Trying Out a New Author

What with the soltera, Hong Kong trip, wedding and planning our anniversary trip, it was a WONDER that I started --- and finished --- Jodi Picoult's Songs of the Humpback Whale!

A basic summary: Jane runs away from her husband after a major fight. Her daughter goes with her. She writes to her brother who tells her where to go in his next letter, delivered to the Post Office of the next town. This continues until Jane's husband, a well-known oceanographer, finally tracks her down.

This is a pretty deep, complex book. I was very confused with the book having 5 different narrators, not just Jane. It was a chore to have to completely change my reading perspective every chapter, but as I got the hang of it, it wasn't too bad. :) Jodi Picoult explores these 5 characters and how they relate to each other very thoroughly. Then the reader gets to tie everything together. Though not by all means predictable, Songs of the Humpback Whales is most definitely NOT an easy read. Be prepared to spend a few hours delving into this book.

New Books for Raegan

I know, this blog is really for MY reading habits and the books that I read. But if I can influence other people, i.e., my kids (!) into the habit of reading, then they most definitely deserve mention in this blog, yes? :)

{Bookstore Run}

After lunch at Serendra with the Gavinos, Raegan and I went to the bookstore to pick a book series for her to read. Junie B Jones was getting to be too easy for her, and I could barely pick a word from the books to supplement her vocabulary! She would breeze through the books and I felt that she needed a litte bit more of a challenge, especially since I wanted her to learn more words.

So she looked and looked and looked. I pointed her towards the older kids section and she spent a few minutes looking at books. With some suggestions, she narrowed down her choice to a couple of books from the Little House on the Prairie series: Little House on Rocky Ridge and Little House in Brookfield.

This series is appropriately for Grades 3-5, which is fine for vocabulary purposes. And at least she's chosen chapter books again, so that's definitely a plus! Hopefully, she'll get into reading again, right before school starts.

Now to work on the other two kids.....

All that time spent in the bookstore brought back memories of reading books just for the pleasure of it. I survived on Trixie Belden, Nancy Drew, the Bobbsey Twins and all books written by Enid Blyton. I've always had a thirst for knowledge and that has definitely helped me during all my school years. I am hoping that Raegan will follow in my footsteps.