Well, things certainly escalated fast, didn't they?
The libraries are closed. The restaurants are closed. The gyms are closed. The book stores are closed. The movies are closed. The schools are closed. Work is as remote as it can be.
My sons are both back from college. One is officially on spring break, the other is starting remote classes. Next week they'll flip. The younger one would prefer to go back to his dorm to work, as he thinks it will be very hard for him to concentrate enough for remote classes at all, and doing it from the fun zone that is my home (I mean, I do have cats) might be too much. Who knows if it will be possible or not by next week -- perhaps they'll barricade the roads or just discourage people from known hot spots (like, say, HERE) from returning.
So far we're all healthy, though. I had my two elementary book clubs during the last week of school, although only one was well attended. Then I hosted my Friday book club (with a member skyping in as she was getting over a cold). As a laugh we all carefully sat with a chair between us, but we weren't really laughing. My future engagements in March are all moved to remote meetings; my brother didn't even come over for family dinner on Sunday but he did companionably watch The Mandalorian with us while on a call so we could snark companionably at the screens in our respective houses.
I did manage to play one game of Pandemic at which the world was saved and the diseases contained. Let it be an omen!
Stay safe, everyone!
My currently reading crept up to 21 but I think I'm finally settling down to some reading. Hopefully I'll finish some things next week.
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. Ditto for the children's lit version at either Teach Mentor Texts or Unleashing Readers. My elementary school book clubs (and a couple of Cybils books) qualify me.
Started:
Alvin Ho: Allergic to Girls, School, and Other Scary Things, Lenore Look. For the Talbot Hill Elementary book club.
The Orphans of Raspay, Lois McMaster Bujold. I like these little stories, and I'm saving this for my walks at the gym.
Shattered Warrior, Sharon Shinn. I like the author, and I like the illustrator.
Gregor the Overlander, Suzanne Collins. For the other Talbot Hill Elementary book club.
Completed:
Alvin Ho: Allergic to Girls, School, and Other Scary Things, Lenore Look. Fun book about a timid boy for the Talbot Hill book club. Made for a nice discussion as they compared him to their classmates and decided what made a good friend, good brother, good classmate.
Shattered Warrior, Sharon Shinn. My favorite part was figuring how it did things differently because it was a graphic novel and not just text. But I still find pictures a lot harder to read than words.
Gregor the Overlander, Suzanne Collins. I read this with a previous book club and thought it was OK, but on the reread I liked it a lot more. I liked how Gregor took being a big brother very seriously, and how the cockroaches approached things. I think I'll look up the sequels.
Bookmarks Moved (Or Languished) In:
Tender Morsels, Margo Lanagan. 4/10 discs. The girls are going to miss their bear.
Tropic of Serpents, Marie Brennan. The library called this home. I will try to get it back, probably after I finish Jonathan Strange. They are a bit too close together to read simultaneously.
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, Susanna Clarke. Made it through a few chapters. Since I'm trying not to go anywhere, I don't get a lot of time in the car, which is where I listen to this.
Uncompromising Honor, David Weber. Baen Free Radio Hour's serial. They skipped a week, and I am beind on the podcast anyway.
The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora, Pablo Cartaya. 2017 Cybils middle grade fiction. I like the story about the gentrification, but his crush is a bit dull.
Gideon the Ninth, Tamsyn Muir. I've managed to make it to where the action should start, so hopefully it will start going more quickly.
The Affair, Lee Child. It's fun to see Reacher back in his Army days.
Shout, Laurie Halse Anderson. 2019 Cybils poetry. It's definitely not prose, but I'm reading it more as a biography than as a group of poems.
Picture Books / Short Stories:
Nothing. The libraries are closed.
Palate Cleansers
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 Educated Child, William Bennett.
Cookie, Jacqueline Wilson.
Give All to Love, Patricia Veryan.
Tell the Wolves I'm Home, Carol Rifka Brunt.
Reading and Learning to Read, Jo Anne Vaca.
Reading Challenges
- Cybils 2017. A little progress in Epic Fail.
- Cybils 2018. Nothing.
- Cybils 2019. Read in Shout.
- Reading My Library. Nothing.
- Ten to Try. I've got 5/10 already!
- Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge. 11/24. Nothing new.
- Where Am I Reading: The Reacher book is in Mississippi, which will be new. Shout is maybe in Vermont? I should pay more attention, except it's too late. Epic Fail is in Florida.
1 comment:
Beth, You've given us a TON of books to think about. Yay!
This morning I was messaging friends right and left asking if they had anything that was pure escape and got some good suggestions. But our library's closed so if they weren't on the Libby app, I was doomed. Not wanting to buy something I'd read once, I was sure I'd stumble upon SOMETHING on the app.
And then you mentioned a Jack Reacher novel I don't think I've read. Pure escapism and Voila! available from the library for my Kindle. You have possibly saved the day.
I read like you do, dipping and choosing and cleansing. I love the way you frame your reading choices. Thank you for this post.
Post a Comment