Jun
2014
It’s Monday! What are you reading?
It’s Monday! What are you reading? Is a meme sponsored by Sheila atBook Journey. Kellee at Unleashing Readers and Jen at Teach Menor Texts gave the meme a kidlit twist. It’s a great way to reflect on what you’ve read and reviewed the last week and plan what you want to read next. Join up with us and discover what good books other people are reading.
I thought I was going to have my first week in a long time where I did not finish any books. I was reading, just longer books. I also did lots of writing this week, and welcomed my mom for a week long visit. We also had the grand opening for our Little Free Library Friday night. You can read all about that tomorrow.
I knew once I got into it, I would have a hard time putting down Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol (Anchor 2010). For once, Robert Langdon is not awaked on the first page with the scene of a grisly murder, but there is plenty of danger and death to come. Once again, I enjoyed following the clues and interpreting–and misinterpreting–the symbols and clues. I see Brown has a new novel, Inferno, that I’ll have to add to my TBR pile.
I also had a friend drop by a box of books for our Little Free Library. I had to read some of the picture books before adding them to the library.
- Mirette on the High Wire by Emily Arnold McCully – I got this from the summer reading program at our library. Now I want to try walking on a high wire.
- Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans – I loved reading this one to my daughter. It’s still good now that she is a teen.
- Madeline and the Bad Hat by Ludwig Bemelmans – another adventure with Madeline
- How Do You Hug a Porcupine? by Laurie Isop and Gwen Millward – cute rhyming story about–hugging different animals
- 102 Wacky Monster Jokes -by Michael Pellowski – Some definitely caused groans, but certain kids will eat this one up.
- The Butterfly Counting Book by Jerry Pallotta – Much more than I expected from a counting book–including words for butterfly in many languages
I am currently reading:
WARP: The Reluctant Assassin by Eoin Colfer – I’ve taken several long runs and done lots of yard work so I could listen to more of this one. Riley and Chevron make a good pair as they try to prevent the evil Albert Garrick from creating even more evil as they travel through time. There were several surprising twists.
Les Miserables by Victor Hugo – I haven’t read much this week, but I did get a few chapters read while waiting to pick up my daughter. I love having it on my phone to pull out whenever I have a few moments. For all those readers who complained that Bella wasted too much time crying over Edward, Marius has her beat longing after a girl whose name he doesn’t even know.
What books are coming up:
I plan on picking up JK Rowling’s Casual Vacancy this week. I will probably read some more of the pictures books that have come my way, too. Who knows what other books the week may bring.
Myra from GatheringBooks
June 30, 2014 at 7:08 am (10 years ago)I remember enjoying The Lost Symbol greatly when it came out. I do have a copy of his Inferno but haven’t gotten around to reading it yet. Love the picturebooks you have here – I’m familiar with most of them and have read them. I’ve read Eoin Colfer’s Artemis Fowl series but haven’t picked up Warp yet – my young book club reader mentioned it several times. Enjoy your reading week!
Ricki Ginsberg
June 23, 2014 at 11:11 pm (10 years ago)I haven’t read Les Mis, but it is certainly on my book bucket list. I laughed with your Twilight comparison. Too funny! Thanks for sharing these books with us! I hope you have a great reading week!
Mrs. McGriff
June 24, 2014 at 6:14 am (10 years ago)Thanks! I’m not sure Victor Hugo would appreciate the comparison to Twilight, but boy has Marius got it bd.
Jeff@NC Teacher Stuff
June 23, 2014 at 4:34 pm (10 years ago)Mirette is fabulous! I’ve been using it in my classroom for years. I’m curious about Rowling’s adult books. Her pseudonym seemed to get better reviews than Casual Vacancy. Would an Alex Rider fan like Reluctant Assassin?
Jeff@NC Teacher Stuff
June 23, 2014 at 4:31 pm (10 years ago)Mirette is a fabulous book! I’ve been using it for years in the classroom. I’m curious about Rowling’s adult books. Is Reluctant Assassin in the same vein as Alex Rider?
Mrs. McGriff
June 23, 2014 at 4:36 pm (10 years ago)I’ve barely dipped into the Rowling book, but so far I’m enjoying it. It’s nothing at all like Harry Potter.
It is really hard to explain the WARP books. It’s not as funny as the Artemis Fowl books, but it is similar in that bizarre–and seemingly random–things happen at every turn. I’ve not read the Alex Rider books (though I have students every year who love them), so I can’t give a fair comparison to them. Take a failed FBI program involving minors, time travel (with sometimes disastrous side effects), a skilled serial killer who is willing to take advantage of the benefits that time travel gives him and shake it all up with some wise cracks and oddball characters.
Ms. Yingling
June 23, 2014 at 8:30 am (10 years ago)I found The Reluctant Assassin to be overly gory and rather disturbing, which surprised me. My daughter desperately wanted The Casual Vacancy (she’s 16), but has not gotten any further than page 55! Mirette was one of our favorite picture books– I’m surprised no one broke anything walking along the edge of the deck or somewhere higher up!
Mrs. McGriff
June 23, 2014 at 11:14 am (10 years ago)That’s interesting. I hadn’t really thought about WARP being too gory, even though it is when I think about it. I suppose it’s so over the top (monkey arms, yellow blood) that it doesn’t seem real to me. I’m finding that Casual Vacancy has a lot of characters to keep track of at first. I’m still in the village’s reaction to the man’s death and am not sure which ones will come to the front.
Shelleyrae
June 23, 2014 at 7:46 am (10 years ago)My ten year old son has been working his way through the Artemis Fowl series, slowly but surely.
Keep calm and read on!
Shelleyrae @ Book’d Out
Mrs. McGriff
June 23, 2014 at 7:59 am (10 years ago)My daughter is rereading the Artemis Fowl series this summer. I loved them! I still need to read the last 1 or 2. I’ll pick them up when she gets to them.