Current Reading List

So for the first time in way too many years I have found myself with out steady work and without classes every couple days... translation: lots of free time.  It was nice for most of May, but here it is almost June (only two days till my birthday :-)) and I am bored and stir crazy.  I have had to start planning errands and activities outside the house at least ever other day, to keep myself from going crazy.

Not that I don't have nothing to do.  I still have a teacher work sample to finish and applications to fill out (anyone need an elementary teacher next school year?) but my lack of activities has also caused a lot of motivation.  Ever been bored and just piddling away till the next thing you know its 6 hours later?  No?  Maybe just me, but that's what has happened a few days.  It took me a few days, but I realized this was a symptom of stir crazy, so I started planning outings.  Even simple things like going to the chiropractor for an hour today helps.

So far, the new plan is going well... Only on the second day, but still.  Yesterday I had errands to run and had to stop by work.  Unfortunately I woke up with a killer headache, so my morning routine didn't work, but I still did my errands and then came home and did some cooking and financial related stuff.  Today, I got up an hour later than planned (still trying to get the insomnia under control... trying to find that balance between too much medicine where I can't get up for 12 hours and too little medicine where I don't sleep at all, but still had enough time to go for my morning walk and get my shower in before the chiropractor.  After the chiropractor, mom took me to lunch, and then came home and did the menu for June.

Anyways, rambling.... Because of this abundance of free time, I decided to take advantage of it and get some summer reading it.  Here is what I am currently reading and waiting for from the library:

Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen.  I have attempted this book before, but never seem to finish.

I Beat the Odds- Michael Oher.  This is from the guy the movie "Blind Side" was based on.  Great read for anyone interested in foster care or adoption.  This among with a few others on the list, I came across last week when I was looking for some books to take on my Kindle down to Chad's family reunion.  I get my books through the library (can't beat free!) so I sometimes have to wait for the good/popular ones so every once in awhile when I need some to read I look through the available title list and find some that sound good.  Some are, some are not.  This one is good so far.

Plugged- Eoin Colfer.  Same author as the Artemis Fowl series that I enjoyed, so I thought I would check it out.  Haven't started it yet. "Lincoln McEvoy has a problem. Well, really, he has several, but for this Irish ex-pat bouncer at a seedy, small-time casino the fact that his girlfriend was just murdered in the parking lot is uppermost in his mind.That is until lots of people around him start dying, and not of natural causes. Suddenly Linc's got half the New Jersey mob, dirty cops and his man-crazy upstairs neighbor after him and he still doesn't know what's going on. Bullets are flying, everybody's on the take and it all may be more than Linc's new hair plugs can handle.And Linc's got to find the guy who put in those hair plugs—or at least his body—and fast, or else he'll never get that voice out of his head. Head-spinning plot twists, breakneck pacing and some of the best banter this side of Elmore Leonard's Detroit, will keep you on the edge of your seat and itching for more." Sounds interesting.  Being that it is about an Irish man... Chad might enjoy it more than me, we shall see.

Blackout (Oxford Time Travel Series)- Connie Willis.  "Oxford in 2060 is a chaotic place, with scores of time-traveling historians being sent into the past. Michael Davies is prepping to go to Pearl Harbor. Merope Ward is coping with a bunch of bratty 1940 evacuees and trying to talk her thesis adviser into letting her go to VE-Day. Polly Churchill's next assignment will be as a shopgirl in the middle of London's Blitz. But now the time-travel lab is suddenly canceling assignments and switching around everyone's schedules. And when Michael, Merope, and Polly finally get to World War II, things just get worse. For there they face air raids, blackouts, and dive-bombing Stukas--to say nothing of a growing feeling that not only their assignments but the war and history itself are spiraling out of control. Because suddenly the once-reliable mechanisms of time travel are showing significant glitches, and our heroes are beginning to question their most firmly held belief: that no historian can possibly change the past."  I am a sci-fi/fantasy nut so this sounded good.  Was a few chapters into it till i realized it was not the first by the author.  While it is the first in a two part series, many of the characters are introduced in previous stories.  So I have put this one on hold, till I read the others before it.  One is mentioned below, and the second and third I am on waiting list for.

Fire Watch- Connie Willis.  "Short story set during the Blitz with Mr. Bartholomew, an Oxford historian from the mid 2100s, travelling back in time to be part of the Fire Watch at St. Paul’s Cathedral.   It also introduces Kivrin and Mr. Dunworthy."  The first by the Oxford Time Travel Series author.  Reading this online, found it for free. Good, so far.

Nearing Home- Billy Graham "In this moving narrative, Billy Graham once again takes up the pen not only to share his personal experience of growing older but also teach us some important lessons on how to view our time here on Earth. He says that the Bible makes it clear that God has a specific reason for keeping us here. So what is His purpose for these years, and how can we align our lives with it? How can we not only learn to cope with the fears and struggles and growing limitations we face but actually grow stronger inwardly in the midst of these difficulties?" Haven't started yet

Waiting for Superman- "The American public education system is in crisis. Millions of students attend "failure factories" that produce more drop-outs than graduates; millions more attend "nice" schools that mask mediocre achievement. The U.S.'s reading and math scores stagnate and even fall behind, while other countries continue to advance. But many are working to reinvent this system. The film Waiting for Superman, directed by An Inconvenient Truth's Davis Guggenheim, chronicles these efforts through the interlocking stories of a handful of students and families searching for alternatives, and of reformers proving that all kids can learn. Expanding on the film's arguments, the book Waiting for Superman explores politically charged topics through a series of essays by thinkers at the leading edge of educational innovation. It shows how failing schools destroy neighborhoods—not the reverse—and how research reveals that dedicated, attentive teachers are what help at-risk kids succeed. With candor, poignancy, and hope, this book encourages those inspired by the film to join the battle to save American education and our children's future."  Haven't started yet

DragonFlight- Anne McCaffrey "HOW CAN ONE GIRL SAVE AN ENTIRE WORLD?  To the nobles who live in Benden Weyr, Lessa is nothing but a ragged kitchen girl. For most of her life she has survived by serving those who betrayed her father and took over his lands. Now the time has come for Lessa to shed her disguise--and take back her stolen birthright. But everything changes when she meets a queen dragon. The bond they share will be deep and last forever. It will protect them when, for the first time in centuries, Lessa's world is threatened by Thread, an evil substance that falls like rain and destroys everything it touches. Dragons and their Riders once protected the planet from Thread, but there are very few of them left these days. Now brave Lessa must risk her life, and the life of her beloved dragon, to save her beautiful world. . . ." This is book one in a series.  Love fantasy series, but haven't started this yet.  Was one I found while looking through available titles... we shall see.

Mind the Gap- Christopher Golden "Always assume there's someone after you. That was the paranoid wisdom her mother had hardwired into Jasmine Towne ever since she was a little girl. Now, suddenly on her own, Jazz is going to need every skill she has ever been taught to survive enemies both seen and unseen. For her mother had given Jazz one last invaluable piece of advice, written in her own blood.Jazz Hide Forever  All her life Jazz has known them only as the "Uncles," and her mother seemed to fear them as much as depend on them. Now these enigmatic, black-clad strangers are after Jazz for reasons she can't fathom, and her only escape is to slip into the forgotten tunnels of London's vast underground. Here she will meet a tribe of survivors calling themselves the United Kingdom and begin an adventure that links her to the ghosts of a city long past, a father she never knew, and a destiny she fears only slightly less than the relentless killers who'd commit any crime under heaven or earth to prevent her from fulfilling it."  Another found while browsing, sounds different.  We shall see.

Knowing the Bible 101- This is the book for the class I am taking at my church starting next week.

Beautiful in God's Eyes-  Elizabeth George.  Been reading this for awhile, had to stop when things got crazy with work and school.

Complete Guide to Money- Dave Ramsey.  This book goes along with the Financial Peace University class that we are doing on our own right now.

Total Money Makeover- Dave Ramsey.  Pretty similar to book above.  This is one Chad and I are reading together.

Divergent- part of a series, currently 39 our of 46 waiting for this book.

World without end- Ken Follett.  2 out of 3 waiting for this book.  Sequel to Pillars of the Earth that I finished a month ago.

Doomsday Book- Connie Willis.  part of the oxford time travel series.  1 out of 1 waiting for this book.

To Say Nothing of the Dog-  Connie Willis.  Book 3 of the oxford time travel series.  In my wish list till I read the one above.

Icebound Land- John Flannagan- book 3 in the Ranger's apprentice series.  3 out of 3 on waiting list.

First 3 Sue Grafton novels- You know, the alphabet ones.  Have this in a physical book on the holdshelf at the library, just haven't made it there to pick it up.

Also in the middle of the Game of Thrones series, Septimus Heap Series,  and the Dresden File books, but 5 is my limit for my holds, because they all have a tendency to come available at the same time.

Also still reading Star Trek books from my dad..... Only on #30 of the original series, so I will be reading these the rest of my life. LOL

Have had some recommendations from friends, but haven't gotten around to look into them yet.

My favorite types are series and sci-fi/ fantasy books.  So feel free to throw some recommendations my way.

What are you reading this summer?