January 2024 Wrap-up

January TBR Pile (31/31):

Bookworms BC: Mrs. Sherlock Holmes by Brad Ricca ✓
Friend BC: The Fortune Hunter by Daisy Goodwin ✓
Friend BC: The Secrets We Kept by Lara Prescott ✓
Nerdy Bookish Friends BC: The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey ✓
Kid Read Aloud: James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl ✓
Kid Read Aloud: Just Beyond the Very, Very Far North by Dan Bar-El ✓
Kid Read Aloud: From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by EL Konigsburg ✓
Kid Book Club: A Snicker of Magic by Natalie Lloyd ✓
Kid Book Club: The Fourteenth Goldfish by Natalie Lloyd ✓
Fantasy: Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman ✓
Fantasy: Carl’s Doomsday Scenario by Matt Dinniman ✓
Fantasy: The Dungeon Anarachist’s Cookbook by Matt Dinniman ✓
Fantasy: The Gate of the Feral Gods by Matt Dinniman ✓
Fantasy: Timekeeper by Tara Simm ✓
Fantasy: Signal Moon ny Kate Quinn ✓
Fantasy: The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden ✓
Fantasy: Strands of Bronze and Gold by Jane Nickerson ✓
Fantasy: The Magician by Rebecca Serle ✓
Science Fiction: All Systems Red by Martha Wells (reread) ✓
Science Fiction: Artificial Condition by Martha Wells (reread) ✓
Science Fiction: Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells (reread) ✓
Science Fiction: Exit Strategy by Martha Wells (reread) ✓
Science Fiction: Network Effect by Martha Wells (reread) ✓
Nonfiction: Share Your Stuff, I’ll Go First by Laura Tremaine ✓
Romance: Do Your Worst by Rosie Danan ✓
Romance:: A Girl Like Her by Talia Hibbert ✓
Romance: Damaged Goods by Talia Hibbert ✓
Romance: Under Her Skin by Adriana Anders ✓
Romance: Teach Me by Olivia Dade ✓
Romance: Raiders of the Lost Heart by Jo Segura ✓
Romance: Mr. Fixer Upper by Lucy Score ✓

1,000,000 Page Goal:

Monthly Total: 9306 pages
Pages Remaining: 265,682 pages

Current Read - Guards! Guards! by Terry Prachett (kid read aloud); The Last One by Will Dean; Midnight Ruin by Katee Robert

Books I Gave Up On (0)

Books Bought/Received (8):

I grabbed the preorder of Midnight Ruin by Katee Robert.

Half Price Books finds during their after Christmas sale.

The Electricity of Every Living Thing by Katherine May
Malamander by Thomas Taylor
Lockwood & Co.: The Screaming Staircase by Jonathan Stroud
The Ghosts of Tupelo Landing by Sheila Turnage

At the Barnes and Noble sale after Christmas, I came away with five books for me:

A Power Unbound by Freya Marske
Amari and the Great Game by BB Alston
The Ogress and the Orphans by Kelly Barnhill
The Fairy Bargains of Prospect Hill by Rowenna Miller
The Paleontologist by Luke Dumas

UnRead Shelf Progress

Starting Number: 324
Books Read: 2
Books Acquired: 8
Books Unshelved: 0
Finishing Number: 330

February TBR Pile:

Bookworms BC: That Kind of Guy by Talia Hibbert (reread)
Friend BC: The Murmur of Bees by Sofia Segovia
Nerdy Bookish Friends BC: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
Kid Read Aloud: Guards! Guards! by Terry Prachett
Kid Read Aloud: Ban This Book by Alan Gratz
Kid Book Club: The Boy at the Back of the Class by Anjali Rauf
Fantasy: The Butcher’s Masquerade by Matt Dinniman
Science Fiction: Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells
Science Fiction: System Collapse by Martha Wells
Romance: Midnight Ruin by Katee Robert
Romance: Untouchable by Talia Hibbert
Thriller/Mystery: The Last One by Will Dean

Movies Watched

Top Secret
Saltburn
The Bricklayer
Self-Reliance
Chicken Run 2: Dawn of the Nugget
Oppenheimer
Relax, I’m from the Future
Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched
The Marvels
Top Gun: Maverick
Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One
The Beekeeper

TV Shows Watched

Letterkenny S12 (the last season!!!!)
Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist S1
The White House Plumbers
Percy Jackson and the Olympians
Monarch: Legacy of Monsters
Yonderland S1
Party Down S3
The Buccaneers
Our Flag Means Death S2
Below Deck: Med
The Bachelor S28

Comments - Wow! Due to a ton of snow storms, we spent a lot of January in the house. And I read a ton of books and we watched a ton of media. Thankfully, we are able to get out of the house at the end of the month, but it was a very strange month. I only read two books from my Unread Shelf, but I have big plans for February’s reading. Ready for a new month.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Currently #2

Reading: I picked up The Last One by Will Dean for my Clock Reading Challenge. I’m not usually into thrillers, but I was intrigued by this one.

Watching: Weirdly, we fell into a Tom Cruise movie hole this week. We watched Top Gun: Maverick and Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part 1.

Listening: Finishing out the Murderbot series on audio this week. I don’t usually got for audiobooks, but have been listening to these in the background this month.

Making: Quentin requested banana bread and I made it. So good! I might just have to make another loaf later this week for the weekend.

Feeling: The temperatures finally increased. In fact, the temps increased by almost 70 degrees. Intense! I would have been okay with temps in the 30s. Instead we are not in the 40s and 50s.

Planning: I will be teaching chemistry the next two weeks (with a collaborative teacher). And so, we are planning the experiments and procedures.

Loving: I’m leaving on Friday to spend a quiet weekend reading in a rented house with a few friends. Getting away from the family for a weekend sounds absolutely amazing right now. As such, I have a stack of 10 books that I’m taking. I need a variety of genres, book sizes, and reading levels. Super excited!

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W19: Back to Normal Somehow

What We Studied

The snow storms finally calmed down and we got back outside for some activities. Unfortunately, coop was cancelled due to a scheduling issue with the city. But we did see friends at other events and got some school work completed.

Literature and Poetry

Arthur has really gotten into our read aloud. It’s led to questions about censorship and increased interest in the other books the text mentions. In fact, our next read aloud is name dropped in the book. Beyond the actual literature, we are working on some basic grammar skills. We continued the first Reading Explorer book which focuses on reading comprehension. He also continued his Super Secret Notebook from Blossom & Root.

Ban This Book by Alan Gratz
Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett
My America poem collection
Reading Explorer 1

Quentin picked up another Zoey and Sassafras book to read this week instead of the scheduled book. That’s fine by me. I’m still really focused on Quentin’s enjoyment when it comes to literature selections. We are pushing our Blossom and Root lessons out another week. He also worked on some basic grammar.

Sing a Song of Seasons
Zoey and Sassafras: Unicorns and Germs by Asia Citro
Little Penguin's New Friend by Tadgh Bentley

Math

Arthur dove into 5B with a unit on Decimals. Most of it was review, but it was a good review for him. We’re flying through the lessons.

Singapore Common Core 5B
Orbiting with Logic

Quentin continued Singapore 2A with a big review of numbers to 1000. We also continued our logic book.

Lollipop Logic Book 3
Singapore Common Core 2A

Social Studies

Arthur started learning about World War I this week. We did a big overview of the conflict and talked about Woodrow Wilson. Our curriculum only spends one week on the war, but I’m going to expand it out for 2-3 weeks of topics and coverage.

DK American History
We were There Too! Young People in US History
Words that Build a Nation
Heart and Soul
Nat Geo Our Country’s Presidents
An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States
A Different Mirror for Young People
This is Our Land: A History of American Immigration

Instead of a big chapter on Greece, we started reading the story of The Odyssey to ease into the topic.

History Quest Early Times
DK When on Earth?
Human Wold
DK History
DK Timelines of Everything
DK A Child Through Time
A History of Western Art
DK Science Year by Year
DK Myths, Legends, and Sacred Stories
Find the Journeys Around the World by David Long
Tales from the Odyssey Book One by Mary Pope Osborne

Science

We were back at Chemistry class this week. They talked and explored molecules and bonds. Plus we read another chapter in our Story of Science book. This one was about alchemy.

RSO Chemistry
DK Super Simple Chemistry
Story of Science Vol. 2: Newton at the Center by Joy Hakim
DK The Elements

Quentin got back into the RSO Life curriculum and covered mammals this week.

RSO Life
DK Oversimple Biology
A Mammal is an Animal by Lizzy Rockwell
Mammals by Ann O. Squire
About Mammals by Cathryn Sill

STEAM Coop

None this week

Art/Music/Crafts/Cooking/Documentary

We didn’t actually cover any art or music this week. But we did manage to watch two documentaries. Arthur and I watched a NOVA episode about aviation during World War I. I learned a ton! Quentin and I were going to watch one about Ancient Greece, but the file was corrupted. Instead, we watched on about The Life of Mammals. The episode focused on marsupials. He actually paid attention to the documentary, so I’m calling it a win!

DK Music and How it Works
DK The Arts
DK Art and How It Works
Modern Art Adventures by Maja Pitamic and Jill Laidlaw
13 American Artists Children Should Know
A Child's Introduction to Art
Women in Art by Rachel Ignotofsky
Iconic Composers by Nicholas Csicsko & Emi Ferguson
13 Art Movements Children Should Know
13 Artists Children Should Know
13 Modern Artists Children Should Know
The Story of Paintings by Mick Manning & Brita Granström
Why is Art Full of Naked People? by Susie Hodge
Andy Warhol: Pop Art Painter by Susan Goldman Rubin
Andy Warhol Pop Art Painter by Susan Goldman Rubin
Uncle Andy’s by James Warhola
Uncle Andy’s Cats by James Warhola
Fabulous! A Portrait of Andy Warhol by Bonnie Christensen
Art is Everywhere: A Book About Andy Warhol by Jeff Mack
Biography Book by Mike Venezia

Field Trip

Not an organized field trip, but we did spend an entire morning at the zoo with some friends. We had actually been since December, and really since October before that, so it was nice to rediscover our favorite displays. Extra fun, there were a ton of docents out and hardly any visitors, so we got to chat with a ton of people about specific animals. The desert dome was a big hit this week. .

High (and Low)

Coop was cancelled this week due to the city basically overruling our contract and taking the space. Very annoying! We pivoted and spent three hours playing at Backyard Playworld. Sometimes it’s really nice to just let the kids engage in free play while I get to chat with adults.

Next Week

Finishing our current read aloud
Continuing our World War I study for history
Moving forward into new our math units
Exploring some new concepts about the periodic table
Easing into Greece with some myths and stories
Transitioning to human anatomy for science
Hopefully heading outside for a nature walk and field trip

Next up on the TBR pile:

Music Monday - Apocalyptica feat. Elize Ryd "What We're Up Against"

I always love to see the collaborations from Apocalyptica and other artists. This one caught my ear.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Life Right Now #3

As I look outside my window: The sun has finally decided to make a bit of a comeback after multiple days without it.

Right now I am: Heading out to the coop steering committee meeting. I’ve got a whole agenda, but the biggest thing is a the creation of a survey to really get at our needs.

Thinking and pondering: How many books is too many for one weekend? Right now I have a stack of 10 books for next weekend.

On my bedside table: A Holly Jolly Ever After by Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone; Midnight Ruin by Katee Robert

On my tv this week: J and I ended up watching a decent amount of television and movies. We finally started S2 of Our Flag Means Death and continued with some random sitcoms we are watching.

Listening to: Mostly audiobooks. I am jumping back into the Murderbot series. Hoping to knock out the last two books this week.

On the menu for this week:

Monday - Jerk Pork with Caribbean Salsa
Tuesday - Manicotti
Wednesday - Chicken Tortilla Soup
Thursday - Bacon Cheddar Waffles
Friday - Gone
Saturday - Gone
Sunday - Leftovers

On my to do list: Appointments need to be make. I also need to finish packing for my reading weekend.

Happening this week:

Monday - Chemistry Class
Tuesday - Hot Shops Pottery Demo; Book Club
Wednesday - Home Day
Thursday - Coop; Homeschool Dance (third time’s a charm!)
Friday - Board Game Hangout; Reading Weekend!!!!
Saturday - Reading Weekend
Sunday - Reading Weekend

What I am creating: Nothing much. My photo paper delivery was delayed which means that I can’t do much with my Memory Planner or December Daily this weekend.

My simple pleasures: Getting outside, temperatures above negative numbers, parents’ happy hour for adult conversations

Looking around the house: Meh. I’ll take it. Although I do want to move the bins out of the hallway and back into the garage. Wonder if I can do it with J noticing..

From the camera: Just some elephants in the snow… we got to see all four baby elephants (only one pictured below) during our trip to the zoo. The fifth one is due someone late February-early March.

The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey

Title: The Snow Child

Author: Eowyn Ivey

Publisher: Reagan Arthur 2012

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 423

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Decades - 1920s; In Case You Missed It - 2012

Alaska, 1920: a brutal place to homestead, and especially tough for recent arrivals Jack and Mabel. Childless, they are drifting apart -- he breaking under the weight of the work of the farm; she crumbling from loneliness and despair. In a moment of levity during the season's first snowfall, they build a child out of snow. The next morning the snow child is gone -- but they glimpse a young, blonde-haired girl running through the trees.

This little girl, who calls herself Faina, seems to be a child of the woods. She hunts with a red fox at her side, skims lightly across the snow, and somehow survives alone in the Alaskan wilderness. As Jack and Mabel struggle to understand this child who could have stepped from the pages of a fairy tale, they come to love her as their own daughter. But in this beautiful, violent place things are rarely as they appear, and what they eventually learn about Faina will transform all of them.

Our Nerdy Bookish Friends selection for the month and it’s been on my TBR shelf for years. I’m glad that we decided to read it, but ended up being fairly disappointed in the book. I absolutely loved the writing of this book. Ivey manages to make the bleak landscape and the wilderness sound beautiful. I found myself lost in all nature descriptions. They are gorgeous and kept me engaged in the book. But that’s where my enjoyment ends. I wanted to love the storyline and I did enjoy the Russian fairy tale angle. Unfortunately, the characters and the storyline do not make much sense to me. Mabel and Jack are extremely unlikeable throughout the book and I never truly connected to them. They seemed to show growth and then would lose all growth in the next chapter. I had lots of thoughts about where the plot was going throughout most of the book and then the last section happens and nothing made sense. I don’t want to give it away, but the end of the book makes no sense to me at all. I just couldn’t get over the lack of logic.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Mr. Fixer Upper by Lucy Score

Title: Mr. Fixer Upper (Fixer #1)

Author: Lucy Score

Publisher: Bloom Books 2017

Genre: Romance

Pages: 386

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: She Reads Romance - Reality TV; Library Love

Spice Rating: 5

It’s a constant battle on set between sexy home renovation reality star grumpy Gannon and his no-nonsense field producer. Paige has zero time for temperamental talent, especially one who acts like being in front of the camera is the last thing he wants.

Mr. Sex in a Toolbelt has made it his mission in life to get a rise out of her, but Paige is a master at locking down her temper. They’re on the road together working long hours fixing houses and changing lives. When cracks in her legendary coolness start to show and sparks fly, Gannon is infatuated and the cameras are there to capture it.

But he’s fallen for pretty packages before and Paige won’t be taken seriously if she’s caught sleeping with the star of her show. She also can’t seem to resist those big, rough hands. Those smoldery hazel eyes. The dimples. The toolbelt. That fiercely protective vibe.

Too bad it’s all about to fall apart.
She never should have trusted him.
He never should have let her go.

At Christmas, I actually read the second one last month and really enjoyed it. So, I picked up the first one in the series for this month’s reading. The book had a lot more drama and serious conversations than I was expecting. I really did fall for Gannon and Paige as they navigate their undeniable attraction. The reality TV angle added just the right amount of other characters and background plot to continue the romantic storyline. The steamy scenes are very well done and steamy. I ended dup speeding through this one, but it was a lovely story. I just might have to read more from Lucy Score.

Fixer

#1 Mr. Fixer Upper
#2 The Christmas Fix

Next up on the TBR pile:

The Secrets We Kept by Lara Prescott

Title: The Secrets We Kept

Author: Lara Prescott

Publisher: Knopf 2019

Genre: Historical Fiction

Pages: 349

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Decades - 1950s; 52 Book Club - 4 Different POV

At the height of the Cold War, Irina, a young Russian-American secretary, is plucked from the CIA typing pool and given the assignment of a lifetime. Her mission: to help smuggle Doctor Zhivago into the USSR, where it is banned, and enable Boris Pasternak’s magnum opus to make its way into print around the world. Mentoring Irina is the glamorous Sally Forrester: a seasoned spy who has honed her gift for deceit, using her magnetism and charm to pry secrets out of powerful men. Under Sally’s tutelage, Irina learns how to invisibly ferry classified documents—and discovers deeply buried truths about herself.

One of the book club selections for the year. Thank good that this story is by and large interesting and thought-provoking. We follow multiple women in multiple locations as they are involved in a variety of espionage activities. The story mostly focuses on Olga and Irina, but I found their stories not my favorite. I wanted to hear even more about the typists and specifically about Sally. It was fascinating to me how the various women are directly involved in espionage, but are still somehow left out of actual intelligence. It’s an interesting dichotomy in history. By the end of the book, I was very sad about the fates of all the women featured in the book. But the story is probably much more realistic that way.

Next up on the TBR pile:

The Gate of the Feral Gods by Matt Dinniman

Title: The Gate of the Feral Gods (Dungeon Crawler Carl #4)

Author: Matt Dinniman

Publisher: Dandy House 2021

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 632

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges:

New Achievement! Total, Utter Failure.

You failed a quest less than five minutes after you received it. Now that’s talent.

A floating fortress occupied by warrior gnomes. A castle made of sand. A derelict submarine guarded by malfunctioning machines. A haunted crypt surrounded by lethal traps.

It was supposed to be easy. One bubble. Four castles. Fifteen days. Capture each one, and the stairwell is unlocked.

Here's the thing. It's never easy. Carl and his team can't go it alone. Not this time. They must rely on the help of the low-level, I-can't-believe-these-idiots-are-still-alive crawlers trapped in the bubble with them. But can they be trusted?

Welcome, Crawler. Welcome to the fifth floor of the dungeon.

Yet another amazing Carl book in which I gasped out loud no fewer than 10 times. The level got a little convoluted in itself, but the characters shine through to really make this book. It was lovely to see more scenes involving other crawlers and the larger storyline at play. We get some epic action scenes and some great adversaries. Denise, the feral goose, was absolutely amazing! Hands-down my favorite boss in the series. Once we got to the last two hours of the book, I couldn’t put it down. Shit hit the fan and I had to keep reading to find out how Carl and Donut were going to survive this one! Cannot wait to read to the next one in the series.

Dungeon Crawler Carl

#1 Dungeon Crawler Carl
#2 Carl’s Doomsday Scenario
#3 The Dungeon' Anarchist’s Cookbook
#4 The Gate of the Feral Gods
#5 The Butcher’s Masquerade
#6 The Eye of the Bedlam Bride

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W18: More Cancelled Activities

What We Studied

The weather threw us for another loop and we had to cancel a variety of activities this week. On the flip side, we got a ton of random school bookwork done this week instead of going out.

Literature and Poetry

Arthur finished both our read aloud and the coop book club selection. And we started the next read aloud. It’s related to our previous one and should spark some interesting discussions about censorship. Beyond the actual literature, we are working on some basic grammar skills. We started the first Reading Explorer book which focuses on reading comprehension. He also continued his Super Secret Notebook from Blossom & Root.

From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by EL Konigsburg
Band This Book by Alan Gratz
The Fourteenth Goldfish by Jennifer L. Holm
My America poem collection
Reading Explorer 1

Quentin finished our read aloud. He gave it three stars out of five stars. But he claims that he really liked it. We are pushing our Blossom and Root lessons out two weeks. He also worked on some basic grammar.

Sing a Song of Seasons
Just Beyond the Very Very Far North by Dan Bar-El
Fox Versus Winter by Corey R. Tabor
Winter is for Snow by Robert Neubecker
Little Penguins by Cynthia Rylant
Penguin Problems by Jory John & Lane Smith
Winter White by Christianne C. Jones
Five Flying Penguins by Barbara Barbieri McGrath
A Polar Bear in the Snow by Mac Barnett
Penguins Don't Wear Sweaters by Marikka Tamura
The King Penguin by Vanessa Roeder
Pirate & Penguin by Mike Allegra
Winter Lullaby by Dianne White
Virgil & Owen Stick Together by Paulette Bogan
The Trouble with Penguins by Rebecca Jordan-Glum
When Winter Comes by Aimee M. Bissonette

Math

Arthur finished the last unit for Singapore 5A. We covered ratios this week. We will move on to 5B.

Singapore Common Core 5A
Orbiting with Logic

Quentin continued Singapore 2A with a big review of numbers to 1000. We also continued our logic book.

Lollipop Logic Book 3
Singapore Common Core 2A

Social Studies

Arthur covered the Spanish American War this week. This sets use everything for our World War I study next week.

DK American History
We were There Too! Young People in US History
Words that Build a Nation
Heart and Soul
Nat Geo Our Country’s Presidents
An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States
A Different Mirror for Young People
This is Our Land: A History of American Immigration
Cobblestone: The Spanish-American War

Quentin took a little break from our regular history chapters and covered the ancient city of Troy this week.

History Quest Early Times
DK When on Earth?
Human Wold
DK History
DK Timelines of Everything
DK A Child Through Time
A History of Western Art
DK Science Year by Year
DK Myths, Legends, and Sacred Stories
Find the Journeys Around the World by David Long
The Wooden Horse of Troy by Cari Meister
The Trojan Horse: How the Greeks Won the War by Emily Little

Science

We ended up not going to chemistry class due to the weather and my migraine. We did cover the text information and should be good for next week’s meeting. Plus we read two chapters in our Story of Science book.

RSO Chemistry
DK Super Simple Chemistry
Story of Science Vol. 2: Newton at the Center by Joy Hakim
DK The Elements

Quentin got back into the RSO Life curriculum and covered birds this week.

RSO Life
DK Oversimple Biology
Birds by Ann O. Squire
Birds by Jon Wood
Birds by Carme Lemniscates
Birds by Kevin Henkes
Birds by Pamela Hickman
Birds by Miranda Krestovnikoff
Bird Count by Susan Edwads Richmond
The Last Rainbow Bird by Nora Brech

STEAM Coop

The weather gave us a bit of a break the meant we actually got to meet this week. Quentin’s class takes about shapes and made some 3-D shapes using toothpicks and clay. I taught Arthur’s class and we covered symmetry. Along with a name symmetry graphing activity, we started an origami project to carry over to next week.

Art/Music/Crafts/Cooking/Documentary

Because of the weather, we ended up bumping art and music into our plan this week. The boys really got into the art from Andy Warhol, especially loving the soup paintings. And they enjoyed the music for the week also.

DK Music and How it Works
DK The Arts
DK Art and How It Works
Modern Art Adventures by Maja Pitamic and Jill Laidlaw
13 American Artists Children Should Know
A Child's Introduction to Art
Women in Art by Rachel Ignotofsky
Iconic Composers by Nicholas Csicsko & Emi Ferguson
13 Art Movements Children Should Know
13 Artists Children Should Know
13 Modern Artists Children Should Know
The Story of Paintings by Mick Manning & Brita Granström
Why is Art Full of Naked People? by Susie Hodge
Andy Warhol: Pop Art Painter by Susan Goldman Rubin
Andy Warhol Pop Art Painter by Susan Goldman Rubin
Uncle Andy’s by James Warhola
Uncle Andy’s Cats by James Warhola
Fabulous! A Portrait of Andy Warhol by Bonnie Christensen
Art is Everywhere: A Book About Andy Warhol by Jeff Mack
Biography Book by Mike Venezia

Field Trip

The weather cancelled our planned field trip. Thankfully we got it rescheduled for later in the month.

High

Getting stuck in the house was not exciting, but we did get a ton of book work done. And we had lots of cozy time reading and playing games.

Low

The weather was killing us once again. Snow storms and temperatures below zero really hindered our plans.

Next Week

Starting our new read aloud
Beginning our World War I study for history
Jumping into new our math units
Exploring some new concepts about the periodic table
Easing into Greece with some myths and stories
Learning about mammals for science
Hopefully heading outside for a nature walk and field trip

Next up on the TBR pile:

Music Monday - Sum 41 "Rise Up"

Throwback band for this week! Loving this new song. Bringing my punk days to the forefront.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Life Right Now #2

As I look outside my window: It looks bright and sunny, but I know that it’s still very very cold.

Right now I am: Marinating our steaks for dinner… always with the food prep.

Thinking and pondering: Which books should I pack for my upcoming reading weekend? Right now I have 10 sitting in a pile. I most definitely will not complete 10 books, but should I take them all? I will probably want to have options. I’m going to lean into my mood reading side.

On my bedside table: Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells; Untouchable by Talia Hibbert

On my tv this week: We finally watched a history of folk horror documentary and it was delightful. We also watched some other movies.

Listening to: Lots of audiobooks, which is weird for me. J got me hooked on the Dungeon Crawler Carl books, so I was binging those. I’m also listening to the Murderbot series. Mostly a reread for me, but I wanted the whole experience leading up to the volume that was released in November.

On the menu for this week:

Monday - Whatever Dinner
Tuesday - Buffalo Chicken Dip
Wednesday - Fancy BLT Grilled Cheese
Thursday - Jerk Pork with Caribbean Salsa
Friday - Sesame Chicken
Saturday - Pesto Stuffed Shells
Sunday - Leftovers

On my to do list: Appointments to be made, lists to be made, reservations to be made.

Happening this week:

Monday - Chemistry Class; Book Club
Tuesday - Zoo Day; Coop Happy Hour
Wednesday - Home Day
Thursday - Backyard Playworld; Errands
Friday - Fontenelle Forest Hike
Saturday - Home Day
Sunday - Steering Committee Meeting; Book Club

What I am creating: I started work on my December Daily 2023 album this weekend. I had to order more photo paper, but I got most of the pictures printed. Next I need to pull all my base papers out and start laying out pages.

My simple pleasures: Having a schedule, chips and dip, interesting conversations

Looking around the house: I got most of the first floor all picked up. Helpful because we have coop happy hour on Tuesday night…

From the camera: Nothing… I apparently didn’t take photos this week.

Raiders of the Lost Heart by Jo Segura

Title: Raiders of the Lost Heart

Author: Jo Segura

Publisher: Berkley 2023

Genre: Romance

Pages: 357

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Library Love; She Reads Romance - Nerd with Glasses

Archaeologist Dr. Socorro “Corrie” Mejía has a bone to pick. Literally.

It’s been Corrie’s life goal to lead an expedition deep into the Mexican jungle in search of the long-lost remains of her ancestor, Chimalli, an ancient warrior of the Aztec empire. But when she is invited to join an all-expenses-paid dig to do just that, Corrie is sure it’s too good to be true...and she’s right.

As the world-renowned expert on Chimalli, by rights Corrie should be leading the expedition, not sharing the glory with her disgustingly handsome nemesis. But Dr. Ford Matthews has been finding new ways to best her since they were in grad school. Ford certainly isn’t thrilled either—with his life in shambles, the last thing he needs is a reminder of their rocky past.

But as the dig begins, it becomes clear they’ll need to work together when they realize a thief is lurking around their campsite, forcing the pair to keep their discoveries—and lingering attraction—under wraps. With money-hungry artifact smugglers, the Mexican authorities, and the lies between them closing in, there’s only one way this all ends—explosively.

Mix together Indiana Jones, Romancing the Stone, and some Lara Croft and we get this fun, action-filled romance story. Corrie and Ford have the type of history that I am definitely okay with when it comes to romance stories. I don’t like friends to lovers, but adore enemies to lovers. Their relationship definitely falls into that second category. Of course, we have tons of sexual chemistry, but they cannot seem to stop bickering and fighting over every little thing. I enjoyed the shift of setting to an archaeological dig in the Mexican jungle and the added dash of intrigue and mystery. Once the characters finally admit their attraction to each other, I loved seeing their relationship evolve over the rest of the adventure. A very fun romance book.

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Next up on the TBR pile:

Strands of Bronze and Gold by Jane Nickerson

Title: Strands of Bronze and Gold

Author: Jane Nickerson

Publisher: Random House 2013

Genre: YA Fantasy

Pages: 352

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Fairy Tales - Bluebeard; Library Love

When seventeen-year-old Sophia Petheram’s beloved father dies, she receives an unexpected letter. An invitation—on fine ivory paper, in bold black handwriting—from the mysterious Monsieur Bernard de Cressac, her godfather. With no money and fewer options, Sophie accepts, leaving her humble childhood home for the astonishingly lavish Wyndriven Abbey, in the heart of Mississippi.

Sophie has always longed for a comfortable life, and she finds herself both attracted to and shocked by the charm and easy manners of her overgenerous guardian. But as she begins to piece together the mystery of his past, it’s as if, thread by thread, a silken net is tightening around her. And as she gathers stories and catches whispers of his former wives—all with hair as red as her own—in the forgotten corners of the abbey, Sophie knows she’s trapped in the passion and danger of de Cressac’s intoxicating world.

Glowing strands of romance, mystery, and suspense are woven into this breathtaking debut—a thrilling retelling of the “Bluebeard” fairy tale.

Last year I read a great Bluebeard retelling (T. Kingfisher’s The Seventh Bride), so I had to go looking for another one. I found a ton of short stories in collections, but I wanted a full length story. I finally found this book and snapped it from the library. Overall, I thought this was really good. Sophia sufficiently grows and changes throughout the novel. Enough so that I could actually appreciate her has a character. From there, we get some great side characters with enough of their agency to make full people instead of tools for Sophia’s story. In fact the only characters that I didn’t love were Sophia’s family. But I get ultimately she has to be left all alone to face her fears and take her agency back. I loved the slow reveal of the mystery and the past, but I do wish that it happened slightly faster and more time was spent with Sophia wrestling with what to do with the information. Ultimately, this was a good readable entertaining retelling of the Bluebeard story.

Next up on the TBR pile:

The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook by Matt Dinniman

Title: The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook (Dungeon Crawler Carl #3)

Author: Matt Dinniman

Publisher: Dandy House 2021

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 534

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges:

Welcome to the Gun Show!

The top ten list is populated. The sponsorship program is open. The difficulty is ramping up. The first three floors were nothing compared to what Carl and Donut now face.

The Iron Tangle. An impossibly-complicated subway system built out of the world's subterranean railway systems, all combined and then tied together into a knot. Up is down. Down is up. Close is far. The cars are filled with monsters, the railway stations are less than safe, and the exit is always just a few stops away.

But there is hope. For the first time, the crawlers are all working together. The loot is better than ever. And the secret to unraveling it all may be hidden in the pages of a seemingly-useless book. Welcome, crawlers. Welcome to the fourth floor of the dungeon.

Oh yes! Another crazy adventure starring Carl and Donut! This time, the floor is all about a messed-up train system complete with multiple lines, different mobs, and a larger mystery of the construction itself. I loved seeing how our character navigated this one and finally figured out that they need to make more connections amongst the other crawlers. Brandy the fire demon was a lovely addition to their encounters. And I always love the appearance of mimics (not when actually playing Dungeons & Dragons, I hate them then). But the best part of this book was the acquisition of the title object. I cannot wait to see how Carl uses the information within on future levels. As always, the audiobook is the only way to go for this book!

Dungeon Crawler Carl

#1 Dungeon Crawler Carl
#2 Carl’s Doomsday Scenario
#3 The Dungeon' Anarchist’s Cookbooks
#4 The Gate of the Feral Gods
#5 The Butcher’s Masquerade
#6 The Eye of the Bedlam Bride

Next up on the TBR pile:

Teach Me by Olivia Dade

Title: Teach Me (There’s Something About Marysburg #1)

Author: Olivia Dade

Publisher: Olivia Dade 2019

Genre: Romance

Pages: 261

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Library Love; She Reads Romance - Nerd with Glasses

Their lesson plans didn’t include love. But that’s about to change…

When Martin Krause arrives at Rose Owens’s high school, she’s determined to remain chilly with her new colleague. Unfriendly? Maybe. Understandable? Yes, since a loathsome administrator gave Rose’s beloved world history classes to Martin, knowing it would hurt her.

But keeping her distance from a man as warm and kind as Martin will prove challenging, even for a stubborn, guarded ice queen. Especially when she begins to see him for what he truly is: a man who’s never been taught his own value. Martin could use a good teacher—and luckily, Rose is the best.

Rose has her own lessons—about trust, about vulnerability, about her past—to learn. And over the course of a single school year, the two of them will find out just how hot it can get when an ice queen melts.

Overall, I really enjoyed Dade’s other series Spoiler Alert. This book didn’t quite do it for me. I wanted to like it so much especially as it featured teachers. But… I think the book spent a lot of time discussing teaching and how Rose had to present herself on the job. Too much time. I just lost interested at multiple parts of the book. And ultimately, I wasn’t super excited for the main couple like I should have been. I would have liked more scenes of them together after their first night together. Instead, we flash through time to get to the big confrontation at the end. I just wasn’t totally into it by then. I did look at the summaries for the other two books in the series and I might just try those.

There’s Something About Marysburg

#1 Teach Me
#2 40-Love
#3 Sweetest in the Gale

Next up on the TBR pile:

Damaged Goods by Talia Hibbert

Title: Damaged Goods (Ravenswood #1.5)

Author: Talia Hibbert

Publisher: Nixon House 2018

Genre: Romance

Pages: 181

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: COYER

Spice Meter: 5

Second chances shouldn’t feel so sinful.

Laura Burne‘s husband is a monster, her diamond ring is a trap, and her pregnancy is the push she needs to finally escape. She runs away seeking safety… and finds Samir Bianchi, her long-lost teenage sweetheart.

With his kind eyes and dirty smile, Samir’s still hot as hell—and he still treats Laura like a goddess, baby bump and all. The wild boy she spent one magical summer with is every inch a man, and he’s more than ready to care for her tiny family.

But Laura’s been keeping a secret Samir might never forgive. When she finally confesses, will he remain by her side? Or is this fairytale ending too good to be true?

CW: Domestic Violence (in past, but discussed on the page)

And here we get Laura’s story as touched on very briefly in the previous book. I really wanted to love this story of empowerment and opening up to love, but ultimate, I didn’t love it. Laura is a prickly character that I really wished had sought out therapy instead of solitude. And I must say that pregnancy storylines are really not my favorite. They’re fine, but I have lots of mixed feelings about them. Samir is great and I really fell for him over the course of the novella. But their pairing just didn’t work for me. Oh well. They can’t all be winners.

Ravenswood

#1 A Girl Like Her
#1.5 Damaged Goods
#2 Untouchable
#3 That Kind of Guy

Next up on the TBR pile:

A Girl Like Her by Talia Hibbert

Title: A Girl Like Her (Ravenswood #1)

Author: Talia Hibbert

Publisher: Nixon House 2018

Genre: Romance

Pages: 288

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Library Love; She Reads Romance - Reverse Grumpy Sunshine

Spice Meter: 5

Ruth Kabbah is okay with being an outcast.

Between her autism, her comic book nerdery, and the whiff of scandal her small town can’t forget, Ruth will always be Ravenswood’s black sheep. Since she prefers silence and solitude to gossip and pub crawls, that suits her just fine—until Evan Miller comes to town.

Ex-military man Evan is gorgeous, confident… and he’s Ruth’s new neighbour. Unlike everyone else, he doesn’t seem to mind her crotchety ways or her cooking disasters. In fact, if Ruth didn’t know any better, she might think Evan likes her.

But Ruth’s been burned before, and some lessons are hard to forget.

She can’t let her guard down—no matter how many home-cooked meals Evan brings over. Because affection is temporary, trust is made to be broken, and the heat of desire is a dangerous thing to play with.

So why does this man feel so safe?

CW: Domestic Violence (in past, but discussed)

After reading the third book in this series and picking it for my book club selection, I decided to circle back around and read from the beginning. This one did not disappoint. We get a reverse grumpy sunshine trope with two seemingly different people. In fact, these two people are perfect for each other, challenging and complementing each other. Ruth is not an easy person to be with and Evan may be too easy to be with. But together, we get to see them fit together to form a great partnership. The sections detailing the domestic violence in Ruth’s past were difficult, but Hibbert always the space I needed to process it and continue to read. It helps that those conversations are not in the same chapters as the spicy scenes. I like a bit of separation. (As opposed to how my previously read book, Under Her Skin, approached the conversations.) I got to the end and had that warm and fuzzy feeling to their relationship. That’s what I want in my romance.

Ravenswood

#1 A Girl Like Her
#1.5 Damaged Goods
#2 Untouchable
#3 That Kind of Guy

Next up on the TBR pile:

The Magician by Rebecca Serle

Title: The Magician

Author: Rebecca Serle

Publisher: Amazon 2023

Genre: Speculative Fiction

Pages: 25

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: 52 Book Club.- Magical Realism

A mother-to-be is awed by her own mother’s chaotic and unknowable approach to life and its natural mysteries in a smart, witty, and whimsical story by the New York Times bestselling author of One Italian Summer.

Growing up with an eccentric but loving mother who levitates for a living, Charlie always wondered, How does she do it? Defying gravity is no easy trick. Neither is motherhood. Now that her mother is leaving New York for bigger skies in New Mexico, it’s a new stage in life for both of them in an ever-evolving relationship that reveals the true magic of being a mother.

I was not a fan of the previous Serle book that I had read, but was intrigued by the summary of this one. Should have listened to my gut reaction and left this one unborrowed. Despite the magical realism, this is really a story of a mother and daughter going their separate ways. I didn’t love the ending and the (in my opinion) shoe-horned in magic. It just didn’t do it for me.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Signal Moon by Kate Quinn

Title: Signal Moon

Author: Kate Quinn

Publisher: Amazon 2022

Genre: Speculative Fiction

Pages: 57

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: COYER

Yorkshire, 1943. Lily Baines, a bright young debutante increasingly ground down by an endless war, has traded in her white gloves for a set of headphones. It’s her job to intercept enemy naval communications and send them to Bletchley Park for decryption.

One night, she picks up a transmission that isn’t code at all—it’s a cry for help.

An American ship is taking heavy fire in the North Atlantic—but no one else has reported an attack, and the information relayed by the young US officer, Matt Jackson, seems all wrong. The contact that Lily has made on the other end of the radio channel says it’s…2023.

Across an eighty-year gap, Lily and Matt must find a way to help each other: Matt to convince her that the war she’s fighting can still be won, and Lily to help him stave off the war to come. As their connection grows stronger, they both know there’s no telling when time will run out on their inexplicable link.

Do not let the short length fool you. Kate Quinn packs this short story with so much plot and characterization that you would swear that it had to be longer. But at the same time, the prose does not lag. I zipped through this story and then wished that I could turn around and read it again for the first time. With a very quick but concise setup, we are thrown into the mystery of the transmission as Lily tries to understand what she just heard. From there, we switch to Matt and piece the two storylines together. I was absolutely tearing up by end of the story. There’s a reason that Quinn is one my favorite writers.

Next up on the TBR pile: