Marching On

Well, I guess February happened. I don't seem to remember most of it. There are scattered blurs -- my nephew had a wonderful birthday weekend that we all celebrated down at the indoor water park, and one of my best friends for the past decade or two came for a visit, a rare and treasured event. And there were a few other birthdays, but mostly I ran in circles and didn't get much done. I didn't even read much, although I spent a lot of time picking up old comfort books and reading through my favorite bits.

I've started listening to old favorite stories in my car. I'm ambivalent about listening to new things, but I usually like hearing books I've previously read. I think it's because I can't control the speed, so if it's fresh territory then I want to fine tune the pace -- speeding up if the plot is gripping, slowing down to savor a moment or to dread the next stage.

I'll go sign in at Book Journey's round-up of what people have read, are reading, and will read. I'm eligible again for Teach Mentor Texts since I really only read kidlit books.

This week I read:

• Lucky Breaks, Susan Patron. RML choice. Good but not to my taste.
• Bread and Roses Too, Katherine Paterson. RML. Interesting history of Wobbly strike.
• Sparrow Road, Sheila O'Connor. RML. Child meets father.
• Scorpio Races, Maggie Streifvater (audio). Best of the Best.
• A Civil Campaign, Lois McMaster Bujold (audio). Comfort.

Earlier in February I also read:

• Savor the Moment (Bride Quartet 3), Nora Roberts
• Vision in White (Bride Quartet 1), Nora Roberts
• Happy Ever After (Bride Quartet 4), Nora Roberts
• Celebrity In Death, J.D. Robb (Nora Roberts)
• Gone, Michael Grant. YA.
• The Ninth Circle, R.M. Meluch
• The Enemy, Charlie Higson. YA.
• Dearly Departed, Lia Habel. YA
• Bed of Roses (Bride Quartet 2), Nora Roberts (for book club)
• Every Day, David Levithan. YA
• Twenty and Ten, Clair Huchet Bishop. kidlit
• The Lost Stars: Tarnished Knight, Jack Campbell
• The Spanish Marriage, Madeleine Robins
• Sammy Keyes and the Power of Justice Jack, Wendelin van Draanen. kidlit
• The Shadow of the Wind,  Carlos Ruiz Zafon
• Under the Mesquite Guadalupe Garcia Mccall. YA
• Fleas, Flies and Friars: Children's Poetry from the Middle Ages, Nicholas Orne

What am I currently reading? Technically I have 23 books open, but really I'm only trying to read about three. Well, five if you count the NOOK books.  Most books are just for browsing, and then there's all the books left over from the summer that I'll get to REAL SOON NOW.

• The Righteous Mind, Jonathan Haidt. (NOOK) Back from the library, and I'm enjoying it a lot, especially as it intersects with other books involving morality (which is a lot of them).
• Some of the Best From Tor.Com 2011. (NOOK) This is from my favorite review site.
• Nexus, Ramez Naam. (NOOK) For book club.
• Bloody Jack, L.A. Meyer. She's just become a he and set off to sea. Secret Santa present.
• Steel's Edge, Ilona Andrews. A Christmas present from my dad. Thanks!
• The King of Attolia, Megan Whelan Turner. A delicious reread.
• A Temple of Texts, William H. Gass. I like reading essays by people passionate about reading, but it slows things down a bit when either I haven't read or I've actively disliked what he's raving about.
• Serpent's Shadow, Rick Riordan. It's sad how much Sadie annoys me. It also slows me down.
• Cry Wolf, Patricia Briggs (audio). My car book.
• The Whys of a Philosophical Scrivener, Martin Gardner. Dipper. I am also not a political extremist.
• The Pickwick Papers, Charles Dickens. Dipper. Back to the city. Except I suddenly can't find it.
• Senrid, Sherwood Smith. Dipper. I'm a bit dubious about the escape plan.
• War With the Newts, Karel Capek. Dipper. I see action on the horizon!
• Abraham Lincoln: Prairie Years, Carl Sandburg. I like this Lincoln, who just turned 18.
• A Parent's Guide to Developmental Delays,  Laurie Lecomer. Good description of different developmental areas.
• Kushiel's Dart, Jacqueline Carey. Paused.

What will I read next week? I now have a sense of this, since I'm regulating my page intake to about 100 pages a day (not counting book club books:

• Marathon, Boaz Yakin & Joe Infurnari. Cybils, in my book bag already.
• My Stroke of Insight, Jill Bolte Taylor. Due next Saturday, so it jumps ahead.
• Blackwood, Glenda Bond. (Tuesday) Another Secret Santa prezzie.
• Why We Broke Up, Daniel Handler. (Friday) Best of the Best.
• Frost Burn, Patricia Briggs. Probably as soon as it hits my NOOK.

2013 Challenges:

1. TBR Double Dog Dare: Eleven books from my shelves. And my library books comfortably fit in their crate now.
2. Cybils: 5/74. I just put another one (Marathon) in the bag.
3. Where Am I Reading?: Twelve down, so I'm on target.
4. Crazy Quilt Colors: 2/9. I got White and Blue already!
5. Science Book Challenge: Need to re-sign up.
6. Reading My Library: Three more, and the next batch is out.
7. Best of the Best 2012: 38/25. About to read Why We Broke Up, and picking out the next audio.
8. Summer Reading Goal: The next one is working its way up the stack.