My Week in Books

What I Read Last Week    I lived Friendswood. From the minute I first saw this book on the Coming Soon section of blogs, as soon as I saw it dealt in part with the Superfund toxic waste site just outside the real town of Friendswood, Texas, I knew I had to read it. In the early eighties, I was a teacher at the school right in the middle of the subdivision built on top of the toxic waste site. Yep. And I was pregnant. So this was a have-to-read book for me. How did I like it? It was uneven, I thought. More like a weak attempt to throw together several loosely connected short stories. I liked it, but I didn't love it. It may have just been me, but I'd really like to ask the author a few questions. Why, for example, did she keep the names of some places and change the names of others? Did she really need to change the name of Beamer Road, where the toxic waste site was located? Odd, I thought. The Friendswood she depicts is a more redneck view than the one I experienced, and I'm curious about that. All in all, a solid story, and one you should definitely read if you have any connection to this area. Why are the Freak books so refreshing? Maybe they tap into that part of us as humans that reminds us that we really don't have everything all figured out, that sometimes people and things act in unexpected ways. Maybe we like that. I don't know, but I do know that I loved reading this book. Biggles? I hated the first couple of pages; I didn't get what was happening in the story. Then I decided to back up and just read it and go with it, not trying to figure out every little anachronistic aviation term. I got it. I flew with these very, very young pilots in World War I. It is a ride. A real ride in the air and a ride through time. It's full of all the things that the book police would hate today: shooting, killing others with a sense of triumph, hatred for other peoples. But, nevertheless, a fabulous adventure book.

What I'm Reading Now I'm pretty close to the midpoint, and the plot is pulling me along. Our main characters are Irish immigrant parents and their daughter. The daughter is driven as a teen to rise above her drunken parents, but somehow ends up marrying a fellow with origins much like her own. Let's see where this one goes.

What are you reading today?! Anything I need to go out and get today?

What is the Sunday Salon? Imagine some university library's vast reading room. It's filled with people--students and faculty and strangers who've wandered in. They're seated at great oaken desks, books piled all around them,and they're all feverishly reading and jotting notes in their leather-bound journals as they go. Later they'll mill around the open dictionaries and compare their thoughts on the afternoon's literary intake....That's what happens at the Sunday Salon, except it's all virtual. Every Sunday the bloggers participating in that week's Salon get together--at their separate desks, in their own particular time zones--and read. And blog about their reading. And comment on one another's blogs. Think of it as an informal, weekly, mini read-a-thon, an excuse to put aside one's earthly responsibilities and fall into a good book. Click here to join the Salon.

The Sunday Post is a meme hosted by Kimba at Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It's a chance to share news and recap the past week.

Mailbox Monday was created by Marcia at The Printed Page. We share books that we found in our mailboxes last week. 

 It is now being hosted here.

Stacking the Shelves is a meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews in which you can share the books you've acquired.

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is where we share what we read this past week, what we hope to read this week…. and anything in between!  This is a great way to plan out your reading week and see what others are currently reading as well… you never know where that next “must read” book will come from! I love being a part of this and I hope you do too! As part of this weekly meme Book Journey loves to encourage you all to go and visit the others participating in this meme.