) Empire of Ivory by Naomi Novik (#4 in the Temeraire series) The Weight of Ink by Rachel Kadish Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks The School of Night, The Weight of Ink, and Year of Wonders are all fictional interpretations of the historical plague, taking place ...

Happy Top Ten Tuesday over at That Artsy Reader Girl!  This week's topic is Spring TBR, but I think Social Distancing TBR is more apropos right now. Here's what I'm thinking about reading to get through this period of uncertainty, limited as I am to what I have in the house :-P Social Distancing 2020 TBR Writing Magic: Creating Stories That Fly by Gail Carson Levine Writing Across Contexts: Transfer, Composition, and Sites of Writing by Kathleen Yancey, Liane Robertson, and Kara Taczak Wherever You Go There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life by Jon Kabat-Zinn The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern Bread and Beauty: A Year in Montgomery County's Agricultural Reserve by Claudia Kousoulas and Ellen Letourneau The Collector's Apprentice by B.A. Shapiro Brave New Girls: Adventures of Gals and Gizmos Ed. Mary Fan and Paige Daniels The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears by Dinaw Mengestu One True Thing by Anna Quindlen Bucharest Diary by Alfred...

Honestly? I'm scared. Not so much that I will get COVID19 as that I don't know what will happen next. I'm anxious about my students and their families. I'm anxious about the fact that one of my jobs is hourly work and if I don't work, I won't get paid. I'm anxious about the fact that I don't even know if or when I'm supposed to go in to work tomorrow .  I'm not jazzed about being isolated either. But of course I understand and want to do everything I can to support public health. Here are some things I'm doing, with more or less success, to relieve my anxiety: 1. Watching Star Trek Like, all the Treks. My husband and I are keeping up with Star Trek: Picard (loved the last episode's much needed background on Rios), plus watching various episodes of TNG, Voyager, and DS9 both together and separately. Star Trek is like comfort food for us. 2. Watching Queer Eye I've been rewatching select episodes of Queer Eye, although my Netfl...

Happy Top Ten Tuesday over at That Artsy Reader Girl ! I follow a lot of authors on social media, especially Twitter, including some whose books I haven't even read (yet) but I just like their style. I end up following authors usually because other authors I like follow them, I read an article they wrote, or I read a short story or book excerpt of theirs online. I do try to preorder when I can! Authors Who Have A Fun Social-Media Presence 1. Maggie Stiefvater-I followed her on Twitter after reading The Raven Boys (which I read because C.G. Drews, see below, extolled it so highly), and I love her on-brand tweets about social awkwardness, idiosyncratic vehicles, and ruminations on her characters' inner lives. 2. C.G. Drews- I found her because of her Paper Fury blog , but since then, I read and loved her book The Boy Who Steals Houses . I also follow her on Twitter and Instagram. 3. Neon J.Y. Yang -I've read some of their short stories and follow them on Twitter l...

Happy Top Ten Tuesday over at That Artsy Reader Girl! Books with Single-Word Titles These are all my favorite books that I could think of with one-word titles. A lot of fantasy, a few nonfiction (minus subtitles) and Kindred , whether you consider it scifi or historical fiction. Also two portmanteaus using the word "bitter." I suppose it's a word that lends itself to amelioration. 1. Sweetbitter by Stephanie Danler 2. Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore 3. Fire by Kristin Cashore 4. Heartless by Marissa Meyer 5. Inheritance by Christopher Paolini 6. Meditations by Marcus Aurelius 7. Stoned by Aja Raden (has a subtitle) 8. Educated by Tara Westover 9. Fledgling by Octavia Butler 10. Kindred by Octavia Butler