It’s Monday! What are you reading? Is a meme started by Sheila at Book Journey and now hosted by Kathryn at The Book Date. Kellee and Rikki at Unleashing Readers and Jen at Teach Mentor 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.

It’s been a busy two weeks! My daughter was on spring break last week, and I chaperoned the high school orchestra trip to Washington, DC, over the first few days of break. The cherry trees were just bursting into bloom as we left–beautiful–and we crammed in as many sights as possible along with two performances at Union Station and Vinson Hall. It was a great trip, but I’m getting too old to sleep overnight on a bus ride and then tour all day. Back home, spring is teasing us with 70 degree weather one day and cold rain the next. We also have a date for the arrival of our chickens. We will welcome them home on May 27. Meanwhile, my husband finished putting up the nest boxes and made a sign for the coop!

I finished…

Inheritance by Christopher Paolini – This final book in the series is packed with action and surprises–battles against insurmountable odds, surprising and sometimes shaky alliances, and deep magic. My favorite battle was when Eragon’s brother, Roran, led a small force to take over a city with walls that cannot be breached. Between his incredible strength and his sneaky tactics, he did the impossible. I also liked the way good overcame evil in the final confrontation between Eragon and Galbotrix. While the series has its weaknesses, it is a good read for fantasy fans.

John: The Gospel of Light and Life by Adam Hamilton – We finished our reading and discussion in time for Easter. After reading Hamilton’s insights into John, I am aware of so much more in this gospel. The English major in me loves the symbolism that John packs into his account. I had not thought of most of them before, but once Hamilton points them out, they seem obvious and add an even deeper understanding to life and words of Jesus. I will not read John the same way again.

My Life on the Road by Gloria Steinem – This was the perfect book to read while travelling. (I downloaded it from our library to read on my Kindle.) Steinem shares anecdotes from her travels throughout her life. As she crisscrossed the country–and the world–she remained open to hearing people’s stories and being surprised along the way. She shares many of those stories here. I hope reading this will inspire me to be even more open when I travel, to seek out people’s stories and to connect with them.

Ten by Gretchen McNeil – A modern retelling of the Agatha Christie classic (And Then There Were None or Ten Little Indians) deposits ten teens on a remote island for a weekend house party. A raging storm (and some preplanning by a killer bent on vengeance) cuts off all communication. One by one, teens die gruesome deaths while Meg desperately tries to figure out who the killer is before it’s too late. It’s not quite up to Agatha Christie, but I quickly got sucked into the horror of a weekend gone wrong. Sometimes the teen drama and slang was a bit much, but I suspect teen readers will relate.

I’m currently reading…

The Sunflower by Simon Wiesenthal – I bought this book at the Holocaust museum in DC and began reading it on the bus ride home. Wiesenthal begins with an account of an experience he had in the Nazi concentration camp: While working on a crew sent to a hospital, Wiesenthal is called before a dying Nazi officer who wants to confess his sins to a Jew before he dies. Wiesenthal hears his gruesome confession, but is unable to grant the forgiveness the offices begs for. He ends with the question, What would you do? Fifty-three people respond with their own answers in the following essays. I’m about halfway through the essays, and I am still struggling with the answer I would give. I will be thinking about this book for a long time to come.

Lies My Teacher Told Me by James W. Loewen – Another souvenir from our trip to DC. (Don’t books make the best souvenirs?), this time from Ford’s Theater. I’ve barely dipped in to this one, but I’m already hooked. I’ve had quite a few history classes (and many of them from different than traditional perspectives such as my women’s history classes and multicultural history classes) but I’m still looking forward to being surprised. There are simple too many stories that don’t get told in history, and I agree that textbooks (usually written by committee) are one of the worst ways to inspire students to be excited by history.

Coming up…

I still have two books left on my library stack (which are due Friday) so I plan on seeing how much of those I can get read this week.

What have you read this week? Anything good I should check out?

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