Triple Dog Dare CrunchTime!

Another week and I'm still on the No-New-Books Triple Dog Dare. The end of March is in sight. So close!

I've been busily reading Cybils books and encouraging my kids to read them as well. We also had our family book club meeting and discussed Margaret Lovett's The Great and Terrible Quest, which was a big hit. I also managed to start and finish Leonard Richardson's Constellation Games. He was the guest of honor at this year's Foolscap and I've been meaning to read his book since January, and after meeting him I was even more interested. Good stuff.

Now 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 recent reading path.

• Constellation Games, Leonard Richardson. A book about first contact, responsibility, and trust.
• Monster On the Hill, Rob Harrell. Cybils young graphic novel, popular with my boys.
• March Book 1, John Lewis. Cybils young graphic novel, approved by high schooler.
• Goddess of Spring, P.C. Cast. NOOK. Alt pick for Vaginal Fantasy. Fun.
• Hereville: How Mirka Met a Meteorite, Barry Deutsch.  Cybils young graphic novel.
• The Darkest Kiss, Gena Showalter. Main pick for Vaginal Fantasy. I didn't like it.
• The Great and Terrible Quest, Margaret Lovett. Family book club book. As good as I remembered.
• The Life of Ty: Penguin Problems, Lauren Myracle. Cybils Early Chapter book. I didn't trust the realism.

Also some picture books:

• Pug and Other Animal Poems, Valerie Worth. Cybils poetry book.
• Extraordinary Jane, Hannah E. Harrison. Fun book about a dog with no special talent.
• 123 versus ABC, Mike Boldt. Numbers face off with letters.
• What Will Fat Cat Sit On, Jan Thomas. I loved this simple tale of a scary big cat while the other animals frantically dodge the bullet.
• What If Everybody Did That, Ellen Javernick. I would have liked this one more if it had involved different people learning the lesson -- by the end of the book I wanted to turn the viewpoint boy over my knee.

What am I currently reading? I have finished nothing on this list this week! Instead I plowed through some Cybils light reading and the Vaginal Fantasy books about to expire from my NOOK. Then I got to work on the Foolscap GoH book I've had out since January but hadn't gotten around to reading yet, and which the library wants back pronto.

• Hawke's Harbor, S.E. Hinton. I think I got this for the setting (Delaware) but then it turned out to be a duplicate, and now the library wants it back. Very different from Outsiders.
• Poems to Learn By Heart, Caroline Kennedy (ed.). This is a Cybils poetry book, and I'm only reading a chapter or so at a time so I can decide if I want to learn any new poems by heart.
• One Week Girlfriend, Monica Murphy. I got distracted by other books so haven't actually made any progress on this.
• The Raven Boys, Maggie Stiefvater (book & NOOK). There's a lot of foreshadowing of doom, which does not make me rush to finish the book.
• The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax, Dorothy Gilman. AUDIO. We are all enjoying this, especially the part where her prison companions are tortured.
• The City of Ember, Jeanne DuPrau. AUDIO. This is the March Sword and Laser Kids book. Xan and I listen to it so we don't get ahead of Paulos with Mrs Pollifax.
• War For the Oaks, Emma Bull. I'm liking this, but boy can I tell that I waited decades to read it -- it's practically historical!
• The Unseen Guest (Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place), Maryrose Wood. I think this is a bit too twee for me, but I'm enjoying the ostrich. 
• Long May She Reign, Ellen Emerson White. E.E. White is a great writer -- she really nails her characters.

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

• Radio Fifth Grade, Gordon Korman. They may have to start doing their own homework.
• Out to Canaan, Jan Karon. The good mayor is back in the lead.
• A General Theory of Love, Thomas Lewis. The importance of early training in emotional equilibrium.
• The Pickwick Papers, Charles Dickens. Pickwick in prison -- dull.
• How To Write Science Fiction & Fantasy, Orson Scott Card. Reader expectations in SF and regular literature, aka the dangers of early metaphors.

What's up next? We Are Not Eaten By Yaks is STILL up on top of my nightstand, with the library book The Night Circus waits patiently next to it. I want to concentrate on my books, not library ones for this last week of the TBR challenge.

2014 Challenge Progress:

1. TBR Triple Dog Dare: 21 +3. The plus three are books I own but haven't read in years.
2. Cybils: 35/77. Finished the Early Chapter Books, working on poetry, and starting on young graphic novels.
3. Where Am I Reading? 17/51. Finished books from Italy (maybe) and Greece, and checked off Georgia as a state. Still reading the California and Virginia books.
4. Alphabetically Inclined: 14/26. Into the back half.
5. What's In a Name?: 4/7. Still need weather, school subject, and shape. Next month I can start scanning the Quick Pick display at the library for these.
6. Book Bingo: 20 Squares. I need a mystery. And a handful of New Releases.
7. Gentle Spectrum Challenge: 5/10, 6/10. Got a season and a family name.
8. Small Fry Safari: 4/8. Still need furniture, time, pairs, and something else.
9. PoC Speculative Fiction 1/5: Nothing. I read books by PoCs, and I read SF, but nothing combining the two.
10. Best of the Best 2012: 51/25.  No change.
11. Reading My Library:  Still working on Maryrose Wood's book.