Heading Into Mid-Winter Break

I am almost done with a bunch of books, but managed to finish very little, mostly books for the Cybils challenge, which got a boost from me by announcing the winners!  I did look at them, but then I forced myself to forget all the winners so I can finish reading them all without undue influence.

This is the meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.  What I read, what I'm reading, and a peek at what I'll read next, where I check up on my reading patterns for the previous week.

This week I finished four Cybils books, a Reading My Library choice, and an audio book:

• The Friendship Doll, Kirby Larson. BOOK.  Cybils Middle Grade Fiction.
• Into the Unknown, Stewart Ross. Cybils Nonfiction.
• Stupid Fast, Geoff Herbach.  Cybils YA Fiction.
• Ghetto Cowboy, G. Neri.  Cybils Middle Grade Fiction.
• Operation Redwood, S. Terrell French. I'll pass this RML choice onto my son.
• Enchanted Glass, Diana Wynne Jones.  Audio.  Actually it's still in the car, but I skipped ahead.

I'm showing fifteen books on my currently reading list, but it's not as bad as it looks. None of them occupy any of the same space in my brain. It's always interesting to see what I put on my TBR list, and the RML (reading my library) books give me choices I might not have found otherwise.

• Christmas Angel, Jo Beverly.  My librarything Santa present.  There is an assassin out there.
• Anya's Ghost.  Vera Brosgol. Cybils GN finalist; my son says it is spooky.
• Making Our Democracy Work, Stephen Breyer.  Supreme Court Justice on the supreme court, which I found on the library's Pick Me shelf before Christmas.
• The Porcupine Year, Louise Erdrich.  Migration story. RML.
• Claudette Colvin, Philip M. Hoose.  Stayed on the bus before Rosa Park. TBR
• Orbital Resonance, John Barnes.  I think Jo Walton recommended this coming-of-age-in-space book, and it's a fun member of that genre. TBR.
• Among Others, Jo Walton.  Re-reading and enjoying it even more than the first time.
• Girl of Fire and Thorns, Rae Carson. NOOK.  Cybils YA finalist.  I wish I didn't know the husband dies, because I quite like him.
• The Beekeeper's Apprentice. Laurie King. (reread). Audio book when kids aren't in the car. Too long for my taste, though.  I also got the paperback so I can read it inside.
• Smart But Scattered, Peg Dawson & Richard Guare.  How to know when you or your kid has a problem.  I think I'll put books I read for parenting in the finish-a-book slot.
• The Same Stuff as Stars, Katherine Paterson. Gramma is grumpy about mom's departure.
• The First Men In the Moon, H.G. Wells.  Violent escape from moon-creatures.
• Traveling Mercies, Anne Lamott. Honest portrayals of complex family relationships.
• The End of Racism, Dinesh D'Souza.  He's leaning towards genetic racial differences.
• Honored Enemy, Raymond Feist & William R Forstchen. Two enemies must face a greater foe.

What will I read next? I've got a shelf full of Cybils books waiting (poor library hold management), a small handful of library books left from the beginning of the year, and the (refreshed) reading my library pile. And all the books in my unread book case that I keep hoping I'll start reading.  I thinking March will be the time to really concentrate on books in my home, and also leave me in a comfortable place, library shelf-wise.  The TBR Dare is still on, despite horrible temptations in two libraries.

Challenges:

1. Cybils: 29/80.  I finished all the Easy Readers, should write them up.
2. Global Reading Challenge: 3/21.  Now complete with fancy graphics!
3. What's In a Name?: 5/6.  Still need a topological feature. The year is young.
4. Where Am I Reading?:  10/50. February quota done. 
5. TBR Double Dare.  9. All library this week.
6. Science Book Challenge: 1.14/3.14159.  Cybils Picture books for the fractions.
7. Reading My Library: Got the next batch.  I should keep a list of these, maybe.

Cowboys Against the Man: Ghetto Cowboy

After a rocky start, I managed to fall completely into the story G. Neri spins in Ghetto Cowboy, a Middle Grade Fiction Cybils finalist.  Cole, a part-time seventh grader, falls into the world of Philadelphia urban horse fanatics when his mother dumps him on his absentee father at a moment's notice. This gives Neri the chance to explore this culture from the bottom up, since Cole is initially as disbelieving and cynical as the most curmudgeonly reader.

Actually, I enjoyed the sense of history the most -- as Neri explains in a final author's note, he based this story on real stables and events in Philadelphia, so the feel of the community's struggles to keep their horses, both because they love them and because they provide one of the few alternatives to drugs and failure for their kids.  The city authorities either ignore or actively undermine their efforts, withholding services capriciously and suddenly remembering long abandoned property rights.  Cole's story itself has a few giant leaps for me -- did his mom really have to plow down someone else's horse on her way out the door?  Was it necessary for Cole to immediately bond with a skittish horse? I suspect child-me wouldn't have blinked at either the melodrama of the love-at-first-sight between the city boy and Boo the wonder horse.  

Anyway, I recommend this book, but I can't help wishing I was reading it in the nonfiction finalist section instead.  I'll pass it on to the boys for their reaction.

Mean Kids Keep Me On Track

It looks like I'll be spending my midwinter break reading up on all the Cybils books that the library likes to surprise me with -- I staggered out of the library with a hefty load from my holds list, as my son swayed beside me with another big pile.  Tragically, or fortunately, he was feeling very grumpy with me and ignored my strong hints that he check out two series books that the New and Interesting kiosk dangled in front of me (the new Marjorie Liu book and the new Ilona Andrews).  Humph.

Since I have literally ten books waiting for reviews on my bedside table, I turned in almost nothing and now am over my age limit again.  I guess that's incentive for me to actually start thinking about what I've read.  I also kept out a few picture books that I'm pressing into kids' hands.

For the Cybils:

• Nerd Camp, Elissa Weissman, Middle Grade fiction
• The Trouble With Chickens, by Doreen Cronin, Early Chapter Book
• Requiem, Poems of the Terezin Ghetto, Paul Janeczko, poetry
• A Monster Calls, Patrick Ness, Fantasy & SF, Middle Grade.  
• The Case of the Vanishing Golden Frog, Sandra Markle

Also two book club books:

• Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter, by Seth Grahame-Smith.  I've successfully dodged the zombie book, but now my book club forces me to the vampire one.
• The Beekeeper's Apprentice, Laurie R. King.  For the (postponed) book club.  I've been listening to this but my sister prefers text.  Hey, I just realized I have no idea where I put down my library's mp3 player.  Oops.  I'm sure it's somewhere very safe.

I also have two ebooks out, both Cybils books:

• The Friendship Doll 
• Girl of Fire and Thorns

This brings me to a total of 50 items out on my card, which is too many. This was the wrong week to start counting ebooks! On the bright side, nothing is overdue and nothing looks like it will get overdue.  I'm even keeping up with my ebooks.  Everything fits neatly in my library bookshelf, although the Challenge section is looking intimidatingly stuffed. And of course there is the towering pile of review-real-soon-now that threatens to crush my reading light.  I'll go share my Library Loot at the event co-hosted by Claire from the Captive Reader and Marg from The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader, where all the library addicts compare their treasures.

Go Global!

Last year I ended up scrambling to finish the 2011 Global Reading Challenge, but it was still a lot of fun.  So this year I looked around for another one, and found it at Mysteries in Paradise's 2012 Global Reading Challenge.  At the Expert level, it asks for three novels from each continent, with Antarctica as the seventh continent -- you can substitute books set off world for it.  I am of course back-dating all my reading so far, or at least the books that I consider real novels and that take place somewhere.  I'm going to try not to count books set in the US, so I'll probably count Central America as part of North America to give me some options, although I'll also look for books about American Indians that don't take place in the political United States.

Mysteries in Paradise pointed me to a map that shows where I've been (literarily speaking, not literally), which I shall attempt to reproduce here:


create your own visited country map
         Africa

1. Akata Witch (Nigeria)
• The Other Side of Truth (Nigeria)
2. Child of Dandelions (Uganda)
3. CowTail Switch (Liberia)
• The Big Tent Wedding Party (Botswana)
Asia
4. Twin Spica 3 (Japan)
• Wandering Son (Japan)
5. Between Shades of Gray (Russia)
6. Zahra's Paradise (Iran)
• On the Island (Maldives)
• Words In the Dust (Afghanistan)
Australasia/Oceanea


7. The Shattering (New Zealand)
• Taken At the Flood (New Zealand)
8. The Snow Pony (Australia)
9. The Sex Lives of Cannibals (Kiribati)
Europe

10. Bindi Babes (UK)


11. Anna and the French Kiss (France)
12. Dragon Castle (Slovakia)

North America
13. Half World (Canada)
• A Star in the Storm (Newfoundland, Canada)
• The Girl Giant (probably near Toronto)


14. Starfields (Mexico)
15. Milagros, Girl From Away (La Brisos)
South America

16. Tales From Silver Lands (all over). This is a stretch as a novel, but it does have a tiny frame.
17. Chucaro, Argentina
18. Bringing the Boy Home (Brazil)
Seventh Continent

19. With a Single Spell
(fantasy world)

20. Mastiff (fantasy world)
21. Orbital Resonance (outer space)

21/21

Chrysalis Jock: Stupid Fast

I'm having fun reading some of the Cybils finalist on my NOOK; I'm glad to have a library that's hip with all this technology stuff.  The YA books especially lend themselves to this much lighter medium; my NOOK can carry around five or six library books without straining the seams of my book-bag.  I'm glad they had Geoff Herbach's Stupid Fast, a Young Adult Fiction finalist, in ebook form.

Puberty is traditionally a time of great change, but Felton's life embraces the metaphor with frightening intensity.  Just as his body emerges hulk-like from childhood with rapidly emerging muscles and unceasing energy, his family life twists out of recognition. Having always cast himself as the ineffectual member of the family, Felton resists taking any initiative or action, leaving his younger brother to whirl in increasingly desperate circles while their mother barricades herself in her room.  This all sounds depressing, but Felton's essentially sweet voice keeps things light enough to let the humor shine through; there are a lot of laughs in this summer of changes.

In the meantime, Felton finds himself suddenly inside the forbidden circle of jocks, unsure whether his welcome includes anything but his new muscles. His first girlfriend also pushes him to move past the insecurities of childhood, but no one sees all the different stressors pushing on him until he finally stands up and asks for help.

The ending works very well, with the same themes echoing through the football season, the connection with his best friend, and the long distance talks with his girlfriend.  I'm not as sold with the insomnia flashback chapters that lace through the book, but it does give a good metronome for the pacing of the book.

WAIT -- late breaking news.  Stupid Fast has won its category!  Congratulations.  I shall now forget this so I can read the rest of the finalists with an open mind, and then come back to compare our reactions with the judges'.

Weekly Update

My younger son is charting the number of books I finish each day, and the pressure caused me to choke, starting several things but not finishing much. My to-be-reviewed pile is looming dangerously, so I tend to dodge actually finishing anything and added to its height. Oh well.

This is the meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.  What I read, what I'm reading, and a peek at what I'll read next, where I check up on my reading patterns for the previous week.

This week I finished:

• Y: The Last Man: Safeword.  Brian K. Vaughan's next installment.  I'd probably quit, but X is still interested. Of course, I can't order the next one from the library due to my new book ban.
• Just Grace and the Double Surprise. Charise Harper.  Cybils finalist.
• The Girl Who Could Fly. Victoria Forester.  Reading my library pick.
• Alvin Ho: Allergic to Girls, School, and Other Scary Things. Lenore Look.  Book club pick for the elementary school.
• The Maze Runner. James Dashner.  Family book club book.
• Akata Witch, Nnedi Okorafor.  YA fantasy from my TBR list.

I've also read some more of the Cybils picture books.  I'll have most of them done before the award comes out on Valentines day.


I'm showing thirteen books on my currently reading list, but it's not as bad as it looks.  The bottom five are just there for poking at, and the other are all different enough to keep separate. It's always interesting to see what I put on my TBR list, and the RML (reading my library) books give me choices I might not have found otherwise.

• Christmas Angel, Jo Beverly.  My librarything Santa present.  They got married.
• Ghetto Cowboy, G. Neri.  Cybils finalist; I expect grim stuff from this author.
• Operation Redwood, S. Terrell French.  Grandma to the rescue. RML.
• Among Others, Jo Walton.  Re-reading to decide which library to donate the extra copy to.
• Stupid Fast, Geoff Herbach. NOOK.  Cybils YA finalist.  Boy makes friends with his body.
• Enchanted Glass, Diana Wynne Jones.  Audio book for when the kids are in the car.  English accents are fun.
• The Beekeeper's Apprentice. Laurie King. (reread). Audio book when kids aren't in the car. Too long for my taste, though.
• Smart But Scattered, Peg Dawson & Richard Guare.  How to know when you or your kid has a problem.  I think I'll put books I read for parenting in this slot.
• The Same Stuff as Stars, Katherine Paterson. Mom has fled the scene.
• The First Men In the Moon, H.G. Wells.  Captured by moon-creatures.
• Traveling Mercies, Anne Lamott. She's a little too cosy with her addictions.
• The End of Racism, Dinesh D'Souza.  Some double standards here.
• Honored Enemy, Raymond Feist & William R Forstchen. Standard fantasy maps and battles.

What will I read next? I've got six Cybils books waiting, a small handful of library books left from the beginning of the year, and the reading my library pile. And all the books in my unread book case that I keep hoping I'll start reading.  The library books probably still take priority. The TBR Dare is in full effect, although I have a few book club matters to complete.

Challenges:

1. Cybils: 24/80.  I need to start responding to the shorter stuff.
2. What's In a Name?: 5/6.  Still need a topological feature.
3. Where Am I Reading?:  8/50. Needed 10 by the end of February. 
4. TBR Double Dare.  9. Rereads count, right?  
5. Science Book Challenge: 1.14/3.14159.  Cybils Picture books for the fractions.
6. Reading My Library: Need to get the next batch; I'm heading for the Hs in children's fiction.

Hard To Tell I'm Restraining Myself Sometimes

Again I showed unexpected strength and determination at the library, although you certainly couldn't tell it from the heavy bag of books I lugged out of the library tonight. It is true that I saw but didn't check out new books from at least three authors I enjoy on the library Temptation Shelf.  However, it is also true that somehow I had eight books on my hold shelf, plus I needed the next six books for Quest Reading My Library.  But I only read one of those a week, so really, how can they count?  So technically I did not break my TBR Dare, but I'm not feeling the scarcity.

I was trying to manage my hold list, but apparently I didn't pay enough attention to other people's due dates -- about three books skipped from 5th in line to on my shelf TODAY. Oops. I did manage to convince P (my only companion) to check out a book for himself, so that was another victory.  Of course, X stole that book as soon as we got home, but most of my victories are short lived so I don't grieve too hard.

For the Cybils:

• Press Here, Herve Tullet, translated by Christopher Franceschelli. Picture book.
• Planting the Wild Garden, Kathryn O. Galbraith. Nonfiction picture book.
• Blood Red Road, Moira Young. YA fantasy & science fiction.
• Misfit, Jon Skovron. YA fantasy & science fiction.
• Breadcrumbs, Anne Ursu. Middle grade fantasy & science fiction.
• Anna Dressed in Blood, Kendare Blake. YA fantasy & science fiction.
• Emma Dilemma: Big Sister Poems, Kristine O'Connell George. Poetry

Also from my hold list, but not for Cybils (I've been waiting for this one for a long time) was:

• Sammy Keyes & the Night of Skulls, Wendelin Van Draanen

I needed to renew my stash of Reading My Library books, so I dragged P over to the next section of children's fiction shelves, assigned him one case and took the other.  Three shelves per case this time, so I got (first three I picked, the next three are P's choices for me):

• The Magnificent 12: The Trap, Michael Grant
• The Brooklyn Nine, Alan Gratz
• Knightley Academy, Violet Haberdasher
• The Eyeball Collector, by F.E. Higgins (no picture)
• Star in the Storm, Joan Hiatt Harlow
• Go Big or Go Home, Will Hobbs

This brings me to a total of 43 items out on my card, which is exactly my age.  Soon I'll have another birthday and have an excuse to keep out even more books!  This includes about seven books that I finished but haven't blogged, so they didn't make it to the library sack for returns.  I'm sneaking one book a few days overdue so I can finish it, but I also found a lost book that X was about to pay for, so there is karmic balance. Everything fits neatly in my library bookshelf, although the Challenge section is looking intimidatingly stuffed.  I'll go share my Library Loot at the event co-hosted by Claire from the Captive Reader and Marg from The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader (this weeks host), where all the library addicts compare their treasures.