Monday, December 7, 2015

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 12/7


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.

Oh, my goodness! It has been so long since I last linked up! This Fall has been a tough one, but I am hopeful that the rest of the year will be a little more sane and normal.

I have been doing some great reading during these few months! There are so many fabulous books out there and I happen to have a bunch on my shelves. I am just going to highlight a few of my favorites because it has been so long.

Books I Finished:


I reread Throne of Glass because I had my Kindle with me while staying with my mother and I had it on there and needed a good distraction. I knew I wanted to read the rest of the series and thought this would be a good time to read it. I also was mistaken thinking that it was a trilogy. I devoured these three books and got to the end of Heir of Fire and was really surprised that the story did not get resolved. Now, I need to go seek out the fourth book which, luckily, came out this Fall.


I highly recommend this series!









I read The Martian for my book club. It is not a book I would usually pick up to read, but I enjoyed the story. I did study engineering for a few years, so the scientific sections were fascinating to me. My husband, on the other hand, could not handle that stuff and gave up on the book. The people in my book club said they just skimmed the technical parts and ended up enjoying the story. This is a book I recommend. Just know that you might have to give it a little longer to hook you than usual.


I loved The Water Castle. It is a great middle grades story that I know a lot of kids will connect to. I thought a lot about how this story would be great to read along with Tuck Everlasting because of the idea of the fountain of youth and water that might make you immortal. I think kids could really sink their teeth into the deep ideas presented here. I highly recommend this book.


I love, love, LOVED The Mark of the Dragonfly. It is a beautiful and intriguing story. I was hooked from the beginning and could not put the book down. I highly recommend this one as well.



Learning to Swim was a fast-paced mystery that I read in one day. I was caught up in the story and trying to figure out what had happened. I did figure out some of the mystery, but it took so many twists and turns that I was not fully sure until the very end of the story. I recommend this one to adults who like a suspenseful story.







Books I am Currently Reading:


I am reading Crossing the Wire by Will Hobbs.

What's Next?

I have The Heir sitting on my desk. I will probably get to that one soon. I am not sure what else I might read. I have been very spontaneous about book choices lately and will probably go with whatever strikes my fancy.


What are you reading? I would love to hear from you in the comments! Have a great reading week!


12 comments:

  1. I like Maas's series too but still have the 4th book to read. I also enjoyed The Mark of the Dragonfly. Here is my weekly report. Happy reading!

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  2. Glad to read your take on The Martian. I've been listening on audio, and while I like the narrator, the science parts are killing me! I want to SKIM! So this is clearly a book I need to read in print just for skimmability. Audiobooks are wonderful in so many ways but definitely don't lend themselves to skimming.

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  3. I'm so mad at myself because I still haven't read the Throne of Glass series. I remember wanting to read it so badly when it was released, even got an eARC of it, but never read it. Maybe since all the books are out now, I'll binge read it when I get the money. Seems like you had a good week in reading, and I hope this upcoming week is fantastic!

    My Monday post!

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  4. My students last year passed around The Martian fast, & I did read it, enjoyed it. Now I'd like to see the movie, too. I did enjoy The Mark of the Dragonfly trilogy very much. A good adventure! Still need to read The Water Castle. So many say it's good. Thanks, Andrea.

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  5. I have The Mark of the Dragonfly on my #mustread list, but I don't think I'm going to get to it this year. Always so many books! I keep hearing great things about it!

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  6. I really want to read The Martian, I used to love all the math and science in Michael Chriton's books, so I should be OK :)

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  7. I have The Water Castle sitting in my review-eventually pile; I will have to move it up :)

    Happy reading this week!

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  8. I enjoyed your review of The Martian. It's interesting. My husband loved it and said he didn't think I would. I am more than halfway through, but I am listening to it. I can't skip the technical parts, which forces me to try to figure out what is going on. I like it, but I sometimes wish I could skim some of the parts. I have to force myself not to zone out at times. So far, I am glad I listened to it, though.

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  9. You've got some of favorite books from this year on your list! I loved listening to The Martian last summer while painting our house. I agree, The Mark of the Dragonfly is just stunning and I also adored The Water Castle and concur that it pairs up beautifully with Tuck. I think it might even be a better read because of all the questions it presents. Since we are in sync with all of these, I think I need to read Throne of Glass. Thanks for the heads up.

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  10. My book club is considering The Martian - and I did want to read it previously - but I'm a little daunted by the highly technical part which I doubt I'd enjoy. Thanks for sharing your thoughts about it!

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  11. Can't wait to read The Martian. It's on my list for 2016!

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  12. I found the Martian very relaxing because I didn't double check his math! So I liked the technical parts because it was all work that I didn't have to do. The movie was fun as well, and I think gives a good sense of the story.

    I also liked The Water Castle when I read it. I'll mention it at book club next week, when we read Tuck Everlasting.

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