What I read: August 2022

LHC #180: "The Red Wolf Conspiracy" by Robert V.S. Redick. Hard copy; the library doesn't even had this in digital. The first 50 pages were really confusing, but fortunately I don't usually give up until around p. 60, by which things were going great. But it never completely gelled for me, it felt sort of like reading someone's D&D campaign.

LHC #181: "And then they came for me (Rosewater)" Maziar Bahari. After reading a few of these "trapped in an Iranian prison for dubious reasons" books I kind of get the idea: Iranian interrogators are idiots with no real goal of getting information. Unfortunately, my fictional character who spends time in an Iranian prison does not really get interrogated that much, he's a different kind of prisoner.

LHC #182: "Burning down the house: essays on fiction" by Charles Baxter. eBook. Seemed kind of mean-spirited at times, but I did get some ideas for my current problem, which is endings.

"Craft in the real world" by Matthew Salesses. Interesting to read just after the Baxter. I made a lot of notes about my current short story while I was reading.

LHC #183: "Because Internet" by Gretchen McCulloch. Hard copy, the eBook version had a wait of about 8 weeks whereas the print edition was basically immediate, considering they had a copy at my branch anyway. It's really neat to read a history of something so recent! It's hard to believe we've had emojis for about 12 years. 😃 And that memes have evolved since it was published---three years ago.

"When the tiger came down the mountain" by Nghi Vo. I was reading a review of a series-adjacent book (?) on Marissa Lingen's blog (where honestly a huge portion of my TBR list comes from) and thought, hey, didn't I read something in that series, and it was awesome? And I saw that back in 2020 I read book 1 of the series and said I couldn't wait for book 2. But then somehow I forgot. They're not that long so I just grabbed it.

And then I started reading and it felt distressingly like I'd read it before. What was going on? I think I must have read a preview at the end of the previous one, which normally I don't do because then things like this happen. After two chapters I was in unfamiliar territory.💯

What I read -- October 2025

"The Moomins and the Great Flood" by Tove Jansson. eBook. I read this because Marissa Lingen loves them. It was fine? This was the first one in the series and the only one available online; maybe the later ones are better. Maybe they're better if you read them as a child. "The Relentless Moon" by Mary Robinette Kowal. Hard copy. Read it because Ed had the whole series out of the library. It took a long time to get going, and sometimes I find MRK exhausting. Her white main characters all seem oddly aware of the Black experience. "The Martian Contingency" by Mary Robinette Kowal. Hard copy. Read it because Ed had the whole series out of the library. I don't often read subsequent books in a series in quick succession, and my reaction to this one is a lot of why: I found Alma's voice too similar to Nicole's -- sure, Nicole obsessed about food much more, but they both went on and on about "must support black guy in management" an...

What I read: September 2025

LHC #295: "The Last to Leave the Room" by Caitlin Starling. Audiobook. Workplace horror? Loved it. "Careless People" by Sarah Wynn-Williams. Hard copy, for office Data Ethics book club. The stories about Sheryl Sandberg really made me like my boss better. LHC #296: "The Fated Sky" by Mary Robinette Kowal. Hard copy. This got moved up the list because Ed had read book 1 in the series and got the rest out of the library. Loved it. He's got the next one in the series upstairs, I suppose I'll read it when he's done. LHC #297: "Bluegrass: A History" by Neil V. Rosenberg. Hard copy. No idea why it was on my list, I don't care that much about bluegrass. Nevertheless, the second half was interesting. I guess the first half was necessary, as it described in great length the way people came and went in Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys band, and also how technology and social pressures affect how music is made and performed. LHC #298: ...

In progress - January 2026

Wind/Water/Salt Chapters 39-51: Nothing Persephone (probably not its real name): NOthing Vinterlys: Worked on Chapter 2 some more. Critted 4 Got back 1 Submissions 0 Out there 0 Rejects 0 Knitting Georgia (Norah Gaughan). Started the month with one sleeve and half a front to go. Finished. Love this sweater. Aberlady (AS Celtic Collection). Did a few rows while listening to podcasts. Summer in Tokyo (Isager): Started. I was looking at the pictures and the charts, and the pattern as written is not what is in the pictures! So odd. I am going to finish up two cones of yarn with this project! Pretty exciting. I hope I don't run out of light blue. I was working along on it, and if you go and look at the sweater, it's knit bottom-up, and I was at the part where I only had two colors, about 5" maybe. And I was thinking, "wow, this is pretty ugly! Maybe I should stop...

Robynettely

Search This Blog