Last August, ResQgeek‘s daughter Becky (aka N-R-Jyzer) was struck and killed while riding her bicycle. We at BCinDC are organizing a memorial release on what would have been her 10th birthday: February 14, 2011. Always giving of love and hugs, Becky is remembered as embodying the true spirit of Valentine’s Day. The theme of our release in her honor is hugs, hearts, and Valentine’s day. Becky loved Winnie-the-Pooh, so we will be releasing those and other children’s books as well.
Date: February 14, 2011
Theme: Hugs, hearts, Valentine’s Day, Winnie-the-Pooh, children’s books
Release notes: Please include a link to the Becky’s Hugs facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Beckys-Hugs/147053868666518) in the JE for the release.
If you are in the area, BCinDC is holding a release walk in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia, at 7:00pm that evening. We will meet at La Madeleine at 500 King St. (at the corner of King and Pitt), then walk down King Street and up N. Union St. to end at Becky’s tree in Founder’s Park. Please let us know if you will be joining us so we know to wait for you.
Memorial labels are available at the supply store.
We hope you will join us in remembering Becky.
by Bobby Henderson: It all began with a 
by Greg Messel: Dan and Katie are high school sweethearts who break up during their first year apart, attending college in different states. They completely lose touch with each other for thirty years, then reconnect and fall in love again. Their friends and family are completely supportive. And that’s pretty much the entire story, but it’s not a spoiler because it happens in the first two chapters. In fact, most of the book is thoroughly summarized in early chapters, then again right before being described in detail. Dan is narrating, and considering both he and the author are former newspapermen it wasn’t so surprising this novel was laid out much like a news article. I felt like I was having a story described to me, rather than actually reading it first hand. With so much advanced warning for every event, I felt no emotional response whatsoever. Of course, it didn’t help that Dan and Katie were completely devoid of personality. I have absolutely no idea what they saw in each other because the only thing they ever talked about was how in love they are and how attractive they still find each other. I remember having similar conversations with beaus in high school, but I can’t imagine being satisfied with such empty talk in my late 40s.
by Beth McMullen: Lucy Parks is a stay-at-home mom, simultaneously raising her three-year-old son and trying to hide the fact that she used to be James Bond. Well, that’s only sort of true: in her former life she was known as Sally Sin, a spy for the US Agency for Weapons of Mass Destruction, an action-packed thrill ride of a career that allowed for exactly no social life whatsoever. When Lucy met her soon-to-be husband Will, she quit the Agency and dedicated herself to full-time normalcy. The story is an entertaining mix of Lucy’s current pleasantly mundane life and her memories as a spy, which could have been directed by Michael Bay. Though I had trouble buying the relationship between Lucy and Will, as they appear to have pretty much nothing in common, I got a kick out Lucy’s struggle to maintain calm as the madness of her former life comes back to haunt her. From what I understand, this is the first book in an upcoming series – one I might actually try to keep up with. This book is a fun ride.
by Neil Gaiman (unabridged audiobook read by the author; 7.75 hours on 7 discs): Bod (short for Nobody) Owens lives in a graveyard, raised by the ghosts and otherworldly beings who live there. This tale chronicles his entire childhood including his adventures with ghoul gates, Hounds of God, the Sleer, and fellow living children. The narration borders on the lyrical, with ghostly voices like rustling leaves and Bod’s guardian Silas the most mysterious of them all (though I have my suspicions). This is one of those rare books that I enjoyed so thoroughly that I can’t think of anything to say about it in my review. It’s weird and funny and bittersweet and very memorable. I will definitely be reading it again one day.
by Philip Plait, PhD: You know, considering this is all about the various cataclysmic ways the world can end, I really expected to be more engrossed. Maybe I just wasn’t in the mood or something, but I could never read more than a handful of pages before my mind started wandering or I fell asleep. I suspect this is largely my fault, as Plait is clearly in love with this topic and with astronomy in general. He describes each ghastly scenario with glee, from asteroid collisions to the death of the universe, and demonstrates in no uncertain terms that should any of these events take place within our lifetime, we are royally screwed. Granted, the odds of us actually witnessing most of the calamities described are infinitesimal, if not actually zero, a point which is also made clear enough to avoid any unnecessary fear-mongering. I learned a lot from reading this, and I recommend it to those with an interest in astronomy, or doomsday scenarios, or both.
