zirconium

https://jackielaubooks.com/ The Ultimate Pi Day Party is currently free, and the Nashville Public Library has some of her titles.

1. The settings include small-town and urban Canada, and coping with a wide variety of parents, siblings, and friends . . .
2. . . . some of them refreshingly and hilariously down-to-earth, and others exasperatingly "why can't you be more like _____," which is a dynamic I totally feel from multiple angles. I have cried with relief when people step up for protagonists who disappoint their parents by not having a "real" job.
3. That said, there are a quite a few scientists and CEOs in the mix. They're often driven and/or grumpy. I can relate to that too. (One geologist wears a has a "Schist Happens" shirt mug.)
4. Abortion is discussed as the right choice for characters who had them. More on that by Emmalita. #RomanceForRoe
5. There's a lot of good food. Including mooncake ice cream.
6. There are brutally honest little girls (often nieces) who know what they want. One five-year-old is a food snob who "has a better chance of enjoying blue cheese and Kalamata olives than pepperoni pizza" and delightedly samples (and critiques) "the green tea-strawberry, the passionfruit, the black sesame, [and] the matcha cheesecake" flavors at the shop her anti-ice cream uncle takes her to (observing that the place looks like a unicorn threw up in it) but also names a unicorn "Havarti Sparkles." Another corrects her uncle on the pronunciation of dinosaur names. Another really digs venomous spiders, which her uncle can't stand . . .
7. Several protagonists don't speak Mandarin/Cantonese well, if at all. I feel seen, both in terms of the awkward situations they find themselves in and the recurring frustration of being expected to be good at / comfortable with something one has zero natural facility for. (Not incidentally, I tested out of a half-dozen levels of Spanish Duolingo last night, but my next super-basic, hint-heavy Mandarin lesson may require a full glass of verdejo for me to chill out enough to get on with it.)
8. Love doesn't magically cure clinical depression or other chronic/recurring conditions, and it was horrible-great when one of the heroines starts yelling about how infuriating is when people insist or imply you haven't tried hard enough or spent enough on finding a solution while knowing fuck-all about every last exhausting potential treatment you've already tried or considered.
9. There's plenty of humor and sass, from friends and siblings (and sometimes parents) who take the heroine or hero's goals seriously but not their taste in clothing or pizza or beer.

[My previous mention of Jackie Lau's books.]

In addition to reading Lau's two most recent books, I also binged on some picture and chapter books this week, including:

Most of the Princess in Black series by Shannon Hale, Dean Hale, and LeUyen Pham

Real Cowboys by Kate Hoefler, which will be featured trilingually (English, Spanish, ASL) later this year as a storytime video produced by my colleagues.

Jules vs. the Ocean by Jesse Sima

Love and Other Perils - two Regency novellas, "Lieutenant Mayhew's Catastrophes" by Emily Larkin and "Kisses and Catnip" by Grace Burrowes. The heroine of "Kisses and Catnip" appeared as a supporting character in an earlier story by Burrowes, and I was happy to see her find her happy-ever-after with a scientist (a recurring trope in Burrowes's books -- I reread "Duchess in the Wild" and parts of The Jaded Gentlemen [Axel being a rose-obsessed botanist] during the same escapism binge). There are three significant kittens in the Larkin, and assorted moggies in "Kisses and Catnip," including two fellas named Lucifer and Beelzebub.

What's the Time, Mr. Wolf? by Debi Gliori



Agatha's Feather Bed by Carmen Agra Deedy and Laura L. Seeley. The story centers on Agatha's interactions with a flock of geese, but there's at least one cat in practically every frame, and the occasional badass sheep looking in...

I had planned to wear my old cobweb cloak and gloves to the office tomorrow, but they are not where I thought I'd stashed them. I did find the bat-decorated kerchief a groomer had tied around my dog's neck a decade ago, which may suffice as a hair decoration.

One of tonight's reads: A Dance Like Starlight: One Ballerina's Dream (text by Kristy Dempsey, illos by Floyd Cooper), a picture book that takes place in 1951 and leads to a night at a ballet featuring Janet Collins, the first African American prima ballerina.

Upper Rubber Boot's 100 Untimed Books prompt 39: far away



Prompt 40: electronic



Prompt 41: strength



(Picked this one up a week or two ago from the library sale shelf. Fifty cents. Bathtub reading!)

Prompt 42: greener



Prompt 43: honey - see previous entry

Prompt 44: swords



The book is Dorothy L. Sayers's Gaudy Night, which has been responsible for several longtime friendships as well as the fact that even old friends of the BYM sometimes use that acronym in sending their love to him through me, which is apparently what happens when blogging has been one's main vehicle for staying in touch with said friends since 2000. Lord. Gaudy Night is not one of my desert island books simply because so much of it already resides in my head, which is how it sprang to mind when it was time to think about whether I had any books referring to swords (though I now have to laugh at myself for not going straight to either copy of Cyrano de Bergerac).

The World War II bayonet was among the possessions of the late father of a former student of my honorary big brother, and probably belonged to her grandfather (Air Force), great-uncle (Navy), or great-aunt (Marine drill sergeant!). My friendships are indeed a fount of entertainment and wonder.

1. My poem Spelling "For Worse" is up at Goblin Fruit, in both text and audio formats.

1a. I am keeping right fine company on that TOC. :-)

2. Merrie Haskell wrote a novel called Castle behind Thorns. It's about to emerge, it has earned a starred review in Publisher's Weekly, and it will be a Junior Literary Guild selection. (Her second published novel has been collecting recommendations and awards, too, including "the 2014 Schneider Family Book Award winner for middle school for its depiction of a person with a disability.")

3. The Velveteen Rabbi will be reading her poetry in Jerusalem. I am so excited for her!

4. Making manuscripts reader-friendlier. Go me!

4a. Having the chops and experience to recognize typos (especially in Spanish) I wouldn't have caught five years ago.

5. Ripe cantaloupe and canned quail eggs. For when one works flat through dinner and then needs something that doesn't require cooking (i.e., stink up the kitchen) right before bedtime.

6. The sumo tangerine I picked up at a store last week. It was an indulgence, but it was also a great conversation piece, and I am about to candy the peel.

7. Having a dog that gleefully hoovers up vegetable scraps. (I am less enamored of her fondness for snacking on potting soil, but that's because it makes her wheeze.)

8. It is sunny and 55 F here right now. I'll be spending most of the day with spreadsheets, but I think I'll first sneak out for a walk.

9. Particle Fever! (And yes, I wore my CERN jacket to the showing.)

It's a touch dated (published in 1982), but I am thoroughly charmed by The Philharmonic Gets Dressed, a picture book by Karla Kuskin and Marc Simont. (The link should take you to the publisher's website, which has a "look inside" feature.) There's a cat watching its owner reading in the bath. There are various performers showing, powdering, hunting for socks, pulling on boots, waiting for trains, tuning tympanis, etc. Sometimes I just want a book that revels in the process of getting ready. This fit the bill.

[It is perhaps not a coincidence that preparation has been much on my mind lately. Among other things, it is the month of Elul...]

[ETA: the books listed on the back jacket include The Dallas Titans Get Ready for Bed. That one is totally going on the someday list...]

wild strawberries near a utility meter

Sometimes I have to point out to myself that the reason I need a nap is because I didn't actually get enough sleep. Today has been one of those days. But it was a wonderful nap, and the rest of the day wasn't shabby, either: I spent the morning helping out with a vaccination event, which included great conversations with two students (one pre-med, one pre-nursing) and the mom of an actor, plus some nice perks (a free flu shot, snacks, a t-shirt, and an Au Bon Pain gift card); dealt with some errands; and stopped by the Frist (thank you, Smithsonian!)-- the Carrie Mae Weems exhibition is immense, and I'll need to go back to take it in properly.

Also, the big roses facing Broadway always cheer me up whenever I manage to notice them.

I'm spending the rest of the weekend mostly working, but the stack of library books is also calling to me. Of the books in the "To Return" pile, I especially enjoyed Grandpa's Soup, a picture by Eiko Kadono and Satomi Ichikawa. Ichikawa is one of those clever illustrators who create secondary narratives in the background that a more casual or hurried reader might miss -- in this case, the changing contents of the vase next to Grandma's empty chair. I also liked the changing shadows in the screen door of Grandpa's kitchen.