Long Pause

Well, I've been avoiding my blog for the past month, but I'm coming back! Probably. Maybe. Anyway, I'm still reading.

I'll jump back in with my weekly report on what I've been reading, am reading, and will read, although I'll also include everything I've read through most of October, and then I'll go check in with Book Journey's weekly round-up of what everyone has done. I'll also check in on Teach Mentor Texts since I do read a lot of kidlit. Nothing is reviewed yet, so this is a very boring list, but small steps lead to long trips, or else to a path to the couch, one of the other.

• Unveiled, Courtney Milan
• Chihuahua of the Baskervilles, Esri Allbritten
• Theodosia and the Staff of Osiris, R.L. LaFevers
• Gunmetal Magic, Ilona Andrews
• Foiled, Jane Yolen
• Zita the Spacegirl, Ben Hatke
• Starfields, Carolyn Marsden
• Eternal Pleasure, Nina Bangs
• Inside Out and Back Again, Thanhha Lai
• The Speed of Dark, Elizabeth Moon
• Charles and Emma: The Darwin's Leap of Faith
• Casket of Souls, Lynn Flewelling
• Honored Enemy, Raymond E. Feist
• Carousel of Hearts, Mary Jo Putney
• Tales From Silver Lands, Charles J. Finger
• The Birthday Ball, Lois Lowry
• Level Up, Gene Luen Yang
• 11 Birthdays, Wendy Mass
• Team Human, Justine Larbalestier & Sarah Rees Brennan

Picture Books (it's great having an emerging reader as an excuse to get these):

• This Is Not My Hat, Jon Klassen. Lovely.
• Ten Little Mummies, Philip Yates
• Pyramid, Dana Meachen Rau (it got N reading!)
• I Want My Mom, Tony Ross
• Rat and Roach, David Covell
• Make a Wish, Bear, Greg Foley
• Why the Chicken Crossed the Road, David Macauley
• What To Do If an Elephant Steps On Your Foot, Michelle Robinson
• I'm Not, Pam Smallcomb

This week I read: 

• On the Island, by Tracey Graves
• Language of Flowers, Vanessa Diffenbaugh
• The Girl Giant, Kristen Den Hartog
• When Fairies Go Bad, Ursula Vernon
• Fire, Kristen Cashore

What am I currently reading? I left some in-progress books at home during my gallivanting, and I cherry picked from my options to things I thought I'd enjoy.

• The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party, Alexander McCall Smith. Extra Africa book.
• Oracle's Moon, Thea Harrison. From Felicia Day's book club some months ago.
• Hollywood Vampire, Keith Topping. Collection of Angel summaries, which has caught X's eye.
• The Murder of Tutankamen, Bob Brier. Borrowed from my BIL after we saw the Tut exhibit.
• Angelmaker, Nick Harkaway. (NOOK). Slow to grab me, but it's starting to work.
• The Curse of the Wendigo, Richard Yancy. (audio) OK, we had some action and things got creepy. And gross. P has dropped out of the listening.
• Phoenix In Flight, Sherwood Smith & Dave Trowbridge. (NOOK).  I'm pretty sure we are out of the opening setup acts now.
• Elfhome, Wen Spencer. (NOOK, reread) Time to uncover the conspiracy.
• Close Range, Annie Proulx. Dipping book. I'm finding the stories very depressing.
• The Borrowers Afield, Mary Norton. Another dipping book. The plot is about to start.
• The Catholic Church in the Modern World, E.E.Y. Hales. Dipper. Now to read about the heresy of Modernism.
• Stink: The Incredible Shrinking Kid, Megan McDonald. Dipper. 
• Smart But Scattered, Peggy Dawson. Good stuff.
• Kushiel's Dart, Jacqueline Carey. Paused.

I've also got a pile of unfinished summer reading books, which I'll probably work through in the next few months:

• Pinky Pye, Eleanor Estes. I bought a bunch of Estes at one time. I'm not sure I've read this one before.
• The Tunnel of Hugsy Goode, Eleanor Estes. See above.
• Ecstasia, Francesca Lia Block. I find her mythic stories harder going than her Weezie Bat books.
• Bob, Son of Battle, Alfred Ollivant. I'm not liking the dialect, and I think the guy I hate is supposed to be the hero. Oops.
• Tricksters, Margaret Mahy. I have no excuse for not finishing this yet.
• Tessie, Jesse Jackson. The author makes me giggle.
• Puddleby Adventures, Hugh Lofting. I had too many Dolittle books back-to-back.
• The Avion My Uncle Flew, Cyrus Fisher. I lost this while reading it, but now I know where it is.
• The Eye of the Warlock, P.W. Catanese. Mixed-up fairy tale.
• Redskin and Cowboy, G. A. Henty. Waiting for the boy to run away from home.

Challenges:

1. Cybils: 68/73. Final five -- YA, middle grade, and one last GN.
2. Global Reading Challenge: 17/21. This moved! Still very short on South America.
3. Where Am I Reading?:  36/50.  Three months, fourteen books. I tried to read three books for this this week, and they were all mistakes. But good books, so I win anyway.
4. Science Book Challenge: 3.1415/3.14159. The code book is science!
5. Reading My Library:  Chugging along. 11 Birthdays went to my niece, which is AWESOME.
6. Eclectic Challenge: 11/12. I was all about real books this week.
7. Best of the Best: 31/25. No change, but one has entered my reading bag.
8. Summer Reading Goal: All over but the cleanup. My bare shelf is filled up again, but two boxes have disappeared from my living room.