Summer Reading

Last week, I signed the kids up for the summer reading program at our local library.  They are all in the Read to Me category, so my husband and I will actually be doing the reading.  Three kids and thirty books each.  We should read over ninety books bey the end of July.  Shouldn't be a problem as we usually read a few at bedtime (although if bedtime continues to be as early as it has been the last couple nights, we might have a problem.)

But then there's an adult program too.  When I worked at the library, I was in charge of the program and thought it was so easy to read ten books over the ten weeks of the program.  I had time to read two to three books a week. Now, not so much.  It can take me a month to read a book that used to take me a few hours.

Last summer I didn't sign up for the program, thinking I'd never be able to read that many book.  This summer I'm going to try it. I have my iPod loaded with books from my fellow Astraea Press authors and W.S. Gager has a new book coming out in July.  I'm also going to try Altas Shrugged while we're on vacation. (I've heard a lot about it and it's long enough to count as two books. :-)) So I should have a good selection to choose from.

Does your library have a reading program for adults too?  What's on your reading list?

Back at home for a while

Although the touring has been all virtual, it feels good to be home again.  Hopefully, we will be able to get back to our regular schedule (whatever that is) soon.

I decided to start a Goodreads account, so if you have one, you can find me there.  I added a lot of books and realized there were a lot of books published in the last few years that I hadn't read and wanted to.  Somehow, I'll have to find more time to read.  I'm also holding a giveaway.  I believe you can register until February 14.
http://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/7811-courting-sparks

I will be doing  a lot of reading in the next few weeks.  I signed up to judge the Golden Heart contest and the RITA award.  These are the most prestigious awards from the Romance Writers of America.  The Golden Heart is for unpublished authors and the RITA is for published books.  I've got six partial manuscripts and  eight books to read by March 9.  I'm a little worried because the last book I read took almost a month.  But at least I will have an excuse to sit and read.

What are reading right now?

One of Those Days

It was one of those days from the very beginning.   And by beginning, I mean 3:30 am when the little one woke up and wouldn't go back to sleep for another two hours despite offering her a bottle, her pacifier, rocking her or letting her cry.  It started all over again--at a more normal time in the morning--when my son decided that everyone should be up and turned on the light and shouted into his dresser drawers for the red shirt with the truck on it. (Said shirt was in the laundry.) I shuffled out of bed and down the hall to see the two girls squinting in the bright light and wishing I could go back to bed.

The day continued in that vein until I pulled some books from the bookshelves and sat in the middle of the living room rug.  My son loves reading books and will generally sit with minimal picking at his sisters and listen to the stories.  My daughter wanders in and out of the story, but there's likely to be less drama with her brother out of the equation.  The little one perceives me as a jungle gym when I'm sitting on the floor and dives over my arms and across my lap, grabs for the book and generally gets in the way.

After ten books, they'd settled down some.  I picked up Pat the Bunny.  The twins loved it and so did the little one.  It was the first time I'd seen her get into a book.  She patted the bunny, played peek-a-boo with Paul, giggled into the mirror, tried on mommy's ring and waved bye-bye to Paul and Judy.  Peering over her shoulder, I could see her giggling face in the mirror and I couldn't help but laugh myself.

It started to turn the day around.  Sure, a Chernobyl-level meltdown times three was in the offing as dinner approached, but it was tempered by the memory of the pudgy fingers waving at the book.

To Be Read Pile

Each night when I get the little one ready for bed, I sit next to my bookshelves and see a bunch of old friends.  The books I read and re-read as a child are interspersed with what I read in college and what I read last week. (I haven't let my inner librarian organize the shelves, mostly because I don't have enough time or shelves to fully implement the Dewey Decimal System.  My husband is probably happy that I have stopped requesting more bookshelves about two months ago when we had at least twelve inches of excess shelf room.  Unfortunately, that is no longer the case.) The other lurkers on those shelves are the books I haven't read yet.  The ones I've picked up at Goodwill or garage sales because I've always wanted to read them or the ones I've added to my Amazon cart to get free shipping.

They taunt me as the little one plays with her bottle.  'Why haven't you read me yet?' 'How about me next?' 'You don't remember me, do you?  Read me again.'

I'd like to tackle this to be soon.  The problem is that most of the books aren't the kind of books you can read a paragraph or a page at a time and keep track of what is going on.  Which is generally the amount of reading time I have.  I read a paragraph and there's a diaper to change.  Re-read the paragraph and there's a puddle to clean up.

I should probably give up watching shows like Shaq VS and Dating in the Dark and read one of those books instead.

What books tend to languish in your To Be Read pile?