What I've Been Reading

These posts are mostly for me. If I don't write down the books that I've read then I forget them! I'll probably leave a few off of this post since my memory is fading. This is just one of my odd ways of marking time. And so, in no particular order...

Since last time I've read
  
Fun and quick reads with just a hint of magic. :)

I also read up on some parenting books--the one our parenting class at church was based on and that we are basing our community group around:



and then

Both with good information.







A little Salinger that's been sitting on my shelf for some time.









It must be the summer of sequels! Finally got around to reading Jeanette Walls. Great writer and such an interesting life! Before The Glass Castle was over I ordered Half Broke Horses. I didn't want it to be done.

 Great book!

I reread  and then  

I had so many thoughts! I hadn't read To Kill A Mockingbird since ninth grade English class. I grew up watching the movie, so I know the story by heart, but this time around I felt so much love for that book. Atticus warms my heart. He's like Dumbledore. :) I remember the test our teacher, Ms. Schaub, gave us over the book and how we could choose which essay question to answer. I don't remember the one I picked, probably something along the lines of: Share how the events that transpire in the book lead to Scout's coming-of-age.  But I remember the other question, something like this: Harper Lee suggests that, "it is a sin to kill a mockingbird" because mockingbirds exist without harming anyone. Name the three characters in the book that the mockingbird symbolizes and describe why. The answer, of course, was Boo Radley, Tom Robinson, and Atticus Finch. But I was not smart enough to know that or to trust my own instincts even if I had thought it through. It was something not on the study guide. I still remember that only one person in the class chose that essay question. And now I'm pretty sure she teaches high school English herself. :)

But rereading the book, I thought even that was a simplified answer. Who is not a mockingbird? Atticus, Boo, sure. Tom definitely. But also Scout. Jem. Helen Robinson. The entire black population. Mayella Ewell, herself, is a victim of poverty and ignorance. Even Bob Ewell, it could be argued, is a product of his society, of years of abuse, fear, anger. Anyway, just some thoughts!

I had lots of questions about Go Set a Watchman, and I haven't done any other reading on it or on others' critiques. But I'll just say that I was surprised that they published it.



I'm almost done with

What will happen?!?!

And I picked up  for a quarter at a thrift store. So, I'll finally get around to reading that.