Monday, June 25, 2012

It's Monday! What are You Reading?

 
Originally hosted by Sheila at Book Journey, Jen and Kellee  over at Teach Mentor Texts also host a kidlit version of It's Monday! What are You Reading?

What I'm currently (still) reading:

Blind Spot by Laura Ellen


Books I read and loved last week:

The Happy Hocky Family by Lane Smith
This is one of those books you just have to read to understand the experience. This story isn't necessarily a story, but more like a series of different vignettes on each page. Each vignette is either interactive in some way or asks kids to make some inferences or ask questions of what's going on in the scene. It's one of those books that teachers can read aloud and undoubtedly kids will be picking the book back up to dig deeper into the subtler aspects of the story and illustrations. 


 
A is for Salad by Mike Lester
Any book that makes me snort AND laugh so hard I cry is worth a gander. You totally need to read this book. It will have you howling with laughter (at least I hope so - otherwise I'm just easily amused, which could be the case).

 
Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans by Kadir Nelson


Audiobooks finished last week:
 
A Wind in the Door by Madeline L'Engle
This book is the perfect example of why fantasy/sci-fi is just not my genre. Most of the time I felt like I was listening to another language.

 
Insurgent by Veronica Roth
As it stands, I don't understand what all the hoopla surrounding this series is about. Why is everyone in the blogosphere and on my Goodreads friends list giving this book (and its predecessor) five stars?  What am I missing here people? As it stands, I feel like the loser in high school who sits by herself in the cafeteria because she's not cool enough to sit with the popular kids and even the un-popular kids don't want her to sit with them because they think she's too weird and therefore lowers their street cred. I want to like this series so bad. I just can't get past the lack of believability that this world could exist (yes, I know The Hunger Games isn't exactly believable either, but somehow Suzanne Collins MADE you believe it while you were reading). Or maybe Roth's world building just isn't vivid enough for me. I don't know. I will have to figure out exactly what bothers me and writer a lengthier review about it later.


What I reviewed last week:

From What I Remember... by Valerie Kramer and Stacy Thomas


Weeknights with Giada by Giada DeLaurentiis

And did you see my post about my excitement regarding the fact that The True Meaning of Smekday is going to be an animated feature produced by Dreamworks? This is epic people.


9 comments:

  1. I just added A is for Salad to my list. Sounds like fun. I really like Divergent and am enjoying Insurgent. There are some parts of it that I realize are out there, but I like it. I love the relationship between Tris and Four. BUT not everyone is going to love every book. It's okay not to like it. :)

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  2. I'm all for a laugh outloud picture book and just added A is for Salad, too! I enjoyed lingering over Nelson's amazing illustrations in Heart and Soul.

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  3. I am looking forward to Insurgent, but I totally understand being the odd man out on some things. I did not like Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater or Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi and it seems like everyone else loved them. To each his own, right? Here is what I am working on this week http://wp.me/pzUn5-13b

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  4. Your feelings about Insurgent are exactly the way I felt about The Maze Runner! I usually try to avoid the books that are the center of hype for the moment, especially if they are YA because I don't want to be disappointed.
    Have a great week!

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  5. Seriously, can I just say ditto to everything you've said here and then borrow the Lane Smith book? Love your thoughts on Insurgent and I cannot wait to pick up the Mike Lester and Lane Smith books. Fantastic!

    Have a fabulous reading week and if you get a chance stop by There's A Book to see what I'm up to as well. :)

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  6. Adding A is for Salad (because I'm up for a giggle) and Heart and Soul (because I think Kadir Nelson's illustrations are just beautiful) to my TBR. Thank you!

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  7. Not all books are for everyone, of course! I've been thinking about your thoughts on Insurgent, though. I think with all other-world novels (be they futuristic, in the past, altered present, distant galaxies, or whatever), there's a certain level of suspension of disbelief that is needed. For The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins did something to get your buy in. Veronica Roth did not do the same, apparently. She did for me, and I think this will be strengthened by whatever is revealed in book 3. And now I'm rambling too much on your blog. Time to stop that.

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    1. Brian, I think I figured out what has made me this series so unbelievable for me. The idea that a world needs to exist by SEGREGATING people to keep the peace is really bothersome. Though based on the way everything is playing out, I can assume that won't be the case by the end of the series. STILL, I'm one that wants novels to stand on their own even if they're part of a series. I don't want to have to wait until the last book for readers to figure out that, "Oh yeah! That segregation thing? It was bad."

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  8. I need to remember to have goodreads up when I come to your site because I always end up marking books to read haha

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