Last fall I took a photo of my TBR (To Be Read) pile. Looping back to that, how’d I do? Well, I’ve read three of the ten so far: the classic Eight Cousins by Louisa May Alcott, teen graphic novel Incredible Doom by Matthew Bogart, and As Brave As You by Jason Reynolds. (And I would have re-read The Great Believers in April, but had lent it to my mom and didn’t have time to get it back before we traveled. Instead, I re-read The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O’Farrell, and Dust & Grim by Chuck Wendig, which I had been meaning to read since last fall but wasn’t in the photo.) I keep trying to get my book club to pick The Grammarians, but so far there’s only lukewarm interest.

Above: Vacation reading (six books for a five-day trip seems reasonable, if not restrained. And I read the top four: Dust & Grim, The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox, A Room with a View, and Emerald Circus). I always like to bring one or two re-reads on a trip, so I know that I have something I’ll like in case I turn out to be not in the mood for the others.

Above: Also, we went to the library while we were on vacation. From this pile, I read Clementine Fox and Duel, and we listened to the audiobook of Nuts to You (which was excellent). The 8yo re-read El Deafo and also enjoyed Clementine Fox and Nuts to You, as well as the stack of books she’d brought along from home. Airport delays, you’re no match for this family! (OK, not to tempt fate. But we’re unlikely to run out of reading material, at least.)

My TBR pile tends to linger and languish because, unlike library books, those books don’t have due dates. All of this is to say, the mid-year reading round-up is practically around the corner…