November 2023

 Hi friends,

November was a busy month, but we had a lot of fun. Dan and I went to Brandon Sanderson’s annual convention in Salt Lake with my sister, her husband, my brother, and my sister- and brother-in-law. It was awesome! We went in 2021, but missed last year because we had a 1 month old baby. It’s just fun to hang out with people that like the same things we like and to spend time with my siblings. It was definitely a highlight of our year, especially since my parents watched the kids, and it was the longest date Dan and I have had in a long time. 

The books were good too. Including Sanderson’s new release. Let me know what you think of these reads and if you have suggestions for further reading. 

Best,

Tonya 

Differ We Must: How Lincoln Succeeded in a Divided America by Steve Inskeep

Rating: 5 of 5 stars

Recommendation: yes

Review: This was a fairly short book that presented chapter-long vignettes that illustrated Lincoln's ability to disagree with those around him while still working with them and not alienating them. This seems to have been one of Lincoln's strengths, as the stories relayed here show. Each chapter gives a small background on the person that Lincoln will interacted with and then describes the interaction and its significance. I'm not good at remembering specific names and places in history, so this was a good refresher of Civil War history. I particularly liked the chapters that focused on how Lincoln interacted with some of his more willful Union generals and the carful balancing act he had to walk to keep them in line. The other main impression I took from this book was that while Lincoln wasn't disagreeable, he was by no means a pushover. He asserted his power and authority as president multiple times, but in ways that would best lead to the outcome he desired, not just to flaunt his power. Inskeep mentions in the foreward that he wanted to write this book now because we seem to have lost the ability to disagree with people with whom we still have to work to achieve common goals. Lincoln's leadership is a great lesson in that area, and I highly recommend this book.

The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty

Rating: 4 of 5 stars

Recommendation: yes

Review: This book was advertised as an old-school pirate adventure, and that's mostly what it was until the end. We got a lot of pirating adventures with some familiar tropes including the initial call to adventure, putting the gang back together, fighting fierce monsters, and battling an evil, power-hungry sorcerer. Chakraborty executes all of these tropes really well, and the story is kept fresh because of the uniqueness of our protagonist. Amina is a 40-something Islamic mother who has retired from her earlier pirating days to care for her family. However, some unfinished business and a dark sorcerer call her out of retirement. She's basically a working mom, and Chakraborty discusses the different expectations and pressures put on women who desire to care for and raise children while also pursuing careers. In Amina's case, that career is piracy, so her story is a little more exciting than my professional pursuits as a bureaucrat. The journey part of the book is a rip-roaring good time, but it has some darker, creepy moments, and gets a little weird at the end. It just felt to me like the tone of the ending didn't jive completely with the rest of the book. Still, this was a great read, and I always love a female, mother fantasy protagonist.

White Holes by Carlo Rovelli

Rating: 5 of 5 stars

Recommendation: yes

Review: This is the latest of Rovelli's popular science works. It comes in at less than 200 pages, and focuses on Rovelli's hypothesis that at the end of a black hole, is a white hole. You'll have to read it if you want a more coherent explanation of the theory than that. I always enjoy reading Rovelli and find his mix of elegant prose and fascinating science very relaxing. He also builds this one around frequent references to Dante's greatest epic poem. I highly recommend for anyone looking for a good, insightful read that will leave you feeling a bit smarter at the end.

lood Over Bright Haven by M.L. Wang

Rating: 4 of 5 stars

Recommendation: yes

Review: I loved Wang's Sword of Kaigen, so I was excited to read this one. It was good, but not as great as Kaigen. Still, Wang delivers a pretty epic fantasy story in one volume, which is something I can always appreciate. This story is set in a magical version of late 19th century western Europe. Our main character, Sciona, is the first woman to became a High Mage, and must combat all the sexism that comes with being a pioneer in an all-male institution of great power. Wang delivers a powerful message about colonialism, racism, and classicism. As in her first book, she doesn't pull any emotional punches, and there were several wammies in this book. Though I did see the big reveal coming, I enjoyed seeing how the characters reacted to their new-found knowledge. It was hard to see Sciona getting disillusioned over and over again as she realizes that those who hold power around her would go to any lengths to justify the use and retention of that power. I thought that Wang did amazing character work, and I wasn't surprised by the resolution to the story. Wang doesn't wrap up the ending with a bow, but she does end the story well while leaving it open for a sequel. I don't know if she has one planned, but I would read it.

Starter Villain  by John Scalzi

Rating: 4 of 5 stars

Recommendation: yes

Review: Scalzi shows his great situational humor skills in this book that I think is somewhat wrongly classified as scifi. Charlie's life has hit nearly rock bottom after he gets laid off, divorced, and his father dies when the death of his estranged uncle upends all he knew about life. He's the unknowing heir to a huge fortune and his uncle's villain business. Charlie is thrown headfirst into a high stakes battle that includes espionage-trained felines, a volcano lair island, and a mutli-generational feud with other high-profile billionaires. Scalzi's humor really shines as Charlie jokes his way through a series of highly improbable situations. There's a particularly great scene where Charlie has a technologically challenged Zoom call with a fellow villain that keeps trying to threaten him with absolute destruction but forgetting to come off of mute. I highly recommend for anyone looking for a good laugh.

Defiant (Skyward #4) by Brandon Sanderson

Rating: 5 of 5 stars

Recommendation: yes

Review: This is the conclusion of Sanderson's Skyward series, and he delivers a banger of an ending. Sanderson takes the series back to what worked with it in the first two books as our protagonist, Spensa, is finally reconnected with her flight as the war with the Superiority comes into the open. I really liked how Spensa's character developed in this one, and I was so glad that Sanderson didn't just rehash her arcs from the first two books. The concluding action sequence was excellent, and all of our favorite main and side characters got their moments to shine. Sanderson engagingly explores themes of accepting change, learning to rely on our support systems, communication, and the challenges of leadership. He also delivers some great one-liners that made me smile. I think that Sanderson finished the series on a high note, and I recommend to anyone who liked the first two.

Mommy Corner

Thanksgiving was the first time that my whole family got together in years, so we got some nice pictures taken. Here's our family!

Dan and I had so much fun at Dragonsteel! We love our Doomslug ugly Christmas sweaters. 

Lincoln loves our growing taynix slug squad. We've got boomslug, comm slug, and illusion slug. 

Chloe and I both had Veteran's Day off, so I took her to the Denver Art Museum. She loved it!

We finally had Chloe's long-delayed 7th birthday party after COVID-19 derailed it back in October. 

Dan and I were in charge of the pies for Thanksgiving. Here are the fruits of our labors. The only downside to traveling for Thanksgiving is that you don't get to take home leftovers to enjoy. 

October 2023

 Hi friends,

Another month has come and gone, and I’m back with reviews for some great novels that I read this month. I didn’t get around to any nonfiction in October. I just wasn’t feeling it. Maybe November? 

On the family front, we had some highs and lows in October. We had a great time on a quick trip to Moab, celebrated two birthdays, and had a pretty good time on Halloween, but we also all had our first bout with COVID, and that was fairly awful. Hopefully, we’re safe from getting that one again for a while, but I’m sure we’ll get all of the other viruses circulating this winter. That’s the worst part of being a parent. 

Anyway, let me know what you think of these books, and if you have suggestions for further reading. 

Best,

Tonya 

The Priory of the Orange Tree (The Roots of Chaos #1) by Samantha Shannon

Rating: 4 of 5 stars

Recommendation: if you like epic fantasy

Review: This is EPIC fantasy. Shannon has created a fairly unique world using some old fashioned fantasy tropes including dragon riding, secret societies, magic weapons, and even more magical fruit. The story is told from the point of view of four characters, and the changing points of view allow us to get a great perspective of the different parts of the Orange Tree world. In the East, dragons are revered as gods and ridden only by the worthy. In the west, fire-breathing wyrms terrorize the population, and a secret society of elite female warriors is dedicated to their eradication. As our four disparate characters move through their various plots, the end of the world draws nigh. It’s all very apocalyptic, and I really enjoyed the world building, the action sequences, the political machinations, and especially the relationships between the various characters. However, it was a long ride for what ended up feeling like a somewhat abrupt, deus ex machina-type ending. Despite that, Shannon has achieved the rare feat of writing an excellent epic fantasy story in a single volume, which in a genre where multiple book series is the norm, I can appreciate. 

The Sunlit Man by Brandon Sanderson 

Rating: 4 of 5 stars

Recommendation: yes! For fans of the Cosmere

Review: This is the final of Sanderson’s four secret projects that he released this year. It was also set in his Cosmere universe, but featured a character that we’ve seen in the Cosmere before. Up until this point, Sanderson has intentionally written the Cosmere so that readers can come in cold and pick up any stand-alone novel or series and enjoy it without broader knowledge of the rest of the Cosmere. Most of the Cosmere connections were predominantly Easter egg type appearances and hints. But that is no longer the case with this novel. If you haven’t read The Stormlight Archive, then I imagine most of the cool moments in this book will be lost on you. If you have though, be prepared for an awesome ride. This is the fastest paced of any Sanderson book I’ve read yet. He assumes that you have broad knowledge of other Cosmere worlds and magic systems and plunges you into a breakneck story which is comprised of at least 50% chase scenes and takes place over a single day. In fact, there were points where I felt like it was a little too fast and just wanted it to slow down a bit and take a breather. That being said, Sanderson does create space for some great character moments and some magically enhanced aerospace engineering. The villain fell a little flat with me, but I enjoyed the found family trope that Sanderson uses for our protagonist. It’s not my favorite secret project -- I think that position is claimed by either Tress of the Emerald Sea or Yumi and the Nightmare Painter -- but it is a solid entry in the Cosmere, and it’s so gratifying to see some of these worlds and magic systems come together and mesh. If this is the direction the Cosmere is heading, then I am here for it. 

Fractal Noise (The Fractalverse #.5) by Christopher Paolini

Rating: 5 of 5 stars

Recommendation: yes

Review: I read the first entry in Paolini’s Fractalverse a few months ago, and while this one is set in the same universe, it feels like it was written by a different person. While To Sleep in a Sea of Stars pays homage to the epic scifi space opera genre, this installment is a MUCH shorter suspense thriller that explores themes like grief, obsession, and theology. The premise is pretty simple, a group of interstellar explorers discover a giant hole on a never-explored planet that could only have been made by aliens and decide to explore it. However, since the hole is emitting giant electromagnetic pulses every 10.6 seconds, they have to land their ships a few kilometers from the hole and precede on foot to the edge of it. Paolini masterfully builds tension as each step is a struggle against the massive EMPs and tensions rise to untenable levels among the group of explorers. Our main point-of-view character is struggling through the recent death of a loved one, and the story is predominantly about him learning to deal with his grief as he continues to ask some of the biggest philosophical questions that have haunted mankind including: is there a God? Why are we alive? What should we do with our existences? If there any meaning to our continued existence? All of these themes are explored as our group struggles step by step to the edge of the literal unknown. Obviously, I had a deep emotional experience reading this book. I would highly recommend. 

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

Rating: 4 of 5 stars

Recommendation: yes

Review: This is a classic of the scifi genre, and it seemed like a significant hole in my reading history to never have picked it up. I’m glad I did because it was a fun little jaunt. The plot is meandering and the whole book literally feels like a somewhat pointless hitchhiking journey. Adams humor reminded me strongly of Terry Pratchett, but I guess that the reverse is true since Adams published first. I really enjoyed all the jokes about the pointlessness of bureaucracy and the improbability ship. I can see why this is a classic and recommend it as a foundation of the genre. 

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

Rating: 4 of 5 stars

Recommendation: yes

Review: This book had been on my radar for a while. I kept seeing it on the New York Times bestseller’s list and saw that Apple+ was making a show based on it. So I decided to pick it up. It’s one of those books where the main character becomes way too happy too early in the book, and you just wait for the other shoe to drop, which it does. Our main character is aspiring chemist Elizabeth Zott whose every scientific ambition is stymied by the patriarchy. Nevertheless, she persists, and the story is predominantly about her persistence after being repeatedly beaten back and down. I really enjoyed the found family trope as Elizabeth gradually gathers allies in her quest to become a recognized scientist. It’s a pretty good read, but I’m not sure if it entirely lives up to all the hype. 

Witch King by Martha Wells

Rating: 4 of 5 stars

Recommendation: yes

Review: I would have given this book 5 stars, but it took me some time to get invested in it, but once I did, man, I was hooked. The delay up front was largely because Wells plunges you right into a complex political world with multiple ethnicities, time periods, and magic systems presented with no explanation. On the one hand, this technique avoids the dreaded infodump exposition that sometimes clogs up and slows down the beginning of epic fantasy novels, but on the other hand, I was really confused for the first 80 pages until I had been exposed enough to figure out what was going on. That being said, I really liked the rest of the book. Wells alternates between a present-day storyline and a historic storyline, and the historic one gradually catches up with the present day one and reveals more about the lore and backstory for our main characters. The plot is pretty straightforward: in the present we’re searching for a lost comrade, and in the past, we’re overthrowing a tyrannical, conquering force. Our band of magical beings includes a demon in human form, a witch, and a Blessed Immortal. All find lots of chances to use their unique skills as our crew tries to solve a mysterious disappearance and dabble in some geopolitical forways. The action scenes are great, and I loved the development of our main character. Highly recommend for fans of Wells writing. 

A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher

Rating: 4 of 5 stars

Recommendation: yes

Review: I didn’t realize this book was Young Adult until I started reading it. That being said, it was better than I thought it was going to be. It’s a fun jaunt with fairly low stakes. We’re just saving a city here, not the universe, and our protagonist is a 14 year-old wizard of bread who has to solve a murder mystery, and is unfairly thrust into the uncomfortable position of having to be a hero predominantly because of the failures of those leading the city. I enjoyed how our baking wizard explored the extent of her bread-based powers, and creatively developed what seems to be predominantly useless magical skills to military applications. I also really liked the friends that she met along the way including her gingerbread man familiar. Highly recommend for anyone looking for a fun and funny read.

Mommy Corner

Chloe wanted to be a black cat for Halloween, and Maya wanted to be what Chloe was. Lucky for me, this was a pretty easy costume to put together. 

We took a trip to Moab at the beginning of the month with my brother-in-law, sister-in-law, and their families. We had a great time, except for Dan, who unbeknownst to us until after the trip, was sick with COVID. We did a few family friendly hikes, and the kids had the most fun playing in the soft, red sand. We got back just in time for Chloe and I to get COVID. 

Chloe's pumpkin, carved with assistance from Dan. 

I didn't get a ton of pictures of the kids, but this one accurately shows that there were a ton of people there, even in the off season. Still, Maya had a good time posing for this picture in Arches. 

We celebrated Lincoln's first birthday in and among all having COVID this month. He loved his chocolate cake. 

Chloe performing some shenanigans at the park. 

Lincoln found a new favorite seat!

Happy Halloween!

September 2023

 Hi friends,

September is a great month to be in Colorado, and we enjoyed some time outside and with family. I also read a few good books. I’m trying to focus more on quality over quantity with my reading now since my reading time is really limited. I don’t want to avoid reading potentially awesome books just because they’re longer and will take more time because I’m focused on reading a certain number of books every month. That being said, I’m being more selective with the books I pick to read because I don’t like not finishing books. What process do you use to select books to read?

Happy reading!

Tonya 

Critical Mass (Delta-V #2) by Daniel Suarez

Rating: 3 of 5 stars

Recommendation: yes, if you liked the first a lot

Review: I was a big fan of the first book in this series, but I found many of the elements that I liked from that book missing in this one including a well-developed found-family trope. This second installment has lots of the techno-sci fi that I liked from the first book. Suarez does a good job of imagining a world just a decade or so from now, and describing the possible technological advances that have happened and weaving them into the plot. As someone who’s interested in space policy and space history, it was fun to see how Suarez envisioned a cislunar economy and the steps that are needed to actually make that materialize. However, some of my favorite characters from the first were completely missing, and the characters that were here had barely any development. Character development was also missing from the first, but I felt that Suarez offset it by using the found-family trope. This one also has pages of info-dumping exposition about cryptocurrency and blockchain technologies, which I’m just not interested in. 

Born in Blackness: Africa, Africans, and the Making of the Modern World 1471 to the Second World War by Howard W. French

Rating: 5 of 5 stars

Recommendation: yes

Review: French makes the case that Africa is central to the rise of modernity, and he does it very convincingly. He starts in the pre-Columbian exchanges days when Portugal “discovered” vast quantities of gold in western Africa, which helped feed its wealth in its ongoing contest with Spain and other European powers for dominance. He continues through the beginning of chattel slavery based on race and how the new slave system developed by Europeans on Sao Tome and then transported to Brazil, the Caribbean, and the United States fueled the economic development of all European power through the age of colonization. He talks about how run-away unregulated capitalism combined with racism led to plantation-based slavery, which contributed more wealth to Britain, France, and Spain than any other endeavor in the new world. He points out over and over that this vital contribution to the world that we live in has largely been erased from the history that most Americans and Britains learn in their school years as we continue to grapple with the uncomfortable reality that the great prosperity that western Europe created was built on a foundation of slavery. I particularly enjoyed learning about the Haitian revolution and how the rebel slaves of that country threw off French, British, and even American assaults multiple times. I’d love to learn more about this part of history. While the book is very repetitive in places, it was well paced, and French did a great job clearly explaining his point. He concludes by saying, “The main thought I would like to leave readers with is that of the crucial participation of Black people in their own liberation and in the preservation of the young American union.”

Mammoths at the Gates (Singing Hills Cycle #4) by Nghi Vo

Rating: 4 of 5 stars

Recommendation: yes

Review: This is the 4th book in Vo’s Singing Hills series that follows traveling Cleric Thien as they travel the world collecting stories to record in the Singing Hills archives. In this episode, Cleric Thien return home to the abbey to find that a lot has changed while they’ve been away including the presence of two humongous war mammoths at the gates. These novellas are fast reads that pack a big punch. I love learning more about the ancient China inspired world that Vo has created in each installment, and in this one we got to learn a lot more about the nixien, the talking birds with perfect memories that help maintain the abbey’s archives. Highly recommend for anyone who’s interested in a new take on a fantasy world with a great soft magic system. 

The Six: The Untold Story of America’s First Women Astronauts by Loren Grush

Rating: 5 of 5 stars

Recommendation: yes

Review: I love a good book about the US space program, so I was excited to hear that Grush was publishing a book focused on the first 6 women astronauts that NASA selected in 1978. There are hundreds of books about all the Gemini, Mercury, and Apollo astronauts, but this is the first book on these history-making women. Grush did a great job telling their stories too. She followed each astronaut from when they were accepted as astronauts until their first flights. I enjoyed the narrative style that Grush used, and the book felt like reading a novel. It was also really well paced and had a great amount of detail about the Space Shuttle program. As someone who’s reviewing NASA’s programs that are replacing the shuttle, I thought this part was really interesting. The Challenger accident hangs heavy over the last part of the narrative as one of the original 6 died when the shuttle broke apart. These women completely deserve their trail-blazing and history making status, and I’m glad that their stories are finally being told here. One thing that comes across strongly throughout the book is how the media treated these women differently than their male counterparts. It’s infuriating that successful women in male-dominated industries to this day still have to deal with similar obtuse and insensitive questions. Also, the focus and pressure put on them to show that women could work in space as well as men was immense, and they handled it really well.

Mom Corner

We had a super fund Labor Day! My parents were in town, and we went down to Colorado Springs to see the hot air balloon liftoff. Unfortunately, the wind was too hard for them to take off, but they did blow them up for everyone to see. The liftoff has become and annual labor day tradition for us, like it was when I was a kid growing up, so hopefully we'll have better luck next year

We also went to the Denver aquarium. The girls loved this eel and all the sharks we say. 

Chloe wrote a story in school complete with illustrations. For her story, she chose to write about the day Lincoln was born. Here are some of the pictures that she drew of me in the hospital, and her holding Lincoln. 

Here we all are coming home from the hospital together. I think she got my hair perfect! It's so much fun to see all the neat things that she's learning at school. 

Chloe's first grade school picture.

We had fun in the bubble room at the children's museum with our Flauding cousins!

Maya is an infamous picky eater. She refuses most fruits and vegetables, so I had to save this picture of her actually eating an apple at school for their Jonny Appleseed activities. 

Chloe's enjoying the nice September weather at our nearby park. This is the closest we can get to playing at the beach here in Colorado!