some more travel reads

Currently re-reading The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by my beloved C.S. Lewis. I have recently realized that I read The Chronicles of Narnia the way that you eat potato chips while watching TV. You don't even know that you keep putting them in your mouth. Your hand just keeps reaching for them.

That is not to say that I don't appreciate them. Not at all. I'm trying to say that they are such good old friends that I turn to them without much thought.





Also currently reading The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. I like it so far! It's about a boy named Nobody (nicknamed Bod) who lives in a graveyard. Okay, that's not a lot of detail, I know ... but I'll tell you more about it when I've finished!









I recently swept through The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster for the very first time. It was wild and wonderful, like a trip through the senses. It was a clever and tongue-in-cheek children's story, but one that I think is probably going to be appreciated moreso by adults, who will catch more of the humor.

It reminded me of a funny version of The Natural History of the Senses by Diane Ackerman. Both books wake you up to words, sounds, smells. Go read this one right away!





Also currently re-reading Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis, the first book in his space trilogy. Dr. Ransom is abducted and taken aboard a spacecraft to the planet Malacandra. I read this book and can't quit thinking of how brilliant Jack Lewis is. I know I say that all the time, but ...









Re-read The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis, the first book in the Narnia series (chronologically, that is!) about the creation of Narnia. One of my favorite books in my favorite series.











To satisfy the 15-year-old girl in me, I read The Boyfriend List by E. Lockhart. The main character Ruby makes even boy-crazy me look tame! The book details Ruby's conversations with her "shrink" as they move systematically through a list of Ruby's boyfriends. Believe it or not, it was actually pretty good! Probably too many boys involved (is that really me talking???), but a fun read. I think I'll read the other books in the series.







Couldn't help myself ... re-read Deathly Hallows one more time. That makes it 2.5 times through this book in the last short while. I'm out of control. I can't wait for the HP7 movie to come out later this month, and my co-worker Josh is STILL getting through this book (nearing the end finally!), and I actually kind of want to read it again, at least the battle of Hogwarts stuff. Something is wrong with me.








Also read Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko, which was a fun YA lit read set back in the time when Alcatraz still had prisoners. The main character Moose's family lives on the island, and the story deals with his transition to living there and his family's experience with his sister Natalie, an autistic young lady in a time before autism was discovered. Good read!