Reading Through Life: January 2017

Monday, January 30, 2017

It's Monday! What are you reading?

It's Monday! What are you Reading? is a meme hosted by Kathryn at Book Date. It's 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 your next “must-read” book!

Kellee Moye, of Unleashing Readers, and Jen Vincent, of Teach Mentor Texts 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 visit at least three of the other kidlit book bloggers that link up and leave comments for them.

Last Week on the Blog:

Wrap Up for DiverseAThon

Last Week in Books:

It was fun to read quite a few picture books. I appreciated A Family is a Family is a Family. It was nice to finally get to read it along with I Am Not a Number. Both had been highly recommended and for good reason. I enjoyed everything I read this week, but won't go into detail with all of the titles due to time constraints.

Next Week in Books:

I am still reading Here We Are: Feminism for the Real World and I just started Enter Title Here. I have the first two Magnus Chase books by Riordan also.

Reading Challenge Updates:

Goodreads Challenge 2017 - 40/550

Diversity on the Shelf 2017 - 21/225 (goal = 50% of my books by and/or about POC)

LGBTQIA Challenge -2/30

ReadPOC Challenge - 14/125

#MustReadin2017 - 3/24

Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge - 12/100

Sunday, January 29, 2017

Wrap Up for Diverseathon

#Diverseathon 2017

I finished three of the books and started the fourth.

When the Moon Was Ours by Anna-Marie McLemore: This is a romantic tale that explored questions of gender and love. The story is mostly realistic, but had elements of magic that made the story sparkle and glow for me.

Swing Time by Zadie Smith was intense. I really didn't know what I was getting into here. I hadn't read anything by Zadie Smith before. The writing was beautiful and had me hanging onto every word. I also had so much to think about. Fred Astaire in black face. Ack. How is it that we don't remember that sort of thing from childhood? It also made me question tourism and how tourists affect the places they visit and how those places affect tourists. These are only a few of the things I was wondering about and the book will stay with me for a long time. It also made me want to spend more time with my mom.

for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf by Ntozake Shang is meant for performance rather than being read because she's a spoken word poet, but the stage directions helped bring it to life in my mind. I could sort of see how the movements would give the words even more impact. It's something I will definitely want to see if possible. It was not written with me in mind so I likely missed some things, but even so, it was a powerful collection.

Enter Title Here by Rahul Kanaki is the one that I have just started and will keep reading in the coming week.

I appreciated the Diverseathon because it compelled me to read more than I would have otherwise and it got me to pick up some of the titles I had on my TBR that I hadn't gotten to yet. They were each very distinct voices and I am glad I finally dove into these books.

Monday, January 23, 2017

It's Monday! What are you reading?

Last Week on the Blog:

Celebrating Book Communities and #DiverseAThon

Last Week in Books:

Dorothy Must Die was a book from my MustReadin2016 list. I'm still kind of chipping away at that list. It was a fun twist on the Oz story and I enjoyed it, but I'm not sure if I will continue the series right away since I have so many other books to read. This is always a challenge with series books.

Auggie & Me is a companion book to Wonder. I found it interesting because you get the backstories for other characters, but it wasn't a favorite for me. I read it because it's on our statewide Battle of the Books list.

How to Build a Museum: Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture is a middle grade nonfiction text that shares how the museum came to be. It was definitely a long process, but so worth it. The text is a bit dry at times, but it has quality content and the photographs are excellent. This is an important book and I think it would be great to pair portions of it with Zetta Elliott's picture book Milo's Museum.

A Child of Books is clever and is a nice celebration of books. 10 Little Ninjas is a counting book that made me smile. My favorite picture book of the week though was Samson in the Snow. I too love the color yellow and the page that features that color is gorgeous. Many other illustrations are fabulous too. This book honors friendship and caring. It warmed my heart.

Violent Ends, on the other hand, chilled my heart. It's about a high school shooting. The story is delivered by 17 different authors. It's essentially a short story collection that revolves around one specific event. I have to applaud them for keeping the stories so tight. It's difficult to read though due to the content.

This Week in Books:

I'm participating in #DiversAThon and these four books are the ones I chose to read. I will also finish Here We Are: Feminism for the Real World, which I am loving and savoring. I wish you a wonderful week full of reading.

Sunday, January 22, 2017

Celebrating Book Communities and #DiverseAThon

Ruth Ayres has a link-up on weekends where people link to posts that are celebrations about their week. I love this reminder to celebrate every week.

This week I'm celebrating book communities. I am part of several different book organizations: Nerdybookclub, a new in person children's lit book club, the blog Rich in Color, the It's Monday! What are you reading? group and sometimes the Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge. There's a new one that is launching today and I'm excited to join. It's the #DiverseAThon. Naz from Read Diverse Books is hosting along with several other booktubers and I think even one bookstagrammer.

Here are the books I hope to read this week as part of the #DiverseAThon:

When the Moon Was Ours by Anna-Marie McLemore: Roses grow out of Miel's wrists and Sam paints moons over and over again. Nothing makes sense about these two things, but that's why I want to read it. I want to know more.

Swing Time by Zadie Smith: Jacqueline Woodson recommended this one so I knew it had to be good. Then I heard an interview with Zadie Smith on NPR and that made me want to read it as soon as possible.

for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf by Ntozake Shang: I enjoy poetry, but I don't often think to pick it up. I don't remember when I put this on my Goodreads TBR, but it's one I'm eager to dive into.

Enter Title Here by Rahul Kanaki: This is a contemporary book that seems to have a bit of humor included. It just came on the hold shelf at the library so this is a good one to add to the mix.

It's not too late to join if you are interested. :)

Monday, January 16, 2017

It's Monday! What are you reading?

Last Week on the Blog:

Celebrating Yoga

Reading Goals for 2017

Last Week in Books:

My favorite of the week had to be A Torch Against the Night. It was a great follow up to An Ember in the Ashes. They are YA fantasy novels that swept me away to another place. It was on my #MustReadin2017 list so I get to cross one off already.

Next Week in Books:

I have a lot of books on hold. Several of them are from my #MustReadin2016 list. I am still chipping away at the ones that I really wanted to finish.

Reading Challenge Updates:

Goodreads Challenge 2017 - 21/550

Diversity on the Shelf 2017 - 12/225 (goal = 50% of my books by and/or about POC)

LGBTQIA Challenge - 1/30

ReadPOC Challenge - 8/125

#MustReadin2017 - 1/24

Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge - 10/100

Sunday, January 15, 2017

Celebrate

Ruth Ayres has a link-up on weekends where people link to posts that are celebrations about their week. I love this reminder to celebrate every week.

Today I celebrate yoga. This was the final day with our international student and our last outing was a yoga class. It's a great reminder to breathe and to be relaxed. We spent an hour stretching, twisting, balancing, and being in the moment.

The past month has had ups and downs and there have been moments of extreme stress. During yoga, peace prevails and I really needed those moments. It was a beautiful and calming way to step closer to our goodbye this afternoon. I'll miss our student, but am glad we made many wonderful memories together - even things as simple as yoga.

Reading Goals for 2017

For 2017, I'm aiming to do many of the same challenges I've done in the past. I'm participating in the Goodreads Challenge. That one looks incredible at 550 books, but that includes the many picture books I consume so the number is misleading.

I don't know if anyone is specifically hosting the Diversity on the Shelf challenge this year, but for myself, I am aiming for 50% of the books I read to be by or about POC/Native American people. There are a few diversity challenges out there, but I am just going to do it on my own. Along with this challenge, I will be aiming to read more #ownvoices than not.

I did the LGBTQIA Challenge for the first time last year. It was a nice way to find out about some new books. I'm working my way through the children/YA Stonewall awards and honors along with some of the titles mentioned by other participants.

Another challenge is the #MustReadin2017 hosted by Carrie Gelson. I chose 24 books this time instead of over 50. I'm trying to keep things reasonable and low stress.

I'm going to try to jump back into the Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge hosted by Alyson Beecher.I have done it in the past, but last year I wasn't participating as much the second half of the year. I like doing it because it gets me into more nonfiction which isn't something I naturally gravitate to.

I want to keep things relaxed, but I like a bit of a challenge so we will see how this goes. Happy reading.

Sunday, January 8, 2017

It's Monday! What are you reading?

Last Week on the Blog:

#MustReadin2017

Last Week in Books:

Fannie Never Flinched was intense. It's a look at the life of Fannie Sellins who stood up for workers rights in a dangerous time. Walking on Water was not quite what I expected, but had a few nuggets of truth I appreciated. I knew it was about art and faith, but it had rather more about faith and less about art than I anticipated. My Name is James Madison Hemings was a picture book biography about the son of James Madison and Sally Hemings. I thought it was well done. Chirri and Chirra is translation from Japanese. It's an old-fashioned and simple little story. It didn't really stand out except that it seemed nostalgic. Bad Indians is a memoir and I found it fascinating. For those wondering a bit about the discussions of the issues in Raina Telgemeier's latest book Ghost, this book really hits the history of the California missions. This would be a good source of information about the history of Native people in California. City Shapes is a rhyming picture book about the shapes found in the city. The best part about the book is Bryan Collier's fabulous illustrations. It's fun to note that he used his daughter as a model. The Secret Subway is another with great illustrations. It's also an intriguing story highlighting the first subway in New York. Coretta Scott is also one with great illustrations. I was a little disappointed that the book seems to almost spend more time talking about her husband than Coretta, but it is a quick and beautiful introduction to Coretta Scott King. Preaching to the Chickens is a great picture book introduction to the childhood of John Lewis. I will definitely be sharing this one with students.

Next Week: I think I'll finally get to A Torch Against the Night. I'm excited to finally read it, but I will at least skim the previous book again because it's been so long since I read it. I'm not sure what else I will get to, but am looking forward to a little random reading.

Reading Challenge Updates:

Goodreads Challenge 2017 - 10/550

Diversity on the Shelf 2017 - 7/225 (goal = 50% of my books by and/or about POC)

LGBTQIA Challenge - 0/30

ReadPOC Challenge - 6/125

#MustReadin2017 - 0/24

Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge - 4/100

#MustReadin2017

Carrie Gelson, from There is a Book for That, hosts this wonderful reading challenge. She has created a space for a reading community to gather and share the books they would like to read this year.

I participated in 2016 and 2015. In 2016 I did not get through all of the books so a few of them are on the list for 2017. I have also made the choice to keep my list to 24. I know I will read many, many more than that, but I am keeping this list to the ones I really don't want to miss. Here they are:

I'm excited to get started. I wish you a wonderful year filled with reading.

Sunday, January 1, 2017

It's Monday! What are you reading?

#MustReadin2016 Final Post

My foray into #booktube - I'm at 16:44-18:01 talking about Another Brooklyn

Last Two Weeks in Books: Here are my favorite books from the past two weeks as I was traveling and visiting with family. I read many others, but these are the standouts.

You may find links to the books on my Goodreads shelf. As has been typical lately, I don't have enough time to write about each one here.

Next Week: I'm reading Bad Indians right now. I got A Torch Against the Night and am eager to start reading. I also have Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art by Madeline L'Engle through ILL so I will need to read that one soon.

Reading Challenge Updates:

Goodreads Challenge 2016 - 596/550

Diversity on the Shelf 2016 - 264/225 (goal = 50% of my books by and/or about POC)

LGBTQIA Challenge - 39/31

ReadPOC Challenge - 182/125

#MustReadin2016 - 39/54

Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge - 95/100

Around the World with Books 2016