Postponing Mother's Day

This year my kids are with their dad on Mother's Day. Usually when this happens we switch things around, but things between me and my ex are a bit fragile since we argued over who gets the kids on Roman Catholic Easter, a holiday he recently began celebrating. So I figured we'd just do it next week, when the crowds should be less for a nice Mother's Day at the movies with Captain America.

I got cranky when they didn't text me, though. I mean, I'm paying for their data plan!

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/UnLeasing Readers which does the same thing for kidlit, since I read mostly that this week.

This week I finished  books:




* The One and Only Ivan, Katherine Applegate. I re-read this for my elementary book club. I could tell that a lot of kids were coasting on having listened to various teachers read it to them over the past few years (instead of reading it fresh). But we managed to have some good conversations, and they were very interested in learning that the gorilla that Applegate based the story on was kept in a store within an easy drive of our school.

The Year of Living Dangerously, Christopher Koch. Yay -- I finished my Surprise Me book for April. Pity that's it's May now. I should get started on the book for this month, I guess.

William Shakespeare's Star Wars: Verily, A New Hope, Ian Doescher. I reread this in preparation for our Tuesday Movie/Book club. I think we're watching an actual Shakespeare play on Tuesday, one chosen for its length (we like short). I enjoyed the conceit a lot, although I haven't gone on to read the other ones. I especially like how he sprinkled famous lines from across various plays (St Crispin's Day speech, bits from Julius Caesar, etc.) in any vaguely appropriate places.

Unnatural Causes, P.D. James. My next audio book for my Reading My Library Quest. This was fun to listen to, but I'm not sure it really works as a mystery.

* The Walls Around Us, Nova Ren Suma. The next Cybils pick. And now I realize that my son has gone to his dad's house with the last finalist in YA Speculative Fiction. Poor management on my part.

* 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 three more books:



Lafayette in the Somewhat United States, Sarah Vowell. My next Reading My Library Quest book. Sarah Vowell tends to make nonfiction go down easily.

Aurora, Kim Stanley Robinson. This month's Sword and Laser pick. So far I like it.

Left For Dead, J.A. Jance. My next audio book for my Reading My Library Quest. I think it takes place in Arizona!

I read some picture books in the library:



Are You Ready to Play Outside, Mo Willems. Elephants are handy in rain or shine.

Ideas Are All Around, Philip Stead. This appears to be a picture book for adults. It's a beautiful book, but I can't think of anyone under five who would appreciate it. For one things, kids that age tend to never run out of ideas.

Naked, Michael Black. Now this had kid appeal. Strategic body and furniture placement kept all the private bits private (so we never know the kid's gender -- I was guessing girl) as she runs all over the house in post-bath celebration of life.

Bookmarks moved in several books:


Under a Graveyard Sky, John Ringo. More cruise ship exploration.

Blake, or the Huts of America, Martin Delaney. This is the first book on Nisi Shawl's Crash Course in the History of Black Science Fiction. Our hero has returned home to bring the rest of his family to freedom. Many complain of his rather impressive vocabulary.

Sisterland, Curtis Sittenfeld. My next Reading My Library pick. Still plugging along before I let myself jump ahead to history and Lafayette.

The Flowers of Adonis, Rosemary Sutcliff. Bad times for Athens.

Ready Player One, Ernest Cline. Our hero has cleared the first gate!

Wool, Hugh Howey. Something bad happened to this guy's wife.

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. I'm not sure I care how Gideon's childhood memories relate to the current murder.
Awakening to the Sacred, Lama Surya Das. More prayers.
Midnight Crossroad, Charlaine Harris. The mystery is solved and the community handles the consequences internally.
Emerald Atlas, John Stephens. Emma worries about her missing siblings. Also for her poisoned friend.
Kenilworth, Walter Scott. Raleigh charms Queen Elizabeth while getting his patron in trouble.
Reading and Learning To Read, Jo Vacca. How to encourage improved comprehension and active reading.

2016 Challenge Progress:

1. Cybils 2015:  23 out of 82. Knocked off another YA Fantasy.
2. Reading My Library:  Reading Sisterland. Finished Unnatural Causes for my audio book. Started Lafayette in the Somewhat United States and Left For Dead for the next slots.
3. Where Am I Reading?: 22/50.  No change. I need three more in May to stay on target.
4. Full House Challenge: 24/25.   I set up the card again. Only need a memoir to finish it a second time.
5. Library Challenge: I'm at 82. I could retire on all the money I save.
6. Diversity Challenge 2016: Kidlit: 10/12. No change. Adult lit: 8/12. Although there were a lot of side characters who were LGBT in my reading, very few main characters were (in April). In May I'll track the economic class of my characters -- Upper (3), middle (1), or lower  (3). I seem to be using myself as my standard for middle.
7. Shelf Love Challenge 2016:  15. All my reading came from the library this week.
8. Grown-Up Reading Challenge 2016: 16/20. No change. The next ones look hard.
9. Eclectic Reader Challenge 2016: 10/12. I need a debut author in 2016, and an immigrant experience book. I don't think Aurora counts for that (spaceship landing on new planet).
10. Surprise Me Challenge: Finished The Year of Living Dangerously.  I ordered the May book.
11. Flash Bingo: Nine Bingos! One non-binary gendered protagonist and I'm done.
12. Literary Exploration Challenge: 10/12. I'm stuck on horror and classics. I'm not sure I'll recognize horror -- how gross is something before it counts?