Books for Breakfast

I think I rather prefer recapping my thoughts on multiple books instead of doing individual reviews. I tend to review books in a unique way: instead of summarizing the book, I get right down to the nitty-gritty. Truth be told, I've never been confident in summarizing the books I read. I either tend to give away the whole plot or end up with a really vague paraphrase that doesn't do it justice. I'll leave it to the people who write the blurbs that go on the dust jackets :)  The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim was introduced to me by my reading-buddy friend. We discussed this one after I finished it and agreed that this title was one we would not have appreciated as younger readers. I think if I had read this even a year ago I would either have abandoned it after the first chapter or trudged my way through it, bored the whole time. Arnim is one of those authors that writes the scenery in such a way you feel you are literally standing there as one of the characters. Ita...

So... I've been slacking on my blog posts. May was a bummer month for me in terms of reading and so I chose to not do a wrap-up. As always, I keep a running list of what I read so if you are curious as to what titles I completed during May, feel free to check out the page at the top of my blog.  Instead of doing individual reviews for the books I've read since I last blogged, I thought I would do a kind of conglomerate post summing them up and any thoughts I had.  Matilda by Roald Dahl was my last read in May. This was a re-read for me; Goodreads says I've read it twice, but I know I read it over and over again as a child. Dahl is one of my favorite children's authors; the way he incorporates measures of fantasy and whimsy into his stories is uncanny. He has such a special place in my heart that I wrote a lesson plan around his novel, The BFG , for my summer course.  Passion and Purity by Elisabeth Elliot was my first read of June. I purchased this book for myself nearl...