Karen’s Book Nook

The Pilot’s Wife by Anita Shreve is one of Oprah’s Book Club selections that has been in my TBR pile for awhile. I just finished Bud, Not Buddy and The 6th Target this week but with the end of the school year just around the corner, I’ve got TONS of paperwork, meetings and commitments taking up my time. I hope to get more reading done but it may be slow going for the next few weeks.

Making my way through the Newbery Medal winners, I came across this one, Bud, Not Buddy, by Christopher Paul Curtis in the online audio book section of my library. I’m hoping to get through the 5+ hours of listening before it expires while I’m away for the weekend.

I’m currently reading this 2007 Newbery Medal winner via mp3 while working around the house. This one is The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron. I love to read good children’s/young adult literature and they can usually be quick reads. This week is all about making preparations for the Rendezvous so I’ll listen in while sewing.

I always read all of James Patterson’s books and I’ve had this one for awhile. I’ll be able to blow through it in one or two sittings though since his work is usually a super quick read. The 6th Target is part of the Women’s Murder Club series.

I downloaded The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo via audio book as part of my quest to make it through all of the remaining Newbery Medal winners on my TBR list. I’ve got some sewing to do this weekend and I’ll listen while I work.

This is the first book that I’m reading for the Heard it Through the Grapevine Challenge. It’s Riding Lessons by Sara Gruen, the author of Water for Elephants (which I read this winter and enjoyed.)  It’s currently past due at the library and was a hold so I’m hoping to blow through it in record time so I can return it.

I just finished the audio book, Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry and discovered that although I can’t transfer the audio to an Apple product, I can transfer to my iriver. (Unfortunately, the iriver is stuck in record mode and will need to be replaced before training camp, but I did find an old Sandisk mp3 player in a drawer that works fine for this purpose.) So, I won’t be limited to listen on my desktop pc but can take it with me. After all.. that IS the purpose of an audio book, IMO. (Looks like my podcast queue will grow even larger and I’ll get further behind but I’m in the mood to read so it’s fine with me.

I just downloaded the third book in the trio, Messenger and expect that it’ll be just as good as The Giver and Gathering Blue. Anyone who has not tried good children’s literature should give it a whirl. Some of my favorite books have been Newbery Medal Winners that I’ve read as an adult.

I downloaded the audio book Gathering Blue from my local library. This is a sequel to Lois Lowry’s The Giver, perhaps the most read book among teacher candidates while in college taking reading methods. I’ll listen between podcasts and everything else I’m reading/listening to. (Unfortunately, it can only be downloaded to PC not Mac so I have to listen on my desktop computer and can’t transfer to my iPod.)

Since I’ve blown through 5 books in the past 3 days, I’ve got some time left on the remaining library books before they’re due. I’ve decided to pick up two that I hadn’t finished and had put aside to read other things, Wicked, The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire and Teacher Man by Frank McCourt. I saw the play Wicked and loved it. The book is good as well, but quite different. Teacher Man is a memoir and I’m almost through and want to return it to the teacher that I borrowed it from. It was kind of dry as I remember it but we’ll try it again.

After finishing The Locket in one sitting this morning with a pot of coffee and two furry girls by my side, I’m moving on to another by one of my favorite authors, Richard Paul Evans. This one doesn’t resemble the rest physically, as most of his other books are small with pages that have that torn  edges resembling books of old. I have a feeling that this story, A Perfect Day is more of a modern day tale.  We’ll soon find out.