16 Books in 2011

By now I was reading a fair amount. I spent hours waiting for kids at their lessons or games and I often had time at work - prep periods and breaks when I was subbing. I always carried a book with me.

Since my daughter was reading The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, I decided to read that series. Definitely engaging. I read the first two books in January and finished the third in February. Also in February I read The Weight of Heaven by Thrity Umrigar, such a haunting, heartbreaking story. Wow, great book. I kept one quote from page 174: The promiscuous trees bled yellow and red and gold with such an obscene lavishness, it made them blush. 

In March I finished reading Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment by James Patterson to the kids, and Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner to myself. I had read The Life of Pi a few years ago by Yann Martell and so read his Beatriz and Virgil in May. I love his odd perspective and was completely spellbound by this unusual story. Sometimes I don't collect any quotes even if I really like the book.

I read Catherine Called Birdy to the kids in June since we had liked Karen Cushman's other books. That was a fun historical trip. Another loan from the MIL, I finished Dai Sijie's Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress in July and really enjoyed visiting that part of the world. In August my family and I stayed at Holden Village for a week and I borrowed E. M. Forster's A Room with a View from the library there. I'd always loved the movie and the book was a whole different experience. The language of the characters made it a pure delight. It even merited a couple quotes.
Page 6: "It was impossible to snub anyone so gross."
and page 9: "It is so difficult... to understand people who speak the truth."
I think both of these quoted the aunt.

In the fall of 2011 I was doing a long-term sub job working with special needs kids and especially with English Learners at the middle school. In this area, the kids learning English are primarily from Mexico and I got to use my Spanish skills a lot. I also had that daily prep time. In September I read March by Geraldine Brooks, taking up the story of the Little Women's father. It's a short but satisfying novel covering issues of the Civil War and race. I also reread Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden. Two great books in October: Day of the Bees by Thomas Sanchez and Daniel Keyes' Flowers for Algernon. In November it was another book borrowed from the MIL: Five Quarters of the Orange by Joanne Harris. Loved it! And The Summerhouse by Jude Deveraux in December, which was very different from the other books I'd been reading.

And I started another book...