Back From a European Vacation

Yeah, my boys came home! They apparently had a great time in Greece with their dad, stepmom, and baby sisters, and I got a small bonus as I shoved their suitcase into the laundry machine of a stash of baby pictures they found while clearing out a grandparent's apartment to ready it for rental. It's fun seeing pics of my strapping seventeen year old as a naked baby kicking up his heels. Or dangling from his heels in another shot.

X says it's a sign of his unity with Achilles, that he enjoyed being held in the grip I used to render his body just about impervious to harm. Meanwhile I continued frantically reading for my reading Team Tapers, even giving up a chance for some foam sword action in favor of finishing a crucial piece of literature (it had a naked arm on the cover, which would give us bonus points in this amazingly complex reading game).

The Book Date does a weekly roundup of what people are reading, want to read, have read each week called It's Monday! What Are You Reading and I'm going to sign up. There's also a version that is kidlit focussed, and as that is a particular interest of mine, I check in with either Teach Mentor Text or UnLeashing Readers for their version.

My pile of books for this week:

 

Ancillary Justice, Ann Leckie. A reread for my Tuesday book club; I like this book even more the second time. I liked watching how Breq defines herself as human, and what she misses.

Bronze Gods, A.A. Aguirre. This book needs bigger print, but I still enjoy the Aguirre's blend of world building and character. I do with the two detectives worried more about fraternization on the job, but I'm mainly a grump about romance so that's on me.

* Footer Davis Probably Is Crazy, Susan Vaught. The next Cybils book, and another one that I dreaded going into and then was pleasantly surprised at how good it was. There is a pattern here.

* Dog Warrior, Wen Spencer. I grabbed the excuse to reread this for my team.

* Royal Street, Suzanne Johnson. My local Vaginal Fantasy meet-up substituted this for the official read. We feel more comfortable doing this after the horrible book they picked last month. It was a fun paranormal book, although the guy was very creepy as a romantic partner. I hope she ditches him next book; even the cousin is a much better option.

My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, Amos Tutuola. The next book in Octavia Butler's course on the history of black science fiction. This had an Oz feeling to me, with the boy wandering in a strange land and accepting the craziest things as normal before returning home.

* Over Sea, Under Stone, Susan Cooper. Another reread for my reading team. I think Cooper does a great job depicting sibling relationships, with their frictions and affection. And it's fun knowing so much more about the world than the characters do -- they don't even know they will forget all this after the last book.

* Death at Gills Rock, Patricia Skalka. Starts with Death, ends with Rock, and takes place in Wisconsin -- pluperfect! This is the second in a murder series, and it uses the death of prominent men in the community to look at hidden dangers, toxic myths, and the power of secrets uncovered. It also looks at the protagonist healing from grief and coming to terms with life again. With puppies!

Listen, Slowly, Tranhha Lai. A spoiled Californian girl is forced to spend the summer with her grandmother in Vietnam, supporting her while they search for the last evidence of her grandfather. Vietnam is apparently a boring place with many mosquitoes, although eventually you might make a friend there. 

*This Book Is Overdue..., Marilyn Johnson 7/16/16. A peon to librarians and the libraries they inhabit, especially the ones moving into a new age that is as much online as it is bricks and mortar. Librarians are praised for the resistance to a censoring and oppressive government as well as for the nimbleness is adapting to use the internet as a research tool.

* 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.

I started and am still reading more books:



Heat of the Night, Sylvia Day. Starts with Heat, ends with Night -- perfect!

Counterpunch, Aleksandr Voinov. This appears to be a boxing book, which my book team needs.

America: Imagine a World Without Her, Denesh D'Souza. An explanation of how and why Obama is trying to destroy America. It's not very convincing. Apparently progressives like Michael Foucault (??) which means they support pedaphilia, while conservatives like Alexis de Tocqueville, which means they support hard work and independence. America would be better if they went with the hard work plan rather than the S&M with underage boys plan. Step three: Profit! I hope chapter two was the weak argument and the better stuff comes later.

Bookmarks moved in several books:



The Flowers of Adonis, Rosemary Sutcliff. The sailor gets a chance at leadership, and we see the crack that will bring down the walls.

Flight Behavior, Barbara Kingsolver. Reading My Library Quest audio book, set in Tennessee. Delarobia goes on TV.

A Whisper of Magic, Patricia Rice. Society seems to like our girls.

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.




A Traitor To Memory, Elizabeth George.
Emerald Atlas, John Stephens.
Kenilworth, Walter Scott.
Sammy Keyes and the Psycho Kitty Queen, Wendelin Van Draanen.
The Quantum Universe, Brian Cox & Jeff Forshaw.
Reading and Learning To Read, Jo Vacca.

2016 Challenge Progress:

1. Cybils 2015: 34 out of 82. The Cybils books haven't matched well to my team needs.
2. Reading My Library:  I'm on disc 7 of many of Flight Behavior.
3. Where Am I Reading?: 34/51. Picked up Wisconsin and Connecticut.
4. Full House Challenge:  25/25!
5. Library Challenge: I'm at 133. 
6. Diversity Challenge 2016: 12/12. 10/12. Got the autistic book. Poetry may be harder. Now tracking physical fitness vs disability. So far my books have included a Deaf character and a quadriplegic. 
7. Shelf Love Challenge 2016:  26. I hope I get more chances to read my shelves!
8. Grown-Up Reading Challenge 2016: 18/20. 
9. Eclectic Reader Challenge 2016: 10/12. No change. I need a debut author in 2016, and an immigrant experience book. 
10. Surprise Me Challenge:  Read the picture book.
11. Flash Bingo: Summer time! New bingo card! Got triple Bingo!
12. Literary Exploration Challenge: 12/12. Now I'll work on the 36 challenge -- 30/36