Dreaded Book Slump

After weeks of casually finishing seven to ten books, I hit a slump. Everything I picked up seemed oppressive, full of unhappy people being miserable and I didn't want to join them. I found books, read until any conflict appeared, and then abandoned them.

Meanwhile I couldn't complete anything in real life either. I wasn't sending emails; I have a 95% installed dryer that blocked my laundry routine, and I couldn't even seem to execute my meal plan (sandwiches for dinner anyone?). Luckily my sister dragged me out for a short hike in the woods, and I came home and actually finished a book. And now I'm listening to the dulcet sounds of clothes tumbling themselves dry, and I've even emailed about half of the people I need to get in touch with. So there is hope.

The Book Date does a weekly roundup of what people are reading, want to read, or 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:



The Flowers of Adonis, Rosemary Sutcliff.  The hero of Athens dies by treachery, and the glory of Athens will never shine as bright. That's what Sutcliff is all about. Should definitely give this to my classics studying son, who might know some of the history.

* The Proposal, Mary Balogh. This is the first in the Survivor's Club series, and the last one that I read. So the ending was even more certain (not that there is doubt about where a HEA Romance is heading), but I enjoyed seeing two adults work out their relationship. When he shows up proposing marriage and mentioning that it would be handy because he needs someone to escort his sister to a party, she doesn't assume (MISUNDERSTANDING) that is the extent of his feelings, but does suggest a courtship might be better than an engagement since they've barely met. This was a good book to pull me out of my reading slump, because it was engaging but not stressful -- I knew the ending but didn't know the route.

* Project Elfhome, Wen Spencer. I knew I'd like this collection of short stories, because Wen Spencer has a great sense of plot and invents wonderfully vivid characters, but I thought it'd be fairly lightweight. Well, it wasn't soul-searingly intense, but it did a great job of building up the world she writes for her Tinker books, and also gave me a much clearer sense of the different forces acting on that world. The sense of place is rock solid, and the various families are authentic in their differences.

* Farm City, Novella Carpenter. A pure Tapir book. I needed a book that started with the word "Farm." This is the memoir of several years of urban farming in Oakland, when a couple (mostly her) start growing things in the empty lot next door. She adds in first chickens, then turkeys, ducks and geese, and finally rabbits and pigs to her efforts, escalating the work involved and the ooky bodies that she has to dismember. She manages to spend a month eating only what she produces, although she loses a lot of weight doing it, and has a lot of fun when the chef who catches her raiding her dumpster for his pigs offers to help her turn the meat into gourmet food once she slaughters it.

* Books I started this week.

I started and am still reading more books:



Romancing the Duke, Tessa Dare. A Vaginal Fantasy book, although the in-person group I'm in will be discussing a different book, one that I didn't read yet. This one has laugh-out-loud silly moments, but it's got too many pages for its premise, and the sex is also a bit tedious. I've had fun explaining what is going on when my almost-adult son asks me why I'm giggling.

Pegeen, Hilda Van Stockum. I started this to try to cure my book slump, and it worked for a while. But then I saw a tough situation coming (and by tough, I mean a child would feel bad for a few pages) so I ran off to read something else. This was when I knew my slump was serious. I'll get back to it in a few days, I'm sure. Van Stockum doesn't not let her children end the book unhappy.

The Countess Conspiracy, Courtney Milan. The other book for Vaginal Fantasy, although again not the one I'm actually supposed to discuss with actual people. I see a pattern developing here, and perhaps I should read some books on the hazards of social isolation. Anyway, Milan is another trusted author, and this story of a female evolutionary scientist in Victorian times has a lot going for it.

Water: Tales of Elemental Spirits. Robin McKinley & Peter Dickinson. Another slump-buster, this one more successful. The short stories of these two beloved authors are short enough to handle, but interesting enough to entertain. But once I got my reading mojo working again, I detoured back to things that I had to read for my book team or my library due date pressure.

The Buried Pyramid, Jane Lindskold. I've joined a new book team, so that my reading obsession can go through the end of the year. They need a book with a mummy in it, so here goes. I'm only in the first chapter, and they are in Egypt, so I'm hoping for some mummy action.

I started and abandoned a few books. They were mainly picks for my Reading My Library, and with my reading slump and imminent due dates looming I snuck off to their respective shelves and found replacements. No titles because I feel the fault was much more mine than theirs.

Bookmarks moved in several books:



The Three Body Problem, Cixin Liu. Yay, we have left the boring game, which our viewpoint character didn't even win, and returned to the real world, where he finds someone to talk to.

Sea Without a Shore, David Drake. Time for a brawl in a bar! This is what science fiction is all about.

City of Stairs, Robert Jackson Bennett. I am now reading new material! Unfortunately it's a flashback, so I'm not making forward progress with the plot, but you can't have everything.

Falling in Love, Donna Leon. My Reading My Library audio. The plot is rather scattered, and the police detectives aren't very good at finding things, but who cares because the narrative is willing to go all out with his Italian accent, so I keep hoping they'll cross the street so I can hear the name of the intersection.

Once a Soldier, Mary Jo Putney. Everyone is busily rebuilding things and getting their friends to come and help, particular since the soldiers have vague feelings of foreboding about the bandit situation. I see a battle in our future.

Dark Specter, Michael Dibdin. The annoying first person viewpoint has announced that he's about to fall in love. I only hope that he means with a view, because I really don't want to sit through his emotional washing. Also, I expect more people to die.

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. I admit I haven't made much progress with all the Tapir reading I've been doing.




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: 40 out of 82. Stalled completely.
2. Reading My Library: I'm enjoing Falling in Love (6/7) and have abandoned When the Devil Doesn't Show.
3. Where Am I Reading?: 38/51. I am officially behind! I need 40 to be on track, 45 by the end of the month.  This week did not help at all.
4. Full House Challenge:  25/25!
5. Library Challenge: I'm at 181.  Glad to see this one is still moving.
6. Diversity Challenge 2016: 12/12. 11/12. Poetry is the tricky one. In September I'm taking a closer look at the racial diversity in the books -- is it set in a multiracial society? It seems a read a variety here, from books with a single culture to books with a diverse cast.
7. Shelf Love Challenge 2016:  41.  Time to make my shelves my BFF. I did buy a new book, but then I read it.
8. Grown-Up Reading Challenge 2016: 19/20.  Still need a Pulitzer.
9. Eclectic Reader Challenge 2016: 12/12!
10. Surprise Me Challenge:  I keep almost reading Positively. I've picked out but not picked up the September book.
11. Flash Bingo: I still need need a book about books, and an Australian book.
12. Literary Exploration Challenge: 12/12. Now I'll work on the 36 challenge -- 33/36

Planned Decay

Well, to celebrate the new school year my house is falling apart. The dishwasher seems to occasionally stop before finishing, but only when you don't expect it. The dryer started making strange clanking noises and then marking up the clothes. I'm a bit worried about the water heater, and my phone does not appear robust.

Also, I think I'm overdue for the dentist. Clearly it is time to retreat into a world of books! Luckily I have more weeks of my Team Tapirs's reading club, so I have an excuse.

The Book Date does a weekly roundup of what people are reading, want to read, or 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:




Flight Behavior, Barbara Kingsolver. Reading My Library audio. I loved the voice and characters of this story of the meeting of rural and scientific America, where red and blue clash or come together over the problems of the monarch butterfly. The main character's insights and foibles seemed utterly authentic, and the problems of her marriage, her family, and her ambitions rang true. Some of the side characters were more wooden, and although the ending worked wonderfully thematically, as her life and that of the butterflies paralleled each other, I wish I could have seen what happened to them in the next few weeks. And the weeks after that if I had gotten my wish.

* She Said / She Saw, Norah McClintock. I read this for my Team Tapirs. Two unpleasant sisters, Irish twins like my sister and me only meaner, tell the story of the aftermath of a murder witnessed by the older one. Everyone thinks the older sister is keeping the details of the murderer secret because of cowardice, which seems rather naive in the case of the police, and she is shunned by her peers and the families of the slain boys. Even her mother is angry because of the details of casual drug use that come out during the investigation. One sister writes as an angsty screenplay; the other complains in journal type entries. Despite their whiny natures I felt concerned about both girls, and I like how McClintock made the ending work and I hope it spells out good things for their future.

Twin Spica 10, Kou Yaginuma. I've been neglecting my manga series, since graphic novels don't count for my Team Tapirs. But I finally got to the next chapter in these space school stories, which had them attempting a competition with robots, vacationing one last time back on the coast at home, and deciding to keep meeting there even after they all leave school. This seems unlikely due to the events in the last chapter. I've ordered up the next one and hope not to leave it so long.

Nimona, Noelle Stevenson. Cybils YA Graphic Novel. Another winner.  Well, I haven't finished the category yet, but this is the second time I've thought I've read the winner. It start out fun, made some turns, and ended up fun and moving.

* Giants Beware, Jorge Aguirre. This is a Cybils book from several years ago that I suggested to my Tuesday book club as a good palate cleanser between two rather grim death-oriented books. It's not quite as good as Ursula Vernon's work, but then what is? Everyone agreed that it was a fun read and then we watched Ex Machina, which also had an unknown quantity at the center of the plot.

Karen Memory, Elizabeth Bear. Reading my library pick. I enjoyed this cyber-western set in a faux-Seattle (it's an amalgam, but I think it's mostly Seattle) during the Alaskan gold rush. There are mechanical sewing machines capable of taking out small buildings, prostitutes with hearts of gold, fearless lawmen, true love, and dirigibles. Sometimes it's all a bit much, but in general it's fun to go along for the ride.

* Songs of the Gorilla Nation: My Journey Through Autism, Dawn Prince-Hughes. Another Tapir book, this is a memoir I picked up ages ago because I'm interested in autism stories; my family runs that way. Prince-Hughes describes the troubles she had as an adolescent and young adult, when she found herself unable to hold steady employment or even an educational course. She feels lucky that her love of nature led her to the Woodland Zoo (which I'm familiar with) and to the gorillas that helped her understand social cues. She applied her knowledge to humans, allowing her to fit in enough to get a job and then an education working with gorillas. Now she's a married author and scientist raising a son, so she's found a way to work with the world instead of crashing against it.

* Delancey, Molly Wizenberg. What happens when a husband follows through on a dream for the first time in their life, and his wife surprised herself by supporting him anyway. Well, mostly. A good description of how to start a restaurant, and how to do it with grace. The success is probably a lot of luck, but the grace helped the luck by encouraging good friends to help.

No Normal (Ms Marvel Vol 1), G. Willow Wilson. Cybils YA Graphic Novel. Very fun comic book compilation. Khamela Khan wrestles with overprotective parents, high school bullies, and developing superpowers. Oh, and she's acquired her first nemesis, but he seems to be mainly a gateway to a more dangerous foe. It's a sign of how strong this category is that I don't pick this as my winner, but it doesn't rise to the emotional heights of Nimona or Honor Girl.

Think of England, K.J. Charles. An injured Boer War veteran finds more than he expected during a clumsy attempt to spy out if sabotage was involved in the equipment failure that maimed him and killed many of his friends. Not only does he unearth a wide-ranging dastardly plot, he finally figures out what he wants in love, and it doesn't involve people in dresses.

* Books I started this week.

I started and am still reading more books:



Falling in Love, Donna Leon. My new Reading My Library audio, this is the 20-somethingth story of an Italian detective. It involves an opera singer he's known in earlier books that I haven't read. I like the narrator's deep voice and his willingness to go full Italian for the place names. It's got the earnest characters typical of the author, as well as the adult, intelligent, responsible approach to relationships and a fine ability to keep a story moving between action and romance and setting.

Once a Soldier, Mary Jo Putney. Putney has gathered up some outliers from her misfit schoolchums collection and started a new series with them. This one involves a soldier ready to start living again as the Napoleon war ends, and an independent woman who hadn't planned on getting married, especially not as she rebuilds an (imaginary) pocket-sized Iberian country.

Dark Specter, Michael Dibdin. So far there have been various hideous murders, including one of an infant. I think we've also met the detective who will solve the case, and a rather unsympathetic guy who knows the responsible party. The guy is the only first person character, and it would be pleasanter if his parts were also in third.

Bookmarks moved in several books:




The Flowers of Adonis, Rosemary Sutcliff.  The final chapter is starting. I expect not many characters will live through it.

The Three Body Problem, Cixin Liu. We have detoured into a description of a very dull MMRPG.

Sea Without a Shore, David Drake. We're still enjoying the audio serialization of this, although without the ride to school it's hard to keep up. Still setting up for departure.

Kushiel's Dart, Jacqueline Carey. This is for an October book club, but it's long enough that I'll need a head start. I also need to start reading more than a page a week.

City of Stairs, Robert Jackson Bennett. I haven't caught up to where I stopped before, but I'm falling back into the rhythm and I remember I like the detective character.

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. I admit I haven't made much progress with all the Tapir reading I've been doing.

The Aeronaut's Windlass, Jim Butcher. In the battle, our two main groups of protagonists have met. Luckily, they are on the same side. Now only a few viewpoints are wandering about on the outskirts.




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: 40 out of 82. Moving through the graphic novel, and have the last middle grade fiction on the stack.
2. Reading My Library:  I finished Flight Behavior on audio and Karen Memory in print. Started Falling in Love (3/7) and have When the Devil Doesn't Show on my bedside table.
3. Where Am I Reading?: 38/51. I am officially behind! I need 40 to be on track, 45 by the end of the month.  
4. Full House Challenge:  25/25!
5. Library Challenge: I'm at 179.  Why, the money I save practically paid for my cruise! 
6. Diversity Challenge 2016: 12/12. 11/12. Poetry is the tricky one. In September I'm taking a closer look at the racial diversity in the books -- is it set in a multiracial society? A bit of a variety now -- the biggest one is "didn't notice" because the setting was imaginary and either the author doesn't mention appearance or background or I forgot it. 
7. Shelf Love Challenge 2016:  40.  Time to make my shelves my BFF.
8. Grown-Up Reading Challenge 2016: 19/20.  Still need a Pulitzer.
9. Eclectic Reader Challenge 2016: 12/12!
10. Surprise Me Challenge:  I keep almost reading Positively.
11. Flash Bingo: I need a book about books, and an Australian book.
12. Literary Exploration Challenge: 12/12. Now I'll work on the 36 challenge -- 33/36

Lazy Labor Day

This was the last full week of our summer vacation, and we spent it doing as little as possible. That's our idea of fun -- minimize chores, maximize lounging about. We tossed around some ideas for more active fun, and found them all unappealing. So I did reading for my team, and the boys played video games. Well, they also confronted their summer homework, so kudos to them.

There were a few days of waking up early, a big shock to our summer systems. X found he was still growing (he clocked in at his doctor's appointment as 5'11.7", which does round to 6') so I told him to go ahead and get to a solid 6', because I do like to live vicariously through my children.

I spent a day and a half at their high school handing out locker assignments. X wanted a locker near his Latin room, so I grabbed one for him while handing out freshman assignments (they go in a day early to be gently eased into the high school experience). P declined a locker at first but when there were some leftovers he handpicked one in a prime location and seemed content. I like when my kids enjoy the perks of a volunteer mom, and I also like getting my volunteer hours in early. Now I can ignore the rest of the calls without a moment's concern.

We watched the movie The Magnificent Seven with my BIL's mother and enjoyed seeing famous names such as Yul Brenner in the Old West, and also seeing what echoed the Japanese version (wood chopping) and what was different (the boy gets the girl). Now we are ready for the remake to come out in a few weeks.

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:



Eidolon, Grace Draven. I managed to make this work for my team, as I'm sure no one is surprised to hear. It hit a lot of notes that I like -- royalty accepting that their is a price for their privilege, and being willing to pay it even at the price of personal happiness. Of course, the subplot that only the author and the reader knew about meant that the sacrifice would not be necessary, but our heroine was willing to make it anyway. The hero was not as accepting, but I cut him some slack as he already had to agree to die for his country.

Beholding Bee, Kimberly Fusco. I felt that the fantasy elements detracted from the emotional weight of the book. Bee only survived through the intervention of her ancestors, but that just made her growth implausible. She would have ended up on the streets without their aid, and none of the material advantages or the spiritual ones would have come her way.  I also felt that the end of the book rounded off her emotional journey but left all the practical details unaddressed. Would the busybodies of Bee's town really let her stay in the house with her built family? It seemed very precarious. And Peck's "A Day No Pig Would Die" kept echoing in my head; I'm not sure Cordelia the pet pig's fate is as assured as Bee imagines. But it clearly fits in the "B" square for my Tapirs.

Touching My Father's Soul, Jamling Tenzing Norgay. Another powerful story centered around the awful Everest season that inspired Into Thin Air. Norgay is the son of one of the first men to summit Everest, and he sees his climb as a way to connect with his father. This emotional arc is traced in parallel with his summit attempt with the IMAX movie team, an attempt done with more humility and patience than shown by the groups Krakauer climbed with. More luck as well. The days of storm when many climbers were lost are described  from the next camp down, as well as the decision whether or not to try themselves after such a disaster. Highly recommended.

Honor Girl, Maggie Thrash. Cybils YA Graphic Novel. This will be hard to beat for my top pick for this category. I found the art and story lovely separately and transcendent together. It's the story of growing up and making mistakes and making more mistakes but still continuing to be oneself.  I loved it.

How to Cheat at Gardening and Yard Work, Jeff Bredenberg. For a while after I finished this book I was a little inspired and even wondered if I should bring back my flower beds or even make a raised garden section somewhere. Luckily it's been a few days and the urge is subsiding. I do like the ideas on how to prune so you do it less often, and when is a good idea to put out a few perennials in places where I'm disguising other flaws. And the idea of lawn paint is very persuasive for that dead corner my sprinklers seem to be avoiding.

In the Black, Sheryl Nantus. This was a Vaginal Fantasy pick and I haven't yet watched the video for it, but I was rather unimpressed. It's a murder mystery set on a space ship brothel owned by a heartless giant corporation, with lots of worrying about how they will make their quota with all the downtime spent solving the mystery. The captain is a soldier with a Dark Past, who is super qualified in combat and a tough lady all around, or she was until the final scenes required somebody to be an idiot with no situational awareness or hand-to-hand competency, at which point she became a wet noodle and let the other characters rescue her. The lawman spent most of his time making annoying sexual innuendos at her, which to her (and my) chagrin she ate up with a spoon, although she refused to make nookie until he solved the case. I prefer my detective fiction to have brighter detectives, honestly, and while I appreciated their integrity with waiting, it made for a lot of boring UST.

The Great Death, John Smelcer. This was another book plucked from my TBR list to fit the needs of the Tapirs (title contains "great") but it was something I was happy to read. Well, that's a strange description for a book about the death by disease of an entire village, except for the two sisters who must journey unprepared through hundreds of miles of wild forest to find more living souls. They have common sense but not always enough experience, and their mistakes bring them close to the line of survival many times. As a kid I would have loved this story, although as an adult I notice the sorrow more deeply.

Shifting Shadows, Patricia Briggs. I had read these short stories when they came out in 2014, but my son noticed that some characters in the latest novel first appeared here. His memory was better than mine, so I wanted to reread them to place things in perspective. Now I have an excuse to reread this years novel as well. Briggs does a good job with urban fantasy, which characters that have enough of an edge to be interesting but enough ethics to be worth rooting for.

Three on the Run, Nina Bowden. I grabbed this at the library sale table, because I like Nina Bawden and I like old English books. This one was written before I was born (printed the year I was born) and lived up to my expectations -- there were children who were independent enough to avoid adults, but childlike enough to need supervision (even though they didn't always get it). The African in the London suburb provided a touch of interest, especially when they ran to a smaller town that made him a unique representative of his continent. And the girl was young enough that there was almost an excuse for the slighter regard the boys held her in.

The Way Home Looks Now, Wendy Way-Long Shang. This book whipsawed me a few times. I was just settling into a story about a Taiwanese-American family and the stresses they faced in the turbulent early 1970s between the older son's nascent activism and the father's insistence on traditional obedience and respect, when suddenly tragedy cut through petty disagreements like a chain saw. Suddenly the stakes were much higher, and I appreciated the skill Shang used in slowly showing the strengths of the family through the narrator's return to the baseball he had loved in the time Before.

I started and am still reading more books:



Kushiel's Dart, Jacqueline Carey. This is for an October book club, but it's long enough that I'll need a head start.

Think of England, K.J. Charles. The author has skipped forward a bit and (I think) dropped the magic but I'm still expecting entertaining and likable characters and a fast moving plot in this story set in early 20th century England.

City of Stairs, Robert Jackson Bennett. I've put this one down for long enough that I restarted it. I hope I get more traction in this ancient Sword and Laser pick.

No Normal (Ms Marvel Vol 1), G. Willow Wilson. Cybils YA Graphic Novel. This looks like a lot of fun.

Nimona, Noelle Stevenson. Cybils YA Graphic Novel. This is highly recommended by my senior son.

Karen Memory, Elizabeth Bear. My next Reading My Library pick. I've been meaning to read this for ages now, but I couldn't fit it into a Tapir need. Now I'm reading it anyway!

Twin Spica 10, Kou Yagimuma. The library will want this back soon, so I'd better get on it.

Bookmarks moved in several books:

The Flowers of Adonis, Rosemary Sutcliff.  It makes a man feel bad when he betrays a friend, but sometimes one's career comes first.

The Three Body Problem, Cixin Liu. Something very odd is going on, and reality may not be what we think it is.

Flight Behavior, Barbara Kingsolver. My Reading My Library Audio. I officially LOL'd at a scene here, so I'm clearly enjoying this still. I hope she doesn't sleep with the scientist, though.  I'm on disk 12/14 now.

Sea Without a Shore, David Drake. We're still enjoying the audio serialization of this, although without the ride to school it's hard to keep up. It looks like they'll set off on the adventure about when we start riding to school, so that will work out well.

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. I admit I haven't made much progress with all the Tapir reading I've been doing.




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: 38 out of 82. The library is encouraging me to pick up the graphic novels again.
2. Reading My Library:  I'm enjoying Flight Behavior  (12/14) on audio and have started Karen Memory in print. 
3. Where Am I Reading?: 38/51. I am officially behind! I need 40 to be on track, 45 by the end of the month.  I keep getting duplicates for states I'm usually scrambling for -- Alaska, New Mexico, etc.
4. Full House Challenge:  25/25!
5. Library Challenge: I'm at 172.  Why, the money I save practically paid for my cruise! 
6. Diversity Challenge 2016: 12/12. 11/12. Poetry is the tricky one. In September I'm taking a closer look at the racial diversity in the books -- is it set in a multiracial society? So far, no.
7. Shelf Love Challenge 2016:  40.  Time to make my shelves my BFF.
8. Grown-Up Reading Challenge 2016: 19/20.  Still need a Pulitzer.
9. Eclectic Reader Challenge 2016: 12/12!
10. Surprise Me Challenge:  I keep almost reading Positively.
11. Flash Bingo: I need a book about books, and an Australian book.
12. Literary Exploration Challenge: 12/12. Now I'll work on the 36 challenge -- 33/36