4:75 Where the Drowned Girls Go by Seanan McGuire

 The 7th book in the Wayward Children series.

After Cora's experiences in the waters of the Moors while saving Suni, she constantly feels the call of the Drowned Gods, sees their oil-slick mark all over her skin. The water is no longer the safe haven it was and she can't stand it any more so she goes to Miss Eleanor and asks to be transferred to the other school for Wayward children, the school that will help her forget all about the doors and the Drowned Gods. She'll do anything to no longer hear their voices even if it also means losing her memories of the Trenches where she was a mermaid for a time.

What Cora can't know before she goes there is just how the school will try to go about making her conform, how miserable she'll be, or the many secrets the school hides from the outside. 

 Cora's journey is heartbreaking but so understandable, and I think many, including myself, will find it relatable to some degree. Ms. McGuire does yet another amazing job of bringing so many feelings out in her characters that you cannot help but connect with and with Cora's journey most of all.

Page count: 150p/612p/371,540p

3:75 Noor by Nnedi Okorafor

 Anwuli Okwudili (although she prefers to be called AO for Artificial Organism) was born disabled, and only survived due to massive medical intervention. Between that and a car accident when she was 14, she has had both legs amputated and replaced, one arm, a lung, and various other enhancements. This is just who she is and since she was old enough to decide, these choices have been ones that she made. She just had no idea how others were helping to shape those choices.

Then comes the day in the market where everything goes wrong. Now she is on the run but she doesn't know what she's running to, only that she's running away from what has happened, and this running runs her into DNA, a Fulani herdsman, who is trying to figure out what is happening in his life except that for him, he is returning to his family to get guidance. His kind nature brings AO along with him but fate has determined that they are both to be outcasts, hunted together through the desert. AO is about to learn so much more about who she is and what she can do against those who sought to use and control her.

I've been enjoying Nnedi Okorafor's work and this was no exception. An indictment of oligarchies and large corporations, intolerance for differences, and our loss of privacy in society. She is succinct in her brevity but she continues to draw me into her worlds and her characters with her weaving of African lore and culture throughout her stories. 

Page count: 214p/462p ytd/371,390p lifetime

2:75 Call Us What We Carry by Amanda Gorman

From her bio at the back of the book, "Amanda Gorman is the youngest presidential inaugural poet in US History." She was also Urban Word's first ever National Youth Poet Laureate. I was blown away by her poem "The Hill We Climb" and it's deliverance at the inauguration but was happy to wait for her full book of poetry to come out rather than the special edition for just that poem.  I'm not not normally a person who reads poetry but something about her work was so powerful and eloquent that it spoke to me on a very deep level.  After reading all of the poems within this book, that one poem was in no way an aberration. She has a unique style, rich and deep and passionate that comes through her poems and these poems will be taking up space in my soul for a long time to come.

Page count: 228p/248p ytd/371,176p lifetime

1:75 Long Way From Home by Seanan McGuire

 Patreon short story for January 2022.

Alice can't understand why her grandfather hasn't answered her letters for a month now, especially as she has asked for help with the baby hodag that is currently residing under her bed. Laura, her cousin and roommate, wants it gone so Alice finally breaks down to call and have a cryptic conversation with her grandfather. This leads to a very frank conversation between her grandfather and father which leaves her father in a very awkward and uncomfortable place.  Now if only Thomas will understand what Mary is trying to tell him about why he's never received any letter from Alice...

Gearing up for this years Incryptid book, Spelunking Through Hell, which will give Alice her turn in the spotlight as her search for her missing husband, Thomas, continues with more hope now that the crossroads are destroyed. Can't wait!

Page count: 20p/20p ytd/370,948p lifetime

2021 Recap and 2022 Goals

 Not having any elections in 2021, I was hopeful about my reading and making great strides towards getting a lot of other stuff caught up. With the pandemic continuing to plague us, even with vaccines, there has still been a mental toll that is hard to shake. With all of the everything though, I did actually achieve my reading goals for 2021 although nothing like last minute finding some short stories by new authors to pull it off.  

So my goals for 2021 were 103 books, 25 new authors, and 20,000 pages.  I managed 100 books, 26 new authors, and 23,532 pages. (As always, the "books" are a collection of books, textbooks, short stories, novellas, and children's books but since there are so many things that end up not counting and my average page count per "book" is over 200 pages, and it's my game, I think this holds up.) As can easily be seen, I was way better with the reading than the reviewing. Something else that will continue to be a project for me moving forward.

2022 is going to be very hectic with 3 elections in the first 6 months plus all the semi-annual reports and other start of year projects.  I'm scaling back school as I've learned that yes, I can take 2 classes during an election cycle but it's HARD and ends up meaning that I'm not homeschooling or taking care of myself well.  With that in mind, I'm also scaling back my reading goals to 75 books, 15 new authors, and 15,000 pages. We'll see what happens.

If you have reading goals, I'd love to hear about them!