Discussion: What Book Made Me a Reader?

I’m not exactly sure where I saw this question, but I’ve been thinking about it for a few weeks now. And if truth be told I didn’t have to dig deep for the answer.

I could have chosen good ole Dr. Seuss, but he didn’t really make me a reader. He did spark my interest in reading. I could site Clifford the Big Red Dog or The Berenstain Bears or Curious George or any number of books I devoured, but none of them made me a reader. The book that me me a reader without a shadow of a doubt was Judy Blume’s Iggie’s House.

Summary:

Iggie’s house just wasn’t the same. Iggie was gone, moved to Tokyo. And there was Winnie, cracking her gum on Grove Street, where she’d always lived, with no more best friend and two weeks left of summer.

Which one? Both? Neither?

I saw this earlier today on Pintrest and began to ponder.

The answer is fairly simple, yet slightly complex.

I have more books than I can count. I have some nice neat little piles and some piles are unruly and toppling over, while other books live in boxes and sit on shelves in the garage or are boxed up in the toolshed.

[Book Review] The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

Title: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
Author: Sherman Alexie
Format: Paperback, 288 pages
Genre: Semi-Autobiographical, Young-Adult
ISBN-13: 978-0316-01369-7
Release Date: 2007
Publisher: Little, Brown Book for Young Readers
Rating: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

[Read | Skim] [Buy | Borrow]

Last month I thought I’d focus on reading banned and challenged books as September 21st – 27th is Banned Books Week.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie is a semi-autobiographical, young adult novel about Junior, a budding cartoonist growing up on the Spokane Indian reservation. Junior leaves the rez to attend an all-white high school in a neighboring farm town and labeled a traitor by his tribe.

I picked this book for several reasons (1) it ranked in the top 10 of banned and challenged books (2) it’s a novel by an American Indian and (3) it sounded interesting.

Booking Through Thursday – Mystery

This weeks Booking Through Thursday is all about Mysteries.

Do you read mystery novels? If so, why? Is it the mysteries themselves that appeal to you? The puzzle-solving? The murders? Or why don’t you read them? What about them doesn’t appeal?

I love to read mysteries. I’ve always enjoyed mysteries, which started with the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys mystery series. I remembering gobbling them up at every opportunity; and thanks to Steig Larsson’s Mellenium Series, I’m addicted to Scandanavian mysteries, crime, thrillers, etc.

I really like figuring out whodunnit, but I don’t like having it solved before I’m even at the halfway point. If that happens it’s like truding through mud to try and finish it. But I love a mystery that really keeps me guessing and on my toes.

When I was introduced to this mystery series it was not through books, it was through the cartoon. Apparently there are over 100 books now that contain my favorite crime fighting dog, and hopefully yours too — Scooby-Doo. Every week Scooby-Doo and his band of crime solving pals would drive that Mystery Machine van right into a mystery. I loved figuring out the mysteries with them. Sometimes I got before the reveal, sometimes not.

I have to admit, I had a cartoon crush on Fred. ❤ My favorite character and the one I could relate to the most is Velma. She’s the brains of the group. A book worm. She’s super smart and logical and yeah she managed to get herself into trouble, but figures a way out. And I could definitely relate to her not being able to see without her glasses.

And of course if you have any mystery book suggestions, please share them in the comments section.

[Book Review] Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple

Title: Where’d You Go, Bernadette 
Author: Maria Semple
Format: Kindle, 335 pages
Genre: Satire
ISBN-13: 9780316204262
Release Date: August 2012
Rating: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

[Read | Skim] [Buy | Borrow]

I passed Where’d You Go Bernadette in the bookstore for months before I decided to read it. When I finally decided to read it, I had high hopes — not exorbitant high hopes, but high enough to be disappointed. I really wanted to love Where’d You Go, Bernadette as the passages I read in the bookstore intrigued me and made me laugh. About two-thirds of the way the novel fell flat and I was bored.

Where’d You Go, Bernadette isn’t ‘high literature’ or destined to be a  literary classic, but Semple did weave a tightly woven novel together by using alternative methods. I really enjoyed that the novel is written using email correspondence, letters, FBI documents and an emergency room bill.