I’ve decided to do a new type of post called What I’ve Been Reading, since reading and writing go hand-in-hand. Book Reviews can be a lot of fun, and give insights into people. Not to mention some ideas for things to read, in case you have already read The Mark of the Artist!

I just did a count and we have five bookshelves in the common rooms of our house, one in each of our kiddos’ rooms, and the random piles of books stacked in places. Each of us has a library card, and looks like we have about six books checked out right now. 📚

So, what is this Author reading? I’m currently in the middle of three books. One for each of my kiddos, and one for myself. Let’s go!

Kiddo book 1: Treasure Island

Arrrgh, Matey! Shiver me timbers, pieces of eight, and you can lay to that. 🏴‍☠️ Confused? Yep! Loving it anyways? Yes! I’ve been reading the classic novel Treasure Island by Robert Lewis Stevenson to my 6-year-old son. He loved pirates as a little guy and now that he’s a bit older I figured why not? I remember reading this one in the 6^th grade. The adventure and sailing and good ol (or bad?) Long John Silver swept up my imagination. And then there’s the change in point-of-view part way through the book. I can remember the diagram my teacher drew on the whiteboard to explain how the plot went when the narrator changed (thank you Mr. McClurg!).  

As we read it, there were many times when I had to stop and explain exactly what was happening to my son, he is 6 after all. And there were plenty of times when even I wasn’t quite sure, especially with all the ship vernacular. But when it was done, both my kiddo and I got one heck of a pirate adventure. 🦜🏴‍☠️

Side note: I’ve read several classics to my kids including Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, and The Secret Garden. We’ve read some poetry too. And though the themes could seem too advanced or harsh (hello, pirates murdering each other!) for little guys, I figure as long as I explain things or that “times have changed since then” the kids roll with it. Take that as you may. 👩‍👧‍👦

Kiddo book 2: The Land of Stories series

In another room, I’ve been reading a kid’s series to my 8-year-old daughter: The Land of Stories by Chris Colfer. 🧚‍♀️We’re almost done with the fourth book, Beyond the Kingdoms. My girl Loves these books. Full of fairy tales, fun and silly characters, humor, mystery, and good vs. evil. She can keep the storylines straight when even I’m like, wait who is that guy again?

My take is that as long as she likes them then it’s great. I especially like the characters of Red and Mother Goose. But, when we started the series with the Wishing Spell, I felt like I was reading a fan-fiction story of a certain fairytale-characters-in-real-life TV series that I loved and have watched several times (“I will find you. I will always find you!” “Magic always comes with a price.”).🤔

Nevertheless, we have the next two books ready to go—though I’m going to suggest she take a break for some Pirate fun!

What I’m reading for Me: Fool Series

Now to the good stuff!

First things first: I love me some Shakespeare! 💀 I was in “The Taming of the Shrew” in Jr. High. Two summers in college I signed up for a Shakespeare course with friends at the end of which we went to a Shakespeare festival in Tahoe (thank you Dr. Jones!). Also went on my own to the Ashland Shakespeare Festival while in college. My favorite play is “Much Ado About Nothing,” including the Kenneth Branagh movie version. I’ll spare you the list of my other favorites. Because we’d be here all day. I’ve read pieces of The Bard’s plays to my kids, and they looked at me like I was nuts, but humored me.

So, needless to say, when I spotted Shakespeare for Squirrels by Christopher Moore at the local indie bookshop I had to pick it up.

*Ahem* This book is not for children. And I loved it! A bizarre retelling of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” (another of my favorites) from the point of view of a Fool set adrift on the sea who lands in the “Athens” of the play. It is bawdy, hysterical, and at times just plain wrong, but I was rolling reading it! There are asides to the readers, running gags, and NSFW sections that I’m thinking if Old Billy is rolling in his grave it’s because he’s cracking up. 🤣

I went on to read the other two books in the series because I had no idea it was book three. Oh well, didn’t really matter. The first is Fool, which is based on “King Lear” and “Macbeth” (knock on wood!! Sorry, old theatre habit). I wasn’t as familiar with “Lear” but have read the Scottish Play before. I particularly liked the footnotes explaining the “meaning” of words—the nerdy English major me was giggling. 😆 The second book in the series is The Serpent of Venice based upon, you guessed it, “The Merchant of Venice,” and also “Othello.” Bawdy mixed with serious, I loved the way Moore worked the two stories (and a little Edgar Allen Poe 🐦‍⬛) together. And oh man if you hated Iago before you’ll hate him even more now.

Ok, ok, I’ll stop before I go all essay-writing on you.

To Be Read List

What’s next on the old TBR list? On my Goodreads list, next up for me is The Albion Initiative by George Mann. The last in his Steampunk series Newbury and Hobbes (dang it!). I may wait until after the holidays to dive in and instead read some magazines. When life’s going in 17 million directions at once (#work #momlife #holidayseason) picking up something like Nat Geo History, or Real Simple is, well, simple! And I just saw that an old favorite of mine is back in the States: Flow Magazine!

For my son, I think he wants to read the BFG again, or maybe Matilda. Or I may stop by the classics table at Barnes & Noble and see what they’ve got!

Happy Reading! 📖