Weekly Wrap-up for February 6, 2011: Weird Week and Yes, More Book Acquisitions.

This week was a little all over the place, don't you think?

We finished up our first semester LAST week with exams and all of that, so the first two days of this week I had to finish grading and upload all of those grades. It was time consuming and stressful. Not to mention, we had "snowpocalypse" headed our way, so I made doubly sure that I uploaded and finished all of my grades Tuesday before going home.

To make this week even weirder, we only had students two days this week. Monday was a Professional Development day, so the students were off. Then we had school Tuesday, where the kids had all new classes and I scared all of my students :). Wednesday and Thursday we were off after getting snow dumped on us. Friday the students were back and we spent the class periods trying to catch back up and get things straight.

So yes, weird week that has thrown me completely off.

To combat the stress, I spent most of my first snow day (Wed) reading some "fun" reads. My mind has been working overtime recently, so I pulled a YA series off the shelf and dug in (it is the Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan-the first book is The Lightning Thief). I managed to read the first two books and half of the third on Wednesday. I finished up the third one by Friday night and spent a lazy Saturday reading the last two in the series. Yep, I read the whole series of five in a matter of a couple days. It was a good breather from the heavy reading I have been doing lately. My brain needed the break.

I also read some more War and Peace and prepped some more posts. If it hadn't been for my stress load, I would have been almost caught up with books finished. Oh well, more posts for this week. :) For the record, I really would like to be caught up, so that the posts go up as I am reading the book, not a month after. I have been working on getting there, but I don't want to double post in a day, know what I mean? Slowly I think I'll get there.

I was also bad this week and went book shopping. Yeah, I know, I know. After those stacks of books I brought home last week from the library sale, how could I possibly buy more books? You see, I have this disease, called "I want it so I can read it" and it means that I bring home far too many books.

This stack is from two different trips this week:


Starting from top to bottom:

• Joseph Andrews and Shamela by Henry Fielding: I found this little gem in the used section of my local bookstore. While neither title is on my list, Tom Jones is. And when I remember that Shamela is a spoof of Samuel Richardson's Pamela, which IS on my list, I knew I need to grab this. It was in great condition!
  
• A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines: This is another title off my list that I managed to find in the used section of the bookstore, and I swear that this copy is brand new. I have read this once before (it was a required book in my eleventh grade English class), but didn't have a copy.
  
• The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins: Since I love The Woman in White, I know that I am going to want to read this other Collins title on my list this year. Its inevitable. I think I may save it for around Halloween, since I have heard this one is a little more suspenseful?
  
• Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky (Pevear and Volohonsky translation): While I already own a copy of Crime and Punishment, and have already read it for my project (it was book 2), this copy jumped into my arms from the used section. I was eventually going to get a copy of this translation because I know I am going to reread it, so I am so excited that I found a copy in such great condition!
  
• Twelfth Night by Shakespeare: I really do adore the Barnes and Noble Shakespeare editions. I think they have done a marvelous job on them. They're pretty well-researched and look great all lined up together on my shelf. :) Now that this one is sitting on my shelf, I only have 3 more to acquire until I have the set (I like sets of books, did you know that? I told you, its a disease).
  
• The Last Olympian (Percy Jackson #5) by Rick Riordan: This title (and the next one) were from my one planned book trip this week. My friend who works at a bookstore told me that this one was finally released in paperback (that was my excuse for not reading the series earlier. I picked up the first four at a Scholastic book fair and I wanted the fifth one to match in paperback. I know, I told you. Disease, okay?). I grabbed a copy and told myself I would finally read the series, since I have seen so many rave reviews!
  
• Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston: I selected this as the book for the second month of the new book club I started. I subbed for another teacher a couple weeks ago and her AP English class was discussing this novel. It was on my list anyway, but based on that classes' discussion, I knew I needed to read it with a group!

I hope you enjoyed looking at that stack, which unlike all my other book loot pictures recently, was taken on my desk. You can see some of the random stuff littering it (I've been busy). :)

Anyway, I am hoping for a much better week this week. The first Oliver Twist post will go up Tuesday (aren't you curious to see what I make of this Dickens title?), some posts on Romeo and Juliet, my first post for the Ulysses readalong, as well as the beginnings of my thoughts on Doyle's The Lost World.

Yep, another busy week.

Happy Reading!