september: reading in boston

It’s been a literary month around here. Lots of reading – old favorites and new stories. So this is a long post, but here’s my monthly dose of bookish delight for you:

The Last Olympian (Percy Jackson #5), Rick Riordan
I loved this fast-paced, breathless, battle-filled conclusion to the Percy Jackson series. I could hardly turn the pages fast enough, wondering what was going to happen. Sad moments as some characters are killed in battle; I suppose it’s like this with any epic series (echoes of Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter, again). But (sorry if this shocks you) good does triumph over evil and Percy and his friends save the day. I won’t tell you how, though. The journey is pure pleasure.

Daddy-Long-Legs, Jean Webster
I found my copy of this sweet story at Brattle Book Shop, in the outdoor stalls, and read it in just a couple of days. The narrator, Jerusha (who wisely nicknames herself Judy), is sweet and funny and observant, if a little naive. It’s such a fun portrait of a girl’s college life around the turn of the last century, and though I already knew about the sweet surprise at the end (from having read Dear Pen Pal), it was still worth reading.

Meet the Austins, Madeleine L’Engle
I bought this one at the charming Children’s Book Shop in Brookline, caught without something to read on the train home. I quite enjoyed it – I knew about the Austin series from reading Madeleine’s memoirs, but hadn’t read them before. I like Vicky and her quirky family, though I think I like the Wrinkle in Time series better.

Romancing Miss Bronte, Juliet Gael
This title and cover captivated me – I found it at the library and it just looked so romantic. And it was – though not in the way I quite expected. I didn’t know much about the Bronte sisters’ lives, other than their quiet seclusion in Yorkshire with a blind father and a delinquent brother. Gael brings the sisters and their struggles to life deftly, and I learned a lot about their lives I didn’t know before. (This is fiction, but even the servants’ names are historically accurate.)

The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins
I know I’m late to the party – the literary world has been abuzz lately over Mockingjay, the third in this trilogy. But I just hadn’t got round to The Hunger Games, and now that I have, I can only say: Wow. It’s like Shannon Hale’s tales of bravery and 1984 and a Roman gladiator fight all in one. Katniss is a little dense when it comes to boys, but she’s brave and strong and clever, and compassionate – which both saves her and endangers her in the end.

The Goose Girl, Shannon Hale
I’m needing a little extra bravery these days as I learn to navigate a new city, send out job application after job application, and work to make friends. I love the tale of Anidori Kiladra Talianna-Isilee, who must hide her identity as a goose girl before she can claim her rightful place as queen. The language is rich and the characters are real, and it all feels true and solid, and it makes me feel brave.

Enna Burning, Shannon Hale
I love this sequel to The Goose Girl as much as the original. Enna has a great but dangerous gift – and I love walking with her as she learns to control it. The characters really start to come into their own in this book, and there’s a lot here about love and bravery and battle. Excellent.

River Secrets, Shannon Hale
Razo is one of my favorite Shannon Hale characters, even more so because he doesn’t know the scope of his own gifts. The world of Bayern expands southward, and Hale draws us, along with her characters, into a new realm where lots of the rules are different. It’s a compelling, entertaining, powerful story.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, J.K. Rowling
I don’t know what I can say about this series that hasn’t already been said. It’s heartbreaking, powerful, challenging, compelling, enchanting – and funny. Every time I read it I catch more of Rowling’s jokes, more of her cleverness, more complex layers of plot and character. I always have to go back after finishing the seventh book and read the last 200 pages (at least) again. The last few books, when people really start dying, make me cry, and all of them make me laugh, and warm my heart, and make me stay up way too late reading.

The Bread of Angels, Stephanie Saldana
This is a moving account of one woman’s journey out of faith and back again – but it’s more than that. It chronicles her year living in the Christian quarter of Damascus, her complicated relationship with her family, her longing to find her calling in life, and her falling in love with a monk. Stunning prose – though I admit I got bogged down at her spiritual low point – but such hope and grace and beauty later on.

Pies & Prejudice, Heather Vogel Frederick
I love young-adult and middle-grade fiction, even more so if it relates to books. So this fourth installment of The Mother-Daughter Book Club series, where the girls read Pride and Prejudice, charmed me. The girls are growing up – they’re starting high school – and it’s fun to watch them mature, navigate the world of boys, read Jane Austen for the first time, and visit England together.

Traveling with Pomegranates: A Mother-Daughter Story, Sue Monk Kidd and Ann Kidd Taylor
I’d heard this was wise, beautiful and compelling – and it was all three and more. The intertwined journeys of mother and daughter, both dealing with their identities as women and writers, resonated deeply with me. (I also learned a lot of the backstory behind The Secret Life of Bees.) I love travel writing that’s also spiritual and literary – this is perfect.

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