The Search for Socks

I don’t know why, but I’ve had the hardest time finding plain white socks the last few years. Whenever I go to Target or Kohl’s, they don’t have any that are just white, that aren’t ankle socks, and aren’t scratchy. How hard can it be to sell soft, white crew socks? Aren’t they the most common socks around? I even had a dream about looking for white socks.

I next looked at buying them on Amazon. Again, only black socks of the style I wanted. White socks only came in no-show or ankle socks (which it’s too cold for right now) or in super huge giant feet. My feet are kind of big, but not male-pro-basketball-player size big. Next I went to eBay. There they were! Finally. A few days ago, I got three pairs of soft, white socks. It should not be this hard.

Instant Blessings

Whew! It’s been a while. First nothing interesting was happening, then it got crazy busy.

Just after Christmas I went to help out at the Bishops’ Storehouse. I had signed up because there was no school that day and therefore one of the few assignments I could attend in the year. 

But when it was time to go, I really didn’t feel like going: I had a bad cold, and my back hurt. I ended up going and found the Murdock family there, who were veterans of the place. We restocked all the shelves, but there weren’t many patrons getting food there. After an hour, that was all done. We swept the upstairs warehouse area, took a break, and decided to go home. There wasn’t anything much to do, and another volunteer group showed up. Despite that heavy lifting, my back stopped hurting.

The next day, Glenn helped somebody move and got two free dressers from it. Jaelyn and Sara both had broken drawers in theirs, so we replaced them with the new ones and took the old ones to the curb for bulk garbage day. Jaelyn was using the dresser that I had all growing up that came from a garage sale in the first place. But it couldn’t survive Jaelyn. It was kind of sad to see it go.

Sometimes blessings are obvious and immediate.

2017 Book Summary

In 2017, I read 118 books total, not counting six that I re-read and about five short stories. That includes 34 audiobooks.

My favorite books of the year
The Alcatraz Series (Brandon Sanderson)
The Lockwood & Co Series (Jonathan Stroud)
Steelheart (Brandon Sanderson)
Mistborn—Second Era Series (Brandon Sanderson)
The False Prince (Jennifer A. Nielsen)
The Nightwalkers Series (J. R. Johansson)

Excellent books read in the year
Warbreaker (Brandon Sanderson)
Age of Swords (Michael J Sullivan)
The Lost Hero and The Son of Neptune (Rick Riordan)
The Final Spark (Richard Paul Evans)
The Way of Kings (Brandon Sanderson)
The Disappearance of Winter’s Daughter (Michael J Sullivan)
Pitch Green (the Brothers Washburn)

Books to avoid
Graceling (Kristin Cashmore)
(mostly hiking through the woods with an abusive girlfriend)
Agenda 21 (Glenn Beck)
(slow-paced dystopia with every overdone cliched trope)
The Night Circus (Erin Morgenstern)
(boring, plot-less blob of pretty images)

Also see my Goodreads profile.

December Reads

 Death Masks (The Dresden Files #5) by Jim Butcher
There’s quite a bit going on in this book. We have thieves ...

 

... and fallen angels ... 

 

... and Michael and his Knight friends:

 

Oh, and his maybe-girlfriend shows up needing help with her “condition”:



I listened to this on audio, and James Marsters is getting really good at narrating. If you were put off by the first book or two he did, it’s worth trying him again here. I was interrupted a lot during this listening, which made it harder to follow and enjoy for me.

It was still a good story with good adventure, some chuckles, and some twists. It’s possibly my favorite of the series so far.

*** 

 The Beatrice Letters by Lemony Snicket
This is to be read after completing the entire Series of Unfortunate Events. It’s been some years since I read them, so some details are fuzzy. Original series spoilers follow.

The book is wonderfully artistic. It comes with two folder pockets, each labeled “Letters.” One is for written letters, and one is for letters of the alphabet and a fold-out poster. The written letters booklet contains punch-out letters as a puzzle for you. The letters Lemony writes are to Beatrice, the Baudelaires’ mother. The ones from Beatrice are written by the baby Beatrice who was being raised by the three orphans on the island at the end of the series. She is now 10 years old and separated from the orphans. So more questions; not so many answers.

I played around with anagrams of the punch-out letters a bit and came up with Beatrice Sank (appropriate since that was the ship’s name that sank) and A Snicket Bare/Bear A Snicket, which could make sense.

One side of the poster shows the shipwreck of the Beatrice with evidence that the three orphans were there. The other side shows a cave with bats (hinted at in the letters) and hints that Lemony was there.

I’m sure you could discover more clues here if you cared to spend the time. Try not to go insane doing so.

***

To Prevent Smart Choices (Magical Mayhem #4) by Emily Martha Sorensen
This is part 4 of 5 of the Magical Mayhem story. Taken together, they form a novel.

This episode is pretty brief. Chronos is trying to avoid Kendra, who insists on being a villain. Tiffany is pestering Kendra. And Kendra decides to strike out on villainous missions, only to catch the attention of Chronos’s sister, Rhea, who is a true villain.

It’s funny and light while still keeping the stakes high. The writing is solid; above average. (I received a free copy for review.)

***

To Prevent Warm Welcomes (Magical Mayhem #5) by Emily Martha Sorensen

So this isn’t the last episode. I don’t know how many there will be. In this one, Chronos’s sister, Rhea, shows up, and that spins the plot into a new direction. What will happen next?

It’s still a fun, light tone and a fun story.

***

The Lies of Locke Lamora (Gentleman Bastard, #1) by Scott Lynch

Locke Lamora is a born thief, con man, and master of disguise. He steals because it’s fun. It takes a while to warm up to this character (because he can be a real bastard), but he is occasionally nice to someone. Then there are worse villains, so he looks saintly by comparison.

The world-building is excellent—the island of Camor sounds like Venice. The customs, vocabulary, climate, economics, language, and everything is fully developed. The story is interspersed with episodes from Locke’s childhood, showing events that are relevant to the present. Locke goes from running a basic con to fighting for his life when a new, ruthless crime lord rises up. Then everything from the beginning comes into play.

It’s a long book with lots of detail—sort of like The Name of the Wind in that regard. There’s a big of Count of Monte Cristo vibe, too. Swearing is pervasive in this book—holy cow. Lynch takes swearing and turns it into an art form. The audio narration by Michael Page is top notch; just excellent.

There are just a few unanswered questions at the end: How did Chains die? What is Locke’s real name? Where is Sabatha, this supposed true love of his, who never appears once in the book but is supposed to be a vital member of the team?

***

The Creeping Shadow (Lockwood & Co. #4) by Jonathan Stroud

I don’t want to give away the story here, but here are some tidbits to entice you: a ghost that can only be seen in mirrors, the ghost of a cannibal, an apparently cursed village, and an unexplainable Creeping Shadow. Conspiracies hinted at in the previous books are more present now. 

Writing, dialogue, and characters are still excellent. There are quite a few laughs. All ages can enjoy it. 

I just wish publishers would stop “Americanizing” British (and Canadian and Australian) books. This one seemed to be done half-heartedly, with biscuits and cookies appearing in the same paragraph, for example.

P.S. I’m not usually a sucker for book covers, but the ones in this series are gorgeous.

*** 

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie 

This premise is so awesome, so classic, it just can’t be repeated: Ten people are lured to an island house party under false pretenses. There, they’re each accused of crimes that vary from manslaughter at best and cold-blooded murder at worst. Then they start getting killed one by one.

Is there an unseen killer running loose on the island? Is it one (or more) of the guests? I’m not sure you’re meant to solve this on your own, unlike today’s mysteries. But the most interesting part of the story is watching the psychological toll the deaths take on the guests. 

The writing is excellent, and the pacing is just right. It’s not a very long book.

***

Parenting Your Powerful Child: Bringing an End to the Everyday Battles by Kevin Leman

Hmm. I think this confirms that my kids defy description and categorization. (I have five.) They don’t really follow the birth order theory, either. And I don’t agree that all kids crave attention. Leman says he was a rowdy, attention-getting child, but when I was little, any attention made me cry. Still, I can see some of these strategies being helpful for some of my kids some of the time.

***

The Son of Neptune (The Heroes of Olympus, #2) by Rick Riordan

With Percy missing in the first book, we now return to see what happened to him. You could actually miss book one and still be okay starting here. Percy ends up at Camp Jupiter with most of his memories gone. He’s matured into a confident warrior. He ends up on a quest (naturally) with Hazel and Frank, neither of whom are widely considered quest material. Hazel and Frank are each dealing with a sort of curse that they don’t want widely known. The book switches POV among these three.

This has everything you’d expect from Riordan: epic battles, scary monsters, and just enough silliness for some good laughs. (I think my favorite was the Amazons.) The characters are real and relatable. They’re both heroic and flawed. I also liked seeing Percy hanging around my hometown area instead of the over-done east coast for once.

***

Blood Rites (The Dresden Files, #6) by Jim Butcher
Check out this opening line: “The building was on fire, and it wasn’t my fault.” This little line describes Harry Dresden so well.

Harry is hired by a guy being harassed by a curse (thus the book title). It turns out the guy is a porn filmmaker. But not much filming gets done. Family is also a big theme in this book: Harry learns a little more about his mom, and Murphy is dealing with a family reunion. And there’s more vampire action; so lots of blood themes.

This is a pretty typical Dresden adventure: lots of danger, bad bad guys, investigating mysteries, and some good chuckles. And Harry gets a puppy—don’t worry, it doesn’t replace Mister.

***

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
A circus that appears only at night sounds like it’ll give you delicious goose bumps, like Something Wicked This Way Comes. There is nothing sinister about this circus at all. It’s beautiful and dreamy and refreshes your soul. Two young people are bound to a competition by their magic masters. I was expecting something like this:

 

but got something more like this:

 

The blurb is misleading. It had me thinking that Isabel was really Celia’s alias. The love story doesn’t start until after half-way. They meet and BAM! instant true love. I just didn’t buy it. I could see them becoming friends, but I felt zero chemistry. They didn’t have time to get to know each other. All their lovey-dovey speech is so cliched.

Maybe I just don’t get it, but I found a good chunk of the book boring, though not all. It was fine. The descriptions were beautiful, but they were like frosting with no cake—no substance underneath the fluffiness makes the fluffiness less effective. There was very little actual conflict in this story. Other than Celia’s father being a total SOB, there was no one even close to being a villain.

I was really confused because Celia is sent to her father at the circus, and then later the circus is being built. So what was it before it was built? Also, I’m not crazy about Jim Dale as a narrator. Everything he says sounds non-committal. People have to say “I knooooow” and “Gooooo on.” It’s never a straight, firm “I know.” You know?

The book is written in second and third person present tense. I detest present tense, and that’s an automatic half-star deduction from me. Aside from an f-word at the beginning, there wasn’t any swearing in the book. There’s a sex scene, though it’s not graphic.

***

Fires of Invention (Mysteries of Cove, #1) by J. Scott Savage
Perfect for ages 11-13, this might be a bit simple for adult tastes. Cove is a city carved out of a mountain, similar to City of Ember. Around 1930 was a big disaster, where technology ruined the planet. It’s now 150 years later, and new technology is banned.

Trenton has a creative mind and a knack for machinery. Teaming up with the anti-social Kallista, they follow clues to build a mechanical dragon. Then there’s a really cool ending that I did not see coming.

Besides the treasure hunt, the book is good at showing how to deal with life when it’s unfair and how to communicate with people instead of alienating them.

***

The Disappearance of Winter’s Daughter (Riyria Chronicles, #4) by Michael J. Sullivan

I’ve been following Michael J Sullivan for a while now, and I am confident enough in liking them that I will buy his books before reading them. Even though this is book 4 of the Chronicles, you can read this first and be fine. If you have read other Riyria books, have fun looking for easter eggs.

This adventure takes us to the kingdom(?) of Rochelle when Riyria is hired to find the missing duchess. All the characters here are great. This place has its own customs and culture that challenge and amuse our heroes. The dialogue between Royce and Hadrian is so fun. There is great action and suspense balanced with character-building moments. There’s mystery and some surprises, such as Dwarven magic. I think that’s new.

Reading about Riyria always makes me feel uplifted and refreshed for some reason. It’s an all-around enjoyable reading experience. (I read this book during church instead of paying attention. I suppose I should feel bad about that.)

Appropriate for YA and older. There are a few editing errors.

***

Psych’s Guide to Crime Fighting for the Totally Unqualified by Shawn Spencer
This book is ... odd. First, it’s written by a fictional character with input from his fictional friends. This is only for hard-core fans of the TV show “Psych.” To anyone else, this book will make no sense at all.

It’s hard to switch from TV to a book. You have to imagine Shawn’s voice actually narrating the book. It’s got his obscure 80s references and tangents and plenty of footnotes where he argues with Gus. It’s kind of funny but mostly goofy.

I can’t believe Shawn disses Doctor Who:

 

At least Gus comes to its defense.

***

Little Wren and the Big Forest by Michael J. Sullivan
This is a short story told as a legend from the Book of Brin (referenced in Legends of the First Empire) and tells about a little girl encountering the evil, bad dwarf Gronbach (from Age of Swords), who uses the kind of magic seen in The Disappearance of Winter’s Daughter. However, it is not necessary to have read these other books. It’s a good story with plenty of suspense and an old-timey feel.