2016 Alphabet Challenge discussion

I am reading To All the Boys I've Loved Before. I enjoyed her Burn for Burn series she wrote with Siobhan Vivian. I met both of them at my conference a couple of weeks ago. I am enjoying it. I was looking at Ten, but I am saving it for the clock challenge. Also looked at This Is Where It Ends, They All Fall Down, and Throne of Glass.

I am reading "Three Wishes" by Liane Moriarty!

I just finished They Always Lie, a crime drama. There was something about it that just didn't sit right, and I found it very hard to like the hero. I just couldn't figure out why. Then I remember an article I recently read about teaching kids not to use common words. This editor made an impassioned plea for teachers to take "said" off the list. When I realized that might be the problem. I picked a random page and wrote down every "said" for 10 pages: remarked, smiled, said, smiled, chuckled, said, chuckled, explained remarked, asked, commented, chuckled, shouted, insisted, smiled, joked, snapped, laughed, smirked, and said. These were policemen interviewing murder suspects! So, teachers (and I was guilty of this, too) sometimes "said" should just be said!

Just finished Thomas Jefferson and the Tripoli Pirates: The Forgotten War That Changed American History by Brian Kilmeade, Don Yaeger. Really interesting correlations between the past relations of the middle east and today.Even Jefferson realized peace through strength.

I already had my T book but wanted to share another I enjoyed. It is Torn Away by Jennifer Brown. It is set in Missouri and based off the Joplin tornado. I just really enjoyed it. In fact, it made me cry, and I don't cry in books often. I could probably count the times on one hand. I think other people in this area would enjoy it as well. It was especially interesting to read the author note at the end as she reflected on the tornado. She is also from Missouri. It is also on the Gateway list this year which is the Missouri teen book award list.