I Love October!

Why do I love October?

Before I pontificate on why I love October, let me share that I'm back on track with my reading. Whew! Three grownup books finished last week. None of them War and Peace, but three real books nevertheless. Thanks to all who offered suggestions and reminded me that slumps are a natural part of a reader's life.

Now...why I love October....

First, October is time for the Readathon! It's next weekend. If you are not signed up, here's the place to go. If you are signed up, let me know so that I can visit your blog during the 'Thon. I always do a Readathon Lite, so you won't see me here much after 11 pm CST, but I'll read as long and as hard as I can.

Second, October is my birthday month. I've been in a Birthday Book Club for five years or so. And this is the month that I will be swimming in books. Hurray!

Third, October is the Texas Book Festival! It will be in Austin, Texas the weekend of October 16 and 17. All the festivities are in and around the Capitol. Coming this year are Chimamanda Ngozi, M.T. Anderson, Laurie Halsey Anderson, T.A. Barron, Julia Glass, Holly Black, Anna Dewdney, Meg Cabot, Gail Caldwell, Cinda Williams Chima, Ingrid Law, Chip Kidd, Carmen Tafolla, Tim Tingle, Jennifer Egan....Like I always do, I'll be leaving BookCrossing books here and there all around the Capitol. We who are Texas book bloggers will be meeting up for lunch on Saturday at the Texas Book Blogger Party. And everything is FREE!

Could October get any more bookish? Well, yes! Next week is our Scholastic Book Fair in the library.

I will be...

Super Reader!!!

Books I read this week:

Looking for Alaska by John Green

I guess, if we are going to be completely honest here, this is not an adult book but a young adult book. Not for the very impressionable, though. It's a painful read, full of teenage angst and first love suffering and all the incredible array of Problems that apparently an average sixteen-year-old now has to confront. Alaska, in this story, is not a place but a person, a girl to be exact, and she's a beautiful creative girl who also has deep Problems. Miles, our protagonist, falls for Alaska, but his love is unrequited. Or is it? And why does Alaska have such Problems?

I liked this book until I hit the midpoint and all the questions were resolved. I kept reading to the end, thinking that a book that had been awarded the Printz wouldn't just putter along to the end, but putter it pretty much did. And it's bleak, softened only with the affection of Miles' good parents (have I read any other YA books in recent times with strong parents?)

And, before you ask, it was not a 1001 Children's Book and rightly so (in my estimation). I liked it; didn't love it.

The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland by Jim DeFede

You might expect a book about passengers on planes diverted to Newfoundland after 9/11 to be bleak. It's not. I've decided, in fact, that we need to send all the angst-y American teens and depressed American adults to Newfoundland for their next vacation. It's that restorative.

The story begins on 9/11. After four planes were hijacked and crashed, American officials closed US airports. Planes already in the air had to find some other place to land. Thirty-eight landed in Newfoundland.

What did passengers find there? Kindness and generosity and hospitality like I have only rarely seen in my lifetime.

The perfect book to read if you are feeling like the world is a sad place these days.

Dewey's Nine Lives: The Legacy of the Small-Town Library Cat Who Inspired Millions by Vicki Myron with Bret Witter

I'm a sucker for an animal story. And Dewey has to be my favorite animal story of all. If you don't know about Dewey (is there anyone who does not?), he's the library cat who healed a town hit by a recession.

So when I was offered an ARC of Dewey's Nine Lives, I was elated.

And I felt elated the entire time I read this book. It's that kind of book.

This is a collection of stories about other Dewey-ish cats who have come into the lives of other people-in-need-of-Deweys. Please don't anticipate great writing; that's not the strength of this book. Compare the writing plus the strength-of-the-story to Three Cups of Tea.

During the Depression, Shirley Temple lifted the spirits of many. Dewey is the Shirley Temple of our time.

Thank you to Dutton for sharing this book with me.