Monday, March 7, 2011

It's Monday 3/7! What Are You Reading?

Happy Mardi Gras!  Well, Mardi Gras Day is actually tomorrow, but we're in the midst of the height of the celebrations.  We used to live in New Orleans, so Mardi Gras is one of our favorite holidays.  We had a small party Saturday night, including several friends who used to live in New Orleans when we did, and have been enjoying jambalaya, red beans & rice, shrimp, bread pudding, and King Cake all weekend!

All the party preparations (plus two kids home sick most of last week) didn't leave much time for reading, but we did manage some:
  • I am reading Cleopatra's Daughter by Michelle Moran for my neighborhood book group this week.  I struggled with it a bit at first because I couldn't keep the characters straight (lots of similar names and lots of changing partners!), but I am enjoying it very much now.
  • I finally finished Thunder Over Kandahar by Sharon E. McKay, a teen/YA audio book that I've been listening to for quite a few weeks, about two young girls in Afghanistan.  It was absolutely wonderful, one of the best teen books I've read/heard in years.
  • Jamie, 16, finished The Awakening by Kate Chopin for his American Literature class.  He said it was terrible - I guess a passionate story of female awakening just isn't his style!  He also said he didn't like the ending.
  • While home sick, Jamie turned to some comfort reading - re-reading one of his all-time favorite series, The Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud.  He read Book 1: The Amulet of Samarkand and Book 2: The Golem's Eye and is moving onto Book 3.
  • Craig, 13, prefers TV to books when he is sick!
  • My husband, Ken, is reading Pirate Latitudes by Michael Crichton.  He says it's good but not the typical type of Crichton novel (the back cover says the manuscript was found after his death, so who knows what his plans for it were!)
Last week, I posted a review of Between Home and School: Letters, Notes and E-Mails by Bill Harley, a slim but wonderful book about a boy growing up at Book By Book and a review of Blank Confession by Pete Hautman, a teen/YA suspense novel.


What are you and your family reading this week?


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

7 comments:

Unknown said...

It sounds like Cleopatra's Daughter is worth perservering with. Have fun reading this week.

sumthinblue said...

Happy Mardi Gras! Someday, I'd like to experience a real live New Orleans Mardi Gras.

We did have a Mardi Gras party last Saturday at a friend's bookstore, though :)

parenting ad absurdum said...

I'm reading Harry Potter to my five-year old - almost done with the first book and we are LOVING every minute of it. I'm so glad to be at this stage where we can share these stories!

Unknown said...

I've heard a lot of really great things about Cleopatra's Daughter, so I'm sure you will enjoy it. I always see the Bartimaeos Trilogy at work and I swear some day I will find the time to take it out.

I'm also a little bit curious as to how Pirate Latitudes is different. I actually haven't heard much about it or had a lot of requests for it, which i find surprising since he was an author I always had tons of requests for at the library.

Jan von Harz said...

St Louis has been doing a Mardi Grasi celebration for year now, but I have yet to participate (not big with crowds and drunks), but your party sounds like fun. Looks like everyone except Jamie had a good week reading. Hope you have another great week!

Sue Jackson said...

Peryl -

Wow, you're reading Harry Potter to him? That is exciting, but you should be aware that some of the books to come in the series might be a little too scary and intense for him at this age.

I was the same with my kids - wouldn't wait to share my old favorites with them!! But I definitely pushed it too far too early. My all-time favorite as a kid was A Wrinkle in Time, and I tried reading it to Jamie and Craig when they were little - they made me stop because they said it was too scary. I was so disappointed!! Then, Craig had to read it again last year in school (6th grade), and he absolutely loved it and went on to read the next few in the series.

Just wanted to give you fair warning of what's to come in HP!

Sue

Sue Jackson said...

Rosalia -

Well, my husband said it's well-written but it's just a basic pirate story. Usually, Crichton takes some nugget of cutting-edge science and turns it into a story - like the DNA found in old dino fossils being used to recreate dinosaurs in Jurassic Park or genetic engineering run amuck in Next.

Sue