Relief Society Broadcast

I had tickets for the Relief Society general meeting in March. Each ward in our stake got 30 tickets, and it was not going to be broadcast at the stake center. I left with Sara and Jaelyn at 4:30. We got to the conference center by 5:30, like we were supposed to. Then it took us until 6:30 to get through the security line. (I listened to Shadows of Self in the meantime.) We had balcony seats, but after wandering around the balcony for a while, we couldn’t find any seats. 

So we got herded all the way downstairs and outside and back inside to the Conference Center Theater. We had to go through security again. We’d been on our feet for two hours, so it was blissful to sit down. But the conference ended ten minutes later. Then we had to walk back to our car; my feet and back were hurting by then. I swear Relief Society hates me; I really should avoid it.

I felt we deserved a treat, so we went to Applebee’s for dinner. I used a coupon Sara got from school to get her a free kid’s meal. We all picked chicken tenders and french fries. We also had mozzarella sticks, I got an Oreo milkshake, which was divine.

June Reads

It was a busy month with mostly excellent books:

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain
This is a fascinating look at the culture, psychology, and physiology of introvert-ism. 

Culturally, American culture (and other countries) is biased against introverts. This part of the book made me want to rise up with a pitchfork against those oppressive extraverts. Shake off the shackles! (Forced team projects in school is hell for introverts. I still have rage for that.)

The book also describes how introverts and extraverts have different levels of stimulation that are comfortable; how they socialize differently; how much people can change their dispositions; and how introverts and extraverts need each other and relate to each other. 

Ultimately, it shows how boring the world would be without both introverts and extraverts. Extraverts should definitely read this, as well as anyone interested in personality psychology. It’s well written and well edited.

***

The Forgotten Sisters (Princess Academy #3) by Shannon Hale
I’m not crazy about the covers for this series; they look very childish. This series is great for that neglected age group between Middle Grade books and Young Adult books, but any age will like it fine.

There are some great characters here, and Miri is finally kissing Peder. But they are separated when Miri gets sent to a swamp land to educate three royal sisters in a mini princess academy. There is a lot of deception surrounding these sisters, and with war coming, there is soon plenty of action and adventure.

Very enjoyable overall, and appropriate for all ages.

***

Morning Star (Red Rising #3) by Pierce Brown

I liked this whole series just fine — it’s very well written and thought out. I’m just not totally in love with it.

In this volume, Darrow decides that his mission is not to defeat Gold; it’s to unite good people of all colors to defeat bad people of any color. Color shouldn’t matter. Book 2 ended with him in quite a pickle. It takes a little while for him to get out of that. There are several big battles and loss and sacrifice and betrayals and double-dealings. The action is balanced with introspection and personal consequences. There a couple places that may make readers throw the book across the room. At one point, I yelled, “Bastard!” out loud to the author.

***

King Sized Beds and Happy Trails (Beds #1) by, Cassie Mae, Theresa Paolo

This is a best-friends-to-lovers story, alternating viewpoints between the hero and heroine. The heroine is interested in another guy while her best guy friend has long been in love with her. Through some rather convoluted circumstances, they end up sharing a king bed on a weeklong vacation.

What was good

I’m not a big romance fan, but the story gripped me and kept me involved the whole time. The pacing was good, the plot flowed well, and the length was just right.

What was not good

I had to wonder if this was edited at all, but there was an editor in the acknowledgments. There are some misspelled words and a few grammar issues, but the punctuation is nonexistent. It’s like someone imposed a ban on commas and decided quote marks didn’t need a partner. It was jarring and meant I had to re-read a lot of sentences. If this hadn’t been an e-book, I would have penciled in hundreds of corrections.

It’s in first-person present tense. I can’t wait for this fad to end.

Advisory

While the characters in this story are high school seniors, it’s more appropriate for New Adult than Young Adult. There is some swearing and sexual innuendo.

***

Red Sister (Book of the Ancestor #1) by Mark Lawrence

It’s a very creative idea. What I can glean is that humans settled some planet ages ago. The planet is cold with a dying sun, so everyone lives on the equator, where an artificial satellite reflects sunlight across this strip of land. Whatever happened at that time has become mythology, legend, and religion.

In convents centered around ancient ships, girls are taught martial arts and how to tap into magic. Very few are able to use magic, and the magic system was a little confusing. Nine-year-old Nona is rescued from the noose at the last minute and taken to a convent for education and training. The family that sent her to be executed never gives up their desire for revenge, and that danger always shadows Nona. 

Nona is a surprisingly relatable character. She keeps to herself a lot but is not completely anti-social. She is not perfect at things and has friends as well as enemies. It takes a lot of effort to accomplish things. The story mostly covers her life at the convent, occasionally revealing her further past. These details are not entirely known until the end. There is occasional danger and fights with a big action-filled climax.

The writing is superb, even if the author uses sentence fragments for dramatic effect and seems to despise commas. The scenes are easy to visualize; characters are well developed. This is not the typical Chosen One Trained As An Assassin trope.

***

Twenty-Four Potential Children of Prophecy by Emily Sorensen

This is a fun, light indie novella with a fairy tale vibe.

What if you couldn’t help saying all the sarcastic, snarky things that pop in your head during a conversation? (Or is it just me who thinks like that?) Henina and twenty-three other girls of varying ages get rounded up as “potential children of prophecy” after a prophecy declares one of them will end the war. Henina doesn’t want to be the ultimate chosen one and tries to sabotage her chances. But she also wants the war to end, so she’s conflicted in her actions.

Although the story is a little silly and full of sarcasm and insults, there’s a full storyline that’s well plotted and well paced. The writing is smooth and competent. The story is easy to follow and will be enjoyed by all ages.

I received a free copy for review.

*** 

Steelheart (The Reckoners #1) by Brandon Sanderson

This was just so much fun. Everything was done right, even the editing!

What if the world had super villains but no super heroes?

It starts with a great hook. The pacing and buildup are perfect. The world-building and characters are excellent. There are heart-racing moments and funny moments and poignant moments. I’ve seen lots of comments about David’s bad metaphors, but technically they’re similes, not metaphors. But they were the perfect little something that made the book special.

*** 

Illuminae (The Illuminae Files #1) by Amie Kaufman, Jay Kristoff

3.75 stars: pretty good, and definitely creative and visually striking.

I could sell this story as a B-movie plot: Two teenagers struggle for survival against zombies on a spaceship! But it was executed well. The dialogue is plenty funny and sarcastic, and there are good characters. There are puzzles and mysteries and hopeless situations and plot twists. Realistically, I think the ending should have been more tragic. But that’s okay.

The audiobook includes a full cast and sound effects. The physical book has a lot of interesting visuals. So try both out, I guess.

***

Dawn Study (Soulfinders #3) by Maria V. Snyder

This is kind of hard to review. It was good enough, just not groundbreaking.

The tone and action was incredibly even all the way through. Generally, you get a cycle of high-action-suspense followed by reaction-regroup-character-development and repeat. Not here. The suspense level remains f l a t all the way through. A lot of it feels like killing time, like it was a real chore to write. There’s a surprising amount of modern-day lingo here.

Being the ninth book, a lot of characters come and go. As long as you’ve enjoyed all the characters so far, you should like it fine. Everything ties up pretty neatly. 

***

Trials of a Teenage Werevulture (Trilogy of a Teenage Werevulture #1) by Emily Martha Sorensen

In an alternate version of the world, everybody is a vampire or were-animal or some other paranormal creature. You start off as a mere human and take on a supernatural persona in your teens. Lisette has been looking forward to joining her family as a were-hawk. But things don’t quite go as planned, and she ends up as a were-vulture instead. 

The tone is light, humorous and often tongue-in-cheek. There’s a good buildup to a big climax. Despite the urban fantasy surroundings, Lisette is a normal teenager trying to fit in and act more grownup than she is. She actually likes her family and talks to them. There is some sneaking around, but much less than you usually see with typical high school characters. It’s really cute and a fun read.

I received a free copy for review.

***

Beast Charming by Jenniffer Wardell

Jenniffer writes romance for people who hate romance — none of the secret-keeping or stupid misunderstandings or childish insecurities that keep couples apart in most romances. 

In this take on “Beauty and the Beast,” Beauty is a temp who gets hired to assist Beast’s butler to help with his brooding. She wins his affections after chasing off airheads trying to to break his curse and win themselves a happily-ever-after. That just leaves Beauty’s scheming father and Beast’s ex-fiancee to deal with.

The writing is intelligent and distinct. The dialogue is clever and engaging. The story is light and sweet and really cute but not sappy or cheesey.

Star Wars Blue and Gold Banquet

R2-D2

Sarlacc Pit

The annual Cub Scout Blue and Gold Banquet is usually every February. This year was interesting because we had no cubmaster to be in charge of it. The six den leaders each took an area to work on.

The day before the dinner, I worked on two cakes and other final preparations. The next morning I met two other den leaders at the church to start setting up. I brought Deven and Jaelyn since they had a late LATE start day that didn’t start until noon (because the juniors were taking the ACT all morning). The curtain separating the gym in half was locked (or else really, really stiff), so we had to push carriers of tables and chairs out of the gym, down the hallway, and back into the gym. 

Deven and I did most of the chairs and tables—setting them up and then adding table clothes, the lightsaber napkins, and table decorations. The others did the rest of the decorations. I took Deven and Jaelyn home at 11:30 for lunch and school. Then I returned and stayed until I had to leave for band. After band, I came back to finish setting up. Glenn came home early from lunch to bake hamburgers and set up the food. 

We had “Han burgers,” “Hoth dogs,” “Chewie chips,” “Wookie Cookies,” “Swamp Juice,” and the “Admiral Ackbar snack bar.” Glenn presented two-liter bottles of “Yoda soda” (Sprite) to the den leaders for being such great “liters.” Our former cub leaders were next door doing another Blue and Gold, so we were able to bring them over for a few minutes to present them an award. I made an R2-D2 cake and a Sarlacc pit cake. I had to slice them up before anyone would eat them. Then they went quickly.

Corin with his lightsaber that he broke ten minutes later

Caelan with his lightsaber

Each scout got to make a custom lightsaber.

Albus and Sara

In the spring, Albus injured his foot. He was limping on it, and it looked like it was maybe sprained, but it was bleeding a little. I think he stepped on something rather than being bit. I wrapped up his foot twice, but he managed to rip the bandages off. He spent a whole day hurting and hiding under the bed. But he got better quickly. 

The next day Sara had a bad migraine all day. (It happened to be the first day in nearly a week that I’d woken up without a headache.) She crashed on my bed all day. Albus curled up with her, showering her in affection. It was the cutest thing ever. He’s not normally that cuddly for so long. Then he started biting her hair (to groom her?), and she didn’t like that. But he stayed at her side almost all day. Eventually I gave Sara one of my Imitrex injections. (I know; it’s not exactly legal.) I think it took the edge off at least. She went to sleep and was then okay as long as she stayed lying down. 

May Reads

Reviews on books I read or finished reading in May

Unforgettable by Eric James Stone
This is a spy thriller with science fiction elements. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it.

The action starts off right away and keeps going and building. The stakes get higher and higher until the fate of the world is at stake. Nat is a CIA agent with the talent/curse to be forgotten after meeting someone. Sure, this stretches plausibility, but that’s what makes things interesting. 

It’s a very clean story, appropriate for all ages.

***

The Classroom Management Secret, and 45 Other Keys to a Well-Behaved Classroom

by Michael Linsin

This is a collection of blog entries with tips for teachers. I ended up teaching music classes to kids, and since I have no formal teacher training, this was pretty helpful. If you have a teaching degree, this might be nothing new for you. 

It’s a short and easy read. There are a few misspelled words and a few run-on sentences.

***

Golden Son (Red Rising #2) by Pierce Brown

Four years after leaving home and two years after the academy, Darrow is left to the real world. It’s full of back-stabbing, shady deals, and double-crossings, and triple-crossings. He hasn’t heard from Ares in ages. Being unable to trust anyone is wearing on him, so he decides to start risking having true friends. He also comes to realize that simply wiping out Golds isn’t the answer; there are good people and bad people everywhere.

This installment has quite a bit of action, big and small. There are space battles and hand-to-hand combat and deep conversations in which you wonder what people really mean and what they’re really up to. Beneath the flashy science fiction setting, it’s a look into humanity’s soul.

***

Agenda 21 (Agenda 21 #1) by Glenn Beck, Harriet Parke

I was expecting a nonfiction commentary when I started this, which was what I got in the Afterword. I found that part more interesting than the novel. The actual story was written by Harriet Parke, and the Afterword was written by Glenn Beck. It’s a commentary about the UN’s Agenda 21 proposal, a typical Progressive central planning dream. The novel is a what-if of what could happen if the proposal were taken to an extreme.

The story is written like there’s never been another dystopia ever written. It’s very slow. The first two CDs (out of 7) were a flashback of the main character’s life and full of info-dumps, which continue throughout. The story should have either started at the beginning of this flashback or simply hinted at it later on. Today’s audiences are pretty good at gleaning information. That whole section could have been cut and simply referenced when needed.

Most dystopias show the main character becoming disillusioned with their society and then looking for a way out or a way to fight back. This expected turning point didn’t happen until the very, very end. It was good in that the main character’s decision to not take it anymore was realistic. But it made the story slower because I was expecting it to happen a lot sooner. The ending was fairly interesting and suspenseful, but I had to wade through a lot of exposition to get there.

The characters are very flat and undeveloped. Emmeline is a classic Mary Sue. The writing is very plain and simple for the most part. Occasionally, the writer remembered that writing should be interesting and then would write a few nicely written passages. I never quite got the “downloading energy” concept. In real life, the citizens would have gone insane living like this, or there’d be mass suicides. So it’s best not to take the story too literally, I guess.

***

Sleeping Giants (Themis Files #1) by Sylvain Neuvel

This is written as a series of interviews and transcripts, which made me hesitant to read it. But it works pretty well. It just makes it a different kind of storytelling.

As a child, Dr. Franklin discovered a giant hand — just a hand, obviously not nature-made nor man-made. Years later, other body parts are showing up. I was surprised at how many things there were to discover and learn, and that kept the story going well. There is also some text they’re trying to decipher, but once they mostly figure it out, that concept disappears from the story.

As part of a series, not all questions are answered. The identity and purpose of the Interviewer becomes a tantalizing mystery. The epilogue throws a wrench in the whole story. 

There are a lot of run-on sentences, but otherwise the editing is fine. Appropriate for ages teen and up.

***

Riding the Pony Express (Saddles, Stars and Stripes) by Deborah Kent

This is great for kids just starting out on chapter books through middle grade. For adults, it’s more like a short story.

The story is solid and concise with plenty of action and adventure. It appeals to kids’ sense of adventure without being condescending.

***

Bluescreen (Mirador #1) by Dan Wells

Wow, good job, Mr. Wells.

In the not-that-distant future, everybody has the equivalent of smart phones in their brains. A new digital drug gives people a high by overloading this system — no physical side effects; totally safe, right? Marisa doesn’t trust it from the start, and her investigation uncovers something really sinister.

The world felt real and complete; it was detailed and believable. Marisa has two brothers and two sisters, parents, school, online friends and offline friends. Every aspect of life is shown. I didn’t even get confused by the number of characters, which I usually do.

Pacing and buildup is done well. All the storytelling elements tie together well. The writing is tight. Even the editing is almost perfect. The book is left open enough for sequels, but it’s still a complete story in itself. Overall, this was very enjoyable. There was never a dull moment.

There is some Spanish and German swearing; no sexual content.

***

Shoeless Joe by W.P. Kinsella

This is the book that “Field of Dreams” is based on. I love the movie and have seen it dozens of times. But that’s tainted my experience with the book, for good or bad. It was hard to stop comparing them. Ultimately, I think I like the movie better. 

The book is in first person present tense with lots of past-tense memories thrown in. It’s also more like a series of stories than an overall story arc. The story takes several real people and imagines giving them a perfect dream that comes true. The pacing is meandering with a dream-like quality. Big events are played down. It’s like, “The long-dead Shoeless Joe showed up, and we chatted, and I went home.” It’s a celebration of baseball and small-town America. It’s about being kind to people who appear insignificant or flawed. 

“How can you forgive him for all he’s done?”

And I wonder how I can. But I know I can. Fact and fantasy swirl together. “Worse men than Eddie have been forgiven by better men than me,” I reply.