Happy Mother's Day

I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day, either enjoying being pampered or enjoying pampering someone. I myself am the proud parent of two wonderful boys who like the excuse to make me breakfast in bed. This year was their best effort yet -- I put in a last minute request for a breakfast burrito, which P heroically made (the first time he's scrambled an egg, I believe). The meal also included pancakes cooked to my liking, which is different from how X normal eats them, crispy bacon, and a large cup of milk.

They still need some work on kitchen clean-up, but at least almost everything ended up in the sink, so I just avoided the kitchen until Monday. In the afternoon we went to see the Avengers, and X paid for popcorn (my brother paid for the tickets -- thanks K!), and we went out for dinner. Also, they let me read through dinner, since they know how much I like that. My family rocks!

On Mondays Sheila at Book Journey invites people to report on what they read, what they are reading, and what they will read.  Teach Mentor Texts echos this with a concentration on children's books.

I finished a handful of books:

• A Bride's Story, Vol 1
• Deadlocked (Stackhouse 12)
• Sugar Changed the World
• Blood Red Road
• Feynman
• Earwig and the Witch (audio)

I'm apparently developing a fear of actually finishing a book, so my currently reading list has stretched to two pages on Shelfari. I can't even fit them all into my reading bag, and that's ignoring the four books on audio I keep in the car (I know have a car-bag to hold all the CD cases).

• Bunheads, Sophie Flack. (Cybils). I'm picking this back up now.
• Daughter of the Forest, Juliet Marillier. For book club, I haven't read two middle chapters. Book club consensus was that there were too many pages for the story.
• The Galacteran Legacy: Galaxy Watch, Michelle Izmaylov. (RML) Hey, the author was like 17. Much of the plot now makes sense.
• Weedflower, Cynthia Kadohata. Must read these RML books faster.
• The Know-It-All, A.J. Jacobs. D-G. Letter G, and the memoir part is getting stronger under the surface. Luckily the back info lets me know that his wife will get pregnant.
• The New York Regional Mormon Singles Halloween Dance, Elna Baker. Now she's skinny but still Mormon.
• The Wives of Henry Oades, Johanna Moran. From the TBR list.  Wife #1 has now met wife #2. The neighbors arrest them for being Mormon.
• Where Things Come Back, John Corey Whaley. The lost brother makes this so sad.
• Infinite Kung Fu, Kagen McLeon. For Best of the Best, but my sons keep stealing this.
• Angelfall, Susan Ee. NOOK. (Cybils) Sneaking into the angel's home base. 
• Matched, Ally Condie. NOOK. Argh -- my library copy expired when I was 25 pages from the end.
• Chain Reaction, Simone Elkeles. NOOK. I hate when authorities are unfair and people let them get away with it.
• Smart But Scattered, Peg Dawson & Richard Guare.  Where to start to fix things.
• The Same Stuff as Stars, Katherine Paterson. Nothing is so bad that a social worker can't make it worse.
• Honored Enemy, Raymond Feist & William R Forstchen.  Nemesis has backstory.
• Knight of a Trillion Stars, Dara Joy. Isn't it hot when he literally rips her clothes off? Wait, no, because she's trying to get away.
• The Catholic Church in the Modern World, E.E.Y. Hales. Pope looks bad when he condemns liberalism.
• Close Range: Wyoming Stories, Annie Proulx. Old guys at lunch in the first story.
• The Penderwicks at Point Mouette, Jeanne Birdsall. Audio. With female fifth grader.
• How They Croaked, Georgia Bragg. Audio. With male fifth grader. We just finished Darwin.
• The Ring of Solomon, Jonathan Stroud. Audio. With 7th grader. CD 2.
• Beauty Queens, Libby Bray. Audio. Just with me. Hilarious but gory.

What will I read next? I've made a pile of Best of the Best books next to a comfortable chair. I'm eyeing The Scorpio Races, Jane, and Leverage.

Challenges:

1. Cybils: 54/73.  Mostly big books left now.
2. Global Reading Challenge: 13/21. I'm now scouting the library tempt-me books for South American choices.
3. What's In a Name?: 6/6. Need to review the last ones.
4. Where Am I Reading?:  19/50. Need to review Massachusetts (I've read three), Montana, and Utah books. And finish the Vermont, Arkansas and Wyoming books. I'm falling behind, but catching up on reviews would fix that.
5. Science Book Challenge: 1.141/3.14159. Memoirs, but nothing scientific, although Sugar Changed the World had a bit.
6. Reading My Library:  Falling behind again. On Ks.
7. Eclectic Challenge: 7/10. Well, 8, but I need to review one. Reading literary fiction by Proulx.
8. Best of the Best: 8/25. The fun part is how many of these books X steals from me.