Winter has come

Winter has come! It’s cold and windy outside, and supposed to drop even lower next week. I’ve gotten out my winter jacket, and still need to figure out what happened to my gloves. Nothing much happened this week worth noting. Hero has recovered splendidly from her surgery and everything is calm here at Casa Hibernator.

On the blog I noted my plans for 2017 & reviewed The Price of Silence by Liza Long and A Confusion of Princes by Garth Nix.

Currently Reading: Same as last week.

Completed: Finished this weeks The Week, and the indie novel Chaos, by Julian Kincaid (review and author interview upcoming)

Acquired: My copy of We Need to Talk About Kevin has arrived!

A Confusion of Princes, by Garth Nix

A Confusion of Princes, by Garth Nix
Read by Michael Goldstrom

17yo Khemri has just become a prince of an intergalactic empire. But being a prince isn’t at all what he expected. There’s no cruising around the empire in his shiny new ship, having adventures and making his fortune. No, the Emperor will be retiring soon, and Khemri must prepare to compete for the status of new Emperor.

I got this book because I loved the other Garth Nix books I’ve read, and I wanted a book my nephew would enjoy for a road trip. I was a little disappointed in this book. First of all, it wasn’t really age-appropriate for my nephew, who’s 12. I think it would be more appropriate for a 14 or 15 year old. Second, it was a bit boring. The plot had great potential, but it just fell flat for me. I enjoyed the world building, and thought so much more could have been done with it. He was limiting himself with the age range, I think. If he tried the same universe with a target audience of older teens to adults, then it would have been a splendid book.

The Price of Silence, by Liza Long

When, in December 2012, Adam Lanza rampaged Sandy Hook Elementary, killing 20 children and 6 adult staff members, people blamed the mother for not taking proper care of her child. But how was she supposed to care for her mentally ill son when the mental health system is so broken, argues Liza Long. Ms Long is also the mother of an unstable, mentally ill child who has violent outbursts. She can relate to Adam Lanza’s mother’s quandary.

In The Price of Silence, Ms. Long outlines the problems with the mental healthcare system, focusing primarily on how it fails our children. It’s nearly impossible to find a school that will educate children prone to outbursts, and impossible to afford mental health care as a home-schooler. Parents often have to divorce and quit their jobs in order to apply for state assistance. Even when they have state assistance, there are very few safe residential facilities for minors who need more focused care. Thus, the children end up bursting into rages that get them arrested. Most minors in juvenile detention are mentally ill, in fact. Such minors cycle in and out of juvenile detention, where they get only minimal education or treatment for their mental disorders. The price we pay for housing these minors in juvenile detention is much higher than we would pay to house them in residential facilities, and is much less effective, argues Ms. Long.

This was a very interesting book which will unfortunately only be read by people who already appreciate how broken our mental health system is. It provides a lot of information, while staying personal because of Ms. Long’s biographical sections. It’s a very readable book. That said, I think she overstated her case a bit. This overstatement is probably partly due to her passion for the subject, and also because she lives in Idaho, a state which is less likely to provide social programs to care for the disabled.

Despite the overstatments, however, I think this book is well-worth reading. It was a good supplement to The Fifth Child, which I read in October, and I plan on supplementing it further with We Need to Talk about Kevin soon.

Hero’s Fix

Doesn’t she look pissed?

This was a pretty good week for me, though not so much for my Hero. I spent a fortune getting her fixed on Thursday. She was sent home wearing an Elizabethan collar, which made her look really cute and forlorn in the kennel, but as soon as she was out she started freaking out and running around the room backwards. Then she kept trying to drink some water, but couldn’t get at it. Within a half hour of returning home, I took the darned thing off. Now, she and I are sitting on the bed in the spare bedroom, and she’s happily purring away. So things have gotten a bit better.

This week I was a little more active than I’ve been since the election. I managed to get two reviews published – Chi’s Sweet Home and Gods Behaving Badly – as well as the final Nonfiction November post.

I finished reading this week’s issue of The Week, Neurotribes by Steve Silberman, and The Righteous Mind, by Jonathan Haidt. Reviews on their way.

I acquired Packing for Mars, which I’m listening to as part of a “quirky nonfiction” challenge on LibraryThing.

I’m currently listening to The Stand, by Stephen King and Packing for Mars by Mary Roach. I’m also listening to a couple lectures a week of Reading Biblical Literature, to help prepare for next year’s cover-to-cover Bible reading. The Stand will likely take me a long time since it’s so very long! I’m reading In the Woods, by Tana French for my RL bookclub, and North and South on my Serial Reader app.

Gods Behaving Badly, by Marie Phillips

Gods Behaving Badly, by Marie Phillips, read by Rosalyn Landor

It’s hard for the Greek gods in the modern world. They’ve lost most of their power, and are stuck living in a dilapidated house in London. In order to make a living, Aphrodite answers sex calls, Apollo is a TV psychic, and Artemis is a dog walker. They still treat humans with the same snide disregard, though. When Apollo insults Aphrodite, she decides to take revenge on him by making him fall in love with a homely young woman, Alice, who is their housemaid. This sets off a storm of bad luck for everyone involved.

This was a funny book with an interesting twist on gods-in-modern-world sub-genre. It had its ups and downs as far as writing went, though. It was funny, as I said, but I didn’t care about any of the characters – I didn’t dislike the naughty ones and I found Alice to be a bit insipid. Of course, she was meant to be insipid, and Phillips did a good job of portraying that. 🙂 I read most of this book months ago, put the book down when I got bored, and picked it back up again recently.

Normally with how bored I was by the book, I’d give it three snowflakes, but I’ll give it an extra half a snowflake for humor.

Chi’s Sweet Home

Chi’s Sweet Home Volumes 1-12
by Konami Kanata

Well, it’s time to catch up on my reviews. I’m behind by 5, and expect to finish one or two more books by the time I catch up on those. 🙂 Upcoming are Gods Behaving Badly, by Marie Phillips; Confusion of Princes, by Garth Nix; The Price of Silence, by Lisa Long; and Neurotribes, by Steve Silberman.

This is a minireview of the graphic novel series Chi’s Sweet Home, which was absolutely adorable. It’s about a “newborn” kitten who loses her mommy and is found and adopted by a nice family. The family has many troubles with Chi because they are not allowed to have a kitten in their apartment. The story covers her adventures growing up for what I would assume is several months (though she doesn’t seem to grow much in size). She has many kitten-like adventures, and makes some good kitty friends along the way. The little boy in the family is also adorable, though his age is indeterminate.

The art for this book was so, so cute. And the story was “realistic” in the sense that the author clearly knows a lot about how kittens act. It reminded me a lot of my own kittens. Especially the one I found lost in a street gutter a few years ago. She was so forlorn and scared! And she was always chewing through cords.

Anyway, if you like graphic novels for kids, this is a great one to pick up.

Nonfiction November 2016 – Next Year’s TBR

Nonfiction November is over! Oh no! I immensely enjoyed the opportunity to co-host and look forward to participating in the years to come. Due to an unfortunate setback in my own reading, I only finished one book so far – The Price of Silence, by Liza Long, but I hope to finish Neurotribes by Steve Silberman and The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt before the end of the month. (Reviews to come.)

This week’s prompt, hosted by Lory @ Emerald City Books is to tell what books have been added to my TBR/wishlist after this month’s participation:

Thanks to Charlotte @Charl08 on Litsy and LibraryThing

Thanks to @Ebooksandcooks on Litsy

Thanks to kidzdoc on LibraryThing

And of course:

White Trash thanks to Joy @ Joy’s Book Blog
Hillbilly Elegy thanks to JoAnn @ Lakeside Musing (@LakesideMusing on Litsy)
Strangers in Their Own Land thanks to kidzdoc on LibraryThing
Others thanks to the New York Times article: 6 Books to Help Understand Trump’s Win

I plan on hosting a group read of these 6 books next year – one book every two months, for anyone who would like to join.

Other books that are on my hopefully-next-year-but-however-will-I-fit-them-in list are:

Happy Thanksgiving Weekend!

I had lots of pictures to share with you – this one is a bit creepy with the light shining on that missing turkey head. Yes, I’m trying the technique of cooking it upside down and then flipping it the last hour to save juiciness in the breast meat. I’ll see in a few hours whether it worked.

This was a good week for me. I’m finally breaking out of my post-election funk and getting on with life. I decided that on top of reading the Bible next year, I’ll dedicate next year to reading books on politics and social justice to try to better understand social issues that have led to our recent upheaval. You’re welcome to join me in reading New York Times’ list of 6 books to help understand Trump’s Win.

I also ate three Thanksgiving meals and turned one down (sorry Colette, I was just so stuffed and drowsy) this week. I drove to Iowa last weekend with my nephew and spent time with my large family of cousins down there. Then on Thursday I had a little surprise – I didn’t have to go to work after all! So I spent that afternoon with my boyfriend’s family. Friday I cooked for my parents and boyfriend. And the rest of the weekend will be spent READING! yay! (And maybe cleaning. Boo!)

Completed this week:

Currently Reading

Emerging from Post-Election Blues

Well, I’ve been absent from the blogging world since the election (besides my pre-scheduled Nonfiction November posts which I’d written earlier in the month). I’ve been experiencing some post-election blues. It’s hard with bipolar disorder to keep my mood within a reasonable range. I went from reading 6 books at once (slight hypomania) to having not picked up or listened to a book since the election. My Nonfiction November reads are definitely going to leak over into December now.

I’ve chosen to curb my post-election slump by picking up Harry Potter. Hopefully that will help out. I also subscribed to The Economist and The Week, both are news magazines which I have subscribed to on and off for years. In addition to reading the Bible cover-to-cover next year, I’ll be spending a lot of time reading the news. If I can dredge up the money and time, I might add in New Scientist, since I love that magazine.

I know I’m dreadfully behind on answering comments and stopping by blogs. I will be out of town this weekend, but I will focus next week on catching up.

Nonfiction November 2016: Nonfiction Book Pairings

This week’s Nonfiction November prompt, hosted by Sarah at Sarah’s Book Shelves, is to pair a nonfiction book with a fiction book. Here’s a couple of thoughts based on books that I’m reading right now:

Last month I read The Fifth Child, by Doris Lessing. It’s about a family that has a violent “monster” of a child and a mother’s attempts to love that child. This book was horrifying. I can’t imagine what it would be like to have a child who is violent or psychopathic. Thus, I decided to read The Price of Silence, by Liza Long, which is part memoir part criticism of the mental health system in the US. Liza Long wrote the now “famous” article entitled “I am Adam Lanza’s Mother” about the difficulties of raising a child with a violent mental illness. I have not read, but would be interested in adding, We Need to Talk About Kevin, by Lionel Shriver, which is an epistolary novel about a mother’s sufferings after her son has committed an outrageously violent crime.

This month I’m reading The Stand, by Stephen King, which is one of his most popular novels. It’s about a plague which kills all but a small population of people. I think it would be well-paired by non-fiction books about devastating diseases. I haven’t read either of these two books, but have heard they’re great. They are The Hot Zone, by Richard Preston, which is about the Ebola virus; and The Great Mortality, by John Kelly, which is about the black plague. My final fiction pairing would be Doomsday Book, by Connie Willis. I LOVED this book when I was a teenager.