Let’s check in on July’s goals and my progress.
Read 18 Books ✓
Indiana/Ohio Road Trip ✓
Finish Prepping for 2023-2024 School Year ✓
August Goals:
Read 18 Books
Kick-Off Our Homeschool Year and Coop
Knock Out 5 More Items from Our Summer Bucket List
Limit My Personal Library Check-outs
Next up on the TBR pile:
So now I have the supplies, it’s time to start planning and gathering everything I want to do. I’m a Type A planner that always feels better with a good plan going in. I’m always up for flexibility and change in the spur of the moment, but I need a plan to reference when things change. Last year, I made a large scale scope and sequence for reference. This should help me keep Arthur and Quentin straight as I dive in each year.
Back around April, I started with making a simple list of of the various curriculum we will be using. I definitely watch the sales to grab curriculum I know we want at the best price. And we are now recycling curriculum from Arthur’s previous years for Quentin’s current year. That definitely helps for our bottom line.
I’m a big fan of time blocking, but we have multiple events outside of our house to account for. This coming year, we have our STEAM coop, chemistry class, and weekly nature explorers/nature hikes. My first pass at scheduling our day began with the outside items. From there, I came up with this basic schedule. Note that I built in Flex Time for our coop related field trips. None are scheduled yet, but I know the committee is working on three trips a month. Our tentative date is Tuesday so I built in some open time. We can shift Tuesday’s plan to Wednesday if we have a field trip that week.
Next, I broke the week schedule down into days to better see if everything would fit. Arthur’s schedule is set and I am still tweaking Quentin’s schedule. I primarily use Roam to accomplish my day to day planning. This is our basic weekly template of blocks. I can easily copy and paste this into each week’s page for easy planning. I only need to modify as special events pop onto our calendar (e.g. dentist appointments, special activity).
I then broke down each day’s blocks. I don’t go back to these pages very often, but I do like to write everything out to make sure.
My next step was to create an overview calendar with our big themes. I used index cards cut into smaller pieces laid out on my desk so I could see everything at once and move things around. Very low tech solution, but sometimes paper really is better. I always end up shifting some weeks to take advantage of the calendar and/or align with the other kid’s schedule. For example, I moved Arthur’s reading of Ramayana to coincide with Quentin’s week that includes covering ancient India and the Ramayana story.
I usually buy a paper planner as my brain really likes the act of writing things down to commit to memory. I grabbed this new planner to try out after hearing about it from many homeschool bloggers. I like the amount of space available and the fact that it’s undated. My biggest complaint right now is that the month pages and weekly pages are completely separated from each other. We’ll see how this one goes for basic planning and reference. On second thought, I also do not like the binding. I would prefer spiral bound for each of opening and laying flat. I could cut off the binding and make it a spiral bound, but that might be too much work for any benefit.
My last big planning step is to create very detailed lesson plans including videos, books, and details. This will be my third year using a special note talking app called Roam. I’ve been actively using Roam to collect all my notes, lesson plans, scheduling, and other miscellaneous items. (Also, you can see from the sidebar that I use Roam for a wide range of projects, not just homeschooling.) I’m still exploring the various tools on Roam and I’m sure that my planning with get more advanced and efficient as this year goes on. This screenshot is the start of our first week.
And that’s it! My planning and scheduling process seems very complicate but most of it is prep work before the year begins. Once we start, I mainly use the paper planner as reference and work inside Roam for the day-to-day planning. As usual, I tweak the process as I go along but this is my starting place.
Next up on the TBR pile:
Blast for my high school/college years! I can’t believe Matchbox Twenty is back with new music. Love it.
Next up on the TBR pile:
July TBR Pile (21/27):
Bookworms BC: Adult Assembly Required by Abbi Waxman ✓
Bookworms BC: The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna
Friend BC: Anatomy: A Love Story by Dana Schwartz (reread) ✓
Nerdy Bookish Friends BC: The Bees by Laline Paull ✓
Kid Read Aloud: TBD
Kid Book Club: NONE
Literary Fiction: Hester by Laurie Lico Albanese
Literary Fiction: The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer ✓
Nonfiction: Quietly Hostile by Samantha Irby
Nonfiction: Pathogenesis by Jonathan Kennedy ✓
Horror: The Twisted Ones by T. Kingfisher ✓
Horror: The Widow of Pale Harbor by Hester Fox ✓
Horror: Camp Red Moon by R.L. Stine ✓
Horror: Sister, Maiden, Monster by Lucy A Snyder ✓
Fantasy: Tread of Angels by Rebecca Roanhorse ✓
Fantasy: Spells for Forgetting by Adrienne Young ✓
Fantasy: Cinderella is Dead by Kalynn Bayron ✓
Fantasy: Immortality by Dana Schwartz ✓
Fantasy: This Side of the Grave by Jeaniene Frost ✓
Science Fiction: Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor
Science Fiction: Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton ✓
Romance: The Perfect Crimes of Marian Hayes by Cat Sebastian
Romance: The Secret Lives of Country Gentleman by KJ Charles
Romance: Love Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood ✓
Romance: Yours Truly by Abby Jimenez ✓
Romance: Eternal Kiss of Darkness by Jeaniene Frost ✓
Romance: Wasted Words by Staci Hart ✓
Comics: Beautiful Darkness by Fabien Vehlmann ✓
1,000,000 Page Goal:
Monthly Total: 6988 pages
Pages Remaining: 310,119 pages
Current Read - Hey, Hun by Emily Lynn Paulson
Books I Gave Up On (0)
Books Bought/Received (3)
Ordinary Monsters by J.M Miro
Sister, Maiden, Monster by Lucy A. Snyder
Yours for the Taking by Gabrielle Korn
UnRead Shelf Progress
Starting Number: 342
Books Read: 6
Books Acquired: 3
Books Unshelved: 0
Finishing Number: 339
August TBR Pile: With the start of school, I’m not going to overwhelm my planned TBR. Let’s just go with these few books to start. I know I will have a ton more checkouts from the library and I have all those books from my library.
Bookworms BC: The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna
Friend BC: Beautiful Country by Qian Julie Wang
Nerdy Bookish Friends BC: The Doomsday Book by Connie Willis
Kid Read Aloud: TBD
Kid Book Club: Wildoak by CC Harrington
Nonfiction: Hey, Hun by Emily Lynn Paulson
Romance: The Secret Lives of Country Gentleman by KJ Charles
Movies Watched
The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf
Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3
Asteroid City
Get Smart (rewatch with the kids)
Romancing the Stone (rewatch with the kids)
Crocodile Dundee (rewatch with the kids)
TV Shows Watched
Human Target S2
Below Deck: Sailing Yacht
Below Deck: Down Under
The Bachelorette
What We Do in the Shadows S5
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia S16
Foundation S2
The Righteous Gemstones S3
Good Omens S2
Comments - Another successful month of reading and media consumption. I read the largest number of books from my UnRead Shelf for one month. I read 6 books which was just amazing! Now I only have 339 to go (until I buy more).
Next up on the TBR pile:
Title: Silent Came the Monster
Author: Amy Hill Hearth
Publisher: Blackstone 2023
Genre: Historical Fiction
Pages: 350
Rating: 4/5 stars
Reading Challenges: 52 Book Club - Related to the Word “Monster”
“Sharks are as timid as rabbits,” says a superintendent of the Coast Guard, dismissing the possibility that a shark could be the culprit in an unprecedented fatal attack at the Jersey Shore. It’s July, and swimming in the sea is a popular new pastime, but people up and down the East Coast are shocked and mystified by the swimmer’s death. A prominent surgeon at the shore, Dr. Edwin Halsey is the one who examines the victim, and the only one who believes the perpetrator was a shark—and that it will strike again.
With the public and the authorities—and even those who witnessed the attacks—so stubbornly disbelieving, Dr. Halsey finds himself fighting widespread confusion, conspiracy theories, and outright denial. Seeking the input of commercial fisherman, he soon learns they have long been concerned about a creature they call the Beast. The Lenape, one of the tribes native to the area, have their own beliefs about this creature, but can Dr. Halsey convince the rest of the world before it’s too late?
The story of the 1916 Jersey Shore shark changed the way Americans think of the seashore, reminding us once again that nature plays by its own rules.
Another recommendation from my favorite book podcast. I was intrigued by the fictionalized account of a very true horror story. This is a very horrifying story full of people who aren’t all real, but feel very real. We are put back into a bygone era. At times, the writing was a bit stilted and the characters were hard to understand. But that’s all a part of fully inhabiting the time period and the story. Overall, I enjoyed the story. I would have liked a bit more to the author’s note, but that’s a minor quibble.
Next up on the TBR pile:
Title: Beautiful Darkness
Author: Fabien Vehlmann and Kerascoët
Publisher: Drawn & Quarterly 2014
Genre: Comics
Pages: 94
Rating: 4/5 stars
Reading Challenges:
Newly homeless, a group of fairies find themselves trying to adapt to their new life in the forest. As they dodge dangers from both without and within, optimistic Aurora steps forward to organize and help build a new community. Slowly, the world around them becomes more treacherous as petty rivalries and factions form.
Beautiful Darkness became a bestseller and an instant classic when it was released in 2014. This paperback edition of the modern horror classic contains added material, preparatory sketches, and unused art. While Kerascoët mix gorgeous watercolors and spritely cartoon characters, Fabien Vehlmann takes the story into bleaker territory as the seasons change and the darkness descends. As with any great horror, there are moments of calm and jarring shocks while a looming dread hangs over the forest.
Not quite sure what I just read, but it was just horrifying enough that I found myself riveted to the pages. The horror takes a few pages to really present itself, but then we are off and running. I was really rooting for Aurora the entire time, hoping that she would be able to overcome the myriad obstacles in her path. This is a very quickly little horror comic that was an instant hit for me.
Next up on the TBR pile:
Title: Immortality
Author: Dana Schwartz
Publisher: Wednesday Books 2023
Genre: YA Horror
Pages: 389
Rating: 4/5 stars
Reading Challenges: 52 Books Club - Includes a Funeral
Hazel Sinnett is alone and half-convinced the events of the year before—the immortality, Beecham’s vial—were a figment of her imagination. She doesn’t even know if Jack is alive or dead. All she can really do now is treat patients and maintain Hawthornden Castle as it starts to decay around her.
When saving a life leads to her arrest, Hazel seems doomed to rot in prison until a message intervenes: Hazel has been specifically requested to be the personal physician of Princess Charlotte, the sickly granddaughter of King George III. Soon Hazel is dragged into the glamor and romance of a court where everyone has something to hide, especially the enigmatic, brilliant members of a social club known as the Companions to the Death.
As Hazel’s work entangles her more and more with the British court, she realizes that her own future as a surgeon isn't the only thing at stake for her. Malicious forces are at work in the monarchy, and Hazel may be the only one capable of setting things right.
A successful and satisfying follow up to Anatomy. I was very annoyed by the cliffhanger at the end of the first book, but thankfully, this volume closes that storyline. We re-encounter Hazel continuing her work alone in her family’s house in Edinburgh. This story line is all fine and good, but the book finally picks up once Hazel is transported to London and meets Princess Charlotte. I loved the royal intrigue aspect of the story and Hazel’s relationships with Charlotte and Eliza. We don’t get quite as much medical talk in this one as the last, but it’s still there. This book did feel like a bit more of a stretch by including so many real characters into the plot line. Most of it was fine, but there were a few parts that I was a bit incredulous by the actions taken by some characters. As such, I still have issues with the supernatural aspects of this duology. A nice quick read, but it’s not going to make my top 10 of the year.
Next up on the TBR pile:
Title: Wasted Words (The Austen’s #1)
Author: Staci Hart
Publisher: Staci Hart Novels 2016
Genre: Romance
Pages: 349
Rating: 4/5 stars
Reading Challenges: COYER; Finishing the Series
Spice Rating: 5
Falling for my roommate might be the worst idea I never had.
Guys like Tyler Knight don’t go for girls like me.
He’s an ex-tight end with a face so gorgeous, he belongs on a billboard, and I’m a book nerd with glasses and a comic book obsession. I might not know much, since most of my boyfriends exist between the pages of books, but I do know when I’m out of my league.
So instead of obsessing over Tyler, I put all my energy into playing Cupid, using the book bar, Wasted Words, as my playground.
When he kisses me? Welp, there’s no hiding the truth.
But the last time I trusted someone with my heart, it shattered, and the pieces never quite fit together again. With Tyler’s high profile job and the subsequent barrage of women, there doesn’t seem to be room for me. And so my heart breaks over and over until it finally falls apart again.
And this time, I don’t know if I can pick up the pieces.
*A romantic comedy inspired by Jane Austen’s Emma*
A random pick from my extensive Kindle library. And I really enjoyed this one. We get a contemporary retelling of Austen’s Emma (in my top half of Austen novels) with a few tweaks here and there. I enjoyed seeing a modern Emma deal with modern matchmaking obstacles. Thankfully our heroine, Cam, is not a wilting wallflower or a sheltered damsel. She’s an independent woman with baggage, but manages to work through most of that baggage inside these pages. We get to see her actually grow and change independent of the romance aspects. Focusing on the romance, I really loved Tyler’s point of view the best. He was a great modern Knightly. He had his own backstory to work through. I loved seeing the two of them together as a relationship unfolded. We didn’t have to wait until the end to get our main characters together. Thank goodness! After finding this one, I am definitely reading the rest of Hart’s Austen inspired modern romances.
The Austens
#1 Wasted Words
#2 A Thousand Words
#3 Love, Hannah
#4 Love Notes
#5 Pride and Papercuts
Next up on the TBR pile:
Title: Eternal Kiss of Darkness(Night Huntress World #3)
Author: Jeaniene Frost
Publisher: Avon 2010
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Pages: 361
Rating: 4/5 stars
Reading Challenges: Summer TBR; Unread Shelf, Finishing the Series
Spice Meter: 5 (albeit with a vampire)
An immortal war has been brewing in the darkness . . .
And now one woman has stumbled into the shadows.
Chicago private investigator Kira Graceling should have just kept on walking. But her sense of duty refused to let her ignore the moans of pain coming from inside a warehouse just before dawn. Suddenly she finds herself in a world she's only imagined in her worst nightmares.
At the center is Mencheres, a breathtaking Master vampire who thought he'd seen it all. Then Kira appears—this fearless, beautiful . . . human who braved death to rescue him. Though he burns for her, keeping Kira in his world means risking her life. Yet sending her away is unthinkable.
But with danger closing in, Mencheres must choose either the woman he craves, or embracing the darkest magic to defeat an enemy bent on his eternal destruction.
Oh this one was a wild ride. Mencheres has always been an intriguing character in the regular Night Huntress series and I was so glad he got his own stand alone book. We get to learn his entire history and put to rest an ancient rivalry, all while finding his match in a private investigator. Kira was the right amount of smart and feisty heroine for our master vampire. I loved seeing their interactions and the ways in which Mencheres is forced to open up to Kira. Of course, I always love drop in appearances from Bones and Cat, but I especially love appearances from Vlad. He may be my favorite character in this entire world. This book has the right amount of action and romance to keep me flipping through the pages until the very end.
Night Huntress World:
#2 Eternal Kiss of Darkness
Next up on the TBR pile:
Title: Pathogenesis: A History of the World in Eight Plagues
Author: Jonathan Kennedy
Publisher: Crown 2023
Genre: Nonfiction - History, Pandemics
Pages: 304
Rating: 4/5 stars
Reading Challenges: Summer TBR
According to the accepted narrative of progress, humans have thrived thanks to their brains and brawn, collectively bending the arc of history. But in this revelatory book, Professor Jonathan Kennedy argues that the myth of human exceptionalism overstates the role that we play in social and political change. Instead, it is the humble microbe that wins wars and topples empires.
Drawing on the latest research in fields ranging from genetics and anthropology to archaeology and economics, Pathogenesis takes us through sixty thousand years of history, exploring eight major outbreaks of infectious disease that have made the modern world. Bacteria and viruses were protagonists in the demise of the Neanderthals, the growth of Islam, the transition from feudalism to capitalism, the devastation wrought by European colonialism, and the evolution of the United States from an imperial backwater to a global superpower. Even Christianity rose to prominence in the wake of a series of deadly pandemics that swept through the Roman Empire in the second and third centuries: Caring for the sick turned what was a tiny sect into one of the world’s major religions.
By placing disease at the center of his wide-ranging history of humankind, Kennedy challenges some of the most fundamental assumptions about our collective past—and urges us to view this moment as another disease-driven inflection point that will change the course of history. Provocative and brimming with insight, Pathogenesistransforms our understanding of the human story.
A fascinating look at how pandemics have shaped the history of humanity. While I really enjoyed this book and would recommend to a lot of readers interested in the topic, I couldn’t give it 5 stars. Mostly, I felt like I was reviewing a ton of material that I had already learned. This is the problem with reading a ton of history books and epidemiology books. I probably know way to much to accurately judge a book like this. I did appreciated how Kennedy lays out some basic context for each of the time periods he discusses before showing the reader how a pandemic changed the situation. My favorite chapters were about the Paleolithic and Neolithic plagues. Probably because those were the two chapters that I learned the most from. Our collective understanding of those two time periods has greatly increased over the last 15 years. I am here for all the new information we have gleaned from skeletons and artifacts. Loved it! The rest of the book was a bit review for me, but I did enjoyed the refresher course.
Next up on the TBR pile:
Reading: I think summer is the perfect time to read Silent Came the Monster by Amy Hill Hearth. It’s a fictionalized account of the shark attack off of New Jersey a century ago.
Watching: The Righteous Gemstones S3 dropped a few weeks ago and we finally started it. So good!
Listening: My current favorite podcast, Maintenance Phase, dropped another great episode this past week. Seriously, they are always so good!
Making: I filled my meal plan with lots of crockpot meals to lessen the cooking and heat in the kitchen.
Feeling: This week’s temperatures are looking brutal. It’s supposed to be over 100 degrees most of the days. I’m just always hot and sticky right now…
Planning: Working on solidifying our homeschool lessons and plans. Getting close to our August 7th start date.
Loving: With the temperatures, I am so grateful for air conditioning.
Next up on the TBR pile:
Sometimes I need some pop in my life. This really hit the spot.
Next up on the TBR pile:
On my bedside table: Anatomy and Immortality by Dana Schwartz
On my tv this week: We finished Human Target and continued with our currently airing episodes.
Listening to: Just my usual podcasts for this week.
On the menu for this week:
Monday - Me Out
Tuesday - Me Out
Wednesday - Broccoli Beef with Rice
Thursday - BLT Pasta Salad
Friday - Fiesta Chicken and Rice Bowls
Saturday - Cookout
Sunday - Sloppy Joes
On my to do list: I did a giant brain dump yesterday, so now I’ve got a long list of tasks to accomplish this week.
Happening this week: The temperatures are going to be over 100 degrees most of the week. We’re opting for water play and indoor activities.
Monday - Zoo Day (I't’s Member Appreciation Week); Book Club
Tuesday - Miller Park Splash Pad; Book Club (yep, it’s a two book club week)
Wednesday - Home Day
Thursday - Home Day (peak temps)
Friday - Heron Haven Nature Walk; Bounce U Open Bounce
Saturday - Coop Kickoff Cookout
Sunday - The Breakfast Club
What I am creating: I would like to get started with my June Memory Planner pages.
My simple pleasures: A good bottle of wine, air conditioning, jigsaw puzzles
Looking around the house: Whirlwind cleaning yesterday has helped to settle my brain bees. We picked up and vacuum the downstairs. Today I want to focus on the kitchen. I want to clean off all the counters and sweep and stiffer the floors.
From the camera: Check out that little nugget! He is now almost 5 months old! I seriously just want to smuggle him home with me.
Title: Cinderella is Dead
Author: Kalynn Bayron
Publisher: Bloomsbury 2020
Genre: YA Fantasy
Pages: 389
Rating: 4/5 stars
Reading Challenges: Summer TBR
It's 200 years after Cinderella found her prince, but the fairy tale is over. Teen girls are now required to appear at the Annual Ball, where the men of the kingdom select wives based on a girl's display of finery. If a suitable match is not found, the girls not chosen are never heard from again.
Sixteen-year-old Sophia would much rather marry Erin, her childhood best friend, than parade in front of suitors. At the ball, Sophia makes the desperate decision to flee, and finds herself hiding in Cinderella's mausoleum. There, she meets Constance, the last known descendant of Cinderella and her step sisters. Together they vow to bring down the king once and for all--and in the process, they learn that there's more to Cinderella's story than they ever knew . . .
This was a recommendation from some of my friends at the retreat. I randomly picked it up as there was no wait at the library. And it was a lovely retelling of the Cinderella story. We get a plucky heroine that sets out on a dangerous path to find the truth. I liked that the author made Sophia queer, but the “romance” with her childhood best friend and then Constance just fell a little flat for me. It was more like that first crush. The overall romance aspect of the book didn’t land with me, but that might be because I am not a young adult. I did enjoy the twisting of the fairy tale story and the overall mystery of the kingdom. Those parts were really fun to read even if I did predict most of the big reveals. A fun retelling that’s a little different from the norm.
Next up on the TBR pile:
Title: The Bees
Author: Laline Paull
Publisher: Ecco 2014
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 340
Rating: 3/5 stars
Reading Challenges: Summer TBR; COYER
The Handmaid’s Tale meets The Hunger Games in this brilliantly imagined debut set in an ancient culture where only the queen may breed and deformity means death.
Flora 717 is a sanitation worker, a member of the lowest caste in her orchard hive where work and sacrifice are the highest virtues and worship of the beloved Queen the only religion. But Flora is not like other bees. With circumstances threatening the hive’s survival, her curiosity is regarded as a dangerous flaw but her courage and strength are an asset. She is allowed to feed the newborns in the royal nursery and then to become a forager, flying alone and free to collect pollen. She also finds her way into the Queen’s inner sanctum, where she discovers mysteries about the hive that are both profound and ominous.
But when Flora breaks the most sacred law of all—daring to challenge the Queen’s fertility—enemies abound, from the fearsome fertility police who enforce the strict social hierarchy to the high priestesses jealously wedded to power. Her deepest instincts to serve and sacrifice are now overshadowed by an even deeper desire, a fierce maternal love that will bring her into conflict with her conscience, her heart, her society—and lead her to unthinkable deeds.
A strange novel with an interesting premise that didn’t quite land for me. I was intrigued by a novel written from the perspective of a bee. We get to glimpse the inner workings of the hive. Once we get into the actual story, I was less committed to the entire novel. The characters didn’t quite come alive for me. I was confused as many turns by the motivations and the overall purpose of the characters. It was hard to connect with the story as written and ultimately I was left wanting more.
Next up on the TBR pile:
Title: Camp Red Moon
Author: R.L. Stine
Publisher: 2019
Genre: MG Horror
Pages:
Rating: 3/5 stars
Reading Challenges: Summer TBR
Camp nights or camp frights?
Every sleepaway camp promises memories that last a lifetime. But the memories from Camp Red Moon might give you nightmares!
The campfire appears to dim when the moon turns blood red and strange creatures prowl the forest.
Do you find a total lookalike at camp? Is it coincidence or is he a shapeshifter trying to take over your life?
Why don't your competitors at the robotics competition seem exactly...human?
And why do campers do anything to avoid Cabin 6?
The master of the scary story, R.L. Stine, has handpicked a staff of storytelling counselors - Dan Poblocki, Ellen Oh, and Justin Reynolds - to help him tell the creepy campfire stories that swirl around Camp Red Moon.
No matter how bright the campfire, get ready for some CHILLS!
Random audiobook for my week. I was hoping for some classic spooky RL Stine chills. These stories are really uneven. I like the first story about the werewolf and the last story about Cabin 6, but the other two were not good at all. Very silly as opposed to scary. Oh well. Sometimes my choices are winners.
Next up on the TBR pile:
I missed making this post last week as I was in the middle of a medical issue. But I’m back and feeling a bit better, so let’s see what we have on our summer bucket list this year…
Complete the Library Reading Program ✓
Ice Cream Tour of Omaha (in progress)
Louisville, Two Rivers, and Fremont SRAs
Trip to Indiana and Ohio ✓
Cookout with Friends
Lincoln Day
5 Splash Pad Visits (2/5)
3 Movies at the Theater (1/3)
3 Omaha Zoo Visits (2/3)
Read 50 Books
August Movie Month
September Game Month
Next up on the TBR pile:
Here's my randomness for the week:
Back home and our schedule is really off right now. But we’re getting back on track.
Jigsaw puzzles really calm me down.
I just saw the temperatures for next week. Over 100 degrees! I am not looking forward to any of that.
Sometimes all I need is a good baked cookie.
Next up on the TBR pile:
Title: Sister, Maiden, Monster
Author: Lucy A. Snyder
Publisher: Tor Nightfire 2023
Genre: Horror
Pages: 265
Rating: 4/5 stars
Reading Challenges: Summer TBR; UnRead Shelf
A virus tears across the globe, transforming its victims in nightmarish ways. As the world collapses, dark forces pull a small group of women together.
Erin, once quiet and closeted, acquires an appetite for a woman and her brain. Why does forbidden fruit taste so good?
Savannah, a professional BDSM switch, discovers a new turn-on: committing brutal murders for her eldritch masters.
Mareva, plagued with chronic tumors, is too horrified to acknowledge her divine role in the coming apocalypse, and as her growths multiply, so too does her desperation.
I’m not quite sure exactly what I just read, but I think I like it? This starts out as a pandemic novel and then becomes something a lot more apocalyptic. We get three seemingly different characters and storylines that coalesce into a story of change and purpose. We get shades of Lovecraftian horror as Snyder explores a changing world. Be forewarned that this novel is very adult and very very graphic and gory. The ending is a wild ride and I’m still not sure what to make of it. But overall, I was very intrigued by this story.
Next up on the TBR pile:
Title: Jurassic Park
Author: Michael Crichton
Publisher: Ballantine Books 1990
Genre: Science Fiction
Pages: 416
Rating: 5/5 stars
Reading Challenges: Summer TBR; COYER
An astonishing technique for recovering and cloning dinosaur DNA has been discovered. Now humankind’s most thrilling fantasies have come true. Creatures extinct for eons roam Jurassic Park with their awesome presence and profound mystery, and all the world can visit them—for a price.
Until something goes wrong. . .
I read this novel way back in sometime in the 1990s. I had hoped that the book would hold up to my memories. Thankfully it really does. The story is nonstop action from the moment Chapter 1 starts. We get to meet all the intriguing characters and set up the island. Of course, we all know that things are going to go sideways very soon. Once all the different parts of the system start to fail, everything kicks into high gear. While the book is better than the movie in almost every aspect, I did forget just how much I dislike Lex as a character. She is just terrible. The movie changed the dynamic and definitely improved the characters. Otherwise, I forgot just how much I did like Ian Malcolm. Overall, I love this book so much.
Next up on the TBR pile: