Sunday Salon: School days are nigh

The end of our summer vacation is fast approaching. My daughter M is returning to university this weekend (tomorrow as I write this, today as you read this) and high school will be in session for my other three kids a week later. Usually I am not excited about the start of school because it signals the return of schedules and hounding my kids to complete their homework. However, this year I am bouncing up and down in my seat because I will be returning to school myself! I will be working toward my associate's degree in computer information technology. It has been over 20 years since I have been a full-time student and I am pretty excited. I need to thank whatever committee in the NC state government that is responsible for making online classes available at community-college prices because I wouldn't be able to do this otherwise. Outside of my career goals, I'm hoping that taking classes will wake up my brain. Use it or lose it, as they say. The pressure of reading and writing reports to meet a deadline will hopefully sharpen my blogging skills.

CURRENTLY READING: To keep me from getting antsy while I wait for my textbooks to arrive, I started reading Naughty in Nice by Rhys Bowen. This is the last installment of the Royal Spyness series -- at least, the last one available at my local library. I believe there is a Christmas story due to be published later this year. After this book, I may try to stray away from series for a while. It is easier for me to write reviews of one-off novels than it is to try to review a book in the middle of a series without ruining it for those who haven't read the first book.

UPCOMING:  The next book on my bedside table is The Guinea Pig Diaries by A. J. Jacobs. I usually enjoy stunt memoirs and A. J. Jacobs is the first author who springs to mind when I think of this genre. However, I don't have any expectations when it comes to this book. The Year of Living Biblically was enjoyable, but The Know-It-All bored me so much I didn't even finish it. It's a toss-up as to whether I will like this one.