September Reading Log

The Unfinished Angel, by Sharon Creech
Chuckelous ESL wordplay, but nothing like ye olden Creech novels. Thin ice, and no depth below.

A Season of Gifts, by Richard Peck
Review forthcoming--one of my favorite books of 2009.

Be a Genie in Six Easy Steps, by Steve Cole & Linda Chapman
Reviewed

Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story, by Ben Carson
This month's family read-aloud. My mother chooses the titles. Dr. Carson's story was interesting, though (he's the neurosurgeon who successfully separated Siamese twins joined at the head).

Celia's House, by D.E. Stevenson
A brilliant, beloved reread.

I Corinthians, II Corinthians, KJ Version

The Miles Between, by Mary Pearson
I can't decide. I can't decide if it was a cotton ball, or if it's going to stick in my mind and end up a really good book. The whole experience was like being twelve and reading Walk Two Moons for the first time. Only, YA. And there was no question with Walk Two Moons. It rocked my young axis the same way that Tuck Everlasting and Bridge to Terebithia did.

Catching Fire, by Suzanne Collins
Lived up to the hype, oh yes. Anticipating #3, oh yes. But, as with Hunger Games, not one of my year-end favorites.

Silent on the Moor, by Deanna Raybourn
Practically perfect in every way. If only the author wouldn't insist on jabbing homosexual acceptance where it isn't wanted, by the story or by readers interested in a period drama. However--spoiler warning!--Julia's homosexual sister is abandoned by her partner, who chooses to marry a man so that she can have children. There's an important philosophical implication deep-rooted in that development, about the nature of human persons as beings with a gender who have a purpose (procreation) apart from their function, ability or desire, which could each be inconsistent with how human persons ought to be by nature. (Blame that tangent on the Relativism book.)

5 comments:

Sharon Creech said...

'Thin ice'? Oh, alas.

Noël De Vries said...

Oh, nuts, Sharon. You would walk into the room as I was saying that.

But did you read further? The line in the Miles Between blip, about Walk Two Moons rocking me on my axis when I was 12? Bloomability did the same thing at 14. So you see, I was disappointed with [what I saw as] the mortality of Angel only because you are one of the gods, and I cannot help but hope for the sublime each time I open a Sharon Creech story.

Thanks for stopping by!

Charlotte said...

yoiks!

My comment is so much more prosaic-I just wanted to say that I too am a D.E. Stevenson fan! Although Celia's House is not one of the ones I re-read most...a bit too much family stress for a true comfort read.

Noël De Vries said...

Hurrah! A fellow Stevenson fan.

Which ones DO you reread, then?

Charlotte said...

Bel Lamington, The House on the Cliff, The Blue Sapphire, Miss Buncle's Book, The Four Graces, and Listening Valley (Jen Robinson's favorite)!