September 2013 - Mrs Payan Reads

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? 9/30

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? –From Picture Books to YA is a weekly meme started by Jen at Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee at Unleashing Readers. This is a chance for bloggers to recap their week of reading and share their plans for the next reading adventures they will take. Visit the host blogs for a list of great blogs participating in this meme and a whole bunch of titles to add to your to-read lists.

Books Finished This Week:

I did not finish any books this week. Zip. Zilch. Zero. That is a first for me since I started keeping track. I hope to get back on track soon.

Books I am Currently Reading:

I am reading So Cold the River by Michael Koryta. It is an intriguing mystery with a magical realism element to it. I am really enjoying this book and will definitely look for more by this author before I see him talk in January. I am also listening to Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo. I absolutely loved the first book in the Grisha series and I am really liking this one so far as well. I hope to get back to exercising this week so that I can get through the audiobook quicker.

What’s Next?

I plan to read Song for the Quarkbeast next. I also would really like to get to Crank by Ellen Hopkins soon. The 5th Wave is also burning a hole in my shelf.

My reading will also be spent on some information about Multiple Sclerosis. I was diagnosed with this condition two weeks ago and so my time is consumed with learning what this means for me. Part of the research I am doing is reading some of the very medical articles that my sister the doctor is sending me.

I also want to get back to reading some professional titles and some blogs. I hope this week feels more normal and back on track.

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? 9/23

This week was another slow reading week for me. I spent some of the week in the hospital and had some life-changing medical news so my mind was not exactly on my reading. I was out of school all week so some of my time was spent creating sub plans, but mostly I mindlessly watched HGTV. I hope that this week I will be able to escape into my books a little more, because I think that is some of what I need.

Books I Finished This Week:

This was actually a pretty perfect book to have with me for the endless waiting in the emergency room. It was not a book that required a lot of attention but was distracting enough to help me feel less nervous. I am not really loving this series that much and my sister feels the same. We are probably going to give up on the goal to finish the whole series. I might skip ahead to some of the more recent books in the series to see if I like them better.

I needed an easy book to distract my mind a little bit in the last few days. The Pretty Little Liars books do not disappoint in being an easy distraction. The books are by no means literature, but I find them really entertaining and I am glad I am reading the series.

I found Love That Dog in the clearance section at Half Price Books this weekend. I sat down and devoured it in one sitting. What a great celebration of poetry and writing! I LOVED this book!

Books I am Currently Reading:

I am still listening to Siege and Storm and just started reading So Cold The River by Michael Kortya, which is a mystery book.

What’s Next?

I just hope that I can get myself to pick up a book and read. I am going back to work today and I feel overwhelmed already. I know I will also be reading quite a bit of research and information about medical issues in the next few months as well. I will just play it by ear and pick up what I feel like reading.

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? 9/16

Books I finished this week:

I am still enjoying this series. Did not love this one as much, but I am sure I will continue liking the books.

I am really glad I read through all the Gallagher Girls novels. They are so much fun!

I had preordered this one, so it was a nice little surprise in the mailbox this week. I devoured it! LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Kate Messner and this one is my favorite. It was so intriguing learning about concussions and then that clinic was so creepy. I love the way suspense built throughout the book and I was on the edge of my seat the whole time.

Books I am Currently Reading:

I am still listening to the second book in the Grisha series. I really like this fantasy world and the characters that live there. I am loving the narrator for this one as well. I also started reading E is for Evidence.

What’s Next?

I honestly don’t know what is next. I am super busy and now this week I have some health issues that I hope will get resolved quickly…but it is hard to read with a preoccupied mind. It sucks because now I have missed two days of school in the last two weeks and it is only the third week of school! I hope things get back on an even keel soon and then I will be able to read like crazy.

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? 9/9

The whirlwind of work that begins a new school year overwhelmed me last week. My blogs have suffered a bit in the last few weeks because I am caught up in the mile-long to-do list that continues to grow. I also have been supporting my husband as he learns how to run a classroom. That means that a lot of the time that would usually be reading time for me has been taken up with looking over his lesson plans and showing him how to use a teacher’s guide and other things that a cooperating teacher would usually do for a student teacher. It is so fun to see how he is enjoying his job and I know he is going to be an awesome teacher.

My bedtime reading is not happening as much either. I am so exhausted at the end of every day that I hardly make it through two pages before I start dropping the book. These are the books from the last two weeks since I missed last Monday’s post.

Books I Finished:

Adult Books

I really have enjoyed all of the Robert Langdon books by Dan Brown. This is another one that has a lot of action and some really interesting symbology. There are a lot of people that are really down on this author, but I think his books are entertaining and thought-provoking. I would recommend this one to people who enjoy a good mystery.

Young Adult/Middle Grade Books

Like all of the other Pretty Little Liars books, Killer is a fun mystery and a light read. The characters and situations are very different from the television show at this point in the series and I really like that. I would recommend this series to teens that like mysteries.

Only the Good Spy Young by Ally Carter is another fun Gallagher Girls book. Cammie continues to be in danger from the mysterious circle. She starts to find out that maybe she can’t trust everyone that she thought she could trust. I am impressed at the way the author is able to keep the book light and funny while also dealing with some pretty dangerous and dark themes. I can’t wait to read the next one this week even though I fell behind on the #GGReadathon.

Once by Morris Gleitzman is a haunting story. I really enjoyed the audio because the little touches like music between the chapters really enhanced the mood. The narrator in this book has been kept in the dark about what is happening in Nazi occupied Poland and his confused explanations for what happens make the story that much more tense. This is a great book to add to the collection of books about the holocaust and to give another perspective. I will definitely be seeking out the other books in this series.

Books I am Currently Reading:

I am about halfway through D is for Deadbeat by Sue Grafton and I have started listening to Siege and Storm (Grisha #2).

What’s Next?

I hope to find some more time for reading this week. I want to read Out of Sight, Out of Time this week to catch up with the readathon. I also want to read The Song of the Quarkbeast before Wednesday when Jasper Fforde will be visiting my school. If I am able to find the time, I will start with book E in the Sue Grafton series as well.