It's Monday, What Are You Reading?

I'm trying to get back to joining #IMWAYR, where bloggers share the books they have been reading in the past week. If you follow these links,  Jen from Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee and Ricki from Unleashing Readers, you can find many great reads. 

It's been a busy week for me. I've finished three novels, and started 2 new ones. I've also been reading a few picture books to put together a collection of these for older readers. 

Links should take you to my reviews of the books, (If I have one.)

A picture book that jumped out at me is By the Side of the Road by Jules Feiffer. It's the story of a misbehaving boy whose father leaves him at the side of the road to teach him a lesson. The boy refuses to repent and ends up living in the field underground. While it has a happy ever after ending, it's still disturbing. 

I finished listening to Forest Born by Shannon Hale. Now I've got to go and find the first three in the Books of Bayern series.

I've been searching for a strong lesbian character in middle grade fiction and I think I found her in Staggerlee, the protagonist in The House You Pass on Your Way by Jacqueline Woodson. The more I read of Woodson's work, the more of a fan I become.

I read The Night Gardener by Jonathan Auxier in one day. It would have been one sitting but I was forced to carry on with the other details of living, like buying groceries. 

I've started reading Hostage Three by Nick Lake. Compared to my recent literary journeys, the reality of this one promises to take me on a dark and disturbing ride. I'm not sure I'm ready for it.

I've just started listening to Wildwood Imperium by Colin Meloy. I loved the first two in the series and hope this one lives up to it's predecessors.