Dream Day

  Go Hawks! That is what we Seattle football fans say when our team has reached the Superbowl, which I believe is a Thing. Do that sport thing with the ball that results in victory, Seahawks! I hope my terminology isn't too technical for my readers.

This is a good reading week for me, in that I finished several books I was dragging my eyeballs on, and am currently reading books that I like to read, as opposed to want to have read. I also treated myself to some picture books at the library, since I'm not browsing for books during my TBR TRIPLE DOG DARE.

I'll sign in at Book Journey and Teach Mentor Texts since I want to see what everyone else is reading this month. I managed to finish five whole books, plus a few picture books.

This week I've managed to finish:

• In Zanesville, Jo Ann Beard. This is an Alex Award winner, or a book marketed for adults that librarians think teens would like.
• Conspiracy, Lindsay Buroker. NOOK. Fun adventure story in fantasy world setting.
• Alabama Moon, Watt Key. Kidlit. Or maybe YA. Young boy comes out of the wilderness to clash with civilization in the form of social services.
• Unspoken, Sarah Rees Brennan. YA. I reread this so I can read Untold. This one went slow not because I didn't like reading it, but because I enjoy Brennan's prose so much that I like to savor it.
• The Templeton Twins Have an Idea, Ellis Weiner. Kidlit. A Reading-my-library pick that I chose because I know my younger son enjoyed it. I see why.

I also read some picture books (Benjamin Chaud, the library has your Cybils finalist book on order):

• Boy and Bot, Anne Dyckman. I liked the misunderstandings when they turned themselves off.
• It's Duffy Time, Audrey Wood. Any book that properly understands the importance of napping is good by me. I recommend this book to Angela in Sarah Rees Brennan's Unspoken.
• Sammy In the Sky, Barbara Walsh. Intimate pictures show how a girl reacts to the loss of her pet.
• Happy, Mies van Hout. This didn't resonate with me -- the painted words were hard to decipher which would put me off reading the book with a child. Also, fish expressions are odd.

What am I currently reading? Five books in my bag.

• Magic Rises, Ilona Andrews. Latest in the Kate Daniels series, so I'm expecting lots of combat, sexy were-lion mates, and maybe some vampires.
• Untold, Sarah Rees Brennan. YA. I'm finally getting to start this! Hooray!
• The Forbidden Rose, Joanna Bourne. Spymaster series romance about Doyle and young Hawk. Oh, and Maggie.
• The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, N.K. Jemison. Book club book for online group. I have this on my NOOK for travel.
• Fierce Reads Anthology. NOOK. Short stories from Tor.com, mostly YA.
• Rotters, Daniel Kraus. Audio. Time for a father-son discussion of mysterious trips and spying on your old man.
• Developing Standards-Based Report Cards, Thomas R. Guskey & Jane M. Bailey. I found it! And the meeting changed topics anyway, so my homework was ignored.
• Radio Fifth Grade, Gordon Korman. The new teacher does not respect the radio.
• Out to Canaan, Jan Karon. The borrowed pickup truck has the engine of a Jaguar.
• Keep Me Forever, Rosemary Laurey. I like the progress of the rich gardener.
• A General Theory of Love, Thomas Lewis. How brain chemistry maps to emotions, especially affectionate ones.
• The Pickwick Papers, Charles Dickens. The legend of Bath.
• How To Write Science Fiction & Fantasy, Orson Scott Card. The importance of consistency when using crazy stuff.

What's up next? I'm still concentrating on my home library, so I hope to get to The Second Spy, a Books of Elsewhere sequel.  I also have Catching Fire out, since I want to read it before the movie disappears.   If I finish Magic Rises I'll go on to The Lover's Dictionary by David Levithan. And my friendly book club is doing Tarzan of the Apes. 

2014 Challenges:

1. TBR Triple Dog Dare: 3. Polished off two books on my NOOK. Well, one I have on both NOOK and paper, but still.
2. Cybils: 8/77. No change, but I did get two more kids to read the picture books.
3. Where Am I Reading? 6/51. I'm on track for this year, assuming I need 5 states a month.
4. What's In a Name?: 0/6. 
5. Reading My Library:  Finished Weiner's The Templeton Twins Have an Idea.
6. Best of the Best 2012: 48/25.  Dragging through Rotters. Looking forward to Lover's Dictionary.