Books We’re Reading Now

Okay, I’m going to try to shape up, posting-wise. First I’ve been meaning to catch you up on all of our current book favorites.

J, the 8-year-old, has been listening to Rick Riordan’s The Kane Chronicles. M advised her that the Percy Jackson books are better, but we had The Red Pyramid in the house when J needed a book, so that decided it. Then one day I was trying to accomplish things around the house and I got the bright idea to find an audio book for her, so that she’d be entertaining with no help from me and no tv. It seemed like listening to an audio book was a higher quality activity than tv, so I felt good about it. Until she cast aside any actual reading of the book aside and started asking me for the audio version of the sequel. I’d put in a request before she finished the first one, but then it took a while. At one point I asked a library staff member about it, and he responded, “Yes, it’s on the way, so it should be here in a few days.” Which almost made me laugh out loud, because it was traveling from Rotterdam to Niskayuna. I totally should have just gone to get it. Which I would have done if I had known that she’d be asking me for the Playaway like an addict asking for one little hit.

Meanwhile M’s most recent book was one the J had read first and that all three of us loved: Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine. The protagonist has Asperger’s, so the perspective is interesting, and we literally laughed and cried over it. Beyond that, M’s slacking a little bit. Okay, okay: it’s summer.

A week or two ago, WAMC’s Book Pick’s focused on Middle Grade and Young Adult novels. I was super-excited because the list sounded great, the picker, Suzanna Hermans, was enthusiastic and engaging, and I’ve been on a bit of a young adult kick lately. And if you scoff at YA, please click on over Marisa Reichardt’s defense of Young Adult literature. I took Suzanna’s advice and ran out to the library with a list and jumped into Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews. I loved this narrator’s voice–loved him. But he wasn’t kidding when he swore up and down that it wouldn’t exactly be entirely heartwarming. Still, I spent the first few chapters trying to hand the book to other people so that they could read it and laugh along, too. I had to restrain myself. And now I’m in the middle of Monument 14 by Emmy Laybourne. This one is a little reminiscent of Stephen King’s The Mist, but that’s okay with me. I liked that one, too. In fact, right this minute I have free time and I want to keep reading it, but I told myself, no, Katie, no. You must write a post first. Another YA novel I loved recently was The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer. This one’s an it-could-happen-maybe futuristic novel with some great characters. I think that there’s going to be a sequel, but alas, not yet. I also really enjoyed Revolution and A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly, both of which are sort of a cross between historical fiction and coming-of-age. And if you’re in need of a love story, there’s Eleanor & Park or Attachments by Rainbow Rowell. Oh, I love me a slow-burn love story!