Sunday Status Update: August 15, 2021

Jana: This week I finished Helene Wecker’s The Hidden Palace (hooray!) and became utterly immersed in Katherine Addison’s The Goblin Emperor (even better than I was expecting, and my expectations were high). I’m so excited to get to read Addison’s 2021 stand-alone/follow-up, The Witness for the Dead, and to revisit this lovely and treacherous world.

Bill: This week I read:

• The Rookery:  Deborah Hewitt’s sequel to The Nightjar
• Star Guard and Star Rangers:  two Andre Norton favorites brought to my attention again
• How to Make an Apple Pie from Scratch: A fantastic popular science book by Harry Cliff covering the building blocks of our universe and how they were put together to get us all here
• Da Vinci’s Cat by Catherine Gilbert Murdock, a solid MG time travel story
• Down to Earth by Betty Culley, a nice MG/YA book about the repercussions of a meteorite’s fall
  In video, I was a bit disappointed in episode 1 of Marvels: What If?, a bit too frenetic and explosion-filled for my preferences

Kat: With my daughter I’ve been listening to the audiobook editions of John Bellairs’ LEWIS BARNAVELT books. We read the first four this week: The House with a Clock in its Walls; The Figure in the Shadows; The Letter, the Witch, and the Ring; and The Ghost in the Mirror. I also read Andre Norton’s Sea Siege and Stuart Stevens’ It Was All a Lie: How the Republican Party Became Donald Trump (Sad!).

Marion: I enjoyed C.M. Waggoner’s The Ruthless Lady’s Guide to Wizardry, mostly for the quirky narrative voice and the main character, Dellaria–although the magical undead mouse was cool too. I’m still spending time in early 18th century London during the “gin craze” and learning a lot about economics, consumerism and politics, with Jessica Warner’s Craze: Gin and Debauchery in an Age of Reason.

Sandy: Moi? I am currently reading what I believe is the second novel from one of my very favorite sci-fi authors, Jack Williamson, entitled The Birth of a New Republic. This novel, which was actually co-written with Dr. Miles J. Breuer, initially appeared in 1930 and has really sucked me right in. I look forward to sharing some thoughts about this one with you all very shortly….