Reading Books that Don't Clash with Your Furniture

Sunrise was at 7:21 (and it's only 7:41 now! 20 minutes of daylight so far!) , sunset will be at 6:31.

Boy, I was sure wrong about the weather last Saturday! It got warm and blue with these amazing architectural clouds building and dissipating as they came over the mountains and hills. We walked along Lake Union and imagined what it would be like to live on a houseboat. It's kind of like living in a dollhouse; everything needs to fit just so. We decided that having open space all around us and not being able to reach the house next door by leaning over and stretching is more to our liking right this minute. Well, there was that one with a slide that drops you into the lake. That was cool. We had a nice couple of beers in a restaurant with a patio over the lake and then had dinner in a German restaurant in South Lake Union as the clouds finally covered the last of the blue. In bed by 7, asleep by 8. On a Saturday night. We are finally old.

I've been noticing that the books I've been reading kind of match the places I've been reading. This is my favorite place to read. I sit sideways, head on one side, legs over the other, an old wool blanket, and, if she's cold enough, the cat. The window faces our backyard and I can watch the birds darting in and out of the holly.

This is the last book in the series by Maggie Stiefvater about werewolves and epic romance, Forever. The rest of the series includes Shiver and Linger and they are so GOOD (and she will be at Third Place Books on October 11 at 5:30!). (Scholastic. 12 and up. Forever is $17.99 and the others are in paperback.)

And this is what I was reading when I fell asleep in bed yesterday. I hate napping in bed- it feels so much more slothful, you have to plan to nap when you're in bed, you just fall asleep when you read in a chair - but I was cold and Gidget loves this blanket so she will sleep here and keep me warm. It could be that the color of the blanket lured me up the steps.

This is Jo Walton's book, Among Others, and it is an amazing story. It's about a girl who was once a twin but the other one died. I still haven't found out how or why, but bits and pieces are being revealed as we go along. Mori (short for Morwenna) is journaling about what she is doing and how she got here. She had run away from home, from her mother, she was turned over to her father, someone she'd never met, and his family and now she's in the boarding school her aunts had gone to. She is teased for her gimpy leg but takes refuge in the science fiction and fantasy books she reads. She is extremely worried about the magic she knows her mother is using like a net, pulling her back. She also knows that the fairies in Wales can help her figure out what's happening with the people she loves, but the English fairies are mean and won't talk to her, they just glare.

It is such a well-written book! It's absolutely PACKED with book titles, authors, bits and pieces of some of the best science fiction and fantasy books ever written in and before 1979. I LOVE this! I want to do a display with this book and the others linked to it by yarn. So cool.

Because it's a journal, she starts where she starts and it's only when she's trying to figure out connections, do you find anything out about her past and how she gets here. The fairies and magic are only a part of the story, something children would believe and maybe grow out of, she just hasn't yet. And now there's something a little bit off happening to her. I just started to wonder about her sanity. Ooh. It's so good. It was written for adults but wood be good for age 14 and up. (Tor. 24.99. Available now. Probably coming in paper soon.)

There is a list of books included in this one on the Tor website. I'm going to print it out and hang it in the science fiction section. This would be a great cross-over novel for teens.