Sunday, July 1, 2012

For the Record: June 2012

I always think summer = time to read, but it just doesn't in my life.  Here I am, presenting my lightest reading month all year.  My schedule was definitely amped up: 
  • having to chauffeur my son to Driver's Ed classes, 
  • join my girls at Horse Camp, 
  • meet with contractors (and sub-contractors) wanting to bid on our remodel project, 
  • shuttle people to and from airports, 
  • celebrate birthdays and anniversaries, 
  • making home-design decisions, 
  • packing and organizing for our imminent move (out of the house/remodel zone,) 
  • organizing/planning for home-schooling next year (3rd grader and 11th grader: hello) 
  • entertaining 3 sets of house guests for weeks on end.  
And me, trying to squeeze in some reading, writing, knitting.  Sleep.  Something's gotta give.

7 Books Read in June: (66 year-to-date)
1 ARC:
  - The Bird Saviors, William J. Cobb (2) [The 1st Unbridled book I didn't love.]
4 for Fun/Challenges:
  - The Lonely Polygamist, Brady Udall (4.5) [see my review]
  - Youth and the Bright Medusa, Willa Cather (3.5) [see my review]
  - Frankenstein, Mary Shelley (3.5) [see my review]
  - The Family Fang, Kevin Wilson (4.5) [see my review]
2 Read-Alouds for my kiddos:
  - George Washington: Our First Leader, Augusta Stevenson (3)
  - Toliver's Secret, Esther Wood Brady (4)

            


Challenges:
This month I read 2 books of 51 (24 year-to-date) for my various year-long challenges.
   - Willa Cather: Youth and the Bright Medusa (1 more to go)
   - Classics: Frankenstein (3 more to go)

3 Current Reads:
  - Last Call, Daniel Okrent.  Still really enjoying this book.  I have 100 pages left, and I don't want it to end.  Annotating has certainly helped me stay engaged and retain information here, so much that I think I might annotate just about any nonfiction book from now on.
  - How Green Was My Valley, Richard Llewellyn.  About halfway through, and book club is discussing it tomorrow night.  I really should be reading instead of blogging.  Yeah.
  - On the Road, Jack Kerouac.  Mid-point in the read-along (at Unputdownables) and I'm enjoying this so much more than I thought I would.  Not intimidating at all. (what was I so worried about?)

  

On My Nightstand:
  - Selected titles to preview for my son's 11th grade English...mostly short stories (some by Kevin Wilson, some by Banana Yoshimoto) and nonfiction (Booker T. Washington, David Foster Wallace).
  - Maisie Dobbs, Jacqueline Winspear: A book club selection, and hopefully a refreshing read.
  - The Sisters Brothers, Patrick DeWitt: I picked this up when I bought The Family Fang, and I'm afraid that if I don't get to it soon it will be doomed to sit on the shelf for years.

4 comments:

  1. Seven books for June is still a pretty good month! :)

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  2. I know, I need to keep it in perspective, right? I've even written about a fair portion of them so I'm actually doing pretty good. :) I think I get progressively more pessimistic the busier I get!

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  3. I keep asking myself how summer can get so busy. I look forward to summer because there's no school. But...

    I'm just getting around to reading some blog posts--I came back from Guatemala two days ago. I can't wait to post some pictures. Seven books would be a great month for me. In Guatemala, I didn't have internet access nor did I read any books!

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    1. I'm excited to hear more about your trip, Heidi! I need to catch up on reading some blog posts too, and I haven't even been out of the country. :) Barely 3 weeks into summer and my 8 year old was asking if I could please read her some history or science...this after she had been doing math for hours. Summer? What summer?

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