June Reading

 Well, I guess I'm back on track with my reading.  I made it through 9 books this month.  This is what I read, in the order I read it.  In the picture, the first book I read each month is always on the bottom, with the most recent on the top.

1. A Hundred Flowers by Gail Tsukiyama (The Samurai's Garden, which I read earlier this month was much better)
2. City of Saints by Andrew Hunt (set in 1920's Salt Lake City - an excellent book with a Dick Tracy/Dragnet feel to it)
3. The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult (the first Picoult novel I've read and I LOVED it.)
4. 22 Britannia Road by Amanda Hodgkinson (not great)
5. Sightseeing by Rattawut Lapcharoensap (Horrible. Not worth reading at all. Had to read it for book club. Complete waste of time.)
6. Trekkerman: Walking the World's Best Trails by Ric Samulski (Samulski is from here, and used to own the newspaper I wrote for when I first came to town in 1994.  He didn't own it then though.  I'm not at all into hiking, but this was a local book club selection, and it was surprisingly good.  Very humorous.)
7. The Storytelling Animal by Jonathan Gottschall (interesting non-fiction book about how story is such a part of being human.  Very thought provoking.)
8. You Are One of Them by Elliott Holt (good book about the cold war)
9. The Walnut Tree by Charles Todd (fluff fiction, with an impossible storyline, but entertaining)

I read a total of 11.5 inches this month, in nine books, with a total of 2,769 pages.  For the year to date that makes 42 books, 49.25 inches (over four feet!) and 12,045 pages. :D

The stack on the left is the pile of books I read this month, and the books on the right are the ones I have checked out to read soon.  This doesn't include two of the book club books I don't know about yet. I should find out what they are early this week.  I don't expect to get through the whole pile, but I'm hoping to make good progress on them.

 The other day when I had my daycare kids out on our playground, I couldn't find my four year old.  A quick search found him in my bedroom, in the chair.  He told me he was reading books. (He had been reading the one that is at his feet in the picture.  He threw it down when I came in with the camera).

He loves to read, and he loves to be alone.  He had been outside alone right before we all headed out, then went in when all the kids came out.  Later, he went back out after all the kids came in :)  He's his own private little man.  I guess he takes after me in that respect.  I love to be alone where it's quiet too.

 And then there's this creative little guy.  He found a knight, but couldn't find the horse that goes with him, so he grabbed a little stuffed horse to improvise with.

Pretty sharp :)