It's Monday and we are back from DC!

Hey there, bookish friends!

We just got back on Sunday night from a whirlwind weekend in Washington, D.C. We left on Friday morning and drove to Rockville, Maryland where we stayed in a hotel just two blocks from the metro line. Friday night, we ventured out to Rockville Town Square, where the kids played in a park while we listened to live music, and then we hit the toy store and got some frozen yogurt. Saturday morning, we got an early start which turned out to be a very good thing. By the time we got to the National Mall for Together 2016, the security line stretched for blocks. Once we finally got inside the fence, we were fortunate enough to stake out some prime grass underneath a grove of trees. It was blisteringly hot. While we couldn't see the stage, we could hear all of the speakers and musicians and husband took the kids for some one-on-one walks so they could see who was on stage and get a better idea of what thousands of people look like in once place!

We stayed about two hours and then decided to move on to a place that provided food and air conditioning (and history, of course). We visited the American History Museum and the Air and Space Museum. We got on a very crowded train and made it back to our hotel just in time for the skies to open. We had packed no umbrellas, of course, and I will confess that walking two blocks in the rain with a sleeping toddler made our walk back to the hotel a bit tougher than our morning walk to the train! The kids spent the evening playing with their new toys, while their parents tried to soothe their tired muscles after carrying children and supplies for eight miles or so.

On Sunday we stopped at the Udvar-Hazy Center, which is home to lots of airplanes and the space shuttle Discovery. Have I mentioned my husband is a big fan of space? After a frustrating amount of traffic, we were all happy to sleep in our own beds Sunday night!

The reading kept moving right along, too. I read Alice Hoffman's Here on Earth early in the week and I think I will be donating it right back to the library sale from whence it came. It's apparently a modern retelling of Wuthering Heights (which I did not know at the outset) and it left me feeling like a good shower might be in order. I managed to read Sleeping Giants mostly in our hotel room this weekend as I waited for kiddos who were excited by the prospect of a new city and getting to sleep in the same big bed to finally go to sleep!

             

Up next for me? I'm really excited to read Ben Winter's Underground Airlines and Ramona Ausubel's Sons and Daughters of Ease and Plenty, which I bought from my local indie bookstore last week. I've read books by both of these authors and I will probably neglect all sorts of things this week as I see what they've written this time.

             

What are you reading this week?

Mini-reviews: What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours and Summer Days and Summer Nights

Helen Oyeyemi is known for writing novels that are unexpected, a bit dark, and based on fairy tales. In What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours, the stories concern doorways and keys, sometimes in minor details and sometimes as an integral part of the story. Some characters jump stories, showing up as a protagonist in one and a minor character in another. As with many short story collections, I read some stories I adored and some that I really had to commit to finishing.

books and roses is amazingly executed and one of those stories I wished would spark a whole novel. It follows a young woman who was left on the steps of a monastery as a baby with a note and a key. She now works in a hotel doing laundry, where she encounters a wealthy painter who wears a key around her neck too. Their lives will intersect in incredible and magic ways. Oyeyemi seems to shine brightest when she is writing of the past, of fables and fairy tales like in drownings. But I also enjoyed the modern story a brief history of the homely wench society,where a group of young women prank a fraternity, and presence, in which a couple undergoes an experiment and sees the son they never knew. Helen Oyeymi is inarguably an incredibly talented writer and I will gladly explore any magic land she creates.

What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours
By Helen Oyeyemi
Riverhead Books March 2016
325 pages
From the library

YA writer Stephanie Perkins edited a story collection entitled My True Love Gave To Me, which features stories about falling in love during the magic of winter. The collection was so popular that a second one was released this May, which focused on summer flings. Summer Days and Summer Nights is a great way to find new YA authors and it features a wonderfully diverse group of characters.

In "Head, Scales, Tongue, Tail," a boy and a girl start a tentative romance in a summer town where a monster supposedly swims in the lake. It was the perfect start to a bunch of stories about summer. Libba Bray's "Last Night at the Cinegore" might be more of a horror homage than a love story, but it's a lot of fun. Perkins checks in with her characters from the winter book with "In Ninety Minutes, Turn North" and I loved seeing how the relationship between Marigold and North had changed. "Souvenirs" is the tale of two boys breaking up before going off to college at the amusement park where they both work. This is the perfect collection to relive the joy of your first summer love, while sitting on your porch with a cool glass of lemonade.

Summer Days and Summer Nights
Edited by Stephanie Perkins
St. Martin's Griffin May 2016
400 pages
Read via Netgalley

It's Monday and we went to the fair!

Whew, what a week!! The first half was relatively normal, but the second half was packed! We had a playdate with a friend who is moving next week, went to the fair in my parent's town, and watched the fireworks from a boat. On Saturday, we drove into Philly to see my sister's place and then left D to spend the afternoon with his aunt at the museum. That night, I baked chocolate cupcakes with raspberry buttercream for a Sunday luncheon. Sunday was church with lots of music for me to play/sing and then we had a thank you lunch for the family who is leaving. Suffice it to say that everyone took a nap during rest time that day!

Somehow I managed to read four books this week. I'm not sure how, until I remember that Grief Is The Thing With Feathers is more like a novella (and I knocked out most of it during one ride on the stationary bike) and I was well into June at the beginning of the week. I also read Anne Lamott's Traveling Mercies and The Gilded Years, which imagines the story of the first black woman to attend Vassar.

          

             

Next up for me is Alice Hoffman's Here on Earth, which I picked up at a library book sale, and Sleeping Giants, which is borrowed from said library.


         

What are you reading this week?

Review: The Fifth Avenue Artists Society

Ginny Loftin is many things - a somewhat obedient daughter, a devoted sister, and a young woman who hopes that her longtime friend Charlie will someday ask her a very important question. Most of all, Ginny is a writer in a family that encourages and supports artistic endeavors (which is somewhat unusual for woman at the turn of the 19th century). When Charlie does propose, it's not to her and Ginny writes out her feelings of heartbreak on the page. Getting published as a woman is no easy feat, so she can't refuse the offer of camaraderie and feedback when she is invited to a local salon. She finds friendship and perhaps even a new romance in the midst of music performances and poetry readings. But there is a darker story in the shadows of the salon. When a friend is found dead there, Ginny and her family must figure out who is telling the truth and what success truly costs.

The Fifth Avenue Artists Society quickly feels familiar in the best of ways. I think that is because it is reminiscent of other books you have known and loved. I was reminded of Vanessa and Her Sister, which was a fictional recreation of Virginia Wolf, her artist sister Vanessa, and their circle of gifted relatives and friends. There are also really wonderful moments that point to Little Women with sisters supporting each other's artistic endeavors. We even get to observe brief meetings with Edith Wharton and Oscar Wilde.

This book could easily become a book of issues, as the characters grapple with success, money, addiction, love, and responsibility. But the characters shine through every page. Ginny is full of passion and love and we want to see her get a happy ending (even if Callaway manages to surprise us with just how that happens).

The Fifth Avenue Artists Society
By Joy Callaway
Harper Paperbacks May 2016
384 pages
From publisher for She Reads

Wednesdays with David: Dinosaur Boy Saves Mars

Synopsis via Goodreads: When you're part Stegosaurus, life can be a little crazy. (Yes, sleeping with plates is weird. No, dino-human hybrids do not have second brains in their butts.) But Sawyer's life is normal(ish) -- until he's yanked aboard a UFO and sent on a mission to Mars. Sawyer, Elliot and Sylvie travel to Mars to find her missing father, but they find even bigger trouble. Mars is trying to kick Pluto out of the solar system. And the fate of both planets will be decided by the upcoming Pluto vs. Mars soccer match. Of course. It's an intergalactic mess, and only Sawyer can save Mars, defend Pluto and protect the galaxy...

David says: Dinosaur Boy is a book which has a lot of things that young children and teens will love. It has adventure, mystery, fun, and space dinosaurs (just kidding)! With Martians, Plutonians, and soccer...SOCCER? Everybody will love this book. I really hope a third Dinosaur Boy book will be written soon!


Note: I usually chime in on books read with David, but this is one I didn't read. So you are getting 100% unadulterated thoughts from an eight year old!

Dinosaur Boy Saves Mars (Dinosaur Boy #2)
By Cory Putman Oakes
Sourcebooks Jabberwocky February 2016
240 pages
Read via Netgalley

June Wrap-Up and What I'm Into

June felt a bit like a marathon this year. It was crazy busy, with lots of visiting and events. With the exception of a trip in the middle of July, I am now looking forward to lots of lazy mornings in the backyard and quiet evenings on the porch.

Since the kids are home, I'm on the lookout for the best books/audiobooks/podcasts for kids. Any suggestions?

What I Read/Reviewed:
I reviewed eight books this month. Seven were fiction and I read one lonely nonfiction title. Five were for review and three were from my shelves. I did read several library books but I didn't write real reviews for any of them!

               

     Raising Grateful Kids in an Entitled World    Sunday's on the Phone to Monday
               Country of Red Azaleas    Shotgun Lovesongs     Alias Grace
              Maine     Everyone Brave is Forgiven     All of Us and Everything

My favorite book this month was Everyone Brave is Forgiven.

Favorite posts:
I wrote about realizing that I can cook after reading Dinner: A Love Story. I had fun discussing what I've learned and loved halfway through the year and how different readers approach the problem of forgetting what they've read in earlier books in a series.

What I've Been Watching:
Not too much? We are watching Royal Pains and The Last Ship. But I guess I've been focusing more on reading and trying to get some projects done in the evening. I'm also trying to make sure I exercise several days a week and that sometimes happens after the kids go to bed.

What I've Been Cooking/Baking:
I'm trying to put my recipe list back together after losing my favorites from my computer. Are there any amazing recipes I should be adding to our queue? We did make some tasty buffalo chicken sandwiches and these ricotta gnocchi.

          

What were you into during June?

It's Monday. Happy 4th of July!

Good morning and Happy 4th to all of my fellow Americans! I hope there is delicious food on the grill, a cold drink, and a lazy day in your plans.

We are taking it pretty easy today. Although with two kids, that is no promise that the day will be quiet or uneventful. After the big moments of last week, this one was focused on starting to find a sort of summer rhythm. We are spending a ton of time outside, which is made more wonderful by our new hammock acquisition. The kids and I also went to the library this week to sign up for the summer reading program. I love that our library allows each kid to pick a book to take home with them each week.

         
      

Now to the books! I read More Than This and The Silkworm this past week. More Than This went somewhere truly unexpected, which I love in a story. As I was reading The Silkworm (which is the second in a series), I decided to go online and see if Galbraith had plans to write a fourth book. Turns out, she has nine books total in the works!

Now I am about halfway through June, which I am enjoying but not as much as her earlier book Bittersweet. Next up for me is Traveling Mercies by the amazing Anne Lamott.

What are you reading this week?