It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? 7/29/13

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It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? From Picture Books to YA!

It’s Monday! What are you Reading? is a meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journeys. It is a great way to recap what you read and/or reviewed the previous week and to plan out your reading and reviews for the upcoming week. It’s also a great chance to see what others are reading right now…you just might discover the next “must-read” book!

Jen Vincent, of Teach Mentor Texts, and Kellee decided to give It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? a kidlit focus. If you read and review books in children’s literature – picture books, chapter books, middle grade novels, young adult novels, anything in the world of kidlit – join us! We love this meme and think you will, too.

We encourage everyone who participates to support the blogging community by visiting at least three of the other book bloggers that link up and leave comments for them.

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Last Week’s Posts

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Last Week’s Journeys

Kellee: I feel like I have really been struggling with reading this summer. Usually summers are my free time where I find myself taking part in #summerthrowdown and #bookaday, but I have not been reading enough to do either. I think it is because I have A) been writing and researching a lot this summer; B) taught summer reading camp and been doing a lot of professional development; C) just wanted to relax when I finally had free time. The thing is, though, I feel guilty for not reading as much. Guilty only because I have higher expectations for myself. I only have 2 weeks left of summer and I just know I am not going to live up to those expectations now, so I am working on realizing it is okay. Has anyone else felt this way ever?

This week I was able to read a couple of books among my classroom moving (I am officially my school’s reading coach next year, so I had to move from the largest classroom in the school to a room that is half the size of a normal classroom; however, we did it in just 2 days!!) and the Solution Tree PLC Conference:

First, because of all of the driving, I did finish Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls (audiobook) by David Sedaris. I loved it like all of his books, but I found that some parts of it were majorly serious and just didn’t affect me as much. I also read two nonfiction picture books that I really enjoyed and will definitely share on a NF PB Wednesday- Bone by Bone: Comparing Animal Skeletons by Sara C. Levine and Hey Charleston!: The True Story of the Jenkins Orphanage Band. Next I read Doug TenNapel’s newest graphic novel Tommysaurus Rex which will definitely fly off my shelf when the school year begins (and I’ll be reviewing on Friday). Finally, I read a humorous poetry book called I Could Pee On This and Other Poems by Cats by Francesco Marciuliano which had some quite hilarious kitty poems.

 

Ricki: For starters, I finished The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. I liked it, but I didn’t love it as much as I thought I would (isn’t that usually the case with classics?). Then, I read The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate because so many of you commented on last week’s post that it was a must read. THANK YOU! I loved it.

And then something magical happened. I couldn’t decide which book to read out of the stacks that covered my floor, and I discovered NetGalley. Okay, I always knew about it, but I didn’t realize just how awesome it was. I have been attached to my Kindle all week. I read The Infinite Moment of Us by Lauren Myracle which was great—come back Thursday for the review. Because I am a Micmac Indian, I couldn’t resist ordering and reading Real Justice: Convicted for being Mi’kmaq: The Story of Donald Marshall Jr. (swing by on Wednesday for that review). And lastly, I also finished my 600-page book, Baby Bargains by Denise and Alan Fields, as I am trying to get a head-start on my baby registry. If you are a new mom or going to be a new mom, this one is great. It came highly recommended to me. I am pretty proud of myself this week. Perhaps, I will get back on track with my reading goal.

 

This Week’s Expeditions

Kellee: I am currently on vacation and brought a bunch of books with me, so I will have to pick out of them which I’m going to read. I have a pile of nonfiction picture books from the library, some graphic novels, and a few novels. I know I definitely am going to read Feynman by Jim Ottaviani this week as @CbethM and @mselke highly recommended it and I requested it from the library because of them. I hope that this week will be a more successful reading week as I have no work things to do!! *fingers crossed*

 

Ricki: Because I am new to NetGalley, I recently learned that most publishers request that people not blog about their books until 30 days prior to their publication. This is a bummer for me because I like to share about a book right after I read it to hear your thoughts. So I have to slow down on my galleys. First, I am going to finish the galley, The Truth about You & Me by Amanda Grace. I started it last night and am enjoying it thus far. It is about a high school teen who takes a college course and falls in love with the professor (scandalous!). Then, I want to read The Nazi Hunters by Neal Bascomb. It is a YA narrative nonfiction text, and I love World War II books, so I am excited. A few of the books I received aren’t going to be published for a few months, so we will see if I can hold off. If not, I will have to read them and then twiddle my thumbs until I am allowed to post their reviews. I am a very patient person, except when it comes to sharing about books. I’ve been known to drive to friends’ houses to deliver a book that they “must read!”

 

Upcoming Week’s Posts

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 So, what are you reading?

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22 thoughts on “It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? 7/29/13”

  1. I too am struggling Kellee. I have some books that I have renewed two or three times because I haven’t gotten to them yet. I have been traveling a lot more than I expected and have had to work more too so am just not getting to read as much as anticipated. Also, I discovered Dr. Who. Anyway, I had to lower my expectations and just decide to enjoy the ones I get to read & not worry about the rest. It was helpful that I Could Pee on This was a quick read. I had it this week also. Made me giggle.

    Ricki, Netgalley and Edelweiss (don’t do it) are about killing me too. I have TOO MANY digital ARCs taunting me right now. It’s like setting me loose in a candy shop. Have a great week!

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  2. I think they’ve created a dog version of I COULD PEE ON THIS. I need to see that one out. 🙂

    I really enjoyed your post about the Walden award. Something to think about for the future.

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  3. I also loved Bone by Bone and reviewed it a few days ago here: http://bibliolinks.wordpress.com/2013/07/26/bone-by-bone-comparing-animal-skeletons-by-sara-levine-illustrated-by-t-s-spookytooth/

    Im in the middle of Lauren Myracle’s The Infinite Moment of Us (thanks to Net Galley) and so far am really enjoying the dual point of view. Net Galley is a real find for me as a school librarian, but I do know what you mean about having to wait until the book’s release date approaches before posting a review. I go ahead and write the post, schedule it for the book’s release date, then forget all about it until it pops up as scheduled.

    Thanks for all the recommendations this week!

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  4. You have done a lot of things this summer Kellee. I hope you get the chance in these last couple weeks to read some good books, but also give yourself a break. It can start to feel so overwhelming when there are so many books to read and you have a goal to read so much, but you don’t want to take the fun of reading away. I had to really back off on the self-pressure earlier during the school year. You will always be reading something and you will get to the books you want to get to. Let yourself enjoy the reading instead of being so stressed about it. (I know, easier said than done)

    Ricki–I love NetGalley. I have to be really careful with how often I allow myself to browse their catalog. Enjoy your reading week!

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  5. Kellee – I so relate…too much this summer and not enough time to relax and read. Have fun reading this week. And Ricki – I wonder what I would think of The Bell Jar now? I read it in High School and remembering that it was powerful.

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  6. Ricki Wishing you patience. Sometimes book excitement seems large enough to power devices! Kellee, congratulations on your new role!

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  7. Ricki- I had the same issue- I wrote my reviews and then shelved them until I could post… slightly frustrating. I do like Netgalley and recently discovered how many great books I can get online through my public library- lightened my load of costs of audiobooks for my son! Thrilled you loved The One and Only Ivan!! Happy preparations. Kellee- Can’t wait to read Tommysaurus Rex! I have it on order- but it is funny that I had the older version of this book already on my old library shelf. Curious to see how it has been changed…

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