March Madness! Weekly Update

As a library reader, I still feel like I'm jumping from sinking stone to sinking stone in a pile of lava. The good news is, I can see the other side. The bad news is that all the stones are sinking at the same rate, so my last few steps are doomed.

The other good news is that if I fall off, I don't get burned to a crisp, I just don't read a few books. Yet. The other bad news is that one of my books has gone missing! We all remember seeing it a few weeks ago, but now it's not in the pile. X is pretty sure he gave it back to me, and I am pretty sure he is right, but apparently I carried it around and read a few pages and then put it down somewhere, not where it belongs. Oops. Never share books with your kids, that's the moral. Come back, Emily Ebers! I'll never procrastinate on reading you again!

So, I have many of my own books with bookmarks, but they all still doomed to the bottom shelf while I scurry about with due dates. I am actively reading:

• Space Captain Smith, by Toby Frost. I grabbed this from the new release shelf because it looked like every space opera cliche rolled into a book. And that is what it is delivering.
• So Totally Emily Ebers, Lisa Yee. Except I'm not reading it, because I can't find it. Eek!

When those are done I'll read forward in:

• Blaze of Memory, by Nalini Singh. Still don't think I'll like this one.
• Positive Discipline, by Jane Nelsen. Got to keep up with my homework. I'm actually liking this one a lot; it helps me keep my cool when all around me are losing theirs.
• Alex and Me, Irene M. Pepperberg. A woman and her parrot --for SCIENCE.
• How to Teach Physics To Your Dog, Chad Orzel. My kid already skipped through all the dog conversation bits, which he approved of. I haven't tested how much physics stuck, though.
• Spellbent, Lucy A. Snyder. Last month's online book club book. The library failed me. Probably because I forgot to un-freeze my hold.
• Wintergirls, Laurie Halse Anderson. Famous book.
• The Year of the Bomb, Ronald Kidd. Kidlit.

One last list: Books I Have Finished This Week.

• The Private Patient, by PD James. The mystery took a far back place to an interest in the characters involved, both police and suspect. That was OK with me.
• Where Men Win Glory, by Jon Krakauer. Pat Tillman was a real hero. Our military brass does not cover itself with glory, however.
• Pink Brain, Blue Brain by Lise Eliot. We should encourage people to develop fully, not limit people to their gender roles. A sex difference should mean a chance to help, not a life sentence.
• Promise of the Flame, Sylvia Engdahl. The end of the book spoiled things completely, with the characters acting like complete idiots in service to the plot. Humph. Read her earlier books, they are much better.
• Spinning Through the Universe, Helen Frost. A variety of poems about a fifth grade class.
• Dragon Spear, Jessica Day George. A dragon war and a wedding dress.
• Ender in Exile, Orson Scott Card. What Ender did in his teen age years.
• The Cat Who Had 60 Whiskers. Lilian Jackson Braun. Paid even less attention to the mystery than James's book, but without insight or coherence to make up for it.
• Olivia Kidney. Ellen Potter. Surprisingly tasty kidlit.
• Divine Misdemeanors. Lauell K. Hamilton. I believe the title refers to the series of savage mass murders committed by the villains. Maybe Divine Felonies wasn't as catchy a offering?

So, three kidlit, a YA, a paranormal fantasy, one SF, two mysteries (with vastly different audiences), a biography and a science book. Or, three awful books, three satisfying books, and four decent books.