This was a quiet week during which I couldn't really settle down to any reading. Which was a shame because I have some great books lurking on my bedside table, but I just couldn't muster up the energy to read them.
I also dodged the gym a lot, only going a couple of times. I guess it was just a time of low energy all around. I didn't even get to the movies, since my friend's retirement home asks us to limit all non-essential visits and outings. (I live in the dreaded King County outside Seattle, so we are on high panic mode.) I still went to all the libraries, just in case my reading mojo comes back. It was pretty quiet, so I sat and read a pile of picture books.
My currently reading crept up to 20 as I kept trying books to see they will entice me back onto the reading train/ I still have three audio books on the go, and several books that I started and then put aside as not fitting my mood.
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. I qualify this week with all those picture books.
Started:
Vendetta In Death, J.D. Robb. Because I like these.
Giant Spider & Me, Vol. 3, Kikori Morino. Because I like these.
The Affair, Lee Child. I'm in the mood for mindless reading.
The Cats Came Back, Sofie Kelly. The cozy mystery for next week's friend book club.
Shout, Laurie Halse Anderson. 2019 Cybils poetry.
Completed:
Vendetta In Death, J.D. Robb. Cozy mystery about a serial killer who tortures her victim. Hmm, OK, maybe not so cozy. But at least the first guy was a real baddie, so we are eased into the whole thing, and the regular cast are all cool.
Giant Spider & Me, Vol. 3, Kikori Morino. This was very sweet. The girl's affection for her giant spider, and its reciprocity shines through even as a townsman worries about safety and her gruff friend worries about the local cafe owner. They all cook tasty food happily ever after.
The Cats Came Back, Sofie Kelly. This was warm and fuzzy, a real cozy mystery. The woman does manage to solve a murder, but it doesn't really matter. What does matter is that her cats are cute, her friend is getting married, and Emme pulls herself together and chooses a man, a college, and to sing in the local festival.
Bookmarks Moved (Or Languished) In:
Tender Morsels, Margo Lanagan. 4/10 discs. Oh no -- the bear and the girls are separated!
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. The library gave back the audio, but I didn't notice! I doubt I'll finish this time either.
Uncompromising Honor, David Weber. Baen Free Radio Hour's serial. Lots of recapping, which is good because I skipped some books and forgot the others.
The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora, Pablo Cartaya. 2017 Cybils middle grade fiction.
Gideon the Ninth, Tamsyn Muir. Missed the book club, so the pressure is off.
Picture Books / Short Stories:
Crow Not Crow, Jane Yolen. As a complete failure of a birder, this is the kind of introductory text I've been needing.
The Ultimate Book of Sharks, Brian Skerry. 2018 Cybils nonfiction. Great for sea and shark lovers. Each page spread is its own topic, with sharp photographs and quick-bite facts about a variety of sharks and sharks in general, and also some personal accounts of photographing and interacting with the beasts.
Brown Sugar Babe, Charlotte Sherman Watson. Pretty and soft pictures celebrate the beauty of brown and the little girl, but the words themselves felt clunky and hard to read to me. A good concept but it would be hard for me as a read-aloud.
She Persisted, Chelsea Clinton. A very does-what-it-says-on-the-tin book -- pretty much exactly what I expected from a book by this author with this title. Crisp, diverse illustrations of powerful kids admiring appreciating powerful women.
Mama Miti: Wangari Maathai and the Trees of Kenya, Donna Jo Napoli. I had not known of this Nobel prize winning woman until this picture book, which had lovely illustrations of the trees and their uses and then an afterword filling me in on the facts. Neat.
A Girl Called Genghis Khan: How Maria Toorpakai Wazir Pretended to Be a Boy, Defied the Taliban, and Became a World Famous Squash Player, Michelle Lord. A biography of a handball player threatened by the Taliban for being female, and how she had to flee Pakistan to survive. I liked how the illustrations and the text reinforced each other.
Parker Looks Up: An Extraordinary Moment, Parker Curry. Really written by Parker's mom, this is the story of a day that a little girl saw the portrait of Michelle Obama and suddenly realized how powerful black women could be.
Sulwe, Lupita Nyong'o. A celebrity book that I liked! I didn't notice the author until afterwards. It's a book about growing up in a black nation but still feeling ugly because your skin is a different shade. A good moral, and several breathtakingly beautiful illustrations (see the cover!).
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 Epic Fail. Got Refugee from the library.
- Cybils 2018. Finished elementary nonfiction.
- Cybils 2019. Started Shout.
- Reading My Library. Nothing.
- Ten to Try. I've got 5/10 already!
- Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge. 11/24. Read a picture book about a marginalized character.
- Where Am I Reading: Just finished a Minnesota book!
1 comment:
So sorry to hear your community is in panic mode. We just had our first potential case in my little town and I’ve not yet had any trouble rummaging through our local grocery store. However, I had to go to a larger town about an hour away. And since I was going to be pumping gas on my way home, I thought I’d stop in to get something to wipe my hands down with afterward. When I walked in, it was clear everyone was in panic mode. The toilet paper aisle was packed and there were barely any choices left on the shelves. There was no hand gel available. So I left and took my chances with the gas pump only to discover they had hand sanitizer right at the gas pump. Woohoo! (can’t say I’ve ever cheered for hand sanitizer, before - lol). Anyway, on to books… I think I told you that I ordered Bach's Paradox series a couple weeks back. It still hasn’t arrived, but should be here by next week some time. I’m very much looking forward to it!
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