the problem with overly optimistic people like me is that...we are overly optimistic.
this was my reading list on October 20, 2008, on the cusp of a languorous semestral break (or so my insane mind envisioned).
now, it's november 10, 2008, the first day of the second semester and i managed to read only one of the five. i am about 50 pages shy of ending another but i have not had the chance to even just hold the book for two days now because i have been pre-occupied with preparing my three syllabi.
the one i did manage to finish is the one second from the top, Igraine the Brave by Cornelia Funke. I read it because we have her other, more popular, book at home, Inkheart. Igraine the Brave is the most juvenile book in the bunch. yes i know, the reading list is made up entirely of juvenile books, but this one is so juvenile, i feel such a delinquent reading it.
how juvenile? it's my daughter jana's first attempt at reading novels. jana's seven. i read my first novel at grade four, at around 10. (johanna sypri's heidi). but i am not out celebrating yet. note that i said "attempt". jana has stalled at chapter eight. she reads with the aid of a cardboard -- used as bookmarker and as guide to keep her eyes on the line she is currently reading.
credit for nudging jana into reading the book goes to rashdi, the true owners of the books up top and a surprisingly patient mentor. he defined terms for her and helped her understand concepts. the book is, after all, a magical story set in medieval europe.
the one i should be finishing soon is yet another harry potter clone. i don't know where my sister got this advanced copy of the tapesty: the second seige. the first page says that it is not meant to be sold, that it was meant to be an advanced copy for, i don't know, critiques? proofreaders? it's paperbound with a glossy cover. however, there are no illustrations in the inside pages yet, just blank pages that says "ArtTK". some parts of the book are exciting and interesting. some parts are incredulous.
rashdi finished all five in almost as many days. he recommends peter and the starcatchers which he says explains how the creatures in the peter pan story got to be in neverland (michael jackson invited them?), is non-committal about bridge to terebithia, and disparages endymion spring for being so boring. and because -- don't say i didn't warn you -- i am optimistic i have made for myself another reading list. but this time, it's shorter: two gossip girl books.
because the fantasy books above were not escapist enough.
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