46-51: Fall Reads

I have met my goal to read 50 books this year!  Yay!

For the R.I.P. Challenge:  4 novels

1. The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen: So good! I enjoyed this one as much as I enjoyed Allen’s Garden Spells. Just a touch of fairy tale and magic.  I loved main character Josey, who seems so human because she is not perfect.  The main imperfection at the moment is Della Lee who has taken up residence in Josey's closet and is now privy to Josey's secret:  she loves sweets (me, too). Want to Read by This Author:  The Peach Keeper and Shoot the Moon.
2. Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris: Need to read more in this series! I have several more of Sookie Stackhouse's adventures awaiting on me.  Remember, Sookie is not a vampire herself. She just dates a vampire.  Her "gift" is that she can read minds of everyone except her vampire.  While I do enjoy this series, I must recommend Harris’ Lily Bard series…must be the English teacher in me and that I live in Arkansas!
3. Cross Fire by James Patterson: I so enjoy reading James Patterson. This one I purchased before my daughter’s surgery and read following our move out of ICU…a nice escape from reality! This novel continues the adventures of Alex Cross, who once again must protect those he loves the most as their lives are endangered by the return of Kyle Craig, who has escape prison and has adopted the persona and face (via reconstructed surgery) so that he might more invade the live of Alex Cross.
4. The House at Riverton by Kate Morton: This one which I just finished this morning, took me a while to read; even read a couple in between. BUT it was good, just not as good as my previous Morton read The Forbidden Garden. This novel relates the story of this house through the memories of Grace as she records them for her grandson.  This novel reminded me somewhat of The Great Gatsby, as it was set in the 1920's and 1930's.  To read by this author:  The Distant Hours.
5. The Host by Stephanie Meyer...I completed this one after the R.I.P. Challenge.  It was on my original list to read.  So good!  Why did I wait so long to read this one?  Loved it!  Much more so than her Twilight series.  Seriously!

For My English 11 Class:

The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane is one of those classics that I should have read somewhere along the way but did not.  This is the first of four novels that I purchased, thanks to a grant I received, for all of my students.  I enjoyed it.  No, it is not a chick flick, but the novel relates an interesting perspective of war. 

My favorite lesson that I taught using this novel also involved a movie clip from Forestt Gump.  At one point main character Henry Fleming runs because he is scared.  We compared this scene to the one of Forestt when he was in the Vietnam War and he was instructed to run.  Interesting comparison.

Fifty-one books...and more to read!