In which Dave and I head north in Michigan country!

Just got back in from a few day trip to Sleeping Bear, Traverse City, the Cherry Peninsula, and Charlevoix up on the coast of the mighty Lake Michigan. It was gray and cold, but the leaves were bright orange, red, and yellow and the people were friendly and the waves were big so, you know, we had fun.


WE LISTENED TO: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis, 1950

This is the first book written in the 7 book Chronicles of Narnia series (*There is another book, The Magician's Nephew, written later as a prequel to the first book).

Dave had never read any of the books so we went for it. And, as is to be expected, he couldn't stand that Edmund with the outing of his siblings and poor Tumnus. But I digress.

If you aren't familiar with the story, four siblings sent away to the countryside from London during the WWII air raids stumble upon the secret world of Narnia through a magical door in the back of a wardrobe. There's a scary lady called the White Witch who has taken over Narnia (she made it always winter and never Christmas! the worst!). So the siblings link up with the true King Aslan, a lion I should add, and set off to save Narnia. That's it in a nutshell. And listening it to as an audiobook was pretty great with all of those British accents. British accents make for great read alouds.

I'M LISTENING TO DURING MY COMMUTE: Splendors and Glooms by Laura Amy Schlitz, 2012

Set in Victorian London, Splendors and Glooms is dark and gothic with some magic, lots of fog, death, and a juxtaposition of the haves and the have nots. When Clara Wintermute, the sole surviving daughter of a wealthy family whose 4 other children died of cholera, goes missing, Lizzie Rose and Parsefall, poor and scrappy apprentices of the puppeteer Grisini who performed at Clara's birthday party, set off to find her.

That's as far as I've made it in the book. So far, so good for this dark time of year. I recommend for middle schoolers.


WHAT WAS WAITING FOR ME WHEN WE GOT HOME: City of Thieves by David Benioff, 2008

Thanks, brother, for giving me this book even though it wasn't your favorite and you kind of gave it with half hearted enthusiasm. City of Thieves is the fictional story of Lev and Kolya, two Russian prisoners (a looter and a deserter) in Leningrad during the Nazi siege. Lev and Kolya are offered a chance to save themselves if they can find the ingredients for the wedding cake of a Russian colonel's daughter in this besieged and desperate city.

Interesting premise, right? I haven't read it, but I'm intrigued. Why do I like reading about Russian sieges? Have you seen this one? Whew. Not exactly uplifting but a good, a GREAT read nonetheless.


THIS LITTLE GEM IS MY NEW FAV PICTURE BOOK: Read to your Bunny by Rosemary Wells,  1997

I love, love, LOVE Rosemary Wells and her sweet, wonderful bunny books. Max and Ruby are often the stars of her soft and funny stories, but Read to Your Bunny is a short rhyming book without a story, just a message. Remember to take 20 minutes a day to read to your child wherever you are and at whatever time...a message for the young and old alike.

Happy fall to you and yours. Remember to layer. Drink hot things. Invest in a robe and a good pair of slippers. And warm up your library card. Short days and long nights make for some good reading!

Running a marathon.

Things I did this payday:

• paid some bills
• purchased tickets for holiday travel
• bought a gallon of milk
• ate about 17 pumpkin and chocolate chip cookies and then felt all bad about it
• registered for the Lansing, Michigan Marathon (May 24, 2014)

...it just happened. What can I say? Oops? 

I mean YES! Girl needs to get herself running again. And by running I mean running farther than 3 miles.

I miss my marathoning days and nothing motivates me like signing up so I just went ahead and did it (I'm banking on the 7 months between now and then to get it together). Then I posted it to this blog for all to see so you can hold me accountable.

Look at little baby cherub me way back in yesteryear when I ran my first 26.2 in 2009. Chicago. It was cold. I was scared. But it turned out to be good, sooo good, deep down in your aching muscles, chafing arms, and I'll NEVER do this again good. The best marathon I've run. And the training was just what I needed at the time, and I feel I need it again.

Just wanted you to know because I love yah!

Pained smile :)

Dallas 1963 by Bill Minutaglio and Steven L. Davis, 2013

NPR's author interviews are just the best, keeping me up with the latest and greatest of recently published. Bill Minutaglio and Steven L. Davis have co-authored Dallas 1963 as the 50th anniversary of John F. Kennedy's assassination approaches, and I heard Melissa Block discuss the book with Bill last week.

...and now I've ordered it from my local bookstore. What can I say?! 

The book describes the political tension and climate in Dallas prior to that infamous event at the grassy knoll on November 22, 1963. In the brief interview, Minutaglio mentioned the Mink Coat Mob incident in which LBJ and Ladybird Johnson were attacked by a mob of Dallas' "leading citizens" just a few days prior to the election in 1960. And I was intrigued. I enjoy books like this...little nuggets and microcosms of history, descriptions of a city or a year, something focused. Bill Bryson has a new book with that same sort of focus, One Summer: America, 1927 (thanks, Diane Rehm!), as if he plucked this year, this moment out of a vast history to really focus the reader and help him or her better understand the feeling, the movement.

Listen to the interview here and scroll down to read an excerpt from the book. And then go order it from your local bookstore (because if I wait for this new release from my library, it may be January before I get it, and I can totally regift this at Christmas, right?).

Happy reading! Happy October! Eating pumpkin bread and hunkering down with Roald Dahl's The Witches over here. How will you celebrate the season?

P.S. Remember Anjelica Huston's terrifying performance in the creepy 1990 movie version of The Witches?! If that film doesn't give you nightmares, you're made of tougher stuff than I.

Welcome October!

READ LAST WEEK: Star in the Forest by Laura Resau, 2012

Nominated for the Young Hoosier Book Award this year, Star in the Forest is a quick read for the middle graders with a topic becoming increasingly relevant: deportation following minor traffic violations or petty crimes.

Zitlally's life gets thrown off course when her father, Papa, is deported to Mexico after being pulled over by police for speeding. Now, Zitlally's family must rent part of their trailer out to two strangers to help pay the bills. Her mother grows increasingly distant as she worries over her husband while Zitlally and her sisters sleep together in confusion to make room for the new renters.

Zitlally escapes to the junkyard behind her trailer where she befriends a dog she names Star. Star seems mysteriously connected to Papa, and when he goes missing one day, Zitlally and her friend Crystal know that finding him will determine whether or not Papa will make it home.

This short book broaches a controversial topic and makes the scary scenario relatable for readers whether or not they've had personal experience with deportation. I highly recommend. 

JUST FINISHED LISTENING TO: The Great Unexpected by Sharon Creech, 2013

I spend a lot of time in the car. My morning commute is about 15 to 20 minutes, and my husband commute is 4 hours as he is working on his degree in a different state. I usually spend a lot of time listening to NPR which leaves me with good conversation points and a handle on current events, but 4 hours alone in the car through stretches of cell phone dead zone in flat Indiana and Michigan leads to repeated programming. Ain't much fun listening to the same radio shows twice.

So I've been digging inroads into the world of the audiobook, a land I only explored on short visits before.

The Great Unexpected is Sharon Creech's new middle grade fiction story about Naomi and her best friend Lizzie, two orphaned girls growing up in the teeny tiny town of Blackbird Tree. Mysteries begin to unfold from page one when a boy named Finn falls out of a tree and lands at the girls' feet. We simoultaneously hear the story of an older lady across the ocean in Ireland and soon discover how these distant stories are connected.

Sharon Creech has many a solid middle grade fiction chapter books. She is likely best known for Walk Two Moons, a well deserved Newbery Award winner. And there are many similarities between that book and The Great Unexpected: loss of parents, living with elders, discovering connections, personal journeys to discover the truth. I will say Walk Two Moons is, by far, my preferred story as the connections are more clear and the resolution more complete than Creech's new work. However, fans of the author will be satisfied with The Great Unexpected.

CURRENTLY LISTENING TO: Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos, 2011

Jack Gantos of Joey Pigza, Jack Henry, and Rotten Ralph fame won the Newbery for Dead End in Norvelt in 2012. Cheers!

*Side note: Remember Rotten Ralph, that terrifyingly red and poorly behaved cat? That character may be from where my cat apprehensions stem.

But back to the award-winning novel, this is the semi-autobiographical story of young Jack's summer in his small, dying town of Norvelt, named for EleaNOR RooseVELT as Norvelt is a New Deal town. Narrator Jack who suffers from uncontrollable nose bleeds is grounded for the summer after he accidentally fires his father's Japanese rifle at a drive in movie screen AND mows down his mother's rows of corn. He's only allowed out of his room to help Miss Volker write obituaries for the town paper. But Miss Volker ends up getting Jack in more trouble than he could find on his own.

So far, so good. Listening to Gantos read the story is also rewarding. You can feel his passion and humor. If you have the book in your hands to give to a kid, you may want to encourage them to read it with an adult. There's a lot of history in the book that they may miss without having a grownup there to help navigate.

This little nifty site has a quick video interview of Jack Gantos.

STARTING TO READ: Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver, 2012

Aaah. Kingsolver. Surely you've seen this tome out on bookstore displays all over the place. This lady is known as a literary force so fans everywhere were chomping at the bit for this new release.

Truth be told, the only fiction of her's I've read is The Poisonwood Bible, maybe her most famous work, years ago. But I was a fan from the start. And I really enjoyed Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, her true account of a year living off the land in rural Virginia.

So I've checked out Flight Behavior from the library and have read the first 10 pages, and I can feel that beautiful heavy reminiscent of Poisonwood Bible. Also, Kingsolver has a way with using the female protagonist and uncovering all of the complexities of the individual showing that nothing is black and white. And I love that.

LOOKING FORWARD TO READING: Bunker Hill: A City, A Siege, A Revolution by Nathaniel Philbrick, 2013

Wouldn't you know the author can explain the premise of his book much more effectively than I can? Visit the link for the book trailer and watch a short interview of Mr. Philbrick.

I haven't purchased or borrowed this book so all I can say is I read In the Heart of the Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick and LOVED it. Mayflower was pretty good, too. So I have high hopes for this Revolutinary War chronicle.
And having a soft spot in my heart for Boston, I think it will be interesting reading about the city's old geography and topography seeing as the Back Bay neighborhood sits on man made land and looks vastly different than it did circa 1776.

Also, why do I know much more about the Civil War than the Revolutionary War? I need to work on this history deficit.

*Thank you for the images BarnesandNoble.com!