Friday Reads

Now that Halloween and birthdays are behind me, I can share some of the other things I've been reading lately. Just don't expect an eloquent review or anything.  I'm a reader, not a writer.  (My blog doesn't count.  Proceed to laugh at me.)   Let's start with the third book in one of my favorite series ever.

The Girl Who Soared Over Fairyland 
And Cut the Moon in Two 
by Catherynne M. Valente, 
illustrated by Ana Juan. 
 Feiwel & Friends, 2013.

I am in love with Catherynne M. Valente's Fairyland books.  I gushed about the first two titles here.  I love the richness, the beauty, the weirdness, and I love Ana Juan and her illustrations.  I am still thinking about this third book, though.  The gorgeous language and visuals are still present - Valente is a master storyteller.  This one was a bit more difficult for me.  September is caught between childhood and adulthood, and I think that automatically gives this book a melancholy feeling.   I highly recommend these books.  When my girls are older, I will hand them my pretty hardcover copies and beg them to tell me what they get from them.  I want to know what children think of them, because I still feel they are children's books for grown-ups.  (Ha!  Slate agrees.)

I also read the second book in Veronica Roth's Divergent trilogy.

Insurgent by Veronica Roth.
HarperCollins, 2012.
Of course, I am behind.  The third and final installment is now out (and yes, I've heard about the ending, which didn't really surprise me, and oh look, I'm ahead of myself), and I have only finished book 2.  I didn't like Insurgent as much as I did Divergent, but I'm looking forward to getting my hands on Allegiant.  I'm only number 80-something on the hold list at the library.  Maybe I'll have to break down and buy it...

And I'm looking forward to seeing Divergent the movie, although I'm sure I won't see it until it's on Amazon or Netflix or something.  Sigh.  I remember when I saw everything in the movie theaters, sometimes more than once...

Ah, dystopian teen series.  Who knew I'd hop on that bandwagon?  

In the to-be-read stack:  Sarah Addison Allen's The Girl Who Chased the Moon and The Peach Keeper, Neil Gaiman's Fortunately the Milk, Kate Morton's The Forgotten Garden, and Alex Grecian's The Black Country.

As for the girls, we are reading The Emerald City of Oz together at bedtime.  When Little Sis and I get some alone time, I have been reading Junie B. Jones books aloud to her, while Big Sis is forging ahead on Judy Blume's Fudge books, with some Judy Moody and American Girl books thrown in, too.  

And we have been reading picture books, too!  Some of them are so popular these days, I decided there would be little point in featuring them on my dinky blog.  (Um, but Danzel, didn't you just post the Insurgent book trailer?  Yeah...)  That said, do check out The Day the Crayons Quit.  It's awesome.

Hope every one of you has a lovely weekend.  We have a birthday party to attend, and I'm making butternut squash mac and cheese to take to a potluck dinner/read-thru of my next play. Sunday is still open, but may involve a play date, perhaps a birthday dinner for my dad.  The girls are out of school for Veterans' Day, so they can spend the day with their former Marine daddy, gathering leaves and riding bikes.  I think I will make this for dinner.

Okay, done babbling!  Merry Weekend!  Happy Reading!



  1. oh how I long to read these books!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! so so much! I adore your 'what we're reading' post by the way, love them! aaaah what happens at the end of allegiant???? i'm reading it right now. i haven't heard any spoilers. maybe I should go read the back of the book. aaah what do i do?? if they kill off Four, I'm gonna be mad......

    1. I read an article, despite the "spoiler alert." I wasn't shocked, but a lot of people are upset. I'm interested in reading everything leading up to it, though!

      The Fairyland books are beauties.

  2. OH! I need to read allegiant too! My father in law bought it, so as soon as he finishes it's gonna get read! And yeah, Trap and I used to see every movie (the good the bad and the ugly) in the theaters. When Dawn of the Dead came out 10 years ago we went to the matinee- only ones in the whole theater! Now we rarely see anything in the theaters, sigh. We did make it to Enders Game for his birthday on Saturday tho (baby slept through the whole thing!!!) it was great!

    1. I'm number 80-something on the library holds list. :o/ I did see the new trailer for the movie today. I don't remember the last movie Mr. B and I saw on our own. I think we may have seen something last year... I can't remember!!!



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