Life is ... something, these days. For sure. (I just deleted the 3 paragraphs of ranting re: software development methodologies b/c I can't even stand to look at any mention of it unless I'm being forced to deal with it for a paycheck.)

Okay, so, things that I have read and watched and listened to...

I finally got through the first season of The Magicians and, uh, I know Grossman's said that he wrote the books to reconcile himself to never getting to go to Narnia, but holy shit, he must still be really pissed that he couldn't go. ( cutting for spoilers, I guess, and CW for assault, etc )

On a more pleasant note, I have a new addition to my royal valium list of books: The Royal Runaway, featuring a left-at-the-altar princess and a Scottish former-Special-Services/current MI6 agent. It's got a nice almost-enemies-to-lovers vibe and a little bit of a mystery and did I mention the Scottish MI6 agent? I mean, seriously, I'm not made of stone over here.

I managed to watch Ant Man and the Wasp in the last month (verdict: not *nearly* enough Luis.) And we caught Captain Marvel in the theater last weekend, which I didn't love as a whole as much as I wanted to. The parts that I did love, though, I loved hard, and I'm super-happy it caught the box office it did. (Of course, now I can get accused of bandwagon-jumping for my Carol Corps backpack instead of just having people not recognize it, but such is the (toxic) way of the Bro-Fans.) If you liked it, and would like to know more about Princess Sparklefists, my fellow GeekParent Mathias wrote an excellent round-up of Carol Danvers-related titles through history. (It is at this point that I am wildly excited for the Marvel Unlimited subscription that auto-renews every year.)

I'm also stuck somewhere in the middle of S3 for Star Wars: Rebels -- the library copies got out of sync so I'm having to wait for a while in between disks, boo. I'm still loving it, though.

And then there's been the crazed shenanigans about Galaxy's Edge, the Star Wars additions to Disney World and Disneyland, which is now going to be open for both our last quarter 2019 visits. Well, I mean, we'll be there, but I have no idea if we're going to get near the place. Possibly if we get in line now? Anyway, here are my favorite write-ups:

T&L: Inside Look at Galaxy's Edge (Carlye Wisel)

Tech Crunch: How Disney Built Star Wars in Real Life

I don't know if you can snag this podcast w/o subscribing, but it's the writer of my first link being interviewed by my favorite Dizgeeks, who are giddy with excitement: Disney Dish, Ep 208.

I hope you're finding happy diversions in fandomland!

Belated Wednesday reading meme…

(Those of you who are new should know upfront that I'm perpetually behind in everything that does not result in a financial hit, and that's only because I can automate that kind of stuff.)

Before I get started, I did a reading resolution post on the parenting blog where I laid out a few (boring, sorry) goals that I'm going to try to track this year:

Read from my pile of books that I already own

Read from the library

Manage my Hold list so I'm not paying stupid fines when I *do* read from the library.

All of which is related to my overall resolution for the year, which is FOCUS. (Also, as always: be less of a bitch this year than I was last year.)

finished
Burn For Me, Ilona Andrews, which is the first of a slow-burn, paranormal, romantic suspense series. I tore through this in about a day and liked the world-building (magical abilities bred into the general population at about the Victorian era shifted the power structures of the world and led to the rise of magically enhanced Families who now, in the modern day, basically control everything) and the main couple (he's a scary mage, she's a no-nonsense PI who might or might not have some scary magic of her own) enough to go for the next book from the library. (Book #1 of my TBR Read-Down Resolution)

Circe, Madeleine Miller, the second of her re-working of Ancient Greece / mythology. I loved her Song of Achilles and was actually pretty impressed at how satisfying I found her resolution of Achilles/Patroclus, which is where I think this book fell a little short. ( cutting because I'm spoiling the end )

I did (of course) hear Sean Bean's voice in my head the entire time Odysseus and his crew were resident upon the island, but I suppose that was inevitable. (Book #1 of Read From the Library Resolution; no credit toward managing my holds resolution as this one was waaaaaaaay overdue by the time I got to it)

reading now
The Calculating Stars, Mary Robinette Kowal, which sucked me in like whoa with the opening set up of the meteorite, but then lost me a little with the more mundane details setting up the AU Space Program. I like that the heroine's nemesis has some layers, but he's still a dick. Also, I'm old enough to kinda feel a little PTSD at how thoroughly the casual patriarchal attitudes are ingrained in so many of the characters. (I think that's a plus for her writing, but still, I'm not entirely comfortable at times.) (Book #2 of Read From The Library Resolution, possibly a credit toward Managing the Hold List)

next
I have automatic library downloads for Crazy Rich Asians and the sequel to Burn For Me. Also, my dear friend J sent me her copy of My Sister the Serial Killer, which she (and several other friends) loved. That should probably take care of the rest of January and well into February.
Running totals: 1 TBR, 1 LIB, 0 HOLD

Ok, we are in the crunch period to the Royal Wedding Shenanigans (someone in my twitter feed shared the news that Eugenie & her dude have moved into another one of the cottages at KP, which makes everyone neighbors), the boys are making me crazy, and I need to go review some API doc with several non-native English speakers, so here, have the thing that has been keeping me sane recently some more Modern Royals recs:

A Princess In Theory, Alyssa Cole, might have the Best Premise Ever: Our Heroine, a grad student/former foster child on a shoestring budget, keeps getting these irritating emails about how she’s the Betrothed of the Crown Prince of Thesolo in Africa. Our Naledi, being a smart girl, ignores the spam. Except… it’s not spam. :D So, yeah, super-fun premise; super-gorgeous cover; fun, mostly fluffy, plot, seasoned judiciously with a little reality, angst and villains, requisite HEA ending. Prince [] is a little oblivious to his privilege but not outrageously so, his right-hand-woman is awesomely cool (I hope she gets a sequel) and Naledi, the heroine, is a little vulnerable under her strength. All very good stuff with maybe a little bit of a rushed ending, but still, super-fun to read.

Royally Matched, Emma Chase, sequel to Royally Screwed, which I also liked, though I will say, the men of this family (the hero is RS’s hero’s brother) are about as far down the jackass line as I want to go. They (mostly) make up for it and get better, so there’s that.

The Princess Trap, Talia Hibbert – I feel like this one should come with content warning for abusive relationships, because, holy crap, does the prince in question come from one seriously bad, bad, bad family situation. He’s mostly still a functioning adult, but he comes with a lot of baggage and ends up dragging the heroine into it all. She’s pretty awesome, though. There should probably also be a smut warning, because there’s lots of (well-written and just a little on the kinky side) sex.

Royals, Rachel Hawkins, is out today and I am waiting for the d/l from the library, but I’m giving it a shout-out because RH’s #sexyhistory twitter threads have kept me going on more than one long, gray Tuesday. I’m waiting patiently for the whole War of the Roses thread, which will probably take weeks and weeks. (Today's thread seems to be Queens Mary and Anne and their less than heteronormative emotional lives and the tangles in which Srs Historians tangle themselves to not admit said less-than-heteronormativity.)

Previous list here

And finally, a podcast: When Meghan Met Harry, which has been updating weekly since the beginning of the year, covering every wedding rumor, related event, and marginal possibility. If you only want to listen a little, grab last week's ep with Tan from the new Queer Eye as special guest.

And speaking of, I am loving the new incarnation of Queer Eye, especially since they're running around the ATL, *double* especially when they take their fabulous selves out into the wilds of OTP (Outside the Perimeter, aka, Red Country.) I don't think there's been an episode yet where I haven't cried.

Also. Holy sh*t, I had ZERO inclination to see Venom, and the first teaser trailer did nothing for me, but then the second trailer dropped and TH (IN WELL-FITTING JEANS) came striding onto my youtube with his whole face visible (and scruffy, killmenow) and this is clearly a lost cause.

Alsoalso, I was going to write up my reactions to Infinity War, but I think they can be summed up as ( definitely spoilers )

So, yeah, I am totally out of the habit of stress management during a major product release. OY. I have not been a happy camper these last few weeks, but everything went out at 3 yesterday morning, so we made the pre-holiday code freeze with nothing breaking on the deploy and now we just cross our fingers that nothing blows up over Black Friday/Cyber Monday.

Also, I am afraid the lady who cleans for me is about to fire me b/c the house has just been backsliding into barely ready for her to clean these last few months. The new berserker dog (not really 'new' these days as he's been with us for a year now) sheds a lot more than WonderDog ever did, so that's not helping either. Now that I've gotten through the pre-release stress, maybe I can manage things a little bit better at home. (Though cleaning is never not going to be last on my list--we still ate pretty well during all the craziness, but I'll always jump into cooking loooooong before cleaning.) The bit where I’m not able to work from home regularly really isn’t helping here either.

On happier notes, I did get to see Thor with the boys, which was fun & then D & I went to dinner for my birthday. New restaurant, owned by friends, unexpectedly good, so fun again.

I started writing this reading update last week, but see above re: crazy releases, so let’s just roll it to this week:

finished
The Cooking Gene: A Journey Through African American Culinary History in the Old South, Michael W. Twitty==I think I ended up giving this a 4 on goodreads—it was fascinating and I think it’s an important look at a subject that normally is so glossed over it’s not even on the radar, but I had a really hard time keeping the different branches of his family sorted out and while I totally understand the importance of naming what names he was able to find, my eyes glaze over at all the names after a few generations of my own family. So it was a bit of an uneven reading experience for me, but if you’re at all interested in culinary history, this is right up your alley.

Miss Wonderful, Loretta Chase==Ok, I agree with the many goodreads reviews that mentioned pacing issues (it def dragged a bit in the middle for me), but I seriously could not have been the only person who drew the immediate connection between Alistair’s dandy-ish tendencies and Waterloo? Like, within the first paragraph of him thinking about the blood and stench and horror of lying wounded and helpless, half-buried by the dead and dying, it was crystal clear that he’d subconsciously decided he was going to create an atmosphere around him that was as far away from that as he could. I was thinking, ‘oh, EXCELLENT show-not-tell PTSD’ but apparently that flew over 90% of the GR reviewers heads.

Paris In Love, Eloisa James==This is less a memoir and more a collection of status updates and the occasional blog post of her sabbatical year in Paris with her family, but she acknowledges that upfront and it’s (I think) part of the charm of the book. She’s not trying to find Great Meaning in the year. She just lost her mother to cancer and then survived a diagnosis of the same thing 2 weeks later and ran away to Paris. Of course, she took her husband & kids, & sold her house in NJ, & did actually write a bit while in France, so there were lots of moving parts to coordinate, but it did happen & I very much enjoyed reading the details.

Summer at Little Beach Bakery, Jenny Colgin==Post-HEA fluff in Cornwall, which is much harder to pull off well that people assume, so I was happy to wallow in it a little more. Obstacles were overcome, bread was baked, puffins taken care of, lighthouse priorities affirmed. All is well. I have the Christmas sequel lined up for more, too.

Christmas at Little Beach Bakery, Jenny Colgin==I grabbed this thinking it would be the kind of fluff that helps keep me sane during the run-up to the holiday, but then it turned out to be kinda angsty. Which is fine--I like when characters work their way through issues. I just would have been a little more stressed on their behalf than would have been good if I'd read it during the Crazy Times. On the plus side, it does end in a snowy, gorgeous OTT floof of a happy ending, so that did good things for my BP during the pre-release fretting I had going on over the weekend. Also, I like when she writes sequels b/c she steps out of her more familiar patterns and tropes so I'm not quite sure what's happening next.


now
To Say Nothing of the Dog, Connie Willis == Audiobook, and really, I think I'm listening to this just because I needed something to keep me distracted in the car. I keep trying to read/listen to her Oxford time-travel books (because they tick off all kinds of checkboxes for me) but I don't seem to have the attention span for them. We'll see how it all goes this time.

Darwath Trilogy, Barbara Hambly == Dear lord, I am still going on these. I don't not like them, but they certainly aren't sucking me in to where I can't put them down.

Burn For Me, Ilona Andrews == I need something different than my usual historical romances, so paranormal romance, it is. (Also, yay, something from my shamefully large electronic TBR.)


next
I need to pick something my mom would have loved, so I can read it on her (upcoming) birthday. Considering we spent hours every week talking about books, it seems to be as good of a way to celebrate her life as anything. And then I need to line up some Christmas fluff to keep me sane during the season. Thoughts? Recommendations?

This not-working-from-home thing is kinda lame. I am reserving judgement until I see what kind of stock grant they’re talking about, but I’m (privately) putting them on notice because I am not sure I want to keep going into an office 5 days/week and having to sort the rest of life out on the fringes. I know that’s how most people work, but I’m not sure I want to go back to that, at least not w/o any significant financial incentive. (Or, I’m just having my regularly scheduled omg-school-started-I-hate-life freakout--it's hard to say.)
/whine

So, there’s some travel stuff coming up, maybe I can see some of you…?

Sun/Mon, Aug 20-21 – Eclipse Day – I’m taking the easy way out and just going up north a bit, around Lake Hartwell. (Fingers crossed for weather.)

Thurs-Mon, Aug 31-Sept4 – DragonCon – We’re in the same hotel as recent years and you all know how much I &heart; the bartenders at Pulse in the Marriott, so yell at me if you’re going to be around. No cosplay this year, unless I throw together some random steampunk persona.

Fri-Sun, Sept8-10 – NYC!! – I have to burn some Ritz-Carlton free nights and this is literally the only weekend between now & Nov that D’s & my schedules align. I haven’t booked flights yet, but we’ll be staying down in the Financial District (b/c, see above, re: free.) I have no idea what my dear, darling husband wants to do, but I generally have to keep him busy, so I’m thinking a walking tour on Saturday morning, ending in Brooklyn & then maybe a show on Sat night & I don’t know what on Sunday morning, but maybe the Met…?

There's possibly a little bit more to come, but I have to see how kids' schedules shake out.


....aaaaaand I'm late for Wednesday books, but that’s not much of a surprise by this point, right?

finished
Dark Days Club, Alison Goodman – So very much a Regency Buffy, which is not a bad thing, just amusing. Good world-building, both the Regency and the demon stuff—I really felt like she loved both sources and worked hard to integrate them. I’ll have to see if the library has the next one.

A Queen From The North, Erin McRae, Racheline Maltese – You all know how much I love me a modern-day, marry-the-prince romance (well, when I’m not ranting about how poorly it was executed), and this one has the added catnip of an alternate history timeline that is actually rooted in the War of Roses and all of that fallout, so when I saw/heard this on one of the romance blogs (I’m thinking it was redheadedgirl on Smart Bitches, b/c our tastes tend to align) I snagged it up and inhaled it in a day. (I ask you: what’s not to love about a marriage-of-convenience-turned-real plot? Well, again: the execution of it all.) Verdict: goooooood. And more to come. The romance itself was a little low-key, but the supporting characters were good (and wonderfully not a solid wall of white-cis-het) and while yes, most of the obstacles could have been avoided by actual communication between the principals, it felt like everybody’s reasons for avoidance were real (stupid, but real, which is so true) so that worked for me—I am looking forward to the next in the series.

Warrior’s Apprentice, Lois McMaster Bujold, narrated by someone who was fine, but not worth going to find the listing as I write this – The House of Boys loooooves the Vorkosigans, and since I have worked my way through their other love (Dresden), I figured I’d go for these, too. I was entertained, though the cover image is horrible and I could have gone for someone reading this who was closer in age to the teenaged Miles. Minor quibbles, though. I need to line up the next one because #2Son is leading off our conversations as I leave the office with things like, “seriously, don’t be looking at your twitter feed at stoplights. You need to keep yourself distracted until you’re home,” which is probably not untrue. I’m really only reading to get to A Civil Campaign and the most recent novel about Cordelia, but I’ll go through the intervening steps.


now
The Darwath Trilogy, Barbara Hambly – I got sidetracked on this one b/c Dark Days was horribly overdue and then Queen came zooming in out of nowhere and totally sideswiped my attention, but I made myself pick it back up last night to keep from cycling through twitter endlessly.


next
I need to maybe grab the next Peter Grant or Vorkosigan on audio, and then go through what BabyBoy brought back from the Shared Worlds book giveaway. I’m 6 books behind on my book challenge, but part of that is because I get into series and end up reading 4 books where only 1 counts toward the specific trope or setting or whatever for the challenge.


Ciao, kids!

Not even fandom can hold back the sick feelings that real-world news has been bringing, much less get me through calling my m.f. red-state-senators as often as I can make myself, so my IG has ballooned with all manner of OTT cooking and baking accounts. Some of them only last a couple of days, so I'm always looking for more, which is how I stumbled over So Yummy, which I swear is what Darcy from in deep with you darling is doing while she's in hiding in Wakanda. I mean, there are a lot of crazy baking blogs/IGs out there, but none of them quite hit the level of Funfetti Fried Oreos or Red Velvet Oreo Lava Cakes. Clearly, she started off coming up with this stuff to keep herself from going crazy while she's there, but now she's in a groove and monetizing it (to an offshore account, of course) so when everything gets sorted out and life can get back to normal, she's got a little nest egg + a shiny new career path, yeah? (Clint has taken to adding another couple of miles to his daily run just to keep up with all the sugar and carbs she throws at him every day. He is totally okay with this.)

(I guess it really always does come back to fandom to keep me more-or-less sane. No surprise there.)

Okay, I swore (to myself, at least) that I'd keep up with the Wednesday book meme, so let's do that, too.

finished
Hunted, Megan Spooner -- YA retelling of Beauty and the Beast, where Beauty is a hunter and spends a fair amount of her time with the Beast working out how she's going to kill him. Beauty as an archer? I was all over it, and I feel like there are a fair number of ppl reading this who would also take to the concept. And I am happy to say it pretty much fulfilled its promise, so feel free to go for it.

now
The Darwath Trilogy, Barbara Hambly -- I always forget how much I like her writing until I stumble over another of her books and get sucked in to a world that's different from all the others.

The Dark Days Club, Alison Goodman -- what Pride and Prejudice and Zombies could have been if the author had actually liked the conventions of the Regency romance he was building on. And knew how to create a supernatural world that overlays the normal one.

Midnight Riot, Ben Aaronovitch, narrated by Kobda Holdbrook-Smith -- I feel like I'd really like the book anyway, but the narration is ten shades of awesome.

When Dimple Met Rishi, Sandhya Menon -- New Adult romance that I think I'm about ready to bail on. It's not them, it's me, etc, etc, etc… I think I'm officially Too Old For This.

next
I think that Currently Reading list is more than enough to deal with for now!

Catching up with my media consumption over the last few months, cutting because it got loooong...

( books )

( tv )

( movies )

Virtual cookies to anyone who made it through all that!

I will eventually get around to the year-end memes (which I enjoy but end up doing in January, as December is always so crazy.) Since it is Wednesday, let's start with the book meme for the last month or so of 2016 (GR says I read 50 books in 2016, which is mostly WIN. Discussion of why only 'mostly' below.)

finished
The Winter Sea, Susannah Kearsley, FINALLY. It took me months to listen to this, but for whatever reason, I hung with it. (I suspect it's that the Scottish history geek has deep roots in my psyche, but I am not in the mood to give this book any more of my time to really parse it out.) While I was really not a fan of the modern-day framing story, I had to laugh at a few outraged reviews on GR, where the part about the modern-day author & her outdoorsy Scottish history professor of a beau having a common ancestor or two caused them (the readers) to squick out… I mean, this was nearly 300 years' worth of genealogy; at that point, there's barely any DNA in common even with siblings to start. After 10 or so generations, you're related to everybody in the country. Anyway. Done.

Do You Want To Start A Scandal?, Tessa Dare – I have not had a lot of luck with my most recent TD reads, but this one must have just hit me at the right moment, and it was a delightful bit of froth that kept me smiling throughout Thanksgiving.

What Maidens Mourn, What Darkness Brings, C.S. Harris – Two more Sebastian St Cyr mysteries, and I have to say, I am loving the attention to historical detail that comes with every book. I am not one of those readers who analyzes every clue and scrap of information to try to figure out who did it (so when I do actually figure things out, you know it was pretty straightforward), but I like how the motives and actions are tied to the time and place of the crime (ie, these are not wallpaper historicals.) Seb is still madly over-dramatic and a giant wooby-in-the-making (it's a Very Good Thing his closest friend is a brilliant, if morphine-addicted, doctor. Otherwise, I feel like he'd have succumbed to one or the other of his assorted injuries.) Also, Hero continues to rule.

Magnate, Joanna Shupe, historical romance, New York Victorian era. I was a little stalled on this for reasons I have yet to figure out, but then she threw in the oh-dear-your-clothes-are-covered-in-snow-we-must-get-them-off-you trope, so clearly I couldn't just leave them hanging, right? I am not entire sure how I feel about this one still -- on the one hand, I loved that the heroine was a financial wizard, but on the other hand, I feel like she was conveniently both virginal and completely unselfconscious about sex. Also, we seem to have glossed right over the hero's high-handed business and personal dealings. (IOW, we walked riiiiiiight up to the alpha/alpha-hole line and maybe needed a little more recognition of that fact.)

Last Chance Christmas Ball, Mary Jo Putney, et al, YAY FOR CHRISTMAS FLUFF. I didn't even mind that this was all short stories stitched together around the conceit of the titular ball, or that almost all of them are second chance romances, where the protagonists were together before and then not, because REASONS, and now they're trying again. It was all very soothing and calming while I was trying not to scream at the idiots during rush hour (audiobook, obvs!)


now
Why Kings Confess, C. S. Harris, historical mystery, next in the St Cyr series and I think we're finally casting an eye toward Seb's doctor friend and maybe getting him a life (and offering an alternative to the opium for his pain), so that's good.

Hamilton: The Revolution, LMM & Jeremy Carter -- I just joined a 52 Books reading challenge on Goodreads (see below), where there's a topic each week and you get to pick a book to fulfill it and this first week is a book from the GR Choice Awards, of which this counts and seeing as BabyBoy got it for Christmas and it's already Wednesday of the challenge week, it seemed to be the easiest thing to go for.


next
I have the last two published St. Cyr books, still have the next Black Widow YA, and now that Rogue One has STOLEN MY BRAIN, I suspect I will be in the hunt for All The Star Wars stories.

Plus, I got to 50 books this year and missing the last 2 so I can say 'I read a book a week' is somewhat annoying, so the last remaining part of my brain thought that the Around the Year in 52 Books challenge group on Goodreads sounded like a good idea. I will be seeing how far I get with that this year, too. Let me know if you join and we can compare notes as we go!


Also, if you're looking for a bookish challenge for the year, BookRiot has a handy round-up post.

Let's get caught up on books…

finished
Second Chance at Paris, Cole McCade – I really wanted to like this book more than I ended up doing. I'm all for lady scientist heroines, but a couple of things just yanked me out of the story (mostly related to how the astrophysics profession works, plus a few 'um, no, actual laws of physics don't work like that'.) And of course, once you get that break, you start seeing other issues, too, and the whole fragile illusion of stepping outside your normal life crashes down. So, I finished it, but only barely.

Changes, Jim Butcher – Book #12 of the Dresden Files, and I was spoiled going in for the big decision, so I spent the first half of the book 'seeing' the plot points getting ticked off to where Dresden has to make the momentous decision. #2Son & I listened to this while driving down and back from Orlando, so I got big chunks of James Marsters' narration, which is never a bad thing. ( spoilers ) Also, I like Thomas and Molly (and not as siblings, because something needs to jolt Harry out of his blue megrims.)

The Bookshop on the Corner, Jenny Colgan – You know how sometimes the right book presents itself at the exact moment you need it, and no matter its literary merits, you just fall into it and never want to climb out? Yeah, this book was all that and a cherry on top for me. I don't know that it's any better than your average small town romance, but it had Scotland and a little bookstore and a grumpy local dude and Scotland and a mad romance involving a train and books as a way to heal and find yourself, and did I mention Scotland? (Also, there was an improbably luxurious converted barn for the heroine to live in while she reinvented her life (the existence of which was actually explained, so points for that.) Oh, and it came with a soaking tub and high-end bath products. WHAT COULD BE BETTER?)

Where Serpents Sleep, What Remains of Heaven, Where Shadows Dance, C.S. Harris – Books 4, 5, & 6 of the Sebastian St Cyr mysteries, which continue to entertain me fabulously. I do approve of Sebastian's marital decisions, and I'm looking forward to see how actual parenthood knocks him even further off his equilibrium. I could wish for someone who could deal with Paul's fascination with learning how human bodies function and his unfortunate addiction to opium and give him a little companionship on the side, but that's a minor wish. I see where a fair number of people feel the mysteries are a little too complicated, but it was an exceeding complicated era and since all of the murders tend to be tied up with the events of the day, I'm pretty impressed that everything dovetails together. Also, major props for writing Prinny as the nightmare he really was.

Designing Your Life, Burnett & Evans – I do enjoy a good self-help book, though I got burned with the last one I read (ugh, I even bought the audio book) and have backed off the genre for the last 6 months or so. This one is based on the course that's Stanford's most popular elective and I have to say it was pretty interesting (though, really, I've known enough designers in my professional life to not just blindly accept that their process is The Best Thing Ever.) I had this from the library and will probably request it again and see if I want to buy it and foist it on the boys. :D

now
The Winter Sea, Susanna Kearsley – Again with Scotland, though this one isn't hitting nearly as many buttons as the one above. Honestly, I'm surprised I'm still listening to this. It's taking me forever, both because it's a long book (SK is into exhaustive detail) and because I can't really hit the accelerated playback and still understand all the variety of Scottish accents. Also, I am side-eyeing the heck out of the explanation for the memory sharing, because, um, no? DNA doesn't work like that. I think I would have liked it better with some woo-woo glossover. Now I'm far enough in that I'm not giving up, but I'm not really all that invested in who our modern heroine is going to end up with, and I already know the disaster that was the Jacobite cause in Scotland, so I mostly am listening just to see how she survives.

The Underground Railroad, Colson Whitehead – I swear to God, I don't understand how this country has survived its past.

next
Black Widow: Red Vengeance, Margaret Stohl – My only complaint about her first Black Widow book was that it spent more time on the younger characters than on Natasha, but by all accounts, this one remedies that. I am cautiously optimistic, but as I said after finishing the last one, it's not like I'm awash in official ways to let TPTB know that I like the character and would like to see (A LOT) more of her.

books
now
The Winter Sea, by Susanna Kearsley--it is, like all of her work, very, verrrrry detailed. It also turns out to be about D’s family (the Scottish clan from the 1700s, so nobody we know), which I didn’t realize when I snagged e/audiobook on whatever Deal of the Day I got it on. It was a little bit of a kick when the Countess of Erroll showed up as a character. (I seriously doubt D’s family is from that exact branch of the family, but they were/are that clan. It’s given me renewed interest in digging through genealogy records. After 4 or 5 generations, it’s just so many names on a screen to me, even with my own family.)

Designing Your Life, Bill Burnett & Dave Evans--the book form of their Stanford course on using design principles to figure out what you want to be when you grow up (even if you're already there, ie, old.) I mostly got this to see if it might help #2Son with his less-traditional life plan, but I'm enjoying it on my own, too. (I do enjoy a good self-help book and this one is low on the woo-woo scale, which is even more endearing to me.)

A Second Chance At Paris, Cole McCade--I've completely lost the battle to stop adding to my (already staggering) TBR pile, both virtual and not, and this is one of the romance kindle deals I've been unable to resist. But seriously, the heroine is an astrophysicist with a father suffering from Alzheimers--how could I pass that one up? So far, it's not bad. There is some serious lack of communication in the main couple's background, which usually sets my teeth on edge, but since this case involves high school miscommunication, I'm letting it slide for now.

done
Since the last time I checked in...

Turn Coat, Jim Butcher, audio by James Marsters -- #10 or 11 of the Dresden books; I can't remember the last time I've lasted this long in a series, but now I'm at the point where I'll be damned if I stop. (Also, good on Butcher for letting the Luccio situation play out the way he did. I'm also to the point where I think he actually planned it that way, too.)

When Gods Die and Why Mermaids Sing, C.S. Harris -- #2 & 3 of the Sebastian St. Cyr books (Regency-era badass ex-military viscount with an Irish actress mistress & a former street-rat of a tiger), both of which I very much enjoyed. There was one point where I was a little worried that the actress was ripe for fridging, but in the next chapter Harris set up her agency and involvement so that while I am not entirely sure she'd going to survive much longer, it probably will have more to do with her own (valid, understandable) choices. The setting is spot on, too -- no wonder my mom loved these books.

next
I have a couple of Beverly Jenkins' books on my bedside table so I think those are next up. Also, 2 more St. Cyr mysteries.

tv
You all know I almost never watch anything as it's actually airing, but I'm making an effort for Poldark, if only because of my mom (again.) Even if I can't call and dish with her about this version and even knowing the general plot line (we watched the original series way back in the day), I can't let it air without watching. I have to say that I think this Elizabeth is much more sympathetically written, because I *never* saw her point back in the '70s (omg, Team Delmelza all the way) but now I am rooting for her to find some way to happiness (so long as she keeps her mitts off Ross.)

The boys have been shepherding me through Parks and Rec, which never appealed to me when it was on, but that was apparently because I watched in the first season. We skipped clean over S1 & S2 and I am having a *blast* with S3 onward. We're up to Leslie's campaign for city council and while it is striking a little too close to home these days, I still get all the warm fuzzies from it.

I'm tiptoeing through Daredevil and Jessica Jones, mostly because I fell hard for Mike Coulter in the first episode of JJ and really want to watch Luke Cage with the proper background, but I can only take about 1 episode a week because of the dark (themes, not settings.)

Other than that, all I watch is HGTV and the Food network. :D

movies
For some reason, I have been in this total Bollywood mood. Maybe because Sonali Dev's writing reminded me how much I loved the drama and flair? (She has a new book out right now and I ended up re-reading her first two on various planes this summer.) Luckily, the library has an excellent collection of the genre, because it’s otherwise a pricey addiction. So, yes, lots of giant dance numbers, except my 2 favorites turned out to be straight drama, not musicals. (Dil Chahta Hai, which is a coming-of-age arc about 3 friends and their romantic entanglements; and Monsoon Wedding, which does have the obligatory wedding but where the wedding is the catalyst for the drama in that everyone comes together and Stuff Happens. I am not ashamed to admit I cried through parts of both.) I'm still on the waiting list for Dil Dhadhakne Do (which sounds like the same big family Drama, only with a 30th anniversary cruise) and Band Baaja Baharat (friends to lovers against a backdrop of wedding planners. Dear lord, the bulletproof tropes that one hits for me...)

Sidenote: Last weekend D wanders into the bedroom asking if I had RSVP'd for his friend N's wedding, which, uh, no? Your friend, your chore. I haven't even met the bride-to-be, though I do like the groom a lot. He's adorable. (He taught with D for years.) So, they're a modern couple and everything is set up online, which forces D to go through the (agonizing, seriously, no one ever had to do so much stuff to rsvp a wedding, yes, my eyes are rolling out of my head) process of downloading the app and finding the wedding and then he's all, 'a sanjeet?' (he's spelling it out for me), 'what is that and why do I have to rsvp for that, too?', so yay for cultural diversity in reading and watching and still being able to impress the husband even after 30 years?

games
I am the world's worst gamer--my hand-eye coordination can handle typing & that's about it, but I am managing to play Knight of the Old Republic with much support from the HoB. I'm so proud? Also, on my phone I have been playing Regency Love for a couple of months & might just find myself running off with a most unsuitable beau. Also on the phone, I have just started Fallen London, but I have no idea what I'm doing there, so I'm expecting to die a horrible death at any moment.