Sunday Post #39/Sunday Salon #12

Kimberly at Caffeinated Book Reviewer hosts the weekly Sunday Post link-up, and Deb at ReaderBuzz is expanding Sunday Salon from a FB group to a link-up as well.

I've not been a very diligent blogger this summer, because I've been keeping busy, and when I'm not busy I've chosen reading over blogging. I didn't even do a July wrap-up post, which I think is a first! So I'm trying to keep up with these weekly posts just to keep the blog alive.


What I Read
I have gotten way behind on my "Book a Day" summer challenge, so I got a bunch of picture books, novels in verse, and graphic novels at the library to start getting caught up with.

PICTURE BOOKS
My Papi has a Motorcycle--absolutely charming
Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Black Boy--like the range of illustrations for these poems
Small Things--very cook art and concept, but I struggle with, "and then he talked to someone about his anxiety and found out they were anxious too, so now he's fine."
Jack (Not Jackie)--yes, but for a book that promotes understanding of transgender people, it really relies on gender stereotypes

GRAPHIC NOVELS
Girl Town--weird in a good way, but I want to know more about each story
Space Boy vol. 1--which so far is about a girl and involves a kind of cool twist on time travel)
Laura Jean Keeps Breaking up with Me--I liked the art more than the story)
Zenobia--*SOB* It's beautiful, but the little refugee girl DIES

What I'm Reading/What's Next
I'm reading The Naturals, a YA thriller I picked up for my daughter. She is deep into the audiobooks of the Hunger Games series, so she authorized me to read it first. I've realized I'm probably not going to read any more of The Paris Wife, but still have hopes of returning to and finishing the OTHER YA thriller series my daughter and I started together.

Three Things

Little Crater Lake. The picture does not do justice to the deep teal of the water.

Timothy Lake with a sneak peak of Mt. Hood through the clouds.

Marshmallows over the campfire. (And a potato.)

We went camping. It was great, but now I'm exhausted. We got a lot more exercise and a lot less sleep than I'm used to! 

Sunday Post #38/Sunday Salon #11

Kimberly at Caffeinated Book Reviewer hosts the weekly Sunday Post link-up, and Deb at ReaderBuzz is expanding Sunday Salon from a FB group to a link-up as well.


What I Read
3 really good books and one great one! I finished the Last Policeman series (great and satisfying ending, and an amazing number of meandering plot paths come together). I finished listening to and reading On the Come Up (go me for finishing a book I was juggling last week), and I read The Strange Fascinations of Noah Hypnotik, which I just bought for my classroom. It was weird in a good way, but the ending kind of cheats.

Darius the Great is Not Okay is way more than okay. Something about this book really moved me. It feels slow, but never boring. It's definitely one of the best books I've read this summer.

What I'm Reading/What's Next
Still slogging away at Outrage and The Paris Wife. I keep getting distracted by shiny new books! I also still have literally 46 books checked out from the public library AND well over that number I brought home from my classroom, so clearly, choice is not a problem.

Three Things

• We went on a family outing up the Columbia River Gorge. It was too hot to do the hike we'd planned--we made it about 20 minutes before my face was stop sign red. So we did a short hike in the trees and then sank our feet into the creek by a smaller waterfall. 

• I spent an afternoon at my sister's doing arts and crafts.

• I attended a funeral for a high school friend's dad in the morning and had dinner with a different high school friend I'd been out of touch with for awhile in the afternoon. They both look WAY BETTER than I do--strong, slender, great skin and stylish hair. They've also both gotten divorced recently. You can't tell people's struggles by looking at them. 

I love summer. I hope you're having a good one. 

Sunday Post #37/Sunday Salon #10

Kimberly at Caffeinated Book Reviewer hosts the weekly Sunday Post link-up, and Deb at ReaderBuzz is expanding Sunday Salon from a FB group to a link-up as well.


What I Read
I read The Girl Who Drank the Moon, which is an OBOB book and was on my summer bingo sheet, and Countdown City, the second book in the Last Policeman trilogy. I liked both of them very much. I've also been deep in some crafting books of various types, especially this one and this one.

What I'm Reading/What's Next
Okay, I'm kind of a mess here. My kid and I started listening to a thriller series in the car, and then I got the next book on ebook loan from the library, so I'm reading that. (She got the downloadable audiobook and has already finished the trilogy!)  I read A Moveable Feast (my first official Classics Club read!!!!) and then wanted to read The Paris Wife, so I also checked out that ebook. I'd started listening to On the Come Up on Scribd when I was in the car by myself, and I love the Last Policeman trilogy so much I also started the final book. So that's two ebooks, one audiobook, an one physical book. I need to focus. Oh-I'd also started A Very Large Expanse of Sea (final entry in a summer bingo row!) but am finding it too romance focused for my taste. Will they or won't they? I'm pretty sure they will. 

Three Things

• My daughter and I just watched all four Hunger Games movies this week. I'd never seen the very last one. They really did a good job adapting them, in my opinion, and got some really great actors involved as well.
• I've been out of town and away from wifi for most of the last ten days. A trip to the beach with my husband's family backed right up to a few MORE days at the beach with a friend and my sister. Life is tough.
• I'm officially fifty now, so I'll stop bombarding you with photos and lists (for now...). Personally, I'm having one of the best summers in years. The country and the world, not so much. 

daughter and cousin just past sunset

me and the Winemaker

"Ghost forest" --trees that sank into the sea 300 years ago.