It's been a really long time since I've been here. I don't know why/ I haven't been at a loss for topics; I"ve just been unmotivated to do much of anything but enjoy our small summer break (which is now over. Sort of.).Let's see...during the past month of so, we've enjoyed the pool (getting a membership this year was completely worth it!), been to the library more times than we can count as we've taken advantage of the reading programs of two library systems, I've taken a trip with Scarlett to visit my sister and her two little ones in Augusta, GA, and we've celebrated Scarlett's birthday. I rather forgot to post about that one. Maybe I'll get to that later. But I also forgot to post with specific book recommdendations, and by now, I've mostly forgotten what was captivating us at the time.
But I'll try with a few.
I did read, as was evident by one of my pictures, the new Flavia de Luce mystery. My friend Hannah, noting that, wanted to know if it was worth it. Eh...so, so. Good writing and a fun mystery. But the rather discouraging family dynamic remained the same, and my mother's heart was, as usual, a little pained for poor Flavia. But that was just an interlude during my intense dystopian novel phase. Aimee checked out a slew of books recommended for "those who liked The Hunger Games," and some of them looked interesting, so I read them along with her, or, if I could, before she did. That was useful in the case of Across the Universe, which was captivating and interesting, but dealt with some themes I didn't think Aimee was ready for. We also read The Shadow Children series, which is geared for a slightly younger audience (so Drew read the first one with interest). Variant was another that I initially thought I didn't want to read, but actually had some fascinating twists that made it worthwhile (no sequel until this fall, though - and the first book certainly left us hanging). The Comet's Curse lent itself to some very interesting social questions, but the sequel jumps the shark, as it were. And most recently, the best of all - Legend.. Exciting, romantic, thought-provoking...and needing a sequel, which I think is forthcoming.
None of that is very serious, grown-up writing, although I certainly don't think a book has to be any less "valid" simply because it's a "young adult" book. A good book is a good book. Now, for good books for the younger set, we've had a revolving library of picture books and read-alouds this summer, and I have failed to record what we've read, before taking it back to the library to make room for more. Ah, well. I will say that for picture books, we just check out dozens and filter from there. Some are good, some aren't (obviously). For read-alouds and fun reading that's also good literature, I rely on The Veritas Press and Sonlight catalogs.
Oh, but we did stumble upon a good series all on our own - The Gideon Trilogy, about children who accidentally fall through time back into the eighteenth century. Very interesting and exciting! We also all read the final book of Rick Riordan's Kane Chronicles, which series we had picked up due to our fondness for the Percy Jackson and Heroes of Olympus series. I didn't love that set of books, because of the high magic content, and the third book is probably the most magic-heavy of all of them. So we read it because we had begun the series and wanted to finish, but I am cautious about recommending those. Those of you who like the Rick Riordan books, what do YOU think of the Kane Chronicles?
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