Reading In/Out 9/29/26

I swear I read stuff this weekend.

OUT

Between Chapters: How I Started Over, Took Some Chances, and Found the Plot by Zibby Owens - Wow, did I hate this book. The only saving grace is that it was well-written. I feel like maybe we should bring back the diary. Keep the embarrassing stuff in a book you keep in the back of your closet and hope no one sees. I feel like the author gets very up in her feelings about everything, without recognizing that the ability to shut down and not get out of bed for days so you can cry about a situation you created for yourself is a privilege afforded only to the wealthy and superfluous. The rest of us have to get out of bed and go to work because we are needed and expected to be somewhere. All of her wailing and gnashing of teeth felt performative and out of touch.

CONTINUING

Humble Pi by Matt Parker - I'm on page 207 in this one. But since it is paginated backwards, that is really only page 104. Yes, you read that right. My copy starts on page 311 and counts down. He thought it would be funny. Whatever. The math is incredibly interesting still.

A Bad Day for Sunshine by Darynda Jones - Sunshine Vicram is the new sheriff of Del Sol, New Mexico. Her husband died in Afghanistan 1 month after they were married, leaving her pregnant with her daughter, Aurora, who is now 14 and a Freshman in high school. Yes, Aurora. Sunshine's daughter is called Aurora. On her first day on the job, a car crashes into the front of the sheriff's office, driven by the distraught mother of a missing teenage girl. And we're off to the races. The side characters are definitely worthy of a Darynda Jones novel. I'm wondering if there will be anything paranormal happening. Probably not, since I am halfway through the book now.

IN

Blockers: Rebels in the Deep State by Michael Lewis - This book comes out next week. This book is enraging. In each section, he talks about a civil servant (read: not an appointee) who had to deal with the onslaught that was DOGE just after Trump took office in 2025. Over and over, the workers tell of DOGE kids who came in and wreaked havoc in the agencies, requiring access to information they are not cleared to have, firing people they don't have authority to fire, doing whatever they want, whether it's legal or not, and all without any idea what any of these agencies or people do. I get very angry listening to this book. I'm glad it's relatively short.

So that's where I'm at. Tomorrow, I'll figure out what I'm going to read in October. I hope.