Reading

I love to read.  I can remember being read The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry, and The Big Hungry Bear  (that's the title to one book, highly recommended by the way) when I was little.  Since then I've enjoyed reading it with my students.  My next memory of reading was when I stayed in bed one morning and read Are You My Mother in one sitting.  I was so proud that I could read a forty page book all in one sitting.  (Truthfully, I was in forth grade at the time, but I felt accomplished just the same.)  Then I started reading chapter books and that's when I really started to love reading.  I was hooked on historical fiction by the American Girl books, but I also enjoyed The Boxcar Children mysteries.

One of my favorite parts about working at CME in Kentucky was the book club.   I'd never been a part of a book club before then.  I really enjoyed reading books that I didn't choose and having people to discuss them with.  It was fun to stop someone in the hallway and chat about that month's book club pick.  It was also nice because being in the book club gave me a specific deadline for finishing the book. If I hadn't had that I'm sure that I wouldn't have read nearly as much during the school year as I have for the past two years.  I learned that it is always good to put aside work and enjoy some reading in the evening.  I especially love when a book is so good that I'm not tempted to turn on the TV or when I spend all day reading just to see how the book finishes.  In fact, this winter I spent three consecutive days (the last one was a Monday snow day) reading The Hunger Games series.  My favorite CME book club selection was The Help.  It got five stars in my book, literally.  I've started keeping a journal of books that I've read.  Just as we did in book club I give the books a star rating.  Five stars is the highest on the rating scale.



Anyway, until I connect with a book club in Vermont I've decided to write posts about books that I've read.  I started reading The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake in May, but was still reading it in July.  On page 121 I still wasn't hooked so I did the unthinkable... I abandoned it.  Too bad.  NOT recommended.  I give it 0 stars.

But happily I picked up The Red Tent!  It was given to me by a CME book club member.  I finished this book in less than a week. (Now that's more like it!)  It is about Dinah, who is mentioned in the Old Testament of the Bible.  I liked it because it was about a biblical family.  It was neat to have biblical events in the novel.  I also enjoyed that it was about a time period and culture that I've never read about before.  It was interesting to see how their gender roles and their traditions played out in the story.  But most of all I enjoyed it because it was an excellent story of a strong woman.  Even though I feel a little bit funny doing so (lots of baby making), I recommend this book.  I give it five stars.