Ready for Autumn Reading
That’s what I love about reading: one tiny thing will interest you in a book, and that tiny thing will lead you onto another book, and another bit there will lead you onto a third book. It’s geometrically progressive — all with no end in sight, and for no other reason than sheer enjoyment.
— Juliet Ashton in The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
#Sonderbooks25
As it happens, as part of #Sonderbooks25, I’m listening to The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and it’s proving every bit as delightful as I found it when I wrote the review in 2009.
This last month, I did finish rereading reviews and other posts from 2008 and wrote up those reflections. And I am very close to finishing 2009. I also reread (via audio) Enchantment, by Orson Scott Card, and with it, too, loved it every bit as much as when I made it a Stand-out after first reading it.
And so this project is making the list of books I want to reread much longer and unmanageable. I will probably mostly get around to the ones that our library has as eaudiobooks. If you see me walking around with a little smile on my face, it may have to do with immersing myself in a truly great book that is also an old friend.
And reading the old blog posts reminded me that 2009 was when I attended my first KidLitCon and participated in my first 48-Hour Book Challenge. And as I happen to be behind in my reading – I’m taking a day off to do another one next weekend!
Wild Goose Festival
But September was also the month I went to Wild Goose Festival! I got to talk about my book and met several progressive Christian authors whose books I love, and I wrote about it – and the storm that interrupted my session – on my Sonderjourneys blog.
Library Insider Info
I’m getting excited about the second-grade field trips. I’d heard about them last month, but was thinking more of what a lot of work library staff will have to do to make them a success. Now, having been to a virtual session with the planners, I’m impressed by how well they’ve planned it and the resources available to branch staff – a complete script for visits and planning checklists.
Here’s the background: The plan between our county schools and library is that every second grade class will attend a field trip to a public library. Each student will check out one book on their special-access library card.
I heard some numbers. There are over 11,000 second graders in this county, and 535 second grade classrooms. They are thinking they can make it happen with 304 field trips. (With more than one class coming at a time.) So it is an ambitious project!
I work at Technical Operations, on the back side of a regional library. We saw a school bus in the parking lot, so I chose that moment to walk to the branch and return a couple books. I saw one group of second graders in a meeting room listening to the Youth Services Manager (on his last day before retirement), and then in the library itself, a line of second graders were all holding a book each to check out.
What made my heart truly happy was seeing the chairs across from the circulation all filled with second graders happily reading. They didn’t pay any attention to me because they were all looking at their books.
Now, my professional worry is that some of the smaller branches will run out of the books that appeal to second graders. But I saw a list of books checked out on those special cards on the first day of field trips – and they cover a complete range: picture books, graphic novels, chapter books, beginning readers, and nonfiction. So because they have a wide range of interests, and we offer a wide range of materials, I think that even by the last field trip, they will be able to find books they are excited about. (And I will keep an eye on those lists as the year progresses.)
A report from one of the second grade teachers is that the kids couldn’t wait, and they were all reading in the bus on the way back to school!
Reviews to Check Out
I posted 19 reviews in September, and wrote 17 new reviews – so a little less backlog. 🙂 I currently have far too many interesting nonfiction I’m working on – so I’m reading a little bit at a time for a bunch of them, and it’s all taking longer.
But let me draw your attention to some especially good books I posted about last month:
In the order they were posted:
The Neverfear, by Katherine Rundell. This is the third book in the Impossible Creatures series, and I will go so far as to say I think it is the best fantasy series for kids I’ve read in a long time.
Translation State, by Ann Leckie. Another brilliant science fiction novel in a mind-bending world, this time a thriller as well.
Work in Progress: Confessions of a Busboy, Dishwasher, Caddy, Usher, Factory Worker, Bank Teller, Corporate Tool, and Priest, by James Martin, SJ. An entertaining memoir about the very wide variety of jobs he’s had in his life.
The Late Mrs. Willoughby, by Claudia Gray. I’m trying to catch up on this series, where the children of Jane Austen characters solve mysteries involving other Jane Austen characters. Super fun! [And check out my Austenalia page if you like Jane Austen knock-offs.]
Holloway, by Elana K. Arnold, features an autistic teen from 2021 time-traveling back to 1946 France and getting put in an asylum which is surprisingly an actual refuge.
Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation, by Kristin Kobes Du Mez. I heard this author speak at Wild Goose Festival, and I have already begun her new book, Live Laugh Love, about white Christian women. This earlier book is a history of white evangelical culture and how it got all tangled up with rugged masculinity and led to supporting Donald Trump and ideas like those in Project 2025.
There are plenty more reviews for all ages on Sonderbooks.com! And don’t forget you can subscribe to the blog to get daily, weekly, or monthly reviews. (This post is the monthly version.)
And I finished off September by attending Patapsco Literary Festival in Ellicott City, Maryland. I didn’t attend very many sessions, but unlike the National Book Festival, it was not crowded and it was lovely. I bought some books from the authors I heard, and plan to get there earlier next year.
How about you? Read anything good lately?
Thanks again, so much, for your support!
As always, Happy Reading!
Sondy