Summer Reading

Summer is the best!  It's been great having so much extra time to read.  Here's what I've been reading the past few months:

1) Enchanted, Inc. series, by Shanna Swendsen
This was my "guilty pleasure" series for the summer, because it was lighthearted, fun, and didn't require me to think too much.  The series follows the adventures of Katie Chandler, a girl from small-town Texas who moves to New York to pursue her dreams.  Katie believes herself to be so normal that she is hardly above notice, but when she start seeing some abnormal things, such as people with fairy wings, she learns that she has a special gift for seeing the magic around her.  Recruited by a company called MSI (Magic, Spells, and Illusions, Inc.), she finds herself swept up in the magical world, and swept away by a dashing wizard.  I recommend this to those who enjoy a good, lighthearted romance book with a bit of magic.

2) Go Set a Watchman, by Harper Lee
I loved To Kill a Mockingbird, so I knew I had to read this new book by Harper Lee.  I bought it right away, but I confess that I put off reading it till the end of the summer, because I had heard mixed reviews about the content.  I finally got around to reading it last week, and I'm glad I did.  It provides an insightful perspective on the difficulties of Southern transformation during the civil rights era.  I also appreciated the depth and complexity of Scout's feelings as she came to see her hometown and her father in a new, less-idyllic light.  This book not only provides a powerful glimpse into history, but also an important lesson about family and the experiences that shape our lives.

3) The Rent Collector, by Camron Wright
This is one of those powerful books that caused me to really pause and think about all the privileges and blessings I enjoy.  The book is set in the Stung Meanchy dump in Cambodia, where Sang Ly and her husband spend their days foraging in the dump for recyclables to sell so that they can buy food for their family.  One day, Sang Ly finds a book in the dump, which she brings home for her son. When the surly, drunken rent collector comes to harass her about the rent, Sang Ly is surprised to see the woman shaken by the sight of the book.  The moment becomes a turning point in which Sang Ly finds new hope for the future, and the rent collector finds a renewed purpose.  Based on the true story related in the documentary, River of Victory, The Rent Collector is a sad, yet beautiful story of hope, determination, and the power of reading.

4) Emma, by Alexander McCall Smith
Alexander McCall Smith is one of my all-time favorite authors, so I was thrilled when I learned that he was doing a rewrite of one of my all-time favorite Austin books.  I enjoyed this modern-day retelling of the classic Emma story.  McCall-Smith stayed true to the heart of the original story while adding some new twists and his usual wit and charm.

5) Princess of the Midnight Ball (Twelve Dancing Princesses, Book 1), by Jessica Day George
Growing up, one of my favorite fairy tales was that of the Twelve Dancing Princesses.  Princess of the Midnight Ball is a wonderful retelling of the classic tale.  I recommend it to anyone who loves a good fairy tale!

6) The Truth about Twinkie Pie, by Kat Yeh
Gigi has been raised by her older sister, DiDi.  Their lives are dramatically changed when DiDi wins a national cooking contest, enabling them to move from a trailer park in South Carolina to New York.  As Gigi struggles to fit into her new private school and life in New York, she uncovers family secrets which shake her understanding of who she really is.  A thoughtful middle-grade novel.

7) The Secret Hum of a Daisy, by Tracy Holczer
Grace and her mother have always been on their own, constantly moving from place to place.  But when her mother dies, Grace is forced to live with the grandmother from whom her mother had run away.  Grace believes that her mother has left her clues to guide her to where she belongs.  This is a sweet, thoughtful story about grieving, family, and finding a true home.

8) Dexter The Tough, by Margaret Peterson Haddix
This middle-grade novel is about a boy who is struggling to adjust to a new school.  His first day doesn't go well, leading him to punch a boy who is already crying in the bathroom.  When his teacher asks him to write a story, Dexter writes that he is "tuff" and that he hit a boy in the bathroom.  As his teacher helps him to revise his story, Dexter is forced to think about his own feelings as well as those of the boy he hit.  He and the boy, Alan, gradually become friends, and Dexter learns a lot about himself in the process.

9) No Talking, by Andrew Clements
I really enjoyed this middle-grade novel.  Dave Packer and his fellow fifth-grade classmates are so loud and talkative that their teachers and administrators have nicknamed them, "the unshushables." One day, however, the principal arrives at cafeteria duty to find that the students are eating in almost perfect silence.  Inspired by his research on Mahatma Gandhi, Dave had instigated a "no talking" contest between the boys and girls.  This is a terrific book about the power of words.  I can't wait to share it with my own "unshushable" students this year as one of our Battle of the Book selections

Speaking from Among the Bones

Speaking From Among the Bones by Alan Bradley is the fifth book in the Flavia de Luce series. If you haven’t met Flavia yet, you are missing out. I love these books so much that I ration them, so that I always know there are one or two left for me to read (seven have been published, so far).

Flavia is an eleven-year-old amateur chemist (using her great uncle’s abandoned lab) and sleuth living in the village of Bishop’s Lacey in 1950s England. Recently, a number of dead bodies have turned up in the village, and of course Flavia must help the police solve the murders. All this is against the back drop of her life with her tormenting sisters, her father’s financial problems, and the family cook, Mrs. Mullet’s dreadful food. I particularly liked the scene with Flavia and her father in the kitchen.

In this latest installment, it’s been 500 years since the death of St. Tancred. In honor of the occasion, his tomb in the church will be opened. Not wanting to miss anything, Flavia is there to see the action. But someone has beat them to it, and when Flavia looks into the tomb, she finds a dead body. With her trusty bicycle, Gladys, Flavia sets out to solve the mystery and meets some interesting characters along the way.

Chapter 17, begins with an excellent description of writing.

“Back home at Buckshaw, I hunched over my notebook in the laboratory. I had found by experience that putting things down on paper helped to clear the mind in precisely the same way, as Mrs. Mullet had taught me, that an eggshell clarifies the consommé or the coffee, which, of course, is a simple matter of chemistry. The albumin contained in the eggshell has the property of collecting and binding the rubbish that floats in the dark liquid, which can be removed and discarded in a single reeking clot: a perfect description of the writing process.”

I’m seriously considering not waiting months and months before reading the next book, but I will try to resist the temptation. The very last line of the book made me really want to know what happens next.

Annette Lyon Collection, Anthology by Annette Lyon

If you enjoy genuine, touching stories of love, renewal, and hope you will enjoy the Annette Lyon Collection which is the newest release from A Timeless Romance Anthology. This collection of romance novellas will take you around the world and into the world of some touching but seemingly common love stories.

From Yellowstone to Finland, from Las Vegas to New York, from home to back home, Lyon introduces us to genuine people who long to find love and hope in different circumstances. I was impressed with how varied and believable Lyon makes her story settings as well as her characters. Each novella had unique twists and delights.

While I enjoyed all the novels, my favorite was Between the Lines. I loved how Lyon used great literature to build her plot. Lyon’s use of one of Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Portuguese sonnets, “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways,” is an apt description for Lyon’s newest collection of novellas. Available in ebook format only.

The Navigator Trilogy

In The Navigator (the first book of a trilogy), by Eoin Mcnamee, we meet Owen. Owen’s father died when he was a baby, possibly a suicide, and his mother is profoundly depressed and often seems not to know who Owen is. Owen must look after her while dealing with the stares and isolation he feels at school. One day, while at his “den” in the woods, the world goes suddenly dark. Owen learns that time is now flowing backward. He finds out that he is the Navigator, and that he must help his new friend Cati and the Resistors, a group who only wake when they must prevent their ancient enemies, the Harsh, from destroying the world.

I enjoyed this book. It is written for middle school kids. I enjoy stories in which ordinary people must do heroic things. It’s probably not scientifically accurate, but I’m OK with that.

The second book in the trilogy is City of Time. Owen, Cati and Dr. Diamond must travel to Hadima, the City of Time, where in the past time was bought, sold and traded, to get some time and save the world. The Harsh have returned and are stealing time, which is literally running out. The world is ending and the moon is on track to collide with the earth, causing natural disasters on the way. I think I enjoyed this book more than the first. I liked Hadima and all the new characters introduced there.

In the final book, The Frost Child, the Harsh are seeking revenge for past defeats and the death of their king. They’ve sent a fleet of ships across the seas of time to destroy Owen and his friends. Owen travels through time and meets his father and grandfather who help him understand that the mysterious Frost Child is the key to defeating the Harsh.

If you have elementary and middle school children, they will enjoy this series. It’s a fun adventure, full of heroism and worth the read.

Pilgrim at Tinker Creek

I read Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard many years ago. I remember thinking it was difficult and that I wanted to write like her. I decided to listen to the audio version, and I enjoyed it just as much, if not more, than when I read it the first time. It is one of three books I’ve given away as gifts.

This book is long-form, narrative nonfiction, not a collection of essays (as people often think). It’s about a year Dillard spent exploring Tinker Creek and environs, near her home in Virginia, and thinking big thoughts. Dillard is observant, and has taught herself to be still and wait. When you do that, there is no end to the wonders nature will show you. I'd like to be better at that myself. Some of the more gruesome moments I remembered from the first time I read it, such as when a giant water bug sucked the life from a frog. There were also many beautiful moments.

I’m not sure how to sum up Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. It makes me want to write better, and it makes me want to explore nature more deeply, and it makes me want to read more widely. It won the Pulitzer Prize when it was originally published in the 1970s.

All the Light We Cannot See

(I wrote this post back in May and am just now getting it posted on here.)

Apparently I am on a, IShouldReadSadWorldWarIIbooks, kick. I read The Book Thief a couple of months ago and I just recently finished All the Light We Cannot See.  

I stayed up until the wee hours of the morning to finish this book (and felt it the next day at work). I had to see what happened. How was it all going to end?

All the Light We Cannot See is a book based during World War II. Marie-Laure is a French girl who lives with her father in Paris. Her father works at a nearby museum where he is the master of all the keys in the building. Marie-Laure goes blind at a young age and her father builds her a small model of the city so that she can learn her way around and get about by herself. Marie-Laure and her father eventually have to evacuate Paris as the Nazis come and occupy the city. They escape to Saint Malo, a small coastal town in France, where Marie-Laure's crazy great-uncle lives.

Werner is a German boy, who lives with his sister and other orphans in an orphanage in a small German mining town. He and his sister find a broken radio one day and bring it home. Werner studies the radio for awhile and then fixes it quite easily. People in town start to come to him to get their radios fixed. When he comes of age, he is recruited by the Hitler Youth because of his age but partly because of him being mechanically minded.

Of course, the stories of Marie-Laure and Werner interconnect at some point. This book is not what I expected it to be, but I really liked it!

The stories in this book tell tales of courage and guilt and love and selfishness and obsession and goodness and doubt etc etc. I thought the book was well written. I really got sucked into the book and grew to like the characters or not like the characters depending on who they were. I must say, though, that the author switches back and forth between time periods and stories and at the beginning I had a hard time keeping track, but it eventually became easier as I grew to know the stories and characters.

Having read The Book Thief in the past couple of months and now this book, I think it's time for a more lighthearted and not so realistic book. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets here I come...

A few more books

The Iron Empire by James Dashner. The 7^th book in the children’s Infinity Ring series in which we find out if Dak, Sera, and Riq save the world from the Cataclysm. These are fun books that might teach your kids a little about history, friendship, and working together.

The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame. This is the classic tale of the adventures of Rat, Mole and their friends along the river and in the woods. I was hoping to enjoy this a little more than I did.

Fat Cat by Robin Brande. This is a YA book that I read because it was about a fat teenager, although she doesn’t remain fat for long. Cat is a smart student whose goal is to win the science fair and beat her former friend and rival Matt. She decides to transform herself by living like our prehistoric ancestors. I got a little annoyed at Cat, and her transformation seemed a bit too easy. I was pleased with the outcome of the science fair.

Whittington by Alan Armstrong is a Newbery honor book. It is about a fighting tomcat who asks for a place to live in a barn. He tells both the animals and children of the family who own the barn the tale of Dick Whittington and his cat. Along the way, the telling of this tale helps one of the children who is struggling with reading problems.

The Web: Gulliverzone by Stephen Baxter. This is a kid’s book that I found on my shelf. It takes place on World Peace Day in 2027. In honor of the holiday, there is free access to virtual theme parks on the Web. Sarah and George go to the most popular park based on Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels and find themselves in Lilliput where danger lurks.

Hate that Cat: A Novel by Sharon Creech. I love Sharon Creech’s books, and this is a sequel to Love that Dog. The story is told entirely through Jack’s poems. Jack is learning about poetry and dealing with life by reading and writing in Miss Stretchberry’s class. Not as good as the previous book, but still worth reading.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon. I haven’t decided if I enjoyed this book or not, but it was worth reading. It made me sad. It’s the story of autistic Christopher who finds a dog that’s been murdered. He likes dogs, so he decides to investigate. Along the way, he learns a lot about his family even when he has trouble making sense of it. This book gives good insight into a mind that doesn’t work like yours or mine. I sort of wonder if a boy like Christopher could really write a book like this. In order to explain things to someone, you have to understand that they think differently than you and have different feelings, and he really can’t comprehend what goes on in other people’s heads.

The World’s Wife: Poems by Carol Ann Duffy. This is a collection of poems in which many important events from history or mythology are told from the women’s perspectives. It was bawdy (to say the least), bitter and angry. It’s a clever idea, but I could not get past all that anger. I did like one line from the poem Eurydice, “But already the light had saddened from purple to grey.”