Sunday, June 30, 2013

Lazy Day Library Fun

Renton LibraryWe declared today to be an official "Do What You Like" Day, and only did what we liked. The kids especially wanted a day free from appointments, even fun ones like parties and camp. I, of course, wanted to go to the library.

I picked up two holds and one impulse pick:
Image of itemImage of itemImage of item
I now am down to a total of 41 things out on my library cards, which is fairly good, especially since it includes some picture books I'm saving for N and some music CDs. And it's all at the local library, which is also an improvement. I'm hoping to get the number down before the big July vacations; my summer book-a-day project should help with that. And, let me point out that I'm eligible to buy a book, since I'm MUCH older than 41. I'm eyeing the new Elizabeth Moon avidly.

I'll go share my Library Loot at the event co-hosted by Claire from the Captive Reader and Marg from The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader, where all the library addicts compare their treasures. And I think I'll sign up at Tynga's Stacking the Shelves, which asks for all the books acquired, which this week is just the library stuff.

Friday, June 28, 2013

Summer Reading Book a Day


The summer has finally kicked into hot gear, after a week of cool showers and even some thunderstorms. Today the sun unleashed some heat, enough that I consoled myself that I have an air conditioner. I didn't actually turn it on, but knowing I could was a great relief. I'm enjoying the company of my new high school student, whose picture is my theme for this week. As you can see, he's removed his tie, unbuttened the top layers, and generally relaxed after the Big Junior High Transition Ceremony.

I've stored up a few books in advance by reading the Cybils Nonfiction picture books. I'll have to reread them again with N; he's really stretching his literary skills and seems to like the science stuff. Then I concentrate on the library stuff that's about to expire; I haven't even touched my groaning book case of unread volumes. Oh well, July awaits.

The books so far are:

June 21: Lord Peter Views the Body, Dorothy Sayers (audio), library
June 22: Mrs. Harkness and the Panda, Alicia Potter, (PB), library
June 23:  Smells Like Dog, Suzanne Selfors, (kidlit), library

June 24: Eggs 1 2 3 Who Will the Babies Be,  Janet Halfman, (PB), library
June 25: Looking at Lincoln, Maira Kalman, (PB), library
June 26: Blue Jasmine, Kashmira Sheth, (kidlit), library
June 27:The Worst Case Scenario: Deadly Seas, David Borgenicht & Alexander Lurie, (kidlit), library
June 28: The Guardian (The Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier), Jack Campbell, SF, library

Monday, June 24, 2013

Summer Solstice Report

IMG_0851 Summer has officially started, with a pool party and a thunderstorm and a GIANT MOON. My eighth grader has graduated from middle school, the sixth graders are now seventh graders, and the fourth grader is proud to rule the school as a fifth grader.

Last week I had another great weekend -- my BIL graduated with his masters degree, the weather was wonderful, and we had our annual Foam Sword party with lots of hacking and slashing and no injuries.

I'll go sign in at Book Journey's round-up of what people have read, are reading, and will read. I'm also heading for  Teach Mentor Texts. This is a catch-up post -- last week I forgot to post, so I'm incorporating those books into this week.

This week I read:
  • Grave Sight, Charlaine Harris. SF. I zipped through the entire Harper Connolly series.
  • Grave Surprise, Charlaine Harris. SF
  • An Ice Cold Grave, Charlaine Harris. SF
  • Elfhome, Wen Spencer. SF. I think I've only read the ARC, so I reread a library copy.
  • A Rising Thunder, David Weber. The Honor Harrington saga is very very top heavy now.
  • The Zoo Job, Keith R.A. DeCandido. SF (sort of). A fun Leverage romp, with rhinos.
  • Lord Peter Views the Body, Dorothy Sayers. Audio. Short mysteries are good car fodder.
  • Smells Like Dog, Suzanne Selfors. Kidlit. A reading-my-library pick that the library wants back.
  • Blue Jasmine, Kashmira Sheth. Kidlit. Another reading-my-library choice called back early.
I also read the seven finalists for the Cybils Nonfiction picture books. And then I started rereading them with the early reader, who has embraced the science stuff with glee. He particularly liked the theory of evolution (and the blue-footed boobies) in Island and the wonderful snake pictures in Snakes; I'll see if he also likes the history books by Potter and Kalman.
  • Mrs. Harkness and the Panda, Alicia Potter
  • Looking at Lincoln, Maira Kalman
  • Eggs 1 2 3: Who Will the Babies Be?, Janet Halfman
  • Dolphin Baby!, Nicola Davies
  • Island: A Story of the Galapagos, Jason Chin
  • Nic Bishop Snakes, Nic Bishop
  • Balloons Over Broadway: The True Story of the Puppeteer of Macy's Parade, Melissa Sweet

Last week I read:
  • Three Bedrooms, One Corpse, Charlaine Harris (reread, audio). I do enjoy a good Aurora Teagarden story.
  • Grave Secret, Charlaine Harris. (reread) The audio book seems to have kicked a general Harris reread.
  • Shadows In Flight, Orson Scott Card. SF. What finally happened to Bean from Ender's Game.
  • Some of the Best From Tor.com 2011. NOOK. Short stories that first appeared on that website.
  • Sammy Keyes and the Showdown in Sin City, Wendelin Van Draanen. kidlit. I really like the Sammy stories, although this one did a mature thing in humanizing some of the villains, which I kinda regret since they were great at being awful.
  • Ordinary Magic, Caitlen Rubino-Bradway. kidlit. A RML pick that I had seen mentioned on several blogs. A fun tale that I've passed along to my oldest son.
What am I currently reading? Well, now that I'm trying to finish a book a day, I grab something I think I'll finish, and then I go back to my standard pile of library book, personal book, book club book, and NOOK. And then I have the other books that I'm pushing through so I always have something I can finish.
  • Shakespeare's Landlord, Charlaine Harris (audio). Still on my Harris kick, now I'm listening to the first Lily Bard story when the kids aren't in the car.
  • The Wake of the Lorelei Lee, L.A. Meyer (audio). I got it back! It'll be the main story while the kids are in the car.
  • Ascension, Michael Carroll. I've forgotten a lot of the first book, so I'm just easing into this one.
  • Four Corners, Kira Salak. A young woman journeys to New Guinea -- it looks fascinating.
  • Touch of the Demon, Diane Rowland. I like this series, but it's getting a bit top-heavy.
  • The Lost Frontier: Guardian, Jack Campbell. Latest in his tale of a boy scout commanding an interstellar fleet, reluctantly teaching his descendants about decency and honor.
What will I read next? I have no idea!

2013 Challenges:
  1. Cybils: 39/74.  Finished the NF picture books. Ordered some poetry from the library.
  2. Where Am I Reading?: 29/51. Picked up Iowa from Blue Jasmine and Arkansas from a Harper Connolly book. Also Georgia from the Aurora Teagarden book. Thank you, Ms Harris. Sammy Keyes went to Nevada.
  3. Crazy Quilt Colors: 5/9. Need patterns, yellow, green, and brown. Any good brown books?
  4. Reading My Library: Two finished hastily when the library called them 
  5. Best of the Best 2012: 41/25. Finished How to Save a Life but my audio book had to go back to the library.
  6. Summer Reading Goal: So far so good.

Sunday, June 23, 2013

Summer of 2013

Solstice Wear
It's summer time again, and I'm belatedly announcing I'm going for the Book-a-Day-thing a lot of librarians sign up for. It's very relaxed, which is good, because I'm bone idol. I'll again try to get through a lot of the books piling up on my TBR bookcase, as well as whittle my library stash down. Of course, I'm also taking a giant exciting vacation in the middle of July, so we'll see how that works out.

It's based on an average, so you can read three books one day and then sleep for 48 hours. Everything counts, even picture books, which is handy since I just finished off the Cybils Nonfiction Picture books. I hope they help me out on the driving days.

This week kicks off the Summer Solstice (June 21st), so the books so far are:

June 21: Lord Peter Views the Body, Dorothy Sayers (audio), library
June 22: Mrs. Harkness and the Panda, Alicia Potter, (PB), library
June 23:  Smells Like Dog, Suzanne Selfors, (kidlit), library



Sunday, June 9, 2013

Finish Line! 48 Hour Reading Challenge Complete!


All done! I finished seven books, and almost finished an eighth, for a total of 2462 pages. I read for 29 hours. I slept very well, unfortunately, which kept me from making my internal 30 hour goal. On the other hand, I'll be fit for life over the next few days, which is a plus.


Books Read:

  • Redshirts, John Scalzi
  • The Eye of the Warlock, P.W. Catanese
  • Redskins and Cowboys, G.A. Henty
  • Ender's World, Ed. Orson Scott Card
  • And All the Stars, Andrea K Host
  • Delusion In Death, J.D. Robb
  • Big Bad Ironclad, Nathan Hale
  • Shadows Claim, Kresley Cole
  • Throne of the Crescent Moon, Saladin Ahmed, (incomplete)
  • Three Bedrooms, One Corpse, Charlaine Harris (audio) (incomplete)

Monday Report

Well, it was a fun weekend of reading all the time -- the 48 Hour Reading Challenge, hosted this year by Ms Yingling Reads to give Motherreader a break. Strangely, instead of reading until all hours of the night because I couldn't fall asleep, I spent the weekend dropping off all the time, so I'm well rested but only got 29 hours in. Funny old world we live in.

I also pretty much stuck to my one-book-at-a-time experiment, which felt odd but probably sped up my page turning.

I'll go sign in at Book Journey's round-up of what people have read, are reading, and will read. I'm also heading for  Teach Mentor Texts since I read many youthful books.


This week I read:
  • The Avion My Uncle Flew, Cyrus Fisher. kidlit. An old Newberry Honor book about post-WW II France.
  • Little White Duck, Na Liu. kidlit. A Cybils graphic novel about growing up in China.
  • The Duchess War, Courney Milan. A romance about a duke and an unsuitable woman, with labor unrest.
  • Giants Beware!, Jorge Aguirre. kidlit. A Cybils graphic novel about bold children with a plan.
  • How to Save a Life, Sara Zarr. YA. A Best of the Best pick.
  • Hilda and the Midnight Giant, Luke Pearson. kidlit. A Cybils graphic novel (see a pattern here? I got the whole nominee slate.)
  • The Eye of the Warlock, P.W. Catanese. kidlit. Leftover from last summer.
  • Redshirts, John Scalzi. SF. I finally read this! Standard Scalzi, but with codas.
  • Redskin and Cowboy, G.A. Henty. kidlit. Last summer leftover, good problematic fun.
  • Ender's World, ed. Orson Scott Card. Essays about Ender's Game.
  • And All the Stars, Andrea K Host. YA. A Cybils fantasy pick. I'll give to X.
  • Delusion in Death, J.D. Robb. SF. Standard in Death book.
  • Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales: Big Bad Ironclad!, Nathan Hale. kidlit. Cybils graphic novel that isn't a novel because it's a narrative nonfiction.
  • Shadow's Claim, Kresley Cole. SF. Romance. From Vaginal Fantasy book club. Last month's book. I'm always late, but youtube will wait for me.
  • Throne of the Crescent Moon, Saladin Ahmed. SF. Good guys against evil magicians.
What am I currently reading? Almost nothing! I mean, I have the six books I'm just inching through, and I have the short stories on my NOOK that I read every day or so, and I have two audio books open because the library reclaimed one and hasn't released it back to me yet. But really, I'm not reading anything at this second.
  • Some of the Best From Tor.Com 2011. (NOOK) This is from my favorite review site.
  • The Wake of the Lorelei Lee, L.A. Meyer (audio). The library called it home! I shall request it again, as my kid is now into it. 
  • Three Bedrooms, One Corpse, Charlaine Harris (audio). My replacement so I could have something to listen to in the car.
  • Keep Me Forever, Rosemary Laurey. Dipper. Hmm, English village politics are complex.
  • The Whys of a Philosophical Scrivener, Martin Gardner. Dipper. I like his thoughts on prayer.
  • The Pickwick Papers, Charles Dickens. Dipper. More depressing lawyer stuff.
  • Senrid, Sherwood Smith. Dipper. A rescue! But by the wrong guy?
  • Abraham Lincoln: Prairie Years, Carl Sandburg. Congressman Abe misses his family.
  • A Parent's Guide to Developmental Delays,  Laurie Lecomer. Heading into sensory integration, another familiar topic.
What will I read next week? I'm about to start Alexandre Dumas's Georges on my NOOK, then Michael Carroll's Ascension from my shelves. That's the second book in the Super Human series, and my older son highly recommended it. From the library I have the Reading My Library Quest book Ordinary Magic, by Caitlen Rubino-Bradley (shelved under R), and for my book clubs I'm going to start Where'd You Go Bernadette. If I finish Ordinary Magic I'll move on to The Snow Child because it's due next week.

2013 Challenges:
  1. Cybils: 32/74.  Finished middle grade graphic novels and one YA Fantasy. Ordered up all the NF picture books.
  2. Where Am I Reading?: 25. Nothing new. Snow Child will be in Alaska, though.
  3. Crazy Quilt Colors: 5/9. Need patterns, yellow, green, and brown. Any good brown books?
  4. Reading My Library: Not this week. But I've got one in the bag.
  5. Best of the Best 2012: 41/25. Finished How to Save a Life but my audio book had to go back to the library.
  6. Summer Reading Goal: Ha! Now I'm all set for another book-a-day plan.
  7. 48 Hour Reading Challenge! Finished seven books, with an eighth done a few minutes after the final whistle. Had a great time, although I missed my boys.

Friday, June 7, 2013

Time To Start My Eyeballs!

I'm at the starting line, and already running a bit late. Also, I have no idea what I'm going to feed the family tonight. But too late for worries  -- here begins the 48 Hour Book Challenge! I've got my books, I've got library books, and I've got e-books. I've got romance, science fiction, contemporary fiction, YA, middle grade, and nonfiction ready to go. I can finish books I started last summer, attack my Reading-My-Library quest picks, polish off some Cybils books or anything else languishing on my TBR lists. Or I can just read some of the latest books from authors I'm falling behind on, such as Scalzi, Robb, Cherryh, or Aguirre. Or I can attack some of the books I've been moving with me for years. Whatever, it will involve words and pages and books!


Update (Friday, 6:30)
  • Finished The Eye of the Warlock, pp 165 -- 241, 30 minutes
  • Finished Redshirts, 317 pp, 2 hours 40 minutes
Update (Friday, 9:30)
  • Although my son highly recommended The Eye of the Warlock, I never really got into it, which is why it languished half-read on my shelves for almost a year. I did like what P.W. Catanese did with mixing various fairy tales, and how he moved Hansel and Gretel down a generation.
  • Redshirts had been on my TBR list for several years, so I was delighted to find it on the hot-picks shelves of the library. Many of the twists had been spoiled for me, but I still liked Scalzi's trademark dialogue and willingness to think through his premise. The three final codas brought up the tone of the book a few notches; I think it's the first time I've ever enjoyed a story written in second person.
  • Read Redskin and Cowboy, starting at page 67. 3 hours.
  • I'm trying to spend some blogging time visiting pages, but my internet thinks I should go back to reading. So I'll leave my laptop up until this page updates and then close it and read faster.
Update (Friday, 10:30)
  • Finished Redskin and Cowboy (384 pp).  I spent a summer vacation devouring a long pile of G.A. Henty stories back about thirty-odd years ago, so I knew what to expect when I found this copy. Daring young man who grows up to be especially big and strong (and handsome) -- check. Rotten no-good Comanches and Mexicans, complete with a variety of ethnic slurs for each -- check. Experienced guy who tags along to show our hero the ropes -- check. Strange coincidences that tie all the pieces together at the end -- check. I enjoyed it and might offer it to my aunt to help complete her collection.
  • Started Ender's World, a collection of essays about Ender's Game as a change of pace.
Update (Saturday, 12:15) 8 hours 30 minutes
  • Still reading Ender's World, but going to sleep now.
Update (Saturday, 9:00) 9 Hours 30 minutes
  • Woke up at 8 or so to continue reading (only an hours or so later than planned)
  • Finished Ender's World (284 pp), which was a collection of essays about Ender's Game from writers, teachers, military officers, and other interested parties. Nothing earth shattering, but a fun collection, and it reminded me of the other aspects of the book -- last time I read it I focused as a parent on the treatment of the kids.
  • Started And All the Stars, a YA Cybils pick.
Update (Saturday, 4:00 PM) 15 hours
  • Reading And All the Stars -- small font means this is a long book
  • Listened to Three Bedrooms, One Corpse for 60 minutes
  • Also took a break for a friend's birthday party (and, before that, for a shower)
Update (Saturday, 9:45, 19 hours, 30 minutes)
  • Finished And All the Stars, 198 pp, which I enjoyed a lot and will pass along to my 8th grader. I liked the Australian setting and the team work of the kids fighting the alien invasion. The final twists were well done.
  • Read Delusions in Death, 355pp,  in about four hours. I keep meaning to use the lap function on my iphone's stopwatch to track each book but I also keep forgetting to push the button so it's not very accurate. Anyway, this one was a standard if gruesome in Death book, with two mass murders rather than a long string of icky single deaths, but not much character development. All the side characters are in stable places -- maybe she needs McNab to lose a leg or something.
  • I think I'll do Big Bad Ironclad while figuring out what I want to read next.
Update (Saturday, 10:45, 20 hours, 30 minutes)
  • Finished Big Bad Iron Clad, 127pp,  a fun and hopefully informative comic book about Civil War history, told as a Schezerharzie-style story from spy Nathan Hale postponing his hanging. I enjoyed it, and my eighth grader liked it enough to immediately request the other book in the series.
  • Poked around on the Internet and left a few comments on blogs, but connection problems make that a bit less fun.
  • I think I'll read some more in Shadow's Claim (starting on page 26) but won't commit to finishing it. I'll just go where my fancy takes me until I get sleepy.
Update (Sunday, 5:00, 22 hours)
  • Well, I fell asleep around midnight but just woke up thanks to the sprinkler system
  • I got tired of Shadow's Claim so I started Throne of the Crescent Moon as well; I'll alternate those unless I also pick up a third book
Update (Sunday, 11:30, 25 Hours)
  • Dang, I fell asleep again, and then I kept dreaming I was reading. Now the plot of Throne of the Crescent Moon is all confused. I'll go back to Shadow's Claim which doesn't really try to be consistent anyway. And now I won't make my 30 hour goal. Humph.
Update (Sunday, 3:30, 29 hours) Finish Line
  • I finished Shadow's Claim, 481 pp, which was silly but entertaining. There was a happy ending! And lots of sex! With orgasms, even.
  • I came really close to finishing Throne of the Crescent Moon but ended up 34 pages short. Only 333 pages done. 
  • Total books read: 8, 7 finished.
  • Total pages: 2462
This year I did something very unusual for me -- I read a single book at a time, with only a few exceptions. I think that helped keep up my page count. I managed to visit a few other blogs, but my internet has been troublesome lately so that discouraged much socializing. I also listened to about an hour of an audio book, but I don't think that counts towards my page count. Thanks again to Ms Yingling for hosting this year! I'll go sign up on the Finish Line.

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Talk With The Animals


Half BrotherLast week I read two books about people talking to animals, which is funny to me since they are completely opposite books.  Kenneth Oppel wrote a realistic book about a boy whose scientist parents experiment by adopting a chimpanzee and teaching him sign language. Ben thinks he has a furry brother; his parents think they have a chance at some good research grants. Hugh Lofting's Doctor Dolittle never questions whether his chimpanzee is really speaking or not; all the Dolittle books grant every animal its own language and dialects, from Chee-chee down to nut grubs. Oppel's character has girl problems and daddy issues and ethical dilemmas; Lofting's Tommy has a vague desire to ride a beautiful horse.

Half Brother, Kenneth Oppel. It's hard for me to judge this book because Oppel did not write the book I wanted to read. The premise of a family adopting a chimpanzee and teaching him Sign Language fascinated me, but most of the book was about the human brother's relationships with girls, his dad, and sometimes his chimp brother. I found myself zoning out during the bits about the boy trying to connect with a neighbor girl and the whole adventure bit at the end of the experiment drowned the interesting parts about the emotional cost to the family under a lot of dashing about with rescue missions and fund raising stunts.

Doctor Dolittle's Puddleby Adventures, Hugh Lofting. So, this is one of the old printings, before people realized how problematic the African characters were. Highly prized among purists now. These stories don't tie together into a novel, although some group together into tiny character arcs. I mostly read them to enjoy the enigma that is the doctor's boy Tommy, who a pure every boy with no apparent talent or personality.

Monday, June 3, 2013

Gearing Up For 48 Hours of Fun

I'm not sure I like this plan of reading one book at a time. It seems so lonely, so constrained. I mean, if a TV show ends on a cliffhanger, I don't refuse to watch anything else until I know how the story ends, do I? On the other hand, I really need to finish a lot of books really soon.

So I'll do my best to control my grasshopper ways, and tunnel through my reading in a very ant-like way.

I'll go sign in at Book Journey's round-up of what people have read, are reading, and will read. I'm also heading for  Teach Mentor Texts since I read many youthful books.

This week I read:
  • Lottery, Patricia Wood. This has been on my TBR list since 2010, and I really enjoyed it. The characters were definitely black or white, but the book was cheerful about it so I didn't mind.
  • Half Brother, Kenneth Oppel. YA. A more realistic story from the author of Airborn.
  • Dr Dolittle's Puddleby Adventure, Hugh Lofting. Kidlit. I've been partway through this since last summer, so I was glad to finish. It's short stories without much cohesion, so it wasn't a problem to wait so long.
  • The Geography of Bliss, Eric Weiner. A journalist gets paid to wander the globe looking for a happy place -- nice work! Although individual bits were interesting, I didn't find that the whole gelled very well.
  • Tessie, Jesse Jackson. Kidlit. Another book left over from last summer, so my "currently reading" list gets a bit more believable.
  • Impulse, Steven Gould. YA. I read this last month, but I reread it for our family book club. Very popular with all three, and now P is reading the first in the series and we're all waiting for the next book, due late year or so.
  • Clementine and the Spring Trip, Sara Pennypacker. Kidlit. I still like Clementine, but this one was fairly standard without ringing many new notes.
  • Annie Sullivan and the Trials of Helen Keller, Joseph Lambert. YA. A Cybils pick for the graphic novel category. Interesting presentation of the Helen Keller stories.
What am I currently reading? Technically I have 14 books open, but really I'm only trying to read four, plus a book of short stories I'm dipping in.  And the audio book.  The bookmarks left in the others will be tackled in their own turns, plus the books I'm just ambling my way through rather than seriously trying to read.
  • How To Save a Life. Sara Zarr. Another pick from the Best of the Best lists.
  • The Duchess War, Courtney Milan. NOOK. I have good expectations for this author.
  • Shadow's Claim, Kresley Cole. A Vaginal Fantasy pick.
  • The Avion My Uncle Flew, Cyrus Fisher. Kidlit. Leftover from last summer.
  • Some of the Best From Tor.Com 2011. (NOOK) This is from my favorite review site.
  • The Wake of the Lorelei Lee, L.A. Meyer (audio). Disc three, and they prepare to sail
  • Keep Me Forever, Rosemary Laurey. Dipper. She's a vampire, he seems to be a werewolf.
  • The Whys of a Philosophical Scrivener, Martin Gardner. Dipper. I like his thoughts on prayer.
  • The Pickwick Papers, Charles Dickens. Dipper. Wow, lawyers make life depressing.
  • Senrid, Sherwood Smith. Dipper. A rescue! But by the wrong guy?
  • Abraham Lincoln: Prairie Years, Carl Sandburg. Congressman Abe heads for D.C.
  • A Parent's Guide to Developmental Delays,  Laurie Lecomer. The gross motor section brought back a lot of memories.
What will I read next week? From the library I'm looking at Cybils pick And All the Stars and the Reading My Library choice Ordinary Magic, and from my shelves I'm hoping to finish The Eye of the Warlock. On my NOOK I have Georges as a change of pace after The Duchess. And during the weekend of the 48 Hour Reading Challenge I'll read anything that looks tasty, especially from my groaning library shelves. Probably Scalzi's Redshirts and Robb's (something or other) In Death and anything else I picked up because I couldn't resist it. Those make for good reading in crunch times.

2013 Challenges:
  1. Cybils: 27/74.  I've started the younger graphic novels but sometimes have to pry them from my sons' hands to get at them.
  2. Where Am I Reading?: 25. Halfway, unless you count D.C, which I'm trying not to. It was fortunate for me that Helen Keller lived in Alabama.
  3. Crazy Quilt Colors: 5/9. I'm still hoping for luck here.
  4. Science Book Challenge: Nothing so far, although Geography of Bliss tried to be scientific at times. Maybe I'll review that.
  5. Reading My Library: Not this week.
  6. Best of the Best 2012: 40/25. I'm not doing this years, since I'm still working on last year's list.
  7. Summer Reading Goal: I need to finish up the last few so I can start again in June.
  8. 48 Hour Reading Challenge! Coming up next weekend!

Sunday, June 2, 2013

Lovely Day at the Library

Renton Library All the kids declined to accompany me but I managed to have a pleasant yet restrained time at the library anyway. I ogled books all over but only brought homes the ones on my hold shelf.

See, I clearly have far more books out right now than I can possibly read before the library calls them home, and I hate letting go a book before I'm ready. Luckily the 48 Hour Book Challenge is next weekend; maybe that will help me plow through a pile of must-reads.

I picked up:
Image of itemImage of itemImage of itemImage of item

  • The Fire Lord's Lover, Kathryne Kennedy. June Vaginal Fantasy pick.
  • Joshua's Song, Joan Harlow. This is for my kid, who was interested in the Boston Molasses Disaster.
  • Follow Follow, Marilyn Singer. Another book of reverso poems. I'm looking forward to this.
  • The Four Corners of the Sky, Michael Malone. This is on my TBR list, although from three years ago and I have no memory of why I put it there. I just have to trust myself.
I have a total of 57 things out on my library cards, which is a bit excessive. This is actually down from last week, because I had forgotten about the books out from the city library. Oops. But at least three are CD's, and I'm hoping the graphic novels will go quickly. But I'm definitely over my age, so no book buying for me this week.

I'll go share my Library Loot at the event co-hosted by Claire from the Captive Reader and Marg from The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader, where all the library addicts compare their treasures. And I think I'll sign up at Tynga's Stacking the Shelves, which asks for all the books acquired, which this week is just the library stuff.
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