Monday again! It’s a rainy one after a mostly grey weekend. Despite the stay-inside weather, I didn’t get much reading done this weekend. Between a six mile training run on Saturday, and a day spent mostly at my inlaws’ place on Sunday (both of my sisters-in-law were in town on the same weekend, which never happens, so we took advantage of the chance to get the kids some quality auntie time) I didn’t have much spare time to curl up with a book. But that’s fine – some weekends are bookish and some aren’t.
On to the books – I did manage to finish The Inner Circle this morning (I had about twenty pages left) and while no one would argue that it’s great literature, I thought it was pretty fun. Now it’s on to The Jesus Cow, a new release that’s due back on Wednesday and can’t be renewed – hope I can knock it out in time. And then I’ll be picking up Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret, for the Judy Blume readalong that’s kicking off today courtesy of Kerry from Entomology of a Bookworm. (Posts on Margaret will be up by June 26th, and then we’re turning our attention to Summer Sisters for July 17th.) In honor of the kickoff, Kerry posed a few questions; here are my answers.
1. Is this your first time reading Blume, or did you grow up on her books?
The latter, for me – Judy Blume was a big part of my childhood reading. The Fudge books – Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing and Superfudge were my first forays into the Blume canon. I’ve read and enjoyed Summer Sisters, although somehow I missed Margaret, so I’m excited to finally read it.
2. If you grew up on her books, what’s your favorite?
Just As Long As We’re Together was my favorite Judy Blume. I identified with perfectionist Rachel – don’t judge.
3. Are you reading one or the other or both of the books?
Both!
4. Where will you be reading in the coming weeks?
I’m in a small town just outside of Buffalo, New York and will be doing most of my reading here…
In the nursery, while my little guy snoozes peacefully on my lap. It’s a tough life. 😉
5. Where will you be sharing your #BlumeAlong thoughts along the way?
You can expect posts here on June 26th and July 17th, and in the meantime you can find me on Twitter and Instagram, where I’ll be participating in the discussion using the hashtag #BlumeAlong.
What are you reading this week? Will you be participating in #BlumeAlong? There’s still time to sign up!
covered in flour 
Ooh, I always love when a readalong (especially of something classic like Blume) has a mix of newbies and re-readers. So excited to hear what you think of Margaret since you missed that one but have read the others.
ALSO THAT BABY FACE. TOO ADORABLE.
Thank you! I like my little fella, think I’ll keep him around. 😉
Just started Margaret, and I’m enjoying it so far! It’s one of only a handful of Blume novels that I haven’t actually read, so I’m glad you picked it!
1. I’m glad we’re doing BlumeALong together! Yay! I’m a totally newbie, but super excited to catch up and hear everyone else’s thoughts.
2. What are you training for? I’m training for my first half marathon! (It’s in less than a month! Eek!)
3. Your baby is too cute. 😀
Hi Megan! I’m glad we’re doing BlumeAlong together, too! It’s been awhile since I read any Judy Blume and I’m excited to see what everyone thinks. I just started Margaret and I’m enjoying it so far.
Good luck on your half marathon! I love that distance – I’ve done four. 13.1 is such a great accomplishment! I’m training for my first full marathon. This is week two of my training cycle – the race is in mid-October. I’m pretty nervous about it. Three months postpartum isn’t a great time to start marathon training, but it’s either that or eat the registration fee and the fee I paid to defer my entry from last year’s race (postpartum marathon is still better than pregnant marathon). The first long run was paaaaaaaainful! I haven’t run that long since my last half marathon, when I was 11 weeks pregnant. Ouch.
Thank you for the kind words about my little man. He’s a keeper! 🙂
Heading over to check out your blog now!
What a great idea! I bought a used copy of Summer Sisters from the library a couple of months ago and have been meaning to start it! My first time reading that one.
Hope you like it! I definitely enjoyed it when I read it many years ago – I’m looking forward to picking it up again for this readalong. (I won’t touch it until July, though – the posts aren’t due until July 17th and I have SO MANY other library books on my stack at the moment.)
I saw you had one huge stack there. I’m reading the weirdest assortment of books at the moment. Did you ever read My Side of the Mountain as a kid? I’m about to read it on Thursday for the first time in over 20 years and it use to be a favorite, I really can’t wait for it to arrive in the mail. I’ll try to remember to let you know how Summer Sisters goes in a comment. Thanks for the replies. Happy reading!
Yes the stack really is absurd. Every time I return a few books, more cycle up to the top of my holds queue, too, so it appears to be a never-ending cycle.
I never read MY SIDE OF THE MOUNTAIN – what’s it about? Hope you like SUMMER SISTERS! (Hope I like it as much on this read as I did when I read it as a teenager, too…) I can’t wait to hear your thoughts.
My Side of the Mountain is about a young boy (11 or 12) that runs away from NYC to live alone in the Catskills. He digs a big hole in a tree trunk and moves inside. Most of the book is describing how he got there and making his tree house. It’s very visual and I have vivid memories of reading and being totally enthralled with the story and with nature. It’s a wonderful childrens book!
It sounds wonderful! I can’t believe I missed it… I’m going to have to remedy that. As soon as I get the library stack under control…
Honestly at the risk of sounding very corny it’s such a beautiful book! It was the first “school book” that captured my attention. I hope you get a chance to read it someday or maybe even one your kids will read it. My main worry re-reading it is that it won’t read the same way this time but my hopes are high=)
The library stack is pretty amazing, I say the higher the better, never run out of books!
Oh, it sounds so good! And it’s a trilogy?! Definitely going to check this out. I’m starting to think a lot about building a good middle grade library for when my daughter is ready, and this could be a great addition. (And fun for me, in the meantime!)
I never read the second two–I will remedy this soon!
Building your daughter a middle grade library is so sweet & would be so fun picking out the books. There’s something indescribably special about sharing books with kids especially ones we loved as kids ourselves.
I can’t wait to hear your opinions on the other two books! Hope they live up to the promise of the first. 🙂
Maybe I will write a blog post about the middle grade library I’m working on… I wasn’t planning to, but it might be fun to share what I’m choosing. And of course to find out about books I haven’t read but that others would include, too, like “My Side of the Mountain.”
I meant to share this too http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41668.My_Side_of_the_Mountain_Trilogy
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