Even though much of what I tried to read this month was reading-for-fun, August always means that school is not too far away, and so there were several must-read-before-September-gets-here additions to this recent reading list. (Any teachers, middle schoolers, or parents of middle schoolers reading the list may particularly appreciate these titles and recognize them right away!)
I have to say, yet again, that I “got something” out of everything that I read. Maybe I really am a pushover for a couple hundred bound pages I’ve never read before, or I’m just an eternal optimist and a believer that there is always something to learn and something to be gained from any situation – including, and especially, reading a book.
As September begins and it is time for school again, my reading will now primarily consist of my students’ papers (which I honestly can’t wait to read!) and scholarly articles for my thesis. As much as I do not want to see the summer end, at least the leaves will be changing soon, there will be plenty of pumpkin pie and apple cider, the Rutgers football season will begin, and we can start wearing comfy sweaters again.
That all being said, I present to you my August reading list. Some of these were actually recommended to me, so thank you to Anne and Marie!
Please post a comment if you have read any of these titles, would like to read them, or have some other great titles of your own to share!
~Melissa 🙂
August 2008 Reading
The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold (Haunting at first, but by the end of the book you don’t want it to end.)
A Cup of Tea, Amy Ephron (Good period piece…great idea of what life was like in the early 1900s.)
Chasing Harry Winston, Lauren Weisberger (Hysterical! I hope there is a sequel and/or they make this a movie.)
Absolutely Normal Chaos, Sharon Creech (If you read Walk Two Moons, you should read this!)
Mini-Lessons for Literature Circles, Harvey Daniels and Nancy Steineke (So many great ideas!)
He’s Just Not That Into You, Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo (I can’t wait for the movie this fall.)
The Essential 55, Ron Clark (Great tips for new teachers or any teacher facing obstacles in the classroom.)
Stargirl, Jerry Spinelli (I love this book! – will have a separate review soon.)
Swallowing Stones, Joyce McDonald (Good, but it was very sad. The characters were well developed and very realistic.)
Still In Progress:
On Writing Well, William Zinsser
Category 7, Bill Evans with Marianna Jameson
Melissa Morris Inoa🌱 
I absolutely adore Sharon Creech. I usually lean more towards the fantastic but how can you not enjoy something so well written? You should definitely read Ruby Holler if you haven’t!!
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Oh man do I remember my first time (back in school), reading Of Mice and Men…the was the book started out was not how had expected it to end. It basically went from a happy, Tom-Sawyer type book to a sad one (definitely not saying that in a bad way). That reminds me, I REALLY disliked reading Flowers for Algernon then too. The Essential 55 movie was just as good as the book, Matthew Perry did an AWESOME job portraying Ron’s story.
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