The RAHM Report for 1/15/18

What My Kids Are Reading

See yesterday's Read-at-Home Kids Report for our current lunchtime read-aloud and my two-year-old's favorite concept books.

What I Finished Reading

Last week was Bout of Books week, so I did a decent amount of reading. This is probably the fewest number of books I have ever finished for a single Bout of Books, but I still feel good about it.

• The 18th Emergency by Betsy Byars
  I think this is my least favorite Betsy Byars book so far. There just wasn't enough meat to it. Review forthcoming here on the blog.
• The Cartoonist by Betsy Byars
  This was not as good as Byars's best books but it was definitely more in line with my expectations than The 18th Emergency. Review also coming soon to the blog.  
• Clementine by Betsy Byars
  This is Betsy Byars's first book, and I had never heard of it until I decided to read all of her books this year. It's about a boy and his toy dragon, and their conversations and adventures. I'll be reviewing it soon and probably reading it to my four-year-old and two-year-old as well.
• Password to Larkspur Lane by Carolyn Keene
  This was a bit tedious, but I ended up giving it 3 stars. Review coming soon on the blog.
• By Your Side by Kasie West
  This looked like it was going to be a wacky little romance novel about two teens with opposite personalities having to tough it out together when they are locked in the library for a weekend. But that was only the first half of the story, and the shift toward something deeper was very rewarding. And thankfully, there was no teen sex in this book! I'll be looking for more by this author. My review is on Goodreads.
• My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick
  This was really well-written and had surprising depth for appearing on the surface to be just a light romance. The sexual content makes me uncomfortable with the idea of actual teens reading the book, but are teens even the real audience for YA anymore? Either way, I skimmed the sexual parts and really enjoyed the character development otherwise. My review is on Goodreads.
• Bones to Ashes by Kathy Reichs
  This book has very mixed reviews on Goodreads, but I really liked it. The insights into Tempe's past and the turmoil in her relationship with Ryan provided very good subplots that almost kept me more interested than the mystery itself. I reviewed this book on Goodreads.

What I'm Currently Reading

• The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis
  I have fewer than 50 pages left in this. I've taken quite a few notes, and I'm looking forward to book club on Thursday.
• The Boy Most Likely To by Huntley Fitzpatrick
  This is a companion novel to My Life Next Door, starring some of the minor characters from that book. I'm barely into it yet, but the voices are really strong and I'm glad to be able to spend more time in this universe. 
• To All The Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han
  I've never read anything by Jenny Han so I decided to give her a shot while I'm apparently on a YA kick.
• Bookman Dead Style by Paige Shelton
  I keep meaning to read a chapter of this before bed, and then it doesn't happen. I'm hoping to fix that this week and finish the book.  
• Devil Bones by Kathy Reichs
  I have this checked out from Open Library and I'm planning to zip right through it. I'm just in the mood for Reichs's writing style right now. 

Challenge Progress

 

I feel like people are going to think I'm cheating or something because I'm making such good progress on these challenges. But it's really only because of Bout of Books that I am so on top of things right out of the gate. I expect my progress to slow down, especially as I start reading books whose titles begin with the same letter.

• For the A to Z Challenge, I have crossed off letter C for The Cartoonist and Letter P  for Password to Larkspur Lane. 
• Password to Larkspur Lane is also my 1933 read for the Family Tree Challenge, and it counts also for Craving for Cozies and Old School Kidlit. 
• The 18th Emergency, The Cartoonist, and Clementine also count for Old School Kidlit, as well as for the Author Love challenge.. 
• Bones to Ashes fulfilled letter B for the Alphabet Soup challenge, and it also counts toward Cloak and Dagger. 
• By Your Side and My Life Next Door were both ebooks borrowed from the library, so they count toward the Library Love Challenge.
• Finally, for the Writing Reviews challenge I posted four reviews this week: Amahl and the Night Visitors, My Life Next Door, Bones to Ashes, and By Your Side.

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