Happy August everyone! Did you know today, in 338 BC, a Macedonian army let by Philip II defeated the combined forces of Athens and Thebes in the Battle of Chaeronea, securing Macedonian hegemony in Greece and Aegean? And that it’s Pope Cyril VI of Alexandria’s 112th birthday (if he were still alive)? I bet many of you didn’t. Anywaaayy….

Ready for this week’s STS? Stacking the Shelves in a book meme hosted by Tynga’s Reviews. It’s all about sharing the books you’ve read/gotten this week, virtual or physical. Since my last Stacking the Shelves waaaasss… a month ago, I’m going to talk a bit about the books I’ve read since then. (Oh, and the books I talk about aren’t in the order I read them. I don’t remember when I read them, I just know it was sometime this past month. Which would be July. For those of you who didn’t know.) And then I’ll share the books I got at the library yesterday.

Cinders and Sapphires, by Leila Rasheed, was pretty darn good. I wrote a review for it in a notebook, since I was grounded from the computer, so as soon as I type it up you’ll be getting the full report. I really liked it, and sped through it in a day and a half. I borrowed it from the library, and its sequel is currently on hold, so I can’t wait to be reading the next one!

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. In my last STS, I told you all I’d be reading this with my sister as a required reading for school. It was… different reading the book since I’ve heard so much about it and seen the movie before I ever read the book. Honestly, I was a little surprised at how simply written it actually is, because it’s such a resemblance to Christians of how Christ died for us, and as I’d read articles about it, it almost seemed like the book was written for adults. But I really loved reading it with my sister, and right now we’re reading The Magician’s Nephew, which is the second to the Chronicles of Narnia in some publications and the first in others.

BEST. BOOK. EVER. Highly recommended on my list; I went through many tissues and fell in love with the present-to-past thing going on, and how the two stories were connected. The “past” story took place in 1911, in the “present” story (which actually happens to be the past at this point, ha-ha) in 2011. I especially loved reading the present chapters, as it’s all about a woman mourning the 10th anniversary of 9/11/01 (otherwise known as my birthday!), her husband’s death, and telling her daughter the truth about the fateful day. (Again, also my birthday! Not so fateful after all! Ha-ha! … ha… mm.) Anyway. GO AND READ IT!

Eh. This was… an okay read. Very short; to-the-point, and I didn’t get close to the characters very much, which is the first thing I look for in a book. It was sort of a drag reading it. As a review I read for this book on GoodReads when I was considering buying it (so glad I didn’t! I borrowed it from the library!) said “I feel like the big grown up bully attacking the cute, freckled face kid on the playground with this review,” and that’s exactly how I feel. I didn’t hate it. I didn’t love it. I just felt like it was sort of mediocre. It could have been much better.

I believe those are all the books I’ve read in July… I told you I haven’t read very many! I just finished with When you Reach Me, by Rebecca Stead, and I loved it! Now for the books from the library yesterday…

Okay, so on the bottom is Diamonds & Deceit, the sequel to Cinders & Sapphires by Leila Rasheed, which I can’t wait to read! Then is Ten Rules for Living with my Sister, by Ann M. Martin, and I actually finished that one about an hour ago this morning, and totally adored it! I’m going to put the sequel on hold now. The Doll People is also by Ann M. Martin, and I’ve always though it looks like such a cute book. Carry on, Mr. Bowditch, by Jean Lee Latham, is yet another required reading for school. And I picked up Behind the Attic Wall by Sylvia Cassidy at the library because I thought the blurb looked good. So hopefully I’ll have my hands full with books for a while! 🙂

So what books have you read/gotten/bought lately? Did you like them? Look for a mini review tomorrow on Hope was Here tomorrow =) Thanks for reading,