This week, as I was adding some books to Goodreads (follow me here if you’re interested!), I realized that I had forgotten to update this year’s reading goal for the past couple months! I was thankful that I had the record on here of past midweek mix-up posts—that made remembering what I’ve been reading much easier. So besides the fact that I enjoy putting these posts together, I was thankful I had taken the time to keep a record of what I’ve been reading!
Reading this week:
The Destiny of One, by Sarah Holman
Progress: Finished
I finished this book Saturday. What an adventure! I’m thrilled to know I have the second book in the series, too, but I’m slightly hesitant to start it because I don’t want to get to the end and not have the third book ready to start! I found the first half of this book pretty slow going, but after the 60% mark things really picked up and I finished the whole thing one afternoon. This book isn’t quite as good as some of Sarah Holman’s later books—but considering it was her debut, I can understand. Overall, I really enjoyed the story, and plan on writing a review of it for the website.
>> My review of The Sound of Diamonds is up! You can read it on my personal blog here.
A Different Kind of Courage, by Sarah Holman
Progress: 16%
Looks like I’m on a streak right now reading Sarah’s books! A Different Kind of Courage is about the revolutionary war, and I’ve found this book to be very interesting. I really like how dedicated Sarah is to keeping the historical facts accurate, and the different characters—both fictional and those who actually lived at that time—are well developed. I’m looking forward to finding out what side William ends up on—and what happens to Matthew, his black free man who wants everyone to believe he can’t hear or talk!
New books on the website:
Thanks to Mom’s fast reading and reviewing, this is the tenth week straight that we’ve posted at least five new reviews a week! We now have well over 100 books up, and this week’s job for me is to work on uploading all the most recent reviews.
Ten Boys Who Made History by Irene Howat
Stories are told from the lives of 10 boys who became great men of God, showing how God worked in their lives.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer by Janet & Geoff Benge — Fascinating family read-aloud!
As a Christian theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer was faced with a dilemma: Was it right to kill Hitler to save the lives of millions of other people?
Gladys Aylward: No Mountain Too High by Myrna Grant
Gladys Aylward, an English maid, bought a ticket and went to China to teach people about Jesus.
The Silver Branch by Rosemary Sutcliff — Great introduction to British history!
Justin, a surgeon in the Roman Army, and his kinsman Flavius, a centurion, become involved in the resistance effort when a usurper takes command of Roman Britain.
The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner — Fun read-aloud for the young children!
Four children whose parents have died are trying to hide from a grandfather they think dislikes them, and make a home in an abandoned boxcar in the woods.
Want to see other recent reviews? Discover more great reads here!
Helpful blog posts this week:
- 5 Fun Writing Exercises for Teens to Spark Creativity and Develop Writing Voice (Almost an Author) — Great ideas. And as to her last point on daydreaming during math class, I’ve found doing math especially helpful in coming up with story ideas—I’ve had several while struggling to complete a lesson!
- How to Typeset a Novel in Microsoft Word (Go Teen Writers) — Incredibly detailed, almost exhaustive, list of things to do when typesetting a novel. Greatly helpful, though. I’ll be using this next time I’m formatting a novel!
- How Outlining Can Bring Out Voice (Jane Friedman) — Great tips here. This makes outlining seem a little bit more doable.
Resource of the week:
Printable productivity tools at DavidSeah.com
David Seah’s Productivity Tools (screenshot)
David Seah has a lot of different productivity tools here—task management, goal tracking, a NaNoWriMo tracking calendar (used this the second year I did NaNo, and loved it! it was my lifesaver!), and much more.
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