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Hello,

I hope everyone here in the US had a good Thanksgiving. My entire family (us and all our adult kids and their spouses) were together for the first time in 18 months So it was wonderful, fun and special for us.

I did not get a ton of reading time, mostly only at bedtime and on the airplanes. I find I cannot focus on long stories while flying. So I listened to a lot of the Amazon Original short stories. I think I listened to 6 or 7 of them both on the flights there and back. They are only about 60-90 minutes each and that is a great amount of time before I get distracted on the plane.

I am still listening to The Frozen River for neighborhood book club next week. I hope I finish in time. I'm only about 1/3 of the way through. It is okay for me so far. I'm liking it but not blown away.

QOTW:
When you are loving a book, do you race to the end or do you pace yourself and make it more of a slow burn?

I am definitely more of a slow burn kind of reader. It sometimes takes me a while to figure out that it is that kind of book, but I try to stretch it out and enjoy it more thoroughly. Books like The Martian or some of the recent Scalzi books fit that category.

We did one family visit before Thanksgiving and then another a week later on for the actual holiday, and now I refuse to go anywhere for at least a month.

Gaudy Night - I know this is a lot of people's favorite Wimsey, but I still don't like the ones with Harriet Vane. It's not her, she's a perfectly nice Mary Sue, it's the way he is around her. Also he isn't even in this very much, and nothing really happens plot-wise (or rather the same think keeps happening repeatedly without really advancing anything). Anyway, one left, we'll see if it's better once the relationship is settled.

Do I Know You?: A Faceblind Reporter’s Journey into the Science of Sight, Memory, and Imagination - This was a really fun book about the author coming to terms with the fact that she has faceblindness, aphantasia, and other neurodiversities while learning about the science and history thereof. Very funny, quick read, recommend!

The CW Way of Life: Learning, Living, and Loving Morse Code - I am not-really-related to the author via a series of connections that mean that I have met him once and there was a copy of his book in one of the houses I visited. It's about learning Morse code for ham radio purposes by speaking it aloud using "dit" and "dah". Very self-pub-style, but if you were interested in the subject, it would probably be worth a look. It does assume a level of familiarity with the ham radio part (transmitters and call signs and all that), but I guess if you just wanted to learn to tap messages on the wall of your cell or something, you could ignore those parts.

Amphigorey - I always liked Edward Gorey's opening titles for Mystery! but I don't think I'd read any of his stuff. This is a compilation of several of his books and was fun.

The Murder of Mr. Ma - This book sets up a detective-and-sidekick situation featuring a Chinese folk hero (loosely based on a real person) and an actual Chinese novelist, thrown together in 1920s London. It was OK. There were a lot of kung fu scenes, which I am not all that into anyway but are even less fun to read than to watch.

QOTW: Oh I will finish the book. I will sit in the parking lot at the office before driving home because there are only "a few" pages left (normally I have underestimated).

We had a nice, quiet Thanksgiving, just the three of us, so that was nice. I'm currently planning my challenges for next year. I guess I needed something to distract me from "real life".

Finished:
Pandora's Jar: Women in the Greek Myths by Natalie Haynes - 4 stars - for Robot Librarian's Nonfiction: The 200s. I enjoyed this look at the women of Greek myths. They're all relatively well-known figures, but Haynes delves into the versions of myths we may not know, and a lot about how the ancient Greek playwrights and poets shaped the stories that survived. Interesting, and not just retellings of the myths but also looking at them through both how the ancient world would have viewed them, and through a more modern, feminist lens.

Comics/manga:
Queen's Quality, Vol. 20
Daytime Shooting Star, Vol. 8

Currently reading:
My final 2024 prompt: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story by Alexander Freed - for Robot Librarian's novelization of a film

Upcoming/Planned:
Nothing right now...

QOTW:
Most books, I pace myself, but if I'm really enjoying something, I will race through it.

I had a lovely Thanksgiving with family, and then we did something we've been wanting to do for a VERY long time - we adopted a rescue dog! So we've been busy with her lately and I've had a hard time getting through my current book, which I feel like I've been reading for ages - The Air War by Adrian Tchaikovsky, the 8th in his Shadows of the Apt series. I'm finding it a bit of a slog because it is more focused on battles than characters, which is generally not my preference. But I'm almost done with it!

I've also been reading The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller in chunks - I keep it in my desk at school for independent reading time (our students read daily, the teachers on my team have made it a point to read with them once a week instead of working while they read).

QotW:
I'm usually a race to the end type. When I'm really into a book, I have a hard time putting it down. That doesn't seem to be the case right now though - but I've just got to get through one more week of school after today, then I'm on break!