David Copperfield

I like Charles Dickens. However, I can now qualify that statement: I enjoy short Charles Dickens. David Copperfield is LONG. As much as I enjoyed the book, I quit halfway through. I just didn't have to stamina to continue reading. And these days, I don't have the time to read such a long book (like over 900 pages) since I read for only about 15 minutes before bed.

Hopefully, one day I will have the energy and stamina to stay on one book for that long. But, with 4 young kids (one of which I read her YA books beforehand) David Copperfield will have to wait. Ahhhh..the irony. Poor David Copperfield yet again is at the mercy of some other adult who doesn't have his best interest in mind!

A Farewell to Arms

Oh, how I wanted to like this book. I have in general, loved this last five months of reading classics. This was the first Hemingway I've read and I will also say it's my last.

Sometimes it's poetic when authors don't follow the rules of grammar. But not so with Hemingway. I found it very distracting. If it were a compelling story, perhaps I could look past the obnoxiousness. However, I didn't even like the story line. I couldn't even make it to my 50 page minimum; I stopped at 37. But glad I tried him and now can talk about why I don't like him.

I Am Malala

I read the Young Reader Edition, so I'm not sure how the adult version compares. But, I thought it was a good book. Not excellent, but good. I've let my both my 6th and 4th grader read it. It's a surface look into the Taliban coming into Pakistan from Malala's perspective.

Some of the Parts

This book is a YA novel about a girl who's brother dies in a car accident and about how the family deals with the aftermath. I thought it was just okay as a novel. Forgettable and not a great plot. But, I did let my 6th grader read it. There are some heavy topics since the girl was the one driving the car that killed her brother. She ends up thinking about suicide and of course, the minor language. But, there are positives such as a friendship with a boy who really cares about her and you only see them starting to date at the end of the book once she is in a healthier spot in her life. Great things about family relations and how different people deal with the loss of a loved one.
Some minor langauge inckudes: BS, Bitch, dammit, shit.

Faking Normal

Once again, I read this for my daughter, but I actually ended up loving it myself. It's well written, endearing characters, and a great plot. It deals with real high school issues of sex, drinking, peer relationship, dating. Also harder stuff like rape and how not telling can ruin you. And about what true friendship and real love looks like. There is some language, but once a kid can handle the heavy topics, the language doesn't matter. There are heavy topics, there is sex. But there is love and what real forgiveness looks like. There is redemption from the hard. There is truth that dealing with the hard is messy. There are beautiful words. I'd recommend for older teens and also for adults who enjoy YA.

The Body in the Woods

I read this for my 6th grader, as it's a YA and she can't read just any book in that genre. This book is definitely not something I want her to read. Think law and order, but also from the viewpoint of a serial killer, which just gives too much emotional pull for a pre-teen to read. Too mature material for middle school. Includes serial killer, drug addiction and homelessness, suicidal thoughts, and mental illness. All things I want my daughters to know about, but not 6th grade. But no language or sex.