Rats

She did it again.

I have a new favorite author I think. Suzanne Collins keeps you hanging, and interested, which is great for a night-reading insomniac such as myself.

After being disappointed that the next Hunger Games book doesn't come out until Sept. 2010, I started on her Gregor series. I read the first and now on the second.

These books are much more in the middle school age range (compared to the Hunger series which I would be way too intense for my 7th grader.) Fun, slightly scary, full of giant rats, cockroaches, and bats (all of whom can talk.) Great for boys or nature-happy kids like mine.

Gregor is such a real, likeable 11 yr old boy who has much put upon him when his dad disappears. He cares for his sisters and grandmother when his mom is at work, even changing diapers and doing laundry.

Laundry-

which leads him to the Underland... a modern day rabbit hole.

Think these will be our next read-alouds.

Illuminating

I adore illuminations. I was a strange kid I imagine. I loved calligraphy, needlepoint, history...

I had some great calligraphy pens and wanted so badly to learn how to do illuminated manuscripts. (Told you I was strange.)

Anyway, that said, I loved People of the Book. It's about (can you guess?) an illuminated book!

Actually the Sarajevo haggadah which is a real book, with a real history. The author, Geraldine Brooks, was a foreign reporter for the Wall Street Journal during the Bosnian war. She became enamored with the story of the haggadah and created her own version of the story with People of the Book.

Page from the Sarajevo Haggadah

Although I thought it dragged in a few places, in general the story (or stories) keep you moving.

The way the author takes you through time via the book is amazing.

Well worth your time!

Still Hungry!

I devoured the Hunger Games and Catching Fire in three days. I wanted to drag it out but just couldn't! I passed The Hunger Games to my hubby (who doesn't usually read anything but management theory or computer language books) and he read it in two days! It's just one of those fast, addicting reads that keeps you wanting more.

Catching Fire was much better than the Hunger Games in my opinion, unusual for a second book. It gave more depth to the characters. Again, not for the faint-hearted. It is a young adult book but graphic and violent (although maybe not as much as the first.) Think gladiators (as that is pretty much what it is.)


I know don't know how I'll make it until September when the next one comes out... Have to find a new series to get hooked on. Any suggestions?

The Hunger begins

Okay, I broke down and bought The Hunger Games and Catching Fire. I started reading The Hunger Games and finished it in one night. Now I'm absorbed in Catching Fire but trying to slow it down a bit because I know that the next book doesn't come out until NEXT SEPTEMBER!

These books are not at all what I expected. Okay, I didn't expect anything except that everyone was going on about how fantastic they were. I had no idea what they were about. Wow.

They are another post-apocalyptic type book for young adults. (Think Ember series, Ender series, The Giver, etc.) The intensity got me. Very violent (and I don't like that normally.) But I can't stop reading. I am really glad I read them before giving them to my 12 yr old (who now will have to wait a year or two.)

The characters are so wonderful, the drama, the political, social and environmental (sort of) discussions to follow will be great! I don't want to give anything else away.

Portofino (or We All Have Nutty Families)

Portofino, by Frank Schaeffer, was a great little read. Fast, witty, and entertaining, with some intrinsic values. I loved Calvin, the main character. It follows his yearly family vacations to Portofino, Italy from his 9th to 13th years (I could be slightly off there, but hey.)

Calvin is from an evangelical Presbyterian family.

(Here I must confess I was completely ignorant. My parents were both Presbyterian and I was totally unaware of this branch of the faith.)

It was interesting to see how he perceived his family- as all pre-teens and teens do- as being a bit embarrassing and strange. (And his was pretty strange!)

Wonderful characters abound.

His father's explosive moods completely determined what kind of day the entire family would have. Really quite scary to me, but normal to the characters in the book.

Great choice, Laura!

Giving Memories and 7th Grade

I have been reading voraciously. I think I've read at least 6 books this week so far. I only read at night after everyone is in bed so no wonder I feel so tired and my eyes hurt!

This week:
All the Twilight books
Syren
The Giver
Started on One again
and The Tiger's Egg

My oldest is reading The Giver in her 7th grade English class and she wanted me to read it.
I had no idea what the book was about, just that everyone said it was wonderful.


It was.

If you haven't read it-
it is the story of a "utopian" future where people have no worries, but with it they have lost more than they could imagine. Think "Logan's Run."
The main character is a young boy who is coming of age. He's been chosen for the most important job in their society- the keeper of all the memories of humanity.

I didn't expect a story this strong for 12 yr old kids, but then remembered the books we read in 7th grade:

A Day No Pigs Would Die

The Red Pony

What is it with gut wrenching stories and 7th grade?

Vampires for Halloween

What is it with vampires?

I am re-reading the Twilight books. I didn't mean to. I just wanted to re-read New Moon because of the upcoming movie release, BUT...
They are so durn addictive.
Yes, they are cheesy, teenage-angst filled stories.
But they are so addictive!
I am up to Breaking Dawn again now and hoping I don't have the let-down I did the first time I read them.

My 12 yr old daughter has not read them yet. I didn't want her to read them last year. I told her when she turned 12 she could read the first one (only) if she wanted to, but she said she didn't want to. When I asked her why she said:
"Mom, the girls in my class are SO into them. That's all they talk about. I don't want to be addicted to anything."
What a smart girl I have.