It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 02/18/13



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Reading? Meme

 

 

I love how much reading I can do over a long weekend.  I am glad that I have this weekend to remind me of that since my district is talking furloughs.  I will just continue to think of it as the possibility of more reading time - a gift, really.  So here's what I read over the past week.

   
                                 

Many of you told me that I would really enjoy this book and you were right.  I was a little worried in the first chapter as I found it a bit graphic, but either the author toned it down or I got used to it.  Either way, I didn't want to stop reading and I immediately shared an excerpt with a group of teachers I worked with this week.  It's one of those books that you just want to share.  Btw, it also made me very grateful to live in a time when doctors use technology such as soap and gloves and rely less on leeches for their rememdies. 

 

 

 

 

 This has been a pretty great reading week so I am happy to sound a bit repetitious when I say I really enjoyed this book also.  I like to dive into books without reading the flaps or other summaries.  I like the surprise, although I'm learning that I go into books with all kinds of preconceived ideas which are sometimes, as in the case of this book, completely off.  I thought this was a fantasy, which honestly made me less excited about it.  But it's not.  It's gothic and original.  I loved the story and the writing.  This is one of those books that I love, but I'm not sure how teens will respond to.  If you've had students read this one, I'd be interested to hear what they thought.

 

 

 

I live in a military community so it has been my goal to try to find more YA that incorporates some of the unique challenges these teens face.  I was excited that ALAN had a whole panel of authors who have written books that are exactly what I'm looking for.  This is the second that I've read and I have to say that I was hugely disappointed when I got to the part where the military kid is gay (this is not a huge spoiler for this book - you find out pretty early on).  The same thing happened in the last book.  Not that I mind that story line, but I don't want it to be in 100% of the books I'm suggesting.  Still, that disappointment happened pretty immediately and then I spent the remainder of my morning loving the book.  I think Jackson did a great job of writing characters and situations that the reader will really care about.  Nothing was easy and no decision clear-cut, as often happens in life.  Plus, there was this whole story-line where she befriended a vet, and my grandfather, a WWII vet, just passed away last weekend, so it made me think of him.  I'm excited to share this one.

 

 

 

What can I say?  Read it!  I felt like I was there, like I actually knew the players.  I live in Japan so I've visited the Peace Park in Hiroshima and talk to people who lost their families to the bomb so it was really fascinating to see what people were thinking and doing during that time.  It was also a little scary. 

 

 

 

 

I also read some great picture books this week including Do Not Open This Book!, Henry's Freedom Box, When Marian Sang,  Flotsam, and Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed all of which I recommend.  I read some others that I liked less, but that weren't horrible.

 

So what's in line this week?

 

I've started Their Eyes Were Watching God for my classic for this month.  I also have Charles and Emma and The Girl of Fire and Thorns waiting to be read.  I have The Diviners on audio but it's really long, so we'll see how that goes.

 

         

 

Thanks for reading my blog.  Have a great week!