Finished THE TEMPTATION

Enjoyed this very much.  I think this may be the last in The Secret Circle series and it did, indeed, resolve everything quite satisfactorily.  I'm a little sorry it is over.

I have now started The Modigliani Scandal by Ken Follett.  I have just barely started and can't tell much as yet...  First chapter is set in France and opens with a small flirtation between a young woman and a baker.

Finished A VIEW FROM A BROAD

Funny stories about Bette and her characters and costumes, giving only a small glimpse into what it takes to do a world tour and the things that can go right/ wrong.  She is very generous to her fans, though not so much to reporters.  Love the pictures and stories.  Very short read, coffee table book.

I have now started to read The Temptation (The Secret Circle #6) by L. J. Smith.  In an attempt to rid themselves of the witch hunters that have been plaguing them, all of the circle members but Cassie have been possessed by Cassie's own ancestors.  Now she must find a way to exorcize them and bring them back to her unharmed.

Finished TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH

The only other book by Elizabeth Lowell that I have read was given to me by friend Judith.  In it the heroine was an archeologist interested in a site on her family's land.  It also had a theme of stealing and exporting antiquities and was as much an action mystery adventure as a romance.  This book was pure romance and also pure formula.  However, it was well written, characters were well drawn, and it actually had me crying at the end.  And, I was really ready for a pure escape novel.  So, I greatly enjoyed it.

I am now reading A View From a Broad by Bette Midler, documenting memories from her first world tour.  Quick read, fun, coffee-table type book.

Finished preparing A WRINKLE IN TIME for teaching.

I think we will have fun reading this.  It will bend Gabriel's mind in some new ways, I suspect, but I don't think he will have any trouble finding the theme or understanding the family love that runs through the book.

I have now started To the Ends of the Earth, a traditional romance by Elizabeth Lowell.  A professional photographer meets a man who sails and designs sailboats.  It has started off formula enough--two people sworn off the opposite sex after being hurt have an instant attraction to each other.  But it will be fun to sink into a romance I get to just enjoy and not think about teaching.

Finished 100 more pages in ROUGHING IT by Mark Twain and Gabe, Skippy, and I finished WEST SIDE STORY

In this section of Roughing It, Twain tries mining and fails miserably--several times.  He's been silver mining and gold mining in both Nevada and California.  His stories are filled with humor and also pretty harrowing.  If you didn't know his history, you might think him about to die at any moment. His descriptions of fellow travelers are funny, caring, and under- or overstated depending on the character.

Skippy has been paying me with gift certificates to Barnes and Noble since I asked her not to pay me. Tutoring Gabe is fun for me.  Gabe learned earlier this summer that the person being tutored is called a tutee, so now he writes on the gift certificate "To Tutor from Tutee,"  Which is cute.  Today he writes "Tutees," to include his mom.  The kid is funny...

We finished West Side Story (the novelization) today.  It is pretty raw...the musical is fairly raw as well, but it is tempered by song and dance.  The book is just plain raw.  I will never take his teacher's recommendations for what to read again.  I think part of the problem is that it is next year's teachder making the recommendations, and she doesn't even know him yet.  I know him far better by now than she does and can make better decisions about what he needs.

We will start Hank the Cowdog tomorrow, but I think we will finish it by the end of the week.  So I was thinking we could add another book.  I thought it should probably be Science Fiction or Fantasy since we haven't touched that genre this summer.  I wanted to read the first Harry Potter book with him, but he was adamant that he had seen all the movies and had the game and therefore knows everything there is to know about the Harry Potter world.  I let him have that (though I disagree) and selected A Wrinkle in Time.  He knows nothing about that, so he didn't object.



So, I am now re-reading A Wrinkle in Time to prepare it for reading with Gabe.  It's kind of fun and a little mind-bending.  I think Gabe will enjoy it.

Got HANK THE COWDOG ready to teach

As I said last time, this is good for me to teach Gabriel.  It will give him more practice with drawing conclusions and "reading between the lines" with material that is fairly easy to read.

I am beginning to wonder if I haven't underestimated the number of books we can read this summer.  I need to put my head together with Skippy and re-examine our calendar.  If we can fit in another book, I think maybe not another dog book--maybe sci-fi or fantasy.  Maybe Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, or A Wrinkle in Time, or Golden Girl.  We will see how it works out.



I am now heading back to read another hundred pages in Roughing It.  Twain is in Nevada and he and a buddy have decided to establish a ranch on the shore of Lake Tahoe.  They are having a wonderful time, pretty much doing as little as possible and loafing, but hints have been given that this will not last long.

Finished THE DEVIL IN THE WHITE CITY

Loved this book.  What makes it so fascinating starts with exhaustive research followed by inspired organization of facts.  Thus it achieves a look at the beauty and creativity humanity is capable of juxtaposed with the worst evil our race can sink to.  Both inspiring and shocking.

I have now started preparing Hank the Cowdog (The Original Adventures of Hank the Cowdog) by John R. Erickson for reading with Gabe.  I selected this just to have something fun and silly to end our summer of tutoring with, but have figured out as I start reading that it is perfect to teach "reading between the lines" and finding unintended conclusions from a narrative ostensively in a certain point of view.  I dare not say more because Gabe reads this blog.  I do hope he finds this book as funny and fun as I always have.



Fun story about Gabe:  The first year I worked with him, Gabe was very much fascinated with sprinklers (yep, lawn sprinklers), last year he added fountains to his interests, and this year (as he goes into 8th grade) he has added car washes, though he has not allowed the other two interests to subside.  The he told me his favorite computer game is Grand Theft: Auto, but he calls it "Petty Theft: Sprinkler."