Dewey's 24 Hour Readathon was this past Saturday! Did you participate? I had so much fun! I also spent two hours at my library book sale gathering a stash for my Little Free Library. I came home with nine bags! (The volunteers said I won the prize for the day.) There will be a forthcoming post about the many books, once I have a chance to sort through them. Such a fun day!

The Bark of the Bog Owl by Jonathan Rogers (I slipped this quick middle grade read into the beginning of the week. It was really good.)
The Prime of MIss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark (The only book I completely finished during the readathon. It helped that it was only 127 pages.)
Edge of Extinction: Code Name Flood by Laura Martin (This one was even better than the first. SO GOOD!)

The Harvest Raise by Katie Schuermann (If you like Jan Karon's Mitford, you will love this series.)
Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift (My Classics Club deadline is the end of August next year, and I still have 12 books to read. Yikes. Serial Reader will hopefully help me get most of those titles read in time. This one is currently 9% complete.)
Inferno by Dante Alighieri (Ditto above explanation. 15% complete.)

The Last Dragonslayer by Jasper Fforde (I was hoping to get to my monthly Fforde reread during the readathon, but I didn't. I've still got a week to fit it in before the month ends!)

I had the most amazing experience yesterday. This year is the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther nailed the 95 Theses to the church door in Wittenberg, Germany. Since I'm Lutheran, this anniversary is kind of a big deal for me. Yesterday, I sang in a choir of over 1,000 people at a worship service attended by over 14,000 people at the Breslin Center at Michigan State University. I have no words to describe how incredible that was. A taste of heaven!

The Book of Laughter and Forgetting by Milan Kundera (Ugh. There were a few profound moments I liked, but mostly ugh. And blech. I hate saying it, but don't read this book.)

Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld (This is better than I feared. I'm a Jane Austen purist, so I don't know why I'm even reading a modern retelling of Pride & Prejudice, but I was intrigued. Some of the modern twists are pretty clever. I'm only halfway through, though, so we'll see what happens with Liz and Darcy.)
Utopia by Thomas More (I should be finishing this one up in the next day or two!)

The Harvest Raise by Katie Schuermann (This is the last book in the Anthems of Zion trilogy, and I am so excited to read it!!)

Saturday, I got to participate in a really fun experience. My church hosted an event called Walk, Learn, Pray on our local Rail Trail. My station was to teach about the Michigan state symbols (did you know we have a state fossil?). The weather was 80 degrees and sunny (What, Michigan?!). And when nobody was walking by my station, I got to sit and read a book. It was such a fun and peaceful afternoon!

The Unseen Guest by Maryrose Wood (This is the third book in The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place series, and it's just as delightful as the first two so far.)
Utopia by Thomas More (Chipping away at my Classics Club list. Hooray for the Serial Reader app!)

The Book of Laughter and Forgetting by Milan Kundera (Isn't that a great title?)

This weekly chance to add to your reading list is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date.

Happy October! I can't say that I really have a favorite month, but this one is close to the top. To celebrate, here's a video of an instrumental piece called "October" by my favorite living composer, Eric Whitacre.

Frogkisser! by Garth Nix (This was a cute book. I liked it on audio.)

Minders of Make Believe: Idealists, Entrepreneurs, and the Shaping of American Children's Literature by Leonard S. Marcus (This is a fascinating read, but certainly not a fast one. I've been working on it since Tuesday, and I'm only two thirds through. It's so interesting, though, that I'm not feeling the impatience to be finished and onto the next book like I normally would.)
Dicey's Song by Cynthia Voigt (My next Newbery read.)

Wonderland Creek by Lynn Austin (I've been wanting to get to this one for a long time. And hey, I'm reading another book I own!)

Well, we gave in and put the air conditioner back in the window. It's been 90 degrees for four days in a row now, and we just couldn't take it. It's the strangest thing to be melting from summer heat, yet watching the leaves turn colors and fall from the trees. Thankfully, it's supposed to be in the 60s by this weekend. I am so ready for fall weather!

The Woman Who Died a Lot by Jasper Fforde (This was so good. But now I'm out of Thursday Next books to read. Where's book 8, Mr. Fforde??)
Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe (I finally finished!)
​The Masked City by Genevieve Cogman (It took me a while to get into this one, but once I did, I was hooked. I did not want to put it down.)

Smile by Raina Telgemeier (This is hugely popular at the school library where I volunteer, so I decided to see what all the excitement was about.)
Frogkisser! by Garth Nix (I'm listening to this one on audio. It's a lot of fun.)

Minders of Make-Believe:​ Idealists, Entrepreneurs, and the Shaping of American Children's Literature by Leonard S. Marcus (Gasp! I'll be reading a book I actually own! I've been wanting to get to this one for quite a while. The time is finally here!)

And it's summer again. 80+ degrees for several days in a row now, of course right after we took the air conditioner out of the window. How am I supposed to drink hot apple cider when it's 80 degrees? In other news, I made my first order from Book Outlet this weekend. Oh, my goodness, that's going to be a very addictive website. So many good books! Such amazing prices!

Word By Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries by Kory Stamper (There was some unnecessary swearing in this book, but other than that, I loved it. It is utterly fascinating to learn how a dictionary is made.)
Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann (I wouldn't have picked this one up if it wasn't my book club book for the month, but I'm so glad I did. This is an aspect of American history that everyone needs to know about.)

The Woman Who Died a Lot by Jasper Fforde (Hey, look! It's only the middle of the month and I've already gotten to my Fforde reread for the month. It can be done!)
Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe (96%! So close!)

The Masked City by Genevieve Cogman (I've been impatiently waiting to get to this one on my library stack!)

It feels like fall! We had to turn on our heat on Saturday (although, being Michigan, it's back up in the mid-70s for the rest of the week). And we spent Sunday afternoon picking apples and making applesauce. Time to curl up with some cider and donuts and a good book!

American Eclipse by David Baron (This was a really interesting read.)
Pip Bartlett's Guide to Unicorn Training by Jackson Pearce & Maggie Stiefvater (Such a fun, cute series!)

Word By Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries by Kory Stamper (Fun so far, but more profanity than I expected.)
​Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe (69%!!)

Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann (Book club book for the month)

I discovered on Friday that it's getting harder and harder to visit the library with my little guy. He's fine in the children's section where there are lots of toys (or another little kid for him to chase around and shriek at). But anywhere else in the library, he won't stay still for a moment! I was literally chasing him up and down aisles of books, reaching the end of one as he was halfway down the next. I had two books I planned to get for myself and ending up getting twice as many, but certainly not because I had time for leisurely browsing! I saw a couple books on the new shelf that looked interesting. I probably should have just put them on my Goodreads to-read list and gotten them next time. But in the thirty seconds it took to scan the new books shelf, my little guy almost ended up out the door twice and ran shrieking back to the children's section once. So I grabbed the books, chased him down, and headed to the check-out. Oy! Who knew going to the library could be so stressful? Anyone have tips for library trips with a one-year-old?

The Chilbury Ladies' Choir by Jennifer Ryan (This was a wonderful book, and made for a good book club discussion.)
One of Our Thursdays Is Missing by Jasper Fforde (I haven't reread the later Thursday Next books as often as the earlier ones, so I forgot how much I loved this one!)
The Mighty Miss Malone by Christopher Paul Curtis (This was really good on audio.)
On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness by Andrew Peterson (This was a ridiculously good book. I'll for sure be adding this series to my own shelves!)

Around the World in 50 Years by Albert Podell (I've been looking forward to this one!)
Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe (I've been reading this one sporadically on Serial Reader. I figure if I start posting weekly updates here, that'll force me to read it more often. So far, I'm 20% through.)

The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley (Another Newbery read!)

Life is getting back to normal after a vacation last week. We met up with some of my college friends in San Diego, and spent a few days driving up the coast to San Francisco. It was an amazing trip, and my little guy did great on his first flight! Now we're home. Let routine resume!

Lady of Magick by Sylvia Izzo Hunter (I love this series. Hopefully it won't take me a full year before I read the next one, like it did between the first two!)
​The Tapper Twins Go to War (With Each Other) by Geoff Rodkey (I read this one in about an hour. Give it to your middle grader. They'll love it!)

The Shadow Sister by Lucinda Riley (Oh, my goodness, I don't know how she does it every time, but she does it every time!)

My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell (I just heard about this on someone's blog, and I hate that I can't remember who. I've really got to start making notes of that. But it sounded like just the kind of book I like, so I grabbed it at the library.)

It's sweet corn season! I love living in a state where we get so much fresh-out-of-the-garden produce during the summer (and I love that my in-laws have a huge garden and are willing to share, so I don't have to grow things myself - it wouldn't go well). My little guy had his first experience with corn on the cob this week. He didn't get much off, but he enjoyed trying!

False Colours by Georgette Heyer (I've never had a Heyer book fail me yet. They are all so good!)
First Among Sequels by Jasper Fforde (Snuck my July reread in just in time!)

Lady of Magick by Sylvia Izzo Hunter (I read the first book in the series a year ago, and I'm finally picking up the second. I don't know what took me so long, because I'm loving it so far!)

Around the World in 50 Years: My Adventure to Every Country on Earth by Albert Podell (This has to be the ultimate travel narrative, right? I'm really looking forward to this one.)