The Hunger Games

Read this book. Now. Right now. Do it. It's amazing. I don't have any other words for it; you just have to read it!

Oh, and that makes 22. :)

21 Total

So it's been a week... I've finished 3 books! The first book I finished was House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer. It was okay. Not spectacular; not horrible; just okay. In the beginning, it was a good, easy read. The characters, especially the main character, are strong and relatable. The book takes place in the future, and the main character, Matt, is the clone of an all-powerful drug lord. The general public sees Matt as an animal, but El Patron (the drug lord from whom he was cloned) makes sure that he's educated. Matt basically lives a sheltered life of luxury on El Patron's ranch until El Patron's heart begins to fail. Matt learns that he's going to be killed so that El Patron can have a heart, but Celia (his caretaker and El Patron's cook) and Tam Lin (El Patron's body guard and Matt's surrogate father-figure) have been giving Matt arsenic so that he can live (El Patron can't use him for parts that way). Tam Lin helps Matt escape... Then the story lost me. Matt goes off into Aztlan (what was formerly Mexico) and has to work in a communist society... He meets boys his own age... The end of the story just wasn't as good as the beginning. It kind of ruined the whole book for me because it didn't seem to fit with the story overall. The ending was especially annoying, because it was a vague "happily ever after," but there were several problems left.

I'd recommend House of the Scorpion to middle schoolers who are into Science Fiction.

I realized that I said I was done with the Anne of Green Gables books... Well, I wasn't. I ended up reading the final two in the series Rainbow Valley and Rilla of Ingleside. I started Rainbow Valley because I couldn't fall asleep to clone adventures, and then I couldn't stop reading them. If you've never read the Anne of Green Gables series, you should. They're timeless.

I'm debating whether to start The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins or In the Woods by Tana French.

Meatballs

My dinner looked so good tonight, I couldn't resist posting a picture and the recipe. I made spaghetti (for Cory) and meatballs. I also made myself a side of sauteed spinach with balsamic vinegar. Here's the recipe for the meatballs...

1 lb. ground beef

1 lb. ground pork

1/2 c. parmesan cheese

3/4 c. bread crumbs

2 eggs

3 cloves garlic (grated)

2 tsp. italian herb seasoning

pinch red pepper flakes

salt

pepper

I mix the ingredients and roll the meatballs, which I put on a baking sheet. I bake the meatballs at around 375 degrees for 25 minutes. The recipe makes about 24 meatballs. When they're done, I take them out of the oven and put them into the sauce (which is mostly Barilla tomato basil sauce with some of my mom's canned tomatoes crushed and mixed in). I let it simmer together for about 5 minutes, and then it's eating time! I grated some asiago cheese on top of my meatballs tonight. It was really really really good! :)

I didn't realize it until just now, but I downloaded some pictures of our cat, Adrienne, with the dinner pics. She likes to sit like a human, and she firmly believes that she is one.

Weird cat...

Done with Anne for awhile...

I finished Anne of Ingleside last weekend, bringing my grand total of books read this year to 18. Not bad, if I do say so myself...and I do! :) The thing I like the most about the Anne of Green Gables books is that they're always able to transport me back to my childhood. When I was young (like from 3rd grade to 6th grade), I used to spend the summers reading my favorite books over and over. My mom used to kick me outside, usually with book still in hand. I read the Anne books over and over. I love that Anne never really grows up. Even as an adult, she keeps the dreams and fantasies she had as a child. When I was a kid, my favorite of the Anne books was Anne of the Island, when she goes off to college. It's the most love-storyish of any of the Anne books, in my opinion. Now, though, I find myself liking Anne of Avonlea more. The things Anne goes through while teaching are things I go through myself, and she seems to handle things so well. Her philosophy on discipline is similar to mine, too. She believes that caring for and investing in students personally will help them to develop a relationship with their teacher, which, in turn, will make them want to behave. I try to practice this as much as possible. It's funny that a book written so long ago can still ring true today...

But enough about Anne! I'm currently reading The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer. It's good so far... It's science fiction, which I sometimes like and sometimes don't. I think the reason I like it is because it's so character driven. I'll review it fully when I finish it.

A looooooooooong week

So, it's been a long week. My students haven't been particularly well-behaved, which exhausts me... It's all okay though--only 33 days until summer. Ahh, summer. Nothing but kickball played with little kids in the sunshine at day camp. Paradise!

One bright spot in the week--it was my husband's birthday! He got Royals-Yankees tickets, and we're looking forward to going to the game.

And now back to what this blog is supposed to be about--reading. Sadly, I must admit that I haven't finished a single book this week due to the aforementioned exhaustion and birthday (with celebration). :( Surely I can finish Anne of Ingleside this weekend. I'm hitting a lull with the Anne books, so I think that it's time to move on to something else. Comment if you've got suggestions. :)