The Classics Club is hosting round 2 of The Classics Spin. The last event was such a success that I’ve decided to participate again. Hopefully when the semester is over, I can formally join this perpetual reading challenge. Here are the rules for the Classics Spin:

1. Go to your blog.
2. Pick twenty books you’ve got left from your Classics Club list.
3. Try to challenge yourself: list five you are dreading/hesitant to read, five you can’t WAIT to read, five you are neutral about, and five free choice (favorite author, rereads, ancients — whatever you choose.)
4. Post that list, numbered 1-20, on your blog by next Monday, May 20^th.
5. Monday morning, we’ll announce a number from 1-20. Go to the list of twenty books you posted, and select the book that corresponds to the number we announce.
6. The challenge is to read that book by July 1, even if it’s an icky one you dread reading! (No fair not listing any scary ones!)

My list:

1. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
2. Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde
3. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
4. Midnight Cowboy by James Leo Herlihy
5. The Family Among the Australian Aborigines by Bronislaw Malinowski
6. The Iliad by Homer
7. Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv
8. House Made of Dawn by N. Scott Momaday
9. I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
10. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
11. Maus by Art Speigelman
12. Beloved by Toni Morrison (reread)
13. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams (reread)
14. Lucy by Jamaica Kincaid
15. The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter
16. Sula by Toni Morrison
17. From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg
18. Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich
19. The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois
20. Passing by Nella Larsen

I can’t wait to find out which number is picked. Are you joining the Classics Spin?

Note: It’s Monday and the number 6 was picked so this summer I’m reading The Iliad. I’m a little hesitant but it’s a book that’s been on my shelf for years unread. I really like my list as a whole, so I think I’ll try to read many of the books on it in the coming year.

Format borrowed from Kim (Sophisticated Dorkiness).

Time // 9:19 am

Place // My living room. The sun is already beaming in so I know this will be a hot day.

Eating // I made the kids our traditional Sunday breakfast of pancakes but I think I’ll stick to my White Chocolate Macadamia Luna bar. Yum! I’m counting calories.

Drinking // Surprisingly nothing. I need to make another pot of coffee.

Reading  // Yesterday I actually finished a book!! Yes, it was a re-read but still. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston left me in tears. I started reading Hacking Your Education: Ditch the Lectures, Save Tens of Thousands, and Learn More than Your Peers Ever Will by Dale J. Stephens. I’m also planning to start reading The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes.  I just need to find my Nook.

Watching // Nothing today. Yesterday I watched Waiting for Superman” for my sociology class, which also left me in tears.

Listening // To the Great Gatsby soundtrack. It’s so good.

Wishing // That I had the day to myself! *sigh* I would love to spend today in Barnes & Nobles with

Blogging // Nothing! I don’t have the time or energy.

Promoting // Nothing!

Avoiding // Google Reader. I’m sure I have over 1000 unread posts.

Anticipating // The end of the semester which is next month. But until then? Hmmm. . . not much. Sad I know.

Okay so what are you reading/drinking/watching/listening to today? 

It’s Monday. What are you reading is a fantastic weekly meme hosted by Sheila over at Book Journey.

Thanks to school, kids, and everything else known as life, I haven’t had much time for reading. I didn’t finish one book last week. I’m really not surprised since this is the last month of the semester and I’m being bombarded with paper after paper to write. I’m doing my best to carve out some reading time for myself.

This week I’m reading (and hopefully finishing):

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. I’m in a re-reading sort of mood plus the Classics Club is hosting a sync reading (a stress-free read-along) that’s currently going.

Waiting for “Superman”: How We Can Save America’s Failing Public Schools edited by Karl Weber. I’m reading this for my sociology class.

What It Is by Lynda Barry. This is one of my books left over from the read-a-thon.

The kids are reading:

Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt. My daughter, Piper, is reading this. I hope she ends up enjoying this as much as I did.

Wonder by RJ Palacio. After the lovely Alysia (Little Pocket of Books) suggested that we read this, my son started to. So far, Oliver’s enjoying it.

I’m not the only one in a re-reading mood. My youngest, Avram, loves Zoe B. and R.W. Alley’s There’s a Wolf at the Door. He’s been re-reading it every day. Often times, fairy tale re-tellings are a hit-or-miss. The Alley’s retelling of various stories featuring the Big Bad Wolf are hilarious and a great addition to the genre.

So that’s what we’re reading this week. What are you reading?

Introductory Questionnaire:

1. What fine part of the world are you reading from today? Southern California

2. Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to? That’s a good but hard question. My stack is huge and there’s so many books to look forward to including Maggot Moon by Sally Gardner (YA), the short story collection, Queen Victoria’s Book of Spells, and Lynda Barry’s What it Is (graphic non-fiction).

3. Which snack are you most looking forward to? The Florentines that I plan on buying this morning from the bakery.

4. Tell us a little something about yourself! For some reason, this question always gets me. Here’s something: I’ve only missed the read-a-thon once since it started.

5. If you participated in the last read-a-thon, what’s one thing you’ll do different today? If this is your first read-a-thon, what are you most looking forward to? I wouldn’t change anything. I know this event inside out!

Here’s my read-a-thon stack:

Pictured:

• I am the Messenger by Marcus Zusak (re-read)
• When the Emperor was Divine by Julie Otsuka
• The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka (re-read)
• The Inexplicables by Cherie Priest
• My Letter to the World by Emily Dickinson (I always add some poetry to my pile.)
• Queen Victoria’s Book of Spells: An Anthology of Gaslamp Fantasy edited by Ellen Datlow
• Chew Vols 3-5 by John Layman and Rob Guillory
• Apple Cake : A Recipe for Love by Julie Paschkis
• What it is by Lynda Barry
• and a ton of picture books

On my Nook:

• The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes -ARC
• In the House Upon the Dirt between the Lake and The Woods by Matt Bell -ARC
• Flora by Gail Goodwin – ARC
• Dreaming in Hindu by Katherine Russell (Thanks to Olduvai‘s great review on it.)

I’m going to update my progress throughout the day via this blog, Twitter, and Instagram. Wish me luck.

Are you read-a-thoning today?

First Update: Hour 5

So far, I’ve:

• left comments on blogs, twitter, and through Instagram.  
• fixed the coffee pot after my mom kind of broke it. A read-a-thon without coffee? Crazy!
• went on a bakery run
• went grocery shopping

Mini-challenge: Re-title Your Current Read

My current read is I Am the Messenger by Marcus Zusak. I would retitle it: 19 Year-Old Dead Man Feels Alive Saving Others.

• tried to learn how to ride my son’s skateboard
• took some crappy photos
• watched my inner “Bryan” come out and took several naps
• didn’t do a lick of homework
• rode my bike for the first time in months and the effort nearly killed me
• painted in my journal
• Watched Hoarders which made me want to scrub my house. (I did.)
• Turned my dresser into my newest desk.

Did you notice that reading books didn’t make the cut? Oh well. I’ll try to read today though my main focus is to get my homework done. I’m off to try out my new crockpot and start on that homework.

How’s your weekend going?

blessing the boats

            (at St. Mary’s)

may the tide

that is entering even now

the lip of our understanding

carry you out

beyond the face of fear

may you kiss

the wind then turn from it

certain that it will

love you back              may you

open your eyes to water

water waving forever

and may you in your innocence

sail through this to that

Lucille Clifton

Partly inspired by Bryan’s idea to unplug twice a week and the blogging styles of both Bryan and Deb, I’ve decided to change the way I blog.  This will still be a book blog but in a pretty informal way. This blog is going to have the feeling of a commonplace book. I plan on sharing my library loot, favorite passages from what I’m reading, photos, book reviews, and anything bookish I can think of. It takes the pressure off of trying to constantly review books when I barely have time to finish them. I’ve also decided to try unplugging at least once a week. I’ll probably unplug on Saturdays and Tuesdays.

I’m borrowing the format of the rest of this post from the lovely Kim (Sophisticated Dorkiness).

Currently// 9:25 a.m.

Place// At my desk. It’s the only place to get any work done right now.

Eating// Half a pancake. I really don’t have an appetite right now.

Drinking// Coffee of course.

Reading// I’m reading but I’m not finishing anything. I’m currently in the middle of P.S. Be Eleven by Rita Williams-Garcia.

Watching// The Kitchen Cousins on HGTV. My family loves this network.

Listening// I was trying to listen to The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving by Jonathon Evison but I can’t get the audiobook to work on my phone.

Blogging// Who knows? I’m really going to try to get my review of Half-Blood Blues done this week.

Promoting// Bloggers Recommend, a monthly newsletter. Every month bloggers recommend some of their favorite upcoming reads. If you’re looking for fantastic reads, this is the newsletter to subscribe to. Plus, I’m on the advisory board.

Writing// In my new art journal. I love having a new journal in my hands to write and paint in.

Researching// I have several experiments due next month so it’s probably time for me to start doing some research.

Hating// Meat right now. My family and I are tired of eating meat so I need to start looking at vegetarian cookbooks. Any recommendations?

Avoiding// I was avoiding homework yesterday but now that’s probably what I’ll spend the day doing.

Anticipating// The end of the semester.

What are you reading today?

Mary Oliver

The chickens ate all the crickets.

The foxes ate all the chickens.

This morning a friend hauled his

boat to shore and gave me the most

wondrous fish. In its silver scales

it seemed dressed for a wedding.

The gills were pulsing, just above

where the shoulders would be, if it had

had shoulders. The eyes were still

looking around, I don’t know what

they were thinking.

The chickens ate all the crickets.

The foxes ate all the chickens.

I ate the fish.

from A Thousand Mornings