First 2014 Status

 
Well, I managed to finish all of my challenges last year, but I didn't manage even to post the status updates I actually wrote in the last half of December. So I'll include them with this month.

I'll sign in at Book Journey and Teach Mentor Texts since I want to see what everyone else is reading this month.

This year I've read:

• The Arrangement, Mary Balogh. Gentle Regency romance with a poor woman and a blind guy. The author kept feeling guilty about the lack of conflict and trying to throw in some angst and misunderstanding, but the characters didn't really believe it.
• Paperboy, Vince Vawter. Kidlit. A stuttering paperboy in civil-rights-era Memphis starts to grow in understanding of himself and the adults around him.
• Navigating Early, Clare Vanderpool. Kidlit. Two grieving boys in Maine go on a river journey to learn about themselves with the aide of amazing coincidences.
• Autumn Bones: Agent of Hel, Jacqueline Carey. SF. Second volume in a urban fantasy set in a Michigan tourist town. Met all my expectations, in a good way.

Last year (last two weeks of December) I finished:

• All the Possibilities, Nora Roberts. Romance. Set in Washington, D.C., for my 50 states challenge.
• Heaven and Earth, Nora Roberts. Romance & SF. Earth was a brownish-color for my color challenge.
• Unspoken Fear, Hunter Morgan. Thriller. Set in Delaware for the 50 states challenge.
• Crab Monsters, Teenage Cavemen, and Candy Stripe Nurses: Roger Corman: King of the B Movie, Chris Nashawaty. Non-fiction. Stripes finished off the Color challenge.
• Hidden in Plain View: A Secret Story of Quilts and the Underground Railroad, Jackeline L. Tobin. Non-fiction. South Carolina for my 50-states challenge.
• The World's Strongest Librarian: A Memoir of Tourette's, Faith, Strength, and the Power of Family, Josh Hanagarne. Non-fiction. Utah.
• The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio: How My Mother Raised 10 Kids on 25 Words or Less, Terry Ryan. Non-fiction. Ohio. Are we seeing a pattern here?
• Coyote Autumn, Bill Wallace. Kidlit. Reading-My-Library book. Set in Oklahoma, which jumped it up the queue.
• After Dead: What Came Next in the World of Sookie Stackhouse, Charlaine Harris. SF. Cute.
• Calculated in Death, J.D. Robb. SF & Thriller. As expected.
• I'm With Stupid, Geoff Herbach. YA. NOOK. Wisconsin.
• The Storyteller, Antonia Michaelis. YA. Cybils. Last Cybils finalist. I didn't like it -- too grim.
• Are These My Basoomas I See Before Me?, Louise Rennison. YA. Audio. Best-of-the-Best list that had my high schooler guffawing.
• Outside Providence, Peter Farrelly. YA? I have no idea what the audience was. Rhode Island.
• Wyoming Bold, Diana Palmer. Romance. Wyoming. Ahem.
• Seed No Evil, Kate Collins. Cosy Mystery set in Indiana. Fun.
• At Large and At Small, Ann Fadiman. Essays that I've been meaning to read. I love Fadiman's writing.
• Snow in Summer, Jane Yolen. YA. West Virginia, but anything by Yolen is a treat.

What am I currently reading?  My book bag has some essays by Fadiman, a cozy mystery in Indiana, the latest paperback In Death book, and my NOOK. 

• Unspoken, Sarah Rees Brennan. I'm finally free to read Untold, her latest book, but I want to reread the first book so everything is fresh in my mind. Also, it's fun seeing the stuff she seeds early know that I know what it will grow into.
• Paradise, Toni Morrison. I lost this! I was reading it, and then I walked out the door, and now it's gone! Could be in the car, could be on top the fridge. I have put out a bounty.
• Revenant Eve, Sherwood Smith. I've lost this too! I picked it up after losing Paradise, and then I put it down somewhere. I really hope that somewhere was not the Pacific Science Center.
• In Janesville, Jo Ann Beard. The next book in the Best-of-the-Best list, from the Alex picks, books published for adults that kids might like. I am not enjoying this list very much; this book is rather dull and occasionally rises to annoying. I think it's too close to home to be interesting, but not spot-on with my memories so I'm not nostalgic about it.
• Conspiracy, Lindsay Burokers. NOOK. Finally getting to read this -- dirigibles and train robbery -- good times.
• Rotters, Daniel Kraus. Audio. The back of this book tells me grave-digging will be involved. This lowers my enthusiasm about listening to it. At least I don't expect zombies.
• Developing Standards-Based Report Cards, Thomas R. Guskey & Jane M. Bailey. I really should just finish this -- the last session roamed all over the book.
• Radio Fifth Grade, Gordon Korman. The new teacher does not respect the radio.
• Out to Canaan, Jan Karon. The adopted son is home from college, and cranky.
• Keep Me Forever, Rosemary Laurey. I like the progress of the rich gardener.
• A General Theory of Love, Thomas Lewis. Some false notes about autism.
• The Pickwick Papers, Charles Dickens. Pickwick is defiant, and goes to Bath. I snore.
• How To Write Science Fiction & Fantasy, Orson Scott Card. I like his definitions of science fiction.

What's up next? I'm trying to concentrate on my physical TBR pile, especially since I've started the Triple Dog Dare, but a few library books are demanding to be returned so I also have to clear those out. I'm really looking forward to Sarah Rees Brennan's Untold, and after that The Second Spy, Books of Elsewhere 3 by Jacqueline West. I've got Alabama Moon next in my library pile, and then Magic Rises, although I'm really hoping to find the missing books Paradise and Revenant Eve so I can polish those off first.

My elementary school book club is reading Eva Ibbotson's Dial a Ghost, and then my adult book club is reading Tarzan of the Apes. Vaginal Fantasy is doing The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin, and I'd like to read along.

2013 Challenges:

1. Cybils: 74/74.  Finished! I've started this year's list.
2. Where Am I Reading?: 51/51. Hard work and dedication in December paid off. I shall resolve once more not to leave it to the last minute next year -- I'm definitely doing this again.
3. Crazy Quilt Colors: 9/9. Earth and stripes gave me brown and patterns.

2014 Challenges

1. TBR Triple Dog Dare: So far so good, although I haven't actually read anything. I would have finished that Paradise book if it hadn't secreted itself somewhere.
2. Cybils: 3/77. I've ordered up the fiction picture books from the library.
3. Reading My Library:  Three done: Coyote Autumn, The Paperboy, and Navigating Early.
4. Best of the Best 2012: 46/25.  Started In Zanesville but so far I'm not enjoying it.