It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

It’s Monday! What are you Reading? (#IMWAYR) is a weekly meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journeys with a kid/YA-lit spin hosted by Kellee at Unleashing Readers and Jen at Teach Mentor Texts.

Past Reads: As last week was “Project Finish” week around the house, my reading was somewhat disjointed (no 4-5 hour reading sessions). As my husband can tell you, I have the habit of starting projects, making a mess, and then not completing them. This week I finally finished painting our bedroom (I hate ceilings), refinished our dresser, and created art for the room. As school starts up in 2 ½ weeks, this upcoming week is my organize and clean the house week; I can see a lot of procrastination by reading in my future.

Also, this week, I ended up winning a $100 amazon gift card from the 2k14 Debut Authors (check them out). My indecisive nature is having a hard time deciding on books. Do I get extra copies of the books I know are popular? Do I buy some of the new titles I’ve read this summer that our school library might not have yet? Err...decisions, decisions! Let me know if you have any suggestions!

Here’s what I finished: City of Bones by Cassandra Clare (loved), Of Poseidon by Anna Banks (loved), and The Program by Suzanne Young (liked but had some issues).

                                 

Current Reads: I am starting the next genre for the YALit101 discussion this week - verse novels.  Last week’s discussion was fantastic, and the author of Chopsticks dropped in and donated copies of her book to my classroom - Thank you Jessica Anthony!!! I’ve already read Sold (if you haven’t, you NEED to), so I chose October Mourning: A Song for Matthew Shepard by Leslea Newman. I’ve really enjoyed the verse novels I’ve read (LOVE Ellen Hopkins) so I’m intrigued to see how this one compares.

Here’s the goodreads summary of the book: A masterful poetic exploration of the impact of Matthew Shepard’s murder on the world.

On the night of October 6, 1998, a gay twenty-one-year-old college student named Matthew Shepard was lured from a Wyoming bar by two young men, savagely beaten, tied to a remote fence, and left to die. Gay Awareness Week was beginning at the University of Wyoming, and the keynote speaker was Lesléa Newman, discussing her book Heather Has Two Mommies. Shaken, the author addressed the large audience that gathered, but she remained haunted by Matthew’s murder. October Mourning, a novel in verse, is her deeply felt response to the events of that tragic day. Using her poetic imagination, the author creates fictitious monologues from various points of view, including the fence Matthew was tied to, the stars that watched over him, the deer that kept him company, and Matthew himself. More than a decade later, this stunning cycle of sixty-eight poems serves as an illumination for readers too young to remember, and as a powerful, enduring tribute to Matthew Shepard’s life.

Future Reads: My summer reading time is quickly coming to an end and I feel like my TBR list grew instead of shrinking (not necessarily a bad thing). Even though I NEED to start preparing for the upcoming school year, I am going to try and squeeze every last reading minute out of this summer that I can. Here are just a few of the books stacked up on my desk right now: The Elite by Kiera Cass, Ask the Passengers by A.S. King, The End Games by T. Michael Martin, and Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare.

                    

What are you reading? What have you just finished? What are your top recommendations? Leave me a comment as I'm always looking for books to add to my To-Be-Read list!