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It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

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It's Monday! What Are You Reading? Meme Graphic

I’m still celebrating Joy’s Book Blog’s Grand Opening through today. Be sure to visit the Grand Opening post for the virtual ribbon cutting and to register for the door prize!

It’s Monday! What Are Your Reading? is a weekly meme hosted by Sheila of Book Journey. Check out the special things she has going on to celebrate the 1 Year Anniversary of hosting this very special and popular meme. Happy Anniversary, Sheila!

book cover of Dream-Maker's Magic by Sharon ShinnI finished The Dream-Maker’s Magic by Sharon Shinn. This is the third book in the trilogy that began with The Safe-Keeper’s Secret and continued with The Truth-Teller’s Tale. These are young adult novels, with characters who learn about themselves and their destinies in gentle and compelling ways.  The books are good read-alikes for Shannon Hale’s novels, especially the Books of Bayern series.  I think Shinn’s series would be good for the precocious 10 to 12 year olds who are ready for a higher level of reading but perhaps not for the harder core themes in some teen novels.

My Weekend Cooking post last week was Book Review: Healthy Family Meals. I finished WomenHeart’s All Heart Family Cookbook. Sometime this week, I’ll cook something from it and then write about the book for Weekend Cooking on Saturday.

For Langston Hughes birthday on February 1, I looked at three books. Two featured Hughes poems, My People and The Dreamkeeper and Other Poems and the other was a picture book about a girl Visiting Langston. Has anyone seen the cresent waxing moon yet? We’re still under cloud cover.

I finished Nora Robert’s Happy Ever After — watch for a review of The Bride Quartet this week, just in time for Valentine’s Day.

Cupid by Julius Lester is another book I started reading for the Valentine vibe–a completely different sort of vibe from the Nora Roberts, however. The witty narrative voice of Cupidhas made me smile since page one.

The Way to Eat by David Katz and Maura Gonzalez is my current book to support my healthy lifestyle. So far, it has been exceptional in how it addresses the problems of feeding the human body that’s adapted to scarcity in an environment of abundance.

book cover of Torchwood: Another Life by Peter AnghelidesI’ve also started reading Another Life, a spin-off novel from the BBC television show, Torchwood. This is the third book I’ve started to read on my iPad using the Kindle app and have yet to finish any of them. This one is the most pure fun, so that might help. On the other hand, I made the mistake of starting it right after reading a submission from my novel critique group, so I was in critical mode. This is as about as badly written as I expect a TV spin-off book to be. In fact, I think the submission from my fellow wannabe novelist was better. Let’s just say, writing the first chapter in second person was an unfortunate choice.

What I will read next depends somewhat on whether I get out to the library or the bookstore. We’re only getting out in the big truck and I’m not driving it. I have plenty to read at home, fortunately, but there are some things that I should be reading that I need to get elsewhere.

Signature of Joy Weese Moll

Comments

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? — 38 Comments

  5. I do enjoy Sharon Shinn’s work but have to admit that these were not my favorites. My favorites are the books about the 12 houses. I do agree that the ones you read would be good in a middle school/high school media center. Happy reading!

  6. I so need to read a Nora Robert’s book-I have never picked one up. Thank you for the healing vibes-I need them.

    Have a good reading week.

  9. You have a great variety of books. I like Nora Roberts but haven’t read any of The Bride Quartet yet.
    The crescent moon was looking beautiful hanging low in our summer sky last night. 🙂

    Happy reading!

  12. You’ve some really interesting reads there – I’ve just wish-listed the Way to Eat book to support *my* healthy lifestyle choices 🙂

  15. Hi there!
    Thanks for the visit! Looks like you have enough books to keep you busy! Hope you have a great week of reading!

    Barb

  16. I just recently got into Doctor Who and then started watching the first season of Torchwood. I’m not loving it yet but I’m hoping it grows on me because I loved Captain Jack’s character on Doctor Who.

  18. you know…I’ve never heard of Sharon Shinn, but I love Shannon Hale’s books so I’m definitely going to have to check her out. Good luck with your reading this week!

  20. I love how you synopsed The Dream-maker’s Magic, which is great for those of us with middle readers who don’t want them reading too adult themes. Enjoy your reading week and welcome to the wonderful world of book blogging!

  22. I’ll have to look into getting those books by Sharon Shinn. They sound like something my Middle School students could get into!

  28. I’m also loving the cover of The Dream-Maker’s Magic. It’s really great that there are such wonderful books for YA readers. I can’t recall having such great books when I was a kid!

    Thanks for stopping by my blog earlier. I’m the one reading the Brides Quartet from Nora Roberts. I’m on Savor the Moment and I think it is my new favorite. 🙂 Looking forward to your review on the series.

    Sherri at Urban Girl Reader

  29. why is it that most books from movies/tv are written as if from a fourth grader? Only one book that I’ve (so far) read from a movie read as if it was a novel first, and that books was (believe it or not) Ultraviolet – from a movie that had great special effects but pretty bad acting.

    Oh well, happy reading! Hope you get to go out for some books soon. :), nothing quite compares to a trip to the bookstore.

  30. Hi thanks so much for leaving a comment on my blog. I am generally not a fan of books from TV programmes (unless the book came first!) so not sure I would read the Torchwood spin off but your other choices sound interesting for sure! xxx

  32. I am always looking for good read alikes for my teens at the library, so I will have to check out Sharon Shin. I’ve also really been looking forward to reading the Bride Quartet but I don’t want to bring too much home right now. I’m afraid I will pack either a library book or a friend’s book into a box, it will disappear in the move and I will never see it again.

  35. AH – GASP – TORCHWOOD!!!!! Sorry, I am a bit geeky and obsessive, and anything Doctor Who or Torchwood related is right up my alley. I can’t wait to read your review of this book! Great list, and thanks for hopping by my blog!

  36. I absolutely love the sharon shinn trilogy although I think personally Truth Teller is my favourite!
    Have a lovely week
    Lettie

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