Fireworks and Summer

Susie and Sophie want
good views of the fireworks

Another wonderful week of summer, with the boys enjoying their rowing camp, and tolerating the astronomy & story writing seminar that I signed them up for. Fourth of July was fun -- it's the first time in ages that I've been home for it (I miss you, Ellen!) so I don't really have any traditions. Since it fell on a Thursday, it was my turn to cook, so I dragged X out shopping with me and made some fun salads (sardine pasta & roasted potato). Then I served hot dogs and corn on the cob so as to satisfy patriotic requirements, with French croissants and ice cream for dessert. We ate outside as a picnic, which was much cooler than usual, since I was in Washington instead of Texas.

The city here bans all fireworks, so at 10pm I volunteered to take A & N to see the show over the lake, and I forced P to accompany us. We spread our blanket and chairs on the beach and enjoyed a nice display, close enough to see well but far enough away that no painfully loud music assaulted us. I offered to sing patriotic songs to the kids, but they all demurred. 

I'm still hitting my book a day, although counting the picture books seems like cheating. And so far they are almost all library books, because that's what I'm drowning in.

June 21: Lord Peter Views the Body, Dorothy Sayers (audio), library

June 22: Mrs. Harkness and the Panda, Alicia Potter, (PB), library

June 23:  Smells Like Dog, Suzanne Selfors, (kidlit), library

June 24: Eggs 1 2 3 Who Will the Babies Be, Janet Halfman,

June 25: Looking at Lincoln, Maira Kalman,

June 26: Blue Jasmine, Kashmira Sheth

June 27:The Worst Case Scenario: Deadly Seas, David Borgenicht & Alexander Lurie

June 28: The Guardian (The Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier), Jack Campbell

June 29: Last Scene Alive, Charlaine Harris, (mystery), reread

June 30: Dead Over Heels, Charlaine Harris, (mystery), reread

July 1: Mirage, Matt Ruff, (SF), library

July 2: Fire Lord's Lover,  Kathryn Kennedy (SF, Romance), library

July 3: The Giant Ball of String, Arthur Geisert (PB), library

July 4: Four Corners, Kira Salek, (memoir), library

Lazy Day Library Fun

We declared today to be an official "Do What You Like" Day, and only did what we liked. The kids especially wanted a day free from appointments, even fun ones like parties and camp. I, of course, wanted to go to the library.

I picked up two holds and one impulse pick:

• In the Sea, David Elliott. Cybils poetry book.
• National Geographic Book of Animal Poetry, ed J. Patrick Lewis. Cybils poetry book.
• My Name Is Mina, David Almond. Kidlit by an author I've loved.
• Plus a handful of music CD's, to put in the house stereo and clean to.

I now am down to a total of 41 things out on my library cards, which is fairly good, especially since it includes some picture books I'm saving for N and some music CDs. And it's all at the local library, which is also an improvement. I'm hoping to get the number down before the big July vacations; my summer book-a-day project should help with that. And, let me point out that I'm eligible to buy a book, since I'm MUCH older than 41. I'm eyeing the new Elizabeth Moon avidly.

I'll go share my Library Loot at the event co-hosted by Claire from the Captive Reader and Marg from The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader, where all the library addicts compare their treasures. And I think I'll sign up at Tynga's Stacking the Shelves, which asks for all the books acquired, which this week is just the library stuff.

Summer Reading Book a Day

The summer has finally kicked into hot gear, after a week of cool showers and even some thunderstorms. Today the sun unleashed some heat, enough that I consoled myself that I have an air conditioner. I didn't actually turn it on, but knowing I could was a great relief. I'm enjoying the company of my new high school student, whose picture is my theme for this week. As you can see, he's removed his tie, unbuttened the top layers, and generally relaxed after the Big Junior High Transition Ceremony.

I've stored up a few books in advance by reading the Cybils Nonfiction picture books. I'll have to reread them again with N; he's really stretching his literary skills and seems to like the science stuff. Then I concentrate on the library stuff that's about to expire; I haven't even touched my groaning book case of unread volumes. Oh well, July awaits.

The books so far are:

June 21: Lord Peter Views the Body, Dorothy Sayers (audio), library

June 22: Mrs. Harkness and the Panda, Alicia Potter, (PB), library

June 23:  Smells Like Dog, Suzanne Selfors, (kidlit), library

June 24: Eggs 1 2 3 Who Will the Babies Be,  Janet Halfman, (PB), library

June 25: Looking at Lincoln, Maira Kalman, (PB), library

June 26: Blue Jasmine, Kashmira Sheth, (kidlit), library

June 27:The Worst Case Scenario: Deadly Seas, David Borgenicht & Alexander Lurie, (kidlit), library

June 28: The Guardian (The Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier), Jack Campbell, SF, library

Summer Solstice Report

 Summer has officially started, with a pool party and a thunderstorm and a GIANT MOON. My eighth grader has graduated from middle school, the sixth graders are now seventh graders, and the fourth grader is proud to rule the school as a fifth grader.

Last week I had another great weekend -- my BIL graduated with his masters degree, the weather was wonderful, and we had our annual Foam Sword party with lots of hacking and slashing and no injuries.

I'll go sign in at Book Journey's round-up of what people have read, are reading, and will read. I'm also heading for  Teach Mentor Texts. This is a catch-up post -- last week I forgot to post, so I'm incorporating those books into this week.

This week I read:

• Grave Sight, Charlaine Harris. SF. I zipped through the entire Harper Connolly series.
• Grave Surprise, Charlaine Harris. SF
• An Ice Cold Grave, Charlaine Harris. SF
• Elfhome, Wen Spencer. SF. I think I've only read the ARC, so I reread a library copy.
• A Rising Thunder, David Weber. The Honor Harrington saga is very very top heavy now.
• The Zoo Job, Keith R.A. DeCandido. SF (sort of). A fun Leverage romp, with rhinos.
• Lord Peter Views the Body, Dorothy Sayers. Audio. Short mysteries are good car fodder.
• Smells Like Dog, Suzanne Selfors. Kidlit. A reading-my-library pick that the library wants back.
• Blue Jasmine, Kashmira Sheth. Kidlit. Another reading-my-library choice called back early.

I also read the seven finalists for the Cybils Nonfiction picture books. And then I started rereading them with the early reader, who has embraced the science stuff with glee. He particularly liked the theory of evolution (and the blue-footed boobies) in Island and the wonderful snake pictures in Snakes; I'll see if he also likes the history books by Potter and Kalman.

• Mrs. Harkness and the Panda, Alicia Potter
• Looking at Lincoln, Maira Kalman
• Eggs 1 2 3: Who Will the Babies Be?, Janet Halfman
• Dolphin Baby!, Nicola Davies
• Island: A Story of the Galapagos, Jason Chin
• Nic Bishop Snakes, Nic Bishop
• Balloons Over Broadway: The True Story of the Puppeteer of Macy's Parade, Melissa Sweet

Last week I read:

• Three Bedrooms, One Corpse, Charlaine Harris (reread, audio). I do enjoy a good Aurora Teagarden story.
• Grave Secret, Charlaine Harris. (reread) The audio book seems to have kicked a general Harris reread.
• Shadows In Flight, Orson Scott Card. SF. What finally happened to Bean from Ender's Game.
• Some of the Best From Tor.com 2011. NOOK. Short stories that first appeared on that website.
• Sammy Keyes and the Showdown in Sin City, Wendelin Van Draanen. kidlit. I really like the Sammy stories, although this one did a mature thing in humanizing some of the villains, which I kinda regret since they were great at being awful.
• Ordinary Magic, Caitlen Rubino-Bradway. kidlit. A RML pick that I had seen mentioned on several blogs. A fun tale that I've passed along to my oldest son.

What am I currently reading? Well, now that I'm trying to finish a book a day, I grab something I think I'll finish, and then I go back to my standard pile of library book, personal book, book club book, and NOOK. And then I have the other books that I'm pushing through so I always have something I can finish.

• Shakespeare's Landlord, Charlaine Harris (audio). Still on my Harris kick, now I'm listening to the first Lily Bard story when the kids aren't in the car.
• The Wake of the Lorelei Lee, L.A. Meyer (audio). I got it back! It'll be the main story while the kids are in the car.
• Ascension, Michael Carroll. I've forgotten a lot of the first book, so I'm just easing into this one.
• Four Corners, Kira Salak. A young woman journeys to New Guinea -- it looks fascinating.
• Touch of the Demon, Diane Rowland. I like this series, but it's getting a bit top-heavy.
• The Lost Frontier: Guardian, Jack Campbell. Latest in his tale of a boy scout commanding an interstellar fleet, reluctantly teaching his descendants about decency and honor.

What will I read next? I have no idea!

2013 Challenges:

1. Cybils: 39/74.  Finished the NF picture books. Ordered some poetry from the library.
2. Where Am I Reading?: 29/51. Picked up Iowa from Blue Jasmine and Arkansas from a Harper Connolly book. Also Georgia from the Aurora Teagarden book. Thank you, Ms Harris. Sammy Keyes went to Nevada.
3. Crazy Quilt Colors: 5/9. Need patterns, yellow, green, and brown. Any good brown books?
4. Reading My Library: Two finished hastily when the library called them 
5. Best of the Best 2012: 41/25. Finished How to Save a Life but my audio book had to go back to the library.
6. Summer Reading Goal: So far so good.

Summer of 2013

Solstice Wear

It's summer time again, and I'm belatedly announcing I'm going for the Book-a-Day-thing a lot of librarians sign up for. It's very relaxed, which is good, because I'm bone idol. I'll again try to get through a lot of the books piling up on my TBR bookcase, as well as whittle my library stash down. Of course, I'm also taking a giant exciting vacation in the middle of July, so we'll see how that works out.

It's based on an average, so you can read three books one day and then sleep for 48 hours. Everything counts, even picture books, which is handy since I just finished off the Cybils Nonfiction Picture books. I hope they help me out on the driving days.

This week kicks off the Summer Solstice (June 21st), so the books so far are:

June 21: Lord Peter Views the Body, Dorothy Sayers (audio), library
June 22: Mrs. Harkness and the Panda, Alicia Potter, (PB), library
June 23:  Smells Like Dog, Suzanne Selfors, (kidlit), library

Finish Line! 48 Hour Reading Challenge Complete!

All done! I finished seven books, and almost finished an eighth, for a total of 2462 pages. I read for 29 hours. I slept very well, unfortunately, which kept me from making my internal 30 hour goal. On the other hand, I'll be fit for life over the next few days, which is a plus.


Books Read:

• Redshirts, John Scalzi
• The Eye of the Warlock, P.W. Catanese
• Redskins and Cowboys, G.A. Henty
• Ender's World, Ed. Orson Scott Card
• And All the Stars, Andrea K Host
• Delusion In Death, J.D. Robb
• Big Bad Ironclad, Nathan Hale
• Shadows Claim, Kresley Cole
• Throne of the Crescent Moon, Saladin Ahmed, (incomplete)
• Three Bedrooms, One Corpse, Charlaine Harris (audio) (incomplete)

Monday Report

I Well, it was a fun weekend of reading all the time -- the 48 Hour Reading Challenge, hosted this year by Ms Yingling Reads to give Motherreader a break. Strangely, instead of reading until all hours of the night because I couldn't fall asleep, I spent the weekend dropping off all the time, so I'm well rested but only got 29 hours in. Funny old world we live in.

I also pretty much stuck to my one-book-at-a-time experiment, which felt odd but probably sped up my page turning.

I'll go sign in at Book Journey's round-up of what people have read, are reading, and will read. I'm also heading for  Teach Mentor Texts since I read many youthful books.


This week I read:

• The Avion My Uncle Flew, Cyrus Fisher. kidlit. An old Newberry Honor book about post-WW II France.
• Little White Duck, Na Liu. kidlit. A Cybils graphic novel about growing up in China.
• The Duchess War, Courney Milan. A romance about a duke and an unsuitable woman, with labor unrest.
• Giants Beware!, Jorge Aguirre. kidlit. A Cybils graphic novel about bold children with a plan.
• How to Save a Life, Sara Zarr. YA. A Best of the Best pick.
• Hilda and the Midnight Giant, Luke Pearson. kidlit. A Cybils graphic novel (see a pattern here? I got the whole nominee slate.)
• The Eye of the Warlock, P.W. Catanese. kidlit. Leftover from last summer.
• Redshirts, John Scalzi. SF. I finally read this! Standard Scalzi, but with codas.
• Redskin and Cowboy, G.A. Henty. kidlit. Last summer leftover, good problematic fun.
• Ender's World, ed. Orson Scott Card. Essays about Ender's Game.
• And All the Stars, Andrea K Host. YA. A Cybils fantasy pick. I'll give to X.
• Delusion in Death, J.D. Robb. SF. Standard in Death book.
• Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales: Big Bad Ironclad!, Nathan Hale. kidlit. Cybils graphic novel that isn't a novel because it's a narrative nonfiction.
• Shadow's Claim, Kresley Cole. SF. Romance. From Vaginal Fantasy book club. Last month's book. I'm always late, but youtube will wait for me.
• Throne of the Crescent Moon, Saladin Ahmed. SF. Good guys against evil magicians.

What am I currently reading? Almost nothing! I mean, I have the six books I'm just inching through, and I have the short stories on my NOOK that I read every day or so, and I have two audio books open because the library reclaimed one and hasn't released it back to me yet. But really, I'm not reading anything at this second.

• Some of the Best From Tor.Com 2011. (NOOK) This is from my favorite review site.
• The Wake of the Lorelei Lee, L.A. Meyer (audio). The library called it home! I shall request it again, as my kid is now into it. 
• Three Bedrooms, One Corpse, Charlaine Harris (audio). My replacement so I could have something to listen to in the car.
• Keep Me Forever, Rosemary Laurey. Dipper. Hmm, English village politics are complex.
• The Whys of a Philosophical Scrivener, Martin Gardner. Dipper. I like his thoughts on prayer.
• The Pickwick Papers, Charles Dickens. Dipper. More depressing lawyer stuff.
• Senrid, Sherwood Smith. Dipper. A rescue! But by the wrong guy?
• Abraham Lincoln: Prairie Years, Carl Sandburg. Congressman Abe misses his family.
• A Parent's Guide to Developmental Delays,  Laurie Lecomer. Heading into sensory integration, another familiar topic.

What will I read next week? I'm about to start Alexandre Dumas's Georges on my NOOK, then Michael Carroll's Ascension from my shelves. That's the second book in the Super Human series, and my older son highly recommended it. From the library I have the Reading My Library Quest book Ordinary Magic, by Caitlen Rubino-Bradley (shelved under R), and for my book clubs I'm going to start Where'd You Go Bernadette. If I finish Ordinary Magic I'll move on to The Snow Child because it's due next week.

2013 Challenges:

1. Cybils: 32/74.  Finished middle grade graphic novels and one YA Fantasy. Ordered up all the NF picture books.
2. Where Am I Reading?: 25. Nothing new. Snow Child will be in Alaska, though.
3. Crazy Quilt Colors: 5/9. Need patterns, yellow, green, and brown. Any good brown books?
4. Reading My Library: Not this week. But I've got one in the bag.
5. Best of the Best 2012: 41/25. Finished How to Save a Life but my audio book had to go back to the library.
6. Summer Reading Goal: Ha! Now I'm all set for another book-a-day plan.
7. 48 Hour Reading Challenge! Finished seven books, with an eighth done a few minutes after the final whistle. Had a great time, although I missed my boys.