Monday, February 22, 2016

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 2/22


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.

I didn't post last week so I will be writing about the books I finished in the last two weeks. I had a lot of books going at once, so the list seems impressive, but I really have been reading some of these books for a long time. I do have to say that I am really enjoying the variety of books that I have been reading. 


Books I Finished:

Part of my new morning routine is to read some self-help books to think about what I can do to improve my life. I appreciated Ruth Soukup's advice in Living Well, Spending Less about some things I can do to gain some more control over my finances and my life. I am definitely more interested in her blog now and have been using some of the advice already. 

The 9 Steps to Financial Freedom by Suze Orman is full of great financial advice. I was surprised at first with how much she links our financial picture to our emotional reactions to money. It was interesting for me to think about that connection. I appreciated the practical advice in this book, but had to skim through some parts that got way more technical than I was ready for. Overall, I am glad I read the book and I have confronted some of my financial challenges honestly. 

The Lotus Eaters by Tatjana Soli was a book club pick. I really enjoyed the story and was glad for the book club because I most likely would not have selected this title on my own. It was fascinating and heartbreaking to read about a woman reporter who was living in Vietnam and going into the field to take pictures during the war.  So much was so awful for the people who were there. I appreciated learning more about it through this fictional lens. 

I listened to the audiobook of Bone Gap and found myself inventing excuses to put the book on. I loved this story and all of the characters. I thought the narrator did a fabulous job of reading this book as well. I don't really even have words to describe this one except: you should read it. 


Revolution by Deborah Wiles was another amazing read. I loved the primary sources mixed in between chapters. I loved the way there were multiple narrators. I loved that this book helped me to learn more about a controversial time in our history. I loved this book. I highly recommend it. I am definitely going to look for the other books in the sixties trilogy now. 


I finished reading The Tiger Rising aloud to my class this week. I wrote about our emotional moments while sharing the final chapters in my Celebrate This Week post. This is the third or fourth time I have read this book, but the first time I did it as a read aloud. I will definitely continue to use this book as a teaching text. I am so glad the TCRWP chose it to be the anchor text in the first unit for fourth grade. If you haven't already read this one, you need to find a copy and get to it!

Books I am Currently Reading:

I am still reading 1Q84. I am still enjoying it and will still be reading it for quite some time. I am also reading The Art of Asking by Amanda Palmer.

What's Next?

My book club is reading Cutting for Stone so I will probably pick that up to start it, although I am quite hesitant to do so since it is another long one. I have a stack of middle grade titles from my last Scholastic order that I will probably grab from so that I can get through a few books faster in the next week or so.

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


8 comments:

  1. I'm glad to see a positive review of Bone Gap. I've seen a bunch of negative ones lately and I haven't picked it up yet. Hopefully soon!

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  2. Bone Gap is on my Kindle waiting for me to find a chance to fit it in. I can't wait to give it a try. I'm also curious about Revolution. Come see my week here. Happy reading!

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  3. I loved Bone Gap, but found it so disturbing, too. I'll put The Lotus Eaters on my list, Andrea. I've heard about it before, and now you've made me more interested. I haven't read Tiger Rising in a long time, & you're earlier post made me want to find it again. I do like all the books by Deborah Wiles, so interesting and well done! You've shared a lot this week! Thank you!

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  4. Thanks for the reviews of the books about finances. My husband and I were just talking yesterday about trying to get ours under control and I definitely need some help/guidance/advice. Will be looking into these titles for sure. I don't think I've read The Tiger Rising! Will definitely remedy that soon. I've got Bone Gap on audio right now but can't seem to finish my current audiobook (Marcus Samuelson's Yes Chef--very good). Maybe I'll start Bone Gap anyway!

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  5. I've been reading some financial planning books recently, too - I never really thought about the future too much when I first started working, but now that I'm in my thirties I'm starting to realize that retirement isn't nearly as far away as it always seemed!!

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  6. Ahhh! I was debating getting the audio of Bone Gap. It is tricky when you don't know how a book will do on Audio, and I thought this was a wild card. I will have to get it now. Thanks for sharing!

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  7. Hi there Andrea. I loved Bone Gap as well and discussed it with my book club here - a few were not too happy with the magical realism elements but I find that it is what made the book quite unique and special. :)

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  8. I'm so happy to hear the audiobook of Bone Gap is well done. That was my favorite book of 2015, but I read the print copy. I might reread using the audiobook now though! I really need to read The Tiger Rising. I think it's the only DiCamillo book I've not read, and I'm not sure why I haven't gotten around to it before now!

    "I had a lot of books going at once, so the list seems impressive, but I really have been reading some of these books for a long time." This is exactly how I read! I always end up posting about a ton of books just because I manage to finish ones I've been reading for ages all at the same time.

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