Melissa Wiley's Blog, page 161

Laurapalooza!

This coming weekend, Laura Ingalls Wilder fans and scholars from all over the country will gather in Mankato, MN, for the first-ever Laurapalooza Conference. I was invited to attend, but alas, I couldn't swing a weekend away the week before Comic-Con. When your hubby's a comic-book editor in San Diego, July is ALL ABOUT Comic-Con.

I'll be LauraPaloozing in spirit, though, and eagerly following news of the conference on Twitter and at the Beyond Little House site.

Mankato, as you may know, is...

Our Week in Books: Sunday

For one week I am attempting to record everything each member of the family reads. Today is day six. Day one. Day two. Day three. Day four. Day five.

Jane:

—reread Hunger Games

—Mindblind (ARC)

–Asimov's Foundation Trilogy (in progress)

Rose:

—Rakkety Tam

Beanie:

—Marlfox

me:

—Great Expectations (cont.)

—The Weed that Strings the Hangman's Bag (cont.)

Scott:

—the REM bio (cont.)

—Ringworld (cont.)

Will add bedtime reading in the morning.

Our Week in Books: Saturday

For one week I am attempting to record everything each member of the family reads. Today is day five. Day one. Day two. Day three. Day four.

Jane:

—The Naming

—The Riddle

—Bella at Midnight

—Things Not Seen

—Things Hoped For

—Things That Are, these last three by Andrew Clements

(Saturday is library day.)

Rose:

—Pearls of Lutra (cont.)

—The Birthday Ball by Lois Lowry (ARC; in progress)

Beanie:
—Mossflower (cont.)
—Beck Beyond the Sea (Disney fairies book)
—Lily in Full Bloom (Disney...

Our Week in Books: Friday

For one week I am attempting to record everything each member of the family reads. Today is day four. Day one. Day two. Day three.

Jane:

—Feed

—more Dorothy Sayers

—Mansfield Park (cont.)

Rose:

—The Long Patrol (cont.)

Beanie:

—Mossflower (cont.)

me:

—Um. Weird. I seem not to have read anything from a book on this day. Really? Can that be right? Read a fair amount online, but no fiction. Well, we had other things going on. Our kitchen Monarch emerged from its chrysalis. I got a haircut.

read...

Our Week in Books: Thursday

For one week I am attempting to record everything each member of the family reads. Today is day three. Day one. Day two.

Jane:

—Lord Peter by Dorothy Sayers

—Unexplained (cont.)

—Showcase Presents: Batman #4

—Mansfield Park (cont.)

—Percy Jackson: The Demigod Files

Rose:

—Salamandastron (apparently started last night; I missed it)

—The Long Patrol (in progress)

—Jennie's Moonlight Adventure by Esther Averill

—The School for Cats, also by Averill

Beanie:

—Mossflower (cont.)

me:

—Finished Feed.

...

Our Week in Books: Wednesday

For one week—starting, awkwardly, on a Tuesday—I am attempting to record everything each member of the family reads. Day one was yesterday.

Jane:

—Mansfield Park (cont.)

—Unexplained (cont.)

Rose and Beanie:

—Fraggle Rock comics #2 & 3

Rose:

Pearls of Lutra (cont.)

Beanie:

—Mossflower (cont.)

—Rowan and the Ice Creepers

me:

—Feed (cont.)

—The Weed that Strings the Hangman's Bag (cont.)

Arrivals:

—None! Practically a first!

Departures:

—Bears on Wheels went back to the library. Yup, I remembered.

...

Our Week in Books: Tuesday

Just for fun, I thought I'd try to keep track of everything everybody in the house reads each day for one week. I'll update today's entry tomorrow morning after I find out who read what in bed tonight. I'll also include notes on books that make their way into (or out of, on loan or otherwise) the house.

Jane:

—finished one Dorothy Sayers (The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club); started another (The Documents in the Case)
—Mansfield Park
—new issues of Muse and Calliope
—Unexplained: 347 Strange...

Fifth of July (Or Is It?)

Scott took the four girls to see fireworks last night, while I stayed home with my exhausted, early-to-bed boys. It was a peaceful evening for me, and a quick one. The girls tumbled in the door around ten, flushed, starry-eyed, thrilled. "Too wonderful to talk about," Rose said, which may be a first for our family. Scott had found them a choice spot on a rise at the edge of a golf course, and they stretched out on their backs—no blanket, we don't think that far ahead—looking at stars until...

Snippets of May and June

Scooping a few things from Twitter and Facebook for our family archives…



Beanie misreads "tapioca" at the grocery store, cries out in horror: "TILAPIA PUDDING???"

Rose has announced her new favorite snack: vanilla yogurt with red pepper flakes. I feel faint.

Beanie on Roald Dahl: "In a way, he's kind of mean. He wrote books that are TOO GOOD, so now that I've read them all, I'm sad."

Bowie on iTunes; Scott giving dramatic recitation, from memory, of HAND, HAND, FINGERS, THUMB in Patrick...

Booknotes: June 2010

Continued to read, slowly, big chunks here and there, my two books on crows: Crow Planet and Caw of the Wild. In Caw, the author makes the acquaintance of her neighborhood crows (whom she comes to know by sight and personalities) by tossing peanuts onto her roof every day at the same time. This amused and delighted me, because the crows here fly passes over our yard every morning to see if I have chucked our bread crusts out the back door yet. I started clicking my tongue when I put out the c...