Sunday Salon: November 19, 2017

My life in books:
Since my last Sunday Salon, here's what I've read. I feel like I'm getting my reading mojo back and the holidays are coming up so there's lot of reading in my future!

 

• Projekt 1065 by Alan Gratz--YA, WWII, Hitler Youth. Good read
• An Uninterrupted View of the Sky by Melanie Crowder--YA historical fiction. Good read
• Bone Box by Faye Kellerman--a good adult mystery
• The Lines we Cross by Randa Abdel-Fattah--YA immigration story

• Currently reading--Y is for Yesterday by Sue Grafton

Challenge updates:

• Read Your Own Damn Books--My goal was to read 25 books from my TBR shelves this year and I am up to 34.
• Travel the World in Books--The idea is to read books set in as many countries as possible. I added Switzerland and Bolivia in the past two weeks.
• Literary Escapes--Similar to the previous challenge, this one tracks the US states. I didn't add any new states because every YA book is set in New York. :-)
• Read all of the ALA YA Award Winners--complete

My life outside books:

Working:
I have taken on another project at work: getting bilingual signage at all of our school sites. I attended a week at the Institute for Equity in Education back in October and we had to create a project. That was mine and the superintendent wants to do and he'll find the funding. So, he has asked me to start with one of our elementary schools that is 98% Latino.

Family:

My daughter is busy working on college applications; it's so different from when I applied. I remember filling them all in by hand, the same information for every college. Now they have the Common Application process, which seems so much more streamlined. The University of California has it's own system, but dealing with two versions isn't too bad. I am so eager to see where she ends up! She is applying to Vassar, Reed, Wellesley, Kenyon, Bowdoin, Connecticut College, Williams, and UC Berkeley. It's a great list and I think she'll be happy no matter which one she goes to.

She came home yesterday for the holiday and it's wonderful to have her home. She also got her senior photo and I think it came out beautifully.

Watching:

I was so excited about a week ago to attend an evening with Samantha Bee. I was ready to laugh... a lot. So, you can imagine my disappointment when we got into the theater and saw two chairs on stage. It wasn't stand up, but a conversation with Samantha Bee (that's not how it was advertised). The interviewer asked boring questions (where do you get your blazers? How do stay trim? What's your morning routine?) and we were all sorely disappointed! Samantha Bee kept saying "Are you sure you want to hear this?" Um... not really. I was ready for political commentary and witty insights. Guess not.

I am watching the new/current seasons of:

• Madam Secretary
• Criminal Minds
• Project Runway--just watched the final episode
• Will and Grace