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Hello!

This is a few days late. I am traveling for the next three weeks in the PNW where two of my adult kids live. First we're in central Oregon where my son and his wife live. That's why this post is a bit late. We've been running full speed since getting here.

In the last 10 days I finished The House in the Cerulean Sea. That was enjoyable to me. I liked that it had adult characters who were good people and were good at heart.

I also finished The Last Colony on audiobook, on the airplane ride. That reached a good ending that I might not listen to the fourth book for a little while.

Also on the airplane I listened to the Old Man's War novella After the Coup. On the audiobook it was labelled as 3.5 so I listened after finishing book three. But on GR it is labelled as 4.5. So maybe I listened too early. Oh well.

For a light read I started True Blue. It is a romance, I think. I got it from my sister at our family reunion vacation last month.

For my neighborhood book club (but I'll miss the meeting because I'm out here still) I started Mary Jane. I am listening on audiobook. I am only a few chapters in so far.

QOTW:
Since I'm on an extended vacation, I'll just ask others if you have plans to travel or have a place you're looking forward to visiting, soon or just someday.

We visited our son back in 2019. My daughter moved out to Seattle last fall. So we're visiting both (at different times) on one long trip.

Susan, it's probably a good idea to put some distance between The Last Colony and Zoe's Tale anyway, since it's essentially a retelling from Zoe's POV with a few things filled in.

Summer vacation means more time to read! :). In the past week:

Infinity's Shore, book 5 of the Uplift Saga, which might be my favorite of the series so far. It brings back some favorite characters from an earlier book, and I'll just leave it at that to avoid spoilers. I know this is an older series, but I still highly recommend it - for the most part it has aged well. David Brin is REALLY good at aliens. They're not just funny-looking humans.

After that I was in a brain candy kind of mood, and I had recently learned of the existence of Beyond by Mercedes Lackey, the first in a new trilogy about the founding of Valdemar. I'm sure I'm not the only Valdemar superfan here - I probably would not be as big of a fan if I read them for the first time as an adult, but my adolescent self was wildly in love with Valdemar and I've never really outgrown that :) Anyway, it's not a good starting point if you've not read any of the other books, but if you've read and loved the others then you'll enjoy this one!

When I've not been reading I've been bingeing "Queer Eye" on Netflix, so I decided to read Jonathan Van Ness's memoir Over the Top: A Raw Journey to Self-Love, which I really enjoyed. There's a lot more to him than the flippant flamboyant hairdresser he shows on the series. I started listening to his podcast after reading the book and it was way more intelligent than I expected.

A student had left behind Girl Last Seen in my classroom lost and found, so I took it home for the summer to read, and read it in a single sitting a few days ago. If you like a good psychological thriller, I recommend it.

I was still thinking about Valdemar and felt the need to re-read The Heralds of Valdemar trilogy (Arrows of the Queen, Arrow's Flight, Arrow's Fall). Like visiting old friends! I might re-read some of the others, but I'm going to start Heaven's Reach first to finish off the Uplift books.

QOTW: We will be away this weekend for a short trip to celebrate my father-in-law's 80th birthday with my husband's family. Later in the summer we'll be going out to visit my in-laws in Colorado - we haven't been in 3 years and my husband (who grew up in Boulder) gets antsy when he's away for the mountains for too long. I'm really looking forward to getting out there.

Welcome to the PNW, Susan! Hope you enjoy it here. We're up north of Seattle. To answer the question of the week up front, we're going to be driving down the Oregon coast later this summer, in September. We have been doing this every year for a few years. It's a sort of combination vacation and mini writing retreat (to prep for November).

Shel, I'll have to check out Beyond. I used to be a Valdemar super-fan. I made a bunch of friends through the penpals section of the fan club newsletter - some of whom are still friends to this day.

Finishes this week:
The Law - the new Dresden Files novella. It was enjoyable but pretty average for Dresden, honestly. At least one new character appears who I liked and I suspect will continue to appear in future novels.

The Dead Romantics - I wanted to like this, since I enjoyed the author's previous YA novels. And I did like parts of this. The story of the main character coming home to her small hometown and family were really good. But the romance never really landed right for me, and the male lead has zero discernable personality beyond "nice" and "workaholic" (and a description that sounds suspiciously like Adam Driver).

Gender Queer - I loved this, a beautiful and poignant graphic memoir of the author's struggles with eir nonbinary gender identity and asexuality.

Currently reading:
All the Tides of Fate - I'm just starting the sequel to All the Stars and Teeth, which I'm reading for the Popsugar duology prompts. I'm not really far enough in to have an opinion yet. I liked the first but wasn't blown away, so have no real expectations for this one.

I will also answer the question of the week first, as I am currently in a cabin in the Uwharrie forest. Did some hiking yesterday and probably tomorrow; this morning was a seven-mile river kayak trip.

Wilds of the United States: The Animals' Survival Field Guide - I like this artist, so I preordered the book and got it before it came out. It's a children's book with full spreads of ecosystems in all regions of the US (and territories!) in a sort of Charley Harper modern style, with fun animal facts. I would recommend it if you and/or a child you know like that sort of thing, and I think it's officially out today.

Immune: a Journey into the Mysterious System that Keeps You Alive - This was a very interesting look at the immune system without having to know any organic chemistry. I thought the author hit some of the metaphors a little too hard - it's not that hard to understand at the level presented - and there was a lot of idiosyncratic grammar, possibly because the author is German or they were going for a colloquial feel, but it was distracting at times. I would still recommend it for just having a better idea of what's going on in your body.

trying to read Trouble with the Cursed.

in the end, since I'm packing, and don't get through all my email lately, it leaks over into my morning and lunch reading time. *sigh* i might have to return it when it's due (it has holds) and then read it after we move.