Weekend Shenanigans

I got distracted by a Goodreads reading team and read a few quick picks to gain some points for them. And I continued starting all the Cybils so I feel like I'm making progress.

I went over to Vashon Island to visit my brother and his wife, and scored some excellent gingerbread. Yum! I must remember to go there more often.

I can now almost fit my stack of last year's Cybils books into my library shelf  -- progress! Currently Reading is around hovering around 32 as a result of me starting so many of them.

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 but it's too late to sign up, although I'll check some of the posts. There's also a version that is kidlit focussed at either Teach Mentor Text or UnLeashing Readers.

This Week I started:



Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates. For my Across-the-Aisles book club.

Discount Armageddon, Seanan McGuire. I approach this with more enthusiasm because now I've met McGuire and heard her discuss cryptids and biology.

Miss Ellicott's School for the Magically Minded, Sage Blackwood. A Cybil for this year.

Potions and Pastries, Bailey Cates. My next Reading My Library book

Game Change, Joseph Monninger. Recommended by a friend.

Mrs. Pollifax on Safari, Dorothy Gilman. Reread because I've acquired the book.

this is where it ends, Marieke Nijkamp. Cybils YA.

Full of Beans, Jennifer Holm. Cybils middle grade.

London Rain, Nicola Upson. Audio Reading My Library book.

The Body in the Library, Agatha Christie. Reread.

I finished:



Fashion Rebels, Carlyn Beccia. Cybils nonfiction. Individual short chapters on various influential people were often interesting, but the overall idea that fashion changes the world wasn't really sustained. If I hadn't scored as an Ellen Degeneres (comfort over looks) on the style guide I probably would have appreciated the how-to and fashion idea pages more.

Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates. For my Across-the-Aisles book club. Sadly, this was probably the last meeting, but at least we went out on a powerful book. The sense of helplessness felt by Coates was viscerally portrayed. If he really expected his son to read this, that boy is highly literate.

Shadow Magic, Joshua Khan. Cybils middle grade fantasy. Fast moving, well defined characters, sharply defined setting -- this book hits all the right notes. There's a bit under the hood in terms of questioning world views and expectations, but not so much to make it seem stodgy. I thought some hints of romance were shoved in, but that's probably me being oversensitive. Fun read.

The Rosie Project, Graeme Simsion. A Reading My Library audio. I enjoyed Don's voice and perspective, although I felt he wasn't always consistent about what he knew and what he claimed to understand. It was usually worth it for the sake of the story, though.

Mrs. Pollifax on Safari, Dorothy Gilman. Reread because I've acquired the book. As a reread, I could ignore the plot (I vaguely remembered bits of it, enough to know who didn't do it) and appreciated the language more. So far these hold up to a second round.

Discount Armageddon, Seanan McGuire. I enjoyed this, although the protagonist was painfully young and enthusiastic about so many things. I felt very old. I will look out for others in this world.

Booked, Kwame Alexander. Cybils poetry. A boy writes poems about his eighth grade year, in which his parents split up, he tries to get a girlfriend, and he misses a soccer tournament. The poems pushed me to a remove from the boy, since they didn't seem like the kind of thing he'd write himself. My aversion to verse novels continues to stand between me and these books.

The Body in the Library, Agatha Christie. Reread. Miss Marple has seen it all, and recognizes when she sees it again. It's fun to watch her take apart all the condescending young things, and it's fun to watch Christie playing with detective novel tropes.

Bookmarks moved in:




Alliance of Equals, Sharon Lee & Steve Miller. Episode 37. I like this narrator more on 1.5 speed, which is a bit unusual But this is a rather slow moving story, so speeding things up keeps me listening better.

Beast, Bria Spangler. I hadn't realized Beast meant that stuff about talking to (and listening for) his dead father so literally. Even without looking at him I forget how young he really is sometimes.

Voyage to Magical North, Claire Fayers. Cybils middle grade.These kids need to start working together.

When the Sea Turned to Silver, Grace Lin. Cybils middle grade. It's fun reading the book when I listened to the audio last year. Grace Lin's illustrations are well worth the double dipping.

These I'm barely reading; I use them as palate cleansers between books I'm actually reading.



Kenilworth, Sir Walter Scott.

A Traitor to Memory, Elizabeth George. So far I feel like everyone in this book is kind of bad; I don't want to start to like anyone but it isn't hard to avoid.

The Quantum Universe, Brian Cox.

Sammy Keyes and the Art of Deception, Wendelin Van Draanen.

Change of Heart, Norah McClintock.

Reading and Learning to Read, Jo Anne Vaca.

2018 Challenge Progress:

1. Cybils 2017! 4/104-ish. I started the next one. Also read a board book, but it was the wrong one.
2. Cybils 2016!  88/107-ish. Getting closer, slowly.
3. Reading My Library: Finished The Rosie Project, started London Rain so I'm in the Us for audio. Started Potions and Pastries.
4. Where Am I Reading 2018?: 12/51. No new states, but I did hit Africa and Australia, so that's good.