June books, music, and gardening
It’s summer reading season around here and we’ve been really busy at work! It’s exciting to see so many kids and families visit the library, but it’s also exhausting and intense. If your local library does a summer reading program, consider a) participating and b) thanking your local library staff!
Ironically, with the work exhaustion, I haven't had the time or energy to do much reading for myself. I am part way through and liking Some Desperate Glory, and I'm still on my CJ Cherryh reread kick. Aside from that, I’m definitely in a bit of a slump, but I’m hoping to change that in July.
We also got chickens this spring and they continue to be delightful! They’ve grown up a lot and it’s so much fun to hang out while they bok-bok around.
Upcoming middle grade sff releases
July
Farrah Noorzad and the Ring of Fate by Deeba Zargarpur
A Whisper of Curses by J. Elle
Dead Good Detectives by Jenny McLachlan
Wicked Marigold by Caroline Carlson
The Knight Thieves by Jenn Bennett
Amir and the Jinn Princess by M.T. Khan
August
The Beanstalk Murder by P.G. Bell
The Crossbow of Destiny by Brandon Hoang
The Sleeping Giant: The Misewa Saga by David A. Robertson
Freedom Fire: Moko Magic: Carnival Chaos by Tracey Baptiste
Tiffany's Griffon by Magnolia Porter Siddell & Maddi Gonzalez (graphic novel)
When Wishes Were Horses by Cynthia Voigt
Locus Awards
I always enjoy seeing the results of the Locus Awards, which were announced recently. I’m fascinated to see that Martha Wells won both best Science Fiction and Fantasy novel categories! Personally, I’d have loved for A Fire Born of Exile to have won best SF novel, but I’m also thrilled for Wells!
I’m also curious to see how the winners stack up against the Hugo & related awards, when they’re announced in August. There’s often some overlap between the shortlists, but my sense is that the final winners don’t always line up. Which is as it should be, and makes for a more interesting award season!
(My personal favorite SFF award is the Ursula K. Le Guin Prize--I’ve made a point of reading the shortlisted books for the past two years and have found titles I love and would never have picked up otherwise.
Music
I’ve basically had two albums on repeat all summer: Sarah Jarosz’s Polaroid Lovers and Sierra Ferrell’s Trail of Flowers. They’ve both been hitting the spot in terms of catchy music with a folky vibe. Favorites from Polaroid Lovers include “The Way It Is Now” and “Good At What I Do,” but the whole album is full of Jarosz at her best. Trail of Tears is hard to categorize or rank, partly because Ferrell is drawing from a different musical tradition with almost every song, but I love “Wish You Well,” “Lighthouse,” and “American Dreaming” a lot.
Garden
I’m still having a lot of fun with the garden this year--we’re starting to see flowers from more of the perennial and native plants we put in two years ago. This month alone, we had day lilies, bee balm, hollyhocks, yucca, prairie sundrops, milkweed, and coneflowers. The marigolds, cosmos, and sunflowers we planted this spring are also blooming at this point and adding some cheerful color to the front yard.
In terms of vegetables, we’ve started harvesting and curing the garlic we planted last fall (shockingly easy and doesn’t take much space!). There are about three gallons of peas and beans waiting for me to deal with them this week, since harvesting a little bit every day has added up to quite a bit. We’re mostly harvesting herbs as we use them, but there’s plenty going on there too. Tomatoes, tomatillos, squash, and peppers are on the way! I’m a little concerned about my eggplants, which don’t seem to be growing much, but I can’t quite remember the timing on those from last year.
I also picked up The Vegetable Gardener’s Guide to Permaculture: Creating an Edible Ecosystem by Christopher Shein and Julie Thompson, which has been very interesting and inspiring so far! It’s definitely given me some new ideas in terms of what to focus on next. I’d like to talk about how we’re incorporating permaculture principles at some point, but that needs some brain, so…not until July, at least!