Sunday Salon: July 9, 2017 (still in the UK)

My life in books:
Reading over the past couple of weeks has been good even though I was on holiday and now am grading for a course I'm teaching.

• Take the Bai Road by Erika Mitchell--another fun spy installment
• In the Country We Love by Diane Guerrero--memoir and award winner
• Three Truths and a Lie by Brent Hartinger
• Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult--an intriguing novel of prejudice and commonality

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 30, adding one in the past two weeks.
• Travel the World in Books--The idea is to read books set in as many countries as possible. In the past two weeks I added three new countries, Mexico, Columbia, and Spain.
• Literary Escapes--Similar to the previous challenge, this one tracks the US states. In the past two weeks I added one new state, Washington, DC (I know, it isn't a state, but I'm counting it) so I am at 18 states total.
• Read all of the ALA YA Award Winners--I read the final book for this challenge so I have completed it!

My life outside books:

Working:
I've been back in Santa Barbara for a week or so and am in the midst of teaching an online American Government course with 58 students!

Family:

Well, we're back from a wonderful vacation in the UK. After taking my daughter and niece to visit Edinburgh and the University of St. Andrews, we spent another day in Kent with my brother and his family. We took a lovely walk in a national trust park, boy do the Brits do their parks well! My daughter and I then headed to London for the rest of the holiday, with one day in the wonderful city of Oxford. My dad did his doctorate at Oxford so we made sure to visit his college, Corpus Christi, which was fun. The image below is of the Bodleian Library!

 

I managed to stub my toe on day one in London and broke it. Not much to do for a broken toe, but it meant I was a bit slower and a bit hobbly in my walking. We visited the Globe Theater, the Tate Modern, did some shopping, and spent time with a friend we made years ago when he taught my daughter in a dance class in London.

I am now starting more serious training for the AVON walk. We did a 6 mile walk the day after I got back from the UK and a 4 mile walk the next day. My toe was definitely sore by the end of it! And it's a lovely shade of purple and blue as well. I ended up cutting a hole in my new shoes so that my toe had room to expand while I walk. It's definitely making a difference as the walks get longer each weekend.

Watching:

• My daughter and I started a new series while on vacation in the UK: Suits. I didn't have any interest in watching it because I wasn't sure what it was about, but we're enjoying it!
• I finally watched the final episode of season 2 of Madam Secretary and I really like this show. Now I have to wait a while for season three to be on Netflix.
• We're also watching the final season of the Great British Baking Show. I do love this one!
• We finished the Harry Potter movies, which inspired my dad to read all the books again.