Weekly book shelf, 5/14

We are on vacation this week, soaking up sun and surprising warmth that we didn't even have to leave Michigan to find. For years I have packed for vacations with the idea that, being a vacation, I'd have lots of extra reading time, but have yet to see those plans fulfilled. I have been known to stow extra books away in odd parts of my luggage only to unpack them, untouched and almost forgotten, upon our return home. The same was not quite true for Calvin—he seemed to squeeze in plenty of reading time, even though he spent all of his beach time flirting with the incredibly frigid water—but he mostly re-read favorites, like Nate the Great and some of the Magic Tree House.

 Here's some of what Calvin was reading this week:.

Berkeley Breathed is the Bloom County cartoonist and we enjoy both his art and his story telling in Pete & Pickles. The book is a little dark—there's references made to death and loss (Pete's wife has died in the past), to depression (Pete, again), and to mistreatment of animals (Pickles in the circus). There is also allusion to modern art and geographic locations, and the tale of friendship and its happy ending is very uplifting. The illustrations in the book actually start out dark and gloomy, then end full of color and life, mirroring the movement of the story itself. We got this book for Calvin two years ago for Christmas and it has been a favorite ever since.

We still have exactly two chapters left in Glinda of Oz, at this point, but are really making headway with the Aeneid, and now he's asking to read the Iliad and the Odyssey. I was thinking I'd track down copies of the "For Boys and Girls" versions of these, also by Church.

And on my bookshelf this week... in fiction I finished Delta of Venus, by Anaïs Nin. In non-fiction I finished with The Monk in the Garden, by Robin Marantz Henig, and am waiting for my copy of Beasts in the Garden, the brand new Erik Larson, to arrive on Tuesday before I get started on a new one.