My 2015 Readolutions

I believe I will keep most of the ones I made last year, with the caveat that I, first and foremost, will just immerse myself in the joys and challenges of reading and the comfort and brilliance of books.

Goodreads goal: Read 100 books in 2015. This includes middle grade and YA books I read with my kids and for the book clubs I co-lead.

I will read at least 25 shelf-sitters this year! I *still* have too many books on the shelves that I've been neglecting. Included in this goal is to read at least three of my Persephone books.

I will continue to read with my kids. Same as last year: the three of us read a chapter book together just about every night.  I also read books alongside Skye for our mother-daughter book group and our teen book club at the library, and we discuss together; and I've been reading chapter books aloud with Felix, some for the kids book club at the library.  I'd like to find more time for us to look at picture books together, which they both still love.  I hope they always do!

I will keep up with the reading for my book clubs!  My online book club will be doing some fun challenges this year. My IRL book club has been a blast. And I adore the kids & teen book clubs I co-lead at my neighborhood library.

I will track my reading on Goodreads. Same as last year: this has been a great resource for me. I really enjoy being able to look back at what I've read, putting books onto different "shelves," and I love seeing updates about what my friends are reading.

I will post much more on this blog.  Again, I'd like to spend more time writing. I will try to come up with some regular features for my posts here, which seems to make it easier for me.

My Favorite Books, 2014

Here is my Best of 2014 list -- all of the books that earned five stars from me on Goodreads this year.  I put an asterisk next to ones that were re-reads for me.

Fiction:
*Life of Pi by Yann Martel
Persuasion by Jane Austen
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
*We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
*A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan

Nonfiction:
A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf
Daily Rituals: How Artists Work by Mason Currey
The Days of Rondo by Evelyn Fairbanks
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver
*No Plot? No Problem! by Chris Baty
A Reader's Book of Days by Tom Nissley

Children's/YA:
More Than This by Patrick Ness
Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
Sex & Violence by Carrie Mesrobian
Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson
Sylvia & Aki by Winifred Conkling
Breathing Room by Marsha Hayles
*The Lighting Thief by Rick Riordan
*Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume
*Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
*A Tale Dark & Grimm by Adam Gidwitz
Superfudge by Judy Blume
Fudge-a-mania by Judy Blume
*Liar & Spy by Rebecca Stead
*Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
How It Went Down by Kekla Magoon
*The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart

Graphic novels/memoirs:
Boxers and Saints by Gene Luen Yang
The Shadow Hero by Gene Luen Yang
This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki & Jillian Tamaki
Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant? by Roz Chast
The Adventures of Superhero Girl by Faith Erin Hicks
Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong by Prudence Shen & Faith Erin Hicks
The Storm in the Barn by Matt Phelan
An Age of License: A Travelogue by Lucy Knisley
Tomboy: A Graphic Memoir by Liz Prince
Sisters by Raina Telgemeier

My Reading Year, 2014

I am just now taking a look at the reading goals I set for myself last year. Oh, my! I was terribly ambitious!

"I have set a goal on Goodreads again of reading 100 books in 2014." Well, I did this. Goodreads tells me I read 157 books. (Remember, this includes books I read with my kids, too.)

"I will read at least 25 shelf-sitters this year!" It looks like 80 of the books I read are sitting on my shelves. Some of them haven't been sitting there for long, though; I believe at least a third of them were acquired this year.

"Included in this goal is to read at least six of my Persephone books." I didn't read any of my Persephones this year. How did that happen??

"I will continue to read with my kids." Done! And will continue to do this!

"I will keep up with the reading for my online and IRL book clubs!" I've kept up with the reading for my IRL book club, and we are rethinking how we will do our online one.

"I will track my reading on Goodreads." Done!

"I hope to post much more on this blog." Although I haven't posted here often, it looks like this has been my best year yet. It helped to have a regular system for my posts (Nightstand and Books Read each week.)

Christmas Day

Christmas Eve

Nightstand Photos, Summer 2014

June 30

July 7

July 14

July 21

July 28

August 4

August 11

August 18

August 25

What I've Been Reading, Summer 2014

I haven't posted since June! Why does it always seem like summer will be full of free time to do things like blogging? It's truly the opposite. I did keep up with my book photos, though. Here's the line-up of what I read, from June 23-August 31.

Week of June 23:
~ The Judy Blume Project is progressing, with Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing on audio with the kids, and Are You There God? It's Me Margaret for me. (Check out my old editions from Scholastic book flyer purchases in elementary school.)
~ Enjoying the Maud Hart Lovelace nominees; this week, it was Patricia MacLachlan's Kindred Souls.
~ I really want to get through all of the Donna Leon mysteries. This week was #11: Willful Behavior.

Week of June 30:
~ Fudge! We love these books. Superfudge on audio this week.
~ Brunetti! #12: Uniform Justice.
~ MHL nominee! Another Patricia MacLachlan: Waiting for the Magic.
~ An old Skye favorite! Read aloud to Skye & Felix: Adam Gidwitz's A Tale Dark & Grimm. Started out as a bedtime book, but moved to a daytime read, as it is fantastically creepy.

Week of July 7:
~ More Fudge! This week: Fudge-a-Mania on audio with the kids.
~ Felix and I finally finished The Luck Uglies by Paul Durham. The author visited his school last spring. We both recommend.
~ Perfect cabin read, lent to me by my friend Jen at bibliotonic: The Vacationers by Emma Straub.

Week of July 14:
~ Another past favorite, shared now with Felix: Liar & Spy by Rebecca Stead.
~ A new Skye favorite: The Shadow Hero by Gene Luen Yang. (We got to meet him! Twice!)
~ A favorite writer's new book: Kate DiCamillo's Flora & Ulysses.
~ A book based on one of my favorite themes: mythology! (This time, Norse mythology.) Icefall by Matthew J. Kirby, another MHL nominee.

Week of July 28: Yes, I missed a week, but I finished up double the books in the following week, including these three great graphic novels and one fantastic graphic memoir:
~ This One Summer (Jillian Tamaki & Mariko Tamaki)
~ Level Up (Gene Luen Yang & Thien Pham)
~ Monster on the Hill (Rob Harrell)
~ Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant?  (Roz Chast)

Week of July 28, continued:
~ The Sea of Monsters on audio with Felix. It was fun to read all five of these with Skye; I look forward to doing the same with Felix.
~ Brunetti #13: Doctored Evidence.
~ A quick bedtime read: Roald Dahl's The Twits. I guess he wasn't a great person, but his books never disappoint as read-alouds.

Week of August 4:
~ Otherwise Known As Sheila the Great on audio. I guess this is now known as one of Judy Blume's Fudge books, but he only appears in the beginning, I think. This is really a Sheila story.
~ 43 Old Cemetery Road #5: Hollywood, Dead Ahead by Kate Klise & M. Sarah Klise. We love these stories! Always fun to read them together.

Week of August 11:
~ Another from the Old Cemetery Road series: #6: Greetings from the Graveyard. How do they keep coming up with cute ideas for these?!
~ Then Again, Maybe I Won't. Thank goodness for Judy Blume!
~ Blood from a Stone, Brunetti #14.

Week of August 18: Four Books & a Movie
~ Before I Go to Sleep. Ugh & blech.
~ The Days of Rondo. Bittersweet & well-told.
~ It's Not the End of the World. Real & true.
~ Mom & Me & Mom. Surprising & lovely.
~ Amour. Quiet. Powerful.

Week of August 25: Must be the week before school starts. Felix read the first book (The 13-Story Treehouse); Skye was curious and read it, too; they went to the cabin, and my mom started reading Felix the second book (The 26-Story Treehouse), which ended up becoming our bedtime book, since the one we'd been trying hadn't been working for any of us. (You may see it later, if we decide to pick it up again.)

Nightstand, 6/23/14

Made a few adjustments in the nightstand stack, but several of last week's titles are still here.

Books Read, Week of 6/16/14

Not as many as last week, but still a good week of summer reading:

~ Vikings in the Attic by Eric Dregni for neighborhood book club. The author came to speak at our meeting, which was fantastic. I made orange Jell-O salad. :)

~ Iggie's House for what I'm calling my Judy Blume project. This was one of my favorites of hers when I was a kid, and it was so fun to revisit. I love the new cover (see link.)

~ The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan with the kids. This was our bedtime read-aloud, inspired by my eight-year-old nephew's birthday party theme. I wanted Felix to "get it," but wondered if he wasn't quite ready for this story. He loved it, and Skye & I enjoyed the re-read. We also listened to some of it on audio, and I thought it was nicely done.

Nightstand, 6/16/14

More fun reading to come!

Books Read, Week of 6/9/14

Look at all the books I finished this week! From bottom row to top:

~ Three books about Jackie. I really enjoyed the section about her in Dreaming in French, so was inspired to find more. The biography for young people was a good place to start -- better than I thought it would be -- and One Special Summer was such a surprise and treat to find.

~ I am starting a Judy Blume project; I'd like to read all of her work, in the order she wrote it. Kids helped me get started by listening to her two books for youngest kids on audio.

~ Enjoyed the next Commissario Brunetti mystery by Donna Leon; I'm reading them in order.

~ Finished Jerry Spinelli's Hokey Pokey; impressed with his wordplay and want to finally read Maniac Magee.

~ So impressed with Breathing Room, one of this year's Maud Hart Lovelace Award nominees. Beautiful book.

Nightstand, 6/9/14

First week of summer vacation! Big reading plans. Can't wait.

Books Read, Week of 6/2/14

Very good, excellent, and just for fun, in that order.

~ I love E. Lockhart. We Were Liars was very well done, but The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks is still my favorite. And I love her Toys Go Out books (as Emily Jenkins.)

~ Sylvia & Aki is a book I'd love to read with students. Historical fiction that is so nicely told and relatable. Beautifully done.

~ Pride & Prejudice & Zombies: What can I say? It sort of works, in a weird way. And so much of Austen's words are left intact, that I couldn't help but keep reading. She's one of my favorites.

Nightstand, 6/2/14

And here's the first week of June. Much the same. It would be fun to see all of these photos side-by-side. Maybe I'll do that at the end of 2014.

Books Read, Week of 5/26/14

Two books finished this week:

~ The Littles Go Exploring was for the weekly book group at Felix's school. They enjoyed it, and as an end-of-year gift, I gave them each another Littles book. I'll miss those kids!

~ I read Tinkers for our neighborhood book club. Glad I did. It made for good discussion, and it's interesting to see which books are picked for the Pulitzer each year.

Nightstand, 5/26/14

I'm behind on these posts. Here's what it looked like the last week of May! More to come.

Books Read, Week of 5/19/14

Finished up several books this week:

~ Hooray! The first Warriors series (six books) is complete! Now, Felix can read any others he is interested in on his own.

~ I listened to Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson on audio. Skye had read it and loved it. I did, too -- so much that I also read the physical book as I listened.

~ Felix is loving Stick Dog. He met the author, Tom Watson, at school. I gave him this second book in the series as a congrats gift at his piano recital, and he insisted we read it together. Cute.

~ I was so impressed by Sex & Violence by Carrie Mesrobian; I see why she won the Minnesota Book Award for Young People's Literature this year for her first novel. Evan was, to me, a modern-day Holden Caulfield.

“When all else fails, give up and go to the library.”

~ Stephen King, 11/22/63

“Sarah wondered what it could be like, to live like this - life as a country dance, where everything is lovely, and graceful, and ordered, and every single turn is preordained, and not a foot may be set outside the measure. Not like Sarah's own out-in-all-weathers haul and trudge, the wind howling and blustery, the creeping flowers in the hedgerows, the sudden sunshine.”

~ Jo Baker, Longbourn

Nightstand, 5/19/14

Oops. How'd it get this big again?