Monday, February 7, 2011

It's Monday 2/7! What Are You Reading?

Getting a late start today, after a late Superbowl night.  We just had a little family party - the four of us, plus a last-minute addition of two friends of our sons - with lots of yummy junk foods!  The kids have a day off school today, so we all slept in a bit.

We had another hectic, busy week last week, with a death in the extended family, a bit of a health crisis with my older son, plus a 2-day trip to Washington, DC, for Jamie and an all-day Academic Bowl for Craig.  The good news is that my computer is still running, so that's progress!  The week passed in a blur, though we did find time for reading, as always:
  • I finished the middle-grade novel, Eliza's Freedom Road: An Underground Railroad Diary by Jerdine Nolen and posted a review.
  • I read and thoroughly enjoyed a tiny volume, Between Home and School: Letters, Notes, and E-mails, by Bill Harley, a warm, tender little story of a boy growing up, told entirely in letters and notes sent between his mother and his teachers.  Bill Harley is a favorite entertainer/storyteller of ours.
  • Now I'm reading Stones Into Schools: Promoting Peace with Books, not Bombs, in Afghanistan and Pakistan by Greg Mortenson for my library's book discussion this week.  I really enjoyed his first book, Three Cups of Tea, and this follow-up is just as fascinating and inspirational.
  • My husband, Ken, is still reading Under the Dome by Stephen King - he figures this one may take a few weeks!
  • Jamie, 16, decided to set aside The Islands of the Blessed by Nancy Farmer, the last book in the trilogy that began with The Sea of Trolls, because he didn't remember enough of the second book (he often re-reads earlier books in a series before moving on).  So, now he's re-reading The Land of the Silver Apples by Nancy Farmer.  This is one of his favorite fantasy series. 
  • Craig, 13, also changed books this week in order to re-read one.  He has an assignment for English to do an oral presentation on a favorite book, so he's re-reading Nick of Time by Ted Bell and keeping an eye out for favorite quotations and a good passage to read aloud to his classmates.
I tried to do a bit of catching up on my reviews last week.  In addition to the review of Eliza's Freedom Road I mentioned above, I also posted a review of the teen novel, Gone, by Lisa McMann.   On Book By Book, I also posted a long-overdue review of The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating by Elisabeth Tova Bailey, as well as a summary of what I read in January and a list of Top Ten Best Debut Books.


What are you and your family reading this week?

(What are you reading Mondays is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.)

4 comments:

Jan von Harz said...

Looks like a very busy week. Sorry to hear about your loss. Hope this week is less hectic for everyone and the family stays healthy!

Sheila (Bookjourney) said...

I want to read Stones Into Schools... I did like Two Cups Of Tea. Have a good week Sue!

Andrea said...

Looks like some good books! Happy reading.

Anne@HeadFullofBooks said...

Your family is so amazing they are all so literary! I wish I could do a list of what we are all reading...but it would be a pretty boring list every week. Oh well.

I appreciate you dropping by and making a comment on my tweaked Top Ten list. The original really seemed like a naive list created by someone who doesn't have children. I'm with you. As a teacher is was really hard to select names because there was always a naughty kid attached in my memory to so many names.

Another blogger dropped by and told me that Scout Finch's given name was "Jean"...so now we don't have to look it up.

Bye!