What I've Been Reading - September 2017

I have only complete 6 books this month! Mostly because I’ve only done audio-books and haven’t had much time to read through the eyeballs. Check out my post fromyesterday if you don’t believe me! Luckily, I'm ahead of schedule for my book goal for the year. 

Also on the plus side, I did get an opportunity to use my puppet on stage! I'm actually thinking they may need their own instagram or something. Because I think the people need more #CustardThePuppetTroll.

 

Here's what I read, though.

Book Review: I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga (Horror-tober)

If I could stick with a theme for a whole month it would definitely be Spooky October or something. Horror-tober! And this book would fit right in. But let’s not get carried away. You know as well as I do I will forget any plan to focus on scary/ horror books this month. My attention span just isn’t that long. But, here’s a review anyway!

The Goodreads summary:

What if the world's worst serial killer...was your dad?

Jasper "Jazz" Dent is a likable teenager. A charmer, one might say.

But he's also the son of the world's most infamous serial killer, and for Dear Old Dad, Take Your Son to Work Day was year-round. Jazz has witnessed crime scenes the way cops wish they could—from the criminal's point of view.

And now bodies are piling up in Lobo's Nod.

In an effort to clear his name, Jazz joins the police in a hunt for a new serial killer. But Jazz has a secret—could he be more like his father than anyone knows?

What I Had to Say About it:

Top Ten Tuesday - Audiobook-a-palooza!!

September 20: All About Audio freebie --  aka top ten audiobooks you should listen to, 10 books I want to listen to on audio,10 bands you should check out, 10 podcasts you should be listening to, 10 of my all time favorite albums, 10 songs I love, really whatever you can come up with (hosted by Broke and Bookish).

 Audiobooks! I love them, although it took me a while to really understand how awesome they are. (Here’s a post about that.)

I read about a third of the books that I read via audiobook, mostly in the car and on my walks into work from the parking lot. This also justifies my constantly being on the look out for headphones that will become THE ONES.

So, here’s what I did. I went to my audiobook shelf on Goodreads and looked to see which books I gave 5 starts to.

Oubox Sept 10 - Reading, RAPA and Rocky Horror

This is a sad little Outbox post, reading wise. It’s already the 10^th and I’ve only finished three books! Of course, The Twelve is a massive tome, so it totally counts as two! Anyway this post is all about the books I've managed to read and the stuff that's been getting in the way of all the stuff I wanted to be reading.

[outbox post pic goes here!]

Book Review: The Fisherman by Chigozie Obioma

I read this book via audiobook. Mostly because it was available for download immediately.

The Goodreads Summary (truncated):

"Told from the point of view of nine year old Benjamin, the youngest of four brothers, The Fishermen is the story of an unforgettable childhood in 1990s Nigeria, in the small town of Akure. When their strict father has to travel to a distant city for work, the brothers take advantage of his extended absence to skip school and go fishing. At the ominous, forbidden nearby river, they meet a dangerous local madman who persuades the oldest of the boys that he is destined to be killed by one of his siblings. What happens next is an almost mythic event whose impact-both tragic and redemptive-will transcend the lives and imaginations of its characters and its readers. Dazzling and viscerally powerful, The Fishermen never leaves Akure but the story it tells has enormous universal appeal."

What I Thought About It:

Book Review: The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman

The Light Between Oceans was chosen as the June Group read for the Read All the Books Facebook group. We usually do challenges but decided to do our second group read. I think this had been on several member’s TBR list for a while so it seemed like a good pick. I read this via audiobook on Overdrive.

The Goodreads Bit:

After four harrowing years on the Western Front, Tom Sherbourne returns to Australia and takes a job as the lighthouse keeper on Janus Rock, nearly half a day’s journey from the coast. To this isolated island, where the supply boat comes once a season and shore leaves are granted every other year at best, Tom brings a young, bold, and loving wife, Isabel. Years later, after two miscarriages and one stillbirth, the grieving Isabel hears a baby’s cries on the wind. A boat has washed up onshore carrying a dead man and a living baby.

Tom, whose records as a lighthouse keeper are meticulous and whose moral principles have withstood a horrific war, wants to report the man and infant immediately. But Isabel has taken the tiny baby to her breast. Against Tom’s judgment, they claim her as their own and name her Lucy. When she is two, Tom and Isabel return to the mainland and are reminded that there are other people in the world. Their choice has devastated one of them.

M. L. Stedman’s mesmerizing, beautifully written novel seduces us into accommodating Isabel’s decision to keep this “gift from God.” And we are swept into a story about extraordinarily compelling characters seeking to find their North Star in a world where there is no right answer, where justice for one person is another’s tragic loss.

The Light Between Oceans is exquisite and unforgettable, a deeply moving novel.

What I had to say about it.

What I've Been Reading (Outbox June 16, 2016)

I’ve barely blogged this month! My averages! My stats! I’ve got to get my head in the game!

I’m not sure what’s going on that’s kept me from the blog this month, so far. Oh well. I try to go with the flow of how I feel. Blogging is a hobby for me so I don’t want to stress about it too much. I have been able to get some books into my head though. Maybe I’ll squeeze some longer review posts out of some of these.

It's really been a Diverse Books kind of month so far with almost every novel I've read being by or about the people of color or from a marginalized group. I hope that means that this is becoming so common the people don't have to try so hard and will just automatically find themselves in the diverse stories of the world! I just eye rolled myself, y'all.

Some Highlights from June so far:

Book Review: Two Audiobooks by Steve Sheinkin (RocTBF2016)

I wish that I had understood that history is basically a bunch of stories that really happened back when Social Studies was my least favorite subject in school. Of course, all that memorizing names and dates would have killed the intrigue, anyway, but maybe I would have hated it less.

Speaking of which! On my journey to Teen Book Festival madness, I picked up two books by Steve Sheinkin that were available through Overdrive as audio-books.

Both were excellent. They are told with narrative and supported with information from research letters and testimony from witnesses and participants in the events.

Lincoln’s Grave Robbers is the story of counterfeiters who decide to concoct a plan to free their previous boss and make their own big pay day by stealing the body of beloved President Lincoln. The plan will go down on election night in 1978. What could possibly go wrong!? There’s a lot of information about the Coney Men (counterfeiters) and the secret service that I never knew.

The Port Chicago 50 is about the 50 black navy men who were charged with mutiny after “refusing” to return to work following an explosion on their ammunition loading dock. The case became part of Civil Rights history as it forced folks to consider segregation and the fake notion of Separate but Equal in the military during World War II. This is a great story that includes a look into the experience of men who fought for a country that was simultaneously denying them basic rights. There's a scene where one of the men can't eat in a restaurant and watches prisoners of war being served and treated well that made me grateful for my own place in time.

Related Post:

Book Review: The Haters by Jesse Andrews (RocTBF2016)

This author has gotten a lot of press lately because of another one of his books: Me, Earl, and the Dying Girl. Apparently, it is being turned into a movie that I will refuse to see. I actually own that one as it was in one of the Book Riot YA boxes last year. In fact, there are three Teen Rochester Book Festival authors that were featured by Book Riot last year… coincidence? Probably.

Anyway, my plan was to read MEatDG, but I’m on a time crunch now so I downloaded the only Jesse Andrews available via Overdrive. You know how audiobooks can save your life, right?

Here’s a part of the super long Goodreads summary:

“For Wes and his best friend, Corey, jazz camp turns out to be lame. It’s pretty much all dudes talking in Jazz Voice. But then they jam with Ash, a charismatic girl with an unusual sound, and the three just click. It’s three and a half hours of pure musical magic, and Ash makes a decision: They need to hit the road. Because the road, not summer camp, is where bands get good. Before Wes and Corey know it, they’re in Ash’s SUV heading south, and The Haters Summer of Hate Tour has begun.

In his second novel, Andrews again brings his brilliant and distinctive voice to YA, in the perfect book for music lovers, fans of The Commitments and High Fidelity, or anyone who has ever loved—and hated—a song or a band. This witty, funny coming-of-age novel is contemporary fiction at its best.”

My own babbling:

Three on a Theme: 3 Rereads of Old Classics

I don't need to tell you AGAIN how awesome audiobooks are, right? Well, I have been using audiobooks to reacquaint myself with some old favorites. I'd like to remind you that re-reading books you have loved from different times in your life can backfire. I'm looking at you, Hunger Games. It's not that I don't still love HG. But I was surprised at how much I didn't love it compared to the first time around.

These three are actually my top three favorites from childhood, so it was pretty risky to do a re-read. But, they were obvious places to start what I am sure to be an ongoing quest. 

The Great 2016 Classic Children's Lit ReRead Extravaganza (update and outbox)

My predilection for childhood favorites continues. I've read four this month via audiobook. They are perfect for the commute to and from work. It's interesting to read old favorites as "a different person." Charlotte's Web is still sad, though. 

Each of these has seen at least one screen version. It's too late for me to see them, now obviously. I do not see movies based on books that I like... Here's me every time I try to get on board with a movie adaptation:

But I digress:

Outbox: New Stuff I've Read So Far This Month (Feb 20, 2016)

It's been a bit of a slow (print) reading month, but my audiobook game has been strong, y'all. I can't think of why I've been so busy, but I'm sure it was work related! Oh! And I had a show. Duh. I might be able to sit down and do full reviews for a couple of these but I doubt it, so I'll just do a quick mini-review highlight thing. You know how I do it!

I'm going to do a separate post for the children's lit rereads I did this month. There were four of them. A little teaser: A Wrinkle in Time is crazy.

Half- Resurrection Blues by Daniel Jose Older 

Mr. Older is one of my favorite Twitter presences. He gets excited about things, he talks shit, he loves his wife. The whole thing is gold. I read his first YA offering last year, Shadowshaper, which was a definite must- read for 2015. I didn't realize that it was his first YA novel; I just assumed that's what he does. So, enter this little gem. HRB is an urban fiction novel about a man who is mostly dead who hunts down spirit- bad guys, who stumbles into a hot mess when he's sent to kill another half-dead person and then falls in love with that halfie's Halfie sister. Then, crazy stuff starts happening.

Mini Book Review: Notes from the Internet Apocalypse

I waited too long to review this book for it to be meaningful to me or to have any special memories of it. It was a busy week because the show I was in opened. What? You want to know about the show? Ok! I play a middle management overseer of mythical creatures, basically. I'm basically chastising and threatening a Cupid who is overzealous with his arrows of love. Three very different people come out and tell their stories as evidence of Cupid's ineptitude. It's a super fun Valentine's Day show. But the involvement in other things is, as usual, cutting into my reading time. So, I've only been reading via audiobooks during commute to/from work and the theater.

Ok, on to the mini-review for 

Notes from the Internet Apocalypse by Wayne Gladstone

[Check out the Goodreads summary here:]

This is a different kind of apocalypse story.

Book Review: The Bookseller by Cynthia Swanson

I read this book because of the title. Yes, yes. I'm a cover-judger and a sucker for a good book book. Anyway.

Here's the modified Goodreads Summary (I edited it and changed the formatting): 

"The Bookseller follows a woman in the 1960s who must reconcile her reality with the tantalizing alternate world of her dreams. Nothing is as permanent as it appears . . . 

Denver, 1962: Kitty Miller has come to terms with her unconventional single life. She loves the bookshop she runs with her best friend, Frieda, and enjoys complete control over her day-to-day existence. She can come and go as she pleases, answering to no one. There was a man once, a doctor named Kevin, but it didn’t quite work out the way Kitty had hoped. Then the dreams begin.

Denver, 1963: Katharyn Andersson is married to Lars, the love of her life. They have beautiful children, an elegant home, and good friends. It's everything Kitty Miller once believed she wanted—but it only exists when she sleeps.

As the lines between her worlds begin to blur, Kitty must figure out what is real and what is imagined. And how do we know where that boundary lies in our own lives?"

What Say I:

Book Review: Ready Player One by Earnest Cline (#NaBloPoMo)

Internet search for pictures suggest that this might be on the road to becoming a movie. I wish I had already written about the rage that happens in my brain when books I like become movies so that I could just link to that here... but I have yet to do so... but trust and believe I will shave my left labia before I watch another movie based on a book that I liked. Too much? I'm fricking serious. But, getting to the getting on.

This pic is amazing. I found it via general search. Let me know if you know who I should credit. #TeamAech

If you were a full on computer/ gamer geek in the 80's you will like this book. If you were a little bit of a nerd in the 80's and geek out over tech now, you will like this book. If you think that nerds or geeks are ridiculous and should grow up and get real jobs, this is probably not the book for you.

Ready Player One, basically, is about a reclusive man on the Autism Spectrum who is OBSESSED with 80's pop culture and creates a video game and becomes rich. Then Sheldon (that's not really his name) creates a simulated world that allows people to work, live, and connect in a virtual world (the O.A.S.I.S) all the time. Then the man dies. He hides virtual prizes ("Easter Eggs" for you egg-heads) in the virtual world and promises in his will that whoever finds the Egg gets his fortune and control of the OASIS. This takes years and hell breaks lose when the contest begins in earnest. 

Now, geeks everywhere can relate to the fantasy that they can create and live exclusively in a world of their creation, with an avatar of themselves that conforms to their desire. You can mute bullies, hide your screen name, and jump virtual worlds. The social commentary bit, of course, is that the real world is going to hell in a hand basket and no one really cares because they've got the fake world to escape into. There's also a brief reflection on how we choose what our "Face" is based on how people will treat us based on appearances. There was no time to follow this thread further, but it was a nice touch. 

Our main dude, obviously, faces some obstacles, overcomes most of them, and learns a lesson. There's one female that the MC knows (who knows about anyone else, since avatars hide your real self) and since she's a gamer and hardcore Egg hunter, they are all about each other. But what about when they meet in person, blah blah blah. 

The book is well written and held my attention. Full disclosure, I was a gamer/ geek's girlfriend, not a hard core gamer myself. So I "got" some of the references and followed along with no problem. But like I said, if you didn't live at all in the life, you might feel a little above it all. This was a solid 4 stars. 

Selling point: Will Wheaton narrates the audiobook. Yesh. Mr. Wheaton is, in my opinion, our nerd leader. 

Book Review: Twelve Tribes of Hattie by Ayana Mathis (#NaBloPoMo)

The Twelve Tribes of Hattie is kind of like a collection of short stories about 12 different characters. The 13th character is Hattie Shepherd, a strong - willed woman who moves to Philadelphia from Jim Crow Georgia in 1923. Each of the stories is mainly one or two of her children (one is actually about her grandchild) told at different points in their lives. We also continue to get a picture of the kind of woman and mother that Hattie was through each of their stories.

Generally, I don't like short stories and I was a little disgruntled for a while thinking that I had been bamboozled into reading 12 of them. However, each tale is well- written and rich in character. We hear of Hattie through her children, but also of the country in a trying time, of her childless sister, of Willie, the juju woman.

Hattie is said to be bitter, angry, and lacking in "tenderness." But she is described as determined and focused. She is hell bent on keeping her children safe, fed, and alive even when she has to make tough choices for their benefit. The first story is about the death of her newborn twins which is interesting on several levels as we learn that her pregnancy is really why she and her husband married after having stopped their romance. I felt bad for her, struggling in a marriage to a man that loved her in his own way, but also made as much time for gambling and other women as he did for his wife and children. Hattie was left to run a household and manage their poverty and brood with a heavy hand and a heavier heart. She makes hard sacrifices for the sake of her children and only once is there an attempt to find a different kind of life for herself.

Each story, too, illustrates how it takes our own adulthood to start to understand our parents and what they do for us, to see them for the fallible people that they are. Alice, one of the daughters, must take a look around and take some ownership for what her life has become, despite her childhood experience.

A thing I hated: each of the men (with few exceptions) were good- for- nothing asshats. The kind of men who think that good women are lucky to get to support their triflin' asses. (Whoops. Sorry, Didn't mean to code-switch there. I must have some feelings about that.) Anyway, Hattie's two brothers - in - law are the only two men who are decent male human beings, as far as we know. Every other man is a womanizer, an alcoholic, or a heavy gambler. There's a powerful scene between Hattie and August (her husband) in which he talks about how hard it is to be a Black man. But Hattie's having none of that nonsense. It's hard to be a Black woman, too. Harder still when you're carrying a man on your back... that's not a quote... but you'll recognize the scene when you come to it.

More about America's Great Migration?

Outbox (October 2015): Rereads and people die all over the place... I won't tell you who.

September kind of felt like a light reading month for me. Looking at my Goodreads for the month, I noticed that the majority of the books I read were audiobooks and books that I've read before. I also read a few books that were shorter than my usual (e.g., Coal, The Great Gatsby, and Animal Farm). Sometimes, it feels like adding these smaller books to my read list is cheating (which is why I count comics, trades, and graphic novels separately), even though I know that's ridiculous. More pages doesn't legitimize a book. But that's a topic for a different post.. and likely a different blogger.

Anywho. Here's my Outbox post for September:

I've already posted about the books about books that I read in September. Yes, I did!! So, I won't repeat my gushing about those in this post, as tempting as that might be.

THE REREADS

Re- reading the Classics: You'll notice a theme below. Re-reading a book, which I have never done before, is interesting. You think you know what's going to happen. And sometimes you do. But sometimes you've really changed the events in the book to match your overall impression of the book, you know what I mean. I think with these classics, I had an idea of the story that was all mashed up with pop culture references. I enjoyed rereading each of these, unlike the disaster that was me trying to read Wuthering Heights which actually took 10 years off the end of my life. I did a thing I rarely do: I quit reading it with only 3 hours left of the audiobook. Just couldn't do it. 

Thoughts while re-reading the Classics: 

To Kill a Mockingbird - Have I ever read this all the way through? Why are people always talking about Boo Radley, he's only in it for four seconds. Scout is an idiot; Oh, wait, she's only 8 years old. Ugh, I hate that this is still relevant in 2015

Animal Farm - Have I read this before? Oh, I can see how this might be used in a high school. Nuh uh! They are changing the rules! Pigs... heh, I get it. 

The Great Gatsby: OK. Maybe I've never read this. I have no recollection of that happening... What!?

Harry Potter: Yes, I know these aren't classics. But they will be. I loved them just as much this time as the first time. I had to skip book 2 because there was such a long wait time for the Overdrive edition. But, it was a reread, so I felt ok about that. Still love Lupin. 

THE NEWBIES:

Tell the Wolves I'm Home: This books has been on several Must Read book lists that I have seen. It's the story of a geeky teenage girl who loses her uncle to AIDS. The loss of her favorite uncle and primary emotional support pretty much rocks her world and forces her to figure out what she thinks is important in life. I didn't cry, but I'm kind of a robot.

Pretty is: This book's summary was interesting, as is the idea for the story. Two adult women revisit the two month period when they were kidnapped and held in the woods. I actually really liked the view of the girls and their connection to the time and the man over the course of their lives. It had a few too many layers (a movie, based on a book, based on the story of the girls from one perspective with the view point of the other folks thrown in). The "thriller" stalker part was unnecessary and wrapped up too quickly. And other lines didn't wrap up very satisfactorily at all. The psychology of the unloved/ unlovable post trauma thing was interesting.

Purple Hibiscus: This was my Book Club pick for one of my discussion groups. Every member actually finished the book, which is not usual, and several people "didn't know what the think of it." The discussion was a good one and it's one of those books where you find yourself trying to understand the perspectives of each of the characters. Discussion considerations: is what makes a good person a good person and the different faces we put on at home and in public.

This reRead is KILLING MY FANDOM-NESS (The Hunger Games)

I LOVED The Hunger Games when I devoured the series about 5 years ago. I rarely reread books but thought I’d give the series a shot since it’s available via audiobook. You know how I feel about audiobooks. I just started Book 2 and basically want to quit. The first book really disappointed my memory.

One problem: The sudden love for Gale despite having already said that there had never been anything romantic between them. I’m not saying that feelings don’t change. And I also recognize that Gale was hinting around about it all along, but it’s part of the boys- and- girls- can’t- just- be-friends- and- wouldn’t- a- love- triangle- make- this- whole- thing- better trope that is just so unnecessary. If Katniss had acknowledged ANY feelings for Gale before The Games, it would have felt less contrived. Apparently, my brain had contrived this addition.

Katniss seems so dense or naïve or something this time around. She’s not a completely uninformed narrator, a la Harry Potter or Percy Jackson, so why does she sound so dumb all the time!? She’s been living a hard life and still seems completely bewildered by humans. I understand that she is supposed to be one of those girls that is so clueless to her own fabulousness she doesn’t think anyone could love her. I understood it the first time, but this time it gets on my nerves. Her self- blinders seem like a well- beaten device for creating miscommunication between the characters.

Part of this problem is in the reader of the audio book. The person reading it is clearly not a teenager. It may be that we are meant to be hearing Katniss reliving the story as an adult, through the filter of age and distance. But the reader is pretty bland. She actually, sometimes, makes Katniss seem more clueless than even the words suggest in the moment. When I read her myself, Katniss is shrewd and calculating, but not due to ignorance and dullness, due to having lived in the Seam and being responsible for the lives of her family. She's strong and capable and doesn't fall apart so easily. She's sarcastic and little rough. She owns her flaws and scars and is less apologetic. She’s also less whiney.

I love Peeta more. This likely contributes to my increased dislike of Katniss since she’s basically taking him on a roller coaster of mood swings and intentions. If it wasn’t for him, I’d likely abandon my reread endeavor entirely.

Audiobooks Saved My Life

I have only recently, within the past year, gotten really into the audiobook thing. This occurred about the time I aged enough to realize that music and morning DJs on the radio SUCK. This collided with the discovery that you can download books directly to your device from the local library using Overdrive. Thusly and therefore, audiobooks saved me from driving my car off the road rather than listen to morning radio.

Now, I probably “read” somewhere between 3 and 5 books a month by just listening to them in the car while driving. I LOVE it. I am a believer. I have fully converted and proselytize wherever I go. There are some books that I know would never hold my interest if I read them through my eyeballs. For example, I hate reading books with too much random italic font (e.g., flashbacks, words in non-English) and books where the names of the characters are long, difficult for me to sound out, or too similar to each other. But audiobooks really help smooth out those little pains in the ass… and don’t you want your ass pain to be smoothed!? Of course, you do. Plus, I like when English stories have English- accents strewing from the speakers.

Of course, as with all things, there are many thungs that get on my nerves about audiobooks. Topping that list: missing junk. I first noticed that I might be missing out on something when I read a blog post about the cover of Mr. Penumbra’s 24 Hour Book Store. Apparently, in some versions, the books on the cover glow in the dark. I LOVED that book and felt full and wholly robbed by not knowing that there was something special about the cover. Similarly, at book club last week, I learned that there is a map on the inside of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce. I was less emotional about that one, but still felt that I hadn’t gotten the full experience of understanding Harold’s 600-mile journey across England. I’m pretty sure there are a lot of graphics and whatnot in Feed by M.T. Anderson that helps the reader understand the disorganized nature of the world; the audiobook used sounds and distortions to do it.

The way that a reader inflects or emphasize certain words makes a big difference in the book, especially when it comes to jokes. Timing is everything and subtle changes in the words can change the interpretation of meaning. I get a little distracted sometimes when there’s a speaking choice that I think was really misleading (Like it’s up to me, right!? My ego-mania knows no bounds). I’ve decided that audiobooks are the only way I’m ever reading memoirs, though I intend to make an exception for Alan Cummings if i have to. There’s ZERO possibility that Tina Fey’s book Bossy Pants, which she reads, would have been as entertaining through the eyes. Not that I don’t love her, but it’s because of her delivery and personality.

There have been a few books audiobooks that were read by someone with a voice that I was so intolerant of that I couldn’t even finish it. That’s been a rare occurrence. Though, in the second book of the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, apparently they switched voices and I was righteously pissed until I forgot all about it.

If you want a great audiobook that puts it all together, get How to Build a Girl by Caitlin Moran. If you prefer stuff with adult main characters (and if you do, you should reevaluate yourself and your preferences) then go with The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by May Ann Shaffer. 

 

Books In Progress (and my revolving #TBR list)

Supposedly I've got about 5 books going right now... Truth is, they are all in varying degrees of progress. I have moved The Girl of the Train by Paula Hawkins to my "currently reading" list and back to the To Be Read list probably about three times. This last time, I actually made it about 25 pages in. But since it is a borrowed book (From an actual person) and I always have looming library fines, I had to table it to move on to a book that was due back. I might be a little nervous about reading this book right now, anyway, because there is so much hype about it. I'll get to it. I swear

I'm having this same trouble with Clockworkers by Ramsey Isler. The book has a great concept, an average Goodreads rating of over 4 out of 5 stars, and I'm excited to read it. But it's on my Kindle and I just can't get far enough ahead of my library reads and Book Club books to put all the words into my face! As I'm writing it, I realize how stupid that sounds and I'm moving it up on my priority list. TAKE THAT, PRIORITY LIST!! (In fact, I just nominated it for the #BlerdBookClub. Two birds, one stone).

I am ACTUALLY in progress with my usual one audiobook and one "real" book. On audio right now is Every Day by David Levithan. It's been on my TBR list for a long time and lo and behold it was available via OVerdrive last week. SWWEETT find! As an aside, if you don't know what Overdrive is, your inner nerd weeps for you. 

Anyway, I love Every Day. It's about a person who wakes up in a different person's body every day. At the age of 16, they discover something that makes them want to stick around... guess what it is... guess... it's love! Yep.  You guessed it. The decision to have a girl read the character for the audiobook was brilliant and really lends a different interpretation to the whole thing than you'd get with a male voice. If it weren't for the fact that my schedule has been a giant cluster fuck lately, I'd be done with it. My ears would have just consumed it all at once. 

If you're a book bloggy type, you already know that Judy Bloom, herself released a new book for adults this year called In the Unlikely Event. My Facebook book group (don't even ask) is reading it for AUgust. We are reading 100 pages per week. It is physically painful to read a book this slowly, but since I tend to facilitate the group I didn't want to get ahead of everyone else and say something that spoiled it. Plus, having a small section to read helped me stay on track given my clusterfucked schedule last week. The first chunk has set up about a million characters but I'm interested to see where it goes.

And finally, my current read is In Living Blood by Tananarive Due. This is a sequel to an equally massive tome about a woman who finds out she is married to a 1000 year old African God- type person. I'm not doing it justice. I've just started this book (did I mention my cluster fuck schedule?) and I love it already. It's "horror" and the the author wished me good dreams when I tweeted about reading it. Read the first book at least. If you don't like it, come back and see me. You need therapy. I'll get you a referral.