Monday, August 22, 2011

It's Monday 8/22! What Are You Reading?

Whew, another insanely busy week before school starts!  Our schedule has been unbelievable, with all sorts of medical appointments, physical therapy (pre-soccer season), college visits, and other assorted obligations in these last weeks of summer.  I definitely won't have much time for blogging this week!

We have been managing to squeeze in some reading, though:
  • At bedtime last night, I finished The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot.  It was a fascinating story, told in a way that read like fiction and made me care about the people in it.  I can't wait to discuss it with my book group next month.
  • I have now started Alibi Junior High by Greg Logsted, a middle-grade spy thriller I've been wanting to read for a while now.  I chose it out of my towering TBR piles because it is the shortest book!  I am anxious to get to a really long book for a September book group but wanted to first squeeze in a quick kids/teen book.
  • My husband, Ken, is still reading Tropic of Night by Michael Gruber.
  • Jamie, 17, got Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary, book 4 in the Fablehaven series for his birthday last week.  As he often does, he decided to re-read the first 3 books in the series first, so this week he read books 1 and 2, Fablehaven and Rise of the Evening Star.
  • This morning, Jamie finally succumbed to a month of nagging (from me!) and started to read his required summer reading for school (with one week left to go!).  He's started The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa.  Despite the odd title, it actually sounds pretty interesting - about a math professor who suffered a brain injury and can now only remember the past 80 minutes.  Of course, Jamie would rather be reading the rest of the Fablehaven series!
Last week, I posted two new reviews: The Passage by Justin Cronin at Book By Book and The Search for Wondla by Tony Diterlizzi, a middle-grade book.


What are you and your family reading this week?


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

4 comments:

Anne@HeadFullofBooks said...

What class is the Housekeeper and the Professor for? Also, I don't have Fablehaven in my library. Do you think it is a high school series or more for middle grades? Perhaps I should get the series. I really like The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Do let me know how you discussion goes on it.

-Anne
My Head is Full of Books

Sue Jackson said...

Anne -

The publisher says Fablehaven is for ages 9 - 12, so it is aimed at middle-grade readers. Jamie started reading it when he was 12 or 13, and he still loves the series now at 17!

He's reading the Housekeeper and the Professor for World Lit (it's written by a Japanese author). His other required book for summer is The Metamorphosis by Kafka. I've heard they also read The Kite Runner in this class.

Sue

Heidi’sbooks said...

My 20 year old still likes Fablehaven! My kids are trying to talk me into reading the series, but I'm not a huge fantasy person. I do read a couple a week.

Gook luck on your busy week. I think we are in the same boat.

Joy Weese Moll said...

I'm going to propose The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks to my book club. We generally discuss books about race in America and it looks like this will fit right in.