Dispatch From the Valley

Well, once again we fall behind our brothers and sisters @ Meramec and HP.  Yeah, yeah we know, ninny ninny boo boo :-p!  However, we are still incredibly helpful in helping to boost our totals as a team (you do remember we're a team, right?). 

Here's the raw numbers (we won't "cook" them...yet.  ;-) ).
          8 participants
          41 books
          7,856 pages

Care to know what we read?  Well, here's a listing anyway.

• Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
• The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom
• The Maze Runner by James Dashner
• On Golden Pond: A Play by Ernest Thompson
• Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson
• The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
• Fourth Way Teachings by Rebecca Nottingham
• Michael's People by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro
• Western Civilization by Jackson Spielvogel
• Entertainment Weekly (various issues)
• Missouri Conservationist
• Tough Sh*t: Life Advice from a Fat, Lazy Slob Who Did Good by Kevin Smith
• People Magazine (various issues)
• Fifty Shades of Grey by E L James
• The ExPats by Chris Pavone
• A Wish For Dinosaur by Jane Belk Moncure
• What Can We Play Today? by Jane Belk Moncure
• Chicka Chicka 123 by Bill Martin Jr. and Michael Sampson
• Franklin's Class Trip by Paulette Bourgeois
• The Berenstain Bears by the Sea by Stan and Jan Berenstain
• Fox in Socks by Dr. Seuss
• The Road to Wigan Pier by George Orwell
• "Yellow Kid" Weil: the Autobiography of America's Master Swindler by W T Brannon
• You Can't Win by Jack Black
• Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
• Outliers: the Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell
• Coming Apart: The State of White America 1960-2010 by Charles Murray
• The Beauty Bias: the Injustice of Appearance in Life and Law by Deborah L Rhode
• North and South by Elizabeth Gaskill
• The Problem of Pain by C S Lewis
• Code Word: Geronimo by Capt. Dale and Julia Dye
• Something is Rotten by J M Gregson
• Queen Victoria by Lytton Strachey
• A Bone of Contention by Susanna Gregory

I'd like to close out this posting with a shout out to Maurice Sendak, whom we lost this week.  The man touched every one's childhood with his wonderfully adventurous stories and humorous illustrations.  We lost a legend.

Our President reads Where the Wild Things Are to a group of children. I love his expressive face.  I think he enjoys the story as much as the kids do.