The RAHM Report for 6/5/17

I have a deadline for a chapter of my own book coming up, so I haven't done that much reading over the past couple of weeks, but I have a few books to report about, as well as some short stories.

Adult Books

Adult books always end up taking a backseat to kids' books, so I'm still plugging away at both The Cat Who Blew the Whistle and A Novena for Murder. I did, however, finish my NetGalley ARC of About a Dog by Jenn McKinlay, which I will review on Goodreads in the next couple of days. Now that I've gotten back into contemporary romance a little bit, I'd like to go back and finish the Shaughnessy Brothers series by Samantha Chase, but I will try to finish the two mysteries first.

Deal Me in Short Story Challenge

I was seven weeks behind for this challenge until last night when I read two stories: "I'll be Waiting" by Raymond Chandler (♦2)  and "The Parker Shotgun" from Kinsey & Me by Sue Grafton (♦10). The Chandler was strange, and I had trouble concentrating on what was happening. The writing style was something different, and I didn't dislike it, but I also found myself thinking "so what?" at the end of the story. The Grafton story was better, probably because Kinsey Millhone is one of my all-time favorite characters. I also hear audiobook narrator Judy Kaye's voice in my head whenever I read Sue Grafton now, so that makes Kinsey feel more real. The mystery itself was solid, but not earth-shattering. I mostly just like reading about this character.  

I have 5 more stories to read this week if I want to catch up. Fingers crossed! 

Children's Books

I finished Speed of Life by Carol Weston, and I plan to write a review at some point, probably on Goodreads. I've also gotten a good start on my reading for this month's Old School Kidlit Reading Challenge theme of "required reading" with Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm and Anne of Green Gables. I enjoyed both (though I liked Anne better than Rebecca) and I will have reviews coming up hopefully next week. My next priorities in terms of children's novels are Almost Paradise by Corabel Shofner, The Secret Garden (which I have never read!), Go Jump in the Pool! by Gordon Korman (my turn came up on the wait list at OpenLibrary) and Let's Pretend We Never Met by Melissa Walker, my NetGalley copy of which expires in just over a week. I also have a library hold on the new Sarah Dessen book, Once and For All, and as far as I can tell, I'm 9th on the list and there are more than 20 copies. If the library gets its copies on time, I hope to have that in hand by the end of the week too.

Since it's Monday, I'll be linking up today with It's Monday! What Are You Reading at both The Book Date and Teach Mentor Texts.