Sunday, November 13, 2011

How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff.

For some reason I thought that this was a WWII era novel, but it is not. Amazing. Perfect british voice, though some trouble capturing the american one. A chilling look at what could easily be the future through the eyes of a 15 year old.

Saturday, November 12, 2011

October Read

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern.

Apologies. Technical difficulties have kept me away from the slog, er, blog. What happened to Amazon Associates' easy peasy image factory? Anyway.

Night Circus came out early September, and thanks to a great english teacher I was reading it within the week, aware of the buzz, and to another great english teacher, left my couch to go see the author speak.

Very hard to describe. Fantasy, yes. Vampires and witches, not so much. Magic, illusion - think The Prestige, in tone and subject, if you've ever seen that film. Dark, mysterious. But more than anything, the descriptions are so fine that you will be craving caramel apples and smelling woodsmoke. The first of our book club discussion books for the year, every student gave it a 10. Not a fast read - you really have to slow down and savor it in small bites.

Reading, Reading, Read



 Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan.

The title explains it all, I think. Levithan never disappoints. Me, anyway. Although the town in which this takes place seems somewhat (okay totally) unrealistically enlightened, the characters ring true. Love the cover art, too.







Beatle Meets Destiny by Gabrielle Williams.

An Aussie romance featuring a 16 year old stroke survivor, twins born in different years, and some great twin experiences in periodic doses. A different kind of read. Beatle is that hapless teenage boy. But I had to find out whether Destiny McCartney would, in fact, end up with John Lennon (Beatle).







Deadly by Julie Chibarro.

This was a gentle, slow moving story set at the turn of the last century in New York city where the infamous Typhoid Mary is doing her thing. A bracing look into the life of immigrants, the poor, and women at this time, I had hoped it would be more thriller. But it's not. I was surprised how few of my students had ever heard of Typhoid Mary.






Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan.

Ah, Percy returns at last. Fans of the last (first) in this series can guess at the location and subject of this one. A page turner, as usual, but is it me or is it losing it's spark? I miss Grover.