Work Related...

The last few books I have picked up are definitely related to my new career as a teacher. Both books, Reluctant Disciplinarian: Advice on Classroom Management From a Softy who Became (Eventually) a Successful Teacher by Gary Rubenstein and Teaching with Love and Logic by Jim Fay and David Funk are in response to my continuing struggle with some of my classes that I teach.

Reluctant Disciplinarian provided some good insight but not as much practical solutions as I had hoped. More than anything it has helped me see how some classes are responding to my teaching style which is most likely drastically different than their classroom teacher and heightened by my inexperience as a first year teacher. If nothing else it gave me lots to think about and made me feel 100% normal.

Teaching with Love and Logic is filled with philosophy, student management ideas and much more. It is not everything I am looking for but I understand and am trying some of the "experiments" to see how students respond. This has been alot of serious (and much needed) professional development reading and the next book is sure to be for fun!

Speaking of which, before embarking on school related reading, I did finish up On the Road by Jack Kerouac. It was a fabulous story and I am glad I finally took the time to read it. I will say that I had high expectations for this beat classic and although I didn't think I had preconceived notions about what the book was about, it was not exactly what I thought it would be like.

I found Sal to be an adventurer seeking the freedom of the open road...the various people he meets and travels with tended to disturb me a bit. The story was definitely set in a specific time period, but the antics could just as well have been written today.

On another note I have once again decided to end my booksfree.com membership. It is taking me too long to read books to make it a value, especially since I have a wonderful public library at the end of my street that I pass whenever I walk to & from the train. I can even search the library catalog online. I think booksfree.com is a wonderful chance to get books, but I am pinching pennies and if I have a free method of getting books (at booksfree you are basically paying postage) I need to take advantage.

Surely there was another book or two...

It seems like I have slowed down a bit with my reading...possibly due the inability to read more than a page or two a night as a result of "first year teacher" exhaustion. I also should start carrying books with me again since I have a nice hour and change commute to work (and back).

So what have I read since the end of July?

Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf was next on the reading list from BooksFree.com. I had never read anything by Woolf and thought I should. I enjoyed the story immensely although I did find it challenging to realize when the story shifted to a different character's perspective. Once I was able to quickly recognize the transfer the reading went smoothly. I should have written about it while it was fresh but the most prominent themes that left an impression on me were the feelings of "what could have been" and need to "keep up appearances."

I finished Lost by Gregory Maguire more recently and this was an interesting blend of the Jack the Ripper and Scrooge. Unlike Maguire's other re-tellings, this story was contemporary with links (familial and of the super natural kind) to Jack the Ripper and Scrooge. This story was compelling and kept me reading for sure, but the interconnectedness was not as strong as in the other books. This book also had a few suspenseful/scary parts which are not my personal favorite. The main character, Winnie, has an emotional tale that unfolds throughout the book which in itself is mysterious and keeps you wondering.

I just started On the Road by Jack Kerouac. This is another book that has been collecting dust on my shelf that I meant to read ages ago.

Magical...

I just finished Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell last night with a brief interruption by another fantastically popular magical book...Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.


I had pre-ordered my copy of the new Harry Potter book from Amazon so I had it in my hands on the release date. It probably goes with out saying that I sat right down and devoured it! If I had not had to drive to Washington, DC on Sunday I probably would have finished it with in 24 hours. Since I did spend a good chunk of time in the car driving I read it every other spare minute and turned the last page around 11pm Monday.

Since I was adamant about not hearing spoilers I will not even come close to spilling the beans for anyone who has yet to finish their copy. I will say that I loved this book as much or more than the others. I greatly appreciate Rowling's ability to fully suck me into the story and make it nearly impossible to stop reading. Brilliant! I now want to go back and read the entire Potter series to see how all of the books work with each other.

But back to Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell!!! Another fine book about magicians. This is an interesting book for many reasons. One of which is the scholarly style the book is written complete with footnotes. I love that the book is set in the 19th century and actually historical events are warped into the story. There were more than a few dragging moments in this rather long book, but just as I began to wonder if I should stop reading something intriguing would propel me forward.

I am now going to move on to Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino. If I am not mistaken this book is the (imagined) tales told by Marco Polo to Kublai Khan about the cities Khan's empire. I am told there are fantastic descriptions of cities that reside in the fantasy of imagination. I look forward to starting!

Persepolis

I just finished reading Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood and Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return. Both were such good graphic novels in terms of story and illustration. These books had come up in several of my classes that dealt with Feminism, adolescence, multiculturalism and global perspectives and it was nice to finally be able to read them both back to back.

I have a college friend who grew up in Iran and moved to the US to attend college and is most likely just a bit younger that Satrapi. After our many conversations and hearing the disturbing current news about Iran it is nice to have another peak into this country's history.

It is most definitely a personal narrative and I can in no way verify the accuracy of the events portrayed, but to gain a glimpse into a country that the US has a questionable relationship with is fascinating. My personal existence has been pretty vanilla...and to think of a life that includes a war that takes place locally, cultural revolutions and all that comes with it boggles my brain.

These books are on my recommendation list for sure. I am also very interested in checking out Satrapi's related book Embroideries that is a collection of tales she overheard from her female relatives. I only recently found Embroideries on Amazon.com so I can not say more about it.

Daughter of Fortune

Yesterday I finished Daughter of Fortune by Isabelle Allende. I was originally intimidated by the thickness of the novel, but in fact I finished it in ten or so pre-sleeping reading sessions. I did take it along with me on my train ride into the city to visit with a friend because I was so close to finishing and had to find out what might happen next.

The book started a bit slow in the build up, but around the moment you think the story is starting to get tedious it takes off like a rocket and whirls you through an intricately woven tale of love, social expectations, the California gold rush and family secrets.

There was one or two moments where I literally was shocked in to saying "Holy Crap" because Allende really drops bombshell revelations into this fantastic story. There are several interwoven stories all integral to the novel. One common theme is that of women struggling with their 19th century existence and wanting more. So many of the female characters fight the traditional role of women during the time and not with out consequences (mostly social) but with some personal satisfaction in spite of the norm.

I was certainly not expecting to love this novel based on my lack of interest in early North/South American history. However, Allende so masterfully creates a tale that taps into the raw emotions and racial tension that it is impossible not to immerse yourself in the life of the characters.

Dreams...

I finished Einstein's Dreams the other day and picked up Daughter of Fortune. It is a bit of an intimidating book only because it is quite thick (not the actually text, just the measurement of the book).

Einstein's Dreams was a very nice quick read and thought provoking. There were so many different concepts of time I could not possibly pick a favorite or describe a majority of them since they intermingled in my head. That must be what happens when you read Dreams before doozing off.

School's Nearly Done...

And I am reading!!! I have been able to read so much more latelt...it is great!


I fininished Ancestors of Avalon, by Diana Paxson, and ended up enjoying far more than I anticipated. Some parts I felt a bit distracted from the break in typical style of the Avalon books, but really over all if you have been considering reading this book I would say do it...you may not love it all, but you probably will enjoy it.

Next up on the nightstand was Little Earthquakes bu Jennifer Weiner. I have already read Weiner's Good in Bed and In Her Shoes so I was looking forward to reading this book. Considering all of the new babies that have and will be arriving lately it was a humorous look into the life of a group of friends brought together by motherhood. This is also a nice lighter read than many of the books that I have picked up lately (exactly what I needed among the stress of the end of my final semester of school).

Right now I am reading Einstein's Dreams by Alan Lightman. It is a very short book that has chapters about different concepts or possibilities for time based loosely on Einstein's theories. Since I am in no way a physics expert I can not say if they are anything close to Einstein's theories, but they are fascinating. The idea of people living far away from to center of the earth on stilted cities to slow down time or the current moment is the only time known (no memory) is presented in short chapter essays that tickle the imagination and satisfy sci-fi fantasies. A teacher I worked with used this as source material for an art project for her seniors. I also have another book that this teacher used which is a collection of fictional tales told by Marco Polo to Kublai Khan titled Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino. Also in the stack is Perfume, a murder mystery, and both will wait until I read my BooksFree.com books.

Since I am back to my increased consumption of books I have opted to re-join BooksFree.com to be a bit economical about my reading habits. In the interest of full disclosure, I am not receiving money for an endorsement of this service so I feel that my opinion is relatively unbiased. This website offers a subscription based book borrowing service much like NetFlix. I used this service prior to going back to school and liked the convenience of having a few books arrive every so often. The downside is that many of the books I want to read are not available but selection is pretty decent. One plus is the customer service is pretty good. One set of books did not arrive so they quickly got my next books in que shipped out and due to a shipping issue they bounced back so the company sent those books plus the next two on my list to make up for the problems. I have received Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, Daughter of Fortune, and the graphic novels Persepolis and Persepolis 2.

There should be much to report in the next few months!

Sweet Reflections, Although with Some Tarnish

I zoomed right through Mirror Mirror by Gregory Maguire. I can say that while this may not be my favorite book written by Maquire it is certainly an interesting re-telling of Snow White. I really do enjoy the way Maguire reaches back into history, grabs a glimpse of reality and weaves it into a story that is strangely familiar yet the result is entirely unexpected. After finishing this tale of Bianca de Nevada as Snow White I am intrigued by the historical characters that have a inkling of truth.

I found Mirror Mirror to take some time for me to feel engaged in the story and the compulsion to continue wasn't fueled so much by a compelling story, but by the anxiousness to find the connection to the fairy tale that I had been fed through storybooks and the Disney movie. There was a shift half way through the book that placed the intrigue on this story rather than the fairy tale and I wanted to have so much more information about the characters. I can only imagine an editor dissuaded Maguire from over-writing the story which is a shame. At least I hope this is the case since I think Maguire is fully capable of creating intricate characters with in an intricate story.

For all that I feel that Mirror Mirror lacked, there is so much that I enjoyed about this story. My particular favorites are the descriptions of the stone-like creatures which are the dwarfs and there evolution through the story. A story just about the dwarfs would have been strong all on its own! I love the Bianca sees what she expects or knows of a house come into view the longer she spends with the dwarfs. It is almost like her will creates the details Bianca sees.

This book is definitely worth reading, but if it is your first book by Maguire and you do not feel a connection to the story do not turn away from his other books. There is something special in each of his books for different readers so try another!

Next on my night stand is Ancestors of Avalon, which is Diana Paxson's release of Marion Zimmer Bradley's story. I believe this was published after Bradley's death and I have no idea to what extent Paxson has used Bradley's work. I get the sense that there may have been story notes, perhaps some development of the story but I am having trouble finding the voice of Bradley in the story. I am a passionate Bradley fan starting with my first exposure to her classic Mists of Avalon. I have read her other mystical tales that relate to Avalon and Atlantis and while Mists is the most powerful, I am having difficulty finding the power that the other stories had over me.

Perhaps it is too early to pass judgement. All I can say for now is that Paxson is dedicated to continuing the legacy of Bradley's Avalon which is admirable, but I doubt she can recreate the voice that held so much magic. We shall see...

Too Good...

I finished Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius and it was as good as I hoped. There is the heart wrenching connection to the lead character and his family magnified by the fact that he is most likely my age or slightly older. Eggers describes many pop culture references that bring back my final years as an undergrad and my first years in New York City (despite his life in California) and ring so true. This is the sort of book where I mourn the loss of a friend when I have to leave the characters at the end of the book. Eggers wraps you up in has world so well, you can imagine the storyline continuing and the characters living on but you are unable to be a part of that world once the pages run out.

I have now moved in to the world of Mirror Mirror by Gregory Maguire. I have become a fan of Maguire's and have already read Wicked and Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister. His stories blend my love of historical fiction with fairy tales in a way that makes these tales believable...as though they very well could be the source of the fairy tales. Mirror Mirror, like the two other books by Maguire I have read, has a story that evolves in a mysterious and evocative manner but they are by no means formulaic! I am not half way through yet, but I am on pins and needles to see how this tale will play out.

Next!

Last week I wrapped up Skinny Legs and All which was a nice book to re-read for the second or third time (can't recall exactly). It was interesting to see the relevant storyline of the issues in the Middle East as they are playing out now compared to the fictionalized issues that I am sure grew out of the conflicts in the late 80's early 90's when the book was first written. All I can think of is two overly used quotes which are still so poignant... "the more things change the more they stay the same" and "those who do not know their history are doomed to repeat it." Sad but true.

Now I am on to A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers. This book had an interesting set of preface writing which was witty and sharp. I am just getting into the first couple of chapters, which so far are a bit depressing. Friends who have read this book have loved it and I trust their opinions...I am not sure what to expect from the book other than it is going to be good.

The stack of books beside my night stand is surely going to keep me occupied for a while but I will admit that I am anxiously awaiting the release of the next (and final) Harry Potter book. I have seen all of the pre-order info on Amazon.com and in the larger bookstores. The time seems to be flying so I am sure it will be here before I realize it. (Mental note: don't forget to pre-order!)

Books in 2007

1. Skinny Legs and All by Tom Robbins (re-read)
2. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers
3. Mirror Mirror by Gregory Maguire
4. Marion Zimmer Bradley's Ancestors of Avalon by Diana L. Paxson
5. Little Eathquakes by Jennifer Weiner
6. Einstein's Dreams by Alan Lightman
7. Daughter of Fortune by Isabelle Allende
8. Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi
9. Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return by Marjane Satrapi
10. Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke
11. Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
12. Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino (paused)
13. Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
14. Lost by Gregory Maguire
15. On the Road by Jack Kerouac
16. Reluctant Disciplinarian: Advice on Classroom Management From a Softy who Became (Eventually) a Successful Teacher by Gary Rubenstein
17. Teaching with Love and Logic by Jim Fay and David Funk

A new year and new books...yeah!

At the end of 2006 I ran out of new titles to read and made use of the holidays and my birthday to re-stock the reading pile. I have definitely increased my knitting book stash but that isn't necessarily the sort of reading I am referring to on this blog.

I did pick up Skinny Legs and All by Tom Robbins to re-read before I got any new books. I read this book around the time I first moved to NYC. It started my appreciation for Tom Robbins.
It is funny, witty, and especially poignant with all of the "issues" in the Middle East right now. The quote from Library Journal on Amazon.com sums it up quite nicely: "A painter's struggle with her art, a restaurant opened as an experiment in brotherhood, the journey of several inanimate objects to Jerusalem, a preacher's scheme to hasten Armageddon, and a performance of a legendary dance: these are the diverse elements around which Robbins has built this wild, controversial novel."

I have so many new books to read I am not sure I can remember them all to list!!! Here is a quick list of the titles I can remember...
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, Little Earthquakes, Mirror Mirror, Einstein's Dreams, Invisible Cities, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, and Ancestors of Avalon.

Happy reading!

Wrapping Up 2006..a little late!

The end of the year was a little nutty...finishing classes, the home stretch of student teaching, the holidays. Blah blah blah! I did manage to finish two books in to the end of the year. The first took me quite a while since reading seemed to be difficult with eyes that would not stay open at the end of the day!

First on the list is Word Freak by Stefan Fatsis. This book let me geek out just a bit...or a lot depending on how you look at it. It is a humorous and informative look at tournament Scrabble and the authors growing interest (perhaps obsession) with the game.

I must admit that reading the book made we want to play Scrabble (I can't say that I have played a proper game) thus prompting the hubby to get my both the deluxe game board and player's dictionary for my birthday. This could be dangerous.


Blackberry Wine by Joanne Harris is a book from my shelf that I thought I had not yet read but actually realized I had after a few pages. It is a wonderful book by the author of Chocolat. Both books are charming and day-dreamy in that dramatic fiction sort of way. It was nice to re-read the book especially since I did not have anything new to read. (Ack!) I was transfixed by rural French countryside where the main character impulse buys a farmhouse for much the same reason I love Frances Mayes non-fictional descriptions of life in Tuscany.