Author: Denise

Denise’s 10, I Mean 11, Favorite Books in 2019

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Denise’s 10 11 Favorite Books in 2019
[With the agreement that a series counts as one]
I can’t list them in true order, books just make it either in my Top Ten or they don’t.
1.     I’ll Be Your Blue Sky, by Marisa de los Santos.  Her first two books, Love Walked In and Belong to Me, are perennial favorites, so when she checked in on her characters a decade later, I swooned.  Blue Sky made me love the first two books even more.  She digs into complicated yet familiar situations and tells a compelling story that feels more like you are living it than reading it.  I try not to have favorites on my favorites list, but this may be it.
 2.     Legends of the First Empire hexology, by Michael J. Sullivan
Age of Legend (Book 4)
Age of Death(Book 5, pentultimate)—to be published Feb, 2020, but I got it early through Kickstarter.
I have brought up Michael once or thrice.  Amazing stories, strong female characters, dragons, magic, humor…legendary!

3.     A Dangerous Collaboration (A Veronica Speedwell Mystery Book 4), by Deanna Raybourn. Oh my, I love Veronica.  Raybourn made a name for herself with the Lady Jane Grey series (Denise’s expert opinion—meh), but that was really just training ground for writing a truly excellent frolic.  Read these in order. 
4.      Once Upon a River, by Diane Setterfield.  I just gobbled this one up, once I recognized the author from her debut novel, The Thirteenth Tale, which thrilled and intoxicated me.  (Editorial: her second novel was underwhelming, after setting the bar very high with her first.)  This, her third novel, clears the bar with room to spare.  When a story teller writes about story tellers and story telling, she has to do it well, and this author used the river to weave it together beautifully and movingly.  

 [I discovered Sherry Thomas this year, and it’s worth reading her older novels to see how she goes from better-than-average regency romance author to author extraordinaire, as she tackles a new take on Sherlock Holmes and a Young Adult SciFi/Fantasy frolic.] 
5.     The Lady Sherlock Series, by Sherry Thomas
A Study in Scarlet Women, Book 1
A Conspiracy in Belgravia, Book 2
The Hollow of Fear, Book 3
The Art of Theft, Book 4 (Barely About the Book Review: Sadly, Ash keeps his clothes on in this installment, but Charlotte never disappoints. Worse than a new complex evil scheme to unravel, she is in France with Maximum Tolerable Chins. Oh, dear!)
Oh, wow, I can’t tell you how much I like Lady Charlotte.  Besides excellent plot and characters, there are so many highlight-worthy lines sprinkled in the prose.  One should gobble this series up.
6.     The Elemental Trilogy, by Sherry Thomas
The Burning Sky, Book 1
The Perilous Sea, Book 2
The Immortal Heights, Book 3
This trilogy has me hooked in the first 100 words.  Check out the prologue to this trilogy—might be my favorite start to a book ever. 
7.      Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine, by Gail Honeyman.  This and the next one made lots of booklists this year. The story is a bit odd, because Eleanor is, but if we read fiction not only for enjoyment but also to experience the depths of the human experience, this one is a must read.  And an ENORMOUS one sentence twist at the end that made my heart stop.
8.     Where the Crawdads Sing, by Delia Owens. A debut novel that made the fiction world stand up and take notice (and gave me hope that I have a few more decades before I have to write a best selling novel). This one I finished and immediately wanted to talk to someone about it.  Really excellent.



[Brandon Sanderson is, fortunately, a prolific and masterful storyteller.  He brilliantly creates entire universes and original characters. I resisted reading him for so long, but his name showed up on every list that includes the best of the best: Patrick Rothfuss, Michael J. Sullivan, Jim Butcher.  I made up for lost time in 2019.]
9.     Starsight series, by Brandon Sanderson
Skyward, Book 1
Starsight, Book 2
10.   The Reckoners trilogy, by Brandon Sanderson
Steelheart, Book 1
Firefight, Book 2
Calamity, Book 3

11.     Stormlight series, will supposedly be 10 books long, and at 1200 pages per book…gulp, by Brandon Sanderson
The Way of Kings – Kaladin’s flashbacks.
Words of Radiance – Shallan’s flashbacks.
Oathbringer – Dalinar’s flashbacks.
Best in Nonfiction (I didn’t read that much nonfiction this year, but I went for important, if not pleasant).
Equipped for Reading Success, by David A. Kilpatrick. Kilpatrick is a god in the dyslexia world and science of reading.  I was able to immediately put into practice excellent phonological practices with Wesley.  All K-2 teachers should access this text and all excellent 3-12th graders should understand his work.  I finally *got* orthographic mapping.
She Said: Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story That Helped Ignite a Movement, by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey.  A super important read but not a fun one.  I couldn’t quite make it through the last section on Dr. Blasey Ford’s testimony—too soon and ulcer inducing. (I absolutely believe Dr. BF, hence the ulcers.)
Unbelievable: The Story of Two Detectives’ Relentless Search for the Truth, by T. Christian Miller and Ken Armstrong.  Ugh, also too horrible in concept, but the writing was straight forward and clear, telling the true tale of a too-clever serial rapist.  The lasting damage done to an already damaged young women just aged out of the foster system was make even more painful for being a local case.  My ulcer is acting up just remembering it.  But again, too important to let the discomfort of reading to
The Knowledge Gap: The Hidden Cause of America’s Broken Education System–and How to Fix It, by Wexler, Natalie. When I started homeschooling Wes, I adopted the Core Knowledge curriculum.  It’s free online (though I pay to have the workbooks and readers printed for me, but save money by accessing the online teacher’s text).  I love CKLA because it uses explicit instruction to teacher Language Arts and focuses on knowledge—history, science, geography, in addition to a wide variety of genres withing decodable readers. I’m a HUGE fan of teaching knowledge, so I was the choir that smugly picked up hymnal.  She argues for a knowledge-based curriculum over skills-based, and that sounds counter intuitive at first, but I could bore you to death about it in person.  First of all, think of it as a chicken-and-egg problem.  Which comes first: background knowledge so you understand what you are reading, or reading to build your background knowledge?  The answer: yes.  
Educated: A memoir, by Tara Westover. Possibly the most poignant and painful book I read this year.  Kyla listened to it on Audible first, and had I read it first, I wouldn’t have forbidden her to read it, but probably would have cautioned her to wait years and years.  Bill Gates had it on his 2018 recommended reads.

 

Honorable Mentions:

The Nickel Boys, by Colson Whitehead
The Night Tiger, by Yangsze Choo
Before Green Gables, by Budge Wilson
The Rosie Result (Don Tillman Book 3), by Graeme Simsion
When the Men Were Gone, by Marjorie Herrera Lewis
The Ocean at the End of the Lane, by Neil Gaiman
The Good Luck Girls of Shipwreck Lane: A Novel and The Overdue Life of Amy Bylerby Kelly Harms
*You Can Thank Me Later (novella) by Kelly Harms, but I think only available in Audible.  I think she finally wrote an excellent story, and not just cotton candy that faded on the last page.
Tween and Teen, Worth a Read:
*Counting by 7s, by Holly Goldberg Sloan
*Forever, or a Long, Long Time, by Caela Carter
The Many Reflections of Miss Jane Deming, by Coats, J. Anderson
Far from the Tree, by Robin Benway
A Boy Called Bat, by Elana K. Arnold
**The Pumpkin War, by Cathleen Young
The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things, by Carolyn Mackler
Eight Keys, by LaFleur, Suzanne M.
Meh Books:  I did the reading so you don’t have to
The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue(Montague Siblings Book 1), by Mackenzie Lee
The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy(Montague Siblings #2), by  Mackenzi Lee
Tomboy: A Graphic Memoir, by Liz Prince
All Summer Long, by Hope Larson
**How I Became A Ghost, A Choctaw Trail of Tears Story, by Tingle, Tim
**When A Ghost Talks, Listen, A Choctaw Trail of Tears Story, by Tingle, Tim
_____________________________
* Extra recommended
** Wes loved me reading these aloud to him

Merry Christmas! Santa came, he actually came!

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I will give the kids lots of credit for being really patient on Christmas morning, and letting us sleep in for a bit.  I will give myself credit for leaving a book gift on the end of their beds every Christmas Eve to wake up to.

Piper reacts to getting (candy) coal in her stocking–Dwayne got into shopping a bit for them this year.

It was a fun morning, with surprises and delighted (and delightful) kids and a wonderful hubby who loves to give…and cook breakfast. Mama love.

Pretty soon, we’ll have guests over for dinner and phone calls with CA family.  It’s lovely to have this bit of time to ourselves.

Christmas Eve: Making Merry Again

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We had no Christmas Eve plans this year, so we invited my parents and my aunt-friend to join us at Fogo de Chao again this year. We did this exactly two years ago, and a perfect experience was made better when we stepped outside to snow flurries, giving us the only white Christmas Eve/Christmas in memory!

We didn’t get snow this year, but with Dwayne at his lowest weight ever recorded this morning, he was ready to break his diet. That would be a glass of red wine, a guarana (soda), and a caipirinha in front of him.  The food is so good but no appetite can live up to this Brazilian Steakhouse’s temptations.

I don’t love our church’s performance/concert/worship, but I am now a full-blown sucker for it’s candle-lit rendition of Silent Night. 

We followed it with a cup of tea and Christmas cookies (Dwayne’s first this year!) and some present opening.  This first picture those is a hoot:  I asked for a family picture in front of the tree and Dad started snapping while Mom decided to try out Frederick, Wes’s balance ball. 

She fell.
Right away.
Kyla ran immediately to the rescue.  Dwayne was shocked and appalled. Piper and I contained our laughter for milliseconds. 
 

We took the ball away from Mom, and Wes, and got to the important part–present opening!

Merry Christmas, Everyone!

Christmas Eve’s Eve: Making Merry

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Fortunately, the day turned into evening, and Dwayne came home and hugged me.  With his upbeat attitude, we made our plans to head to the Bellevue Botanical Gardens to experience the Garden d’Lights.  The kids were finishing up their gingerbread houses (on sale at Costco the day before the day before Christmas, so each child could bring their own sense of artistry to the project).

The Gardens are celebrating 25 years as a holiday spectacular!


 

This was funny because we all thought this was a gravestone with magic mushrooms until we read the map’s fine print and realized we had found the fairy door. Oops!

Kyla found a toad that needed a rider.

I love this so much that I went around twice while diligently ignoring the excessive whining behind me.
 

We weren’t quite done with lights and found ourselves enchanted at another holiday display at a nearby church.  
Finally, candy-cane sticky and light tired, we returned home, ready to start Christmas with more grace and less bickering.  That can be everyone’s resolution for 2020!

Christmas Eve’s Eve…Or, how to drive your mother crazy on Day 1.

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I have been looking forward to Winter Break for longer and with greater intensity than Christmas. It’s not like I ever get the house to myself anyway, but I would finally be able to put aside our homeschool materials and take a break from Wesley’s reading, ‘riting, and ‘rithmatic tantrums.  

And then Monday started. Along with half of mankind, I had to go to Costco as soon as it opened. (The other half of mankind was waiting for my parking spot when I finally got out.)  I got home to Piper and Wes half-heartedly pounding each other.  Spontaneously announcing we would be going on a hike, the fighting broke up so Wes could have a tantrum. But I know two things about my children–sometimes they don’t know when they are hungry and sometimes they don’t know they are craving fresh air and exercise.

I write all this so that you are not fooled by the pictures of shiny, happy children.  Yes, Denny Park in Kirkland was just the right place to go and the kids had a great time while we were there.

Piper lasted almost a minute before she got her butt wet jumping across a flood-enhanced stream. She gets that from her mama. Oddly, it made her more cheerful.  All my kids, in the right mood, are great at laughing at themselves and enjoying dirt-laden adventures.

Wesley’s alter-ego, Calvin, can’t take a decent picture to save his hide, even on a kissing bridge.
 
 
 
 

But they couldn’t help themselves at the spin toy and Kyla found a very knobby tree to tackle.

 


There was even a mammoth leftover from prehistoric times for Kyla to tame!
After hiking about 3 miles, we left to warm up at Molbak’s with hot cocoa (though Wes thinks he likes black drip coffee now). 
All this lovely adventuring was followed in mere minutes by a second pounding between Piper and Wes.  They both started it, and Mama, for the first time in years, pulled the damn car over. 

This was all on the true first day of Winter Break, long before school would be out on a regular day.  Not having cancer, overwhelming poverty, or great personal injustice, I can afford to hate petty bickering above all else on my vacation.  

How did those two resolve themselves?  Wes came home and did helpful and kind things for me and Piper.  Piper, in hateful silence, went to bed…and actually fell asleep for the rest of the afternoon.  May she be blessed and cursed with a Child. Just. Like. Her.

2019 Christmas Letter

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December 3-10, 2019

D

ear Friends and Family,

For 355 days, writing this letter is one of my favorite things to do in a year. The other ten days I am actually. Writing. This. Letter. Yesterday, Kyla surreptitiously timed how long I could go without being interrupted while I worked on this, and she couldn’t reach 5 minutes without having to reset the stopwatch.  Hopefully, it will take you less time to read the inanity. 

Dwayne has conquered a few “firsts” this year, and I can’t decide which I’m more excited about. In the first time since he started working at Microsoft almost 23 years ago, Dwayne has used all his annual vacation! And instead of losing days this year, he lost almost 50 pounds and he feels (and looks) terrific.  We’ve been together 20 years, and this is the fittest I’ve known him—good thing, since he has to keep up with a rigorous regiment of tickling and bedtime stalling for all three kids.  Over Spring Break, he and Wes tried axe-throwing, and you can already guess what they built in our side yard last summer. Dwayne also has been trying to teach all four of us programming; his next project will be to build a brick wall next to the axe target so that he can conveniently bang his head as needed.  It will be less trouble.

We have a teenager now!  Kyla-my-Kyla, who has been grown up for years, turned 13 in September. She is a minimalist with everything but her digital audiobooks.  Steve Jobs-esque, she has a uniform she has adopted for ease of life—black pants and red or purple shirt. Being already zen-content, her stocking is a struggle to fill, or so Santa informs me. At school, she’s enjoying a more challenging curriculum, but isn’t minding that in March, she will be a middle school drop-out as we start our world adventure.  Kyla has forgotten to read the Attitude Book for American Teenagers and keeps our family together with her “okay, breathe, we can do this” approach to life.  Dragons are her spirit animal and the great outdoors is her happy place.  

An Ode to Piper and Wes We dragged 'em from Victoria to Venice See the world, we cried, don't miss! But the kids heartily laughed-- All they want to do is play Minecraft.The toddler who discovered how to steal rum balls from the top of the fridge now is the official Christmas cookie maker of the Need household.  So far, Piper has made toffee, spritz, and rum balls, bourbon balls, and, ahem, more rum balls.  She also cleans up after herself and starts dinner while I’m at meetings or driving her siblings around. Now that we’ve settled our differences about homework expectations (cough, cough, it’s not optional), our household is rather pleasant. I have learned to distinguish ‘furious silence’ from ‘hateful hush’ and can now understand Pipernese, a pidgin of English, waterfowl, wombat, and feline.  She also has made heaps of knitted stuffed animals this year by creating her own patterns, and a friend taught her to crochet. “Dear Santa, Please bring me yarn” was the opening of her annual letter.  I was most proud when she allowed me to assist her in taking apart the microwave to fix the plate that stopped rotating.  And by bedtime, it was working again. Not bad for an 11 year old. 

Wesley is certainly my superlative child.  Not only has he been chiefly responsible for many “Worst Day of the Year” awards and “Most Dramatic Response” meltdowns, but this year he handily won “Most Terrifying Event” in my parenting life when he disappeared for an hour or so on a Croatian beach. I’m almost over it, but Dwayne is currently researching GPS options before our Round the World adventure. Fortunately, Wes’s ability to not die is strong, as he figured out how to jump off our (ahem, lower) roof safely last spring and quickly picks up new ways of defying gravity with his hoverboard and balance ball.  Staying alive has been an extra-useful skill now that he is home schooled and we spend … a lot … of time together. He also has taught himself to use my tools (though not to put them away) and between the drill, duct tape, and the woodpile, he has happily made himself a multitude of weapons and tools.

The cats have been on the losing end of my wrath (and by extension, Dwayne, because, well, cats) when they smeared a maggot-filled mouse carcass in Wesley’s bedroom this fall. Maggot Day is not nearly as fun as a Snow Day for an impromptu school holiday. I was also not pleased when I opened my oven drawer to find five pinkies cozied up to their mama among stolen insulation in a muffin tin.  Homes with two cats puking in various corners should not also have mice. And do I really need to hear, “Moooooom, Timmy is having sexual relations with my blanket again!”? This is the year I realized I’d rather have a fourth child than another pet.  

On my end, I learned how to love camping again when “Me & 3” went south for a week so Kyla could do an Oregon Trail living history camp. I read a book a day, the youngers reveled in the dirt, river, and Minecraft, and Kyla rocked the 1850s. 2019 brought my first traffic ticket in 29 years of driving, and I’m determined not to wait so long next time. I spent my birthday weekend at the IDA Dyslexia Conference in Portland, and the highlight was having a hotel room to myself (I know!) for three nights. This year looks different for me than the past seven as I disentangled myself from almost all my volunteer and work commitments as we prepare to go abroad in March, bringing only carry-ons and my mother/teacher/adventurer hats. There will be blogging!

Also to prepare us for 16 weeks of travel, Dwayne had the brilliant idea of doing some “practice trips” this year.  We found ourselves flying to Costa Rica in February and Croatia in August. We threw in Canada during Spring Break to round out our “Countries that Begin with C” bingo card.  I can’t imagine enjoying anything more than wandering ancient Roman structures before jumping in the Adriatic Sea, but we all loved the animals and beaches in Costa Rica.  Kyla came up with the FAM (Family Adventure Motto) on our second day in Costa Rica: With Glee! That pretty much summed up our attitude while tromping through Central America and Europe.  

That is also our frame of mind as we are in the midst of the Christmas season, as we merrily eat cookies, light up the tree, count down to Winter Break, and finally, finally, finally end this letter…  

                                                                      …with love to each of you.

                                                                                    Denise, for Dwayne, Kyla, Piper, and Wes

With Glee: Winter Beach Hike

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There may have been some misrepresentation of intentions, but I got the 4 kids to walk with me down to “our” beach and then keep going until it was just as easy to do the full loop as to head back the way we came.  
 
And having a little blue sky mixed in with adventures doesn’t hurt….

I love that my mountain goats (plus the girl I would adopt in a heartbeat if her parents would allow it) have far more fun walking along the obstacle-course-that-is-the-beach far more than a regular trail. 

Piper was overjoyed to find a long stick on a rope she could adopt as a new pet.  Not wanting to make Timmy envious, she brought the rope home but left the skinny log.

On the way back through Sandy Point, there was quite a commotion between some sort of hawk and two mated bald eagles. It was like having the nature channel right above us, and that’s all we could talk about as we finished our walk…at least in between “how much more?”. 

The Charming-est Village on the Sea…at Christmas

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We don’t make it out to the cabin often, and I rarely make it without extra kids—kids who don’t belong to me so I can’t just leave them at the cabin while I window shop Langley. This time, we had a weekend with very little obligation and more time than usual.  Piper snuck in on the downtown date Dwayne and I planned, but she is quite delightful as an only child.  
But I still got my kiss under the kissing bough!
 
Langley, in addition to great decorations, has fun outdoor sculptures.  We put this rabbit contraption to work. 

We found this even more fun.  We didn’t bother taking pictures of the rabbits–so numerous that the game to count them all gets dull after the first three dozen. 

Regardless of the rabbits, I finally got to frolic in one of my favorite places with no agenda other than to enjoy.  Definitely an early Christmas gift!

Donut Deliciousness

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Whidbey Donuts, fortunately, does more than donuts and even has some gluten-free options on it’s dinner menu.  I loved the “donutcracker” drawing some clever artist created. 

In the same parking lot is Bayview Nursery (and wonderful café!).  It is a Whidbey-sized version of Molbaks and I didn’t quite walk out empty handed in December. Fun afternoon with the family!