i have learned, over the past couple months, that when you make an effort to read a little bit more it becomes a habit...and then all of a sudden you're reading a LOT more. because you enjoy it. like last month: i read four books in march, which is the most i've read in a really long time. i got a little obsessed with the hunger games series, too, which kept me reading.
this month i read:
the children's blizzard, by david laskin (really interesting nonfiction book about a blizzard in south dakota and nebraska and iowa in 1888 that killed a bunch of schoolchildren. i learned a lot from this book - perhaps too much, in fact, about meteorology of the 1880s that led to the blizzard warning not reaching the rural areas with enough time to save people from the danger. it's so interesting to think about the role that meteorology has in keeping people safe today - i think we underestimate their role today. but really - i had to skip parts of this book because i just couldn't take any more information about the snow warning system that was in place on the prairie in 1888.)
catching fire, by suzanne collins (the second book in the hunger games series, and every bit as good as the first one. i got this from the library on a saturday morning and was finished by the end of the day on monday. obsessed. i kept texting willis when crazy things would happen because i had to tell SOMEONE and he'd read the series.)
half-broke horses, by jeannette walls (i loved her first book, the glass castle (a memoir) - this book she calls a "true-life novel" - it's based on the author (and her mother)'s memories of her grandmother, but is told as a first-person account as the grandmother on life in the west in the early 20th century. a really quick read and i love this author - it's probably dorky to say that the stories came alive, but they did. so call me a dork. i was really sad when this book was over.)
mockingjay, by suzanne collins (the third (and final) book in the hunger games series. i bought this from amazon after realizing i couldn't wait for 96 middle schoolers to read this book before i could get it from the library. i wasn't staying up late to read this book like i had with the first two and it's significantly more serious than the others, but i was glad i'd read it just the same.)
If you're looking for good nonfiction (which, of course, I always am) I would recommend Buzz Bissinger's "A Prayer for the City." Same guy who wrote "Friday Night Lights" and "Three Nights in August," he treats Ed Rendell's first term as mayor of Philadelphia like a sports season and sticks with him throughout the term. It's FASCINATING.
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