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Finished: Al Capone Shines My Shoes, by Gennifer CholdenkoDays of Little Texas, by R.A. NelsonLove, Aubrey, by Suzanne LaFleurProcured from the library, in case the ARC-fairy is visiting elsewhere this week: Poe: A Life Cut Short, by Peter AckroydNobody's Family is Going to Change, by Louise FitzhughAlis, by Naomi RichJerk, California, by Jonathan Friesen

Finished: A Season of Gifts, by Richard PeckAlvin Ho: Allergic to Camping, Hiking, and Other Natural Disasters, by Lenore LookMagic Elizabeth, by Norma KassirerNext week's options: The Doom Machine, by Mark TeagueDays of Little Texas, by R.A. NelsonFaith, Hope, and Ivy June, by Phyllis Reynolds NaylorLove, Aubrey, by Suzanne LeFleur

Scott walked past in time to catch me giggling over the opening chapter of Shannon Hale’s new novel (for grownups), The Actor and the Housewife. He raised amused eyebrows at me.

“Here,” I said, thrusting the book at him, because that is what we do. “You have to read the first ten pages of this. It’s delightful.”

Ten minutes later, he’s the one reading and chuckling.

“How far are you?”

“Page thirteen. Did you get that far?”

“No, I was on eleven when I handed it to you.”

“Well, thirteen is the funniest bit yet.”

All well and good—but now he has disappeared, and my book along with him. You just know he’s going to reappear an hour from now and tell me I won’t believe the hilariousness of page 127.

...and the mailbox has indeed been fruitful already:Also, this little shiny thingie, a silver medal of the imperial family:*******************Currently reading:A Season of Giftsby Richard Peck

Finished: Kaleidoscope Eyes, by Jen BryantAnything But Typical, by Nora Raleigh BaskinShadowed Summer, by Saundra Mitchell

Reserved:

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart.

Why:

Have read lots of posts about it this year & meant to get to it sooner, but it was this Battle of the Kids’ Books post at SLJ that got me to click to the library hold site. Frankie lost this round to We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball, but judge Rachel Cohn’s explanation of her decision made me want to read both books. I’ve got a baseball story in my queue already, so I’ll save We Are the Ship for another day.

***

Borrowed:

The Body of This by Andrew McNabb.

Why:

Came highly recommended by my friend and fellow writer Matthew Lickona. And because I know that Andrew is a smart and sensitive Catholic writer (or a writer who happens to be Catholic), and I’m interested to see how he works with faith and fiction. And because who can resist a description like this?—”…a tough little bundle of shards that can as easily cut and make you bleed as it can reflect the one true light…” (Brett Lott, author of Jewel). “Bundle of shards”? I’m in.

Finished(!) Destroy All Cars, by Blake NelsonCrossing Stones, by Helen Frost******************Currently reading:Kaleidoscope Eyesby Jen Bryant

My monster TBR-pile woes are well documented on this blog. I’ve already accumulated more books than I can read in a lifetime. The trouble is, people keep writing new ones. And then other people go and read them, and write captivating posts about them, and next thing I know, I’ve spent the clothing budget on books we don’t have room for, and my library hold list is, well, an embarrassment. Seriously, ma’am, you think you’re going to get through all those in three weeks? Let’s face it, you and I both know that’s not going to happen.

(Which is why I never actually make the library pick-up myself. I send Scott. Let him take the rap. Ha.)

The trouble is, half the time I can’t remember where I heard about the books in the stack. And this matters to me, both because it helps me decide what to read next and because I like to give people credit for their excellent recommendations. Also, sometimes if it’s a children’s book, I won’t remember that I’m the one who put it on hold—I’ll assume it was a Jane pick, and then suddenly the book’ll be due and Jane will say, “Mom, are you sure you want this to go back today? You haven’t read it yet, have you?”

For example: Masterpiece by Elise Broach. Was this my pick, or Jane’s? If mine, where’d I read about it?

So, OK, I’m going to try keeping a record here of the library books I reserve and where I heard about them—which review made me want to read the book, to quote Jen Robinson again.

This morning’s early blog perusing added a number of titles to the hold list:

Any Which Wall by Laurel Snyder. Anything by Laurel goes automatically in my TBR pile, but in this case it was Book Aunt’s review that reminded me to add it to the queue.

Colleen Mondor of Chasing Ray is going to cause a relapse of Scott’s back problems when he has to haul home the pile of books I have my eye on after reading this post. I’m going easy on him by starting with only two titles:

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly (wah, our system only has it on order; could be a while before it arrives). Psst, Becky, have you seen this one yet? Seems up your alley.

Tracking Trash by Loree Griffin Burns. This was another memory spark. Who reviewed it last year and made me go ooh? Susan, was it you?

Any Which Wall is in that post, too. Along with a number of other books that look quite intriguing. Be warned.

The Bite of the Mango by Mariatu Kamara with Susan McClelland. I just read about it this morning and have already forgotten where. Bookshelves of Doom, perhaps? Oh, wait, I remember! It was Monica Edinger’s post on the theme of hope in YA books at educating alice.

Graceling by Kristin Cashore. Have been meaning to add this one for a while, but didn’t remember to until reading BEA roundups and hearing about people snagging ARCs of its sequel, Fire.

Of a Feather: A Brief History of American Birding by Scott Weidensaul. Surely I heard about this one at Mental Multivitamin. And yet a quickie Google search doesn’t turn up a link, not on the first page of hits, at least. Can this be? I must be missing it.

I see we’ve reserved a copy of Battle Royale, a manga title by Koushun Takami, because Scott told me it’s a very similar premise to that of Hunger Games (which I loved, and whose sequel, Catching Fire, I am desperate eager to read).

The Prince of Fenway Park by Julianna Baggott. On my list because all Julianna Baggott’s books go on my list. Stay tuned for more about that.

That’s just this week’s list. This week’s library list. It doesn’t count the books I bought. (And odds are I’ll wind up buying copies of some of the above, too. With five avid readers in the house (so far), we tend to hold on to library books longer than is, perhaps, fair to other patrons. If a book is a hit with all of us, it’s better to just go ahead and buy a copy. At least, that’s the story I tell myself. And that’s why crisp new copies of Guernsey Literary Society and Mysterious Benedict Society are sitting on my table right now.)

(Also because apparently I will pay cash money for any book with “Society” in the title.)

You see why I have a TBR problem. I hope no one needed new clothes this summer.

Finished: Ash, by Malinda LoOnce Was Lost, by Sara ZarrThe Midwife's Apprentice, by Karen Cushman (audio)

Finished: The Indigo Notebook, by Laura ResauThe Adoration of Jenna Fox, by Mary E. Pearson (audio)Next week: Ash, by Malinda LoOnce Was Lost, by Sara ZarrThe Hate List, by Jennifer Brown

Tales of the Madman Underground, by John Barnes
The Castle in the Attic, by Elizabeth Winthrop (audio)