Farewell To Youthful Thoughts

Adios Twindom! For a few weeks every year my little sister and I share an age, but tomorrow I surge forth again into older-sister glory. Instead of dallying in the youthful pleasures with my younger sibling, I must stride forth into the graver delights of wisdom and experience. Luckily I can do this while eating cake.

I finished most of the stuff in my book bag this week, and looked over a few picture books in the library since I still am trying to avoid anything new, so I'll sign in at Book Journey and Teach Mentor Texts since I want to see what everyone else is reading this month while I show off my accomplishments.

• Rotters, Daniel Kraus. Audio. This was a fairly good story buried under a tide of really gross descriptions that kept me out of the story, so far out that I couldn't really believe in any of the characters. 
• Thousand Pieces of Gold, Ruthanne Lum McCunn. Historical fiction about a Chinese woman brought to Idaho against her will. She still manages to forge a community and family.
• The New Kids: Big Dreams and Brave Journeys at a High School for Immigrant Teens, Brooke Hauser. Interesting book where you follow along in a year with kids.
• Welcome to the Ark, Stephanie S. Tolan. YA. I finally finished this -- I started it last summer back in New Zealand.
• Rump: the True Story of Rumpelstiltskin, Liesl Shurtliff. Last month's Sword and Laser Kids pick, and also our family book club pick (not coincidentally).
• The Return of Tarzan, Edgar Rice Burroughs. I had forgotten how much fun these are. Although since Tarzan spends more of his time among people in this 2nd book, there is more room for racism and sexism to show up.
• Mrs. Pollifax on Safari, Dorothy Gilman. Old friends and new companions -- I'm still loving this series.

Also a few picture books:

• Flying Henry, Rachel Hulin. Neat photoshopping launches a baby into thin air in realistic pictures. The story is a bit lame.
• Willow Finds a Way, Lana Button. Willow manages to tame a bully and everyone is friends in the end. A bit too sweet.
• My Grandpa, Marta Altes. Emphatic story of a boy and his mentally failing grandfather. Made me sad because my dad is so much worse off than the pictured grandpa.
• Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman, Marc Tyler Nobleman. Interesting nonfiction account of the policies and prejudices that kept this secret for so many years. 

What am I currently reading? Only one book repeats from last week! That's amazing.

• Georges, Alexandre Dumas. NOOK. He's ditching the girl to lead a revolution? Georges, this will not end well. Please notice that this is the only book left from last week -- I finished most of what I started!
• Undead and Unwed, MaryJanice Davidson. NOOK.
• One Week Girlfriend, Monica Murphy. Earlyreader present -- I'm almost caught up with these!
• The Raven Boys, Maggie Stiefvater (book & NOOK). Next on my TBR list, and then I noticed that I had purchased for my NOOK at some point.
• The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax, Dorothy Gilman. AUDIO. I finally finished Rotters, and the sheer grossness was so bad that as a cleanser the kids and I are laughing along to this.

Reading intermittently, and deliberately slowly. These never change much:

• Radio Fifth Grade, Gordon Korman. Lost radios. Lost parrot!
• Out to Canaan, Jan Karon. Time for local politics to erupt.
• Keep Me Forever, Rosemary Laurey. Mystery solved, love declared.
• A General Theory of Love, Thomas Lewis. Training your brain with neural networks.
• The Pickwick Papers, Charles Dickens. More court stuff -- blech.
• How To Write Science Fiction & Fantasy, Orson Scott Card. Different kinds of story, and the different arcs for each type -- how to know where to begin and end.

What's up next? I've pulled The Dragon and the George of my dusty bookshelves. I still need to read Long May She Reign by Friday. My next library book will be my Reading-My-Library Quest pick The Unseen Guest, a Incorrigible Children of Ashton place book by Maryrose Wood.  I think I'll push Walton back for a more lightweight We Are Not Eaten By Yaks after One Week Boyfriend is done.

2014 Challenge Progress:

1. TBR Triple Dog Dare: 17. Only a few weeks left, which is good because several of my favorite authors are publishing books this month...
2. Cybils: 21/77. Received but haven't started the Early Chapter Books. 
3. Where Am I Reading? 16/51. I'm into my April Quota! I've also got three African books in, although I'm blank in Asia, South America, and Oceania.
4. Alphabetically Inclined: 10/26. Stuck at ten. 
5. What's In a Name?: 3/7. Still nothing. But something I'm currently reading qualifies!
6. Book Bingo: 18 Squares. Two rows and one column complete. I wish I had noticed that Rump was a new release...
7. Gentle Spectrum Challenge: 5/10, 4/10. Gold is another color. And an Ark is a structure, right?
8. Small Fry Safari: 2/8 -- A picture book and Rump fall into Name in Title and Unsightly in Title.
9. Reading My Library:  Got another one on the top of the pile.
10. Best of the Best 2012: 51/25.  Finished Rotters! Whew, that was not to my taste. Also read and enjoyed The New Kids, about immigrant high schoolers.