Smiles and Book Reviews

When we have journal time at school, I usually give my students a sentence starter or a writing prompt. One day last week, my grade 1's asked if they could write about whatever they wanted. I obliged. This kid wrote the following: "If I was a zombie I would eat all my friends and the girls. Then I would eat big people too. They would taste like meat." Oh how he makes me laugh.

Now on to book reviews of some of the books I've read in 2010.




Yikes. Wow. So good. I don't know what else to say about this book because I feel like anything I could say would just not be able to describe it. Read it.









I actually listened to this one as an audio book. It was really interesting and not at all what I expected. The narrator of the book (not the audio book) is a dog so the whole book is the dog's perspective of what's going on in his owners' lives. It was good.









One of the blurbs about this book said it was a love letter to reading. How true. This is a favourite of my mom's, so I had pretty high expectations going into it and it lived up to all of them. I was sad when it was over.










It took me a little while to get into this one, but when I did I really enjoyed it. It's from the perspective of an 11 year old girl who witnesses a man's dying breath. It's a quirky mystery. The end was kind of messily written--it's kinda like he ran out of steam--but I would still recommend it.










I listened to this one as an audio book too. Oh, it was so good. I listened to it in the car and when I was walking and it just totally invaded my life. I found myself thinking about the characters when I was at school and couldn't wait to go for a walk so I could listen to it.

If you haven't already, read it.

Literary Holidays

Well, it was the Christmas of reading this year. I finally had time last year to catch up on some reading and read some excellent books (Life Inside, Slumdog Millionaire--so much better than the movie, etc.) and my reading pile just keeps staying the same. Not because I'm not reading--but because I keep buying new books! So I thought it was time to make a dent in that pile, which is what I did over my Christmas holidays in the midst of all the relaxing I was doing.



I didn't doubt it would be good. Everything I've heard about it was true. Excellent excellent.





Very good. The first 3/4 of the book was amazing. The last 1/4 wasn't bad but I think she tried to do too many twists. But so worth reading. I learned a lot about the Vel' d'Hiv, which I didn't know anything about. Don't let my little complaint about the last bit keep you from reading it. You should read it. For sure.





Interesting and gripping. Not life changing but it kept me engaged.





Everyone should read this book. All of the anti-vaccine propaganda that's been floating around has been driving me NUTS because most of the information is SO misrepresented, out of context, and ignorant. Get your flu shot, don't get your flu shot...I don't care, but don't base your decision on misinformation. Anyway, the book is a good source to read. It's about more than just vaccines, though. It's about the widespread mistrust of scientific progress. It's good. You should read it.






READ THIS BOOK. Heartbreakingly beautiful. It's about a woman who finds out she has early onset Alzheimer's. Keep your kleenex close by.