West of the Moon

personal

how it’s been going.

It’s all just bits and pieces, playing catchup. The weather was so beautiful today–low sixties, sunny, clear blue skies and just a little wind.  We ended up spending a lot of the day outdoors, walking around.  And we spotted our first Van Leeuwen truck of the season!  Spring is finally here. The afternoon’s walking-around itinerary [...]

the rest of the january books.

I’m not going to do reviews/writeups for the rest of the January books, because to be honest, I went down a comfort-reading rabbit hole and stayed there for the beginning of February.  The rest of the January list consists of two things: more of those stupid JD Robb mysteries that I’m still working my way [...]

1493

January 2012, #8: 1493, by Charles Mann I am having an extraordinary amount of difficulty writing about this book. Part of the problem is that my expectations were too high.  This is a followup to 1491–the first book looked at the Americas before Columbus, and this one looks at the Columbian Exchange and how it [...]

lost time.

Someday I will remember, ahead of time, that February is always a lost month. Short days, grim weather, and mountains of grading all month long, February is always a lost month. I’m back now, though, or starting back.

embassytown.

January 2012, #7: Embassytown, by China Mieville Avice Benner Cho grew up in Embassytown, a backwater colonial outpost that survives on the fringes of the embassy to an alien culture.  Like most kids from fringe backwater outposts, Avice desperately wants out; unlike most kids, she gets out, becoming an immerser, one of the rare people [...]

all-star.

Having just caught up on the last two episodes of Project Runway, I’m coming back my theory that Michael Costello has a mobbed-up uncle somewhere.

bright and shining parasites.

About a year and a half ago, we published a story at Strange Horizons called “The Bright and Shining Parasites of Guiyu“.  (Part One, Part Two.)  It’s still one of my favorites–I know, I know, not supposed to have favorites, editorial mamas love all their children equally, but whatever, I really love this story.  Wannabe [...]

glory in death.

January 2012, #6: Glory in Death, by J.D. Robb. You know, I can’t swear to it, but I think part of the recent delay in updating (which has put me more than a week behind on the reading log, again) is because I didn’t want to admit that I was re-reading the In Death series. [...]

total immersion and kaaterskill falls.

January 2012, #4 and #5: Total Immersion and Kaaterskill Falls, by Allegra Goodman. A lot of the books I’m reading right now are coming from the Brooklyn Public Library, which is driving my reading list towards a kind of eclecticism I might not get otherwise.  Case in point: while browsing the new releases in the [...]

unclaimed.

I’m now more than a week behind on these.  Go me. January 2012, #3: Unclaimed, by Courtney Milan. Kraken was intense, so I switched over to a romance novel for the next book.  I read a handful of Courtney Milan books last fall (Unveiled, Proof by Seduction and Trial by Desire) and really enjoyed them–Trial [...]