April Reading

Books-April 2011
1. Action starboard! By Victor Mays (gender study)
2. Singing for Mrs. Pettrigrew by Michael Morpurgo
3. Growing up bin Laden by Najwa bin Laden and Omar bin Laden and Jean Sasson
4. The mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
5. One of us by Mark Osteen
6. La's orchestra saves the world by Alexander McCall Smith (audio book)
7. Compulsion by Heidi Ayarbe (SLJ review)
8. One was a soldier by Julia Spencer-Fleming
9. The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks (audio book)
10. The scent of rain and lightning by Nancy Pickard
11. How to talk to an autistic kid by David Stefanski
12. Bad Samaritan by Aimee and David Thurlo
13. The virgin of small plains by Nancy Pickard
14. The other Wes Moore by Wes Moore
15. Fearless: Imagine your life without fear by Max Lucado
16. Great expectations by Charles Dickens
17. The Wyoming kid by Debbie Macomber
18. Anya's war by Andrea Alban
19. Odysseus the wanderer by Aubrey de Selincourt (gender study)


1. Another gender study book from the 1950s, main character: male, predominate character: male. Only four females in the cast of hundreds. Same old same old!
2. A rare gem of short stories written by Britain’s one time children’s laureate. Great stories and nice essays in between telling about the writing.
3. A friend recommended this book several months ago; just getting around to reading it now. It gives some good background on who bin Laden is/was and how he treated his own family. Pretty scary guy who started off as a mild mannered, family loving young boy.
4. The final book in the Hunger Games trilogy. These books go from violence to more violence; lots of blood and gore in this one. After much death and devastation, the wars are over and all live in a peace paid for with a very high price.
5. I loved this book about a family’s struggle to live with a child severely affected by autism. One thing that is too clear here: parents will do anything for their children, follow any advice and are often taken in by charlatans, all because they would love to alleviate the effects of this disorder, and give their children a normal life.
6. Great book to listen to. Not a part of a series and I have to agree with most reviewers who say that Smith does best with his series books. Maybe because this covered too much time, the reader did not get as intimate a look into La’s life as happens in the minutia written in his series books.
7. Hard to read and not very reader friendly, although it probably did give a fairly good picture of what it is like to live with OCD.
8. The long-awaited next installment in Julia Spencer-Fleming’s mystery series. She has written much in blogs and talked in interviews about the pressure to publish a book a year in this type of series. I have to say it did not live up to my expectations. That does not mean I won’t stop reading this series if she keeps writing. But, she focused too much on the issues in this book to the detriment of the human story that she tells so well.
9. We started listening to this on our way to Boston and couldn’t hear the second half on the way home because the battery died in the ipod. Typical Sparks. I knew someone would die, but he did fool me briefly in the end.
10. Another stand alone book by a great series writer. I was impressed with how she used weather in this book throughout the present day story as well as the flash-backs, almost as another character. Very nice story and lots of red-herrings.
11. Short and sweet, written by an autistic kid. Could be useful for a parent or classroom teacher to use, but only when talking to/about a high functioning autistic kid.
12. A sister Agatha mystery. Had not read any of these, and was not impressed, although the image of a nun, in habit riding a motorcycle with a big dog in the side car is one that I find quite amusing.
13. After reading Pickard’s latest book, I searched for and found this one at the library. Again, an old mystery, re-opened and solved 15 years later. She does romance well, in that it is a part of the story, but does not overwhelm the story.
14. Great book; see description of book club.
15. I have been reading this off and on for about two months. Lucado does a good job of finding passages related to fear in the Bible and making them relevant to present day life. The discussion section is something I will re-read to keep these ideas in front of my memory for a longer period of time.
16. Had never read this as a kid, although Miss Havisham is such an iconic character, I felt I knew part of the story already. Amazed at Dickens’ story telling ability and the way he gets the reader’s sympathy right where he wants it!
17. Second story about Wyoming by MaComber. Typical romance novel.
18. Set in the late 1930s, this tells the story of Anya’s Jewish family who have come to Shanghai from Odessa to escape oppression. Many great historical moments here. Not the greatest writing, but still worth reading.
19. A retelling of the Odyssey. Another great book I had never read. This was also written in the 50s and part of the gender study. Lots of men, just a few women. A losing battle!

Coincidents in reading

Have you ever noticed that when you read or become aware of a new word in one book, suddenly that word pops up everywhere you read? Or sometimes that happens with an event. This month, I was reading the Odysseus, the Wanderer, a retelling of the Odyssey, which naturally included many references to the Greek gods and the stories of how they originated. I was also reading Anya’s War, set in 1938 Shanghai. The main character was a young Jewish girl who was immersed in Greek mythology by her mother, so many of the incidents in this book were related to what happened to the Greek Gods. I found myself thinking: didn’t I just read about this? And then remember that I had just read a very similar story in Odysseus. Just reinforces the importance of background knowledge and how we learn/remember more if we have a hook to attach new learning to.

Baltimore Reading

Because of the holy week, we did not meet last Thursday for book club, but met today instead. We read and discussed The Other Wes Moore, by Wes Moore. This book is non-fiction and tells the story of two young men, both with ties to Baltimore. The one who wrote the book was a Rhodes Scholar and the one who did not write the book is in prison for murder. The very saddest part of the book to me was when the "other" Wes Moore signed up for, attended and successfully participated in Job Corps. He earned his GED, returned to Baltimore and worked for a year in landscaping and restaurant work. However, his potential salary was not enough to support his family and he eventually went back into the drug trade, ending up in prison for life. I do not condone the violence that he participated in. However, I do lament the fact that young men in our cities often do not have a reasonable opportunity to make a decent living. When opportunity does not exist, something will fill the void.
We all decided that we need to read something that is a little more up for next month, so Lisa (our organizer) is looking into getting us copies of Super Sad True Love Story, billed as a satire about love. How much more "up" can you get? Anyone out there have any other suggestions?
And did you notice, this month's book was about Wes, my new grandson's name?

Waiting room reading

We welcomed our new grandson this weekend, Wesley Romulus Asendorf was born early Sunday morning. Our hard job was waiting in the waiting room, so I had a full contingent of books. I started and finished reading compulsion by Heidi Ayarbe, a young adult novel about a boy with OCD. It was written in a postmoden way and I did not enjoy it, too hard to follow and too many unanswered questions. I also read Nancy Pickard's The Scent of Rain and Lightning. Pickard has written series novels for years and I love every book she has written. Her characters are well developed, and she sets you up to be just a little off-center, guessing who is the true villain.this was no exception! I also finished listening to The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks. The only way to do his books is to listen to them or watch the movies. The plots are heavy handed and you just know someone will die. I won't say who it is in this book, but he did fool me in the end. Welcome, Wesley, I'll look forward to sharing many books with you!

A family's pain

I bought One of Us by Mark Osteen a few weeks ago. He is an English professor at Loyola and I had heard about the book, written about his son's life and how his family dealt with Cameron's autism. I had other books to read and put it off; I think I knew it would be painful to read. And it was. But, it was so much more. Osteen is a beautiful writer and this book is written with so much candor, opening up his life and actions for our perusal, and with such great love. If you know of a family with an autistic child, read this book. If you want to learn more about the insidious disorder of autism, read this book. If you have ever suffered at the hands of your child (and isn't that all of us, even those of us with relatively normal children?) read this book. I was so involved in this book that I stayed up way past my bedtime to finish it. I could not put it down. I am in awe of the work Osteen and his wife did on behalf of their child. I am also in awe of his writing. You would expect an English professor to find just the right quote for anything he wants to say. And he did. But, what made this so very readable is that he did not hit you over the head with the quotes. They were subtle, sometimes humorous and always in keeping with the theme of any given chapter. Definitely the best book I have read in a while!

Children's Literature

What makes children's literature? Does a book become children's literature because of the author's intent in writing, or because of who the book appeals to? Robert Morpurgo was once the Children's Laureate for Great Britain. Some reviewers indicate that his stories are too sophisticated for children, but isn't that really the best children's book of all? One that appeals to children as well as the adults who read to children? I just read Morpurgo's Singing for Mrs. Pettigrew, memoir interspersed with short stories. The stories could be shared with children, but are appealing for adults as well. I had not read any of Morpurgo's work before this, but will keep my eyes out for his name now. Anyone heard of Why the Whales Came?