Stocking Up For a Readathon

As I walked into the library, I saw the librarian just finishing restocking the QuickPick/new paperback section with all the new books they bought this month. Woot! When the universe talks to me, I try to listen. And I assume the universe will also provide me with my own pocket universe of extra hours to read these books in.

I also had to go pick up some holds I had that were about to expire.  They had even sent me the "your holds are about to expire" email, but I resisted coming in early because it is never good for me to have books with due dates on all the days of the week. It's bad enough I check out enough books for a month each week; I don't need to do that daily.

The hold shelf five good looking books:


Twin Spica, Ko Yagimuma. I was reading this manga series a while back, and I want to continue it.

Station Eleven, Emily St. John Mandel. My Friday book club is reading this.

Silver City, Cliff McNish. This is from the first Cybils shortlist, back before I was doing my Cybils Challenge.

Mischief and Mistletoe. I enjoyed the Joanna Bourne book last week, and I like Putney and the Wenches in general, so I got this.

Lulu Walks the Dogs, Judith Viorst. The last Lulu book for me -- word on the street is that there will be no more. Which makes sense, as in the final book she learns to be an undercover spy.



Ancillary Mercy, Ann Leckie. The last in the trilogy -- all MINE.

Hush, Laura Lippman. I liked the other Lippman I read, and it is also set in Maryland.

Only a Kiss, Mary Balogh. I like the Survivor's Club books, and this is another one.

I've currently got 45 things out from the library, including ebooks, music, books for me, and books for the kids. That's a good month's reading, right?

Didn't finish anything for my Library Quest but I'm plugging along in the C.J. Box book and the audio.

I'll go sign in to Library Loot which is at somewhere that I can't find at Silly Little Mischief this week to see what everyone else is getting.  Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and Linda from Silly Little Mischief that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. 

Gaming Weekend

This weekend I hosted my book club and then spent the next two days at Geek Girl Con, a friendly commercial convention that celebrates women, girls, and kids who like to dress up, watch stuff, read stuff, write stuff, build stuff, talk about stuff, play games, or blow stuff up (well, do science).

My brother was demoing Steve Jackson Games in the basement, which gave me the social confidence to try out a lot of games, mostly from Playtest Northwest who had a bunch of game designers showing off their creations of tabletop games that played in under an hour. I also listened to several people talk about books, raising geek kids, and privacy/civil rights both online and in schools. And I went in early on Sunday to do science experiments such as Comet creation, boat building, owl pellet dissection, chemical chromatography, UV bracelet building, and secret messages to write at home.

Playtest Northwest amused themselves by giving games away, so I came home with three new boxes of games: . Also, I won gummi sharks while doing science. Basically, I won all the things, which was a good way to stay positive while surrounded by people, most of them strangers.


This week I finished four books, giving me a sense that I accomplished something in my life:

Lulu and the Brontosaurus, Judith Viorst. This book broke my reading slump, so I'm glad I finally went back to read these easy chapter books. I'm requesting another one right now. I like the humor and the pictures, and enjoy the easy way the author moves back and forth across the fourth wall. Recommended for early young readers.

Stone Mattress, Margaret Atwood. This is the first book I reading for my Library Quest; I finished the children's section before they rebuilt so I'm starting now in the adult area (Large Print). Atwood has a sharp eye for her characters emotions and self deceptions, and these stories center around aging and creation. A good first book for my Quest.

How Eskimos Keep Their Babies Warm, Mei-Ling Hopgood. Another mom who is reinventing parenthood from scratch takes a look at how other cultures differ in childrearing practices (relaxed bedtimes, work versus play expectations, etc.). I sometimes found her naiveté annoying -- she grabs a sling without grasping that there is a learning curve for both parent and child, and then whines when the child (previously tied in a stroller most of the time) had no concept of staying close to mom, while mom has no concept of making sure the toddler stays close. It takes a long time for her to notice that most things are integrated into a life, not separate blocks to swap out seamlessly. But I enjoyed the peek into different cultures, conveniently seen from an outsider from my own community.

Rogue Spy, Joanna Bourne. This was my book club pick, and my suggestion. To my delight, most people enjoyed it (my sister went and read the author's other books, a huge complement!) so I didn't feel like an idiot. We had a good time hanging out, talking about this book, other books, lifes, and pizza.

Bookmarks Moved in a few other books:

audio: Defender of Shannara: Druids Blade, Terry Brooks. We are starting with a damsel in distress story, starring the main character's idiot little sister. 

Breaking Point (started), C.J. Box. Our hero Joe balances crazy bureaucracy and loyalty to his community as a murder pushes differences to the (wait for it) BREAKING POINT.

Forged In Blood 2, Lindsay Buroker. I need to finish this as I really enjoy reading it but the library books and their due dates lure me away.

Runemarks, Joanne Harris. A perfect book to read at Geek Girl Con, since it stars a young girl making her way among superheroes the old gods.

The October Country, Ray Bradbury. I read this in between all the other books. Luckily it was one of the few cheerful stories about a winged man figuring out a way to fly again.

Bookjourney's "It's Monday" posts are coming back! but don't see this week's yet. I'll also sign in with Teach Mentor Texts since at least one and possibly four of these books could show up in a school library.

2015 Challenge Progress:

1. Reading My Library: Finished the first Large Print book and started the second. Moving along with the B's in audio books.
2. Where Am I Reading?: 34/51. Breaking Point will be a Wyoming book, and I've got a Hawaii option on the waiting shelf.
3. Award Winning Book Challenge: I have apparently stopped reviewing books. But I've ticked off many awards. 
4. Book Riot Read Harder: 23/24. I love it when two challenges collide -- Stone Mattress was a book of short stories! I still need an African author.
5. Alphabetically Inclined:  I V X  Z still missing. 22/26
6. Best of the Best 2012: 52/25.  I am stalled. Maybe time to go back?
7. Cybils 2014: Complete! I bought the last one as the libraries didn't seem to have it. WOOT!

Thank Heavens For Libraries

I actually went to the library about four times this week, although I only let myself check stuff out once. The printer went into a snit and now refuses to talk to any computer, which made the production of hard copy of homework difficult. So several nights saw me zipping off to the library just before closing time to bring home evidence of my kids' hard work. It's nice to know that the library has our back when technology goes wrong.

But Thursday I could go and roam around, and then put my hands in my pockets and only check out what was on the hold shelf. Then I forced my younger son to pick out two new music CDs for me to houseclean to

The hold shelf three good looking books:

The Traitor Baru Cormorant, Seth Dickinson. This is the Sword and Laser pick for this month.

The Underground Abductor, Nathan Hale. My family book club just read a previous Hazardous Tales, which led to me noticing this one, so I ordered it up. It has been stolen by my eldest, but I'll get it back long before I finish the rest of the stuff I have started.

Dreams Underfood, Charles de Lint. Strongly recommended by a friend with good taste.


Kitty Wells and The Swon Brothers. I don't even know what genre these are. I hope they are good to clean the kitchen to.

I also put some books on my NOOK from the library:

Autobiography of a Face, Lucy Grealy.
Gateway, Sharon Shinn.  Both of these have been on my TBR list for years.

I've currently got 42 things out from the library, including ebooks, music, books for me, and books for the kids. I'm clearly making better assessments of my time for reading, and anyway this is down from last week.

I finished the first Large Print book for my Library Quest (Margaret Atwood's Stone Mattress), and I started the next. I'm already on the B's!

I'll go sign in to Library Loot which is at  somewhere that I can't find at The Captive Reader this week to see what everyone else is getting.  Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and Linda from Silly Little Mischief that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. 

Runner's Remorse

I wish I were the kind of person who likes exercise. Every now and then I convince myself that I will become that person, and then I sign up for a 5K, and then I hate it. Repeat every few months.

This run was worth than usual, since I forgot my phone and had to run with only my thoughts for company. Worst morning ever. It took me all day Monday and a giant slice of ice cream cake to recover (my nephew was supposed to help with the cake, but he backed out at the last minute due to the presence of caramel).

I also never got settled into reading anything this week. I'd pick up books, push the bookmarks along a bit, and then wander off. I read a lot of fanfiction on my computer, but mostly I just moped.

This week I finished one whole book, plus an audio book which barely counts since I'd read the paper version before:

I started another one, just so my piles of currently reading would still look awful, and I went to the next audio book:

City of Stairs, Robert Bennett, which was the Sword and Laser pick a few months back.
The High Druid's Blade, Terry Brooks. From the next audio book shelf of the library, as part of my Library Quest to read something from every shelf.

Bookjourney's "It's Monday" posts are still on hiatus (although she's back to reading and blogging, hooray to her!) but I'll peek in at with Teach Mentor Texts although I didn't read any kid book.

2015 Challenge Progress:

1. Cybils 2014: Complete! I bought the last one as the libraries didn't seem to have it. WOOT!
2. Where Am I Reading?: 34/51. I've now got three or four Missouri books. Humph.
3. Reading My Library: Woot -- my library reopened! Finished the 2nd audio book and started the third. 
4. Award Winning Book Challenge: I have apparently stopped reviewing books. But I've ticked off many awards. 
5. Book Riot Read Harder: 22/24. I still need an African author and a book of short stories.
6. Alphabetically Inclined:  I V X  Z still missing. 22/26
7. Best of the Best 2012: 52/25.  I am stalled. Maybe time to go back?

Pumpkin Season

I'm trying to exercise some restraint, since read-next book shelf is a bit overfull. So hopefully my time in the library will be short and sweet, as it was today. It didn't hurt that my son was waiting there for a pick up, and he was anxious to get home. Probably wanted to make sure he had time for all his homework or something.

I only had one book at the hold shelf, and then I choose the next audio book in my Reading-my-library Quest, because I learned that if you pick a popular audio book you have to listen to it really fast before you have to give it back. And then I talked my son into getting a book as well.

The hold shelf had a book for my Tuesday book Club, and the Quick Pick had the book that enticed my freshman:

Seven Wild Sisters: Charles De Lint. The Tuesday club is exploring different book genres (we've done SF, Romance, Western, and Horror), so this is our Fantasy pick for next week.

Ready Player One, Ernest Cline. If he likes it, maybe I'll try to read it as well.

Defenders of Shannara: The High Druid's Blade, Terry Brooks. I haven't read any Shannara books since I was a kid, and I have no idea if this is the middle of a series, but it should be a fun book to listen to while I run errants.

I also put some books on my NOOK from the library:

The Dream Cycle of H.P. Lovecraft. The Tuesday club is discussing this one this week.

Seven Wild Sisters. OK, so I wasn't sure which would come in first.

The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears, Dinaw Mengestu. This is the current KCLS reads book, so I want to read it.

I've currently got 44 things out from the library, including ebooks, music, books for me, and books for the kids. That's not too bad, right? Only one unfinished book is due next week, so maybe I'll keep on top of things...

I didn't actually finish any of my Library Quest books, but I probably will this week.

I'll go sign in to Library Loot which is at  Silly Little Mischief this week to see what everyone else is getting.  Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and Linda from Silly Little Mischief that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. 

Happy Birthday Alexander!

So, September is closing up, bringing a cartload of birthdays -- Happy Birthday FirstBorn! and Happy Birthday, Youngest Brother!

I've also completed my Cybils Reading Challenge, and they haven't even opened up nominations for next year. This is a personal record for me. Reading the longest books first definitely makes this easier. Now I just have to go through and vote my slate and then see how far apart I am from all the Cybils judges.

I've settled into a new library routine based off the river library rather than the hill library, and I've even restarted my Reading-the-Library Quest. My kids are in school (they are enrolled in the Seattle School District, so this is a fairly new development) and all is right with the world.

This week I finished

Dory Fantasmagory, by Abby Hanlon -- Cybils Finalist
Sword of Rhiannon, Leigh Bracket - Sword & Laser bookclub
The Sackett Brand, Louis L'Amour - Tuesday bookclub
Ice Cream Shop, Jennifer Morris -- Cybils Finalist

I started:

Dead Ice, Laurell K Hamilton -- from my TBR list
Stone Mattress, Margaret Atwood -- Part of my Reading-My-Library Quest
Plague of Doves, Louise Erdrich -- For my 50 States challenge. Finally reading a book I own!

Bookjourney's "It's Monday" posts are still on hiatus (although she's back to reading and blogging, hooray to her!) but I'll check in with Teach Mentor Texts since I have a few kidlit books.

2015 Challenge Progress:

1. Cybils 2014: Complete! I bought the last one as the libraries didn't seem to have it. WOOT!
2. Where Am I Reading?: 34/51.  I already had a South Carolina, but I definitely need the North Dakota book I started this week. I've got a Maine book on deck.
3. Reading My Library: Woot -- my library reopened! Finished the first audio book and started the second. Also started reading the Large Print book by Margaret Atwood.
4. Award Winning Book Challenge: I have apparently stopped reviewing books. But I've ticked off many awards. 
5. Book Riot Read Harder: 22/24. I still need an African author and a book of short stories.
6. Alphabetically Inclined:  I V X  Z still missing. 22/26
7. Best of the Best 2012: 52/25.  I am stalled. Maybe time to go back?