The RAHM Report for 10/23/17

The biggest thing I have to report this week is that it's a girl! After waiting three days past my due date, our new baby, known henceforth here on the blog as Little Jumping Joan, finally arrived on Wednesday night. I spent the first half of the week reading to pass the time until labor started and the second half reading while I sat on the couch and tried to recover from delivering a child who weighed nearly 10 pounds.  Here are the books that have been keeping me company.

Finished Reading: 

• Slider by Pete Hautman
  I won an ARC of this book from Armchair Book Expo and it was the perfect light, funny middle grade read to enjoy right before having a baby. I started it on Tuesday before the baby came and finished it up on Sunday afternoon while all three girls napped. It will be a while before I get around to posting a review, but I will say that this book made me want to check out some of the author's other works which I have previously overlooked for some reason.
• Would My Fortune Cookie Lie? by Stella Pevsner
  I've had this book hanging around since picking it up at a used book sale over the summer. I picked it up early in the week and zipped right through it. Though I've decided not to keep the book, I did really love the mystery elements of this family- and friendship-centered story, and I'm a little disappointed that I didn't discover this author when I was a kid! 
• It's All Downhill From Here by Lynn Johnston
  This weekend, I had the urge to read something very light and easy, and something gave me the idea to search for For Better of For Worse comics collections on Open Library. I used to love reading these comic strips in the newspaper when I was in high school, and they were the perfect thing to read throughout the day as I had free moments. Open Library has a few more of the collections, so I'll probably get to those in the next few weeks.

Currently Reading: 

• The Original Adventures of Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy by Johnny Gruelle
  We've taken a break from this read-aloud, but will be getting back to it after Halloween. We only have a handful of Raggedy Andy chapters left, so it shouldn't take much longer to finish.
• Peeled by Joan Bauer
  I only have this on Open Library for three more days. It's different, but I like it, so I hope I have the chance to finish it! 
• Halloween Treats by Carolyn Haywood
  We've read two chapters from this story collection so far. Miss Muffet likes it, so I'm hoping this will mean she will enjoy many more Carolyn Haywood books in the coming years.
• The Cruelest Month by Louise Penny
  I'm still working my way through this one. I'm not crazy about the fact that it opens with a seance (and during Easter of all times!) but I'm sticking with it because I want to know how the murder happened, and I'm enjoying Gamache, and because I don't want to skip a series book.
• Where are the Children? by Mary Higgins Clark
  I've never read anything by Mary Higgins Clark before. This is apparently her first suspense novel, so I decided to start here. So far, the writing is better than I was expecting.

I'll be linking up today with Unleashing Readers/Teach Mentor Texts and Book Date for It's Monday! What Are You Reading?