One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

Last week I finished a big stack of books, and felt all accomplished and everything. Of course, since my habit is to read dozens of books at once, the law of averages means that some weeks a lot of them end.

Other weeks, a lot of them begin, apparently. I recklessly checked out many books last month, aware of the slow doom of the Triple Dog Dare approaching, and now is the time the due dates start looming. So this week I started a lot of books, which is the first step towards finishing them.

I'm still rocking the Triple Dog Dare, though, so all is not lost. and I added a Diversity Challenge, which I'm hoping I don't have to adjust my reading much to meet. It may turn out that I read from a small pool, in which case it will encourage me to try some bigger waves.

The Book Date is collecting the roundups of what everyone is reading and talking about this week. I'll also look in with Teach Mentor Texts which does the same thing for kidlit.

This week I finished five books:




Between Planets, Robert Heinlein. The Full Cast Audio made this easy listening, and the contrast between what looked like future tech in the 1950's and what we have today kept us amused. The lack of cell phones or internet or Moore's Law were the most egregious, as well as an understanding of what species girl humans belong to (hint, they are human). But these would be good to listen to on long car rides.

Kat, Incorrigible, Stephanie Burgis. This was a LibraryThing Secret Santa pick for me, except the English title was different so they thought it wasn't available. My library is awesome, so I get to read it anyway. I wish the sisters in the family were kinder to each other; it bothers me to read about contempt in a family, even where they retain basic loyalty to each other. I'm spoiled by the consideration my sons show to each other, which I possibly helped foster. I know my siblings and I were rotten to each other as kids and we are tight as adults, but I still prefer compassion.

Mercenary Instinct, Ruby Lionsdrake. Lindsay Buroker tried to hide from me by using a Kindle-only pseudonym, but I cannot be defeated so easily. This is a science fiction pseudonym that has the same style of witty dialogue, fast action, decent sexytimes, and energetic protagonists.

* Canadian Summer, Hilda van Stockum. This author is an childhood favorite of mine who I recently discovered wrote other books without even telling me! So my awesome library sent me this 1948 story about a large Catholic family spending the summer in the Canadian mountains.

Libriomancer, Jim Hines. I reread this along with my Tuesday book club. Maybe it will inspire me to read the third book, especially as the fourth just came out.

* Books I started this week. Most books tend last for weeks on my lists, because I have this habit of reading dozens of things at once. But occasionally I keep focus for several days on end.

Since I was late to the library, I didn't get a chance to read any picture books. Phooey.

I started new eight books. That seems like a lot, doesn't it?:



Imperfect Sword, Jack Campbell. This has a very annoying pregnancy subplot that is not quite enough to get me to drop this series. I do get the feeling that author Campbell thinks of women as fundamentally different from men on almost every level. Legally equal, but alien.

Emerald Atlas, John Stephens. A "dipping" book for me, so I won't finish it for months, but proof that I am planning to read all the books on the kidlit shelf of my TBR bookcase. Cases.

Time and Again, Nora Roberts. A book I got by accident from the library (see other Time and Again book I am reading for a book club) but that looks fun for a few hours.

God Help the Child, Toni Morrison. Next Library Quest Book.

Blue Lily, Lily Blue, Maggie Stiefvater. Third but not last in a YA series.

A Stranger's Gift, Anna Schmidt. I have no idea how this book appeared on my Kindle app, but there it is.

A Family of Readers, Roger Sutton & Martha V. Parravano. A book about reading children's books -- it was probably written explicitly for me.

Radiance, Catherynne Valente. This is last month's Sword and Laser, so Time and Again was month before last. Luckily I've read this months book already, so I'll catch up by not rereading.

Bookmarks moved in six books:



Republic, Lindsay Buroker. I like the introduction of new characters, especially the mother/daughter pair.

Under a Graveyard Sky, John Ringo. The US Navy shows up. Commodore Wolf is not overly impressed.

Crux, Ramaz Naam. I need to pay more attention; I think I just met a new character, but maybe I just forgot him from the last book?

Hild, Nicola Griffith. My next audio book in the Library Quest; I choose it because I have a paper copy on my TBR stack. I move the bookmark along to track my progress.

Time and Again, Jack Finney. This was the Sword and Laser pick for last month. Or maybe the month before that. It's a bit of a slow read, but at least the time traveling has begun.

Mortal Heart, Robin LaFevers. Another Cybils Finalist. I wouldn't want to be cloistered either.

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.



Rob Roy, Walter Scott. Rob Roy escaped! Our hero sees his ex-girlfriend. Well, friend who is a girl.
A Traitor To Memory, Elizabeth George. The inert musician ponders.
Awakening to the Sacred, Lama Surya Das.
Midnight Crossroad, Charlaine Harris.
Emerald Atlas, John Stephens. This has joined the list of slow books.
Reading and Learning To Read, Jo Vacca. Words games for beginning readers.

2016 Challenge Progress:

1. Cybils 2015: 7 out of 82. Mortal Heart is on my e-reader.
2. Reading My Library: I'm finished the audio of Between Planets and went back to Hild. and I started the audio of Between Planets as well. Started God Help the Child by Morrison so I'm well into the M's.
3. Where Am I Reading?: 8/50.  Currently reading an Oregon, Florida, and Virginia books.
4. TBR Triple Dog Dare. My totals are 19 library books, 3 personal library, 3 e-book.
5. Full House Challenge: 20/25. I'm zooming! I need to figure out what counts as "book club worthy."
6. Library Challenge: I'm at 23 already -- Young Adult. This is not counting picture books because I usual read those in the library.
7. Diversity Challenge 2016: Kidlit: 2/12. Adult lit: 4/12. I think those are the low-hanging fruit. This month is Location diversity -- I read in 5 continents, 10 countries, and some outer space locations.