Life is still ridiculous, but I did take a bit of time off to hike–and to read.

I’ve had trouble focusing–not a tremendous surprise–so I’ll need to go back and reread the new releases I’d been waiting for at some point when I’m a little less distracted. In other words, take those ratings of 7 with a grain of salt–I need a book to draw me in and not let go, and that these books didn’t do that is on me, not necessarily them.

There were some very good stories however. I finally got around to reading Richard Osman‘s Thursday Murder Club, which I loved.

Tania got me the Murderbot short story, Compulsory, which I didn’t even know was being published, and I’m eagerly awaiting the next story that comes out this fall. (MURDERBOT!)

Although it didn’t pull me in, I still enjoyed Anna Lee Huber‘s most recent Lady Darby book. It’s comforting to drop into familiar places with known characters.

To keep me moving, I’ve been listening to a lot of audio books.

I just finished the last recorded SPI Files book, (She self-published the next two stories, so no audio version) and had to struggle to figure out what I wanted to listen to next.  (We merged my parent’s audible account with ours, so when I browsed today, I kept seeing books my parents listened to, which was weird.)

Other than that, lots of rereading. Favorites, to pull me out of my own head and allow me to escape.

Mystery

• The Thursday Murder Club (2020) Richard Osman (Thursday Murder Club) 9/10
• Come Unto These Yellow Sands (2011) Josh Lanyon 9/10
• A Fatal Illusion (2023) Anna Lee Huber (Lady Darby) 8/10
• Against the Currant t (2023) Olivia Matthews (Spice Isle Bakery) 5/10

Fantasy

• Child of a Rainless Year (2005) Jane Lindskold 9/10
• Hard Spell (2011) Justin Gustainis (Occult Crimes Unit Investigation) 8/10
• A Queer Trade  (2016) K.J. Charles (Rag and Bone)  7.5/10
• That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Human (2023) Kimberly Lemming (Mead Mishaps) 7/10
• Once a Rogue (2023) Allie Therin (Roaring Twenties Magic) 7/10

Romance

• Lancaster Stories by C.S. Poe: Kneading You (2016) 7.5/10, Joy (2017) 9/10
• Garnet Run by Roan Parrish: Better Than People (2020) 8/10, Best Laid Plans (2021) 8/10, The Pride of Garnet Run  (2022) 7/10
• Teacher of the Year (2023) M.A. Wardell (Teachers in Love) 6.5/10

Science Fiction

• Compulsory (2023) Martha Wells (The Murderbot Diaries) 8.5/10

Audio Books

• A Dangerous Collaboration, Audio Book (2019) Deanna Raybourn narrated by Angèle Masters (Veronica Speedwell) 8/10
• SPI Files by Lisa Shearin narrated by Johanna Parker: The Grendel Affair, Audio Book (2014) 8/10, The Dragon Conspiracy, Audio Book (2015) 8/10, The Brimstone Deception, Audio Book (2016) 8.5/10, The Ghoul Vendetta, Audio Book (2017) 8/10

Ethical Fashion

Roughly 160 million children were subjected to child labour at the beginning of 2020, with 9 million additional children at risk due to the impact of COVID-19. This accounts for nearly 1 in 10 children worldwide. Almost half of them are in hazardous work that directly endangers their health and development.

14 states have either introduced or enacted legislation rolling back regulations that governed the number of hours children can be employed, lowered the restrictions on dangerous work, and legalized subminimum wages for youths.

Packers Sanitation Services paid a $1.5 million fine for employing 102 children to work in dangerous meatpacking facility jobs across eight states. Last summer, Reuters revealed that children as young as 12 — many of whom were migrants — were hired to work in a metal shop owned by Hyundai.

The media campaign to legitimize sweatshop economics & child labor

In Bangladesh, poor children under the age of 14 work as child laborers an average of 64 hours a week.

Children as young as 6 work up to 110 hours a week.

On average the children earn less than $2 a day. Some less than $1 a day.

How To Tell If A Child Made Your Clothes

Dangerous Jobs: Kids Under 18 Cannot Do This Work: Meat Processing and Slicing, Power-Driven Woodworking Machinery, Mining, Logging, Forestry and Sawmilling

US Dept. of Labor confirms Iowa’s new child labor law violates federal law:

Amputations, fractured fingers, second-degree burns and head trauma are just some of the serious injuries suffered by US meat plant workers every week,

Around a quarter of U.S. domestic produce is picked by an army of child workers who numbered an estimated 500,000 in 2021.

In Iowa, a new law allows children as young as fourteen to work in industrial laundries, and, with approval from a state agency, allows sixteen-year-olds to work in roofing, excavation, demolition, the operation of power-driven machinery, and other dangerous occupations. Jennifer Sherer, a co-author of the E.P.I. report, said, “Iowa’s new law contains multiple provisions that conflict with federal prohibitions on ‘oppressive child labor.’ ” It also limits employer liability for the injury, illness, or death of a child on the job. Adolescents are almost twice as likely as adults to be injured at work.

Packers Sanitation Services allegedly used child labor at three meatpacking plants in two states, according to the Labor Department.

The DOL asked a federal court to issue a statewide injunction and restraining order against the company for its alleged crimes at plants in Grand Island, Nebraska, Worthington, Minnesota and Marshall, Minnesota.