Currently reading

Five books make up my current reading list; rotating these around make an interesting week. In no particular order, I am enjoying:

 

This year's Newbery winner. I had this on my kindle, but had only read a few pages. Then I heard Katherine Applegate talk about the book at the National Book Festival. It is a great book for kids, told from the viewpoint of Ivan, the gorilla. It also speaks to the plight of circus/entertainment animals and how they should be treated. (I recently read  We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by  Karen Joy Fowler, a totally different story, but some similar issues with animals that are used in research, particularly chimpanzees.)

 

Zealot got a lot of press when Aslan was interviewed on Fox News and the newswoman was totally rude to him about his credentials and ability to write a book about Jesus. He explains in the beginning that this is an attempt to write about the historical Jesus, not the biblical Jesus. His explanation of Jewish and Palestinian history has been very interesting so far. I am looking forward to see what he has to say about Jesus, the man. 

My mystery fix for the week. Laurie King's books about Sherlock Holmes' much younger wife are great distracting fiction. Mary Russell is undercover with a film crew in Lisbon and Morocco, where they are making a silent film (1920s) about the Pirates of Penzance being taken over by real pirates. Not the best book in this series, but certainly worth reading to keep up with the character. 

After reading A Woman's Education, I am excited to read her book about growing up in Australia and how she ended up getting a PhD at Harvard. What a good writer. I once heard someone say that she wished she could eat the songs that Sting sings. That's how I feel about Conway's writing. They are food for the brain, the soul and would be delicious if we could eat them!

And last but not least: 

Museum: Behind the Scenes at the Metropolitan Museum of Art by Danny Danziger

A series of short essays about dozens of MMA employees. I love the enthusiasm they all display from the director to curators to the plumber who takes care of the 70+ toilets located all over the museum. A fun way to lean a little about art and to hear how people ended up doing a job that they love!