Reading Roundup - Week Nine

Wow, what a busy reading week for me.
It started off by SN2 asking for some help on Monday with a paper he was writing for school.
When is it due? I asked
Tomorrow.
When did you find out?
Three months ago.
Okay, well let's get to the library.
So we spent 3 hours in the library finding references for his paper.
He got it done, but DN2 was jealous that she couldn't come with us, so I promised her I would take her to the library on Tuesday night.
Fortunately I like hanging out in the library, and that night it was especially helpful because we were there for 2 1/2 hours.
That's 5 1/2 hours in 2 nights -- more time than I ever clocked while I was taking classes!
DN2 likes to hang out in the Juvenile section down on the ground floor, and that's where we spent our time.
While she did homework, I did some reading of my own and checked out a load of books.
Because they're YA books they're easy to get through, and yesterday we headed back so I could check out some more.
I love owning books, but I also love discovering new books at libraries.
And apparently so do plenty of other people during this recession.
Subsequently, I've read quite a few books this week, while I still have a bunch more in the state of being read.
For this week I have all YA literature, and some of the authors I'm choosing has come about because I'm savoring slowly The Wand in the Word, and enjoying every bit of it. Wonderful interviews with YA fantasy writers.
I started with Meet the Austins by Madeleine L'Engle (17). I can't believe it took me this long to discover her. This book was about a family in the early 60s, and it perpetuates the notion that we have (well, I have) about families being Donna Reed/Father Knows Best units. But I love this kind of stuff, makes me feel nostalgic for a past that never really was.
I finished a slim novella called Very Far Away from Anywhere Else by Ursula LeGuin (18). It was alright, and maybe if I were 13 again I might enjoy it, because it is truly about teenage angst, but it is not really what I am looking for at this stage in my life. I think the only thing I would like about being a teenager again is having the ability to fit into my Calvin Klein jeans (which I still have).
I also found another short read by one of my favorite authors, Dawn of Fear by Susan Cooper (19). This story came directly from Cooper's past, because she grew up in Buckinghamshire, right outside of London, and suffered through air raid drills and bombings during WWII. This is a very lovely, poignant story about three young boys during this time.
It should be a movie.
Maybe it is, who knows.
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle (20) has always been one of DN1s favorite books, but I never took the time to read it. Shame on me. Now I can't get enough! I'm engrossed in another MLE book as we speak.
Finally, I found this book yesterday and started reading it while waiting for DN2 to do her thing in the library. It is The Silver Cup by Constance Leeds (21) and it is set during Medieval Germany, and it focuses on a Catholic girl who is witness to the slaughter of Jews in Worms. She overcomes religious persecution and finds out truths about herself and others. It was a very nice book, well written with good research.