An Average of 2

I read and blogged about 24 books last year; a pathetically small number or me. When I worked IN the the library, I would read most of the award winners each year, books on the Texas Library Association Reaing Lists, and anything else that looked appealing. But without the student interaction, my motivation dropped off. Well, that and completing National Board certification. Oh yeah, and driving Mom's taxi to violin lessons, PT, soccer, basketball, Stars of Hope, guitar. I guess that explains why my scrap booking and cross-stitching muscles haven't seen much action. And I'm NOT going to mention reading lasses.

So, I LOVE being a mom and will have time to read later when I'm not requested to kick balls and count quarter notes. (And I could add Harry Potter, The Indian in the Cupboard, and ThevSecret Garden to my reading list...)

What is my goal this year??? 12 is starting o look real good.

So, What did I read?

From May to January, I conquered these titles:
How to talk so kids will listen
Siblings without rivalry
The happiness project
The Paris Wife
Devil in the White City

Prints award winners - technically YA
Ship breaker
Revolver
Please ignore Vera Dietz
Stolen

Audio
The best of me
The litigators

And I finally finished Farewell to arms and I

There was a long, dry spell from September to December where I read nothing...nothing at all. Didn't feel like it at all. But I'm better now!

I'm currently reading That Used to be Us and I'm listening to Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman.

Nobody's Perfect

So, after five months of fairly consistent blogging, I went on vacation. Without access to my blog on the road, I fell behind in my postings. And my perfectionism wouldn't let me post books out order. Why do I do this to myself?

Can I jump back in?

#12 - Hate List / NOOKS, Kindles, & eReaders

Did I create a rule about no YA books unless they were for book club?  Well, my rules, so I guess I can break them if I want to.

This was the first book I read on the new NOOKcolor eReaders purchased for the library.  Since they are loaded with books for the high school students (and we're still taking requests), YA was the really the only choice.  Hate List by Jennifer Brown is the emotional story of a school shooting.  This one is told from the viewpoint of the shooter's girlfriend.  Most of the selected targets were the product of her hate list, a notebook in which she had tracked all the slights and wrongs committed against her, or should I say perceived wrongs. The story alternates between the present, while Valerie returns to school and learns to cope with the help of her counselor, Dr. Hieler, and the days leading up to the shooting.

The NOOKcolor is an amazing little gadget, now being called an iPad lite.  But I have to say that while searching and browsing the web is easier and more eye-appealing than the same tasks on a Kindle, I much preferthe Kindle when it comes to reading.  I like the fact the Kindle is not back-lit... and you can read one-handed with either hand.  Swiping on the NOOK is not as convenient as the Kindle's buttons to turn the page, located conveniently on both sides.

#11 - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

This book took me forever five months to get into.  I started it before Christmas and was less than 20% into it when May began.  It may have been all the restarting that slowed me down, but I think it was the multiple plot strands and Swedish translation.  Obviously, it needed to retain the Swedish names of characters and places, but because they all sounded so foreign strange unfamiliar, I had trouble keeping the characters straight.  Now I'm dying to start Steig Larson's next book, "The Girl Who Played with Fire."

So Many Books, So Little Time

My plate is full and I'm not hungry... family tasks, work tasks, home tasks, personal tasks.  So many things to do and escaping in a good book isn't appealing at the moment.  I have a number of books going right now: a number I have downloaded into my Kindle, several waiting in Audible, a bunch I brought back from TLA but haven't started... and none of them have grabbed me.  We'll see what I finish first.

Currently listening to:  The Body by Stephen King, Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway, Catch-22 by Joseph Heller, Your Kids are Your Own Fault by Larry Winget, and I Thought it Was Just Me by Brene Brown.

Currently reading:  The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson, Medicus by Ruth Downie, and No Good Deed by Mary McDonald.

I suspect some of these will remain abandoned.  And I suspect that the next book I blog about will be none of the above... It will likely be one I read for book club... which doesn't meet for several weeks.

Have you read any of the above?  A good recommendation may get me moving again.

#10 - Water for Elephants

Beautiful!  This was a book I hated to see end.  Told as a memoir, this historical look at the railroad circus was highly entertaining and poignant.