Recent Reading

Well, I have finished The Adoration of Jenna Fox, Before I Die and Greetings From Nowhere. It seems as if I am constantly going back to the library to pick up a hold or two. Of the three, my favorite would have to be Before I Die with Jenna Fox coming in a close second. The characters in both of these books really touched me in different ways; Tessa, because of her bravery and bluntness and Jenna because she was kept in the dark for so long. I really loved, loved, loved the ending of Before I Die because I think Downham really captured the essence of what it means for a teenager to pass on. I loved the way it was written in sparser and sparser prose.

As for Greetings From Nowhere, it was a sweet book, mostly for tweens or my Boo who is 8. They were all characters with great stories, but the ending was quite predictable. My heart went out to Aggie and I loved how she talked to her dead husband in the tomatoes. The naivete of Willow almost distracted me from the prose, but I guess that's why it's considered a tween kind of novel. It was written up on many blogs (Jen Robinson http://jkrbooks.typepad.com/blog/ and Professor Nana http://professornana.livejournal.com/ to name a few) so I guess I expected more. Perhaps after the other two YA books I read, this one was disappointing in comparison.

What I REALLY need to do now that July is here is start reading some of my "Teacher Books" like Deeper Reading and Reading Reasons, both by Kelly Gallagher (who I just found out is a guy-not that is matters)

Boo and I continue to read Sea of Monsters which is the second book in the Percy Jackson/Olympians series by Rick Riordan. I am amazed at how Boo can pick up on the mythology even though she's only 8 and hasn't studied it at all. I had to explain Tantalus to her and then she giggled each time he reached for food or drink and it escaped him. Quick learner.