Selected Readings

I've decided that I want to be a reader this summer. I'll be teaching English in the fall so it's appropriate to say the least. Over the course of the past week, I have been getting ready for this litereary adventure. (I think that you will find that I use the word literary quite loosly.)

I returned home from a trip to Half Priced Books yesterday with weeks worth of entertainment.

First on the agenda is completing the Redemption series by Karen Kingsbury. This series of five books came to me highly recommended by Sarah Sparks-Brooks and Katie Mack (soon-to-be Browder). It chronicals the Baxter family and each book highlights one particular sibling. I was a bit sceptical when I embarked upon this series, afraid that it would turn into a 7th Heaven spin off. However, I have spent many hours captivated by this Christian family. The books are modern day and deal with real-world issues. They ask questions of themselves and of God that sound like things that I too would ask in the given situation. They don't handle every situation flawlessly, but despite what comes there is always their faith that will carry them through. Their reliance on prayer and scripture encourages me to rely as heavily on God in good times and in bad.

I've never read a true series like this. The endings are abrupt and anti-climactic. Things aren't all tied up by the last chapter. At first this was a let down. I like to feel a sense of accomplishment at the end of a good read. This one only leaves you rushing out to buy the next book, and so I did. I've read the first two books and can't wait to start the third.

After I finish my sweet. little Baxter series, I'm going to read the Emily Giffin books. I've heard good things about them in the past. I don't know much about the story line, but after judging a book by it's cover, I feel like they will closly resemble the Shopaholic books by Sophie Kinsella. I'll let you know how my verdict at the end of the summer.

But that's not all!!!

These little gems also arrived in the mail for me over the past week.

These are two of the books for my first grad school class, Using the Law in Educational Practice. Now there's only one fair way to go about this. My class will finish mid-July, and I will loan these books out for your pleasure reading on a first come-first serve basis. Please feel free to leave me a comment, and I will add you to the waiting list.

So that's a glimpse of my summer. Hopefully much of this reading will take place poolside, so I will be quite tan by the end of my reading list.

Reading is a basic tool in the living of a good life.
-Mortimer J. Adler