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This weekly reading list meme is hosted at Book Date. Join in to see what others are reading and maybe get some ideas of what to read next! Although the Book Date link-up happens weekly, I don't manage to post that often. I aim to post and link about once a month, although I sometimes link up my monthly summary as well.
I finished reading . . .
Next on the stack...
Ever Faithful by Karen Barnett - Park Ranger's daughter Elsie and Civilian Conservation Corps member Nate Weber meet in Yellowstone park during the 1930s. Nate faces the challenge of learning to read, and Elsie has to overcome her fears from a devastating fire years earlier - because it seems the fires at Yellowstone that season may have been deliberately set. (Read my full review HERE)
Summer of Dreams by Elizabeth Camden - West Point cadet Clyde Brixton develops a friendship with Evelyn White and her cousin Romulus, and his loyalty to them may wind up costing him his own graduation from the academy. (Read my full review HERE)
The Red Ribbon by Pepper Basham - Ava Burcham and Jeremiah Sutphin are in danger when they get a little too close to an Appalachian feud and illegal moonshine activities. (Read my full review HERE)
The Viscount and the Vicar's Daughter: A Victorian Romance by Mimi Matthews - Tristan Sinclair, Viscount St Ashton, has a well-earned reputation as a rake, but he finds himself unaccountably drawn to Valentine March and is determined to reform himself and protect her. (Read my full review HERE)
I'm currently reading . . .
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley - this classic Gothic novel is what we're currently studying in the Lit class I teach, so I'll be working on reading it throughout the month.
A Stroke of Malice by Anna Lee Huber - Kiera and Gage are attending a Twelfth Night house party when a body is discovered and of course they are asked to investigate.
Next on the stack...
The Last Book in the Universe by Rodman Philbrick
Silas Marner by George Eliot 
When Silence Sings by Sarah Loudin Thomas
A Pretty Deceit by Anna Lee Huber
What I'm Highlighting . . . My friends that read Just A Second are invited to join me at Homeschool Coffee Break for the Twenty-Six Lists link-up. It's every other week and the list prompts are for everyone, not just homeschoolers. This week's list will be The States and Provinces You've Visited.
On my blogs recently . . .
Besides the reviews, here on Just A Second you'll find:
Scripture and a Snapshot posts
Besides the reviews, here on Just A Second you'll find:
Scripture and a Snapshot posts
And on my homeschool blog, Homeschool Coffee Break:
What are you reading?
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by L.M. Montgomery - Anne of Green Gables is the story we first associate with Montgomery, but this one is absolutely delightful as well. This story opens on the day prior to Valancy Stirling's twenty-ninth birthday, and the opening paragraph says that if it hadn't rained that day her life would been entirely different. You see, Valancy has lived a monotonous, dreary life up until then. Always overshadowed by others and completely controlled by her overbearing extended family, who care nothing for her feelings or interests or dreams. Valancy has accepted that she will remain unloved and unmarried and that she'll have to live out the rest of her days the same way. But because of the rain, a family picnic is canceled, and Valancy decides to go secretly to consult a doctor about the chest pains she's been having. It is a delightful story, full of fascinating characters, humour, small town drama, and some interesting plot twists. It's easy to sympathize with the lonely and downtrodden Valancy, and feel indignant at the little injustices she's subjected to; and it's entertaining to see her thrive and develop as she follows her own course in life.
Beth Thatcher is about to leave her beautiful Toronto home to become a schoolteacher in the little mining town of Coal Valley, Alberta, following in the footsteps of her relative and namesake, Elizabeth. The conditions in Coal Valley shock her at first - there is no school building, and there are very few of the amenities she is accustomed to. The children have had very little education, and most of them lost their fathers in a recent mining accident. The widows have little and are largely at the mercy of the mining company, but have banded together to provide their children with an education. Beth comes to love the people and think of the town as her home. She also finds that her affections are somewhat torn between Edward, the young man who is a family friend and has come west as an RCMP officer, and Jack, the Mountie who often visits Coal Valley in the course of his duties. When her year contract is up, she will have to make some difficult decisions about whether she wants to return, and which man will win her heart.
by Robertson Davies - In the first sentence of this unusual book, the principle character and narrator is murdered. Connor Gilmartin has walked into his bedroom to find his wife and a colleague nicknamed the Sniffer together, and the Sniffer strikes Gil and kills him. What follows is partly farce and partly tragedy and Gil realizes that he is dead and wonders whether he is actually a ghost and what the afterlife will be like even as he is able to observe the actions of his wife and the Sniffer in the days that follow. Gil introduces these characters to the reader and tells a bit about his own background and the events that led up to his death. He and the Sniffer work for the newspaper, and it happens that the Sniffer is a film critic who must attend a film festival. Gil finds that he, as ghost or spirit, is attending the festival as well, but the films he sees are somehow meant only for him.
