It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? 8/15

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? –From Picture Books to YA is a weekly meme hosted by Jen at Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee at Unleashing Readers. This is a chance for bloggers to recap their week of reading and share their plans for the next reading adventures they will take. Visit the host blogs for a list of great blogs participating in this meme and a whole bunch of titles to add to your to-read lists.

I don’t exactly know why it has been so hard for me to keep up with my blog this summer, but here I am again with a couple weeks’ worth of updates for today.

Books I Finished This Week:

Better Than Before by Gretchen Rubin explores habits and how people form them. It is a really interesting book that gave me some food for thought when thinking about new habits that I want to form.

I listened to Vivian Apple at the End of the World by Katie Coyle. I had this title because it was one of the free titles offered by Sync Audiobooks. I didn’t know what this book was about before I started listening, but I really was drawn into this story and was fascinated by the mystery of what happened throughout the book. I recommend this one for high school and up.

 I loved this book! Roller Girl by Victoria Jamieson explores the way friendships change as girls get closer to middle school years as well as offering a glimpse into the world of roller derby. I learned quite a bit in this book and am looking forward to sharing this graphic novel with my students this year.

I am a very big fan of Gothic novels, so this book was right up my alley. Unfortunately for me, I was unaware that it was such a long book. That is the biggest drawback of Kindle! I enjoyed The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins, but definitely had a hard time being patient with the drawn out nature of the mystery. I don’t know how much of this attitude about the book was influenced by my being unaware of the length of the book before starting it. If you like gothic novels, this one won’t disappoint…just be ready for a longer read.

This graphic novel is really well done. I was living in Brookfield, which is a suburb of Milwaukee, when Jeffrey Dahmer was caught and arrested. It was so creepy to know that a monster like that was living 20 minutes away from my house. I think this glimpse into his teenage years is really fascinating and it is baffling to think about how a kid could be struggling the way he was without having any adults try to intervene. I highly recommend this graphic novel to older teens and adults.

DIY Literacy is a good reminder of some tools that are important to use in the classroom. I am glad I read it and I will be working on putting together a demonstration notebook for the coming school year.

The Cuckoo’s Calling was a fun mystery to read. I like the characters in the book and will look forward to reading more mysteries by Robert Galbraith (J.K. Rowling).

I didn’t realize that this was the script of a play. I think it made it a quicker read for me. I really enjoyed stepping back into the world of Hogwarts for this short time.

 

Books I am currently reading:

I am reading Homer and Langley by E.L. Doctorow and Serafina and the Black Cloak by Robert Beatty. I am also reading A Mindset for Learning and listening to The Raven King.

What’s Next?

I have a pile of middle grade titles that I still want to get through before going back to school. I will be trying to make my way through that pile this week.

What are you reading this week? I would love to hear from you in the comments!