Pleasure+Reading

L iteracy N etwork **
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This page includes recommendations from our group. The books on this page are all books for pleasure reading.

Please follow this format when adding your book(s): Date: 9/30/08 Title of Book: A Night in Rondanthe Author: Nicholas Sparks Genre: Realistic Fiction Comments: This was a great summer read! It was a very romantic, heartwarming story about a mother who shares a secret from her past with her daughter who is having trouble moving on with her life after her husband has died. I cried at parts! It is now in theatres so read it before you see it. If you like Nicholas Sparks you will love it! ~Desiree' Caldwell

Date 9/25/08

Genre: Realistic Fiction
==== Comments: This book is good for middle or high school students. A high school student's homeroom teacher, who has been teaching for many years, sends him to the disciplinary vice principal three times for humming the Star Spangled Banner when the instructions are to stand at silent attention. Three strikes and you get suspended. The boy's father gets furious, notifies the press, and the issue becomes a national scandal. This book leaves room for tons of discussion. There is no narrative, only memos, diary entries, conversations, etc. I want to make it into a movie!! ====

August 20, 2008
==== I recommend reading __A Thousand Splendid Suns__ by Khaled Hosseini. The genre is realistic/ historical fiction. This is a beautifully written story of the struggles of two generations of characters brought together by events in Afghanistan during the last thirty years. It is both heartwrenching and heartwarming. Marsha Goldstein ====

Title of Book: __Water for Elephants__ Author: Sara Gruen
Genre:Realistic Fiction/Memoir I call this both genres because the main character is narrating the story and switching back and forth between his life as it is now and how it was when he was a young man. It's thought provoking both ways. Currently he is in a senior citizen home, he is not in any way abused, but you feel his frustration with some aspects of the system. In his youth, he was a member of a circus during the depression. Although sometime humerous, it is a frightning story of the time.

I listened to this story - I went to the library, borrowed the CD's and downloaded them to my iPod. Yes, you can do it! I highly recommed it! Imagine, hearing a story while you walk the dog or iron your clothes! Some voices are better suited to the stories than others - and this one was fabulous! I should say two, because it went back and forth between the narration. One old gentleman who had this terrific crochety voice and one young slightly confused, often amazed voice. My friend read this novel and said she loved the story, but changing the time periods in mid stride was confusing. Listening solved this!