It's Monday 12/31! What Are You Reading?

Happy New Year's Eve! Do you have big plans for tonight? Fancy parties? Times Square? We bought our little New Year's Eve party pack at Target and will celebrate here in Oklahoma with my father-in-law. I love being in the Central Time zone for New Year's Eve, so we can watch the ball drop on TV and be in bed by 11:10!  So, that gives you an idea of our wild plans. At least we now celebrate at 11 - we used to celebrate at 8 pm for the kids! I've included a photo below of a happier time when both Grandma and Grandad were still with us.

Well, it may be New Year's Eve, but it is also Monday and that means it is What Are You Reading Day! Despite our very hectic holiday week, we have all been able to read quite a bit, thanks to travel time:

• I finished The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, and it was just as good as everyone said it was!
• To choose my final books of the year, I scoured the overflowing To-Be-Read shelves in my bedroom, trying to satisfy as many of my 2012 reading challenges as I could!  One of my personal challenges was to read 12 books from my TBR shelves, so I reluctantly ignored some of the newer books I got for Christmas. I started to read Pigs in Heaven by Barbara Kingsolver, which good friends have been recommending to me for years, but I quickly realized that it wasn't the first book in the series (the books can stand alone but I prefer to read them in order), so after 20 or so pages, I switched to The Bean Trees (the first book) by Barbara Kingsolver, which has also been languishing on my shelves for years! I loved, loved, loved this book and can't believe it took me so long to get to it!! Now I am dying to get back home, so I can go back to Pigs in Heaven.
• I am now reading The Thirteenth Child by Patricia C. Wrede, a teen/YA novel that my older son has been telling me to read for years (see the pattern here?). It's an alternate history set out on the Western prairie in pioneer times where there are dragons and wooly rhinoceroses, along with the bison, and magic is used to keep people safe from the big creatures. It's kind of like Little House on the Prairie meets Harry Potter - I'm enjoying it so far.
• My husband, Ken, just finished The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness, another YA novel our son has been begging us to read. Ken absolutely loved it and can't wait to get home to read the rest of the trilogy!
• Since that was the only book he brought on our trip, Ken is now reading a novel on his Kindle, West of Sheridan by Dean Ross, a post-apocalyptic story set in the West, near Yellowstone. It sounds interesting.
• Jamie, 18, finally has some time to read, though games on the computer and his new Kindle Fire are distracting him! He finished City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare (book 4 in the Mortal Instruments series) and is now - finally - reading book 5, City of Lost Souls. He wanted to read this months ago, when it was first released, but first he re-read the rest of the series!
• Craig, 14, is definitely distracted by all the games, TV shows, and movies on his new Kindle Fire!  He did download two books - much to my surprise - and has started reading Fast Track to Sailing by Steve Colgate.

I actually managed a few blog posts this week, once we arrived at my father-in-law's house. I posted a review of Time and Again by Jack Finney (which I loved) and a fun summary of the books we gave and received for Christmas.  I also wrote a Weekend Cooking post about the southern tradition of eating black-eyed peas for good luck on New Year's Day, with my recipe for Hoppin' John. Check it out - there's still time to get your good luck for the new year! Finally, I posted some photos from a very cool display at my local library called The United States of YA - perfect if you need inspiration for the Where Are You Reading Challenge!

What are you and your family reading this week?

(What are you reading Monday is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey, with a kid/teen version hosted by Teach Mentor Texts.)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!