Well, last week didn't go quite as expected. After battling cancer for several months, my husband's grandfather entered heaven last week. We're sad that he's gone, but so relieved that he is free from his suffering and is now celebrating eternal life with his Savior. Hopefully, this week will be a little calmer, and I can finish prepping for school and reenter the blogosphere.

Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse (I forgot how sad this book is!)
Death of a Red Heroine by Qiu Xiaolong (This book provided a fascinating look at China in the 1990s.)

The Awakening of Miss Prim by Natalia Sanmartin Fenollera (This is a sweet novel so far.)
Emma by Jane Austen (Still reading along!)

The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion (Really looking forward to this one!)

Tuesday was my last Library Day of the summer. That's probably a good thing, since I have six books left over from my previous Library Day that I haven't read yet. I obviously can't keep up anymore. So I tried to not go crazy and check out tons of books this time. And I more or less succeeded. . .

The Martian by Andy Weir (The movie's coming out soon, right? Better read the book first!)
Emma by Alexander McCall Smith (Since I'm reading the original Emma right now.)
The Monopolists: Obsession, Fury, and the Scandal Behind the World's Favorite Board Game by Mary Pilon (I'm actually not a huge fan of the board game, but the book sounds fascinating.)
Dragon on Trial by Tui & Kari Sutherland (This is the second book of a series, and I've been waiting to get ahold of it forever!)
The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion (I've heard such good things about this book.)
The View from Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg (And I finished it off with three Newbery winners!)
The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo
Holes by Louis Sachar

Fantasy was one of my favorite genres as a kid (and I didn't even discover Harry Potter until high school). There's just something special about reading fantasy books when you're a kid - they're more believable, more real. If I had to teach a class on anything, children's fantasy books would be it!

Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander
The Books of Beginning series by John Stephens
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
Wizard of Oz series by L. Frank Baum
Inkheart by Cornelia Funke
Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
Dealing with Dragons by Patricia Wrede

This past week was Bout of Books! I went into it not expecting myself to do a lot, and it's a good thing I was in low-pressure mode. Because I didn't do a lot. No more than my normal amount of reading, and I only spent time one day commenting on others' blogs. I was kind of sad I didn't have more time to participate, but I know I'll get another chance soon. In the meantime, the reading continues!

Because I Said So!: The Truth Behind the Myths, Tales & Warnings Every Generation Passes Down to Its Kids by Ken Jennings (This book is incredibly educational - and incredibly amusing!)
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel (I'm not sure what to say about this book. I enjoyed it, but didn't love it.)
This Book Is Overdue!: How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All by Marilyn Johnson (A bit rambling, but really interesting. Librarians are amazing!)

Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse (I know I read this one when I was a kid, but I really don't remember much about it.)
Emma by Jane Austen (I got a little behind in the read-along this week, but I'm sure I'll catch up soon!)

Death of a Red Heroine by Qiu Xiaolong (Murder mysteries are not usually my thing, but this is an interesting look at life in China.)

It's Bout of Books time! Normally, I set myself some goals to work towards. But this time I decided to go very low-key. I don't need any more pressure in my life right now. I'll read however much I'll read, and I'll be happy with it!

Monday

Tuesday

Time spent reading: One hour and 26 minutes
Total time spent reading: Two hours and 24 minutes
Number of pages read: 98
Total number of pages read: 154
Book I read from: Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
Blogs commented on: Five (yay!)
Challenges completed: Still zero

Wednesday

Time spent reading: Two hours
Total time spent reading: Four hours and 24 minutes
Number of pages read: 143
Total number of pages read: 297
Book I read from: Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
Blogs commented on: None (Let's just say that it's Friday night and I just now have a chance to post this update. I've been a bit busier than anticipated this week . . .)
Challenges completed: Zero

Thursday

Friday

Time spent reading: One hour and 16 minutes
Total time spent reading: Six hours and 58 minutes
Number of pages read: 93
Total number of pages read: 471
Books I read from: This Book Is Overdue! by Marilyn Johnson
Blogs commented on: None (But now it's the weekend! More time for read-a-thoning!)
Challenges completed: None

Saturday

Time spent reading: 42 minutes
Total time spent reading: Seven hours and 40 minutes
Number of pages read: 82
Total number of pages read: 553
Books I read from: This Book Is Overdue! by Marilyn Johnson
Blogs commented on: None (Good thing I had low expectations for my participation in this read-a-thon. . .)
Challenges completed: None

Sunday

That whole teacher-getting-ready-for-school thing hit me hard this week. I was way busier than I thought I would be. Very little commenting and no chance to do a challenge. But I did finish two and a half books, so the week was not a total loss. I still had fun, and I'll definitely still participate in the next Bout of Books!

It's Bout of Books week! Regularly scheduled blog posting will resume next week. This week, my time is devoted to reading (and commenting and challenges, and all other manner of read-a-thon activities). Anyone else participating in the fun this week?

How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming by Mike Brown (I laughed and I learned from this one.)
Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee (Neither as good as I hoped or as bad as I feared.)
Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor (This was such a cute story. I can't believe I missed this one when I was a kid.)
Shadow Scale by Rachel Hartman (Loved it!!)

Because I Said So!: The Truth Behind the Myths, Tales & Warnings Every Generation Passes Down to Its Kids by Ken Jennings (This book is hilarious and informative!)
Emma by Jane Austen (Still read-alonging. Yup, just made that word up.)

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel (Lots of gushingly positive reviews convinced me to give this one a try. I'm looking forward to it!)

Completely unplanned, I happened to read two books set in the 1990s practically back-to-back. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the 90s doesn't seem to be a very common setting. I really enjoy reading books set in the 90s because it reminds me just how far we've come in the past 20 years. Even though I lived through these changes, it's hard to see it in perspective unless we're reminded what life was like back then.

My Salinger Year by Joanna Rakoff is a nonfiction memoir, although it really reads like a novel. Fresh out of grad school, Rakoff lands a job at a literary agency in New York City. But not just any agency - they have the reclusive J.D. Salinger as one of their clients! Through Rakoff's experiences, we get a look not only at how literary agencies worked at the time, but also what life was like in NYC. We run the gamut from one of the fanciest hotels to her little apartment that didn't come with a sink - or heat. Rakoff does a fabulous job of recreating the atmosphere of NYC in the 90s, as well as telling a story full of books and authors.

Find it on: Goodreads  |  Amazon

Attachments by Rainbow Rowell is really set on the cusp of the new millennium. Lincoln works for the IT department of a newspaper. It's his job to monitor employees' computer and email usage, which means reading other people's emails. This leads to a slight addiction to reading the emails sent between Beth and Jennifer. Which leads to more than a slight crush on Beth. What exactly are the ethics in a situation like this? (It's also Lincoln's job to prepare for Y2K - remember that panic that was all for absolutely nothing?) In a book that's told half through emails, it's amazing how Rowell can make her characters leap off the page. Just like the YA novels I've read by her, I swear that Beth and Jennifer and Lincoln have to be living their lives somewhere in this world right now.
Rowell leaves you guessing to the very end, but you never stop cheering for these characters who have become your friends.

Find it on: Goodreads  |  Amazon  |  Better World Books

I reread the Chronicles of Narnia this year for about the twenty billionth time (seriously, I have completely lost track of how many times I have read this series. It's probably not that many, but close!) No matter how many times I read these books, I never get tired of them. They are still some of my all-time favorite books. This time around, I've been trying to figure out why, even after so many visits to Narnia, it never gets old.

1. Memories. An emotional connection to a book lasts a long time. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is one of the first books I remember my mom reading to me. We laid out a blanket in the hallway, camped out, and I entered Narnia for the first time. Rereading these books means revisiting that moment.

2. Adventure. These are great adventure stories! Trekking across the country to take down an evil witch. Or sailing to the end of the world. Or putting on a ring to take you who-knows-where. The adventurer in each of us calls out to join in.

3. Humor. Despite the sometimes scary situations, there is always someone who provides comic relief. It could be a talking animal (beavers and bears come to mind), a dwarf (our DLF), or a pessimistic Marshwiggle. C.S. Lewis also has a genius for inventing names - Queen Prunaprismia, Reepicheep the mouse, Pattertwig the squirrel, Wimbleweather the giant. . . Genius!

4. Layers. The Chronicles of Narnia are books that you can read as a child and as an adult, and get two completely different things out of them. The older you get, the more you see the layers of hidden Christian meaning that Lewis included. It's found to a certain extent in all the books, but some more than others. I have to admit that The Last Battle was a book I never really got as a kid. But this time around, all the imagery of heaven just leaped out at me. I think it may end up being one of my favorite books of the series.

Narnia is a place I will enjoy visiting for the rest of my life. If you haven't ever been there, I hope I've inspired you to try it out. If you have been there, leave your thoughts in the comments. What's your favorite part of Narnia?

I've read a lot of books in my lifetime, and some of them happen to be by the same authors. :) I had to dive back to childhood for some of these, but here are the authors I think I've read the most books by (in no particular order):

• C.S. Lewis
• Georgette Heyer
• Lloyd Alexander
• Jasper Fforde
• L.M. Montgomery
• Lori Wick
• J.K. Rowling
• Bill Bryson
• Jane Austen
• Beverly Cleary

It was our (small) town's Summer Festival this past weekend, so it's been a little fun and crazy around here. There was even a rodeo Saturday evening - not a thing you would typically associate with Michigan, but it was a lot of fun to watch! Now it's time to hunker down and get that classroom of mine ready to go for the new school year.

The Priest: Aaron by Francine Rivers (Decent Biblical fiction)
My Salinger Year by Joanne Rakoff (So much to love about this book!)
The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis (I finally completed my Narnia reread, just a month later than originally planned. . . My thoughts will be posted Thursday!)
The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown (The Shakespeare references make this book worth it. Plus I love the cover.)
Attachments by Rainbow Rowell (Not that she wasn't before, but Rainbow Rowell is most definitely in my list of favorite authors now!)

How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming by MIke Brown (Is that not a great title?)
Emma by Jane Austen (The Emma readalong continues!)

Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee (I have tried my level best to avoid reviews before I read it myself, but I have heard some rumblings. I'll try to keep my expectations modest!)