What I read -- August 2014

“Heir to the Empire” by Timothy Zahn. This is book one of the Thawn trilogy, apparently. There are a bunch of these Star Wars books lying around the house. People say he’s like god’s gift to the Star Wars extended universe, so I thought I’d give one a try. Wow. I haven’t read many tie-in books lately, and I was always more of a Star Trek person than a Star Wars one, but wow. He really caught the quirks and nuances of Star Wars. I could really hear Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher delivering this dialog, and I loved how he used the various catch phrases. Though I felt like he didn’t know much about being a pregnant woman, especially after reading that Elizabeth Bear book last month.

“Make a Scene” by Jordan Rosenfeld. I bought this last year with my Ride for Heart gift certificate, and finally read it so I could do the next draft of WWS. I’d read maybe five chapters and then decided to check out the Amazon reviews, just out of curiosity. The 1-star reviews are always my favorite, except some of the reviewers were more bashing me for needing this book than were actually bashing the book.

I found it useful. I hope it helps.

“Genius of Common Sense: Jane Jacobs and the Story of The Death and Life of Great American Cities” by Glenna Lang and Marjory Wursch. This biography was targeted at young adults, and the writing was a bit condescending. It could have been considered good, if the author was a precocious 15-year-old, but for actual adults the sentence structure and quotes were not really impressive. Nevertheless, the subject matter was well-handled.

“Dark Force Rising” by Timothy Zahn. Book two of the Thrawn trilogy.

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: ...

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...

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...

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