Oh, Calamity!

I have been wanting to read this book all summer, and I finally got my book club to agree.  I know that this time of year, I pretty much read whatever my students are reading.  Thanks to a bit of a chest cold, I was able to read this book over the weekend.  

It is well-written chic lit with power words in all the right places and a few catch phrases.  "Oh, calamity!" is my favorite and now essential to my daily conversations.  A bit of a murder mystery, it will keep you entertained throughout the whole book.

Sorry, no RC points for this book...unless you can convince me to write a quiz.

1984

Rereading this book with my sophomore honors course was delightful.  Although it is the third or fourth time that I have read it (no thanks to my high school English teachers), I enjoy it a little bit more each time.  It is a book that grows with the generations.  As the reader gets older, he/she learns to appreciate the political jargon and rules behind Newspeak while still being regaled by the slight love story and hope for a better society.  

RC points = check list 

Berlin Boxing Club

I was attempting to read a book to add to the RC list that wasn't so girly, not that my male students don't love the girly books (some just won't admit to it).  It was time for me to switch it up a little bit.

Although I am not a huge fan of Holocaust literature (sorry, I think I have just read too much of it), this book was more than tolerable.  It was good, not great.  The story starts out slow, but it picks up quickly.  There is a lot of heart and soul in the characters, and it truly shows what is important in life even through hardships. You will not regret reading this book.

RC point = check list

A Boy...A Secret...A Choice

I must admit that I read this whole book on a lazy Sunday afternoon.  My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick is addicting.  Each character is well developed and realistic.  We have all had the trust fund friend who has an over compulsive mother, a friend with an addiction, a best friend who ends the friendship, and crazy neighbors.  Every moment of the book keeps the reader's attention.  This is definitely one of the best chic teen novels I have read.  

RC points = check list