PostDewey Readathon Post

For years Book Journey has run IMWAYR (It's Monday, What Are You Reading) from her blog, but she has announced that the time has come to pass on the mantle of the meme. So now The Book Date is collecting the roundups of what everyone is reading and talking about this week at back at her blog. I'll also sign in with Teach Mentor Texts since at least three and possibly four of these books could show up in a school library.

This week I actually managed to finish a few books, because I participated in the Dewey 24 Hour Readathon. I once again dedicated myself to finishing all the books I've been an hour or so away from finishing for the past, oh months. After missing the start (5:00 AM for me), I managed to spend from 6:30 until 5:00 the next morning reading, with only about an hour doing mundane things like showering, seeing my family, blah blah blah). So probably a bit over 21 hours reading, although some of that was spent roaming the Internet to see what everyone else was reading, which led to me WINNING a prize in hour 23. I love winning.

This week I finished 8 (7 during the Readathon) books:

Forged in Blood II, Lindsay Buroker. The end of the Emperor's Edge series, although there's now one more book. These are fun fantasy books with entertaining characters and a fast moving plot, mixing magic and technology with skillful abandon.

Harriet the Invincible, Ursula Vernon. The latest Vernon graphic novel (well, novel with pictures? the pictures are part of the story), and a wonderful take on the Sleeping Beauty story. Recommended for beginning readers and up.

Lulu Walks the Dogs, Judith Viorst. Most books about brats leave me fairly cold (Eloise, the Olivia books), but Viorst's books about Lulu make me smile. No one (including Lulu) excuses her behavior, but it's definitely a fact that the author reports. I say the author because there's a lot of fourth wall crossing in these. This would be a fun read aloud, aimed at literate children.

Morning Glory LaVyrle Spencer. A gentle romance about an ex-con and a recluse in the 1940's. It follows the standard romance arc, then adds on a war story and a murder accusation. The final bits left a bad taste though, since the heroic lawyer gets our guy off by slut-shaming the victim, and I kept distracting myself by wondering if the details were accurate (were there court-appointed lawyers back then?).

Leviathan, Jack Campbell. This might be the final book in The Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier books, as it wraps up a lot of the overarching story lines. I like these books despite their flaws -- the characters are drawn from stereotypes, but stereotypes that are based on real people, so that they ring true despite their standard construction. The aliens provide helpful hints just in time.

Seven Wild Sisters, Charles de Lint. Oops. I didn't mean to finish this book, as usually out Tuesday book club only asks for about 100 pages a week. But I like de Lint, and this book flowed, and once I switched to the paper copy the pictures made it even smoother going.

Breaking Point, C.J. Box. Another Library Quest Book! On to the C's.

Runemarks, Joanne Harris. This take on Norse mythology has a lot to say about story, identity and the power of words as it mixes together a sympathetic teenager, Loki, and a variety of villains and heroes who haven't all sorted themselves into the right side yet.

Bookmarks Moved in a few other books:

audio: Defender of Shannara: Druids Blade, Terry Brooks. We are starting with a damsel in distress story, starring the main character's idiot little sister. 

Plague of Doves, Louise Erdrich. The print was too small to read much during the readathon, but I'm enjoying the language and sense of community depicted.

The next few books I'm not really reading, just dipping into between the books I'm trying to finish so that I can pretend that I'm going to read the books on my bookcases.
The October Country, Ray Bradbury.
If I'm Jewish and You're Christian, What Are the Kids?
Rob Roy, Walter Scott
Waiting For the Party, Ann Thwaite
A Traitor To Memory, Elizabeth George
Reading and Learning To Read, Jo Vacca

And I started three new books:


Autobiography of a Face, Lucy Grealy. I think I can remember adding this to my to-read list while pregnant with my first child.
The Ming Tea Murder, Laura Childs. Another Library Quest book.
Dreams Underfoot, Charles de Lint. Highly recommended by a friend, plus it'll be a companion book the the book club book I accidentally finished.

2015 Challenge Progress:

1. Reading My Library: Finished the first Large Print book and started the second. Moving along with the B's in audio books.
2. Where Am I Reading?: 35/51. Breaking Point was a Wyoming book, and I've got a Hawaii option on the waiting shelf. Currently reading a North Dakota.
3. Award Winning Book Challenge: I have apparently stopped reviewing books. But I've ticked off many awards. 
4. Book Riot Read Harder: 23/24. I still need an African author.
5. Alphabetically Inclined:  I V X  Z still missing. 22/26. Since I only count books I own, this is hard.
6. Best of the Best 2012: 52/25.  I am stalled. Maybe time to go back?
7. Cybils 2014: Complete! I bought the last one as the libraries didn't seem to have it. WOOT!