Microbe

I didn't finish Microbe, by Dr. Alan Zelicoff and Michael Bellomo. It's about viruses and I thought it would be fascinating-- in some ways, it kind of is-- but it just didn't capture my attention enough. I made it to page 29 and let it sit for about two weeks before I realized it was just keeping me from reading other things. Oh, well. Maybe I'll try again sometime. It didn't really have anything particularly wrong with it, so I feel sort of bad not finishing. Eh.

Speak

I just finished Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson. It was recommended and loaned by a friend. I thought it was really good. I need to go do dishes, so I don't have time to write much about it, but I just finished it in one day-- that's how compelling I found it. Maybe I'll edit this post later to write more, but I wanted to type up something as an immediate reaction.

Book: 3

Board Books

I was reading some books to the Buddies today (which is how Adam and I usually refer to Théoden and Samuel, rather than "the twins") and realized I kinda wanted to blog about some of them. I'm keeping track of what I read this year and this is a large part of it-- these dozen or so books, over and over and over and over and over.

The boys love to be read to. They love to look at books, hold books, touch books, carry books around with them. They bring books to us, one book after another, for an hour, sometimes. I love it and it's exhausting. The other day, I read a current favorite no less than thirty times in one day-- and any mom of a book-lover will tell you that's pretty normal. I've already been interrupted twice while writing this to read books.

Three times, heh.

So, what exactly are we reading?

Current favorites are:

Brown Bear, Brown Bear by Bill Martin, Jr. and Eric Carle

My First Book of Colors, by Eric Carle

Blue Hat, Green Hat, by Sandra Boynton

Moo, Baa, La La La, by Sandra Boynton

A to Z, by Sandra Boynton

Doggies, by Sandra Boynton

Where's Spot? by Eric Hill

Spot's First Walk, by Eric Hill

Goodnight Moon, by Margaret Wise Brown and Clement Hurd

That's Not My Pirate, by Fiona Watts

Mommy Hugs, by Anne Gutman and Georg Hallensleben

Daddy Kisses, by Anne Gutman and Georg Hallensleben

Colors, by Chadwick Coleman

Where's Spot? lost all of the flaps-- they were all torn out within about a week. Spot's First Walk has fared a bit better, but only because it's kept up on a shelf out of reach. They go to the shelf and point to it when they want to read that one (which, right now, is about every other minute). Even without the flaps, though, Where's Spot? is still a favorite.

Sandra Boynton has a special place in my heart from my own childhood and I'm just happy the boys like her books, too. Blue Hat, Green Hat is a particular favorite of Théoden's, and Samuel used to bring us Doggies several times a day. He still enjoys it, but isn't as insistent about it.

Goodnight Moon didn't catch on until Adam started reading it and pointing out each noun on the page (he'd point to kittens whenever it said, "Goodnight kittens," for example) and now it's really exciting to see them starting to make even more connections. Now, Samuel won't let us past the "The cow jumping over the moon," page unless I also point out, "A cow! A cow says moo!" like it says in Moo, Baa, La La La. If I forget, he turns the page back and points to the cow, insisting, "That? That? That?"

That's Not My Pirate by Fiona Watts is great! The boys also have That's Not My Dinosaur. We had That's Not My Lion, but it was falling apart too much to keep. (Several of our books are now rebound with duct tape, and Lion was one of the few that couldn't be saved.) The That's Not My series is an Usbourne series with textures on each page. They were some of the very first books we read to the boys, when they were too little to even touch the pages on their own. They would get really excited when we helped them feel the textures, though.

The only other books I want to mention more specifically are the books Mommy Hugs and Daddy Kisses. I found these wonderful little books on a Barnes & Noble trip with my mother-in-law and they're favorites of mine. Each page has an animal interacting with their young, i.e. "Mommy penguin hugs her chick with a nibble." We do all the actions as we read and the boys really enjoy it. The Daddy Kisses one also incorporates specific body parts ("on the nose," "on the ear," etc.).

Anyway. That's what else I'm reading right now. I'll probably add some more as we add some to our collection or as other books become more popular with the Buddies. I'm also planning on adding a post about books I want to get for them. That list is pretty darn long. Heh.

Divergent

I just finished Divergent, by Veronica Roth. Now I'm waiting for the second book to come out in May!

It was interesting. It's supposedly targeted toward young adults, but it was recommended to me by another mom. As far as feel, it's a bit akin to The Hunger Games. It's a bit...racier? than The Hunger Games, though. Or rather, it addresses a bit more on the physical/emotional level in relationships.

The novel takes place in a dystopian society that was an attempt at utopia (my favorite kind of book, I think!). Some of it really was fascinating. There were some parts that were a bit obvious and I figured them out pretty quickly, but there was enough that kept me guessing that I didn't get bored. As far as characters go, I think I actually like Beatrice Prior a bit more than Katniss Everdeen. Maybe it's because Divergent is more fresh in my memory, but I feel like Beatrice had a bit more depth.

Conclusion: Not my favorite book ever, but pretty good. I have some problems with the relationships (i.e., I have problems with any book that founds relationships on infatuation/soul-mate-hood, and the prose initially kept leaning towards a Twilight-esque "He's dangerous!" sort of vibe that was off-putting for multiple reasons, but that wasn't still happening by the end). And it's a bit violent. Other than that, not too shabby.

Book: 2

Year of the Flood

I just finished The Year of the Flood, by Margaret Atwood. First finished book of the year!

Thoughts: Interesting. I might have actually liked it more than Oryx and Crake, but I don't think I would have enjoyed it very much at all if I hadn't read Oryx and Crake first, if that makes any sense.

Atwood has a thing for screwed up childhoods and terrible mother-child relationships-- and distant, absent, or inattentive fathers.

Also, a fascinating look at the nature of a cult.

On to the next book!

Book: 1.

2011 - What I Can Remember

Today, I finished Pride & Prejudice & Zombies, after meaning to read it for quite some time. I picked it up yesterday and finished it this evening. I told Adam that I wished I'd kept better track of what I'd read in 2011 because I can't remember everything. So, I'm going to try to keep better track this year with this blog. It's not meant to generate reviews or recommendations, just to keep track of what I'm reading.

I'm going to try my best to list what I did read last year, and maybe I'll edit and add things as I remember them. I might share thoughts if I think about it, or if anyone is really curious, but for the most part I'll try to stick to writing more thoughts about books as I read them this year, so the reaction is fresh.

The following list, for reasons already mentioned, is in no particular order rather than chronological.

2011:

A Song of Ice and Fire series, by George R. R. Martin

This includes: A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords, A Feast for Crows, and A Dance with Dragons.

The Name of the Wind, by Patrick Rothfuss

The Wise Man's Fear, by Patrick Rothfuss

Pride & Prejudice, by Jane Austen

Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen

A Jane Austen Education, by William Deresiewicz

Pride & Prejudice & Zombies, by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith

With the Light: Vols. 1-2, by Keiko Tobe

Howl's Moving Castle, by Diana Wynne Jones

The Hunger Games Trilogy, by Suzanne Collins

This includes: The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, Mockingjay

Oryx and Crake, by Margaret Atwood

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, by Suzanna Clarke

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, by Mary Roach

Death Comes to Pemberly, by P.D. James

Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro

Johnny Tremain, by Esther Forbes

Deja Dead, by Kathy Reichs

Deadly Decisions, by Kathy Reichs

The Fall, by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan

EDIT: The Mind's Eye, by Oliver Sacks

Started, not finished for some reason or other:

(Some, I mean to get back to, some I'm still reading.)

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, by Hayao Miyazaki

The Devil in the White City, by Erik Larson

Island in the Sea of Time, by S.M. Sterling

Darcy on the Hudson, by Mary Lyndon Simonsen

One Thousand Gifts, by Ann Voskamp

Carry On, Mr. Bowditch, by Jean Lee Latham

Persuasion, by Jane Austen

The Year of the Flood, by Margaret Atwood

EDIT: Gray Matter, by David Levy

EDIT: In Praise of Stay-At-Home Moms, by Laura Schlessinger

So, both lists are incomplete, but you can see that I went on both huge fantasy kicks (a good year for fantasy!) and Jane Austen kicks. I'm going to finish Persuasion, soon, and I want to finish reading her work this year. That was 2011 for me, though, and I'm sure I'll think of more stuff. And then I'll start posting titles and brief thoughts as I finish books this year. I'll have to mull over this a bit to choose favorites or highlights. Hmm.