(no subject)

[the_rck]

I spent about two hours on the first genetic counseling form and some related emails last night. That left me exhausted enough that I considered skipping dinner and going to bed at 7:00. I also had a headache (which responded to Tylenol, thank goodness). I think I will have to take Ativan before I spend any concentrated time on this.

My mother responded to my email by saying that she will see what she can dig up for me but that she won’t be able to start for a few days. They’re in Baton Rouge, and their air conditioner has died. They don’t know yet if it can be repaired or if it will need replacing. They also just adopted two year old dogs from a local shelter and are having to try to keep them from destroying things.

I also emailed one my mothers sisters-in-law, the one she’s no longer talking to. I was pretty sure that she would have email addresses for the cousins I don’t know how to reach and would have the information I needed about her own kids and my uncle. I pointed out to her that her daughters who are both in their late twenties might want to talk to their doctors about whether or not they’re at increased risk for breast cancer given me and my sister and that my two female cousins in the forties definitely need to be warned. I’m not even sure if the cousins in their forties have been told that my sister and I were diagnosed. My mother wouldn’t have thought to, and my sister and I have both been distracted and don’t have contact information for them. My aunt hadn’t thought about that part of things, so I’m glad I finally thought about it.

There’s a thing I want to go to at the end of April, but it’s on a Thursday and in a different part of the state. I’m not sure there’s any way I can get there. It’s a PBB informational conference intended for folks who were exposed back in the 1970s. I want very much to go. I don’t know what I’d learn, but… I don’t think Scott’s parents will be back by then or I’d ask them. Scott’s sister might be able to; I don’t know her work schedule.

This is a pretty big thing to ask of someone. It’s a two hour drive from Ann Arbor, so we might have to go up the day before. The flyer linked in the email doesn’t actually give the information I need to have a firmer idea of what’s involved. The flyer says the conference is two days long and will include information about a few different contamination situations. The email specifically talks about PBB and only mentions one day, the second day of the conference apparently. My guess is that all the PBB stuff will be that day. I got the invitational email because I signed up with Emory’s mailing list on the subject (in hopes that they’ll get research funding and be able to use my information then). They’re specifically advertising this as aimed at people who were exposed to PBB, so my assumption is that the findings presented will be somewhat simplified out of consideration for the audience.

We had a thunderstorm in the middle of the night last night, and Cordelia came in to cuddle. That hasn’t happened in years. I think she must have been having a bad dream because the first thing she said was asking me if the storm was real or not. She also accidentally poked me in the eye because I moved to make room for her as she was reaching out to wrap her arms around me. She stayed less than ten minutes, but she asked if it would be okay if she came back. I told her, "Always," because it’s true.

Looking at the Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland— I guess it could be worse? I am never enthusiastic about former prosecutors as judges, and I’m even less enthusiastic about such a person on the Supreme Court given cases about privacy, specifically cyber-privacy and things like backdoors into iPhones, and police violence and…

Cordelia has decided that she should keep trying mysteries until she finds one she doesn’t hate. I’m not sure why she’s decided this or that the undertaking is worthwhile, but… I’m trying to come up with some suggestions for her. She loathed John Grisham’s Theodore Boone, and she very much disliked the Sisters Grimm. She likes angsty teen girl dystopias and Rick Riordan, so I’m actually wondering if she’d like a mystery more toward the urban fantasy end of things, assuming I can find one where she won’t be put off by sex. But I don’t read urban fantasy because I don’t enjoy it, so I have no idea where to start, and I’m pretty sure that she wouldn’t like the mysteries I read and enjoy.

Any suggestions for mysteries for Cordelia? Urban fantasy or otherwise. She’s twelve, so I’d prefer not to suggest anything really gory/scary to her because she still responds very badly to that. She can handle Agents of SHIELD levels of scary and violence but not more.

Okay, time to get dressed and haul myself to the basement. I have to go through a huge bag of junk before 1 p.m. tomorrow to see what can be thrown out and what should be donated. I will probably take my laptop down with me and listen to an audiobook (Smek for President) while I work.

Comments

[maramcreates]

I don't read much in the way of mysteries, but here are a few that I either enjoyed myself, or have heard good things about (and, as far as I know/remember, sex doesn't really play a role - romantic interest, probably, but not sex in particular):
- There's always Agatha Christie mysteries (in that they're 'gentle' mysteries). I'm not sure if she's tried any of her stuff, but that's not a bad place to start.
- "Three Bags Full: A Sheep Detective Story" (by Leonie Swann) -- set in Ireland, the detectives are sheep, and the murder victim is their shepherd.
- "The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie" (of the 'Flavia de Luce' series by Alan Bradley) -- while the protagonist is an 11 year old girl, the mysteries are certainly serious. Also, Flavia and her older sisters are really nasty to each other.
- "The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency" (of the series with same name by Alexander McCall Smith) -- this is much less a true mystery, and more like character studies with a little bit of mystery tossed in.

[adrian_turtle]

I'd recommend the Beka Cooper mysteries by Tamora Pierce. I don't recall if the first is indexed under "Terrier" or "Beka Cooper." Teen girl joins police force, makes new friends, fights organized crime. All in a fantasy world with magic as well as pervasive organized crime. There are some very angsty elements, but it doesn't feel dystopic to me. (Probably because our protagonist has so many people and supernatural entities supporting her.)

[kyrielle]

Yes, this. This is straight fantasy, though. But very good. And I agree, not a dystopia at all.

Also not a dystopia, but fairly dark faerie-land, Seanan McGuire's October Daye novels (starts with Rosemary and Rue).

[adrian_turtle]

Oh, it's certainly "straight fantasy" in the sense of being set in a fantasy world. But the PLOT is mystery. It would almost be a police procedural, if there wasn't so much focus on Beka growing apart from her family and building a new community. (It reminds me of Sara Paretsky's mysteries, which I considered recommending as well. But I thought those might be too scary.)

[the_rck]

Beka Cooper is a good thought. I'll definitely suggest them.

Thanks!

[syrena_of_the_lake]

Have you ever read Dick Francis? All of his mysteries involve horses in some way. Not scary or thrillers, but good mysteries. There may be an occasional bit of adult language, but from what I remember it's mostly mild. Or how about Dorothy Sayers? Sue Grafton?

None of those are teen stories, I know, but I've been reading Francis at leasy since I was your daughter's age, so I thought I'd throw it out there.

And an off-the-wall suggestion: Elizabeth Peters. Her stories take place in late 1800s/early 1900s Egypt, revolve around archaeology, are narrated by a wonderfully opinionated headstrong woman, and have a delightful sense of humor.

I also remember loving Jim Kjelgaard's books, some of which were mysteries and most of which featured dogs as the supporting actors, so to speak-- not anthropomorphically, though. Big Red was about.a boy and his Irish Setter, and oh there was a whole series. Not many female characters, but I adored those books... and now I have the urge to go find them in the library. Or on Amazon.

Did Jean Craighead George write any mysteries? I think she did! One about ecology, and another (or maybe the same one): Who Really Killed Cock Robin? This is the woman who wrote My Side of the Mountain and Julie of the Wolves. If your daughter likes nature, I'd heartily recommend this one.

[the_rck]

Thanks for the suggestions! I'll pass them on.

[evalerie.livejournal.com]

It's okay to not like mysteries. I don't. Well, I liked the "Encyclopedia Brown" books when I was a kid, but mostly haven't met a mystery that I liked since then. And I don't think I would recommend "Encyclopedia Brown" to Cordelia. For whatever that's worth. :-S

[the_rck]

I'm not sure why Cordelia has decided to keep trying mysteries. Neither Scott nor I suggested it. Well, I said something on the order of it still being possible that there might be a mystery out there that she'd enjoy, but I added that looking for that one in a million wasn't likely to be much fun. There are a lot of better things to do with one's reading time.

Cordelia never wanted to read mysteries aimed at kids when she was younger. No Encyclopedia Brown, no Nancy Drew, no Three Investigators. Some of that is that she really wasn't reading much at the time when those might have worked for her, but I rather suspect that the genre is not really geared for the things that she enjoys.

[hamsterwoman]

All of the books that I'd consider a full-on blend of mystery and urban fantasy are adult books, but a lot of YA urban fantasy does have mystery elements.

YA urban fantasy I like which have a mystery bend to them: Holly Black's Curse Workers books, starting with White Cat. (Everything by Holly Black is really good, even if not a mystery -- the Tithe books, The Coldest Girl in Coldtown). Sarah Rees Brennan's books also have a mystery element, I think; the Demon's Lexicon books less so than the Lynburn Legacy books, but I think they're much stronger.

A little while ago both L and I read Conjured by Sarah Beth Durst. It's a little more disturbing that I like, but not gory. There's a mystery at the heart of the story, though it reads more like a thriller, I think.

The non-YA books that are mystery-fantasy do all have rather a lot of sex in them. My kids have read and enjoyed The Dresden Files, the first couple Rivers of London books (police procedural rather than just mystery), and Alex Verus books by Benedict Jacka (they like them, I find them too derivative to really like, but they are fun). The Kate Daniels books and the Mercy Thompson books, both series I like, also have a mystery element, but they're paranormal romance, so even more sex.

If dystopia means she's OK with sci-fi, there's Asimov's Caves of Steel. I loved those books as a kid, but am not sure how well they've aged, tbh. Or, the robot short stories, which often have a (technical, sometimes human) mystery at the heart.

My kids have enjoyed the Sammy Keyes books, which I think are in the right age group for Cordelia. Also, not quite mystery, but L also enjoyed the Ally Carter spy school books (Ballagher Girls and/or maybe Heist Society?)

Non-SFF mysteries I like are all non-YA books -- Jonathan Kellerman is really fun (the Alex Delaware series), the early Patricia Cornwell books (but they deteriorate sharply after a while). Because the violence is non-fantasy in nature, these probably would be more disturbing, but I was probably close to Cordelia's age when I started reading them, and I liked them.

Also, yay, Smekday book! :)

[the_rck]

Thanks for the suggestions! I'll forward them to Cordelia, and she can take a look to see what she thinks.

I don't mind if she reads stuff with sex as long as she's not uncomfortable with it. She just hasn't shown any signs of wanting to read such things (which, well, she might very well not want me to know). Right now, I monitor her library card, but that's to make sure holds get picked up and nothing gets to be overdue (I monitor Scott's card for the same reason. He's not willing to bother paying attention to when things are due). She can get whatever books interest her. She hasn't asked me to let her take over the monitoring yet, but I expect she will eventually.

She has specifically told me she's not comfortable with gory and/or scary stuff.

[hamsterwoman]

Like you, I don't care if the kids read books with sex in them so long as they don't mind. It's possible to skip over the sex scenes in a lot of non-YA urban fantasy and mysteries if one isn't interested in those aspects. Dunno whether they do or not, but they haven't complained about them, so I imagine either they're OK with them or they skip them.

[the_rck]

I know Cordelia has read some fanfic, but she doesn't really talk about it much except to say that she doesn't like incomplete stories and that she's a canon shipper. I have no idea if she's reading het, slash (less likely because of the canon shipper thing and the fandoms she'd be likely to read), or gen. I hope that, if she starts reading kinky stuff that confuses or upsets her, she'll talk to me.

I did link her to Scarlet Teen. I have no idea if she's gone there, though. I hope so because she needs a better source of information than other seventh graders and fanfic. I haven't been able to get her to read any of the books I've bought or to talk to me. She's of the opinion that, having already started her period, there's nothing else she needs to know.

[velvetwhip.livejournal.com]

I am so very displeased about the Supreme Court nominee. He's a bad choice as far as I'm concerned and I find myself delighted by Republican obstructionism for once.


Gabrielle

[the_rck]

I didn't dig beyond the Wikipedia article on him (which I'm sure there's someone from the White House editing right at this moment), but nothing I saw in there made me go beyond tepid in Garland's favor, and there was a lot that wasn't there that made me hesitate. Plus, of course, the whole thing about being a pro-police, pro-prosecution type is a huge, huge red flag.

I'd really hoped for another woman or someone who was obviously part of a minority. Garland is Jewish which is something, but... I rather think that Republicans might look at him and think that he's a much better pick for their agenda than they expected.

[1-rhiannon-1.livejournal.com]

Two hours on a form is definitely headache-worthy! :(

[the_rck]

I suspect it was the emails and the prospect of phone calls even more than the form itself.

[garnigal.livejournal.com]

What about some real old fashioned cozy mysteries? I was deeply into Agatha Christie at her age, and her contemporaries include GK Chesterton (Father Brown) and Dorothy Sayers (Lord Peter Whimsey).

[the_rck]

I'll pass along the suggestion. Ultimately, Cordelia will have to decide what she's willing to try.

[snogged.livejournal.com]

I don't know much about the Supreme Court nominee, but he doesn't seem like a great choice.

As for YA books, I really liked "We Were Liars" by E. Lockhart. It's kind of a thriller mystery. I also liked the "Everest" series by Gordon Kormon. There's mystery, a little thrill factor, but definitely written for a younger age group.

Rick Riordan has a list of books he likes:
http://www.rickriordan.com/educational-resources/ricks-reading-recommendations

I've read the Time Warp Trio. It's a cute series, but may be a bit young for Cordelia.

[the_rck]

My main hesitations over Merrick Garland have to do with him having a widely known bias toward police/other law enforcement. I'm not happy about in the current situation with all of the questions about police murdering people and stealing things from people. And there're things like the FBI wanting Apple to break the encryption on their iPhones.

I have heard, just today, that Garland apparently has what I would consider a good record on environmental issues, and that's very important, too.

I looked at the Time Warp Trio when Cordelia was in second grade (she's in seventh now), and it was about right for her then. She just wouldn't read it because I offered it to her.

I'll see if she's looked at Rick Riordan's recommendations. Thanks!