I just finished listening to Astoria by Peter Stark, and this book is incredible.  I’m tempted to try to make my 13-year-old read it; it’s that engaging and interesting. (And there’s a really great description of scalping and scalping victims in it that is just primed and ready for putting on screen.)

We are making the kid read the diary of Anne Frank along with Red Scarf Girl. I don’t know if they are giving him an appreciation for history—or for all the stuff he has—but at least it’s a change from Marvel comics and YouTube.  (That’s not really fair. In the past month, he’s also read Ready Player One and three Robert Cormier books and loved them all, so I shouldn’t make him sound like a total screen-head.)

My husband is putting the finishing touches on his second book. It’s a follow-up on his first book; this one focuses on 1856. I’m looking forward to editing it.

Still in a holding pattern on my own book. Still busy thinking about next moves and assiduously not actually doing anything.