Friday, February 16, 2024

2023 Books

I did NOT read as much in late 2023 as I usually do. Have been knitting more than reading. Have also had a lot of DNF books, due to lack of attention span or obsession with knitting. Guessing that since work has been requiring a lot more attention I've had less attention to give to books. That has continued on to 2024, as it's February and my list is SHORT. Failed miserably at the Sealey Challenge, both times I tried. Maybe I should try for twice in 2024 - March and August. Maybe. Also need to organize my projects, clear out the ones that are finished or hibernating. I have more knitting goals than reading goals in 2024. Plus weaving. Really need to finish my sampler and start another. Anyway. Work calls, then I need to go for a titty panini. List: 

Prose Books Read in 2023

001. Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands, Kate Beaton
002. Warbears, Margaret Atwood and Ken Steacy
003. Paws and Effect, Leighann Dobbs
004. Bright, Kiki Petrosino
005. Trampoline, Robert Gipe
006. Angel Catbird, Margaret Atwood, Johnnie Christmas, and Tamra Bonvillain
007. Under the Whispering Door, TJ Klune
008. Weedeater, Robert Gipe
009. Probable Paws, Leighann Dobbs
010. Bitten: The Secret History of Lyme Disease and Biological Weapons, Kris Newby
011. The Secret History of Home Economics: How Trailblazing Women Harnessed the Power of Home and Changed the Way We Live, Danielle Dreilinger
012. The Henna Artist, Alka Joshi
013. Whisker of a Doubt, Leighann Dobbs
014. Laughter at the Academy, Seanan McGuire
015. Legends and Lattes, Travis Baldree
016. Cold Enough for Snow, Jessica Au
017. They Drown Our Daughters, Katrina Monroe
018. Pop, Robert Gipe
019. The Bruising of Qilwa, Naseem Jamnia
020. Curiosity Thrilled the Cat, Sofie Kelly
021. The FBI Way: Inside the Bureau's Code of Excellence, Frank Figliuzzi
022. The Last Garden in England, Julia Kelly
023. Nettle & Bone, T. Kingfisher
024. The Ruthless Lady's Guide to Wizardry, C.M. Waggoner
025. Malibu Rising, Taylor Jenkins Reid
026. Little Pieces of Me, Alison Hammer
027. It Won't Always Be Like This, Malaka Gharib
028. A Pocket Guide to Pigeon Watching: Getting to Know the World's Most Misunderstood Bird, Rosemary Mosco
029. I Was Their American Dream, Malaka Gharib
030. The Other Black Girl, Zakiya Dalila Harris
031. No One Is Talking About This, Patricia Lockwood
032. Out There, Kate Folk
033. East of West, Vol 1-10, Jonathan Hickman and Nick Dragotta
034. The Push, Ashley Audrain
035. A Marvellous Light, Freya Marske
036. Summer Sons, Lee Mandelo
037. Instructions for a Heatwave, Maggie O'Farrell
038. All Signs Point to Yes, G. Haron Davis, Cam Montgomery, and Adrianne White, eds.
039. A Master of Djinn, P. Djèlí Clark
040. West with Giraffes, Lynda Rutledge
041. Just Your Local Bisexual Disaster, Andrea Mosqueda
042. The Disappearing Spoon and Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements, Sam Kean
043. Home Bound:An Uprooted Daughter's Reflection on Belonging, Vanessa A. Bee
044. Project Hail Mary, Andy Weir
045. Spells & Stitches, Barbara Bretton
046. A Siege of Bitterns, Steve Burrows
047. Gender Queer: Maia Kobabe
048. The Other Dark Matter: The Science and Business of Turning Waste Into Wealth and Health, Lina Zeldovich
049. OMFG, BEES! Bees Are So Amazing and You're About to Find Out Why, Matt Kracht
050. 2034: A Novel of the Next World War, Elliot Ackerman and Admiral James Stavridis, US Navy
051. We Ride Upon Sticks, Quan Barry
052. A Pitying of Doves, Steve Burrows
053. A Cast of Falcons, Steve Burrows
054. Super Fly: The Unexpected Lives of the World's Most Successful Insects, Jonathan Balcombe
055. The Wife, Meg Wolitzer
056. Pussy, King of the Pirates, Kathy Acker
057. Never Saw Me Coming, Vera Kurian
058. The Man With Eight Pairs of Legs, Leslie Kirk Campbell
059. The Crying Book, Heather Christle
060. White People on Vacation, Alex Miller
061. The Survivalists, Kashana Cauley
062. The Fraud Squad, Kyla Zhao
063. The Last Beekeeper, Julie Carrick Dalton
064. Opening My Eyes Under Water, Ashley Woodfolk
065. Everyman, M. Shelly Conner
066. A New Race of Men From Heaven, Chaitali Sen
067. Bookworm, Robin Yeatman
068. All-Night Pharmacy, Ruth Madievsky
069. Four Lost Cities: A Secret History of the Urban Age, Annalee Newitz
070. Mrs. Caliban, Rachel Ingalls
071. The In-Betweens, Davon Loeb
072. The Unidentified: Mythical Monsters, Alien Encounters, and Our Obsession with the Unexplained, Colin Dickey
073. Ladyparts, Deborah Copaken
074. A Shimmer of Hummingbirds, Steve Burrows
075. My Real Children, Jo Walton
076. Nightbitch, Rachel Yoder
077. Scion of the Fox, S.M. Beiko
078. The Case of the Murderous Dr. Cream: The Hunt for a Victorian Era Serial Killer, Dean Jobb
079. Bad Indians: A Tribal Memoir, Deborah A. Miranda
080. Olga Dies Dreaming, Xochitl Gonzalez
081. The Boy with the Bookstore, Sarah Echavarre Smith
082. Dirtbag, Massachusetts: A Confessional, Isaac Fitzgerald
083. One True Loves, Taylor Jenkins Reid
084. The Blurry Years, Eleanor Kriseman
085. If You Tell: A True Story of Murder, Family Secrets, and the Unbreakable Bond of Sisterhood, Gregg Olsen
086. Things We Do In the Dark, Jennifer Hillier
087. The Latinist, Mark Prins
089. Blood on the Tracks, Barbara Nickless
090. Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake, Alexis Hall
091. The Women Could Fly, Megan Giddings
092. A Cat's Tale: A Journey Through Feline History, Baba the Cat and Paul Koudounaris
093. Written in Dead Wax, Andrew Cartmel
094. The Run-Out Groove, Andrew Cartmel
095. Drugs and Other Things to do in Cleveland, Francis Elizabeth

Poetry Books Read in 2023

001. Blood Snow, dg nanouk okpik
002. Tanka and Me: Poems, Kaethe Schwehn
003. Poems for My People and Me, Monica Sekhmet Grant
004. The Kissing of Kissing, Hannah Emerson
005. White Bull, Elizabeth Hughey
006. Loose Strife, Quan Barry
007. Lives, CJ Evans
008. Rotura, José Angel Araguz
009. Build Yourself a Boat, Camonghne Felix
010. The Wanting Way, Adam Wolfond
011. Field Study, Chet'la Sebree
012. Team Photograph, Lauren Haldeman
013. The World Keeps Ending, and the World Goes On, Franny Choi
014. Calenday, Lauren Haldeman
015. Invasive Species, Marwa Helal
016. Thot, Chanté L. Reid
017. Revenge Body, Rachel Wiley
018. Unshuttered, Patricia Smith
019. Bluets, Maggie Nelson
020. Mistress, Chet'la Sebree
021. Witch Wife, Kiki Petrosino
022. Emergency Brake, Ruth Madievsky
023. I'm Always So Serious, Karisma Price
024. 50 Things Kate Bush Taught Me About the Multiverse, Karyna McGlynn
025. Fort Red Border, Kiki Petrosino
- SEALEY CHALLENGE -
026. Birds of the Cuyahoga, 2022 Edith Chase Poetry Reading
027. American Mastodon, Brad Ricca
028. Alive at the End of the World, Saeed Jones
029. Freedom Knows My Name, Kelly Harris-DeBarry
030. Studies of Familiar Birds, Carrie Green
031. Take Me To the Water, Irene Vásquez
032. Hush, Nikki Ummel
032. Birds Don't Fly for Pleasure, Táíwò Hassan
033. The Alpinist Searches Lonely Places, Kyle Vaughn
- SEALEY SEPTEMBER DO-OVER -
034. Against Which, Ross Gay
035. The Girl with Bees in Her Hair, Eleanor Rand Wilner
036. Urbanshee, Siaara Freeman
- HAHAHAHAHA LIFE SAYS NO SEALEY THIS YEAR, IT'S ALMOST NOVEMBER 

Monday, January 2, 2023

2022 Books

Zoey is number one:
                111111111111111111111111111

(She is helping me work today, and stood on the keyboard.) 

Anyway, it's 2023. Somehow. Read a decent bit in 2022. Still have a TONNE of library books to read in 2023, and my purchased TBR stacks are still enormous. 

Prose Books Read in 2022
001. Flash Fire, T.J. Klune
002. The House in the Cerulean Sea, T.J. Klune
003. Grocery: The Buying and Selling of Food in America, Michael Ruhlman
004. My Monticello, Jocelyn Nicole Johnson
005. Mexican Gothic, Silvia Moreno-Garcia
006. The Northern Reach, W. S. Winslow
007. Big Sex Little Death, Susie Bright
008. Meet Cute Diary, Emery Lee
009. Elder Race, Adrian Tchaikovsky
010. Fight of the Century: Writers Reflect on 100 Years of Landmark ACLU Cases, Michael Chabon & Ayelet Waldman, eds.
011. Light Years From Home, Mike Chen
012. Bird Brother: A Falconer's Journey and the Healing Power of Wildlife, Rodney Stotts with Kate Pipkin
013. Anatomy: A Love Story, Dana Schwartz
014. The Chosen One, Echo Brown
015. Shoutin' In the Fire: An American Epistle, Danté Stewart
016. Cherish Farrah, Bethany C. Morrow
017. Somebody's Daughter, Ashley Ford
018. Period. End of Sentence: A New Chapter in the Fight for Menstrual Justice, Anita Diamant
019. Women of the Klan: Racism and Gender in the 1920s, Kathleen M. Blee
020. How to Be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question, Michael Schur
021. Meet Me in Another Life, Catriona Silvey
022. The Cold Blue Blood, David Handler
023. Seek You: A Journey Through American Loneliness: Kristen Radtke
024. Intimacies, Katie Kitamura
025. Casting Spells, Barbara Bretton
026. Allow Me to Retort: A Black Guy's Guide to the Constitution, Elie Mystal
027. Imagine Wanting Only This, Kristen Radtke
028. The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea, Axie Oh
029. Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century, Kim Fu
030. Don't Breathe a Word, Jordyn Taylor
031. Admissions: A Memoir of Surviving Boarding School, Kendra James
032. Rosalie Lightning, Tom Hart
033. Firestorm, Nevada Barr
034. Track of the Cat, Nevada Barr
035. A Superior Death, Nevada Barr
036. Ill Wind, Nevada Barr
037. A Face Like Glass, Frances Hardinge
038. Carry Me Home, Janet Fox
039. Yonder, Jabari Asim
040. Bonds of Brass, Emily Skrutskie
041. Calamities, Renee Gladman
042. D (A Tale of Two Worlds), Michel Faber
043. Gods of Jade and Shadow, Silvia Moreno-Garcia
044. Insomnia, Sarah Pinborough
045. Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch, Rivka Galchen
046. Razorblade Tears, S.A. Cosby
047. Cyber Mage, Saad Z. Hossain
048. Dead Collections, Isaac Fellman
049. Sharks in the Time of Saviors, Kawai Strong Washburn
050. Owls of the Eastern Ice: A Quest to Find and Save the World's Largest Owl, Jonathan C. Slaght
051. Donut Fall in Love, Jackie Lau
052. Spear, Nicola Griffith
053. Dear Damage, Ashley Marie Farmer
054. Forging a Nightmare, Patricia A. Jackson
055. D'Vaughn & Kris Plan a Wedding, Chencia C. Higgins
056. The Wolf and the Woodsman, Ava Reid
057. The Last Graduate, Naomi Novik
058. Eleutheria, Allegra Hyde
059. The Taking of Jake Livingston, Ryan Douglass
060. The Merciful Crow, Margaret Owen
061. Where the World Ends, Geraldine McCaughrean
062. Witchlings, Claribel A. Ortega
063. Feral Creatures, Kira Jane Buxton
064. Fossil Men: The Quest for the Oldest Skeleton and the Origins of Humankind, Kermit Pattison
065. The Sediments of Time: My Lifelong Search for the Past, Meave Leakey
066. Carry: A Memoir of Survival on Stolen Land, Toni Jensen
067. Sometimes I Trip on How Happy We Could Be, Nichole Perkins
068. Black Sun, Rebecca Roanhorse
069. Handmade: A Scientist's Search for Meaning Through Making, Anna Ploszajski
070. Swallow: Foreign Bodies, Their Ingestion, Inspiration, and the Curious Doctor Who Extracted Them, Mary Cappello
071. Nightcrawling, Leila Mottley
072. Utopia Avenue, David Mitchell
073. Coffeeland: One Man's Dark Empire and the Making of Our Favorite Drug, Augustine Sedgewick
074. Crier's War, Nina Varela
075. Iron Heart, Nina Varela
076. We Are Not Broken, George M Johnson
077. Battle of the Bands, Lauren Giraldi and Eric Smith, eds.
078. The Self-Made Widow, Fabian Nicieza
079. So Many Beginnings, Bethany C. Morrow
080. The Relentless Moon, Mary Robinette Kowal
081. The Book of Longings, Sue Monk Kidd
082. The Innocence of the Devil, Nasal El Saadawi
083. Stormsong, C.L. Polk
084. When We Were Mermaids, Barbara O'Neal
085. The Many Meanings of Meilan, Andrea Wang
086. Laced with Magic, Barbara Bretton
087. Ghostly Paws, Leighann Dobbs
088. Spun by Sorcery, Barbara Bretton
089. Good Boy: My Life in Seven Dogs, Jennifer Finney Boylan
090. These Toxic Things, Rachel Howzell Hall
091. Paradise Falls: The True Story of an Environmental Catastrophe, Keith O'Brien
092. Within These Wicked Walls, Lauren Blackwood
093. The Vagina Bible: The Vulva and the Vagina — Separating the Myth from the Medicine, Jen Gunter, MD
094. The Taste of Sugar, Marisel Vera
095. The Legend of Auntie Po, Shing Yin Khor
096. The Donut Trap, Julie Tieu
097. Mother Daughter Widow Wife, Robin Wasserman
098. She Who Became the Sun, Shelley Parker-Chan
099. Patriarchy Blues: Reflections on Manhood, Frederick Joseph
100. Kismet, Amina Akhtar
101. Men Who Hate Women: From Incels to Pickup Artists: The Truth about Extreme Misogyny and How It Affects Us All, Laura Bates
102. The Knockout Queen, Rufi Thorpe
103. Book Lovers, Emily Henry
104. Heavenly Bodies: Cult Treasures & Spectacular Saints from the Catacombs, Paul Koudounaris
105. Sweetie Baby Cookie Honey, Freddie Gershon
106. Hither, Page, Cat Sebastian
107. Telling, Marilyn Reynolds
108. Hopeless, Maine (1 & 2), Tom & Nimue Brown
109.# FashionVictim, Amina Akhtar
110. Big Hard Sex Criminals, Vols. 1-3, Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky
111. The Best We Could Do, Thi Bui
112. One Woman's Army: A Black Officer Remembers the WAC, Charity Adams Earley
113. The Dawnhounds, Sasha Stronach
114. A Psalm for the Wild-Built, Becky Chambers
115. Comfort Me with Apples, Catherynne Valente
116. A Black Women's History of the United States, Daina Ramey Berry and Kali Nicole Gross
117. A Man and His Cat, Vols 1-6, Umi Sakurai
118. The Great Offshore Grounds, Vanessa Veselka
119. Below, Laurel Hightower
120. African Europeans, Olivette Otele
121. A Spindle Splintered, Alix E. Harrow
122. Writers & Lovers, Lily King
123. Slaves for Peanuts: A Story of Conquest, Liberation, and a Crop That Changed History, Jori Lewis
124. Life's Edge: The Search for What It Means To Be Alive, Carl Zimmer
125. A Prayer for the Crown-Shy, Becky Chambers
126. Fiebre Tropical, Juliana Delgado Lopera
127. All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley's Sack, a Black Family Keepsake, Tiya Miles
128. What Moves the Dead, T. Kingfisher
129. Set My Heart To Five, Simon Stephenson
130. Malabar Farm: Louis Bromfield, Friends of the Land, and the Rise of Sustainable Agriculture, Anneliese Abbott
131. Piranesi, Susanna Clarke
132. Number One Fan, Meg Elison
133. If This Gets Out, Sophie Gonzales & Cale Dietrich
134. The Dew Breaker, Edwidge Danticat
135. Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present, Ruth Ben-Ghiat
136. Root Magic, Eden Royce
137. Year of the Tiger: An Activist's Life, Alice Wong
138. The Butchering Art: Joseph Lister's Quest to Transform the Grisly World of Victorian Medicine, Lindsey Fitzharris
139. The Wicked and the Divine, Vols 1-9, Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie
140. Even Though I Knew the End, C.L. Polk
141. The Forest of Stolen Girls, June Hur
142. One True Loves, Elise Bryant
143. The Golden Enclaves, Naomi Novik
144. How to Keep House While Drowning: A Gentle Approach to Cleaning and Organizing, KC Davis, LPC
145. Culture Warlords: My Journey Into the Dark Web of White Supremacy, Talia Lavin
146. The Once and Future Witches, Alix E. Harrow
147. We Were Witches, Ariel Gore
148. Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times, Katherine May
149. Love Times Infinity, Lane Clarke
150. She and Her Cat, Makoto Shinkai and Naruki Nagakawa, Ginny Tapley Takemori, trans
151. A Spirited Tail, Leighann Dobbs
152. Lost and Found, Kathryn Schulz
153. Crooked House, Agatha Christie
154. We Keep the Dead Close: A Murder at Harvard and Half a Century of Silence, Becky Cooper
155. Hidden Pictures, Jason Rekulak
156. Hamnet, Maggie O'Farrell
157. The Empire of Death: A Cultural History of Ossuaries and Charnel Houses, Paul Koudounaris
158. Memento Mori: The Dead Among Us, Paul Koudounaris
159. Detransition, Baby, Torrey Peters
160. Bury My Heart at Chuck E. Cheese's, Tiffany Midge
161. Black Birds In the Sky: The Story of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, Brandy Colbert
162. A Mew to a Kill, Leighann Dobbs
163. Sweet, Soft, Plenty Rhythm, Laura Warrell
164. The Very Nice Box, Laura Blackett and Eve Gleichman

Poetry Books Read in 2022
001. Calling a Wolf a Wolf, Kaveh Akbar
002. Dreaming of You, Melissa Lozada-Oliva
003. Kontemporary Amerikan Poetry, John Murillo
004. Little Girl Blue, Sequoia Maner
005. Against Heaven, Kemi Alabi
006. The Rootwork Stretched, mant¿s
007. The Odyssey, Homer, translated by Emily Wilson
008. A Nail the Evening Hangs On, Monica Sok
009. Body Facts, Joey S. Kim
010. Rare Birds, Shelley Wong
011. Love Letter to Who Owns the Heavens, Corey Van Landingham
012. Imago, Dei, Elizabeth Johnston Ambrose
013. Can You Sign My Tentacle? Brandon O'Brien
014. All the Gay Saints, Kayleb Rae Candrilli
015. Nightingale, Paisley Rekdal
016. Sixteen Rabbits, Maryan Nagy Captan
017. Space Struck, Paige Lewis
018. Shutter, Taylor Byas
019. A mouthful of sky, Anu Mahadev
020. Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head, Warsan Shire
021. All the Stars Aflame, Malik Abduh
022. 28,065 Nights, Katie Manning
023. Latch, Jen Stewart Fueston
024. Rare Encounters with Sea Beasts and Other Divine Phenomena, Nick Gregorio
025. Heaven Is All Goodbyes, Tongo Eisen-Martin
026. Blood on the Fog, Tongo Eisen-Martin
027. Nothing but Skin, Quartez Harris
028. Night Sky with Exit Wounds, Ocean Vuong
029. We Made It to School Alive, Quartez Harris
030. Time Is a Mother, Ocean Vuong
031. The January Children, Safia Elhillo
032. Nothing Burns as Bright as You, Ashley Woodfolk
033. Whereas, Layli Long Soldier
034. Living Nations, Living Words, Joy Harjo, ed.
035. More Salt Than Diamond, Aline Mello
036. Eat Or We Both Starve, Victoria Kennefick
037. City Eclogue, Ed Roberson
038. The Familiar Wild: On Dogs & Poetry, Ruth Awad & Rachel Mennies, eds.
039. C+nto & Othered Poems, Joelle Taylor
-- SEALEY CHALLENGE --
040. The Colored Page, Matthew E. Henry
041. Every Song a Vengeance, Chloe N Clark
042. Our Gods Are Hungry for Elegies, Honora Ankong
043. Letters In a Bruised Cosmos, Liz Howard
044. The Wet Hex, Sun Yung Shin
045. Each One a Furnace, Tolu Oloruntoba
046. Gumbo Ya Ya, Aurielle Marie
047. Black Under, Ashanti Anderson
048. Set the Garden on Fire, Chen Chen
049. Hallelujah Science, Kelli Stevens Kane
050. Patient., Bettina Judd
051. Sick, Jody Chan
052. Two Brown Dots, Danni Quintos
053. The Tradition, Jericho Brown
054. Burn Down Your House, Angelique Zobitz
055. The Bitter Seasons' Whip, Lee Yuk Sa, Seyko Nam Haines, translator
056. Prelude, Brynne Rebele-Henry
057. Hex & Howl, Simone Muench and Jackie K White
058. Wild Invocations, Ysabel Y González
059. Unbelonging, Gayatri Sethi
060. Concentrate, Courtney Faye Taylor
061. Miedo al Olvido: Poems from an Uprooted Girl, Ana Hurtado
062. Lace & Pyrite, Ross Gay and Aimee Nezhukumatathil
063. Exercise in Desire, Francesca Kritikos
064. Sweetbitter, Stacey Balkun
065. Department of Elegy, Mary Biddinger
066. Groundcover, Molly Kugel
067. Rat Queen, Katie Jean Shinkle
068. Head of a Gorgon, Raegen Pietrucha
069. Paring, Travis Chi Wing Lau
070. The Autobiography of Absence, Ephraim Nehemiah
-- SEPTEMBER --
071. To See the Earth Before the End of the World, Ed Roberson
072. The Venus Hottentot, Elizabeth Alexander
073. Loom, Sarah Gridley
074. Embodied: An Intersectional Feminist Comics Poetry Anthology, Wendy & Tyler Chin-Tanner, eds
075. Pebble Swing, Isabella Wang
076. All Our Wild Wonder, Sarah Kay
077. Goldenrod, Maggie Smith
078. Ask the Brindled, No‘u Revilla
079. Set to Music a Wildfire, Ruth Awad
080. Counting Descent, Clint Smith
081. Asked What Has Changed, Ed Roberson
082. The Hurting Kind, Ada Limón
083. Tryst, Angie Estes
084. Circa, Hannah Zeavin
085. Return Flight, Jennifer Huang
086. Hot With the Bad Things, Lucia LoTempio
087. Casual Conversation, Renia White
088. Night Is a Sharkskin Drum, Haunani-Kay Trask
089. Light in the Crevice Never Seen, Haunani-Kay Trask
090. Poor Anima, Khaty Xiong
091. Cannibal, Safiya Sinclair
092. The Symmetry of Fish, Su Cho
093. Relinquenda, Alexandra Lytton Regaldo
094. Intimacies, Received, Taneum Bambrick
095. Girls That Never Die, Safia Elhillo
096. Harbinger, Shelley Puhak
097. The Lost Words, Robert MacFarlane and Jackie Morris (ill.)
098. The Lost Spells, Robert MacFarlane and Jackie Morris
099. Pili's Wall, Philip Levine
100. Golden Ax, Rio Cortez
101. Bluest Nude, Ama Codjoe
102. Extinction Theory, Kien Lam
103. Real Phonies and Genuine Fakes, Nicky Beer
104. Little Big Bully, Heid E. Erdrich
105. The Octopus Game, Nicky Beer
106. Boneshepherds, Patrick Rosal


Tuesday, January 4, 2022

2021 Books

2021 was an interesting year. (These are Interesting Times.) I read enough poetry that I started keeping a separate list. I might have a few in the wrong places, but hey, they're on a list.

Anyway, I have read 3(?) books in 2022, so I should post this and move on. And maybe someday I will finish some of my draft posts. And clear out my knitting/spinning projects. I should probably just give up on tagging/tracking yardage, as I still have things from 2020 to deal with. Possibly 2019. Blah. Obviously I like making things more than I like doing data entry.

Prose Books Read in 2021
001. King and the Dragonflies, Kacen Callender
002. The Thursday Murder Club, Richard Osman
003. Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America, Ijeoma Oluo
004. The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna, Juliet Grames
005. War Girls, Tochi Onyebuchi
006. The Extraordinaries, TJ Klune
007. The Dragon, the Giant, the Women, Wayétu Moore
008. Holding, Graham Norton
009. The Leftovers, Tom Perrotta
010. Zealot, Reza Aslan
011. Memorial Drive, Natasha Trethewey
012. Likes, Sarah Shun-Lien Bynum
013. Kings of the Wyld, Nicholas Eames
014. Flight Behavior, Barbara Kingsolver
015. Red, White, & Royal Blue, Casey McQuiston
016. The Gospel of Loki, Joanne M. Harris
017. The Lost City of the Monkey God, Douglas Preston
018. The Life and Medieval Times of Kit Sweetly, Jamie Pacton
019. The Smallest Lights in the Universe, Sara Seager
020. Don't Look for Me, Wendy Walker
021. Finlay Donovan Is Killing It, Elle Cosimano
022. The Beauty in Breaking, Michele Harper
023. High School, Sara Quin and Tegan Quin
024. A Keeper, Graham Norton
025. Last Night at the Telegraph Club, Malinda Lo
026. This Accident of Being Lost, Leanne Betasamosake Simpson
027. The Book of the Unnamed Midwife, Meg Elison
028. The Glass Hotel, Emily St. John Mandel
029. Confessions on the 7:45, Lisa Unger
030. Grown, Tiffany D. Jackson
031. Wow, No Thank You, Samantha Irby
032. The Vanishing Half, Brit Bennett
033. Charming As a Verb, Ben Philippe
034. Leave the World Behind, Rumaan Alam
035. Race to the Sun, Rebecca Roanhorse
036. A Beginning at the End, Mike Chen
037. Day One, Kelly deVos
038. American Spy, Lauren Wilkinson
039. New Waves, Kevin Nguyen
040. Why Fish Don't Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life, Lulu Miller
041. Crashing the A-List, Summer Heacock
042. Witchmark, C. L. Polk
043. Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear, Elizabeth Gilbert
044. Hello Goodbye Hello: A Circle of 101 Remarkable Meetings, Craig Brown
045. We Could Be Heroes, Mike Chen
046. Exciting Times, Naoise Dolan
047. Libertie, Kaitlyn Greenidge
048. Fighting Words, Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
049. The Death of Vivek Oji, Akwaeke Emezi
050. Untamed, Glennon Doyle
051. Haldol and Hyacinths: A Bipolar Life, Melody Moezzi
052. Thin Girls, Diana Clarke
053. The Subtweet, Vivek Shraya
054. This Brilliant Darkness: A Book of Strangers, Jeff Sharlet
055. The Burning, Laura Bates
056. The Wife Upstairs, Rachel Hawkins
057. The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness, Sy Montgomery
058. Silver Sparrow, Tayari Jones
059. The Home Place: Memoirs of a Colored Man's Love Affair with Nature, J. Drew Lanham
060. The Rumi Prescription: How an Ancient Mystic Poet Changed My Modern Manic Life, Melody Moezzi
061. The Book of Delights, Ross Gay
062. What A Fish Knows: The Inner Lives of Our Underwater Cousins, Jonathan Balcombe
063. It's About Damn Time: How to Turn Being Underestimated Into Your Greatest Advantage, Arlan Hamilton with Rachel L. Nelson
064. Awkward: The Science of Why We're Socially Awkward and Why That's Awesome, Ty Tashiro
065. Even As We Breathe, Annette Saunooke Clapsaddle
066. The Yellow House, Sarah M. Broom
067. This Is My America, Kim Johnson
068. Mary Toft; or, The Rabbit Queen, Dexter Palmer
069. Star Daughter, Shveta Thakrar
070. Girl, Woman, Other, Bernardine Evaristo
071. Animal, Lisa Taddeo
072. Deadly Education, Naomi Novik
073. vN, Madeline Ashby
074. Beautiful Boy, David Sheff
075. Winter Counts, David Heska Wanbli Weiden
076. Wham! George Michael & Me, Andrew Ridgeley
077. The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August, Claire North
078. The Unreality of Memory, Elisa Gabbert
079. Filthy Animals, Brandon Taylor
080. The Everlasting, Katy Simpson Smith
081. Wake: The Hidden History of Women-Led Slave Revolts, Rebecca Hall
082. Orfeo, Richard Powers
083. Paperback Crush: The Totally Radical History of '80s and '90s Teen Fiction, Gabrielle Moss
084. City of Girls, Elizabeth Gilbert
085. Elatsoe, Darcie Little Badger
086. Blacktop Wasteland, S. A. Cosby
087. The Blade Between, Sam J. Miller
088. Gloryland, Shelton Johnson
089. Cemetery Boys, Aiden Thomas
090. Scattered Lights, Steve Wiegenstein
091. Ready Player Two, Ernest Cline
092. Proxies, Brian Blanchfield
093. Blackout, Dhonielle Clayton, Tiffany D. Jackson, Nic Stone, Angie Thomas, Ashley Woodfolk, Nicola Yoon
094. Walking on Cowrie Shells, Nana Nkweti
095. Solutions and Other Problems, Allie Brosh
096. Suburban Dicks, Fabian Nicieza
097. Only Mostly Devastated, Sophie Gonzales
098. Unsettled Ground, Claire Fuller
099. Tremendous Things, Susin Nielsen
100. Concrete Rose, Angie Thomas
101. From the Desk of Zoe Washington, Janae Marks
102. Finding Junie Kim, Ellen Oh
103. Big Girl Plus..., Meg Elison
103. Ophie's Ghosts, Justina Ireland
104. The Return of the Sorceress, Silvia Moreno-Garcia
105. Fox & I: An Uncommon Friendship, Catherine Raven
106. Pax, Sara Pennypacker
107. Flyaway, Kathleen Jennings
108. Hex, Rebecca Dinerstein Knight
109. Disappear Dopplegänger Disappear, Matthew Salesses
110. The Gilded Ones, Namina Forna
111. Hurricane Summer, Asha Bromfield
112. Republic of Lies: American Conspiracy Theorists and Their Surprising Rise to Power, Anna Merlan
113. Excavation, Wendy C. Ortiz
114. Sex Education, Jenny Davis
115. Mill Town: Reckoning with What Remains, Kerri Arsenault
116. A Universe of Wishes, Dhonielle Clayton, ed.
117. In a Holidaze, Christina Lauren
118. Dial A for Aunties, Jesse Q. Sutanto
119. Her Dark Lies, J.T. Ellison
120. The Various Haunts of Men, Susan Hill
121. Matrix, Lauren Groff
122. The Queer Principles of Kit Webb, Cat Sebastian
123. Pax: Journey Home, Sara Pennypacker
124. Crying in H Mart, Michelle Zauner
125. Feathered, Laura Kasischke
126. The Ex Hex, Erin Sterling
127. The Hidden World of the Fox, Adele Brand
128. The Echo Wife, Sarah Gailey
129. Better Luck Next Time, Julia Claiborne Johnson
130. The Lost Apothecary, Sarah Penner
131. The Kindest Lie, Nancy Johnson
132. Waiting for the Night Song, Julie Carrick Dalton
133. Tacky: Love Letters to the Worst Culture We Have to Offer, Rax King
134. The Marrow Thieves, Cherie Dimaline
135. For the Wolf, Hannah Whitten
136. Punch Me Up to the Gods, Brian Broome

Poetry Books Read in 2021
001. The Emperor's Babe, Bernadine Evaristo
002. Obit, Victoria Chang
003. Chlorine Sky, Mahogany L. Brown
004. Dearly, Margaret Atwood
- SEALEY CHALLENGE -
005. Ordinary Beast, Nicole Sealey
006. We Want Our Bodies Back, jessica Care moore
007. The Gospel of Barbecue, Honorée Fanonne Jeffers
008. The Octopus Museum, Barbara Shaughnessy
009. Unaccompanied, Javier Zamora
010. Don't Call Us Dead, Danez Smith
011. The Undressing, Li-Young Lee
012. Felon, Reginald Dwayne Betts
013. Bestiary, Donika Kelly
014. Deaf Republic, Ilya Kaminsky
015. An American Sunrise, Joy Harjo
016. Sonata Mulattica, Rita Dove
017. Homie, Danez Smith
018. Shame Is an Ocean I Swim Across, Mary Lambert
019. Native Guard, Natasha Trethewey
020. Horses Make a Landscape Look More Beautiful, Alice Walker
021. Oh Pray My Wings Are Gonna Fit Me Well, Maya Angelou
022. Power Politics, Margaret Atwood
023. Mezzanine, Zoë Hitzig
024. I Will Destroy You, Nick Flynn
025. Be Recorder, Carmen Giménez Smith
026. Sentences and Rain, Elaine Equi
027. Shoulda Been Jimi Savannah, Patricia Smith
028. Barbie Chang, Victoria Chang
029. Lighthead, Terrance Hayes
030. Semiautomatic, Evie Shockley
031. We Inherit What the Fires Left, William Evans
032. Black Girl, Call Home, Jasmine Mans
- SEPTEMBER -
033. Maybe the Saddest Thing, Marcus Wicker
034. Other People's Comfort Keeps Me Up at Night, Morgan Parker
035. Felicity, Mary Oliver
036. Midland, Kwame Dawes
037. Brown, Kevin Young
038. Hybrida, Tina Chang
039. Ariel, The Restored Edition, Sylvia Plath
040. Ariel in Black, Michelle R. Smith
041. The Crown Ain't Worth Much, Hanif Willis-Abdurraqib
042. American Sonnets for My Past and Future Assassin, Terrance Hayes
043. Playlist for the Apocalypse, Rita Dove
044. it was never going to be okay, jaye simpson
045. Peluda, Melissa Lozada-Oliva
046. White Blood: A Lyric of Virginia, Kiki Petrosino
047. There Are More Beautiful Things Than Beyoncé, Morgan Parker
048. Thrust, Heather Derr-Smith
049. The Renunciations, Donika Kelly
050. When I Walk Through That Door, I Am: An Immigrant Mother's Quest, Jimmy Santiago Baca
051. Be Holding, Ross Gay
052. A Cruelty Special to Our Species, Emily Jungmin Yoon
053. Vantage, Taneum Bambrick
054. Magical Negro, Morgan Parker
055. The Wilderness, Sandra Lim
056. What Noise Against the Cane, Desiree C. Bailey
057. The Golden Gate, Vikram Seth
058. Incarnadine, Mary Szybist
059. Incorrect Merciful Impulses, Camille Rankine
060. The Hour Between Dog and Wolf, Laure-Anne Bosselaar
061. Don't Let Me Be Lonely, Claudia Rankine
062. The 100 Best African American Poems, Nikki Giovanni, ed.
063. Home Is Not a Country, Safia Elhillo
064. The Curious Thing, Sandra Lim
065. Noopiming: The Cure for White Ladies, Leanne Betasamosake Simpson
066. The Infinitesimals, Laura Kasischke
067. Hollywood Forever, Harmony Holiday
068. Love and Other Poems, Alex Dimitrov

Tuesday, February 16, 2021

Zoey and her purple hat

Presented without comment.





Wednesday, January 6, 2021

2020 Books

Posting quickly so I can update the list for 2021. 

001. The Stars and the Blackness Between Them, Junauda Petrus
002. So You Want to Talk About Race, Ijeoma Oluo
003. Little Weirds, Jenny Slate
004. Winterwood, Shea Ernshaw
005. The Body in Question, Jill Ciment
006. Gingerbread, Helen Oyeyemi
007. How We Fight for Our Lives, Saeed Jones
008. The Beautiful, Renee Ahdieh
009. The Night Country, Melissa Albert
010. Before and After: The Incredible Stories of Orphans Who Survived the Tennessee Children's Home Society, Judy Christie and Lisa Wingate
011. The Last True Poets of the Sea, Julia Drake
012. Burn It Down: Women Writing About Anger, Lucy Dancyger, ed.
013. Perfect Little Children, Sophie Hannah
014. Old Bones, Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
015. Made for Love, Alissa Nutting
016. Vita Nostra, Marina and Sergey Dyachenko, translated by Julia Meitov Hersey
017. Good Girls Lie, J.T. Ellison
018. Station Eleven, Emily St. John Mandel
019. The Truth About Animals: Stoned Sloths, Lovelorn Hippos, and Other Tales from the Wild Side of Wildlife, Lucy Cooke
020. Strung Out: One Last Hit and Other Lies That Nearly Killed Me, Erin Khar
021. On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, Ocean Vuong
022. Nine Pints: A Journey Through the Money, Medicine, and Mysteries of Blood, Rose George
023. No Ashes in the Fire: Coming of Age Black and Free in America, Darnell L. Moore
024. The Secret Lives of Color, Kassia St. Clair
025. Sparrow Hill Road, Seanan McGuire
026. Death's Acre: Inside the Legendary Forensic Lab the Body Farm Where the Dead Do Tell Tales, Dr. Bill Bass and Jon Jefferson
027. Deep Creek: Finding Hope in the High Country, Pam Houston
028. Middlegame, Seanan McGuire
029. Little, Edward Carey
030. The City in the Middle of the Night, Charlie Jane Anders
031. Daisy Jones & The Six, Taylor Jenkins Reid
032. The Gilded Wolves, Roshani Chokshi
033. All Over the Place: Adventures in Travel, True Love, and Petty Theft, Geraldine DeRuiter
034. The Book Charmer, Karen Hawkins
035. Wordslut: A Feminist Guide to Taking Back the English Language, Amanda Montell
036. Day Zero, Kelly DeVos
037. Unashamed: Musings of a Fat, Black Muslim, Leah Vernon
038. The Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen, 83 1/4 Years Old, translated by Hester Velmans
039. There Will Be No Miracles Here, Casey Gerald
040. No Country for Old Gnomes, Delilah S. Dawson and Kevin Hearne
041. The Red Pencil, Andrea Davis Pinkney
042. Upright Women Wanted, Sarah Gailey
043. Late Migrations: A Natural History of Love and Loss, Margaret Renkl
044. Gold Rush Girl, Avi
045. Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls, T. Kira Madden
046. The View From Flyover Country: Dispatches From the Forgotten America, Sarah Kendzior
047. Such a Fun Age, Kiley Reid
048. Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race, Reni Eddo-Lodge
049. A Thousand Fires, Shannon Price
050. A Crown of Wishes, Roshani Chokshi
051. Emmy in the Key of Code, Aimee Lucido
052. The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, Avi
053. The Beekeeper of Aleppo, Christy Lefteri
054. House of Salt and Sorrows, Erin A. Craig
055. Docile, K.M. Szpara
056. Buzz Sting Bite: Why We Need Insects, Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson, translated by Lucy Moffatt
057. The Black God's Drums, P. Djèlí Clark
058. Crying Laughing, Lance Rubin
059. The Editor, Steven Rowley
060. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, Benjamin Alire Sáenz
061. Everywhere You Don't Belong, Gabriel Bump
062. The Pinks: The First Women Detectives, Operatives, and Spies with the Pinkerton National Detective Agency, Chris Enss
063. Three Women, Lisa Taddeo
064. The Empress of Salt and Fortune, Nghi Vo
065. Riot Baby, Tochi Onyebuchi
066. Real Men Knit, Kwana Jackson
067. I'm Not Dying with You Tonight, Kimberly Jones and Gilly Segal
068. The Valedictorian of Being Dead: The True Story of Dying Ten Times to Live, Heather B. Armstrong
069. A World Without Bees, Allison Benjamin and Brian McCallum
070. Orphan Eleven, Gennifer Choldenko
071. The Lost Book of Adana Moreau, Michael Zapata
072. The Princess Beard, Delilah S. Dawson and Kevin Hearne
073. A River of Royal Blood, Amanda Joy
074. The Hidden Half of Nature: The Microbial Roots of Life and Health, David R. Montgomery and Anne Biklé
075. Forest of a Thousand Lanterns, Julie C. Dao
076. The Deep, Rivers Solomon with Daveed Diggs, William Hutson, and Jonathan Snipes
077. Afterlife, Julia Alvarez
078. Friday Black, Nana Kwame Adjeh-Brenyah
079. Saving Ruby King, Catherine Adel West
080. Real Life, Brandon Taylor
081. In the Dream House, Carmen Maria Machado
082. Meaty, Samantha Irby
083. Luster, Raven Leilani
084. Weather, Jenny Offill
085. Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You, Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi
086. Her Body and Other Parties, Carmen Maria Machado
087. Conjure Women, Afia Atakora
088. Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning, Cathy Park Hong
089. Crooked Hallelujah, Kelli Jo Ford
090. Out Stealing Horses, Per Petterson
091. A Blade So Black, L.L. McKinney
092. The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea, Maggie Tokuda-Hall
093. A Song Below Water, Bethany C. Morrow
094. Tooth and Claw, Jo Walton
095. A Map Is Only One Story: Twenty Writers on Immigration, Family, and the Meaning of Home, Nicole Chung and Mensah Demary, eds.
096. The Dreamers, Karen Thompson Walker
097. Of Poetry and Protest: From Emmett Till to Trayvon Martin, Philip Cushway and Michael Warr, eds
098. Make Russia Great Again, Christopher Buckley
099. I Wanna Be Where You Are, Kristina Forest
100. Octavia's Brood: Science Fiction Stories from Social Justice Movements, adrienne maree brown and Walidah Imarisha, eds.
101. More Than Maybe, Erin Hahn
102. Verge, Lidia Yuknavitch
103. When We Were Magic, Sarah Gailey
104. Light From Other Stars, Erika Swyler
105. The Pull of the Stars, Emma Donoghue
106. Postcolonial Love Poem, Natalie Diaz
107. Home Baked: My Mom, Marijuana, and the Stoning of San Francisco, Alia Volz
108. A Madness of Angels, Or, The Resurrection of Matthew Swift, Kate Griffin
109. Love Yourself Like Your Life Depends On It, Kamal Ravikant
110. The Color of Air, Gail Tsukiyama
111. Pale Rider: The Spanish Flu of 1918 and How It Changed the World, Laura Spinney
122. The Midnight Library, Matt Haig
123. The Seven Necessary Sins for Women and Girls, Mona Eltahawy
124. The War That Saved My Life, Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
125. The War I Finally Won, Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
126. Find Layla, Meg Elison
127. African Samurai: The True Story of Yasuke, A Legendary Black Warrior in Feudal Japan, Thomas Lockley and Geoffrey Girard.
128. Anxious People, Fredrik Backman
129. Early Departures, Justin A. Reynolds
130. Legendborn, Tracy Deonn
131. Let's Never Talk About This Again, Sara Faith Alterman
132. His Only Wife, Peace Adzo Medie
133. Ties That Tether, Jane Igharo
134. New Suns: Original Speculative Fiction by People of Color, Nisi Shawl, ed.
135. Cinderella Is Dead, Kalynn Bayron
136. The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water, Zen Cho
137. The Age of Phillis, Honorée Fanonne Jeffers
138. The Sleepwalker's Guide to Dancing, Mira Jacob
139. Hench, Natalie Zina Walschots
140. The Expats, Chris Pavone
141. The Paris Diversion, Chris Pavone
142. The Story of More: How We Got to Climate Change and Where to Go From Here, Hope Jahren
143. A Million Aunties, Alecia McKenzie
144. Felix Ever After, Kacen Callender
145. All Your Twisted Secrets, Diana Urban
146. The Office of Historical Corrections, Danielle Evans
147. Trust Exercise, Susan Choi
148. Particulate Matter, Felicia Luna Lemus
149. Ring Shout, P. Djèlí Clark
150. The Secret Lives of Church Ladies, Deesha Philyaw
151. This Is Kind of an Epic Love Story, Kacen Callender
152. He Started It, Samantha Downing
153. Survival of the Friendliest: Understanding Our Origins and Rediscovering Our Common Humanity, Brian Hare and Vanessa Woods
154. Gods of the Upper Air: How a Circle of Renegade Anthropologists Reinvented Race, Sex, and Gender in the Twentieth Century, Charles King
155. Beasts Made of Night, Tochi Onyebuchi
156. Crown of Thunder, Tochi Onyebuchi
157. Mean, Myriam Gurba
158. The Freezer Door, Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore
159. Trouble the Saints, Alaya Dawn Johnson
160. Lay Me Down Among the Words: A Collection of Poetry by a Trauma Survivor Whose Inner Voice Saved Her Life, Deborah Hallal Bradt, R.Y.T.

Tuesday, October 20, 2020

It's soup, not brain surgery

It's officially fall. I should be in Rhinebeck for NY Sheep and Wool, but since too many people think that being considerate of others is too much of a sacrifice, the festival was cancelled. 

Anyway, we're doing our part and staying home as much as possible. The weather has turned cooler, so my soup-loving husband has started demanding soup. Because I am a monster who twists his words in order to make his life miserable, I made broccoli soup. (We also had a gorgeous head of broccoli from our CSA. This thing was so massive and beautiful that I felt guilty about chopping it up. I am planning to make a casserole with cauliflower and kale tonight, because I love forcing him to eat foods that he hates. Also CSA.) 

Sharing this recipe because it actually was quite tasty. I feel guilty about making ya'll scroll through three paragraphs to get to the recipe, but hey, at least you won't be forced to close an intrusive video or a pop-up asking you to join my email list. Source recipe is at this link, with all sorts of shit to scroll through before you get to the recipe: broccoli cheese soup. This is what I did:

INGREDIENTS (amounts approximate; it's soup):
1 tablespoon + 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
1 onion, diced 
3 cloves garlic, pressed
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
4 cups stock (I used water + mushroom bouillon)
4 cups milk (she used half and half, I prefer keeping that for my coffee)
1 giant head of broccoli, diced into bite-size pieces
6 small carrots, trimmed, peeled, and sliced into very thin rounds, about 1/16th-inch
smoked paprika 
dry mustard powder
chili powder 
Big chunk of sharp cheddar cheese, grated (half a Costco-sized package)

DIRECTIONS:
Saute the onion in a little bit of butter until it makes you happy.
Add the garlic and cook a bit longer.
Add another whack of butter, and after it melts toss in the spices: dry mustard, smoked paprika, and chili powder. 
Let them bloom just a bit, then stir in the flour. 
Disclosure: I see no point in dirtying another pan in order to make a roux.
Add carrots now if you like them best when cooked into oblivion, like I do.
Slowly add the vegetable stock, whisking constantly. (I used a spoon rather than a whisk.)
Slowly add the milk, whisking constantly.
Allow mixture to simmer over low heat, stirring occasionally.
While mixture is simmering, chop the broccoli. 
When the giant head of broccoli is in small pieces, dump that in.
Simmer until the texture of the broccoli makes you happy. 
While the soup is cooking, grate the cheese if you aren't using the pre-grated stuff. 
Dump in the cheese, stir until it's melted and integrated.
Eat.

I was just told that if I ever have to "get rid of" more broccoli, this soup is an acceptable way to do it, but it needs a sandwich as a side. Or maybe the soup is the side. Whatever. I ate the leftovers, so I don't care what he thinks. (Yes, I am pissy. I was watching a livestream on my tablet and he walked upstairs to tell me he was thinking of buying a projection tv thing so I could watch livestreams on a 100" thing. I don't think he even realized he was interrupting something. So he's getting cauliflower and kale for dinner.)

And hey, it's the end, let me share an ugly picture of the soup: 



Friday, September 25, 2020

Realization! And random nostalgia shit.

Tonight was a fundraiser for the Cuyahoga County Public Library. I signed up to attend as soon as I saw the announcement. CCPL is the best, and a fundraiser where I stay home? I'm all in. 

When I added the event to our calendar, I told my husband that we were going to the event and by going I meant that I would pick up ingredients and we would watch the presentation and cook at home. He was on board as soon as he reached the second part of the sentence. Neither of us is a big fan of gala dinners, and you would have to pay us a LOT of money to convince us to attend one during a pandemic. (They showed a few clips of groups and that made me nervous. For all I know the groups may be quaranteams/pods, but that wasn't clear and I don't trust anyone.)

Anyway, I picked up our box of ingredients today. Since I've been vegetarian forever, I saw no point in taking the included chicken home. I stopped by a friend's house and we had a lovely socially distant visit in her front yard. She's one of the kindest people I know, and I need to make an effort to see her more often. 

She laughed at me when I told her that I don't enjoy dinners with people I don't know. She doesn't quite believe me that I don't enjoy making small talk with strangers. Somehow she doesn't see how awkward I feel in situations like that. She asked how we became friends if I don't like talking to people.

Realization: The people I love most are all open about their passions. You don't have to spend much time with them before they tell you about the things they love - their pets, their partners, their hobbies, their studies - whatever it is they enjoy most. I've known for a long time that I don't like people who can't say anything nice about their family, chosen or otherwise, but hadn't made the connection that I love those who are loving. (And I should have - the other day I watched LeVar Burton tell Jacqueline Woodson that he loved her at the start of an interview, and then I told my husband that I love LeVar Burton. But who doesn't love LeVar Burton?)  Duh. 

She LOVES her cats (and books, and her family), and we met when she was looking for a home for a cat that I ended up fostering for a few days before taking him to his new people. He was a loving little boy, but feline ladies did NOT love him. Her girlcats hated him, and Zoey hissed at me after I snuggled with him when he was staying with us. He's happy and loved where he is, but I kinda wish I had forced Zoey to accept him. He's a lumpa lump of purring love, with the softest paws ever, and I miss him.

Life here is mostly the same, current events are stressful because we should know better than to elect toddlers and far too many people don't, but today I picked up books and last night's Quarantine Book Club started with the author saying, "Penises all the way down." Oh! I learned that CCPL will now be using Zoom rather than facebook for their author events. Which makes me VERY happy, because I have Feelings about facebook and avoid it as much as possible. Zoom has its own set of problems, but I'm not forced to witness my father's kool-aid consumption there. 

This morning I left the house (!) to pick up the food at the library, drop off the unwanted chicken, and stop by a bookstore to collect the books I'd ordered. Since recent news has been making me cry, I listened to music that makes me cry instead. Hence the random nostalgia shit part of the title.

My new car (did I tell everyone that I bought a new car last October? Trevor needed a new clutch, and after being held hostage at a local dealership I bought a 2017 Honda Fit from a dealership in Indiana. I called them from the Ohio dealership's office because I do not reward hardball tactics and if you leave me alone me long enough for me to call another vendor I will. I am a knitter, not a doormat.) has a USB port, and I use it. Duh. 

Anyway, I have a weakness for angsty late-90s dudes. (And maybe just angsty singers in general. Hmm.) I won't admit how many times I listened to this song today, but it was a lot. (Hint: I lost count.) I've gone into my personal history before (albeit not recently), so if you care to wander through my ramblings you'll find that my husband and I had a hiatus of a few years before deciding that yeah, we could possibly maybe might actually be compatible or something. This song was released when we weren't together and I was heartbroken, and it evokes all those memories. 


Anyway, I guess I'd rather be sad for personal reasons that I know were resolved than sad about things that I can do very little about. I will still do what I can, but I can't de-program those who have been brainwashed. Facts and reason and logic can't overcome fear, and critical thinking and empathy have become foreign concepts. 

And on that note, I should try to get some sleep. Tomorrow is a brew day, and I should make sure that some of the Special Brewing Underwear has made the journey from the dryer to the underwear drawer. The things we do for the people we love!