The Lion is a Bookworm: August 2015

Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Usborne Review: Muddle and Match series

Muddle and Match series

16 pages each. Board book.

Quick Lit: August 2015

It's been a summer of some things more important than reading. :)

My goal for this year is to read 36 books - 3 a month - after only finishing 24 last year. I'm barely on schedule, with 21 books completed so far in mid-August. I'll need to finish 3 books before the end of the month, and one that I'm currently reading is pretty long... Oh well, it's summer. :) Here's what I've finished in the last month.

The Martian by Andy Weir

"Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first people to walk on Mars. Now, he's sure he'll be the first person to die there." This book was featured in my August #bookwormproblems post, so I won't rehash how and when I came to read it. But let's just say I loved it. There was quite a bit of technical stuff (that I'll bet the author had lots of fun writing) that went over my head, but I don't feel like I missed out if I skimmed some of it. I understood enough to realize when things were going wrong (which seemed to happen a lot). Just when we thought things were finally looking up for Mark, something else would break down. Yes there was some foul language -- the opening line of the book almost made me close it again -- but how do you think you would feel if you were trapped on Mars??

I knew as I was reading that it was going to be made into a movie, so quite a few of the scenes I could really picture. I was really impressed that this was Weir's first novel, and will keep him on my radar for the future!

As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the
Making of The Princess Bride by Cary Elwes

As a typical child of the '80s, I love the movie The Princess Bride. Though I'll admit I didn't first see it until college. It is one of the most quotable movies of all time, and even I myself have been known to throw a line or two into ordinary conversation. Though the beginning of the book was a little more boring -- I didn't care all that much how the movie came to be, and the conversations people had to get it going -- once I got into the actual filming I was captivated. From stories about stunts to broken toes to life working with a giant, this book made the movie that much more special. My husband read it too, and we're going to soon watch the movie again to see if we notice some of the events mentioned. I'd recommend this book to anyone who likes the movie! (but if you haven't even seen the movie yet, go watch it first - then read this book :)

The Heart of Thornton Creek (Queensland
Chronicles #1) by Bonnie Leon

I'd consider this my "fluff" read of the month. I used to read tons of Christian fiction, and have so many free books on my Kindle from one sale or another, but have been turned away by cheesy romance lately. Yes this one has some (it's a marriage of convenience after all) but there was enough of a regular plot to keep me interested. And it's set in Australia -- I haven't really read very many books outside the US or UK. It was good enough that I may read more in the series sometime.

Linking up with Anne at Modern Mrs. Darcy!

This post does contain Amazon Affiliate links. Purchases you make help support The Lion is a Bookworm a little bit without changing the cost to you!

Monday, August 10, 2015

What the Cubs are Reading: August 10

It's Monday! What are you reading? is hosted by Sheila of Book Journey. Jen from Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee and Ricki from Unleashing Readers have adapted it to focus on Picture Books to Young Adult Books. Since I recap what I'm personally reading each month with Modern Mrs. Darcy, for this linkup I post what Abby (age 5) and Ellie (age 3) have been enjoying.

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Otto: The Boy Who Loved Cars
by Kara LaReau. June 2011

The girls picked this one out from the free box at a yard sale we stopped at -- the copy we got was actually an advanced reader paperback. It almost makes me want to do more with getting ARC's. It's a really cute story about a boy who lives and breathes cars sooo much (his friends are even named Chevy, Mini, and Kia, which I think is hilarious -- and his own name is Otto -- get it? auto?) that one day he wakes up and actually IS a car. A great little tale about trying new things!

Happy Birthday, Word Bird

by Jane Belk Moncure. September 1983

Yup you read that copyright date correctly. This book came out when I was 6 months old! I had completely forgotten about the Word Bird series until I saw them at the library -- I LOVED them as a kid. We picked this one out last week because it was Ellie's birthday. You'd be really lucky to find this one for sale somewhere, so check your library for it. It goes through all the months of the year, as Word Bird asks when his birthday is. My kids love adding things to each month: "Papa said 'August is the time for picnics and fishing'"... and Ellie's birthday. :)

Charlotte's Web

by E.B. White. October 1952

I used to do more reading aloud with Abby last year, when she would rest in the afternoons and wasn't in school yet. But now that naps are over for both her and her sister, we tend to choose picture books as bedtime reading so Ellie can stay focused. I got this book on audio from the library, and a couple times over the last few weeks have played it while doing household chores as the girls play nearby. But now the audio is due back to the library and we're only a third of the way done...

Do you read chapter books aloud to your kids? How old are they? Should I try to do it more, or is my easily-distractable, just-turned-3-year-old-Ellie too young yet?

Check out what others are reading in today's linkup!

This post contains Amazon Affiliate links. Purchases you make help support The Lion is a Bookworm a little bit without changing the cost to you!

Friday, August 7, 2015

August #bookwormproblems

My husband and I recently went on a little weekend getaway, sort of a belated-10-year-anniversary trip. We drove about 3 hours north (though we took the scenic route up, which took longer than 3 hours) and spent a couple days at Sleeping Bear National Lakeshore (yes the place that got hit by a huge storm the following weekend!) and Traverse City.

Just before the trip I got the notice from the library that a book I had requested had come in -- so I quickly grabbed it and we set off. I had a feeling Rocky might enjoy it too, so I volunteered to read it aloud while we drove.

We took turns reading it over the course of the weekend -- in the car, on the beach, in the hotel, etc. WHAT A GOOD BOOK. But we didn't finish it by the time we got home.

(Did I mention Rocky is not typically much of a bookworm? That made this whole thing even more special for me. :) )

So of course our schedules started to get busy again, and we only had time to read together late at night. I should note here that I am a morning person and Rocky is a night owl. [and now you can probably tell where this is going...]

I gave Rocky permission to continue without me if I fell asleep. Which of course I did.

The next day I posted this on Instagram:

The hubby and I started reading this aloud to each other during the car rides on our trip last weekend. Now that we're home it's been more difficult to find time to keep it up, but it's sooo good. I fell asleep last night after 2 chapters (gasp! but I was sooo tired), so now I have to play catchup while he plays music... #notanightowl #bookstagram #instareads #amreading

A photo posted by Carrie Roer (@carrieroer) on Jul 29, 2015 at 6:39pm PDT

He had gotten far ahead... but after a couple days I finally caught up to where he had stopped. And I was amazed that he had stopped at all. Because he had stopped at the most edge-of-your-seat, the-book-is-almost-done spot. I don't know if I would have had the self control to stop there. But he did. And I love him even more for it. :)

THEN it plagued me to no end to wait a couple MORE days before we had the time to finish it together!! But finish it we did. And then I quickly brought it back to the library so the next of the 10 people in line could have it...

And now we have to wait. We have to wait 1) for this author to write another book - hopefully it will be as good as his first novel - and 2) for the movie to come out this fall. I don't mind watching movies that are based on books, but I almost always try to read the book before seeing the movie. And now Rocky and I can enjoy that together too. :)

What is something book-related you have had to wait for?

Linking up today with Jessica at Quirky Bookworm! Click through to see what other problems bookworms are having this month.

This post does contain Amazon Affiliate links. Purchases you make from Amazon through these links help support The Lion is a Bookworm a little bit without changing the cost to you!