It's Monday! What are you reading?

I went back to work last Monday...and back to my school-year reading pace, which is that of a turtle.  Something about spending a lot of time reading on the computer--emails, financial statements, documents--eats into my reading stamina.  I will be working on that over the next few weeks, figuring out how to keep up my summertime reading pace for the rest of the year.

I didn't finish a book last week, but I did make headway on another Bluebonnet nominee--Circus Mirandus, by Cassie Beasley.

I love the byline on the back cover:  "You have to believe it to see it."  There are themes of wonder and faith in this story, the premise that to live fully, there must be some willingness to let go of what you believe to be true in order to experience magic.  It's the difference you experience when you go to the movies; you can spend your time trying to figure out how they did every special effect, looking for mistakes in the filmmaking, or just sit back and suspend your disbelief to enjoy the show.  For two hours, you are in another galaxy far, far away...Or in this case, you have stumbled onto a magical circus that appears out of nowhere, and can only be seen by those who believe in its existence.  

I had the pleasure of meeting Cassie Beasley at the "Speed Dating the Bluebonnets" session of our Texas Library Association conference this spring.  She was so excited about the success of Circus Mirandus, her debut novel.  She talked about her penchant for fantasy, and how Chintzy, the parrot in her book, is based on her own parrot, who will say inappropriate things (like "liver!") during Skype visits.  Ms. Beasley lives with her sister, also a writer but who prefers realistic fiction; her recent book is Gertie's Leap to Greatness.

It's Monday, and I'm planning on finishing Circus Mirandus by Wednesday!  What's your reading plan this week?