Summer Reading: Week Three

Having looked forward to more time to read for the entire school year, I am now having a little trouble focusing my energy and reading time, and balancing it with everything else I want to do, so I've begun several things.  I'm often guilty of beginning too many books rather than finishing any of them. I think it's because I want to read it all!

I began Flying Over Home by Jeanette Stokes because she had a reading this past week and I bought my copy. I'm excited about this one because I was there when she was writing it. Jeanette facilitates weeks of writing and quiet for writers through her organization, The Resource Center for Women and Ministry in the South. I was attending one of those weeks to work on His Other Mother, and this is the book she was working on, a memoir of her journey to find her peace with her father.

I also picked up The Rabbi's Cat by Joann Sfar, a graphic novel that been on my to-read list for quite some time, and Women and the American Experience by Nancy Woloch, a fascinating, but dense history that I've been working through bit by bit for a year or so. It's given me a lot of food for thought for my historical fiction WIP.

I'm still reading Greatshadow by James Maxey. I met James through some writing workshops he taught at our public library and have enjoyed several of his books now. It's because of James that I also began William Faulkner's Absalom, Absalom!  He's holding monthly book talks at my library on classic literature.

The only thing I finished was one of the beta-reads for a friend this week. If you're not familiar with the term, it's when someone reads an unpublished novel for a writer, offering feedback about flow, plot, characters, and even line edits. I really enjoyed the book. I hope to be able to tell you where to get a published copy soon.

NJ (7) has been reading lots of fun and funny books like the Fancy Nancy series by Jane O'Connor (a great series for future word nerds) and Bad Kitty: Drawn to Trouble by Nick Bruel (She admired the picture book, and likes this direct talk from the author).  She loves to read me parts out loud then laugh at the top of her lungs. I love it, too.

She's also hit a stage of being interested in fact books about animals. We have lots of these around from when big sister was younger and had a similar obsession, and NJ recently discovered them. The one she left on the sofa just now is called Reptiles and Amphibians Dictionary: An A to Z of Cold-Blooded Creatures by Clint Twist. It's really fun to listen to her being amazed by some of the truly wild and weird things created in nature.

NJ has an impressive memory and, given an opening, will quote to you for hours from these books. Today, she's focused on the Hellbender, a salamander from Up East. I suspect she's interested in him because she gets away with saying H-E-L-L when she says his name. Since she is asked to stick to a level of profanity appropriate for one of her tender years (as in none), it's quite the little thrill to say that word.

M, the elder daughter, is traveling in Alaska with the bio-Dad this week, so I don't know if she's reading much.  She is, however, having good bonding time with her other dad, and getting to see some of the places he and I used to live in when we were married. I'm jealous as hell that he can manage the trip and wish I were the one taking her.

In the meantime, time to read!