It's Monday July 30

I am feeling a bit of shock and disbelief that July is almost over. Where, exactly, did the summer go? The best part of these weekly posts is that I can answer that question with a loud, resounding, "READING!".

Perhaps I should have done more household organizing (yes, seriously). Perhaps more writing (I'm looking at you, WIP that I've not made nearly as much progress on as I had hoped.)
Perhaps I could have done more yard work, or experimenting with simple recipes I could use throughout the year.

Instead, I was lured by the siren song of the never ending TBR list. If you'd like to join in my insanity - head over to Teach Mentor Texts to peruse the weekly reading lists of my friends and colleagues.

Science Fiction - If you follow me here or on Twitter, you know I'm trying to discover some new "classics" in science fiction that I can recommend. One thing that I'm still a bit disappointed with is the lack of true Middle Grade SciFi. I've found many wonderful YA books, but not much that I could confidently hand to my fourth and fifth graders, due to all the heavy petting - and sometimes more - in the romance department (with the glorious exception of Eye of the Storm which I wrote about in one of my SciFiSummer posts). If you have any suggestions, please leave me a comment!

Legend was a serious page turner. It's a possible book for my fifth graders, though I'm waiting to see how the romance ends up in book 2. Violence, yes... but not too graphic (many of my students have read Hunger Games, so I'm not as worried about a bit of violence). The characters are not quite as well developed as I'd like, but I was deep enough into the story that it didn't bother me.

Beta is right off the list for middle grade readers. I did a full review on GoodReads and on my blog here on Friday. I had mixed feelings on this one. Purely for ME I would have given it 3 stars, but I really see the teen appeal.

Nonfiction - Sally Ride was a personal hero. When I heard the news of her passing, I was crushed. In her honor, I picked up a book she wrote about being an astronaut.

Graphic Novels and Comic Books:

I'm continuing to read the ongoing Angel and Faith series (it's on issue 12) and I need to write up my review for Fandom Post. If you loved Buffy or Angel on TV, you owe it to yourself to check out the comics that are coming out. I love them. I am also reading Alabaster: Wolves. It's definitely mature content (significant language and violence), but has amazing voice and art. Deadpool... (again, adult).... verdict is still out. Some of the issues in this trade made me love him, and some made me hate him. I hear that's how I'm supposed to feel about him, though.

Kid GNs - Verdict is still out on Astronaut Academy. I can't decide how I feel about it. It was unique, but... odd. I still hate Kit Feeny. My sons grabbed another one, so I read it. Blech.

Newbery - Still working my way through! Went back to the 40s for this week's read. It started out okay, but ended up truly bizarre. It's a wonder children's books in the past didn't send the kids right over the edge into insanity. This one makes 42/91