Wednesday, July 04, 2007

Summer Books

Really? A year? Melody was right...I have been in the dark ages. Anyhoo...I do not read much during the school year. I have this bad habit of not putting books down, so that can make one quite tired when they then have to go teach 6 year olds. During breaks, however, I am a voracious reader. Here's what I've read so far:
1. Michael Chabon-"The Yiddish Policemen's Union"--ug. I was not a fan. The end was SO frustrating because it just, well, ended. I did learn lots of Yiddish words. Just not sure what they all mean.
2. Elizabeth Gilbert-"Eat Pray Love"-Sigh. I cried my way through vast portions. Other parts made me roll my eyes. She can be a little too new age-y for my taste, but it's a fantastic book for people going through significant life changes.
3. Khaled Hosseini-"A Thousand Splendid Sunds"-I will read everything this man ever writes. The story is about 2 Afghani women whose lives intertwine in an incredibly unfortunate way. I read this one in a night. The last 100 pages or so are traumatic. Keep tissue close by. But, whatever you do, read it.
4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9. JK Rowling-the Harry Potter series. Holy cow. These are even better reread than on the first go through. There are so many clues and teases that you don't (or at least I didn't) catch the 1st time. One problem I've had though is that I've seen the movies since I read the books. So I'm reading and expecting something to happen and it doesn't because they'd added it to the movie for dramatic effect. Frustrating! That is why I am not going to see the new movie until after I've read the last book. I can't believe it's almost over. I feel like we should make a mix tape or something to commemorate all the good times we've had with Harry.
10. Jonathan Safran Foer-"Everything is Illuminated"-I got about 60 pages into it before deciding it was time to start HP. The jury is still out.