Howling Frog Books

 Kristen M. has been so lovely to host March Magics, and I'm going to miss it.  One last good thing: here's my copy of a print by Emma Falconer, which is her idea of Polly's paperback book.     Thank you so much, Kristen, and may we all continue enjoying DWJ and Pratchett...

I had a nice time reading DWJ, and I read some other things too.  On the whole March was not a big reading month, which is a shame, but I got lots of other great stuff done. The Merlin Conspiracy : such a good one.  I paid a lot of attention this time to how intense Roddy is.  She knows she's got hold of something really important, and so she is intense about it -- which turns a lot of people off.  Some are inclined to dismiss her because she's so worked up, which isn't fair; but also Roddy in her turn dismisses anything she doesn't already understand, which also isn't fair.  The whole thing is a masterclass in how not to communicate. The Homeward Bounders :  I took this along on our trip!  So funny, and so tragic. The Crown of Dalemark : one of my favorites, so I read it more often than the other Dalemark books, but Spellcoats is another favorite. Minor Arcana , by Diana Wynne Jones: I mostly read this one for "The Master" -- one of the stranger sho...

 Monday was Berkeley day, because the museum we wanted to visit in San Francisco didn't open until Tuesday.  The first thing I wanted to do was stop by the SFF bookstore Dark Carnival, which I had thought did not survive Covid, but it did!  Dark Carnival has been a favorite for many years; I can't remember exactly where the old location was because it moved to Claremont Ave. over 20 years ago, but I bought my copy of A Sudden Wild Magic there.  The Claremont location is a two-story warren packed with both new and used books, posters, toys, and stuff -- if it can be related to science fiction or fantasy, it's there.  My husband and I once attended a book signing with Susan Cooper there, and she had to sit right by the door, because there wasn't any other space. So we spent a nice hour browsing and collecting books to purchase.  Dark Carnival always has a good supply of Edward Gorey stuff, and we each bought one of the small books; mine is The Hapless Child ...

 This morning I put on a pair of Discworld socks, which are awesome and also very appropriate for March. I am glad that Discworld socks exist!  But somebody should make DIANA WYNNE JONES socks! Maybe they could say SENTIMENTAL DRIVEL on them.  Another pair could have vases that say NOWHERE and HERENOW, one on each foot. One pair could have a grumpy cat named Throgmorten. You could design an entire series of Chrestomanci dressing gown socks! Calcifer socks would definitely sell.  I bet they already exist and I just don't know about them.  But besides Studio Ghibli merch, what DWJ socks should we request from the universe? Put your ideas in the comments!

 There has been enormous popular demand (well, one request) for me to show the reading-themed quilt that my friend made for me, so here it is.  She made it look kind of like me! I also realized that when I took a break back in November/December, that meant that I never posted about the guild quilt show.  I entered several items for show, and two for judging.  I don't think of myself as a person who produces judge-worthy quilts, but on the other hand, if nobody puts in quilts for judging it's not as interesting.  So I generally challenge myself to enter something as a personal goal, not because my quilts are all that fantastic.  And guess what, each won a first prize in its category!  (There are a lot of categories.)  So here they are: "When the Tripods Came," a very small quilt "It's Only Forever," a giant quilt There were a lot of amazing quilts at the show.  It was a lot of fun, and really nice to have an event again after three years; usua...

 My niece Katya was able to visit for her spring break, which coincided with our spring break -- ours is always planned to cover St. Patrick's Day, so it comes pretty early compared with everyone else's, and that was a nice coincidence that let us plan a few days in the Bay Area, "us" being my mom, Katya, my younger kid Sammy, and me.  One of my brothers lives in the Bay Area, but his kids were not on break and we wound up getting an Airbnb in West Oakland for a few days, closer to the things we wanted to do.  I thought I'd just write it up for posterity.... We picked up Katya and headed right for my brother's house, where we stayed the first night, visiting and being fed some fabulous curry that was almost all right out of the garden (including the chicken).  The next day was Sunday, and after church we stopped by the world's oldest working lightbulb, which lives in a fire station.   It's been on for a good 120 years. Four cousins See those hills in t...

 Our number is 18, which gives me... Motl, the Cantor's Son by Sholem Aleichem!  I believe this is a set of short stories.  Motl is a 9-year-old boy who travels with his family from their Russian shtetl to New York.  There's a lot of mischief and humor, and I assume tragedy as well.  I got lucky this Spin, and am looking forward to reading this!