Lynness: reading for Aug-Sept

I posted about the bios I read in August, but while searching for bios to read, I came across Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace...One School at a Time.  I didn't get around to reading it for August and I almost returned it, but decided to renew it and maybe I'd give it a whirl.  I was just starting it last week when I decided to look for some books that would fit the bill for this month.  I clicked around a bit and found Powell Book's Puddly Awards list.  What was the non-fiction winner?  This book.  Turns out it's won a fair number of other awards as well (pasted from the Wikipedia article on the book):

• Kiriyama Prize
• Time Magazine Asia Book of The Year
• Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association – Nonfiction Award
• Montana Honor Book Award
• Borders Bookstore Original Voices Selection
• Banff Mountain Festival Book Award Finalist
• Dayton Literary Prize Nonfiction Award – runner up
• People Magazine – Critics Choice
• Publisher’s Weekly – Starred Review
• Mom's Choice Award 2009 ^[14]
• 2009 Italy: Premio Gambrinus “Giuseppe Mazzotti” ^[15]
• Powell Book's Puddly Award (nonfiction), Portland ^[16]
• 2010 The Christopher Award: "To affirm the highest values of the human spirit" ^[17]
• 2010 The Mason Award - Extraordinary contribution in literature (George Mason University DC)^[18]

I finished it and requested the next.  It's the kind of book that makes you want to do good and change the world too.  I highly recommend it.

I also read the Hunger Games trilogy.  I liked the first book, but each successive book left me a little more dissatisfied than the one before.  I'm not sure why.  I don't know if it was the plot or the writing or the characters or what.  I wanted to finish the books because I wanted to see how it all turned out, but not because the reading compelled me like it did in the first one.
I know one thing: if they ever make this into a movie, I will not see it.  Waaaayyy too graphic.  I don't want to see what I read about.  (Good thing I don't visualize what I read about unless I make an specific effort.)  I agree with Rae- not for kids.

Raehink: My August reads

For my biography, I read two books about Laura Bush--one written by her and one about her. I learned a lot about her and have decided I would love having her as a friend. She loves books, birds, Texas, reading, this country, her family, her bed, and her husband. And probably her husband in bed :)

I have finished Mockingjay and am fully satisfied with the trilogy. My one misgiving is the fact that they are being marketed to children who probably don't need to be reading them. It's pretty mature material, in my opinion. I was completely taken aback by one particularly violent scene. It caught me so off guard that I actually gasped out loud and clutched my shirt. Wow. Effective writing.

Lynness: I adore the Candy Bomber (Gail Halvorsen). I first learned about him when I stayed in Berlin with the Boatrights. I read a couple of books about the Berlin Airlift as well as a biography of him. I've always wanted to meet him and was so disappointed to realize that the whole time I was at BYU, he was part of the administration. I could have walked into his office any time, I imagine. He's an amazing man. Glad you discovered him.

Check out www.bookswim.com

Someday when I have lots of disposable income...

Happy reading!

Raehink: September Reading

Read an award winner--any award. We did this one before, but it's been quite a while. And I'm limiting it to just the past ten years. That should narrow things down a bit. So--an award-winning book written in the past decade. Return and report.

Happy reading!