July Reads (& Listens).
Small Wonder written and read by Barbara Kingsolver
Collection of essays all sort-of encompassed by September 11th. Not all essays are new -- some have been tweaked a bit to contemporize or bring in line with the others -- but all are interesting. Kingsolver has a beautiful reading voice and, even though I was often annoyed by the contents of her essays, I could have listened to her forever.
Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett (read by Stephen Briggs)
Nac Mac Feegles! Witches! Always a good time.
Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
In the end, I still regret Fanny's marriage to Edmund. Yes, her patience and virtue were rewarded with the one man she desired, but what a man to desire! Why do I feel as if Edmund married on the rebound from Miss Crawford and mostly picked Fanny because she was a convenient and appropriate choice for a man of his position?
A Hat Full of Sky by Terry Pratchett (read by Stephen Briggs)
More Nac Mac Feegles! More Witches! Plus Annoying Teen Cliques! And Death! Yippee!
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle written and read by Barbara Kingsolver
I loved the descriptions of nature, home-based food production, and food preservation, but Kingsolver's preachy politics (which I agree with!) wore on me. Also, she writes about Americans as if she weren't one and her enthusiastic description of Europe as the source of All Things Good seems awfully simplistic and romanticized (has she never been in a Sainsbury's or Tesco?).
Girls: Volume 2: Emergence written by Joshua Luna (Art by Jonathan Luna)
The people of Pennystown band together after some truly weird shit goes down one night in their small town. Will they survive the invasion of "girls?" What's going on with the giant sperm? Will the plot progress?