A Prequel/Sequel Kind of Summer Reading

It's possible I'm stuck in a bit of a rut. Most of the books I've read this summer have been only sort-of new to me. From Grey (don't judge) to Go Set A Watchman, I've been reading about characters I'd gotten acquainted with pages ago.

Now summer's slipping away and I've yet to read the season's more exciting releases, like Girl on a Train and Judy Blume's latest for-grownups title, In the Unlikely Event. And coming this week are two more on my 2R list: Barbara the Slut and The Beautiful Bureaucrat.

OK, speak up if you've read something you want to dish about. Always open to guest bloggers! More time to read for me ;)

The Invention of Wings - coming soon!

If Sue Monk Kidd's Secret Life of Bees or The Mermaid Chair is on your to-read list, you're officially on notice: you've got six months until her next (sure to be a bestseller) novel is published.

This one  definitely lands on my what2read list.

Ahem. Now, if you'll excuse me please ... I have a couple of books to read!

BTW and obviously, I learned this good news on Twitter, where you'll find my reviews are much shorter.

< Didja know Kidd (and her kid) wrote a memoir? Traveling with Pomegranates, not surprisingly, explores mother-daughter relationships.  

Who Will Fall for Summer Falls? A Guest Post!

If I could travel back in time I’d spend more than a few extra moments thanking Dr. Lisa Regula for breathing some new life into this blog with this review, for all who love (or are awaiting an introduction to) Doctor Who. Thank you! Now without further ado…. 

Summer Falls is an interesting book, in part because it began life as not-a-book.  While it’s quite common for a book to be turned into a movie, or for classic literature to organically become a part of the popular lexicon (and thus be featured as a touchstone in other works), this book began as a plot point in the long-running British television series, Doctor Who, before being written as a free-standing book.  This nearly guarantees a high potential audience, as Doctor Who is one of (if not the) longest-running series in history, and about to celebrate its fiftieth anniversary on the air.  (There was a break from production, from 1989 to 2005 with a movie in 1996, but it’s a fiftieth anniversary, nonetheless.) 

Doctor Who Fans Likely to Fall for Summer Falls

Amelia Williams is one of the characters in recent seasons of Doctor Who, and the ghostwriter is Doctor Who television producer and book writer James Goss.  Amelia Williams is one of the companions of the Doctor, a human traveler accompanying the Doctor on his adventures and often serving as both conscience and colleague to the nearly-immortal last of the Time Lords of Gallifrey.  Amelia Williams (known more commonly as Amelia Pond) was one of the longest-running companions, and one of the few to have a companion of her own in the series, Rory Williams, whom she eventually marries before parting ways with the Doctor. Amelia, in her life after the Doctor, settled down with Rory to live their own story, becomes an author, and in at least two instances, her books are featured as helpful to the Doctor in solving some problem or mystery.  Hopefully, that gives you a little background into Summer Falls and how it came about.

Doctor Who and Who Else? A Pharmacist, an Evil Lord, and Talking Animals

Kate is a girl finding her way in a new town, where she and her mother have moved shortly before the start of a new school year.   Kate’s mother seems to be suffering depression, and Kate has little use for the mother, or most people, for that matter.  She mistrusts boys and adults, until she meets Barnabas, an odd museum curator in the town of Watchcombe.  Shortly after meeting Barnabas and Armand, a misfit neighbor boy whose pharmacist father is suspected of poisoning pensioners, the world is turned upside down for the trio by a painting and another loner, along with a dog and talking cat.  It’s up to the youngsters to save the world from an old evil, the Lord of Winter, and his trickster accomplice.  

Given the choice between starting a new year of school, or an eternal snow day, the Lord of Winter’s promise seems a temptation that most kids can understand, and the disdain at the ineptness of adults is something with which all of us can sympathize.

If you enjoy the sense of wonder in Doctor Who, or just want to while away an afternoon with a pleasant tale, try Summer Falls on for size, whatever size you may be. 

Doctor Who BBC ebooks: Reading Level, Recommendations

Summer Falls is appealing as a work of older tween or young adolescent fiction, but it bears enough marks of the Doctor Who world to find an audience with adult Whovians as well. Anglophiles especially will enjoy this story, as it takes place in the United Kingdom, and features an obvious touch of British culture.  While the book’s setting doesn’t specify a timeframe, I think it’s safe to place it in the 1950’s or so, before the advent of cell phones and computers and during that nostalgic post-war period that we collectively enjoy romanticizing.   The language is simple, and sentences plain, which makes for a good reading level for children about the age of the main character, Kate; it’s just as good for a quick afternoon vacation read for adults.  The tone also fits perfectly in line with that of the target reader, with its heavy use of proper nouns, and other marks developmentally appropriate to an 11-14 year old.  While you can’t tuck a little tome in a beach bag and enjoy a simple text on paper, the book is available on Kindle, and thanks to the computer science wizardry of Kindle on PC, and there are also iPad, Android, Mac versions and more available in case you have other tech devices you prefer.

Review it in Five Words?

(This one's for the Tweet-geeks)

In the last week or so, @randomhouse issued a challenge to its marketing staff: review a book (Gone Girl) in five words or less. 

I love it. 

While I'm sure we're not all reading the same book, I'd love to hear from you - about anything you've read, or are reading,  #InFiveWords

Have fun!                                         

P.S. Have you read Gone Girl? I'm intrigued by a lot of those cute little tweets but they don't say much! I'd welcome a longer review of it, too. Contact me if you want to review it here!

Coming soon: The expanding Worst-Case Scenario

To clarify, the series is expanding. I like to think that by definition, the worst-case scenario couldn't expand to get worser. Right? We can hope...

Anyway, the very popular Worst-Case Scenario book, card, and board game survival series is introducing a new title for young readers, The Worst-Case Scenario Ultimate Adventure: Mars; available from Chronicle Books in September. Look for it...and look closely, there's a lot to see.

At the end of 5th grade, a child should be ready to manage a level V text without help. But don't stop there, parents of young readers! There's a lot more to the guided reading concept, and  parents can pick up the basics, quickly, thanks to this nice site from Duke University:
http://dukes.stark.k12.oh.us/marl/curriculum/guidrdg.html#dominie

A short list of sample comprehension questions at the end of the first page help parents who want to help their kids boost comprehension (and therefore, enjoyment...and grades!) as well as vocabulary and other basic reading skills. And isn't that really the best case scenario?