Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

Hello,

I am late getting this out because we just returned today from a family reunion vacation. I got some reading done with books but no progress whatsoever with audiobooks and no finishes. There was always someone to walk with so I never listened to it.

I did make progress on Veridian Sterling Fakes It. I'm about halfway through this on my kindle but paused so that I could read the next book mentioned. That one is a library book and has no renewals so I am motivated to finish it. This book is only okay for me so far so it was easy to put down.

I am most of the way through How to Win Friends and Influence Fungi: Collected Quirks of Science, Tech, Engineering, and Math from Nerd Nite. These are essays or transcripts of NerdNite talks. I am very much enjoying them. They're generally short, quirky and interesting science. With a collection, some are better than others but overall it is fun and interesting.

QOTW:
Do you have a quote from a book that you remember or think about?

For me the answer is only sort of. I remember reading Randy Pausch's The Last Lecture. It was less than 10 years after my husband battled cancer when we had three small kids aged 6 and under (he won and is still here and cancer free 25 years later). But some of the points hit home. And one of the quotes I remember is when he was stopped by a police officer and had to tell him that not all disabilities and diseases are visible.

I know that a lot of quotes hit me at the time and I "get" references but I'm drawing a blank on others at the moment.

Finished:
Wordslut: A Feminist Guide to Taking Back the English Language by Amanda Montell - 4 stars - for Robot Librarian's Nonfiction: 400s. - An entertaining look at language from a feminist perspective.

Tidal Creatures by Seanan McGuire - 4.5 stars - for neurodivergent character prompt in both Popsugar and Robot Librarian. There was a lot more of the characters from Middlegame in this, and it was nice to spend some more time with them.

Comics and manga:
Snow White with the Red Hair, Vol. 26
Star Wars: The Mandalorian: The Manga, Vol. 1

Currently reading:
Mirrored Heavens by Rebecca Roanhorse - not currently for a prompt

Upcoming/Planned:
The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty - for a book about pirates. It's time to take a break from the urgent library reads *fingers crossed* and start reading my already owned books for Popsugar.

QOTW:
There's some from Lois McMaster Bujold that have stuck with me:
"I've always thought tests are a gift. And great tests are a great gift. To fail the test is a misfortune. But to refuse the test is to refuse the gift, and something worse, more irrevocable, than misfortune.�

"Reputation is what other people know about you. Honor is what you know about yourself."

I know there are others, but nothing comes to mind just now.

Amina El-Sarafi was on my list of favorite reads from 2023, I hope you enjoy it! She's such a badass :)

In my quest to avoid schoolwork, I read three books this week.

Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant by Curtis Chin: a memoir of the author's experiences growing up in Detroit's Chinese community and navigating race, class, and his growing awareness of his sexuality at a time when everyone automatically associated gay men with the AIDS crises. I really enjoyed it, plus it's always fun to read books that take place in settings I know (although I never went to this particular restaurant since I grew up in the Detroit suburbs, not the city proper). It made me crave almond boneless chicken, which I've never seen on a menu here in the Boston area where I am living now!

System Collapse and now I'm all caught up with Murderbot and have to wait for her to publish more. Sigh.

Blood of the Mantis, third book in the monster series I'm reading with my other Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ group. Things are looking pretty bleak for our heroes at the moment, but there are seven books left for things to get better.

QOTW: I'm not generally someone who remembers particular quotations, and overall I tend not to be a poetry fan, but I've always loved this classic, especially the first two lines:

All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king.

I'm late replying because it has been too hot to think. (It's still hot today, but I haven't been outside yet.) I hope everyone in the dome is managing OK!

Crossings: How Road Ecology Is Shaping the Future of Our Planet - This was for another online book club that got postponed, but it had already been on my to-read list from a recommendation somewhere online. It was interesting enough but I didn't find it particularly amazing. I suppose if we ever do have the book club discussion that might affect my opinion.

QOTW: I can't think of one that's super meaningful to me now, but there have been in the past. In high school I was rather enamored of "Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same" from Wuthering Heights. I guess "remember or think about" would also cover my brain pulling out "honeysuckle all mixed up in it" every time I smelled it for a while after reading The Sound and the Fury.