Books I read in May

Truth be told, I probably read more in May than I have in June.  At least I "went through" more books.  Part of not having a car (that I own) for the past few weeks is that we haven't been listening to books on CD/Playaway as much (at all?) but of course we wouldn't be driving around much either. Perhaps in July and August when we road trip (and no, that isn't an invitation to break into our house...The Mister will be home for most/all of the time) we will "read" more.  Or maybe not...I keep intending to read when the kids do their daily reading, but seem to always get distracted by some pet emergency or pile of laundry..blech.

1.  Walk Through the Valley by Debbie Viguie--The much awaited 7th (8th? 6th?) book in the series about a secretary from a Presbyterian Church and the Rabbi from the Synagogue next door who solve mysteries.  The first few books were very good the last couple have seemed like they were written very quickly to tell "what happens next".  I'll still read future books in the series, but they aren't my favorite series right now.
2. Lord of the Silent by Elizabeth Peters--Another Elizabeth Peters...they make good reading by the pool.
3. Counting by 7's by Holly Goldberg Sloan-I had to look up what this book was about when I sat down to write this post--clearly it made a big impression.  It wasn't a bad book, it falls in the "young adult" or "teen" category, it just didn't make a big impression on me.  It is about a middle school student (high school student?) who is accused of cheating on the standardized test on the same day that both her parents die in a car crash.  It is sad and sweet, a quick read and I'm sure many middle school students will love it.
4. Zero Tolerance by Claudia Mills-This (like #3) were "suggested books" at the reading conference last spring.  I'm kind of ashamed to say that I renewed this one about six times and when I sat down to read it, was done in a couple hours.  It was a fast read about a middle school student who accidentally brings her mom's lunch, with a paring knife in the bag, to school.  She tries to "do the right thing" and it all falls apart.  It is set in Colorado and possibly based on several true stories from the past few years.  My twelve (almost thirteen) year old daughter saw it in the "return" pile and read it in about two days--a new record--so I'd say it is worth a quick read.
5.  Treasure Hunters by James Patterson--The Boy read this last winter and I looked at the pictures a couple times, but it was one of those "almost graphic novels", so I wasn't that excited.  We stumbled across the "play-a-way" version at the library in early May and, since we were between series (no new 39 Clues until fall?!!!) we gave it a try.  It was surprisingly good...we're looking forward to the sequel next fall/winter.  It follows four siblings who solve mysteries (sort of).  Kind of like a modern day BoxCar Children.
6.  Masters of Disaster by Gary Paulsen--This is one of Gary Paulsen's overlooked masterpieces.  We love it sooo much, that when we borrowed the CD from the library a few weeks ago, and discovered that the library CD skips entire chapters because it looks like someone rubbed it with steel wool, I bought the CD online.  The CD takes about two hours, I think that reading the actual book takes even less time.  It is a fast, funny read, that, although apparently written for ten year old boys, is hilarious if you've ever known a ten year old boy.  The main characters do all kinds of funny things (like riding their bikes off the neighbor's roof) that are horrifyingly funny as a parent and hilariously funny in general. This one I highly recommend...just don't tell me you hate it if you do...because I love it.
7.  Left to Tell:  Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust by Immaculee Ilibagiza--This was recommended by one of my co-teacher's daughters who has spent a lot of time in the Rwanda, first in the Peace Corps and now as part of an internship.  Heather has a blog, I Kunda You: Life and Love Continue, if you would like to follow her adventures and find out more about what is happening in Rwanda these days.  The book was very interesting--many of us have seen Hotel Rwanda, and Sometimes in April was standard viewing for our geography classes a few years ago, but both of those stories minimize the faith based portion of some people's experiences.  It reminded me a lot of The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom, which I haven't read in years, but would like to read again now.  Left to Tell is a memoir/biography of Immaculee Ilibagiza, telling her amazing story of survival and walk with God before, during, and after the Rwandan Holocaust.  I believe there is a sequel, which I may look for later, describing her life since she left Rewanda.
8.  The Serpent's Shadow by Rick Riordan-I wasn't going to read this, but I was bored in the children's section of the library the other day and it was sitting on a display, so I picked it up and was reading it...and it was ok.  This is book three of the Kane Chronicles, the series that follows two kids who might or might not be working with Egyptian gods, and so forth and so on...think Percy Jackson, but mythology you've never heard of, unless you read about ancient Egypt.  It was a good adventure story, a quick read and actually entertaining.  Riordan says this is the "last book in this series", but he said that about Percy Jackson too and then started a new series with the same characters from a different point of view.  I suspect that Riordan is either going to do that with this series or somehow pull the main Kane character's into the "Percy" books.
9. The Murder of King Tut by James Patterson-- Our local library is interesting.  It is in an old grocery store, but you probably wouldn't notice that unless you knew. It is a lovely building, but the library board (or whoever) made some interesting choices when they put the library together.  Most of what were the aisles of the grocery store is now the adult section--shelves of books, displays, computers, study tables--and most of what appear to have been "specialty areas"--deli, meat, bakery, freezer--now have special functions of their own--children's room, reading room, offices, genealogy and local history room.  Some of the rooms have doors and some are more like alcoves...it is a very cool building.  So you might ask, what does this have to do with book #9?  Well, the "teen" books and other materials are broken out from the rest of the library materials.  I've been told that the "Teen Tower" was once a freezer--clearly it has been completely remodeled, as it has lots of lights, windows, etc.  Children can visit the teen tower alone once they are eleven (doesn't make sense to me either,  but whatever), so The Girl has been hightailing it over there to read Seventeen magazines for a couple years.  The other day, The Boy "needed" a new graphic novel, having read "all of them in the kids section!!!!", so we made our way through the adult section to go to the Teen Tower and see what was there. As we wandered towards the Teen Tower, I saw this book, and since I do love King Tut, picked it up, only later realizing it was by James Patterson. The book was a fast read, I believe I actually grabbed the large print edition, so super fast--it is a (greatly) fictionalized account of how King Tut could have been murdered.  Entertaining, quick, worth the read.
10.  The Golden One by Elizabeth Peters--Yeah, still reading these...almost through the series for the tenth (no, really, maybe the fourth) time.  Still good, mindless, reading.
11.  Mud Shark by Gary Paulsen--not as funny as Masters of Disaster, but still very cute and funny.  Mudshark is the nickname of a middle school boy who has lots of adventures, we found this on CD at the library and again, it took about two hours to listen to.  The reader wasn't as good as the reader of Masters of Disaster, but it was still cute.