Long Pause

Well, I've been avoiding my blog for the past month, but I'm coming back! Probably. Maybe. Anyway, I'm still reading.

I'll jump back in with my weekly report on what I've been reading, am reading, and will read, although I'll also include everything I've read through most of October, and then I'll go check in with Book Journey's weekly round-up of what everyone has done. I'll also check in on Teach Mentor Texts since I do read a lot of kidlit. Nothing is reviewed yet, so this is a very boring list, but small steps lead to long trips, or else to a path to the couch, one of the other.

• Unveiled, Courtney Milan
• Chihuahua of the Baskervilles, Esri Allbritten
• Theodosia and the Staff of Osiris, R.L. LaFevers
• Gunmetal Magic, Ilona Andrews
• Foiled, Jane Yolen
• Zita the Spacegirl, Ben Hatke
• Starfields, Carolyn Marsden
• Eternal Pleasure, Nina Bangs
• Inside Out and Back Again, Thanhha Lai
• The Speed of Dark, Elizabeth Moon
• Charles and Emma: The Darwin's Leap of Faith
• Casket of Souls, Lynn Flewelling
• Honored Enemy, Raymond E. Feist
• Carousel of Hearts, Mary Jo Putney
• Tales From Silver Lands, Charles J. Finger
• The Birthday Ball, Lois Lowry
• Level Up, Gene Luen Yang
• 11 Birthdays, Wendy Mass
• Team Human, Justine Larbalestier & Sarah Rees Brennan

Picture Books (it's great having an emerging reader as an excuse to get these):

• This Is Not My Hat, Jon Klassen. Lovely.
• Ten Little Mummies, Philip Yates
• Pyramid, Dana Meachen Rau (it got N reading!)
• I Want My Mom, Tony Ross
• Rat and Roach, David Covell
• Make a Wish, Bear, Greg Foley
• Why the Chicken Crossed the Road, David Macauley
• What To Do If an Elephant Steps On Your Foot, Michelle Robinson
• I'm Not, Pam Smallcomb

This week I read: 

• On the Island, by Tracey Graves
• Language of Flowers, Vanessa Diffenbaugh
• The Girl Giant, Kristen Den Hartog
• When Fairies Go Bad, Ursula Vernon
• Fire, Kristen Cashore

What am I currently reading? I left some in-progress books at home during my gallivanting, and I cherry picked from my options to things I thought I'd enjoy.

• The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party, Alexander McCall Smith. Extra Africa book.
• Oracle's Moon, Thea Harrison. From Felicia Day's book club some months ago.
• Hollywood Vampire, Keith Topping. Collection of Angel summaries, which has caught X's eye.
• The Murder of Tutankamen, Bob Brier. Borrowed from my BIL after we saw the Tut exhibit.
• Angelmaker, Nick Harkaway. (NOOK). Slow to grab me, but it's starting to work.
• The Curse of the Wendigo, Richard Yancy. (audio) OK, we had some action and things got creepy. And gross. P has dropped out of the listening.
• Phoenix In Flight, Sherwood Smith & Dave Trowbridge. (NOOK).  I'm pretty sure we are out of the opening setup acts now.
• Elfhome, Wen Spencer. (NOOK, reread) Time to uncover the conspiracy.
• Close Range, Annie Proulx. Dipping book. I'm finding the stories very depressing.
• The Borrowers Afield, Mary Norton. Another dipping book. The plot is about to start.
• The Catholic Church in the Modern World, E.E.Y. Hales. Dipper. Now to read about the heresy of Modernism.
• Stink: The Incredible Shrinking Kid, Megan McDonald. Dipper. 
• Smart But Scattered, Peggy Dawson. Good stuff.
• Kushiel's Dart, Jacqueline Carey. Paused.

I've also got a pile of unfinished summer reading books, which I'll probably work through in the next few months:

• Pinky Pye, Eleanor Estes. I bought a bunch of Estes at one time. I'm not sure I've read this one before.
• The Tunnel of Hugsy Goode, Eleanor Estes. See above.
• Ecstasia, Francesca Lia Block. I find her mythic stories harder going than her Weezie Bat books.
• Bob, Son of Battle, Alfred Ollivant. I'm not liking the dialect, and I think the guy I hate is supposed to be the hero. Oops.
• Tricksters, Margaret Mahy. I have no excuse for not finishing this yet.
• Tessie, Jesse Jackson. The author makes me giggle.
• Puddleby Adventures, Hugh Lofting. I had too many Dolittle books back-to-back.
• The Avion My Uncle Flew, Cyrus Fisher. I lost this while reading it, but now I know where it is.
• The Eye of the Warlock, P.W. Catanese. Mixed-up fairy tale.
• Redskin and Cowboy, G. A. Henty. Waiting for the boy to run away from home.

Challenges:

1. Cybils: 68/73. Final five -- YA, middle grade, and one last GN.
2. Global Reading Challenge: 17/21. This moved! Still very short on South America.
3. Where Am I Reading?:  36/50.  Three months, fourteen books. I tried to read three books for this this week, and they were all mistakes. But good books, so I win anyway.
4. Science Book Challenge: 3.1415/3.14159. The code book is science!
5. Reading My Library:  Chugging along. 11 Birthdays went to my niece, which is AWESOME.
6. Eclectic Challenge: 11/12. I was all about real books this week.
7. Best of the Best: 31/25. No change, but one has entered my reading bag.
8. Summer Reading Goal: All over but the cleanup. My bare shelf is filled up again, but two boxes have disappeared from my living room.

Reading Story

I've continued reading my plethora of books, although I let myself stick with anything I'm enjoying until I want to move on. The big reading event for me was attending FOOLSCAP, my favorite conventions, since it's about books. Well, books, art, and fancy hats.

Technically I don't read much during Foolscap, but I do talk a lot about reading and also pick up a bunch of books as well as a bunch of titles that I'd like to read. This time I even got to host my own panel, which was a little scary but also fun (Breaking the Rules -- what books break the rules of fiction/genre, and more important, which of these books are wonderful?). And I was on a panel about polite disagreement, during which I terrified the room by pretending not to believe in vaccination (as an example of someone holding a belief not supported by science, but I thought it was too crazy for people to take me seriously).

I'll go check in with Book Journey's weekly round-up of what everyone has read, is reading, and will read, and then, since most of my selections are children's books, I'll also check in with the kidlit version at Teach Mentor Texts. I still haven't got back into the swing of reviewing these books, so I'm afraid I'm a rather dull entry to both these lists, but I'm trying to jump back on the horse. In a mixed-metaphor kind of way, of course.

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• Dark Destiny, M.J. Putney (YA)
• Unclaimed, Courtney Milan (Romance, NOOK)
• The Azalea Assault, Alyse Carlson (Mystery)
• The Far West, Patricia C. Wrede (YA)

What am I currently reading?

• The Curse of the Wendigo, Richard Yancy. (audio) Argh, at least they are traveling towards some action now.
• Team Human, Sarah Rees Brennan & Justine Larbalestier. Rats in the school! Ick! My copy.
• Tales From Silver Lands, Charles Finger. Kids helping each other stories. Summer leftover.
• Phoenix In Flight, Sherwood Smith & Dave Trowbridge. (NOOK). The space battles continue. My copy.
• Unveiled, Courtney Milan. (NOOK) The first in the trilogy; I've read them in reverse order. Library book.
• Elfhome, Wen Spencer. (NOOK, reread) Kidnapped!
• Fire, Kristen Cashore. (reread) Fire is enjoying the capital.
• Foiled, Jane Yolen. From my TBR list. I like the graphics.
• Eternal Pleasures, Nina Bangs. For Felicia Day's book club.
• Inside Out and Back Again, Thanhha Lai. Book in verse.
• Charles and Emma: The Darwins' Leap of Faith, Deborah Heiligman. Interesting biography.
• Close Range, Annie Proulx. Dipping book. I'm tense with expecting things to end badly.
• The Borrowers Afield, Mary Norton. Another dipping book. The plot is about to start.
• The Catholic Church in the Modern World, E.E.Y. Hales. Interesting to read about America from outside.
• Honored Enemy, Raymond Feist. The girl helps fight off the bad guys.
• Smart But Scattered, Peggy Dawson. Currently on building emotional regulation. Good stuff.
• Kushiel's Dart, Jacqueline Carey. Paused.

Challenges:

1. Cybils: 66/73. No change. Nominees for next year's books start soon.
2. Global Reading Challenge: 15/21. At least Tales From Silver Lands is set in South America. 
3. Where Am I Reading?:  35/50. I bought a Tennessee book this weekend.
4. Science Book Challenge: 3.1415/3.14159. 
5. Reading My Library:  Have on in my bag.
6. Eclectic Challenge: 10/12. No change.
7. Best of the Best: 31/25. No change.

What Am I Reading?

Ah, it's nice to be settling back into a routine of reading a bag full of books at once, letting myself either move from one to another at intervals or zooming ahead with one if it's particularly gripping. In a few weeks the library list will come tumbling down on me, but in the meantime I'm enjoying the calm that a brief spell of sanity at the end of the summer granted me.

So, I'm reading a book to satisfy my book challenges, a book from my shelves, a book I grabbed for fun from the library, a reread, and a leftover book from this summer's reading fun. Oh, on my NOOK I'm reading one book from my library, a reread, and a new one that I bought. And there's an audio book in the car for the rare occasions that we're all in there together.

I'll go check in with Book Journey's weekly round-up of what everyone has read, is reading, and will read, and then, since most of my selections are children's books, I'll also check in with the kidlit version at Teach Mentor Texts. I haven't really gotten back in the swing of reviewing these books, so I'm afraid I'm a rather dull entry to both these lists, but I'm trying to jump back on the horse. In a mixed-metaphor kind of way, of course.

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• Ghost Dog Secrets, Peg Kehret. For the elementary book club.
• Dragon Ship, Sharon Lee & Steve Miller. I really enjoy their books.
• Chronicles of the Red King: The Secret Kingdom, Jenny Nimmo. For the elementary book club.
• Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake, Sarah MacLean. Fun in spots, but too inconsistent to really enjoy.
• Batman, The Dark Knight Returns, Frank Miller. A classic of the comic book world.
• Alvin Ho: Allergic to Camping, Hiking, and Other Natural Disasters, Lenore Look. For Reading My Library, and because I like Alvin.
• Two-Minute Drill (Comeback Kids), Mike Lupica. For the elementary book club.
• Masters of Disaster, Gary Paulsen. Last book for the book club!
• Rufus M., Eleanor Estes. Catch-up for the summer book club. Lots of fun.
• The Code Book, Simon Singh. For my evening book club. 
• I Am Not a Serial Killer, Dan Wells. I read it as a companion to I Hunt Killers, and it was interesting in a very different way.

What am I currently reading? I left some in-progress books at home during my gallivanting, and I cherry picked from my options to things I thought I'd enjoy.

• The Azalea Assault, Alyse Carlson. For my Where Am I Reading challenge. I find the motivations occasionally baffling; it feels almost like a mid-series book.
• The Curse of the Wendigo, Richard Yancy. (audio) We think the action will start any minute now.
• Dark Destiny, M.J. Putney. Fun book about time-traveling psychic teens who find true love while fighting to save Britain.
• Team Human, Sarah Rees Brennan & Justine Larbalestier. Rats in the school! Ick!
• Tales From Silver Lands, Charles Finger. Leftover from this summer.
• Phoenix In Flight, Sherwood Smith & Dave Trowbridge. (NOOK) . At page 100, and I think I've got most of the characters sorted. It helped that a lot of them just died.
• Unclaimed, Courtney Milan. (NOOK) The male virgin romance that helped me discover Milan.
• Elfhome, Wen Spencer. (NOOK, reread) Time to uncover the conspiracy.
• Fire, Kristen Cashore. (reread) Archer is the jealous type.
• Close Range, Annie Proulx. Dipping book. I'm finding the stories very depressing.
• The Borrowers Afield, Mary Norton. Another dipping book. The plot is about to start.
• The Catholic Church in the Modern World, E.E.Y. Hales. Now to read about the heresy of Modernism.
• Honored Enemy, Raymond Feist. Yes, the badder guys just showed up, in time to save the alliance of good guys and bad guys.
• Smart But Scattered, Peggy Dawson. Currently on building emotional regulation. Good stuff.
• Kushiel's Dart, Jacqueline Carey. Paused.

I abandoned one book, Knight of a Trillion Stars by Dara Joy. When a romance book has a sex scene, it should not include the line "If you touch me it will be rape" before the characters get it on. That's a bit too Alpha male for me. It didn't help that she was still upset about the brain surgery he had forced on her after she declined it.

I've also got a pile of unfinished summer reading books, which I'll probably work through in the next few months:

• Pinky Pye, Eleanor Estes. I bought a bunch of Estes at one time. I'm not sure I've read this one before.
• The Tunnel of Hugsy Goode, Eleanor Estes. See above.
• Ecstasia, Francesca Lia Block. I find her mythic stories harder going than her Weezie Bat books.
• Bob, Son of Battle, Alfred Ollivant. I'm not liking the dialect, and I think the guy I hate is supposed to be the hero. Oops.
• Tricksters, Margaret Mahy. I have no excuse for not finishing this yet.
• Tessie, Jesse Jackson. The author makes me giggle.
• Puddleby Adventures, Hugh Lofting. I had too many Dolittle books back-to-back.
• The Avion My Uncle Flew, Cyrus Fisher. I lost this while reading it, but now I know where it is.
• The Eye of the Warlock, P.W. Catanese. Mixed-up fairy tale.
• Redskin and Cowboy, G. A. Henty. Waiting for the boy to run away from home.

Challenges:

1. Cybils: 66/73. No change. I've got two graphic novels waiting for me.
2. Global Reading Challenge: 15/21. At least Tales From Silver Lands is set in South America. Where would I count a book in Puerto Rico?
3. Where Am I Reading?:  34/50.  Still reading a Virginia book.
4. Science Book Challenge: 3.1415/3.14159. The code book is science!
5. Reading My Library:  Another one down, and the next batch stacked up at home.
6. Eclectic Challenge: 10/12. I think it would be cheating to count Bat Man as a classic.
7. Best of the Best: 31/25. No change.
8. Summer Reading Goal: All over but the cleanup. My bare shelf is filled up again, but two boxes have disappeared from my living room.

Dance Your Troubles Away: The Grand Plan To Fix Everything

Uma Krishnaswami's small book The Grand Plan To Fix Everything offers a light travel itinerary and cosy little problems with cute solutions to the elementary crowd.

Dini, the main characters, has cute problems but doesn't seem to feel things deeply. She's sad when her planned Bollywood dance summer camp visit with her best friend is canceled, and a bit disconcerted to learn that her family is immediately moving to India for two years, but she accepts it as the way things are. She is delighted to learn that her favorite Bollywood movie star is also likely to be in her same village, and naively plans to meet her immediately. She clearly recognizes what kind of book she's in, because of course their paths do cross.

The side plot with the poor but enthusiastic postal deliverer, also a fan of filmi star Dolly, links them first with the chance to deliver the poorly address fan letter, and then unites them in a vacation to the same small Indian town. Everyone's problems (from the loneliness following a drastic move to the broken engagement of Dolly herself) has a quick fix that Dini can fit in her planned movie script of real life. It's a lightweight but warm hearted story that doesn't offer much to an adult but should work well with third grade kids (Dini is eleven, but reads as a few years younger to me).

Seismic Shift

I'm moving my library day to Saturday. This is big news for me, since usually I like to exploit my stay-at-home status and avoid the crowds. But I also like to drag bring the kids with me to the library, and after-school events are now pervasive.

Sadly for me, as I make this transition I accidentally sorta went to the library three times this week, picking up a few extra books each time. Oops. Just when I had this reading thing under control, I overload again.

Ignoring all the extra trips, on Saturday I came home with four books from the hold shelves:

• The Birthday Ball, Lois Lowry. From my TBR list. I like to keep a book and a spare around.
• Master and Apprentice, Sonya Bateman. Sequel to a book I read last week.
• The Magnificent 12: The Key, Michael Grant. 3rd in series popular with my kids, and enjoyed by me. I just bought one of Grant's YA books, which the 8th grader has been devouring.
• Cyborg, Patricia, Frederick, & John McKissack. Sequel to a book I'm doing with my elementary book club.

I also got three CDs, chosen in haste without looking at the covers. I'll surprise myself in the car with them.

This left me with 52 items out on my card, a large step over my age. I grabbed a large stack of books for my geographic challenges, and I also got the next batch of my Reading My Library quest books in one of my sneak-trips. It's time to put myself back on a strict diet.

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.

Historical Nooks: Infamous Scribblers

I know the basics of American history, although not nearly as much as my BIL, who will soon in fact be a history teacher. (He's student teaching now.) But I had American history in school, and I read Johnny Tremaine and My Brother Sam Is Dead, and then I had it again in college to learn about the dark seamy side of history and I read John Jakes books, and I've taught it to my first grader which involved watching a few Dear America movies.

But I only know the highlights, so it's interesting sometimes to take a journey into someone's particular interest, looking at the nooks and crannies of history on the tails of a passionate researcher. Eric Burns turns his focus on newspapers and journalist in Infamous Scribblers, which traces the first newspapers in America through the scurrilous and furious Federalist/Republican feuds. I hadn't really thought about how newspapers made money, or even ink, in the days before comics, so I liked reading the early chapters following the first editions which showed how information moved around in the days when social media meant passing the broadsheets around the local pub.

Benjamin Franklin gets his own chapter, from his apprentice days and anonymous letters that tricked his brother into giving his annoying family member his own series through his own paper in his new city. And later on Franklin's grandson becomes one of the most hated editors with his own scurrilous journal. The final chapters involve a lot of scandal, because the newspapers all had axes to grind and had no compunction about making things up, but even more glee when reporting things that actually happened, such as Hamilton's torrid affair or Jefferson's use of his slave, Sally. I learned to heap shame of the politicians who either encouraged papers that attacked their opponents but then recoiled when the same tactics turned on them (Thomas Jefferson especially comes out badly in this instance).

Anyway, it's written in a clear if not compelling language, and mostly carries along the non-specialist reader (me) without assuming I remember more than a smidgen of my history. It's a good look at the development of journalistic ethics, something that few of the publishers back in the Founding Father's day would recognize.

Fanfiction: Jane

April Lindner's Jane is a legal fanfiction AU (alternate universe) of Bronte's Jane Eyre, with Jane as a freshman in college left penniless while Rochester is a wild rock star planning his comeback tour. Although Lindner's Jane doesn't have quite the fire of Bronte's, the story still works for me as a thoughtful homage placing many of the same themes in our modern world.

Lindner skips most of Jane's childhood, choosing rather to start as Jane leaves college to find work as a nanny. Her cultural blinders help her -- Rathburn has specifically requested someone who is not a fan. From here on the parallels to the original keep right on track -- the kindly housekeeper, the sweet child with French interests, the strange drunken woman on the forbidden third floor, even the Bianca woman making a play for Rathburn.  A few differences appear -- there is no question that the child is Rathburn's, Jane's uncaring relatives are her siblings, not her cousins, and the saintly St. Johns are not distant relatives.  These were fun to read as I wondered how Lindner would echo the plot; the celebrity rock star status works well as a social divide, and there's a subtle difference in the ploys of a successful photographer (modern Bianca) versus a marriageable heiress (real Bianca).

It's a fun experiment for fans of Jane Eyre, although clearly there isn't much suspense since we know how the story will go. Apparently Lindner is now writing an homage to Wuthering Heights, which isn't quite as tempting since I didn't really like the original. On the other, she did interesting things with Jane Eyre...

I wonder if this counts as literary fiction? It takes place in Connecticut, which I need for my Where Are You Reading challenge.