Thursday, September 5, 2013

August Books.

I've been working hard on reading several books at once this month. I really, really need to stop doing that and just finish what I've started, huh?

1. Outbreak by Robin Cook

This was right up my alley. I've already written about this one on a Five on Friday. It was not much like the movie Outbreak at all, which was what I had expected. The story follows a new employee of the CDC. She's called out to investigate an outbreak of a virus at a hospital. Several other outbreaks of the same virus - Ebola - occur around the country and she works to figure out the common link. There are some surprising twists and turns that I enjoyed. The reviews for the book on Amazon were awful, but I really enjoyed it! Enough to get another Robin Cook book!

2. Lord of the Flies by William Golding

I hadn't read this since 10th or 11th grade high school English. And to be honest, I might have just read the SparkNotes then. (*GASP* It's a wonder I'm a real English teacher, huh?) I enjoyed it this time around! It was an easier read than I remembered it being! A group of boys, survivors of a plane crash, are stranded on a deserted island. The group tries to make fire and hunt for food but soon their arguing causes them to split apart. Disguised as an adventure book, we see what would happen to mankind if society failed. Each character really represents different human characteristics - Ralph, the common sense; Piggy, intelligence; Jack, power; and Simon, hope for mankind. It's an interesting read to pick apart humanity.

3. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling

:) Do you even want me to mention these anymore? Seriously. I'm just listening and relistening to them in my car. I'm not sure why I'm the nut who doesn't want to listen to music unless it's Christmas music. I would so much rather listen to an audiobook. And for now, this is what's safe to listen to. I'm not listening to anything I've not read because the little ears in the backseat repeat everything!

4. B is for Betsy by Carolyn Haywood

James and I read this one together and he LOVED it. It came at the best time because we started reading it the week before school started and Betsy is beginning her first year of school - in the first grade. Can you tell it's an oldie? ;) She isn't excited about school and doesn't want to go but very quickly learns that it's LOTS of fun. James was SO nervous about school this year and still occasionally says he doesn't want to go, but this book really helped a bit. I'm going to pick up more in the series tomorrow. It's an easy read (I read them alone in the first grade!), but has a cute storyline. I think it was perfect for an almost-four-year-old read-aloud, but would certainly be too easy for a read-aloud to an older child.

5. The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner

This was another book that James and I read together and enjoyed. He liked this more than B is for Betsy. Once he got the characters straight (there are four siblings and he wanted me to point to each one on the picture on the front each time we started reading), he liked the story a lot. The four siblings are orphans who are running away from a mean grandfather. They come upon a boxcar in the woods and make it into a home. Meanwhile, the oldest brother starts working for a doctor in town and doing odd jobs. It's a really sweet story and I'll probably pick up another in the series soon.

James has put in to read Winnie the Pooh next so I'll be picking that up tomorrow. And probably another Betsy book and another Boxcar Children book. As for myself I'm working on a Lee Child book, a Lysa TerKeurst book, and I bought several new books recently for way, way cheap from Amazon. Mostly science-fiction type books. Are you shocked? What are you reading? What are you reading to your kids?

No comments: