After our last visit, I made a whirlwind trip to San Antonio to represent Wayland at the Texas Music Educators’ Convention. With an attendance approaching 30,000, it should not be surprising that the convention center was buzzing with activity all week long. Long hours on the exhibit floor and lots of conversations with friends, colleagues, and prospective students meant that my reading was severely diminished this week.
Sadly, Friday was such a busy day (and also my birthday) that I failed to read a single page. Sigh. My streak of 54 consecutive days of reading a minimum of 20 pages has come to an end. I wasn’t too surprised. The last full day of TMEA is always a marathon with exhibits opening at 9am and we work straight through until we close the alumni reception around 11pm. Oh well, time to get to work on a new reading streak!
What I Finished This Week
Reset by Dan Heath. While driving to central Texas, I was able to finish this audiobook. I found many of the ideas presented in this book about changing the direction of your business when resistance is present very interesting and helpful. I anticipate that I will obtain a hard copy of the book in the future so I can review the material and reflect on it. 3 stars.
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. I finished this American novel in the quiet of a San Antonio hotel before all of the craziness of the week began. I enjoyed this book more than I expected. I found the examination of the life of a black woman in Georgia and Florida in the early 20th century to be engaging. While I was extremely surprised by the book’s ending, I found myself reflecting on the content for several days after finishing my reading. I selected this book as part of the “Happy Lunar New Year” mini-challenge; the prompt was “features a wise character.” 3 stars.
What I’m Currently Reading
Diamonds Aren’t Forever by Connie Shelton (p. 68 of 339) I knew that reading at TMEA would be challenging, so I wanted to read a fluff piece. As you can see, I didn’t get very far, but I am enjoying the book thus far. The basic premise is quite funny as well. An older woman’s family heirloom necklace was stolen from a museum. After the police could not retrieve it, she hired a private investigator to find it and return it. Thankfully, the PI was successful. Only problem — he returned a replica to the woman and is making for the hills with the valuable jewels. Fueled by their anger, a group of women devise a plan to steal the necklace from the thief and return it to its rightful owner.
Book Lovers by Emily Henry (1:51 of 11:23). After a very loud week in San Antonio, I was looking forward to enjoying a bit of quiet on the drive home. After letting my ears recover for several hours, I was finally ready to begin a new audiobook. Since I didn’t plan for the drive, I selected a book already in my library. So far it is proving to be very humorous and makes fun of the typical “Hallmark romance” novels that so often make their way to my bookshelf.
That’s it for now. Even though I’m not traveling this week, things look as though they are going to be quite busy after all. Here’s hoping that I continue to make some progress in my reading pursuits this week.
Reading for Me 