More reading...

Since that lovely vacation space when I got to do so much reading, my book total has dropped, but I am still making progress.

The year’s first two graphic novels were Ursula Vernon’s It Made Sense at the Time and Kelly Sue DeConnick’s Aquaman:  Unspoken Water.  The former is more of a sketchbook with commentary, all very engaging and adorable and inspiring.  The latter had a good story arc and lovely pictures.  Thumbs up on both.

I was sick enough for long enough that my fiction choices were fluffy and/or familiar.  A Girl Like You by Michelle Cox is a period mystery set in 1930s Chicago featuring a young and beautiful girl and the handsome policeman she meets in the course of events.  The plot was pretty much exactly what I expected.  I liked the book enough, but I didn’t need to keep it.  I mailed it to my mom, who might like it better than I did.  Then I was still sick, so I reread two favorites:  Gaudy Night and Busman’s Honeymoon by Dorothy Sayers.  Still love them.

In fluffy nonfiction, I read Pamela des Barres’s book I’m With the Band, about her experience as a groupie.  It had plenty of sex, drugs, and rock and roll, but also far too many exclamation points and excerpts from her teen diary.  I enjoy a gossipy dish of dirt as much as the next person and it was fun to flip through the photos.  I returned it to the friend who loaned it with thanks.

It hasn’t been all fun and games.  In non-fluffy nonfiction, I very much enjoyed Susan Lee Johnson’s Roaring Camp:  The Social World of the California Gold Rush.  She writes much more engaging prose than the average historian and she had some interesting tales to tell about the unusually diverse space that was the southern mines.  I recommend it highly.  Finally, I just finished Ari Kelman’s book A Misplaced Massacre.  It chronicles the efforts to memorialize the Sand Creek Massacre in Colorado.  I’m glad I’m done.  I learned things, but the process was both tedious and depressing.

Current spring/year total:  17 books.