lovereading

Journal: Summer 2008

Page history last edited by Mrs Reid 1 yr ago

Mrs Reid's Journal: Summer 2008

I love summer because I have time to read and to read a lot. There is nothing better than sunshine outside, a rug in the shade, and a great book. Here is my reading journal thus far. I have given extra tidbits and information on any book that I think you should absolutely read. And there are a few I HAVE to recommend...

BOOK LIST:

North River by Pete Hamil
Midnight in the Garden of Good Evil - John Berendt
The Warrior Heir and The Wizard Heir by Cinda Williams Chima

If you are looking for something to fill the Harry Potter fantasy gap, then these are books you should pick up right away. Weir folk are magical (as opposed to the Anaweir who are ordinary humans) and each has a magical stone that sits beneath their heart that tells them if they are a wizard, a warrior, an enchanter, or a seer. Each kind of weir has a role to play in a century long feud that began with the awakening of a dragon. Loved these books so much I gave them to my dad for his birthday!

Valley of Bones by Michael Gruber
Inkheart by Cornelia Funke

I seem to be the last person in the world to have read this book. Kasey - thanks for the pressure! This was fabulous!

American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang
Sadaku and the Thousand Paper Cranes by Eleanor Coerr
Blue Eagle by Michael D'Orso

This true story takes place in a small Native Alaskan town where the highlight of their dark year is the basketball season. D'Orso spent a year in the village tracking the boys' progress to the State Championship. I am not a huge fan of basketball, but I loved it. If you are a basketball fan, you will more than love it!

Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Patterson
The Kite-Runner by Khaled Hosseini
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
American Shaolin by Matthew Polly

This, for me, is the book of my summer (so far!) Matthew Polly, a gangly intellectual religious studies student from Princeton, quits university to go to the Shaolin Temple in China to train with the Shaolin monks in the ancient martial art of Kungfu. His book is both hilarious and informative - I loved it! Warning: some mature content and language. It's not excessive, but it's there!

Such a Pretty Girl by Laura Wiess
Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale
Skin Hunger by Kathleen Duey

This is the first in a trilogy, I believe, and I am eager to read the next one. The story takes place in two different time periods, and has two different main characters living generations apart. Expect a different kind of magician in this book, and expect to be shocked by the apprenticeship experience. This is a darker, more obsessive, kind of magical world.

The Arrival by Shaun Tan
Kabul Beauty School by Deborah Rodriguez
The Hole in the Sky by Pete Hautman

A frightening look into a future where a new strain of flu has left only a small percentage of humans alive. Of the remaining humans, a band of Survivors, people who have caught the flu and survived, are gathering, and they are eager to dominate what is left of Earth. They are known as the Kinka.

Time's Memory by Julius Lester

A really strange but wonderful book that tracks the main Enduarko/Nathaniel from his spiritual birth to his attempt to save America from the gathering nyama - the spirits of the Africans lost in the slavery process. Nat has to figure out how to bring peace to the hordes of dead African slaves, whilst also learning the courage to complete a love story of his own. Very different but very fantastic! Julius Lester is just an amazing writer. If you like reading very poetic, very beautiful, and very abstract books, this is for you. It will not be to everyone's reading taste!

The Enchantress of Florence by Salman Rushdie
New Moon by Stephenie Meyer

This is the second book in the Twilight series, and I loved it! I read Twilight a year ago and was hooked, but the sequel was checked out of my classroom the entire year pretty much. It was great to finally get a chance to read it. The story is definitely by the Bella/Edward relationship - although a third character, Jacob, definitely adds to the storyline, creating a love triangle clearly influenced by Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. There is drama regarding the powerful Volturi family and the assassin, Victoria, a nasty creature from the first book, but it is the relationships between Bella and Jacob / Edward / her father / the Cullens that makes you want to read on. Eclipse - here I come. See Kailtlynn place's page for more information. She is our resident Stephenie Meyer expert!

Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer

A great third book in the series! It's amazing how fast these pretty hefty books read. You just can't put them down. The love triangle continues with the literary comparison now being the central relationship between Heathcliff and Cathy in Wuthering Heights. Victoria is back for revenge, and the scary Volturi also make an appearance. Great action chapters towards the end - lots of fighting. Now I need to track down the fourth book...I think I'm about 100th in line for the copies in my library database.