Catching Fire

Today I finished "Catching Fire", by Suzanne Collins, the second book of the Hunger Games series. It's like candy for your brain - it's paced very well, and has great adventure sequences. It's very hard to put down. But don't be fooled by the YA Fiction categorization - the violence is pretty graphic. But it's done well, considering how dystopic the world is...

Erin's First Book of 2012

Today I just finished, Peter and the Starcatchers by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson. It's a novel about how Peter Pan became Peter Pan and how he met the lost boys, Tinkerbell, the mermaids, Cap'n Hook, and the others. Throw in a bit of magic stardust and a secret society that has been working behind the scenes to keep its power out of evil hands and you have a fun read. This is a great book to read if you only have 5 minutes at a time to read. Looking forward to book two.

Lit! by Tony Reinke

"Lit! A Christian Guide to Reading Books" by Tony Reinke is a book about... reading.  From the back cover:

Learn how to better read, what to read, when to read, and why you should read... Offered here is a theology for reading and practical suggestions for reading widely, reading well, and for making it all worthwhile.

It's an interesting book, and it's written by a guy who obviously loves to read and who gets a lot of spiritual juice out of what he reads.  As part of my "Year of Discipline", I am trying to improve my reading life, and this book had some really useful suggestions on how to do that.  Things I really liked:

• The initial chapters that set up a "theology of reading" -- why reading is important to Christians and why being thoughtful about what we read is so important.  The contrast between Scripture and everything else that is not scripture was laid out very well, and it's a great reminder as I start this new year to keep Scripture as the staple of my reading diet.
• Chapter 4 on thoughtfully analyzing the worldview of the book you're reading.  I think this is applicable to much more than books, and I have a feeling the youth group at church will be hearing about this sometime soon...
• Building a list of reading priorities to help make sure that you're reading a wide variety of stuff.  I end up in the SciFi section by default way too often when there's so much else out there to read!
• The chapter on how to build a home full of readers.  In particular, I liked the idea of buying as many books as your kids can read, provided they identify five important pages from the book, summarize the content, and then read them aloud to the family.

I will admit it -- I had a hard time with the chapter that encouraged writing in the margins of your books.  I see his point, but a lifetime of being reminded not to write in my books will be a hard habit to break.

Anyway, this book was interesting, and a quick read.  Think about it -- if you read a book a week for the next fifty years, you will only have read 2,600 books.  It's worth some time thinking about what you're reading to make sure you're getting the most out of it.

Rachel reads...

I promise we won't put up repeats of the books we read. :)

Tonight was an Eric Carle night. Tonight we read The Hungry Caterpillar a story about a caterpillar's journey to becoming a butterfly. Rachel really enjoyed The Very Hungry Caterpillar and even read it back to us. She is either very good at listening, or may about have it memorized.

The Foolish Tortoise by Richard Buckley and Eric Carle is a book about a tortoise not satisfied with his lot in life and desires speed. He comes to realize just how nice his shell really is.

Brown Bear, Brown Bear a fun rhythm and beautiful picture book.

And The Very Busy Spider about a spider that is very focused on building her web.

Joop

I just finished a book called Joop by Richard Lourie. It is a fictional account of the man who was the most likely betrayer of the hiding place of Anne Frank. It makes you wonder how far you would go to feed your family and care for them during the horrors of WWII. It is a short and easy read - 180 pages.

First finished book of 2012!

... was "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish", by Dr. Seuss (Rachel's bedtime story). Honestly, I am not sure why this book is so famous.  There's no discernable plot, the rhymes are ridiculous, and it's really long. Rachie loves it though, so we put it on the back of the shelf when she's not looking.

Kids book count too!

Well they may not be the most significant books, but it is important that our kiddos get to contribute...so tonight Mommy, August and Rachel read "Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed" by Eileen Christelow, which is a little book about the perils 5 little monkeys face while they engage in nocturnal tomfoolery.

We also read "The Great Monkey Race" by Erica Maese and illustrated by Janet Samuel, a book about 10 monkeys that race through the jungle as the other animals cheer them on. It is a cute touch and feel book. Auggie really liked it. I can add an amazon link if anyone really wants it, but really???