Crunch Time

This November, I'm focusing on finishing my library books. Ideally I'd only have about five or ten books out at a time, since I get more from the library each week. But my eyes are always bigger than my, er, eyes, so I tend to pick up enough books for two or three weeks every Thursday. And then I notice the problem, try to show some self-restraint and read as fast as I can to catch up.

Of course, November is traditionally also the month when I notice that I'm far behind on my reading challenges, so I rush off getting the books I need to finish them. For example, I need about fifteen more Cybils books, so I requested them all from the library. I also need about fifteen more states for my state challenge, as well as a few colors for the Rainbow challenge. So I've got two incompatible goals here.

So, after hogging an entire shelf of the holds bookcase, I came home with:

• Endangered, Eliot Schrefer. Cybils finalist. YA. Set in Africa.
• Boy 21, Matthew Quick. Cybils finalist. YA. Takes place in Bellmont. I don't suppose that's in Delaware?
• Four Mile, Watt Key. Cybils finalist. YA. Alabama. The author sounds familiar.
• Moonbird, Phillip Hoose.  Cybils finalist. YA NF. I thought this was about outer space, but the cover made me double check the author, so birds make more sense. Takes place globally.

• Geeks, Girls, and Secret Identities, Mike Jung. Cybils finalist. Kidlit.  Looks fun.
• Titanic: Voices From the Disaster, Deborah Hopkinson. Cybils finalist. YA NF. Will probably be depressing.
• The Cabinet of Earths, Anne Nesbit.  Cybils finalist. Kidlit. Takes place in France. Why does nobody want to write about Vermont?
• The Storyteller, Antonia Michaelis. Cybils finalist. YA. Translated from the German, which I guess is as hint to its setting.

• The Peculiar, Stefan Bachmann. Cybils finalist. Kidlit. Takes place in Bath, which is probably in England. 
• A Dangerous Talent, Charlotte & Aron Elkins. I believe this takes place in New Mexico. I checked it out last year but ran out of time before reading it, so I'm trying again. I think a friend recommended it when I asked for specific state books.
• The Lord of Mountains, S.M. Stirling. OK, this one wasn't even on the hold shelf, but I saw it in Quick Picks and knew it's on my list to read someday. So I grabbed it.

Also, I got another music CD.

This means I now have 55 things out on my library cards, which is well over my age so I'm not allowed to buy any books this week. And before I got around to posting this I've noticed that I have another four books waiting for me.