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: Happy September everyone! This is going to be a somewhat quick post as I’ve had a fairly busy weekend. Here’s hoping my two fantasy football teams I drafted this weekend do better than projected! This week I managed to finish two books; here are some brief thoughts:

I, unfortunately, did not like The End Games by T. Michael Martin at all. It honestly felt like work trudging through it. I did finish the book though (dang reader’s guilt). The positive is I used it as a teaching moment for my students. I commiserated with them about reading a book we don’t like, which, unfortunately, has been a lot of their entire reading lives until now. I do think some readers might enjoy this book; I had a few boys say it sounds awesome as I was describing why I didn’t like it - it just definitely was not for me.

I also finished Doll Bones by Holly Black this weekend. I thought it was a super-cute, kind of eery book that’s perfect for middle grade students. I was actually hoping it was a little more creepy to give me another option for my horror-loving readers. I will admit, as a completely pathetic wimp myself, there were a few parts that had me closing the book and listening for weird sounds in my house. Cute book, but maybe too young for my high school students. Although, who doesn’t get creeped out by those demented porcelain dolls.

Current Reads: Holy cow am I in love with my current read - Winger by Andrew Smith. I honestly don’t want to write too much, because I just want to go back to reading. I’m on page 139 of 439 and I am infatuated! The voice of the main character, Ryan Dean, is absolutely perfect! Love, Love, Love! I know I’m not even halfway done, but I’m already telling you to add this one to your TBR list.

Here’s the goodreads summary of the book: Ryan Dean West is a fourteen-year-old junior at a boarding school for rich kids. He’s living in Opportunity Hall, the dorm for troublemakers, and rooming with the biggest bully on the rugby team. And he’s madly in love with his best friend Annie, who thinks of him as a little boy.

With the help of his sense of humor, rugby buddies, and his penchant for doodling comics, Ryan Dean manages to survive life’s complications and even find some happiness along the way. But when the unthinkable happens, he has to figure out how to hold on to what’s important, even when it feels like everything has fallen apart.

Filled with hand-drawn info-graphics and illustrations and told in a pitch-perfect voice, this realistic depiction of a teen’s experience strikes an exceptional balance of hilarious and heartbreaking.

Future Reads: As always, my TBR stack is neverending. I have a few books checked out from the library, so here’s where I’m headed next. The End Games really slowed down my reading rate, but I have high hopes for these books: Pivot Point by Kasie West, Little Bee by Chris Cleave (been sitting on my shelf forever), Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein, and The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin.

 

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!