Readathon ~ my reading plan

Dewey's 24-hour Read-a-Thon starts this morning at 8:00 a.m. my time.  My plan is to read as many pages in these books as possible, when I'm not bouncing around the blogosphere, that is.

Smiles to Go ~ by Jerry Spinelli, 2008, YA fiction

Summary:  "Will Tuppence's life has always been ruled by science and common sense, but in ninth grade, shaken up by the discovery that protons decay, he begins to see the entire world differently and gains new perspective on his relationships with his little sister and two close friends."

Maniac Magee, a Newbery Medal winner, was the first Spinelli book I read.  I've discovered that short books are better for the Readathon because I enjoy spending much of the day doing the challenges that come up every few hours, checking blog reports from other participants, and generally looking at all the interesting stuff going on around the world.

Other books in the stack

Undercover ~ by Beth Kephart, 2007, YA fiction
House of Dance ~ by Beth Kephart, 2008, YA fiction
The Heart Is Not a Size ~ by Beth Kephart, 2010, YA fiction
Close Your Eyes ~ by Amanda Eyre Ward, 2011, fiction
I Am the Messenger ~ by Markus Zusak, 2005, YA fiction
Bitsy's Bait and BBQ ~ by Pamela Morsi, 2007, fiction (Missouri)

No, of course I don't expect to read all of these in one day.  But when I get tired of one, I'll have several to choose from.  Two are due back at the library soon, having already been extended another seven days, so I'll start there.  Several are YA (young adult) novels, which I can read faster than literary novels.  Maybe I'll be able to finish a couple of books and still be able to visit around the other blogs.

Friday Five ~ my life stages

Jan posted the Friday Five at RevGalBlogPals today:

Since it is almost my birthday and because my spiritual direction peer group is reading Living Fully, Dying Well by Edward W. Bastian and Tina L. Staley, I am thinking of my life in stages. For the latter group, we filled out a form dividing our life into 7-year increments, documenting "significant moments," then "people who guided and influenced me," and ending with the question, "What did this phase contribute to the continuum of my life?" This was a life Review Exercise devised by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi.

For today's Friday Five, I am suggesting that we each divide our age into 5 sections. You don't have to say your age or ages for the different parts, unless you want to. In each of the 5 points, please describe a memorable and/or significant event, either good or unpleasant.

1.  Musical child

When I was five, all my friends began first grade (we didn't have kindergarten back then), and I felt left behind.  My mother's best friend taught piano and let me start early, since I knew the alphabet (piano players need to know A, B, middle-C, D, E, F, G) and my numbers (counting time is also important to musicians).  I loved the piano, having stood at my grandmother's left elbow as she romped all over that piano making the most lively music.  In junior high I took up clarinet and then bassoon, and in high school I played in concert band, orchestra, marching band, and Chattanooga Youth Symphony.  In 1955, we marched on national television, performing this routine at a football game in Washington, D.C.  Here are some of our routines, found on YouTube.  (I played the glockenspiel on the field, not the bassoon.)

I really must include this next one, which was probably my senior year (when I was band captain) in the fall of 1957.   I remember well the unique drum beat (three against two) that's around the 3:20 mark in this YouTube video.

2.  Married with children

After one semester of college, I married a 24-year-old who had already served four years in the Air Force and promised to put me through medical school.  As soon as we were married, he told me I was his wife now and "women don't need higher education."  I found a creative outlet in writing articles that were published locally, nationally, and internationally.  Eventually, I did go back to college, but after fourteen years and three children, I decided I couldn't stay in that marriage any longer.

3.  Single working mother

I finished college, getting a Bachelor of Arts with a double major (BA in Philosophy and Religion and in English), and then worked in a variety of jobs:  library assistant, planner for the county's CETA program (Comprehensive Education and Training Act), editor of two in-house publications, management trainer teaching EEO compliance (in other words, educating managers about racism and sexism).  Eventually, I started my own company, leading seminars and teaching continuing education classes in communication skills, time management, and creativity.  By then my children were grown and one was already married.

4.  Grandma Bonnie, or Rev. Bonnie

I went back to school, getting a Master of Divinity (MDiv) from Candler School of Theology at Emory University in Atlanta at the age of 47.  My first grandchild made me a grandmother on Grandparents Day while I was still in seminary.  My first church appointment as an ordained United Methodist minister had mostly elderly members, and I was called on to do fifteen funerals my first year.  In churches with younger members, the children called me Rev. Bonnie.  Meanwhile, grandchildren were being born almost every year, until the seventh, who didn't arrive until 2000.  I stayed ten years in my last appointment before retiring, during which time I became an adjunct instructor at Chattanooga State Community College, teaching "Religions of the World."  Teaching there continued into my retirement years.

5.  Retired with great-grands

Using part of my retirement funds, I opened a bookstore with my friend Donna.  My mother died the week we were scheduled to open the store, which was rough.  But I had fun while it lasted (2004-2006).  Now, two of my seven grandchildren are married, and I have two great-grandkids (Raegan, age 2, and Jaxon, 10 months old).  I'm still into books, as you can see by this book blog, and I am writing a book or two.  Oh, and I still like to romp on the piano the way my grandmother did when I was a little girl.

Thank you, Jan, for this exercise. Because of it, I found these band videos, which — until today — I didn't know existed. They make me smile.

Beginning ~ with a map

Bitsy's Bait and BBQ ~ by Pamela Morsi, 2007, fiction (Missouri)

"Emma had let her sister, Katy, be in charge of the map. never a good idea."

Oh, yeah, I like this first sentence.  I definitely want to see where they are going.  Reading this on the back cover gives me a clue about their destination, and I am officially curious now.

While Emma Collins wonders who in their right mind would use her hard-won divorce settlement to purchase a bed-and-breakfast down in the Ozarks, her free-spirited sister Katy fantasizes dreamily about how this move to a small town will be just the thing for her six-year-old son, Josh.

And, as usual, Emma is right. But it is not until they drive to Warbler Lake, Missouri, to take over Bitsy's B and B that they realize just how right she's been. In this part of the country, B and B stands for Bait and BBQ! The girls know little enough about running a bed-and-breakfast, but a bait-and-BBQ?

With their money and futures sunk into a run-down, roadside rattletrap, the girls have no choice but to roll up their sleeves and get to work. But as they settle in and get to know the difference between fatheads, night crawlers, mealworms and shiners, no one is more surprised than they are when they actually get the place up and running.

But trouble is brewing. Katy's ex-husband is having second thoughts about the custody arrangements for Josh, and he fully intends to get him back. With the prospect of losing the little boy, the sisters face another challenge, only this time it's Katy who proves that she, too, can solve a problem.

  If you want to play along, this meme is hosted by Katy at A Few More Pages. Share the first sentence or two of the book you are reading. (Sometimes it takes several sentences to get the full thought.) Then, share your impressions of that beginning.  Click this link to see what others say about the books they are reading this week.

BTT (#14) ~ staycation

Booking Through Thursday asks:  "Do your reading habits change when you’re on vacation? Do you read more? Do you indulge in lighter, fluffier books than you usually read? Do you save up special books so you’ll be able to spend real vacation time with them? Or do you just read the same old stuff, vacation or not?"

For starters, I rarely "go" anywhere for vacation.  Even before I retired, I was more of a stay at home person.  Vacation means not going to work, rather than going somewhere other than home.  When I was still married and the children were young, our vacations away from home meant being awakened -- the three children and me -- by my husband saying, "Hurry, hurry, hurry!  Let's get going."  I always hated vacations and was relieved to be back home.  (My husband's need to control everyone's every minute may give you a clue to why the marriage didn't last.)

Anyway, the books.  I read what I read because it's what I want to read.  Whether I'm "on vacation" or not, a long stretch of "heavy" nonfiction, means I'm probably ready for something lighter.  I'm ready now for what promises to be the lightness of my next book, coming up tomorrow morning in my Book Beginnings on Friday post:  Bitsy's Bait and BBQ.  Watch for it.

Hosted by Booking Through Thursday

Dewey's Read-a-Thon

Have you signed up to read during Dewey's Read-a-Thon this Saturday?

To sign up as a reader,

click this link.

The Read-a-Thon starts at the same time all over the world.  I'm in the Eastern time zone of the United States, so the starting bell for me is at 8:00 a.m. this Saturday, October 22, 2011.

Here's what I posted in 2007, when I participated in my first ever Read-a-Thon.

Have you checked out Dewey's challenging 24-hour Read-a-Thon?

Be a reader .........
......... a cheerleader
a promoter .................
.......... but be a part of it!

Library Loot ~ October 19-25

Joy for Beginners ~ Erica Bauermeister, 2011, fiction

At an intimate, festive dinner party in Seattle, six women gather to celebrate their friend Kate's recovery from cancer.  Wineglass in hand, Kate strikes a bargain with them.  To celebrate her new lease on life, she'll do the one thing that's always terrified her:  white-water rafting.  But if she goes, all of them will also do something they always swore they'd never do — and Kate is going to choose their adventures.

I started reading and fell in love with how Kate felt after a year when doctors had been in control of her body.

"Now the medical professionals had declared it hers again, handing it back like an overdue and slightly scuffed library book" (p. 2).

Don't you love that image?  Especially for a library loot post.  I made a list of the friends as they arrived at Kate's house and what they brought to the meal:  Kate herself (green cloth napkins, sour cream and enchiladas with roasted chicken and carmelized onions), Caroline (salad and champagne), Marion (tomatoes from her garden), Sara (cake), Hadley (loaf of bread), Daria (wine).  It made me want to be there with them.

"Daria and Marion were sisters, Sara and Hadley neighbors, Kate and Caroline had met when their children were in preschool..." (p. 5).

And then Ava arrived, late.  Who's Ava?


Undercover ~ by Beth Kephart, 2007, YA fiction

Summary:  High school sophomore Elisa is used to observing while going unnoticed except when classmates ask her to write love notes from them, but a teacher's recognition of her talent, a "client's" desire for her friendship, a love of ice-skating, and her parents' marital problems draw her out of herself.

House of Dance ~ by Beth Kephart, 2008, YA fiction

Summary: During one of her daily visits across town to visit her dying grandfather, fifteen-year-old Rosie discovers a dance studio that helps her find a way to give her grandfather one last gift.

The Heart Is Not a Size ~ by Beth Kephart, 2010, YA fiction

Summary:  Fifteen-year-old Georgia learns a great deal about herself and her troubled best friend, Riley, when they become part of a group of suburban Pennsylvania teenagers who go to Anapra, a squatters' village in the border town of Juarez, Mexico, to undertake a community construction project.

Library Loot is a weekly meme co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and Marg from The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library.  If you would like to share a list of the loot you brought home from the library, Marg has the Mister Linky this week.

Do you see the mistake?

 

You don't really need to blog about it,

but tell me in the comments if you found the mistake.