It’s Monday! What are you reading? Is a meme started by Sheila at Book Journey. Kellee 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.

I’ve missed a few weeks, but I’m glad to be back! I had to find time to slip in reading where I could around a full soccer season and then planning for and attending a conference in Sacramento. I’m glad to be home and resting up from the jet lag just in time to enjoy fall weather and lots of good books!

I finished…

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Beastly by Alex Flinn – With all the craziness of school and soccer and college applications, I decided to finish this one on my on. This is not my favorite retelling of Beauty and the Beast (that honor goes to Robin McKinley) and not my favorite Alex Flinn novel (that would be Cloaked), but I found much to enjoy in this very modern setting for the classic fairy tale. I liked the transformation of Kyle into Adrian (via being a beast). I like the character of Lindy, the bookworm who learns to see past the beast’s outward appearance. I like the occasional chatroom transcripts between various fairytale characters. I like Will, the blind tutor. I even like Kenra, the witch who means well but sometimes acts rashly.

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Leaving Church by Barbara Brown Taylor – In this memoir of faith, Taylor explores her journey of finding God, becoming an Episcopal priest and then giving it all up to teach at a college. It is not the life she expected or planned, but I found much to learn from her journey, both in how I live my own life and in how we live life together as a church. I’m glad I get to discuss this book with my group at church. I’m eager to share my reactions and to learn from theirs.

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Mother of Pearl by Melinda Haynes – While the story may be set in 1950’s Petal, Mississippi, this is a sweeping saga that brings together characters from different walks of life. Valuable Korner struggles to find her own place out from under the shadow cast by her harlot mother. She finds love with her childhood friend, Jackson (who shares a past with her that no one is willing to talk about). Even Grade, a young black man, struggles to fill the hole left by his being raised an orphan. His friend Canaan works on his life thesis that attempts to define the place of the black man in a white dominated society. All are drawn into the orbin of Joody Two Suns, a mystic woman camping by the river. Throw in eccentriic aunts, a persistent undertaker, other odd characters and secrets bound to come out. Wrap it up in prose that takes my breath away and here is a story I won’t soon forget.

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Fairest: Levana’s Story by Marissa Meyer – I’m not sure it’s fair to give us Levana’s story while we are waiting for the ultimate showdown with her in Winter, the conclusion to the Lunar Chronicles.  I will definitely be cheering for Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, and Kai as they take on Levana. But I am glad to have a better understanding of her cruelty and where it comes from. Levana did not have an easy time of it, living with her cruel older sister. She desperately wnated love, but her every choice drove love further and further away. November can’t come soon enough.

I’m currently reading…

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Leaving Church by Barbara Brown Taylor – Yes, I’m rereading it already. I’m glad I read quickly to get the big picture. Now I’m going back to read and think more deeply as I discuss it with my study group at church. This time I’m reading with my pen in hand! I may need a pile of sticky notes or a notebook as well, since it doesn’t have wide margins for me to take notes on the pages.

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The Gospel According to Starbucks by Leonard Sweet – A former paster dropped by a lot of books to donate to our church library, and this is the one that first caught my eye. Sweet explains that the church can learn much from Starbucks (which isn’t just about the coffee but the experience of coffee). Are we living our faith in a way that we fully experience and invite others to share that full, passionate experience?

Coming up….

I have the two books I’m reading and a whole pile to raid downstairs. I hope I have some more time to read than I have the past few weeks.

What have you read this week?

Disclosure: I participate in the Amazon Associates Program. If you decide to make a purchase by clicking on the affiliate links, Amazon will pay me a commission. This commission doesn’t cost you any extra. All opinions are my own.

It’s Monday! What are you reading? Is a meme sponsored by Sheila at Book Journey. Kellee atUnleashing 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.

This week was flilled with soccer. It is my last year to help chaperone the girls’ soccer team at the Hoosier Cup Tournament, and I enjoyed every minute of it. (Okay, maybe not sitting in the sun in 95 degree heat, but all the rest. Thank goodness for shady trees and a breeze!) Meanwhile, more tomatoes and apples wait their turn to be made  into sauce and canned.

I finished…

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Jesus Prom by Jon Weece – My daughter read thiis one (she got it from a friend), and she asked me to read it, too. She had shared quite a few things from it as she read, so I was eager. I was not disappointed. I love that the book has a grammatical structure: Christians (and the plural church) are nouns in search of verbs. Each chapter focuses on a verb (one that Jesus lived) that Weece challenges Christians to take up and live:  love, be, see, die, talk, rest, turn, dance, give, go, suffer, remember, receive. Through it all, Weece shares stories from his life of just what can happen when you are not afraid to love people–all kinds of people.

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No End in Sight by Rachael Scordis and Rick Steber – My husband brought this book back from his fire trip out to Oregon. It tells the true–and inspiring–story of Rachel Scdoris. She was born with a rare genetic disease that made her legally blind. That didn’t stop her. She ran cross country and track in school, but her true love was dog sled racing. She helped her father, who raised sled dogs and raced around the northwest. I was horrifiied by the torment she endured from some of her classmates and inspired by her growing strength and confidence as she learned to handle every larger dog teams and ever longer races. Ultimately, Rachael dreamed of racing in the Iditarod. She had to fight for the right to race with a visual interpreter, who would provide no assistance other than being her eyes. My only disappointment with the book is that it stops after she wins the right to race the Iditarod and completes the qualifying races. I was looking forward to reading her experience racing across Alaska. I did look up to see that she scratched her first attempt in 2005 (her dogs got sick), but she became the first legally blind musher to complete the race in 2006. Wow!

I’m currently reading…

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What Have You Lost edited by Naomi Shihab Nye – I thought about not even including this one this week, because I don’t think I sat down once to read a poem this week. Oh my. I’m glad I can pick them up again in the week to come.

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Mother of Pearl by Melinda Haynes – I’m just staring this one, but it sounds good. It promises lyrical writing and memorable characters. I’ll let you know more next week. It will be a perfect way to stay cool these hot days we are having.

Coming up…

Well, more poems and a visit to the past with Mother of Pearl. Now that my study group has finished Soul Feast, we are looking for our next book to read and discuss. Yes, our five week class that stretched into six has decided to keep going. I’m looking for suggestions and recommendations to share.

I hope you have a marvelous Labor Day filled with friends and celebrations–as well as appreciation for the work we all do, no matter what work it is. Happy reading!

Disclosure: I participate in the Amazon Associates Program. If you decide to make a purchase by clicking on the affiliate links, Amazon will pay me a commission. This commission doesn’t cost you any extra. All opinions are my own.