It's Monday! What Are You Reading? #5

    

    Hello! This week I'm doing another Week of Book Memes (starting with my fifth It's Monday! What Are You Reading? post). Surprise! For those of you who read my interview with Christopher Healy last week and expected me to blog only about the Russian-inspired book, I will still be reviewing it: just posting on Thursday.

    To check out what I've been posting during past Week of Book Memes, click HERE.

 

    Our library has been open for quite a few months (still socially distanced, of course) but I haven't had a chance before last week to head there and return all the books I've been keeping for the past few weeks. So this post will be less of a weekly roundup, and more of a "recently been reading" one. 

    

    Scroll below to view my list.

   During the past few weeks, I finished reading Love's Enduring Promise, How to Speak Dragonese, Mother Mason, The Wizards of Once, and Twice Magic. (I also finished Catherine Marshall's Christy, which I hope to review on here soon!)

Love's Enduring Promise was a wonderful way for me to learn more about Canadian rural life and about the day-to-day grind of living for Jesus at the same time. I really liked that the concept of adoption and the issue of interracial relationships were included. Though I wasn't a huge fan of how the characters handled the latter theme, I did appreciate that the author took time to acknowledge its existence and provide a view of how settlers might have viewed the idea back then. I also liked how almost every character had a happy ending despite the harsher times theyl lived in.

I really enjoyed How to Speak Dragonese because it finally showed us a little more of the engrossing world Cressida Cowell has created. Hiccup is Very Heroic, as always, and I thought it was interesting how the author introduced Camicazi. My first impression of her wasn't the most favorable, but she's got a lot of spunk and I'm interested to read more of what she's like in all the books following this one.

Mother Mason was fantastic! This was my first time reading another Bess Streeter Aldrich book other than A Lantern in Her Hand, and I appreciated how this story had a more light-hearted feel to it. I also enjoyed the emphasis on traditional American values and the way that Mother and all of the Masons were portrayed. My only complaint was that I wish it could have lasted longer!

The Wizards of Once was an incredible journey, with even more of the author's trademark drawings and fascinating worldbuilding. Twice Magic was an even more thrilling sequel! Both stories were very suspenseful, well-plotted, and exciting. After reading it, I think that I might like them a little better than the How to Train Your Dragon books because of their more serious vibe.

    Like I mentioned earlier, I got to interview Christopher Healy, New York Times-recognized author for his Hero's Guide and Perilous Journey of Danger and Mayhem series. The whole interview was a treat, and it certainly didn't hurt that I'm a personal fan of his books! The author was so kind and gracious, and I absolutely loved reading and posting all of his answers. You can find the interview HERE.

    I am currently not reading any books.

    Next week, I'm looking forward to starting How to Cheat a Dragon's Curse, How to Twist a Dragon's Tale, A Hero's Guide to Deadly Dragons, A White Bird Flying, Julie, and Out of the Silent Planet.

Synopsis: Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III's best friend, Fishlegs, has been stung by the deadly Venomous Vorpent! The only cure is the Vegetable-That-No-One-Dares-Name. But where will Hiccup find such a thing? He'll have to dodge the terrible Sharkworms, battle Doomfangs, and outwit crazy Hooligans if he's going to be a Hero (again).

A fast paced plot, plenty of action, slapstick humor, witty dialogue, and imaginative black and white illustrations make this fourth adventure in Cressida Cowell's beloved and bestselling How to Train Your Dragon series a must-read.

Synopsis: The heat is on for Hiccup as he is called to save the day once again. Someone has stolen the Fire-Stone. Now that the volcano on Volcano Island has become active, the tremors are hatching the eggs of the Exterminator dragons! Can Hiccup return the Fire-Stone to the Volcano, stop it from erupting, and save the Tribes from being wiped out by the terrible sword-claws of the Exterminators?

Synopsis: It's Hiccup's birthday, but that's not going to keep him from getting into trouble. To save his dragon, Toothless, from being banished, Hiccup must sneak into the Meathead Public Library and steal the Viking's most sacred book. But the Vikings see books as a dangerous influence, and keep them locked up and under heavy guard. To save his friend, Hiccup must brave the Hairy Scary Librarian and his dreadful army of Meathead Warriors and face off against the formidable Driller-Dragons. Will he make it out and live to see his next birthday? 

Synopsis: Abbie Deal, the matriarch of a pioneer Nebraska family, has died at the beginning of A White Bird Flying, leaving her china and heavy furniture to others and to her granddaughter Laura the secret of her dream of finer things. Grandma Deal's literary aspirations had been thwarted by the hard circumstances of her life, but Laura vows that nothing, no one, will deter her from a successful writing career. Childhood passes, and the more she repeats her vow the more life intervenes.

Synopsis: Julie Wallace has always wanted to write. Trying to escape the Great Depression, Julie’s father buys the Alderton Sentinel, a small-town newspaper in flood-prone Alderton, Pennsylvania, and moves his family there. As flash floods ominously increase, Julie’s investigative reporting uncovers secrets that could endanger the entire community.

Julie, the newspaper, and her family are thrown into a perilous standoff with the owners of the steel mills as they investigate the conditions of the immigrant laborers. As the Alderton Sentinel and Julie take on a more aggressive role to reform these conditions, seething tensions come to a head.

When a devastating tragedy follows a shocking revelation, Julie’s courage and strength are tested. Will truth and justice win, or will Julie lose everything she holds dear?

Synopsis: In the first novel of C.S. Lewis's classic science fiction trilogy, Dr Ransom, a Cambridge academic, is abducted and taken on a spaceship to the red planet of Malacandra, which he knows as Mars. His captors are plotting to plunder the planet's treasures and plan to offer Ransom as a sacrifice to the creatures who live there. Ransom discovers he has come from the 'silent planet' – Earth – whose tragic story is known throughout the universe...

    Thank you for checking out my bookshelf today. I hope you enjoyed reading my picks as much as I enjoyed creating the post. 

    What about you? Have you read, or recognized any of the books I listed? What are you reading right now? Have you just finished any books? If so, what did you think about them? If you also put a It's Monday! What Are You Reading? post on your blog, please link to it in the comments so I can read it.

    Tomorrow, the Top Ten Tuesday topic is focused on love (in honor of Valentine's Day). I'm so excited to share my take on it with you!