I posted a review of "I Can See You" by Karen Rose on my blog and 52 books blog. Great book - well worth reading if you are into romantic thrillers.

Just finished Benny and Shrimp. Now reading "I Can See You" by Karen Rose. Plus enjoying our awesome summer weather.

Jimboy's - Mexican Togo's - sandwiches

Mercy, it's been years since I read the Dune series. Glad you are enjoying. I read The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane - Excellent. Look forward to hearing what you think about it.

Today starts Week 30 in the quest to read 52 books in 52 weeks and should have you starting book # 31. The year is a bit more than half over and we are halfway towards our goal of reading 52 books for the year. Keep up the good work. You may post your reviews, thoughts, reactions to the books you've read here or on the 52 Books in 52 Weeks Blog. ********************************************* Books, books and more books - I love books. How about you guys. Of course you do. This week marks the 4th tuesday of the month which means its time for what's on your nightstand hosted by 5 minutes for books. Great site by the way - check it out frequently. They have great reviews on kids books. My nightstand overfloweth this month with lots of interesting books. We've been in the midst of planning for 4th grade and I can't help ordering a few books for myself while ordering books for James. I have been reading a lot since we are on our summer break and I finally have some time for me. Plus I received quite a few review books in the past couple weeks which I'm very excited about. One I'm particularly excited about is I discovered Karen Rose a couple years back and love her writing. So when the opportunity came up to review "I Can See You" for Hachette Books, I jumped on it. It will be released on August 5th so will be reading it soon and reviewing. I'm also reading "Teaching the Trivium" by Harvey and Laurie Bluedorn which is chockful of tools for homeschooling, plus it contains a text of Dorothy Sayer's Lost Tools of Learning written back in 1947. Still very apropos to today and full of wisdom. I received several books this month to review that I'm looking forward to reading including A Circle of Souls by Preetham Grandhi Benny and Shrimp by Katarina Mazetti The Divorce Party by Laura Dave Water Witch by Deborah LeBlanc Atlantis Revelation by Thomas Greanias. I'm a bit of a mood reader and there are so many books on my nightstand calling my name. I've been trying to work through the oldest first and trying not to buy too many new books. Looking at the books, it looks like I've managed to get through all the older ones, so now all the books are fair game now. OY! I was very good for a couple months and bought hardly anything at all. This month the temptation has been too hard to resist, especially when Amazon has their buy 3 and get the 4th one for free special offers. To see what everyone else has been reading or planning to read, click on over to 5 minutes for books. What books on your nightstand are calling your name this month?

I have the book and need to reread it. Thanks for the reminder. Will go dig it out.

From what I've been learning from different agents and publishers online, it's a good idea to have a couple books written before querying. Perhaps would be a good idea to write the other two, then start querying. Have you checked out literary agents Rachel Gardener or Nathan Bransford. They both have excellent blogs with great suggestions and insight. There is also sites where you can practice your queries and they tell whether its good or bad and what can been done to improve it in order to get noticed and picked from the slush pile. Check out querytracker.net and the ladies who blog on it. hth

We are taking a break right now but did have educational experience with baby birds in our backyard. Check it out on our blog.

I thoroughly enjoy their Sister Agatha mysteries. Going to try one of their Ella Clah Novels soon. I've been getting them at the used book store. May have to break down and actually buy new from amazon. :)

Today starts Week 29 in the quest to read 52 books in 52 weeks and should have you starting book # 30. The year is half over and we are halfway towards our goal of reading 52 books for the year. Keep up the good work. You may post your reviews, thoughts, reactions to the books you've read here or on the 52 Books in 52 Weeks Blog. ******************************************* This past week I finished "Black Ice" by Anne Stuart. I really like this author and will be looking for more of her books. Also "Kill Zone" by Vicki Hinze - first time author read. Like her style too. Will be starting "Temptation Ridge" by Robyn Carr - # 7 in her Virgin River series. Looks like I'm on a Romance and Suspense kick. Lots of interesting books waiting to be read on my TBR shelf. What book are you starting this week and what books are waiting that you are looking forward to reading?

Boy, it's quiet this week. I know you guys are reading, even while enjoying the wonderful summer weather. So, Watcha readin?

Today starts Week 28 in the quest to read 52 books in 52 weeks and should have you starting book # 29. The year is half over and we are halfway towards our goal of reading 52 books for the year. Keep up the good work. You may post your reviews, thoughts, reactions to the books you've read here or on the 52 Books in 52 Weeks Blog. ************************************************** I finished reading "Duma Key" by Stephen King last night. Very good book and held my attention the entire time. Not sure what I'm going to read next. Be sure to check out the 52 books blog to find out more about Harlequin launching Harlequin Teen. They have some interesting books coming up and I'm hoping to snag a couple Advance Reader copies. What are you all reading this week?

I'm really going to have to read one of Charlaine Harris's books. They look good. Currently I'm reading book one and book two in the Mistress of Beasts Saga - Wizard's Secrets and Chasing Demons by R.L. Geerdes. Just finished book one and will be starting book 2. Very good so far. She had asked if I would review Chasing Demons and when I mentioned hadn't read Wizard's Secret yet, she very kindly sent me both.

We are going to continue with VIE for grade 4 and Spelling workout. However, I looked at Wordly Wise while at the store and really, really liked it. Think it would be beneficial. Would it be too much? Have you substituted for spelling or used with it with spelling. Who here is using it and what do you think about it?

That's exactly why I didn't ask my 9 year old what instrument because I knew the answer would be drums. We just don't have the room. Hubby wants him to start with piano so will be getting Yamaha electronic keyboard. Drums can come later...much later.

Thursday started Week 27 in the quest to read 52 books in 52 weeks and should have you starting book # 28. The year is half over and we are halfway towards our goal of reading 52 books for the year. You all are doing a fantastic job. :) You may post your reviews, thoughts, reactions to the books you've read here or on the 52 Books in 52 Weeks Blog. Happy Reading!

Today is the start of Week 26 in the quest to read 52 books in 52 weeks and should have you starting book # 27. Which means --- Drum roll, please. The year is half over and we are halfway towards our goal of reading 52 books for the year. You all are doing a fantastic job. :) You may post your reviews, thoughts, reactions to the books you've read here or on the 52 Books in 52 Weeks Blog. ************************************************* Happy 4th of July everybody

My blogs are linked in the signature line. I post almost every day with an occasional unplugged week. Also link to group challenge blog -52 books.

Today is the start of Week 25 in the quest to read 52 books in 52 weeks and should have you starting book # 26. Which means --- Drum roll, please. We are halfway towards our goal of reading 52 books for the year. You all are doing a fantastic job. :) You may post your reviews, thoughts, reactions to the books you've read here or on the 52 Books in 52 Weeks Blog. ******************************************************* Happy Summer! I'm looking forward to the long days of summer, relaxing on the patio with a glass of ice tea and reading. Aren't you? Even in the midst of vacations, gardening, summer activities and summer lessons, time reading is well spent. I'll tell you a secret...I have discovered that reading is more enjoyable than watching television. Reading engages my mind, taking me away to places I've never been, is entertaining and educational. I've just about given up television and occasionally will watch a netflix dvd or some show we decided to dvr. But I discovered I'd much rather be reading. And I have discovered many new to me authors along the way. What's on my plate this week: I currently reading "Walls of Phantoms" a huge book of 1300 pages which is a modern retelling of the Odyssey and Epic of Gilgamesh. For class I reading "A Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man" by James Joyce. Waiting in the wings is "Duma Key" by Stephen King for when bored with reading "Walls." So gang - How is it going? Can you believe this is the halfway point already. Are you halfway there, nearly there, past it or just hanging on. I've got the pom poms out to cheer every one on.

Thanks guys, appreciate all the feedback. I like all your ideas including increasing the amount he looses from the swear jar, making him write bible verses, looking up alternative words to use in the dictionary, etc. We are making changes, because I can't expect him to behave properly if we don't mirror the behavior we want him to do. No swearing, no yelling, no whining, being polite, etc. Some days I feel like we have failed in teaching him any manners at all and are starting all over again. However, life has been a bit calmer since we disconnected the wii and no tv.

What do you do when your kids swear? Especially when they know it is wrong. Admittedly I have a potty mouth sometimes and am making a concerted effort to no longer swear. But my nine year old has been doing this in front of his cub scout group and other places. I think he's doing it more to get attention than anything else. He already lost all his Godzilla movies, internet and wii privileges. I instituted a swear jar in which he will lose money if he swears and then won't be able to get monsters vs aliens when it comes out. Other than that I am at a loss. What are the consequences to your kids when they swear?

I don't know, but we just ended up removing the wii to the garage for an unlimited amount of time. Even though he is only allowed to play e games like mario cart, his attitude still gets really bad when he plays too much. He actually screamed at me for beating him the other day. Major restriction time.

Today is the start of Week 24 in the quest to read 52 books in 52 weeks and should have you starting book # 25. Which means we are almost halfway towards our goal of reading 52 books for the year. You all are doing a fantastic job. :) You may post your reviews, thoughts, reactions to the books you've read here or on the 52 Books in 52 Weeks Blog. ************************************************ I have no idea what I'm going to read next. Do You? There are some interesting weekly events to get involved with in the blogosphere Amy of Hope is the Word is hosts this weekly event on Thursdays and it is a place where you can share your favorite family read-alouds and read about others. Rebecca at Lost in Books is hosting a new weekly event that readers of global literature will love. Take Me Away Saturday is all about books that take place in different cultures and are about different cultures. Rebecca writes: Each week I will feature a different country or culture (ex. Cherokee, Jewish, etc. that do not have a specific country per se) and list some books that can transport you there. I am keeping a map of the countries we visit and a list of the specific cultures... ****************************************************** What are you all reading this week? Have a wonderful book week.

Our weekly report is up. We have 5 more weeks left before our summer break. Link in siggi.

Today marks the beginning of book Week 23 of our quest to read 52 books in 52 weeks. It is time to start book # 24. (If you haven't already.) :) We are almost halfway. To recap the rules: Read an average of a book a week - 52 books in 52 weeks Re-reading a book counts--as long as you first read it before 2009 School related books don't count (unless you want them to. You may post your reviews, thoughts, reactions to the books you've read here or on the 52 Books in 52 Weeks Blog. ******************************************* My next book will be a non fiction one: Sarah Palin: A New Kind of Leader by Joe Hilley. As you can imagine, I wanted to read this book last year because I was curious about her. I had planned on reading it for Winter Reading Challenge but didn't get around to it. When I mentioned passing on the book, the author Joe Hilley actually emailed me to find out why I was passing. How embarrasing is that. I assured him it was because it was a mood thing and I would be reading it eventually. Well now is the time. What interesting books are you reading this week?