Sonderling Sunday – Peterchen Hase

48-Hour Book Challenge, Sonderling Sunday 0

I’m doing the 48-Hour Book Challenge this weekend. If I can keep from napping for another 4 hours, I will have more than 24 hours spent reading and blogging over the last 48! Before anything else, I’m going to write my weekly feature, Sonderling Sunday, where I play with language by looking at the German translation of children’s books.

I do not believe you need to know German to enjoy Sonderling Sunday. The idea is to discover a slightly different way of looking at everyday things, to let melodious and appropriate sounds roll off your tongue, and to learn handy phrases.

By the way, I just finished listening to David Sedaris’ audiobook, Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls, and he talks about the pitfalls of phrasebooks. Delightfully, Pimsleur sent a “Bonus track” of what would be on their Japanese instruction CDs if David Sedaris were the one writing the phrases. Think of what follows as what you’d find on a German instruction CD if I were the one writing it — using handy phrases found in children’s books.

While I was moving, I discovered that I have a small Dover edition of The Tale of Peter Rabbit, translated into German: Die Geschichte von Peterchen Hase: Ein buntes Märchenbuch von Beatrix Potter, illustriert von Anna Pomaska. That’s “The Story of Petey Rabbit: A colorful storybook.” A note in the front says, “This Dover edition… contains a German translation by Meike Werner…. For this edition the artist, Anna Pomaska, has created new illustrations based on selected images by Beatrix Potter.” I’m guessing there was copyright trouble with the original images. What do you think?

Anyway, the reason I had to feature this book is on the very first page. You probably know how the English tale starts:

“Once upon a time there were four little Rabbits,
and their names were —
Flopsy,
Mopsy,
Cotton-tail,
and Peter.”

This translates to:

Es waren einmal vier kleine Häschen, die hie?en —
Flopsy,
Mopsy,
Kuschelschwänzchen
und Peterchen.

I’m sorry, but every time I read Kuschelschwänzchen I can’t help but laugh. Yes, it means “Cotton-tail,” but it just doesn’t have the same lilt to it, does it?

Though when you see a -chen on the end of the word, that’s a diminutive. Like Cotton-tailet or Cottony-tail Apparently one can’t translate a story about little rabbits without inserting a lot of these. (At least they didn’t call the first two Flopchen and Mopchen.)

Here are some more phrases:
“underneath the root of a very big fir-tree” = unter der Wurzel einer riesigen Tanne

And I simply must quote Mrs. Rabbit’s entire warning speech:
“you may go into the fields or down the lane, but don’t go into Mr. McGregor’s garden: your Father had an accident there; he was put in a pie by Mrs. McGregor.”

ihr dürft auf die Felder oder den Pfad hinuntergehen, aber auf keinen Fall in Herrn McGregors Garten: euer Vater hatte dort einst einen schlimmen Unfall. Er landete schlie?lich in Frau McGregors Pastete.

My literal translation of that: “You may on the fields or the path go down, but under no circumstance in Mr. McGregor’s garden. Your father had there a bad accident. He landed finally in Mrs. McGregor’s pastry.”

I like schlimmen Unfall for “accident.” It sounds very schlimm indeed.

“Now run along, and don’t get into mischief”
= Nun lauft und gebt gut acht, da? ihr keinen Unfug macht.
Literally: “Now run and give a good eight, that you no Mischief make.”
(“Mischief” = Unfug)

“She bought a loaf of brown bread and five currant buns.”
= Sie kaufte einen Laib braunes Brot und fünf Rosinenbrötchen.

And I love any sentence with Kuschelschwänzchen:

“Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cotton-tail, who were good little bunnies, went down the lane to gather blackberries.”
= Flopsy, Mopsy und Kuschelschwänzchen, die artige kleine Häschen waren sprangen den Pfad hinunter, um Brombeeren zu pflücken.

“But Peter, who was very naughty, ran straight away to Mr. McGregor’s garden, and squeezed under the gate!”
= Das ungezogene Peterchen aber rannte direkt zu Herrn McGregors Garten und schlüpfte unter dem Gartentor hindurch!
Literally: “But the naughty Petey ran directly to Mr. McGregor’s garden and squeezed under the garden gate!”
(“squeezed” = schlüpfte)

“ate” = knabberte This gives more the idea of “nibbled.”

“rather sick” = ein bi?chen übel

“parsley” = Petersilie

“cucumber frame” = Gurkenbeetes

“young cabbages” = jungen Kohl

“waving a rake” = Er fuchtelte mit dem Rechen herum

I like this one. It’s hard to imagine him actually calling this out.
“Stop thief!” = Stehengeblieben, du Dieb!

“Peter was most dreadfully frightened.”
= Peterchen hatte fürchterliche Angst.

“unfortunately” = unglücklicherweise

“gooseberry net” = Stachelbeernetz

“got caught by the large buttons on his jacket”
= sich mit den gro?en Knöpfen seines Jäckchen darin verfangen hätte”
(“caught” = verfangen)

“shed big tears” = weinte dicke Tränen

“sparrows” = Spatzen

“sobs” = Schluchzen
(I’ve heard of choking with sobs, but saying “sobs” in German makes me choke.)

“implored him to exert himself” = ermunterten ihn, sich mehr Mühe zu geben
Literally: “encouraged him, more effort to give”

“pop upon the top of Peter” = über Peterchen stülpen

“toolshed” = Geräteschuppen

“can” = Gie?kanne

It’s always fun to see how onomatopoetic phrases are written:
“Kertyshoo!” = Hatschi!

“trembling with fright” = zitterte vor Angst

“had not the least idea” = hatte nicht die geringste Ahnung

“damp” = aufgeweicht

“wander about” = herumzustreifen

“lippity lippity” = hoppel di hopp

“no room” = keine Ritze

“squeeze underneath” = durchdrücken (“through press”)

“running” = sauste (Google: “dashed”)

“stone doorstep” = steinerne Schwelle

“carrying” = schleppte

“puzzled” = durcheinanderbrachte (“through-each-other-brought”)

“pond” = Teich

“the tip of her tail twitched” = zu zuckte die Spitze von ihrem Schwanz

“hoe” = Hacke

“scr-r-ritch, scratch, scratch, scratch” = kr-r-ritz, kratz, kratz, kritz

I enjoy this almost-rhyme:
“Peter scuttered underneath the bushes.”
= Peterchen huschte in die Büsche

“he came out” = kroch er gleich wieder hervor

“climbed upon a wheelbarrow” = kletterte auf einen Schubkarren
(“climbed on a thrust-car”)

“peeped over” = spähte

“black-currant bushes” = schwarzen Johannisbeerbüschen

“was safe at last”
= fand schlie?lich Schutz

“scare-crow” = Vogelscheuche

“to frighten the blackbirds” = um die Amseln zu erschrecken

“flopped down” = niedersank

“rabbit-hole” = Hasenhöhle

“One table-spoonful to be taken at bed-time.”
= Einen E?löffel vor dem Schlafengehen einnehmen.

“But Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cotton-tail had bread and milk and blackberries for supper.”
= Flopsy, Mopsy und Kuschelschwänzchen aber bekamen Brot und Milch und Brombeeren zum Abendessen.

Ah. That one just makes me happy. And now, if you’re ever traveling in Germany, you know what sound to make when you sneeze. Hatschi!

Gesundheit!

48-Hour Book Challenge: Saturday Progress

48-Hour Book Challenge, Challenge 1

Wow! I might actually be able to hit the 24-hour mark in the 48-Hour Book Challenge! Even though I worked.

I am now posting this simply to keep myself awake. Once I stop, I need to go straight to bed.

But I’ve already done 14 hours and 35 minutes of the challenge! So if I can fit in 9 hours and 25 minutes, even though I’m going to church, I can hit the 24 hour goal. The big question: Can I keep from taking an afternoon nap?

Here’s how it’s broken down:

I spent 3 hours and 45 minutes blogging and writing reviews, not counting
1 hour and 35 minutes posting reviews.
I spent 7 hours and 45 minutes reading, not counting
1 hour and 50 minutes listening to an audiobook.
I’ve spent 10 minutes unpacking books.

I haven’t done any networking so far, except what I did in between customers when working at the library reference today. I learned that my sister Marcy is participating in the Challenge!

I have completed three books, though two of those were nonfiction books that I only had the last chapter left to read. I read many, many nonfiction books at a time, rotating piles. I don’t recommend that method to anyone, but it does keep me from getting bored.

The third book was Heart’s Blood, by Juliet Marillier, which I also only had to finish. Tonight I’d had enough “productive” time spent. I wanted to have the fun of reading! So I went out on my balcony (pictured in the Starting Line post) and finished the book. I’m so happy with the balcony! Birds were singing loudly the entire time. On the grass, I watched a squirrel, and later a bunny. It just felt so nice to sit out there enjoying a book.

My page total is 369 pages. That doesn’t seem like very much with 7 hours and 45 minutes spent reading, but shuffling around the nonfiction books goes much slower than settling in with fiction. For that matter, the Heart’s Blood pages were long ones.

Anyway, I’m really drooping and need to get to bed. Can I do 9 hours of the challenge tomorrow without skipping church? We shall see….

Review of Heart’s Blood, by Juliet Marillier

48-Hour Book Challenge, Fairy Tale Variant, Fantasy, Fiction Review, Starred Review 0

Heart’s Blood

by Juliet Marillier

A Roc Book (Penguin), 2009. 402 pages.
Starred Review

I love Juliet Marillier’s writing. She knows how to make characters from fairy tales seem like real people with their own complex emotions, set in a real historical time.

Heart’s Blood is a modified version of “Beauty and the Beast” set in Ireland at the time Normans were invading and taking land for themselves. But Heart’s Blood removes all the abusive elements from the fairy tale. In fact, Caitrin is fleeing from abuse. Her father never goes to the “Beast’s” castle. In fact, Caitrin’s beloved father died not long before the story begins. A distant cousin and his mother took over the family home, claiming that it belonged to the cousin as the only male relative. But he is harsh and abusive and his mother convinces everyone that Caitrin has gone mad with grief.

She flees to a castle on a Tor that none of the people from the village will go near. The chieftain needs a scribe who can read Latin, and her father trained her as one. Besides, she needs a place to stay where her cousin can’t find her.

The chieftain is no Beast, just someone who’s features aren’t symmetrical because of an illness in his youth. But his family is indeed under a curse. His great-grandfather raised a host from dead souls to fight his enemies, only something went horribly wrong, and all generations after that chieftain must stay at the castle to keep the host in check. And his retainers are souls from the host.

Meanwhile, Caitrin works in the library, copying documents and looking for a counterspell. A magic mirror, enchanted by the great-grandfather, shows her the dark spells he used, but not a way to counteract them. She gets to know the souls from the host who live there with Anluan. There’s even a small child who turns to her for comfort. Meanwhile, the Normans threaten attack, but how can Anluan go down from the Tor to even meet with them?

Once again we’ve got ancient magic, a romance based on two characters knowing each other well, and a young woman with a good heart who wants to do good in the world. Another lovely story by Juliet Marillier.

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Fiction/hearts_blood.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Please use the comments if you’ve read the book and want to discuss spoilers!

Official 48-Hour Book Challenge 2013 Edition

48-Hour Book Challenge, Challenge, Events 0

It’s time! Time for the official 48-Hour Book Challenge of 2013!

Last week, I did a practice run. Although I got 20 hours in, I didn’t get nearly as much blogging accomplished as I hoped. For that matter, I never get as much done as I hope. A weekend is simply not that long! However, it’s fun to do what I can!

Tomorrow I have to work, but I do plan to read during my lunch break and listen to an audiobook in the car. And then when I get home, I’m going to immerse myself in reading. I started at 7:00 pm on Friday, so that means after 7:00 pm on Sunday, I can get to my mundane details like grocery shopping and ironing.

Now, I’m hoping to do some good blogging, as well. I currently have a stack of 10 books (one of which I just finished after starting the Challenge) to write reviews for. Now, I also have 48 reviews written but not posted. So I very much want to get several of those posted. And I’m currently especially obsessed with posting the reviews I wrote in 2012. There are 8 of those left. So if the books seem older, that is why! I still have some reviews to post that I wrote when I was on the Cybils panel judging middle grade science fiction and fantasy.

They did ask to post a picture of the books I plan to read. Now, I know full well I won’t make much headway on this stack, especially if I do much blogging. But here is my stack:

On top is Heart’s Blood, by Juliet Marillier, which I’m about half done with.

Does anyone remember my Reading Plan? I’m still following that, sort of — just inserting lots and lots of interruptions. But Heart’s Blood was the “older library book” in the plan.

Next up is rereading a book. I was having trouble deciding what to reread when an Amazon package came today! Hooray! Perfect timing! One of the books in the package was Wednesdays in the Tower, by Jessica Day George. So that means the perfect book to reread is Tuesdays at the Castle. And that takes care of the next book in order, a book I own.

After those three, the rest of the books are books that Capitol Choices is considering, which I would very much like to have read before our meeting next Friday. We’ll see how I do.

Now, if this were all I’m reading, that would be one thing. But I have a system of piles of Nonfiction, which I read a chapter at a time. It is currently completely out of control:

But I just finished a Nonfiction book I’d been working on for months, Surviving Survival, by Laurence Gonzales. So I do, eventually, finish them.

I also intend to spend a little of the time unpacking boxes of books. I know that’s not in the official rules, so I will keep track of exactly how much time I spend (not more than one box per hour, and they only take about five minutes each). I think my recent move makes it a special case. I will only do boxes of books this weekend. These shelves in my bedroom are almost the only ones left to fill:

But that’s enough pictures of clutter and chaos! The fun one to post is the one of where I will spend significant time reading, at least during daylight hours.

There you have it! Happy Reading!

Book and Blogging Blitz Begins!

48-Hour Book Challenge, Challenge, Events, General 0

So, when I was doing my Unpack-a-thons, it was partly to get unpacking out of the way before the annual 48-Hour Book Challenge. It’s always at the beginning of June, so I was hoping it would hit this weekend. When I learned it’s going to hit next weekend, when I am scheduled to work both Friday and Saturday, I decided I will have to celebrate this weekend on my own.

I got to thinking: I still want to participate in the official event. So why don’t I use this weekend as a sort of warm-up? But I will use my own rules instead of the official rules.

For starters, I will count time reading picture books. I have a big stack of picture books I’ve been meaning to review for quite some time now. I will tackle that stack.

I also think I’ll make a concession to the unpacking that still needs to be done by unpacking one box of books per hour.

And I will try not to stress out if my totals are not so impressive as in previous years. As I write this, I have a mild vestibular migraine, and if that gets worse, I will take naps as necessary, without guilt. I will not set an alarm in the morning, and if I sleep late, that’s all good. I recently started a walking program, and I will go out walking both days this weekend. I will do the grocery shopping, and I really should go driving with my son, who needs several more hours practice before he can get his license. (I am probably looking for excuses not to do that.) I will do my weekly ironing — but I will probably listen to an audiobook while doing it, instead of the usual movie. Hmm. I can listen to an audiobook while cooking dinner, too. (Though maybe I can talk my son into cooking.) I have a new audiobook checked out, all ready to listen. (The Plantagenets, by Dan Jones, based on Liz Burns’ recommendation.)

Now, with the 48-Hour Book Challenge, it’s a lot more fun if you spend most of the time actually reading. That’s what makes it an indulgence. But the thing I really want to get around to doing is posting reviews. I have reviews still waiting to be posted that I wrote in 2012! And I have that aforementioned stack of picture books. And another of children’s nonfiction. So I’m thinking I’ll focus on writing reviews this weekend, and then for the Actual 48-Hour Book Challenge, with what time I have, I can indulge myself and simply read.

All that said, here’s my plan for Sondy’s Book and Blogging Blitz:

1) Each hour, I will begin by posting a review. (Or, in this case, a post about progress.)

2) Each hour, I will then unpack a box of books. (Yes, despite two Unpack-a-thons, I can safely say I have more than 20 boxes of books left to unpack. If I finish, great!)

3) Then I will spend the rest of the time writing reviews, with this rotation:
— Novels (I only have 2 to review)
— Picture Books
— Children’s Nonfiction
— Short Fiction (graphic novels, short chapter books)
— Adult Nonfiction
I’m thinking I’ll spend the rest of an hour on an item in the rotation, alternating back to the top of the list. (I really want to get that stack of picture books done.) Like this: Novels (which I’ll finish up the first time), picture books, children’s NF, picture books, short fiction, picture books…. Once I finish all the picture books, I’ll cycle back to children’s nonfiction. And so on.

4) Bedtime or naptime reading will be exceptions to the above. I’ll just read a novel until I fall asleep. Other exceptions will be my quiet time in the morning (nonfiction reading) and the aforementioned listening to an audiobook while cooking or ironing.

5) After I’ve gone through all the categories above, like in the 48-Hour Book Challenge, I’ll spend the remainder of an hour visiting other blogs. In that hour, instead of posting a review, I’ll write an update post and a post for one of my series.

And at the end I will post all my stats.

Now, I admit, it’s much more fun to do this along with others. So this will be my warm-up, to build enthusiasm for participating next week, even though I have to work.

I’ve also been hesitant to post more than one or two reviews in a day, since they get buried in a blog. But I’m just going to go for it! I want to get caught up! Of course, what takes me so long to post reviews is that I also post them on my main site, which takes some html fiddling. But at least there, I can highlight ALL of the weekend’s reviews, and the ones at the start of the weekend won’t just get lost on the second page of the blog.

So, enough rattling on! This constitutes a blog post, so now I’m going to unpack a box! Let the Blitz begin!

48-Hour Book Challenge Finish Line

48-Hour Book Challenge 0

No, I didn’t get nearly as much done as I hoped, or as I did last year. But, hey, with a headache and dizziness, this is still quite good. And it was definitely still fun.

I only finished three books. But Code Name Verity was so incredibly good, it was just as well it was the only fiction book I finished. All the better to savor that way.

Here are my stats:

Total time spent on the 48HBC: 27 hours, 30 minutes
Donation to Book People Unite: $48, in honor of my turning 48 within a week of the 48-Hour Book Challenge. (Hey, seemed appropriate!)

How this was broken up:
Time spent Reading: 11 hours, 55 minutes

Books Finished:
Code Name Verity, by Elizabeth Wein (Wow!) (343 pages read)
Still: Notes on a Mid-Faith Crisis, by Lauren F. Winner (216 pages read)
Shiny Objects, by James A. Roberts (73 pages read)

Books partially read:
The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection, by Alexander McCall Smith, 25 pages read
The Bible, 4 pages read
Each Day a New Beginning, by Karen Casey, 2 pages read
Praying for Strangers, by River Jordan, 8 pages read
A Truth Universally Acknowledged, edited by Susannah Carson, 4 pages read
Tolstoy and the Purple Chair, by Nina Sankovitch, 22 pages read
The Conundrum, by David Owen, 4 pages read
Titanic: Voices from the Disaster, by Deborah Hopkinson, 26 pages read
Victory Over Verbal Abuse, by Patricia Evans, 2 pages read
The Order of Odd-Fish, by James Kennedy, 13 pages read
Der Orden der Seltsamen Sonderlinge, by James Kennedy, 16 pages read

Total pages read: 758

Time spent Listening: 3 hours, 25 minutes
Audiobook listened to: Sing You Home, by Jodi Picoult

Time spent Networking (mostly Twitter and Facebook): 1 hour, 30 minutes

Time spent Blogging: 10 hours, 40 minutes (counting only until 11:30)

Books Reviewed: Still, Shiny Objects, Code Name Verity (All the books I finished, so that goal, at least, was reached.)
Reviews Posted: The One and Only Ivan, Still, North of Beautiful, Code Name Verity

Other Blog Posts:
Two for Sonderjourneys
Three for Sonderquotes
Sonderling Sunday
Two about the 48-Hour Book Challenge (Not counting this one, written after the ending time)

Total words written: 5,778

So, it looks like I will need to turn in lots and lots of books if I want to go to California in a couple weeks without holding onto library books I haven’t read. We shall see!

Now, I admit I wish I hadn’t had a headache the whole weekend. But if I had to have a headache, it was definitely nice to be distracted. I’m counting this a success!

48-Hour Book Challenge Sunday Check-In

48-Hour Book Challenge 0

How quickly my grandiose plans burst like a bubble! I’m in the homestretch of the 48-Hour Book Challenge and so far have only completed one book and written one review! But I’m still having a great time and still enjoying the challenge.

And, to be honest, I’m used to getting approximately one-tenth of my goals done. But I still have fun shooting for the goals.

In fact, I just noticed today that this year, the 48-Hour Book Challenge is happening less than a week from my 48th birthday! That should be significant somehow. Perhaps I should do another challenge on my birthday to celebrate! (And next year, I will actually be 48 on the weekend of the 48-Hour Book Challenge. Oo, and it will be the 8th annual. I will have to think of a way to celebrate.) Oh, I think I know what I’ll do! Regardless of the number of hours I read, instead of donating $1 per hour to Book People Unite, I will donate $48. It seems fitting.

So, although I’m not going to reach the 30 hours I hit last year, my stats still aren’t bad. I’ll list all the books and partial books I’ve read at the end, but so far I’ve spent 10 hours and 10 minutes reading, 4:40 blogging, 3:25 listening, and 1:30 networking, for a total of 19 hours and 45 minutes.

Since I finish up at 11:30 pm tonight, I won’t be able to hit 30 hours, but the only thing I have scheduled today is a nap. I’m afraid I really do need the nap, because now I’m on the 24th day of that vestibular migraine. I hasten to add that it isn’t a real bad one, with more dizziness than headache. But I do get a few weird symptoms as I get more tired, and the headache does increase, and I’m going to let myself fall asleep. But I absolutely AM going to finish Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein today! It is sooo good! And I hope to write a review about it, too.

I hope today to spend most of that time on the computer, writing and posting reviews. And this week, instead of watching a movie while I do my weekly ironing, I plan to listen to an audiobook.

One thing I find very amusing happened. Remember how I had to chauffeur my son to Prom in DC? And I was going to listen to an audiobook while doing it? Remember how the rules state you can only use ONE audiobook? So I couldn’t just decide to switch books?

Well, I picked out an audiobook early in the week with 14 CDs, so I wouldn’t run out of audiobook to listen to. It looked like a nice love story about a music therapist, and I loved that there were original songs at the start of every section. What I didn’t realize was that it would turn into a lesbian love story. Now I didn’t actually mind that — I think that reading is a good way to get a different perspective. And this was a very different perspective from mine. And we all found the description of the woman’s first kiss from her girlfriend quite amusing (lots of explosions and burning going on). I turned the sound low and tried to get them to talk among themselves. But when she started in describing her first time having lesbian sex — well, I decided that was definitely NOT appropriate listening for driving my son to Prom! So that cut down my listening time a bit.

Anyway, I’m having lots of fun with this, as always. I’m not sure I’ll get around to visiting the other participants’ blogs today, but definitely hope to do some visiting later this week.

Happy reading!

And We’re Off! The 7th Annual 48 Hour Book Challenge Begins!

48-Hour Book Challenge 0

I confess: I really do look forward to this weekend all year. It’s the weekend of Mother Reader‘s 48 Hour Book Challenge.

I began at 11:30 pm tonight, Friday night. My challenge will then run until 11:30 pm Sunday night. I’m going to see how much time I can spend reading.

My stats from last year are definitely going to be hard to beat. If not impossible. Last year, I hit 30 hours and 30 minutes. I finished 8 books, read 1,606 pages, and wrote 9 reviews, but only posted one of them.

This year, I’m going to try very hard to get less behind rather than more behind. With this in mind, I plan to post all reviews I write, as well as several reviews I’ve already written. Since I have about 45 reviews waiting to be posted, any amount will help! And during the 48 Hour Book Challenge, I have a nice amount of traffic from other book challengers, so it’s really a good time to post! Oh, I also want to catch up on writing reviews of books I’ve written. I have 11 books sitting here that I very much want to review, so I will try to review them in the next 48 hours. Mind you, I also want to review every book I read during the challenge, so this writing will cut down on my reading time. But all of it will be fun.

The biggest obstacle to a high number? Well, today is my 22nd day with a low-grade vestibular migraine. I felt somewhat better today, but I find that staying up later does not help. So I’m thinking it would not be a good time to avoid sleep, and that may be my undoing.

Once again, I am lucky in that I am not scheduled to work this weekend. I waited until late so I could go to small group Bible study without it cutting into my time, and then I did the grocery shopping for the week, so I won’t need to do that. Love those late night hours! I brought in my audiobook for in a pinch.

Now, I do need to be my son’s chauffeur for going to Prom tomorrow night, but they are just going to have to bear with me listening to an audiobook! I confess, I’d be tempted to skip church Sunday morning — but they will be showing pictures of the graduating Seniors, and I chose many for my son. Of course the big challenge will be: Can I possibly stay awake on Sunday afternoon and read, or is a Sunday afternoon nap a biological necessity? Time will tell.

I did save Code Name Verity to start tonight, because I have a feeling I won’t be able to stop until I’m so tired I can’t keep my eyes open. Then it would be cool to go through my entire “rotation” of books — a book I own (Code Name Verity), a new library book (The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection), an award winner (Breaking Stalin’s Nose), an Advance Reader Copy of a book not yet published (Keeping the Castle, by Patrice Kindl), an older library book (Silver Phoenix, by Cindy Pon), and rereading a book (Over Sea, Under Stone, by Susan Cooper — though I might save that for the plane). I also have a lot of Capitol Choices books I’d like to get read and a lot of shorter books still for 5th grade and up that I’d like to slip in there. We shall see.

Now I’m going to go read!

Picture Books Challenge

48-Hour Book Challenge 0

I’m still gearing up for the 48 Hour Book Challenge, coming next weekend! Huzzah!

Now, awhile back I posted about how I was going to catch up on reviews during Memorial Day weekend and then turn in all the books I hadn’t reviewed.

Did I succeed? Well, no. I didn’t have the heart to turn in all the books I hadn’t reviewed. However, I did make good headway, getting five books reviewed. And I turned in a whole mess of picture books that I decided I wasn’t crazy enough about to review.

There are ten books left sitting here that I definitely want to review. (This is much better than 23.) I still have this coming week before the 48-hour Book Challenge to get them reviewed. But this amount is not unmanageable. I figure when the Challenge comes, if I haven’t finished with back reviews, after every book read, I will review the book I read, and then review one of the books from the To-Be-Reviewed pile, if I haven’t yet gotten it down to nothing.

Now, I’ve got some other grand plans brewing. First, Mother Reader has an unreasonable prejudice against picture books. Why do I think this is unreasonable? Because if the 48-Hour Book Challenge is by time, not number of books, and not pages, well, why not allow picture books? What have they ever done to be excluded?

Now, I also have a big pile of picture books sitting here. My goal this coming week (besides making headway on those other reviews) is to read all of the picture books waiting. Those I’m not crazy about, I will just return to the library. Those I love, I will write a review now, before I can be accused of using the Book Challenge time on *gasp* a Picture Book! That’s the plan anyway!

Let’s see. I’ve already gotten it down to 14 picture books waiting in the wings. Of course, if I don’t get all of them dealt with, I can always keep going after the challenge.

Now another goal I’m shooting for — an impossible goal but one I hope to at least make progress toward — is, when I go to ALA Annual Conference at the end of June, to turn in all my library books. Well, to make that slightly more possible, all the library books I haven’t actually begun. (This will exclude a whole pile of nonfiction.) During the 48-Hour Book Challenge, I think I will work toward quantity. Now, among all the other piles, there are lots of short books I have set aside thinking I will quickly read them some day. These are, mind you, longer than picture books, but still short. So I will attempt to focus on these during the 48HBC, and try to get every book I read also reviewed. We will see how I do.

But until Friday, let’s see how many picture books I can return to the library, either read or read and reviewed.

The 48-Hour Book Challenge Is Coming!

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Hooray! Mother Reader has announced this year’s 48-Hour Book Challenge! It will happen the weekend starting June 8. This time it’s not happening on my mother’s birthday weekend (the weekend before), nor is it happening on my birthday weekend (the weekend after). Now, it IS happening the weekend of my son’s prom, and I may need to be the chauffeur. But they will probably just have to listen to an audiobook on the way to prom!

Now, I noticed that I’m not quite as excited about the 48-Hour Book Challenge as I usually am. I think there are two reasons why:

1. I had a stroke almost a year ago. I was in the hospital for 10 days and then had lots and lots of days, over the course of the year, where I didn’t have the energy to do much besides read. Now thinking of spending a whole day or two reading doesn’t sound nearly as luxurious as it did a year ago. Instead, it makes me think of feeling bad!

Solution? Well, I’ll just have to change that association, won’t I? Better read for two solid days when I’m feeling good, right?

2. As a consequence of all that time to read, but low energy to do other things — like write reviews — I’m way, way behind on writing reviews, so really I should spend the time writing reviews rather than actually reading — and that would turn it into a chore instead of fun.

Solution? I am about to start a 3-day weekend with nothing scheduled. My son’s going to his Dad’s. Why not use this weekend to catch up on reviews? I will make the resolution that any books I have read but I haven’t finished reviewing by Monday, I will turn back in to the library *gasp* without reviewing! Then I will make a resolution from here on out to review books by the following Saturday after I read them. (This is writing the reviews, not necessarily posting them.) If I don’t review them by then, I will return them, un-reviewed. I will also plan to review every book I read during the 48-Hour Book Challenge.

I’ll let you know how this goes, come Monday! The key will be that I will need to write the reviews of my favorite books first, or I won’t have the heart to turn them back in. There are some good books sitting there waiting, so I really hope I can accomplish this! I can think of it as a dry run for the 48HBC.

Finally, one more thing about this year’s 48HBC. It’s also a read-a-thon, with donations going to Book People Unite, collecting money for Reading Is Fundamental. I’ll be sponsoring myself at $1.00 per hour. If you’d like to sponsor me, let me know in the comments or e-mail me at sondy at sonderbooks.com. I will definitely be posting how many hours I read.

So, the excitement is building, and I’m going to prepare by doing my pre-challenge on the holiday weekend. I had been planning to get out and walk in a garden during the weekend, but then I saw the temperature forecast. I think I will happily stay indoors, writing reviews! I will post how many I finish on the weekend. In fact, I’ll even fess up and admit that my piles here have 14 full-length books and 9 picture books. That’s doable, right? Right?