What We’ve Been Reading

The kid bookshelves around here are chaos all the time!  I organize them, and three days later:  chaos.  I organize again:  chaos.  Although organizing books is about the only thing I enjoy organizing, I don’t have all that much time to organize, so  chaos is the natural state of kid bookshelves in our residence.

As a side note, Dr. Peds attempted to rearrange the grown up bookshelves in the piano room, and in a fit of irritability and dismay at my system being altered, I confess that I  may have done a little stomping.  There may have been a little bit of gentle slamming regarding  a few poetry books that were placed in a preposterous location.  Don’t mess with my books, people!  There is a method to the madness of my bookshelves.  Even if they aren’t arranged like a traditional library, I have a very specific plan as to where things belong on those shelves.  Never mind that nothing else in the whole house has a specific place, the books on the grown up bookshelves do.

As always, there has been much reading going on here, and now that I have THREE kidlets officially silently reading chapter books,  there is no way that I can keep up with any of them anymore.  I use the title “What We’ve been Reading” loosely here, because really it’s what I’ve been reading that maybe some other people in the house have been reading with me.  In actuality, they’ve read a lot more in two or three days than I could ever hope to read in several weeks.

Some of Our Favorite Recent Children’s Chapter Books

• The Ugly Princess and the Wise Fool, by Margaret Gray.  This came to us from a garage sale, and although it might have been a bit predictable, it was a really fun and engaging read aloud.
• Stella Batts:  Whose in Charge by Courtney Sheinmel.  We continue to LOVE the Stella Batts series, and as soon as this latest book was released it was purchased and in our hands for reading aloud.  There is so much to love about Stella Batts:  her realistic relationships with friends and her family, the clever candy shop.  Stella Batts is a round and deep character, so realistic; she just rings true for us.  We can’t wait for her next adventure.
• The Dollshop Downstairs and The Cats in the Dollshop by Yona Zelda McDonough.  These two books are charming books based on the true story of a Russian Immigrant Family and their doll repair/doll making business in New York City during the time of World War I.
• The Boy Who Swam with Pirhanas by David Almond (illustrated by Oliver Jeffers).  I saw this on the New shelf at the library, and had to bring it home because it was illustrated by Oliver Jeffers, who has such a unique style about his work.  The book is quirky!  I found it very entertaining.

Some Interesting Grown Up Books

• The only grown up fiction book I managed to complete these past few months was Clara and Mr. Tiffany by Susan Vreeland.  I had very high hopes for this novel, as I’ve enjoyed some of the other historical fiction works written by Susan Vreeland.  The book was also a city wide book selection for the city of Duluth last year because of the connection with Tiffany windows.  There are several amazing Tiffany Windows in various places throughout our city because a woman who used to work at Tiffany’s in the early part of the 1900’s married a wealthy man and moved to Duluth.  She still did some designing of windows, and windows were commissioned for various churches and the former main library and other public buildings.  Anyway, I was excited to read this novel based on the real life of a woman who was an integral part of the design of Tiffany and Co. art.  Unfortunately, while reading about how Tiffany’s created stained glass masterpieces was very interesting, and the role of women in that process was fascinating, the novel really fell short for me.  The protagonist didn’t have a realistic voice, and her character just felt flat to me.  I just couldn’t like her even though I tried.  I am glad I read it, but it was a disappointing book.
• On Speaking Terms, by Connie Wanek.  Connie Wanek is my new favorite poet.  I stumbled across her work even though she lives in my city, and I suspect possibly in a neighborhood close to mine.  She’s a brilliant writer and I really, really enjoyed reading these poems.  I’ve read some over multiple times now.  Her words shimmer off the pages.
• Various poetry volumes by Billy Collins.  He’s another one of my favorite poets, and poetry has kind of been the theme of my reading this busy fall.  It’s short.  It’s thoughtful, and I can sneak a few poems in between taking care of things other people need.
• Poems by Palbo Neruda.  I discovered ANOTHER amazing poet.  I really love Neruda’s style.  I can’t believe I never came across him before.  I’m going to be purchasing some volumes of his poetry because they are the kind of poems I need to have my very own copy to read when I have the inclination to pull out a good poem.
• Life and Art:  What You Forgot about Life Since You Left the Artroom, by Matt Appling. I loved this quick book written by a pastor and art teacher.  It was thoughtful and engaging and made me think a lot about God, creativity and risk taking.
• The Introvert’s Way by Sophia Dembling.  I’m a SEVERE introvert, friends.  This book was interesting, although unfortunately the second half seemed to just say the same things over and over.  There were so many little things about this book that made me laugh, like severe introverts in a crowded room of people who start to feel panicky and make many trips to the bathroom just to spend a little time alone with the door closed, a few short minutes to get their heads back in order. It’s one of my favorite tricks when I’m in a social situation that is stressful (OK that’s pretty much EVERY social situation in my life).  No one really questions that you have to use the bathroom, and it only takes a few minutes to take a deep breath and face all that chatter again.
• Weird Things Costumers Say in Bookstores by Jen Campbell.   This book is absolutely hilarious to me, and I don’t even have a sense of humor.  I haven’t laughed so much reading a book since I was ten years old, probably.