My Reading Challenge

I know I'm not supposed to admit this--but I don't like reading. I know, crazy, right?!  I'm a slow reader, my mind wanders so I tend to have to reread passages-it's just not fun for me. I know that it enriches my life, so I make myself do it. I also get a feeling of accomplishment every time I finish a book. I post what I read on Goodreads-really just for myself to track my reading. Last year I read 58 books so this year I made my goal 60. I am almost there! I wanted to share some of the books I have read recently that I liked.

This book was on my list for my student book club for 3rd-5th graders. I LOVED this story! It is set in Maine and the story revolves around blueberries. The main character strikes up a friendship with a migrant blueberry worker. It's a sweet story about friendship and working towards your hopes and dreams. 

I saw this book on several "best of" lists. I put off reading it because memoirs are not my favorite thing to read. But I've been trying to include more non-fiction into my repertoire so I gave it a try. It's a story about a woman who recently lost her father. She works through her grief by rekindling a passion for falconry. It's extremely well-written and really touching. Not light reading by any means, but I think worth the effort.

I really like mysteries. It helps me finish books more quickly because I want to find out whodunit. Now I am hard to impress with mysteries because I usually figure out the ending. I liked this one. It's about a girl who was in charge of watching her twin sisters one day and when she turned her back they disappeared. It's years later and she is set on untangling the web of deceit to find out what really happened.

This is another book from our upper grade club list this year. It's a story about a boy whose grandfather is dying and he requests a miracle from a circus performer at a very odd circus he visited as a child. The boy is on a quest to save him and in the process finds some kindred spirits at the circus.

I did not know going in that this book was about zombies. It was on a list of books that have surprise endings. Now I'm not usually into zombie stories, but I ended up liking this one. I think especially because one of the main characters was a very dedicated teacher (yes, she taught the zombies). It does have an interesting twist. I saw a trailer for the movie they made from it and I'm very curious to see if they kept that ending.

We have 17 days off for our Winter Break this year! I'm going to spend some of those curled up with a book.

Read anything that you have liked recently?