It’s been a long time since I’ve posted an update but I don’t feel like I’ve read much recently.

As an aside, I’m a little stumped on my 2nd literature book. I don’t particularly want to repeat the Life of Pi experience. Using the Tag Browser in our library’s catalog I tried to find a tagmash for literature award winners and humor. The results where not encouraging. There were a couple books that had the “humor” tag but more research showed they were very dark, cynical humor. Surely there’s award winning literature out there that dares to be happy. I’m not asking for an unrealistic happily-ever-after ending, just one where normal people are happy and content with their lives.

Also, I’ve won a LibraryThing Early Review copy of The Arrangement, by Mary Balogh. I haven’t received it yet but have great hopes that it’ll be good.

Books I’ve finished recently:

• Juvenile Fiction: The School for Good and Evil, by Soman Chainani – I started the book last night and stayed up till 1am to finish it. I’m tired and am going to go to bed when Calvin does but it was a good book. Every couple of years a village discovers that two of their children have gone missing. Later, the remaining children notice that these children are appearing in the fairy tale books they read. It turns out that the “School Master” steals only exceptionally good children or exceptionally bad children. The “good” children go to a school to learn how to be princesses and princes while the “bad” children learn how to be villains. Sophie is beautiful and is purposefully good. She even donated skin care products to the local orphanage. She can’t wait to be stolen away so she can take her rightful place as a princess. Agatha, Sophie’s good deed, is the town’s outcast child. She and her mother live in a graveyard, she has no social skills, and doesn’t really like people. Toward the beginning of the story, the two girls are kidnapped. However, Agatha ends up in the school for good and Sophie ends up in the school for bad. What follows is an interesting story about how the girls try to get back the life they’re use to. I really loved the ending.
• Eight Million Gods, by Wen Spencer – Fun urban fantasy set in Japan.
• Graphic Novel: Agent Gates and the Secret Adventures of Devonton Abbey: A Parody of Downton Abbey, by Camaren Subhiyah and illustrated by Kyle Hilton – I’ve only watched two episodes of Downton Abbey but that was enough to get a huge kick out of this graphic novel. Even Jaeger enjoyed it and he’s only watched one episode.
• Bestseller: Inferno, by Dan Brown – I made it through! I had to take copious breaks in order to make it through the audio book. I listened to a bit and then listened to Kindred in Death then I started Inferno again and then stopped for a delightful re-listen of Faking It and finally managed to finish Inferno. It’s really not my thing. This one wasn’t nearly as controversial as some of his earlier books. As I mentioned before, I got a bit tired of Robert Langdon’s monologues. However, the plot itself was interesting.
• A Countess Below Stairs, by Eva Ibbotson – I remembering really liking this book at the time but my brain is too sleepy to remember much about it. I remember thinking is was a very sweet romance.
• Once Upon a Tower, by Eloisa James – This is loosely within a series that takes elements of fairy tales and retells them as historical romances. I like the series and I enjoyed this book but feel that some of the other ones in the series are stronger books.

Currently Reading:

• Some of my Best Friends are Books: Guiding Gifted Readers from Preschool to High School Second Edition, by Judith Wynn Halsted – A third edition from 2009 is available but this is the one that was checked in at Erie. I got it hoping for suggestions of good audio books for Calvin. We go through an amazing number. Calvin doesn’t mind listening to the same ones over and over again but I get bored. Usually when a book is reviewed it is reviewed based on reading level not listening level. I’m finding it hard to find good chapter audio books where the issues dealt with aren’t too old for Calvin (such as first crushes, homework problems, etc). I was hoping this book might offer some suggestions, and it may, but at the moment I got sidetracked by the extensive discussion of what sort of reading environment gifted children need. I’m not sure Calvin is strictly speaking “gifted” but I do expect him to be above average and I’m starting to worry about finding an appropriate educational environment to encourage him intellectually when we hit elementary school.

Current Goal Counts:

Most of last week was spent preparing for our camping trip to the Great Sand Dunes. However, I did manage to read a couple of books over the weekend.

Books I’ve finished recently:

• Happy Money: The Science of Smarter Spending, by Elizabeth Dunn and Michael Norton – This was a pretty interesting book. Most of it I’d already heard in pieces but I thought it did a nice summary. Their basic premise is the way to maximize happiness, after necessities, is to
  1. Buy Experiences
  2. Making indulgences a treat, not an everyday affair
  3. Buying time -things like robotic vacuum cleaners, moving closer to your job so you don’t commute, etc
  4. Pay Now, Consume Later – People feel emotional pain paying for items and their enjoyment of an event is decreased if they have to pay for something right before getting/doing something
  5. Invest in others – donate to charity, etc
• Juvenile Fiction: Crispin: the Cross of Lead, by Avi – This book won the Newbery Medal in 2003. It’s set right after the Black Plague in England. It’s the story of a boy who has to flee his home due to a falsified crime. He meets up with a man who teaches him to be more than a serf. Good story with an ending I found a little unexpected.
• Juvenile Fiction: The Vengekeep Prophecies, by Brian Farrey – This fantasy centers around a family of professional thieves and con artists. Unfortunately, Jaxter, the protagonist, is no good at it. It’s a coming-of-age story about how Jaxter saves his family even though he isn’t a good thief.

Currently Reading:

• Bestseller: Inferno, by Dan Brown – I’m still working on listening to this one. I got tired of Robert Langdon, the protagonist, talking and had to take a break. I might have better luck if I try to read it because then I could get through it faster and each monologue doesn’t sound so long.
• Poetry: Love Poems, by Nikki Giovanni – Still planning to finish reading this one also. Just haven’t picked it up recently.

Current Goal Counts:

Books I’ve finished recently:

• The Shambling Guide to New York City, by Mur Lafferty – Fun urban fantasy book.
• Historical Fiction: Heidegger’s Glasses, by Thaisa Frank – Historical fiction set in Germany during WWII. Good but also, given the subject matter, appropriately disturbing.
• Realistic Fiction: Wildflower Hill, by Kimberley Freeman – This is probably considered “women’s fiction”. It’s the story of how two women, in different time periods, survived. It reminded me how ghastly women’s lives have been in previous time periods that aren’t that long ago.
• Mystery: Fingerprints and Facelifts, by Rick Copp – A fun mystery with a hint, but not too much, of chick lit thrown in.

Currently Reading:

• Bestseller: Inferno, by Dan Brown – I’m listening to this one. We’ll see if it makes it to the end. I also listened to most of The Da Vinci Code but the book was due and I returned it with about 10 minutes left.
• Poetry: Love Poems, by Nikki Giovanni – I started reading this on the playground today. I’m not sure poetry is suppose to be read in between watching a preschooler run around a playground.

Current Goal Counts: