After a week of wild nagging I got my mostly-ready boy off to college for his sophomore year. As is traditional, he forgot his pillow so we got him a new one and he is happy. Hopefully this new pillow will engender good sleep habits and he'll excel in all his classes.
His roommate seems nice, if a bit disappointed by Alexander's presence (he was reshuffled in at the last moment), the dorm is modern with AC, nice showers, and easy access to breakfast (if a bit far from classes and dinner).
And then I drove back home in plenty of time to pick my younger son up from the airport, where he was home from his stint of hanging out with a friend's kid in Austin. Good thing I packed my books because I spent a lot of time in the cell phone lot as his plane spent a lot of time (at 1:00 AM) sitting on the tarmac waiting for a gate to come home to. Luckily we live near the airport so he was in bed not much after 2 AM. Thanks a lot, Sea-Tac!
I read a Cybils book, a RML book, and I'm making tough progress in the Sword and Laser pick, which is a bit out of my comfort zone. I like books where I'm hoping the protagonists win, not uneasily aware that they are not making the world a better place.
My currently reading remains at 24. That's not too bad, really.
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 so I'll sign up there. There's also a version that is kidlit focussed at either Teach Mentor Texts or Unleashing Readers and as I read another Cybils YA Finalist I'll sign up there.
This Week I started:
Stinger, Nancy Kress. Kress is the next Foolscap GoH, and this book was written the year my kid was born and I was living in Holland. That's my excuse for only getting to it now.
Queer, There and Everywhere, Sarah Prager. Next Cybils. A YA nonfiction.
Sparrow Hill Road, Seanan McGuire. Last year's Foolscap GoH.
I finished:
Piercing Me Together, Renee Watson. Cybils YA. This was great. I expected a much younger book, because somehow I thought the cover showed a middle school kid, but no, it's about a high school junior navigating difficult social terrain. She's a poor kid in a rich school, and the author captures the dynamics of that divide, both across and within racial boundaries. And the author is a fully realized young woman, with a mother she respects but pushes against, friends who support her and expect support (and sometimes everyone fails) and goals that compete with immediate problems.
Long Time Gone, Mary Connealy. A RML book that I picked for its setting, but it didn't disappoint. The Christian aspect felt integral, not added in to fit a category, and the characters were varied even if I think I didn't like them as much as the author did. Their flaws made the book interesting, though. It's a middle book but the author gave me everything I needed even if I skip the beginning and the end.
Boys in the Boat, Daniel James Brown. It was a bit more detailed than I really needed, but the way Brown built suspense and keep me turning pages during the final chapters about the actual race was amazing, since the fact the book existed basically told me how it ended. Well written and stuff I'm glad to know.
Bookmarks moved in:
The Compleat Gentleman, Brad Minor. My audio RML book. 3-6/7. If you start with assuming that women don't count, then there's no sense going back to explain that decision because the whole point of your book is to be about people that matter.
Son of the Black Sword, Larry Correia. 5-6/? Baen's podcast serial. So far I like the bleakness of the world.
Jade City, Fonda Lee. THIS MONTH's Sword and Laser pick. I am struggling with this because I don't like any of the characters -- they are all mobsters and crooks. That's not how I like my books.
On Basilisk Station, David Weber. Apparently most club members snuck ahead and finished this, but I loyally stopped close to the designated line.
Cybils Books
Collected but haven't yet read the Poetry book.
These books I'm barely reading; I use them as palate cleansers between books I'm actually reading.
A Traitor to Memory, Elizabeth George. The multiple last names just indicate a life lived in stages.
The Quantum Universe, Brian Cox.
Sammy Keyes and the Art of Deception, Wendelin Van Draanen.
Change of Heart, Norah McClintock. The best friend must confront her brattiness.
Reading and Learning to Read, Jo Anne Vaca. Vocabulary can be complicated.
2018 Challenge Progress:
- Cybils 2017! 45/104-ish. Finished Piecing Me Together. Working on Queer, There and Everywehre.
- Reading My Library: Working on The Compleat Gentleman and finished Long Time Gone. I've got a Star Wars book by J.A. Corey on deck.
- Where Am I Reading 2018?: 37/51. New Mexico! And Stinger is set in Maryland.
3 comments:
I'm so glad you enjoyed Piecing Me Together! I read it around the time that I read Dear Martin and The Hate U Give -- stories that demonstrate the dynamics of being in a fancy private school while growing up in a different neighborhood. Stories like this are an important window for the kids in my community since we don't have these types of private school opportunities (at least not within hundreds of miles). But so important for developing empathy. I'm on the #kidlit side of IMWAYR, so I'm glad you're doing the Cybils -- often allowing me to peak into your reading world! :) Thanks for all your shares, Beth!
I liked Boys in the Boat, but the hardships of the depression made me feel soft and pampered. That isn't a bad thing, I suppose.
Piecing Me Together has been on my to read list for ages but I never manage to make time to read it.
Thanks for the heads up about Queer, There and Everywhere. I didn't know about it am happy that my library actually has a copy of it!
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