It's Monday! What Are You Reading? --From Picture Books to YA is a weekly meme started by Jen at Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee at Unleashing Readers. This is a chance for bloggers to recap their week of reading and share their plans for the next reading adventures they will take. Visit the host blogs for a list of great blogs participating in this meme and a whole bunch of titles to add to your to-read lists.
This week was a good reading week. I felt that I was able to get some more reading in during the week as well as on the weekend. I am feeling less stressed and more on track at this point of the year also. (I probably just jinxed myself with that statement, but it is true)
Books I Finished This Week:
I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga is super creepy and right up my alley. I love psychological thrillers and this one is complex. I thought the story was well done and believable, but also disturbing. This book is not one I would recommend to all of my students, but for the students that watch shows like Dexter and Criminal Minds and enjoy them this book will thrill. The thing I found most fascinating in this book is the idea that the protagonist struggles with his own conscious and is not sure what he feels. I am looking forward to reading the next one in the series soon.
I read Bad Girls Don't Die because a student insisted I read it. She loved the story when she read it last year and was shocked that I had not yet read this one. She brought me her copy to borrow so I knew I needed to read it quickly and offer my opinion. This is the kind of book that I ate up when I was in middle school. I was a big fan of R.L.Stine and Christopher Pike, and these kind of creepy ghost stories of possession and supernatural forces were my favorite ones. In this book the protagonist's sister is possessed by an evil spirit and the protagonist has to save herself, her sister, and many of the women in the town. This is not my kind of book anymore, but I enjoyed the story and I know that a lot of students will LOVE it. I can't wait to bring my copy to the class library on Monday and book talk it.
I did not know that Montel Williams had MS or that he had written a memoir about it. I was surprised last Monday when a colleague brought me Climbing Higher. It was quite touching that this colleague knew I would be interested in reading this book even though I didn't even know about it. It was really interesting to read about Montel's struggles with MS and his desperation at getting the diagnosis. It really highlighted for me that the strides that have been made in the treatment of this disease are pretty spectacular.
I FINALLY finished listening to Siege and Storm. I love this audiobook. I laughed out loud many times throughout the book and really enjoyed listening. The world of the Grisha is a fascinating world and I am really curious about what will happen next. I hope there are good things to come for Alina and Mal, but I somehow doubt the good will come before they go through many more hurdles.
Books I am Currently Reading:
I had preordered Allegiant so I started reading that book earlier this week. I realized that I was having a hard time remembering the end of Insurgent so I had to find my copy at school so that I could re-read the end of the book and remember. Now I do remember and I will be feverishly reading this week.
What's Next?
I am excited to start listening to Eleanor and Park this week. I don't know what else I will pick up to read. It will depend on my mood this week. I have entirely too many books to choose from and I just keep buying more books!!! I just bought Virals by Kathy Reichs and I am really curious about that one so I think it may end up on my bedside table this week. We shall see.
What are you reading this week? Have you read any of the books I talked about? What did you think? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.