October 2016 Wrap Up

My month of reading banned books is over now, and boy was it a good month of reading! I was able to power through 10 books, and several of them were five-star reads. I guess the key to finding new favorites is to court controversy.

One thread that ran through all of my reads this month was that of truth. These books all discuss topics that aren't very nice. They take a peek at the uglier side of life. They shine a light on things we don't necessarily want to think about. This can make some of these books tough to read, but this is also what makes these books important. We must have literature like this to open our minds and loosen our tongues. Censorship, especially when targeted at children, is a travesty.

Books Read
The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
An Abundance of Katherines by John Green
The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
Orbiting Jupiter by Gary D. Schmidt
House Arrest by K.A. Holt
Nine, Ten: A September 11 Story by Nora Raleigh Baskin
All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely
...plus one more, once I finish it!

Best of the Month: The Chocolate War, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, All-American Boys

Worst of the Month: Orbiting Jupiter, An Abundance of Katherines

I can't believe we are almost at the end of the year already. Time is just slipping away. I'm already starting to think of a reading plan for next year and plan out my next set of New Year's Resolutions.  There's something very satisfying about sticking with this blog for almost an entire year. In two more months, I can call this reading experiment a complete success.