It's Monday! What are you reading?

Oh, Harry, how I've missed you!

No, not that Harry, the one who had to live under the stairs until he received a magical invitation to a wizarding school, and then went on to conquer all kinds of evil.  No, this Harry is a grownup wizard, and he lives in books written for grownups.  If you are an adult and ready to leave Hogwarts for modern day Chicago, where supernatural beings live amongst mere mortals and cause all kinds of trouble that only a gritty, wisecracking wizard-for-hire can solve, then check out Jim Butcher's Dresden Files.  

  

I received Storm Front from my brother many years ago, just as I was about to leave from our visit with him.  I started reading it as soon as we hit the highway in the Florida panhandle, and finished it by the light of the glove compartment fourteen hours later, just before we made it home to Austin.  I proceeded to read the next six or seven books over the next couple of years, before other tasks and other books beckoned.    

It's been a long time since I picked up a Dresden Files book.  But there it was on the summer reading bargain table at our local chain book store last week, and I had a gift card itching to be spent.

Brief Cases is a compilation of twelve short stories, each with a foreword of thoughts from Butcher.  He explains where in the timeline of the books each story falls, and his reasons for writing them-- some are to explore another character, others are to include mythical creatures not found in the series.  

I had forgotten how much I enjoy Harry's "voice", his sense of humor, and the intricacies of the spirit/fae/mythical worlds and creatures he and his associates encounter.  Let me reiterate that these books are written for adults, and there are some adult situations--but they are not the driving force behind the stories.  It's the elemental magic, the complications of ancient rituals and rules, the political games played by the councils of wizards and otherworldly beings, all narrated with wry humor and self-deprecation by Harry himself (or in some of the short stories, his companions) that make these stories so fun to read.

I've got one more story to go before finishing the book.  It's Monday; what "old" characters do you like to visit in books?

It's Monday! What are you reading?

I managed to finish two half-read books this week, and read another Bluebonnet Award nominee!

Educated, by Tara Westover, just drained me emotionally.  I had to read it in chunks to process the abuse and manipulation she experienced in her family home.  The titled point--education allowed Westover and two of her siblings to "escape", while the others decided to believe in their father's view of the world--paled in comparison to the effects untreated mental illness had on the family, and on Westover in particular.

Matilda, by Roald Dahl, was a long-overdue read for me, and an interesting fictional parallel to Educated.  The students suffer physical and emotional abuse at the hands of their bullying headmistress; the self-educated, brilliant Matilda suffers emotional abuse and neglect in her home. Criminal masterminding and just plain meanness are at the heart of the vicious behavior of the parents and headmistress.  Matilda conquers the malefactors through brain power--though of a different sort than Westover's advanced education.

I finished Wishtree by Katherine Applegate in a day.  It was just the sweet story I needed to soothe my troubled thoughts after the previous two books, even with its relevant theme of fear/hatred of different cultures.  I usually don't enjoy animal stories, but the anthropomorphic qualities of the animals as well as the wishtree had me giggling.  We all need a Red (the steadfast, wise red oak) in our lives to remind us to grow deep roots and reach for the sun.  Teachers, there are some great science learning points in the story as well, so this would be a wonderful read-aloud during your plant and animal habitat units.

I'm moving on the Austin Kleon's Keep Going, the Mueller report, and Anderson's Shout next.  What's in your reading pile this week?

It's Monday! What are you reading?

It's my personally designated first Monday of my summer break!  I took a look around at my stacks (and stacks, and stacks) of books, and sighed about those I've started but not completed.  SO, my goal this week is to finish these:

and start these:

The grown-up books are A Case of Exploding Mangoes, fiction by Mohammed Hanif (a gift from my brother; reminds me of a Middle Eastern Tom Clancy novel) and Educated, a memoir by Tara Westover (so painful, I've been reading it in chunks, almost done).  Shout is a memoir by Laurie Halse Anderson; I read Anderson's Speak in my YA lit class, a jarring fictionalized account of the aftermath of sexual assault.

The personal learning books are 10% Happier by Dan Harris, Keep Going by Austin Kleon, and The Crossroads of Should and Must by Elle Luna (a recommendation from a writing workshop I'm taking).

The kidlit titles are Bluebonnet Award nominees Wishtree by Katherine Applegate, Captain Superlative by J.S. Puller, and The Adventures of a Girl Called Bicycle by Christina Uss.  I'm going to finish the classic Matilda by Roald Dahl.

And then there's the most daunting, stretch-my-reading-limits book of the summer, the one I feel I must read:

It's Monday; what unfinished book reading are you planning on accomplishing this week?  What book is stretching you as a reader?