It’s been a few weeks since I put up a Monday post. I wonder if I can remember everything I read?

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Read

I read two books in conjunction with African American Read-In events in February.

The first was for the African American Read-In for book bloggers hosted by Vasilly at 1330v: Book Discussion: Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones.

The second was for my Diversity Book Club (I wrote about it most recently here: Fifth Anniversary of Kirkwood City Hall Shooting). We were clever this year and matched up Black History Month with a black history title: The Wake of the Wind by J. California Cooper. The discussion was terrific. We’re a fairly knowledgeable group, now, but the experience of formerly enslaved peoples in the years after the Civil War was a gap of historical knowledge for most of us. Our discussion leader wrote about this book three times on her blog, Taye’ Foster Bradshaw’s Bookshelf:

• Read With Me – The Wake of the Wind by J. California Cooper
• Study of The Wake of the Wind
• The Wake of the Wind

Also, last week, I finished Quiet by Susan Cain for the read-along that I hosted:

• Quiet by Susan Cain Read-Along, Discussion of Part 1
• Quiet by Susan Cain Read-Along, Discussion of Parts 2 and 3
• Quiet by Susan Cain Read-Along, Final Discussion

Reading three books to deadline in February was a lot, but I did manage a couple of books just for fun in the midst of all of that. Savage Nature by Christine Feehan was a lively addition to the Leopard Novel series. Previous novels in the series were set in the rain forest, but this one took place in the bayous of Louisiana. Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative by Austin Kleon was a quick read — too quick, in fact. I took it to the salon and finished it before my color set. I had to resort to reading a fashion magazine. I stole several ideas from Steal Like an Artist, so it was definitely worth the time.

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Reading

After a week with three deadlines for reading books, last night I picked up the easiest, most fun book that I had laying around: Hollow Earth by John Barrowman and Carole E. Barrowman. I wrote about my fascination (obsession is too extreme of a word, I hope) with John Barrowman last month: John Barrowman: My Celebrity Crush — A GenFab Post. Besides singing, acting for both stage and television, producing, and hosting, John Barrowman has also teamed up with his sister, an English professor, to write a middle-grade fantasy series that began with Hollow Earth. I read about three-fourths of it last night enjoying the Scottish setting, the twin telepathy, and the role that art plays in the story and the magic.

For my lunchtime reading, I picked Your Playlist Can Change Your Life by Galina Mindlin, Don DuRousseau, and Joseph Cardillo about music and the brain. I’ve been making a bunch of notes as I read about how I can design playlists to help my moods and productivity.

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Will Read

What’s next? Good question! I don’t have an answer right now, so I guess we’ll wait and see.

It’s Monday! What Are Your Reading? is a weekly meme hosted by Sheila of Book Journey. Be sure to check out her post today to see her selections and the list of links to all the other participating bloggers.