Monday, April 08, 2013

It's Monday 4/8! What Are You Reading?


Silence is golden!  Ahhh...the kids' two spring breaks are over, and I am once again alone in the quiet house. Don't get me wrong - I enjoyed spending time with each of them (though greatly missed our usual spring break vacation when their breaks were the same week!), but it was tiring for me, and I am worn out. I am looking forward to focusing a bit on myself again and getting some work done, too. Of course, I just got a text from my son in college that he needs a hand-written note from me by 11 am today, so it looks like I am still on the clock! (and what kind of college professor requires a note from a parent when you miss class????)

Anyway, we all read plenty of books last week:
  • I worked on We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver for a few days and finally set it aside after about 100 pages or so. In part, this was because I have a book group this Wednesday and needed to start that book, but I will probably not go back to it. It is very rare for me to not finish a book. This one was depressing - which I expected since it is about a school shooting - but my big problem with it was that I didn't like the narrator and couldn't relate to her. The novel is written as a series of letters from the mom of the teen shooter to her ex-husband, looking back over their lives together and what went wrong with their son. But the mom came across as cold, selfish, and uncaring. I was just not enjoying it, and, as my husband reminded me, life is too short to read books you don't like!
  • The book I began for my neighborhood book group is much, much better: The Yokota Officer's Club by Sarah Bird. I am loving this novel so far! It's about a military family with 6 kids assigned to Okinawa in the 1960's. It's funny and heartfelt, and I am loving all the pop culture references of the time period!
  • My husband, Ken, is reading The Wind Through the Keyhole by Stephen King, which I gave him for Easter last week. I was wrong in describing it before as a prequel to the Dark Tower series. Ken says it is more of an in-between book, somewhere around book 3 1/2.
  • Jamie, 18, finished A Dance with Dragons, book 5 in George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series. He said it was excellent and ended with a big cliff-hanger, so he can't wait for book #6 now!
  • Craig, 15, was on spring break last week which for him means a break from reading for school!
I wrote two reviews last week:

The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker (fabulous novel!),
Ruins by Orson Scott Card, a teen/YA sci fi novel.

I also posted:
My March Reading Summary, and
Weekend Cooking 4/7.

What are you and your family reading this week?

(What are you reading Monday is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey, with a kid/teen version hosted by Teach Mentor Texts.) 
  

5 comments:

  1. Enjoy your peace and quiet and Happy Reading!!!

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  2. Anonymous8:33 PM

    Hello! We are back after a brief blogging hiatus... The boys and I have been reading, though. Do you think that my teenager (13 and a half) would like the Orson Scott Card series? It seems right up his sci-fi alley... Thanks for the reviews!

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  3. Anonymous4:25 AM

    I hope you enjoy your me time and have a good reading week. Not sure what sort of college professor would require a note, bit high school ish, but there you go.

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  4. Krisbis -

    Glad to see you back! I missed your blog.

    Pathfinder and Ruins are very complex stories, with a lot of philosophical musing about the effects and ethics of time travel and tinkering with the past - take a look at my two reviews of the books. So, it depends on your son's interests and maturity. The books are definitely intended for teens/YA - not because there is anything objectionable to either one but because of their complexity and ethics discussions. My husband, son and I all love this series - my son read the first one at age 17.

    Here's my review of Ruins, with a link to the Pathfinder review:

    http://greatbooksforkidsandteens.blogspot.com/2013/04/teenya-review-ruins.html

    Welcome back!
    Sue

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  5. I am reading Knots and Crosses.

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