Four ✭✭✭✭✭ Reads, Plus My Favorite Love Story, Tadpole's Promise

I've read 56 books so far in 2017 and 16 of them have been five star reads. That seems pretty remarkable. How can I account for this? The best reads have mostly been books I didn't get around to reading from last year. Oddly, the best books are not books I thought I'd love. I know nothing about hunting with hawks, for one, and who'd have thought I'd be so taken with a children's book with a scarecrow for a main character? cover title author review H is for Hawk Macdonald, Helen I'm not a hunter, and I'm not mad for animals, but great writing is great writing, and this book is great writing. Helen Macdonald's dad collapses and ...more [edit] Utopia Drive: A Road Trip Through America's Most Radical Idea Reece, Erik I've always been completely fascinated with utopias, and I've secretly longed to join one or start one. I'm a natural reader for this little travel na ...more [edit] Worzel Gummidge Todd, Barbara Euphan Worzel Gummidge is a classic not-quite-human, not-quite-other character, who is able to be in the world without being of the world, who throws out bri ...more [edit] Homegoing Gyasi, Yaa Two sisters in Africa. One becomes the wife of a white man who rounds up slaves. And the other is captured as a slave. Each chapter moves forward a gen ...more [edit] I finished four books this week and every one of them was a five star story. I'm reading two George Saunders books right now and I'm pretty sure that both of these will also be five star reads. I can't explain it, this Amazing Book Phenomenon, but I say, keep on coming, great books. I almost forgot...I also read my favorite picture book love story, Tadpole's Promise, to many of my classes this week. I snapped a picture of the typical reaction of a class to the story...Don't you love this?!

What are you reading 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! It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is now being hosted at The Book Date.