Month: February 2024

Books Read in February 2024

*Book group selection.
Favorites are bolded.

Picture Books

*Benita and the Night Creatures by Mariana Llanos
*Rock Your Mocs by Laurel Goodluck and Madelyn Goodnight
*Forever Cousins by Laurel Goodluck and Jonathan Nelson
*Hanukkah Upside Down by Elissa Brent Weissman and Omer Hoffmann
*Fox Has a Problem by Corey R. Tabor
*Henry, Like Always by Jenn Bailey and Mika Song
*Later, When I’m Big by Bette Westera and Laura Watkinson (Translator)
*Not He or She, I’m Me by A. M. Wild and Kah Yangni
*Dancing Hands: A Story of Friendship in Filipino Sign Language by Joanna Que, Charina Marquez, Fran Alvarez (Illustrator), and Karen Llagas (Translator)

*A Letter for Bob by Kim Rogers and Jonathan Nelson

Oh man, I can remember every single time the old family car was traded in for the new family car.

*How Do You Spell Unfair?: MacNolia Cox and the National Spelling Bee by Carole Boston Weatherford and Frank Morrison

Rage-inducing re: spelling bee, and I felt such a sense of loss reading that Cox spent her working life as a domestic employee. Such a waste.

Middle Grade

*Something Like Home by Andrea Beatriz Arango
*Kin: Rooted in Hope by Carole Boston Weatherford and Jeffery Boston Weatherford
*Ruby Lost and Found by Christina Li
*Cross My Heart and Never Lie by Nora Dåsnes and translated by Matt Bagguley
*A Sky Full of Song by Susan Lynn Meyer

Young Adult

*The Collectors edited by A.S. King
*Salt the Water by Candice Iloh
*Fire from the Sky by Moa Backe Åstot and Eva Apelqvist (Translation)
*Forever Is Now by Mariama J. Lockington
*I’d Rather Burn Than Bloom by Shannon C.F. Rogers

*Stars in Their Eyes: A Graphic Novel by Jessica Walton and Aśka

I found the hip mother and her relationship with her child incredibly grating. No teenager is that much of a comedy team with their mom. And about sixty percent of the story was incredibly artificial conversations written to fill in backstory for the reader. Also annoying: not using the names of the copious pop culture references. We know what is being discussed when a character references Bader and the Duke. So just use Vader and Luke.

The graphic part of the graphic novel did a great job conveying what it’s like to navigate a con with a prosthetic leg.

*The Girl I Am, Was, and Never Will Be: A Speculative Memoir of Transracial Adoption by Shannon Gibney

It’s early, but I’m betting this is the youth media award winner that is the most literary fiction-ish.

*Tilly in Technicolor by Mazey Eddings

Centers the story around the neurodivergent kids.

*The Long Run by James Acker

I’m a sucker for teenagers exploring outside their boxes, so this book warmed the cockles of my heart.

Children’s Nonfiction

*Jovita Wore Pants by Aida Salazar and Molly Mendoza
*Contenders: Two Native Baseball Players, One World Series by Traci Sorell and Arigon Starr

*Holding Her Own: The Exceptional Life of Jackie Ormes by Traci N. Todd and Shannon Wright

Without picture book biographies, how many fewer interesting people would I not know about?

7611: Reading List from 1955

Today I found my aunt’s reading list from many decades ago, when she was 13. I checked to see if we had any crossover and on the second page, she read Carney’s House Party, which I read in June of 2015. I bet we both enjoyed it.

Just for fun, here are some links the the first few books.

Eric’s Girls, The Singing Fiddles, Six on Easy Street, The Fork in the Trail, and Shaken Days.

SKS: Colorado Postcards

Sara sent these two postcards from the conference she attended. She said she had a good final session that was the perfect closing.

She reported that this postcard was offered at the resort in lieu of an image of the resort itself, which was funny.

I know from text messages that the resort used some selective photo taking in their marketing materials.

Black Grace

Friend Jessica bought season tickets to White Bird and then had to go out of town during this performance. I got the tickets, and Matt and I settled in for a grand night of dancing.

Handgame, which incorporated Samoan slap dance with child abuse themes, was my favorite. The members sat in a circle, and sang Lourde’s “Royals” acapella. The movement was in the arms and how the hands slapped the body and other bodies. It was quite powerful.

The other two programs “Kiona and the Little Bird Suite” and “Paradise Rumour” showed off the dancing talents, the very fit dancers, and a dancing style I was not familiar with.

It was a great evening!

What the Constitution Means to Me

Portland Center Stage gave us a great show with What the Constitution Means to Me.

Rebecca Lingafelter was excellent as Heidi Schreck, the young woman who participated in Veterans of Foreign Wars speaking competitions.

As Marissa Wolf, PCS artistic director, says in the program, “Immediately, we’re lifted into a powerful world in which she maps legal rights and history onto her own body and invites the audience into this crucible through emotions, sometimes thriller-esque storytelling.”

I also really liked the set, which had a pieced together diorama quality. In this rather dark photo, you can see the large paperclip that is holding the eagle to the curtain.

Alas, we caught the penultimate show, so we couldn’t spread the word. But if this show should appear in your town, do make time for it.

Planning Oscar Nominated Shorts

When the Oscar nominations were announced this year, I was very pleased that I had already watched all the films in many categories: Picture (all 10!), Director, Actor, Supporting Actor, Actress, Supporting Actress, Adapted Screenplay, Original Screenplay, Costume Design, Editing, and Production Design.

But then I needed to catch up with the animated shorts. It took some planning, but I fit all three programs into one weekend. Here were my favorites.

Favorite overall program: documentary short (as per usual).

Favorite documentary short: The Last Repair Shop (one of the best shorts I’ve seen in years.)

Favorite live-action short: tie: Red, White and Blue, The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar.

Favorite animated short: Our Uniform

It was a good weekend of moviegoing.

Portland Winter Light Festival

I have been meaning to go to the Portland Winter Light Festival for many years. This year, Matt and I finally made it to a downtown location. The festival is spread throughout the city.

Here we are in Pioneer Square.

Pioneer Square had all the fire. You can see one example on the far left. The tentacles framing Matt’s head also opened and emitted fire. I hadn’t pictured fire as part of the celebration. But of course there would be fire. The original winter light.

Fire also came from these flowers intermittently.

Down by the World Trade Center we found a lot of different kinds of light. This demonstration let children play with the streamers. The adults did better at really making them flow, though.

A tesseract of light!

Another view of Pioneer Square with the strongman game showing the fire exploding.