Book 2: The Interior Life

The second book  that I finished for the Challenge (from about page 200 to the end) is The Interior Life by Katherine Blake.  It's a fascinating blend of three women's lives, two women in a fantasy landscape dreamed by the third woman, a homemaking mother of three.  The switch back between the perspectives is constant and almost seamless, and all three stories push each other forward.  It's also a book to inspire better housekeeping, but that is wasted on me during the challenge.  I'm glad Jo Walton included it on her rereading series on tor.com.

Book 1: The Commoner

John  Burnham Schwartz's The Commoner presents a fictionalized view of the life of the current Empress of Japan, showing how cruel and dehumanizing the rituals and traditions of imperial life are for the first non-aristocratic woman to marry into the Japanese royal family.  She swallows her sorrow and forces herself to do her duty, but when her son falls in love with a vibrant diplomat, she hopes the ease the woman's transition into the artificial court life.  In Schwartz's account, this is impossible, and instead the only grain of hope is in escaping Japan for a better life in New York.  Somehow the story reads as if it were written by an American in New York rather than anyone in Japan, and I don't think it really represents the interior life of the Haruko, but it was an interesting story.

Ready, Set, Go!

It's 8:00 and we are off!  I think I'll leave this post up and just update periodically to note books and times.

Friday: 8:00 PM Start!

Update:
Friday 10:00 PM Finished Book 1: The Commoner, John Schwartz (started at page 100).  Me: 2 hours. Kids: nothing.

Friday/Saturday -- Midnight:
Me: 4 hours (15 minutes social blogging)
X: 70 minutes
P: unknown

Saturday: 10:00 AM
Me: 7.5 hours (8-1 AM, 8:30-10).  Two books finished.
X: 1.5 hours
P: unknown.

Saturday: Noon
Me: 9.5 hours (including 30 minutes social blogging)
X: 95 minutes
P: unknown

Saturday: 6 PM
me: 15.5 hours reading/reviewing (includes 45 minutes social blogging)
X: 115 minutes
P: unknown (he hasn't returned from his sleep-over.  I think the beautiful weather has seduced him; we haven't seen the sun for some time.)

Saturday: 10:20 PM
me: 19.5 reading/reviewing (I've spent all day with my nose in a book)
X: 155 minutes.  He considers this his real start.
P: Unknown.  He returned from his sleepover without his timer, and utterly exhausted from a day at the pool.  He also left his current book behind.  On the other hand, it's nice that someone enjoyed this wonderful day.

Sunday: 12:30 AM
me: 22 Hours reading/reviewing (Includes an hour of snooping on others' progress)
X: 4 hours 5 min.
P: Been sleeping since the last checkin, so the same.

Sunday: 9:30 AM
me: 23 hours reading/reviewing (includes 75 minutes snooping)
X: 4 hours 10 mins
P: 1.5 hours

Sunday: 12:00 Noon
me: 25 hours reading/reviewing (75 minutes online) (Made my goal!)
X: 4 hours 33 minutes (he's taking this tracking thing seriously
P: 1.5 hours.  He's mowing the lawn.

Sunday: 5:00 PM
me: 29.5 reading/reviewing (75 minutes online)
X: 5 hours
P: 2 hours 30 minutes

Sunday: 8:00 PM
me: 32 hours!  (80 minutes online)
X: 6.5 hours
P:  4 hours 15 minutes

Books Touched (Me):

1. The Commoner *
2. The Interior Life *
3. A Kiss in Time *
4. Feng Shui Roleplaying
5. Curse of the Wolf Girl
6. Baking Cakes in Kigali *
7. The Hob's Bargain *
8. Peter and the Starcatchers *
9. The Whistling Season 
10. Life At the Edge *
11. Hammered *
12. Dark Angel *
13. Treachery in Death *
14. Ender's Shadow

Books Touched (X):

1. Omnivore's Dilemna (his vegetarianism is becoming more strident)
2. Fray *
3. Calvin and Hobbes 10th Anniversary book
4. Shadow Puppets

Books Touched (P):

1. Ender's Shadow *
2. Ender's Game
3. Calvin and Hobbes Lazy Sundays

* = finished

Getting Ready for the 48 Hour Book Challenge

Tomorrow (right after we exhaust ourselves with the school fundraising fun-run), we commence MotherReader's 48 Hour Book Challenge.  We'll go from Friday night (starting as close to 8pm as I can manage) through Sunday night.  How will I corral the kids? I've talked them into joining in!  So no one will expect meals or conversation or reminders to bathe -- we will all be too busy reading!

My goal is 25 hours, which leaves me time to actually interact with people.  I may be able to exceed this, of course.  X (the sixth grader) has a goal of ten hours, and he's planning to reread The Lord of the Rings trilogy.  Unfortunately he's jumped the gun a bit by reading most of the first one yesterday, but I have back-up books for him.  P (the fourth grader) is also hoping for ten hours, which is more of a stretch for him.  He's the one with the six mile goal for the run, so I think his plan is to render himself incapable of moving for the weekend, which will increase his reading time.  A has a goal of two hours; she has studied the weather reports and found sun, so doesn't plan to waste her life in a book.  N thinks reading is for the birds; Pokemon movies are where cool people spend their time.  Luckily those last two have a mom around to tend them.

We made an emergency trip to the library to get a few last minute holds as well as an audio book in case I'm forced to drive somewhere.  I did notice A picking up some texts, so I have hope that she will exceed her expectations.  I also picked up some more book-candy for those brain-dead moments. I've lifted all bedtime restrictions for children actively reading; I've lined up some timers for us to use, and we are ready to go!  Wish us luck!

Always Second Best: My Lord and Spymaster

The second Spymaster book by Joanna Bourne has the same pattern of genius young girl matched with older, super-competent guy.  My Lord and Spymaster (The Spymaster Series) has young Jess using all her skills at accounting, business running, and cat burglary to try and save her father, while Sebastian uses all his skills of being bigger and older than her to keep one step ahead all the time.  This requires a lot of help from the author, but she's deft enough with the plot twists and mad-action sequences to allow Jess a lot of activity but make sure Sebastian shows up in time to save the day.

Page by page the book was fun; watching a character alternate between mental and physical stunts is pleasant -- Jess uses her uncanny powers as an businesswoman to even better effect than her somewhat rusty roof-climbing abilities.  Less fun is the refusal of the hero to take her seriously -- he constantly forbids her to act, but rarely tells her what she needs to know, leaving her to risk his displeasure again and again when she risks herself to find out some other way.  He also flaunts their sexual attraction, despite the simple fact that this is much more dangerous to the girl than for the man, and that what is dismissed in him as good clean fun has serious social repercussions for her.  It's hard to imagine them (well, her) actually living happily-ever-after for more than a few months.  Bourne does a good job of writing supremely competent women, who are very fun to read about; I just wish she'd give them slightly less controlling men as companions.  This is probably something that is much more a problem for me as a mom that it would have been for me as a young woman.  B-

Lucky For Some: Simply Irresistible

Jill Shalvis is a believer in having your cake and eating it too, which justifies her decision to become a romance writer.  Everyone is guaranteed a Happy Ever After, and any door that closes just enables a giant picture window with a wonderful view to open.  At least, that was the case in Simply Irresistible (A Lucky Harbor Novel), the book I read for Take a Chance Challenge #6.  I went to BookSeer.com after finishing a Jennifer Crusie book, and the all-seeing internet site sent me to Shalvis and Lucky Harbor.

I have to agree with the connection.  While Crusie's humor and touch are lighter, Shilvas's characters are  also funny or at least witty even during catastrophe or (worse) humiliation, keeping the tone upbeat even during the downturns in the plot.  The man-interest is smart, sexy, and good with tools, a winning way to any woman's heart.  The sisters are quirky but clearly have deep love buried under their flighty ways, and also will not abandon our heroine because we know that they have to stick around to have books of their own.  There isn't much suspense, but there aren't many distasteful passages of stupidity either.  A decent beach read, although not enough for me to seek out her other books. I'd read them if they were in my beach condo, though. B-

Catchup - What Am I Reading Wednesday

 

Monday, Wednesday, whatever.  I'm having a bit of a problem with my blogging rhythms, so it's just as well that the 48 hour Reading Challenge is this weekend, because that should jumpstart everything.

What did I read?

• Heroes Return, Moira J. Moore
• Dragonbreath: Attack of the Ninja Frogs, Ursula Vernon
• Aunt Dimity and the Family Tree, Nancy Atherton
• The Bird on the River, Kage Baker
• The Outcast (Guardians of Ga'hoole #8), Kathryn Lasky
• Dark Mirror, M.J. Putney
• Virtual Community, Howard Rheingold

What trends do I see? I'm reading books by authors I know, or books for a challenge, with a preference for books the library wants back Real Soon Now.

Right now I'm reading: 

• Curse of the Wolf Girl, Martin Millar, recommended by Jenny's books.  Fun in short dosages.
• Obsessive Genius, Barbara Goldsmith.  Biography of Marie Curie.
• The Commoner, John Schwartz.  On my nook.
• Feng Shui, Robin D Laws.  On loan from my brother.
• The Battle for Azeroth, ed. Bill Fawcett.  Analysis of the World of Warcraft MMORPG.
• Territory, Emma Bull (vacation book)
• Downbelow Station, C.J. Cherryh.  Reread.
• Hammered, Elizabeth Bear (vacation book)
• Bad Prince Charlie, John Moore (vacation book)
• Interior Life, Katherine Blake (vacation book) 
• The Rogue's Return, Jo Beverly (vacation book)
• The Hob's Bargain, Patricia Briggs (vacation book)
• The Secret Duke, Jo Beverly.  Found under my bedside table with a bookmark.
• How I Met My Countess, Elizabeth Boyle.  Also found.

I'm concentrating on the top four, with dips into the fifth as a reward for actually finishing something.  I read the bottom hordes in dribs and dabs.

Up next will be something dusty from my TBR shelf, some more Cybils books, and Baking Cakes in Kigali from my virtual TBR list on Goodreads.

Quick stats on my Challenges:

A-Z: 32/52.  Small progress, OK as long as it continues

Cybils: 41/76. Inching along. As I finish all the picture books, things slow down.

Global Reading Challenge:  9/21. Stuck.

Once Upon a Time: 10/5.  I'm an overachiever. Time to start the Shakespeare.

Read Around the World: 11/20.  Stuck.

Science Book Challenge: 1/3.141...  I'm currently reading another biography of Curie.

Stream: 3/3, 2/3.  One stream has branched.

Take a Chance: 3/10. Reading #4.  I'm a bit behind.

20/11: 17/20.  If I caught up on reviewing, I'd be done.

What's In a Name?: 4/6.  The movement in the title one is hard.

Where Am I Reading?: 20/50. Stuck again.  Anyone have recommendations for books in Alaska, Arkansas, or Colorado?