Sunday Salon: March 19, 2017

My life in books:
It's been a slow two weeks of reading! Since my last Sunday Salon that talked about books I've read the following books:

 

• The Unquiet Dead by Ausma Zehanat Khan--a good mystery set in Canada with strong ties to the history of the Srebrinca massacre in Bosnia.
• Wilde Lake by Laura Lippman--a fiction-memoir that was quite interesting

 

• Lucy and Linh by Alice Pung--a wonderful YA novel
• Rules of the Lake by Irene Ziegler--connected short stories
• In This Grave Hour by Jacqueline Winspear--a Maisie Dobbs mystery that if for review. I'll post it tomorrow
• When We Collide by Emery Lord--my current read

Challenge updates:

• Read Your Own Damn Books--My goal is to read 25 books from my TBR shelves this year. So far I've read 13 so I am doing really well on this one.
• Travel the World in Books--The idea is to read books set in as many countries as possible. This month I added a book set in Bosnia.
• Literary Escapes--Similar to the previous challenge, this one tracks the US states. This month I added a book set in Florida.
• Read all of the ALA YA Award Winners--I didn't add to this challenge.

My life outside books:

This month has been a really busy one for work. I have been visiting all the social studies teachers in my district and watching them teach. What a great experience! The relationship with their students are good and there is some really good teaching going on. I wish all teachers could watch their colleagues. Earlier this month I attended the California Social Studies conference, which was good, but this past weekend I attended the CUE conference. CUE is a fantastic tech conference for educators and takes place in Palm Springs. Good location, great hotel, 20 colleagues from my district, and AMAZING sessions. I always come away overwhelmed and inspired. I also did a presentation to our School Board this past week. I find that a bit nerve wracking, but it went well even though we didn't go on until 9:30pm.

I got to see my daughter yesterday! One of the best parts about the conference being in Palm Springs is that Sophia's boarding school is about half way between my house and Palm Springs. We had a relaxing lunch and got to catch up on all sorts of things. It's so much better in person than on the phone!