My Reading Frenzy

What I've Read - What I am Reading - November 24, 2020

I did some solid reading this week, but liked less of it than I usually do. 

 

 

Read:

I moved quickly through Island of the Mad by Laurie R. King (Library book) the 11^th book (published in 2018) in the Mary Russell series. Mary and Sherlock travel to Venice, Italy to find the missing aunt of a close friend. The story explores the treatment of the mentally ill as well as some women's rights issues. Delightfully, the American composer Cole Porter plays an important role too. While I appreciated the inclusion of music in the story, his appearance represents one of my least favorite elements of historical fiction. I know many writers of historical fiction strive to closely parallel actual events and lives, but they also make changes for dramatic effect or to fit into the plot. This is difficult for me because I want to know the non-modified story. This almost always leads me down a rabbit hole of research. Not necessarily a bad side effect.

 

• During the week I realized listening to the 17 hour and 49 minute The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz by Erik Larson (audio elibrary book) at a leisurely pace was not going to work out well because it is a library book. I waited a few months for it to be available therefore a renewal was not going to happen. I stepped up the pace by going to the gym and listening while doing chores around the house. Thus, I finished this morning on the drive to the VA public library to return books and pick up a hold. As always, Larson's research is impeccable and satisfying. I am inspired to read more about Churchill.
• I also picked up volume 14 of Giant Days at the library last week. I was tempted to read it in the car in the parking lot so I could return it immediately, but I am in a constant rotation of picking up and returning books so there was no real reason to rush through it. In the end, I enjoyed it minimally. This is ostensibly the final volume since Esther and Daisy have graduated and moved onto jobs while Susan is finishing medical school. The action involves Esther's two evil co-workers who follow her to a reunion between the three former roommates. It was bland. I don't know if I will read more if the story moves on.

 

Reading:

• Last week I mentioned starting Midnight Riot by Ben Aaronovitch (elibrary book) While I was drawn in by what I read, I have not read any more of it this week. 
• Playing for the Ashes the 6^th installment in the Inspector Lynley series by Elizabeth George (elibrary book) came through from the library of few weeks ago, but I held off because I just finished the 5^th in the series. But again, haunted by the pressures of finishing to return the book on time, I jumped in. I don't regret it so far.  
• I also began the recently published volume 5 of Monstress (independent bookstore purchase) the comic book by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda. Reading comics via trade paperbacks is better for me than reading individual books as they come out each month, but also has the drawback of a significant wait between volumes. I am not sure how much longer this series will continue, but I will need to reread it all at once someday. 

 

Listening:

• During the drive home from the library this morning, I began listening to A Promised Land by President Barack Obama (purchased from Audible). I am only about 40 minutes into it so far, during which he is reviewing early life. He said in the introduction that he felt he needed to set the context for his Presidency. I don't have to worry about rushing through this one since I pre-ordered it in anticipation of its November 17^th release. 

 

 

What have you read? What are you reading and listening to?

 

 

**A note on the picture. I always use an image from the Prints and Photographs collections of the Library of Congress. I like these because they are interesting, and freely available because they are in the public domain. I mainly choose images of people reading. If you click the image in any of my posts you will be able to see the Library's bibliographic record which includes whatever they know about the image including its creator. There are also usually links to other similar items or to the collection the image is a part of.***

Is it ok to skip the classics?

This is really a two part question: 

Should we read and study the classics as part of coursework at colleges and universities or as independent readers?        YES!

Should we teach the classics to high school students?        It depends.

(I believe this for the classics of any language or culture, though my experience is with and examples are from American and British literature.)

 

 

 

 

Benefits of reading the classics (from my point of view):

*Please note: The examples I provide come from my experience as an English major, English teacher in the United States, and independent reader and are in no way meant to trace the history of literature in a comprehensive way

• To gain an understanding of the origins of the writings of a country or culture 
  • Beowulf
  • Gilgamesh
  • The Iliad and The Odyssey
• To experience the progression of those writings through the ages
  
  • Shakespeare's plays and poems
  • The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
  • Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi's poetry
  • Religious texts such as the Old and New Testaments of the Bible, the Qur'an, the Bhagavad Gita
  • The ideas of the early Greek and Roman philosophers
• To experience the products of great thinkers and writers
  • Virginia Woolf
  • Thomas Hardy
  • Jane Austen
  • Gabriel García Márquez
  • Franz Kafka
  • Fyodor Dostoyevsky
  • Margaret Fuller
  • Henry David Thoreau
  • The Brontë sisters
  • George Eliot
  • Nathaniel Hawthorne
  • Oscar Wilde

The dangers of the classics are that too often the lists that make up the canon are missing works by marginalized voices including women and people of color, they are not necessarily well-written, and the context in which they were written is often lost on contemporary readers, especially teens. Additionally, when we force students to read texts we have chosen because we think they will be "good for them" we remove the freedom of choice that leads people to become life-long readers. If one of the goals of literature courses is to instill a love of reading, asking students to read what we have chosen from a list of books that are far removed from their experiences and context will not work.

Classics I would toss out:

• The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger - Holden is whiny and angsty. This however is typical of many novels featuring teens who are lost and traumatized. What I think is harmful are Holden's attitudes toward homosexuality. There are many contemporary novels that deal with the same topics and themes as Catcher that take place in an era more relevant to today's teens without the problematic parts. Alternatives: The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky or The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily M. Danforth (there are others, but these are two I have read)
• The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain - Only twice in my career did I teach this novel. Both times I was bothered by the use of the "n-word" but did not know how to undertake a conversation with my students about the problems of the novel. That oversight was a weakness in my teaching. But, I was also incensed by the behavior of Tom Sawyer in the last section of the book when he knows that Jim has been freed in Widow Douglas's will. Instead of jubilantly sharing this information immediately, Tom decides to plan an elaborate escape for his own entertainment, thus subjecting Jim to additional unnecessary captivity and emotional turmoil. We can have honest conversations about the history of slavery and racism in the United States with better books. Alternatives: The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass or Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi
• To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee - This has many of the same problems as Huckleberry Finn, but adds the classism evident in the portrayal of the Ewell family. Alternatives: To encourage conversations about racial injustice, Monster by Walter Dean Myers or All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brandon Kiely. To encourage conversations about sexual assault, Speak (fiction) or Shout (non-fiction) by Laurie Halse Anderson or The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky.

There are a number of other novels I would take out of the high school curriculum for a variety of reasons such as Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (literary blasphemy, I know), and Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë. I may write another post about these, or just ask why if you are interested.

 

 

Classics I would keep teaching:

• The novels 1984 and Animal Farm by George Orwell and the play The Crucible by Arthur Miller - All three of these works were written to address events witnessed by their authors. Orwell's predictions about our lives under surveillance by our government as well as the rise of communism and fascism have relevance here and now. Miller's play about metaphorical and literal witch hunts is far too relevant to current events. Another contemporary classic I would add here is The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. (I would not read this one with freshman or sophomores, but I think juniors and seniors have the maturity to have meaningful conversations about the novel.)
• Any of Jane Austen's novels with Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, and Emma as first choices - Austen's commentary on society and the mores that unfairly target women and anyone not of the upper class are still relevant today. Students may feel removed from the time period, but the themes are fresh. If Austen's work seems too removed for students alternatives are: Pride by Ibi Zoboi or Unmarriageable by Soniah Kamal.
• The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne - Anyone who knows me well knows this is my favorite novel. It is not without problems, but it is beautifully written with a tight structure. I believe it also offers opportunities to discuss sexism, sexual double-standards, hypocrisies of religion, as well as being a portrait of a resilient woman and single mother.
• The Importance of Being Ernest and The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde - I have previously discussed my love of Wilde's satire. I believe the personal relationships, humor, and word play in Ernest are accessible to modern students. Dorian Gray offers a more insidious, but equally compelling look at the superficialities of society.
• Tess of the D'urbervilles by Thomas Hardy - This is a novel I first read as a senior in high school, then again in college, and then chose to teach to AP Literature seniors. I have always loved it. Hardy was ahead of his time. Tess is trapped between the old and new worlds in ways that leave her without the resources to thrive in either. Her experiences with hypocrisy, stigmatization of sexual behaviors, and learned helplessness serve to set her up for unhappiness and failure whatever choices she makes. (I am not doing this justice. I would love to go back into an English class to read this again with students.) If I were to teach a course on early feminist literature I would use this and The Scarlet Letter as two texts written by male authors in conversation with Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë and Indiana by George Sand among others.

 

 

What are the classic works you would toss out? Which would you keep?

What I've Read - What I am Reading - November 16, 2020

This was a light reading week. I traveled to visit M. in rural MA for a few days. We generally isolated ourselves because while there are small towns in the Berkshires, the weather was dreary and rainy and it was nice to stay warm with wine and take-out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Read:

Over the course of the week I finished both the books I had been reading in the last update.

• The Left-Handed Booksellers of London by Garth Nix - As I anticipated, this book should be the beginning of a series, but no announcement to that effect has yet been made. The title is a misnomer because there are both left-handed and right-handed booksellers in London, as well as other magical entities. In a phrase the whole book was "right up my alley." I went ahead and put two of his other stand alone books on hold: Angel Mage and Newt's Emerald.
  • The good news: Nix has an extensive backlist of books to keep me busy until the second (Who do I talk to to make sure this happens?) in the Booksellers series comes out. 
  • The bad news: This means I am adding another author whose works I want to read in their entirety to my TBR list, which knowing how I can put pressure on myself to read, means some stress. 
• Don't You Forget About Me by Mhairi McFarlane - This means I have read all of McFarlane's available work, including a short story, After Hello, which I also read this week. 

Reading:

• On my Kindle, I started Midnight Riot by Ben Aaronovitch (elibrary book -  I am only on page 6, but the world building has begun with a police officer gathering eye-witness information from a ghost about a recent murder. I'll keep reading for sure. Some of the atmosphere and jaunty tone remind me of the Jackaby series by William Ritter. 
• Island of the Mad by Laurie R. King (Library book) - This is the 11^th book (published in 2018) in the Mary Russell series. When I wrote my post about mystery series I have loved, I realized I hadn't read one of these in a while. This is the first of only two I have not read. Since these are both mysteries and historical fiction, I look forward to the jump back in time, and that the mystery is not always a murder. The current story takes place in the early and mid 1920s. While Mary and husband and sleuthing partner Sherlock Holmes have not yet left England, the blurb and helpful map tell me at least some of the story will take place in Venice, Italy. 

 

Listening:

Since The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz by Erik Larson (audio elibrary book) is 17 hours and 49 minutes long, I anticipate a few more weeks of updates before I finish. BUT, I did pre-order A Promised Land by President Barack Obama, which will be released tomorrow. I will be torn even though the logical thing to do is finish the Larson first because it is a library book for which I waited quite long time and I will own the Obama book through Audible. 

 

What have you read? What are you reading and listening to?

 

**A note on the picture. I always use an image from the Prints and Photographs collections of the Library of Congress. I like these because they are interesting, and freely available because they are in the public domain. I mainly choose images of people reading. If you click the image in any of my posts you will be able to see the Library's bibliographic record which includes whatever they know about the image including its creator. There are also usually links to other similar items or to the collection the image is a part of.***

What I've Read - What I am Reading - November 9, 2020

Despite the distractions of last week, I managed to read quite a lot. I definitely indulged in some of the graphic novel reading I did on Tuesday night while refreshing the election results. I knew we would not have an answer until much later in the week, but I did not want to try to go to sleep with dread in my heart like I did in 2016. All that to say that I am calmer now and had a weekend of lovely weather, celebration, and reading!

 

A note on the picture. I always use an image from the Prints and Photographs collections of the Library of Congress. I like these because they are interesting, and freely available because they are in the public domain. I like to pick images of people reading, but this week I looked for something patriotic and found the image I used. I though it represented a nice mix of patriotism and books. If you click the image in any of my posts you will be able to see the Library's bibliographic record which includes whatever they know about the image including its creator. There are also usually links to other similar items or to the collection the image is a part of. Happy exploring!

 

 

 

 

Read:

Over the course of the week I finished a few books I had been reading in last week's update.

• Missing Joseph by Elizabeth George (I have the next one in this series lined up on my Kindle, but I am going to take a quick murder mystery break.)
• Shit, Actually by Lindy West was hilarious all the way through. I got a kick out of her irreverent look at so many popular movies, ALL of which I have seen. That made it even more fun because I knew exactly what she was talking about every time. Her take-down of American Pie was my favorite. 
• Drawing the Vote by Tommy Jenkins illustrated by Kati Lacker - This was not a light, easy graphic read at all, but I think it could be a great addition to studying the history of elections in the United States. It was well-researched and chock full of important information. I would use it in chunks though as it is dense.
• Class Act by Jerry Craft - This is a follow-up to the 2020 Newbery winning New Kid. While Jordan and Liam play a prominent role in the novel, this is Drew's story. I appreciated his perspective. I wonder if Craft will continue to show us these young people as they move through middle and high school.
• Apparently it was a week for Newbery winners because I also read Meg Medina's 2019 award winner Mercy Suárez Changes Gears. I think it was last week that I said I might need to read fewer middle grade novels....this book is a clear exception. While 6th grader Mercy is the main character, we are invited into her family in a way that makes this feel like the story of the Suárez family and how Mercy sees herself in relation to her brother, cousins, aunt, grandparents, and parents as well as her classmates. So deserving of bountiful honors. 
• Mooncakes by Suzanne Walker and illustrated by Wendy Xu. I like witch books. This one was not for me. 

 

Reading:

A few weeks ago I watched a Zoom chat between Garth Nix and Maggie Stiefvater. I signed up for it because of Maggie, but ended up being intrigued by the newly published Nix book The Left-Handed Booksellers of London. This is the first of his works I have read and am happy to have given it a chance. I am not quite at the half-way point and already feel that this is likely to be the first in a trilogy or series. 

Don't You Forget About Me by Mhairi McFarlane - I like McFarlane's romances. The heroines are smart and capable, but they choose partners poorly sometimes, but as in all good romances, they get it together for a happy, but not necessarily perfect, ending. I like the mix of reality and fun of her novels. 

 

Listening:

I have made the decision to go back to the gym. Because DC is currently in Phase II of reopening, gyms can be open but members must be masked at all times and equipment is constantly being cleaned by staff and there are sprays and wipes for exercisers to use as well. It has been quite empty each time I have been there. AND since the weather has been so nice the windows have been open for extra ventilation. So far, I feel confident they are doing everything they can to keep the space safe and I am doing my part as well. 

As I knew it would be, The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz by Erik Larson is dense with facts about Churchill, Great Britain, and the war before and during the Blitz of 1940-41. That, along with the reading by John Lee, is keeping me engaged as I run on the treadmill. 

 

What have you read? What are you reading and listening to?

My Self - Imposed Reading Pressures

Last week I explored the ways reading is good for mental health, both mine and that of others. Today I want to explore the corresponding stresses I sometimes feel around reading. 

 

The Pressure to Read

Like many avid readers I feel the self-imposed pressure to read many, many books. I am under no obligation to read at all if I do not want to. As a librarian, I can choose what to buy based on professional reviews and recommendations. As a blogger, I can write about whatever strikes my fancy. I am not obligated to read in either of these situations. But my desire to read ALL the books is an intrinsic pressure whether or not it makes sense.

I set a Goodreads goal for myself every year, but I set a realistic goal based on the number of books I read the previous year. I do not think this contributes to the pressure to read more. For the past few years I have bumped up the goal as the year progresses because I am reading more than anticipated. I think I can say that this number is not significant to me outside of helping me to track what I have read. 

(Goodreads is the only place I record EVERYTHING I read so I can refer back and check on whether or not I have read something. A  few years ago I accidentally deleted my account and lost all my records. I was bereft because I knew I would not be able to remember everything I had read over the previous five years. Now, as books pop up that others are reading or I randomly remember having read a book I add it back.)

 

The Avoidance of Reading 

Conversely, when I find myself in a situation where I am expected to read a book, I employ avoidance tactics and read anything but the book in question. This happened when I served on the Virginia Reader's Choice committee. I would come home from our biannual meetings with a stack of books I had agreed to read as part of my role as a committee member. I would look at that stack of books for 5.5 months before jumping in to be able to speak to whether or not we should consider the books for the high school list.

This also happens to me when in a book club, which is even more ludicrous because I love being in a book club. I look forward to the opportunity to discuss books while socializing with other readers, but even so, I often put off reading the chosen book until the last possible minute.  

I want to apply to be a reviewer for Booklist and School Library Journal, but I fear that as soon as books arrive that I "have" to read, I will freeze up and dread reading them even if they are books I WANT to read. This makes me hesitate to apply.

 

Do I Really Need to Have All These Books?

When I was a child and teen I would wait until I was ready for a new book to read before perusing the family shelves or visiting a bookstore or the library. But then, for no reason that I can identify, I started wanting/needing to have shelves of books I had not read available at all times. As soon as I discovered a book I wanted to read I would buy it or get it from the library. Then it would sit there while I read other books. Sometimes I would end up returning the book to the library or getting rid of one I owned without having ever read it because my enthusiasm waned or other books would come along that I wanted to read immediately. I have mainly reined in this tendency by creating lists of books I want to read on Goodreads or Amazon, list are much easier to weed than shelves of books. This need to have lots of unread books around has also been curbed by moving. When I had to pack up all the books I own, both read and unread, I culled my collection significantly. I discuss how I made the decision about what to keep and what to let go in this post. I also had to accept that I was wasting money buying books that I would eventually give away or sell for much less than I paid without having read them which also helped me to stop. 

 

I Didn't Bring Anything to Read! 

My last reading concern goes hand in hand with my addiction to reading. Whenever I am somewhere waiting, I get antsy if I do not have anything to read. This does not happen very often. If I know I am going to an appointment I bring a book. If I am riding the Metro I bring my Kindle. If I am driving I have an audiobook ready to go. It seems therefore that I have almost no times when I do not have anything with me to read, but it does occasionally happen. The reason any of this is an issue is because I think it is bad that I get anxious when I have to sit without reading material. I worry I cannot just sit and be. I have tried recently to sit mindfully, observing my surroundings rather than separating myself. 

 

What pressures do you association with reading?

What I've Read - What I am Reading - November 2, 2020

It has been two weeks since posting one of these updates, and I would never have guessed I had read so much. This is why I use Goodreads to keep track of my reading. 

 

Read:

I finished The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. The main character is given the opportunity to explore the books that tell her life story had she made different decisions at various points. It was interesting to think about my own decisions and how life might be different had I chosen differently. I also appreciated the perspective that it is not just the "big" choices that may lead to an alternative outcome, but all the day to day variances that can have a ripple effect.

The next few titles are those I listened to over the two weeks. I did more driving than I have in recent months, but also tackled home projects both here and at M's house that offered opportunities to listen.

•  Meaty by Samantha Irby - I am not sorry to have traveled to Irby's earlier work since I discovered just as much insight as in her more recent work. Hilarious and worth every minute of my time.
• Love Warrior by Glennon Doyle - I debated with myself about listening to this one since I had already listened to the next book, Untamed and therefore know "what happened." But there was so much insight into how she made the decisions she explored in Untamed that I am glad I listened. She also revisits her childhood, teen years, and pre-wedding 20s in ways that also connect to her most recent stories.
• Break Shot by James Taylor - This was an Audible special production that was just an hour and a half of Taylor revisiting his own childhood years up to age 21 interspersed with singing pieces of songs written during that time. I really wanted this to be a full length book.

 

I also read a bunch of graphic novels:

• You Brought Me the Ocean by Alex Sánchez
• If I Go Missing by Brianna Jonnie  - I did not know what this one was all about when I ordered it and then brought it home after it arrived in our library, but I think it is an important story. It is a mix of fiction and non-fiction based on a letter written to the Winnipeg Chief of Police by fourteen-year-old Jonnie as a protest against the way the disappearance of indigenous people is handled.
• We'll Soon Be Home Again by Jessica Bab Bonde, illustrated by Peter Bergting and Kathryn Renta, and translated by Sunshine Barbito - The book is a series of six first person accounts from Holocaust survivors. With the passage of time and the loss of survivors to old age, it is even more important to continue to publish stories about the Holocaust and other genocide so we never forget the dangers of fascism and complacency.
• The Midwinter Witch by Molly Knox Ostertag - I think I may need to read fewer middle grade graphic novels. I read both this and All Together Now by Hope Larson. I will continue to bring these graphic works into my library and send them to my niece as gifts, but I think I am going to rely on reviews and recommendations rather than reading. I am so far removed from the worries and ordeals of this age group that I find myself growing irritated. These are stories that are important for my students and readers because they do speak to their experiences, so I do not want my judgement about the quality of the book to be clouded.
• Dancing at the Pity Party by Tyler Feder - This memoir is Feder's love note to her mother who died from cancer when Feder was only 19. The emotions surrounding her mother's illness and death are tied up with Feder's loving memories in a way that show that her story is so much more than "my mom died when I was young." 

 

I love picture books, but usually read them in bulk each time we receive a shipment at the library, but this was a personal purchase that will be a gift to a dear friend the next time we have a distanced front porch hangout. Julia's House Moves On by Ben Hatke is lovely and a nice continuation of Julia's House of Lost Creatures and Nobody Likes a Goblin. 

 

This fortnight's COVID reading days are rounded out with my two favorites for escaping the reality of this pandemic and election year as well as bolstering my mental health - murder mystery and fantasy: 

For the Sake of Elena is the 5th book in Elizabeth George's Inspector Thomas Lynley series. I was ready for another of her books and found it exciting as usual. I probably need to slow down so I do not run out, but as you will see below, I haven't. 

Over two nights last week, I finished The Empire of Gold by S.A. Chakraborty. This has been a long time coming, but not because I did not want to read. I devoured the first two of the series in a few days and moved just as quickly through the first 2/3 of the third, but then I took a break. In part because I was saturated in the story and needed to step back and in part because my brain had wandered to home improvement projects, work, and other distractions that I wanted to get past before savoring the end of the story. I was right to have waited. Chakraborty did not disappoint in bringing Nahri, Ali, Dara, Jamshid, Muntadhir, and Zaynab back together in Daevabad to work toward healing the city and the relationships between their peoples and the other tribes of djinn. Now that I have finished I feel confident in recommending the trilogy to all types of fantasy readers. Based on a bookseller recommendation (Yes, I do ask when I visit bookstores.) my next fantasy read is likely to be The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden. 

 

 

Reading:

Missing Joseph by Elizabeth George - Even though I just finished the 5th book, when this one popped up from the library I downloaded it and started reading. I really do not know what it is that I find comforting about reading murder mysteries - maybe it is that the ones I read have a solution. They always find out "whodunit" and there is a satisfaction in that even if justice is not necessarily served or there are more victims before they figure it out. If there is more to my attraction, I don't know what it is. Any ideas?

Drawing the Vote by Tommy Jenkins illustrated by Kati Lacker - I was wary about reading a book about elections just before one of the most stressful elections I have experienced, but this book is well done because it is broken down into chapters that are both chronological and topical. He takes one topic related to voting, such as women's suffrage and explores its full history before moving to another point of view. I especially appreciated his look at the electoral college. I probably will not finish this before tomorrow night when the returns start coming in, but I will finish. This is a great addition to our collection.

 

 

Listening:

I am currently listening to Shit, Actually by Lindy West, which is hilarious. This book is a bit of a departure for West because it is not overtly political like both Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman (which was made into a Netflix series that I binged over the summer) and The Witches are Coming. Instead, in these essays, West revisits movies she liked from the 90s and early 2000s. Her rating system is based on what she considers the most perfect movie: The Fugitive. She rates a wide variety of films from action to comedy to angsty teen flicks. And it is hilarious! You won't be able to think of these movies in the same way ever again. (And don't worry, the essays are not totally devoid of political commentary.)

Today, The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz by Erik Larson came through from the public library. I have been waiting for this one since I put it on hold in March. Many of my favorite books of historical fiction and time travel take place in this time period so I appreciate a non-fiction perspective as well. 

I have listened to everything I have read by Larson. His books are brimming with splendidly researched information (makes my librarian heart go pitty pat) that I don't think I would have the patience to read myself. I listened to a sample before putting it on hold and think I am going to like being read to by John Lee. The hold came up at a perfect time because I went to the gym today for the first time since March and like the added motivation of a good book to get me there 3-5 times a week. 

 

 

What have you read? What are you reading and listening to?

The Connection Between Reading and Mental Health - Confessions of a Reading Addict

Without question, reading is beneficial to my mental health, especially in 2020 when there are so many unexpected challenges. I find that reading almost anything from fantasy and sci-fi to murder mysteries to informative non-fiction is helpful to me. (While my need to be informed about local and national news compels me to read or listen to some news, I do not find my mental state is buoyed by this type of intake. I hope this will change after Tuesday's Presidential election.)

 

 

 

 

The Research

A 2008 study in the UK showed "Healthy reading has a place in stepped care models for improving mental health at both community and primary care levels. As well as being used as an adjunct therapy it could, in some cases, be an alternative to antidepressant prescribing and help reduce waiting lists for more staff-intensive psychological therapies." Their definition of "healthy reading" refers to texts of various types that help the patient understand and develop techniques for coping with mild to moderate mental health concerns.

Another study conducted at the University of Liverpool in 2012 explored the benefits of all types of reading on the mental health of the subjects. These studies, conducted at the highest levels of research, illustrate what many readers already know, but may not be able to verbalize: Reading is a pathway to improved mental health. 

If personal anecdotes and professional studies aren't convincing enough, Psychology Today touts the positive impact reading has on mental health. In his article, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry Rob Whitley concludes, "books are an invaluable but underutilized resource that can increase empathy, enhance recovery and inspire those with mental health difficulties. As such, reading should be encouraged for everybody, but particularly those with mental illness—whether through formal bibliotherapy groups or individual prompting from family, friends or clinicians." The article, like the University of Liverpool study explores all types of reading as a form of therapy. 

 

My Experience

Reading is my primary hobby. Like any hobby I derive a great deal of pleasure from the endeavor and it is a pursuit I have honed and developed ever since I learned to read. Rarely does a day go by that I do not sit on the couch or in my comfy chair to read for at least 30 minutes. 

Each evening, I try to carve out up to two hours to immerse myself in one of the books I am currently reading. I find I get the most out of sustained reading during which I can interact deeply with the text while separating myself from the worries of the real world, both mine and society in general. At this time I eschew social media (which I can find agitating before it is time to sleep), as well as interaction with others. This means I avoid texting and phone calls when possible.

Even during a hectic vacation I like to read at the end of an exciting day. My most rejuvenating vacations are those in which site-seeing is minimal and reading on the beach or in front of a fire are the primary activities.

I usually have two books I am reading in paper form - one fiction, one non-fiction; one I am reading on my Kindle; and one or two I am listening to (one in the car, one while exercising).

When I sit down to read, sometimes I read a bit from each book and other times I jump in for as long as I am able to whichever one best fits what I need that day. Some days I need escapist fantasy or romance, others I want to connect to the real world through a memoir or a historical tome or social commentary, and on others I seek YA or middle grade stories. Whichever the choice, in I go, only to resurface when I have sufficiently fed my mind and soul.

Believe it or not, for me the same feeling I get after a good yoga session or invigorating walk or run also comes when I finish a book or come out of a long reading session. I can feel the release of endorphins during a physical workout in my chest. I am able to breath more easily and deeply when I have used my body. The use of my mind while reading gives me a similar rush followed by deep calming breaths that I know are making their way into my brain healing me from the day's stresses. (This may not be a scientifically supportable concept, but I feel it.) When life prevents me from immersive reading over a number of days I know I am less patient with a shorter temper, so I try not to let this happen.

I know I am healthier when I make time to read. Both the studies and my own experiences show me how important it is for me to include reading time every day.

 

Next week I am planning to write about the angst I sometimes associate with reading. 

 

How do you benefit from reading?

 

 

What I've Read - What I am Reading - October 19, 2020

This was not a great week for reading as we spent a ton of time at the house painting, fixing, scrubbing, sweeping, trashing, and recycling to get it ready to sell.  

 

Read:

I read Megan Whalen Turner's 6th book in The Thief series, Return of the Thief, a book, among others, which I have been looking forward to seeing published. While this was certainly worth the wait, 3 years is too long for me to go between series books. My only dissatisfaction with this final in the series is that there were too many details it would have been helpful to have remembered from the previous book. My own fault of course. I could have reread or tried to find a detailed summary filled with spoilers, but I didn't, so I went into this one without enough recollection and therefore felt a little lost at times. I'd like to reread all six books sometime because I loved them all individually and think the continuity would make them even more powerful.

I also read Serpentine by Philip Pullman, which I thought was a novella. It was a short story in a lovely little illustrated book. I read it twice. The author's note at the end indicated that the ideas just kept pushing at him so he went ahead and wrote it. The story is about Lyra and Pan after The Subtle Knife during which (spoiler ahead) they separate without dying, though it is painful. This new characteristic of their relationship will change the way they experience the world. 

I also finished listening to The Year of Living Danishly by Helen Russell. I did quite a bit of listening while I was painting.

 

Reading:

I found myself with a few down moments over the past week, with only my Kindle on hand so I started The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. I sought this book on NetGalley after having read How to Stop Time. I would have discussed this one in my post on time-travel books if it had not been focused on two of my favorite authors of the sub-genre rather than all the time-travel works I have read.

Tonight I will leap back in to The Empire of Gold by S.A. Chakraborty to finish this week.

 

Listening:

I started Meaty by Samantha Irby. This is one of her earlier titles, but she says in a forward that the essays have been re-edited and polished up for this re-release. So far it is just as hilarious as I had expected. M. asked a few times why my painting was so funny. I think he might like her work.

I am not sure what is up next after this listen. Any suggestions?

 

What have you read? What are you reading and listening to?

How to Incorporate Big Books into Your Reading Life or I Like Big Books

I love to read. I love to read books from many genres, though as you know I am particularly fond of time-travel science fiction and mysteries. (I'll write about fantasy favorites soon.) Despite my love of reading, reading, reading, I do no seek long books. I gravitate toward books that come in under 400 pages for the most part, but sometimes I am tempted by a story that is much longer. Sometimes, as happened in college, I am assigned something longer. Sometimes long books can be daunting even when the story is one I want to read because I think I will enjoy it. I have therefore read a number of LONG novels over my reading life and have some advice for those who may actively avoid big books.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. Take notes: Depending on how long the reading takes, it is possible for even the most attentive reader to lose track of significant details. Taking notes can take the form of separate notes with page numbers for reference in case you want to return to a plot point, character, or paragraph that seems important. Or you may opt to use sticky flags to mark pages that have been annotated in the book (No gasping necessary, it is ok to write in a book you own.), or on a sticky note. 
2. Break up the reading with shorter works in between: If you decide to read a big book in chunks, with other shorter works peppered in, it may be even more important to take notes to refer back to when picking the big book up again. While this is not my preferred method I have used it when I cannot give a big book the sustained attention it needs. 
3. Choose one long period of time to focus on one big book: If you have travel planned, bring just one long book to read on the entire trip. If your winters are cold and you are indoors and read lots anyway, use this time to focus on just one book. I usually do this in the summer time when we do not have school. I gain both time and increased concentration when I am not distracted by working all day. Pesky job.
4. Read with a friend or book club - If you read a big book with a friend or book club you may be more motivated to continue knowing there are opportunities for discussion as you read. Instead of meeting up or chatting just once about a book, a long book offers opportunities for multiple checks ins, which may be incentive to read regularly and a fun opportunity to socialize.
5. Read a book rather than an ebook - I feel much a greater sense of accomplishment when I see the pages go by than when I see the "15%" at the bottom of the ebook. This is personal to me, but it can also limit when and where I read since a big book is by definition unwieldy and not necessarily convenient for all reading settings.  

 

Some of the big books I have read over the years in no particular order:

• The first four books in the Clan of the Cave Bear series by Jean M. Auel: I am not sure what about the first book prompted someone to recommend it to me as a young teen, but I read and loved them. This is not a series I will be rereading. I am not sure the investment of time would be worth it.
• Les Misérables by Victor Hugo: After seeing the musical on Broadway, I was bound and determined to read the book. It took me an entire summer. Maybe the summer after my junior year in high school. I do not remember. I loved it and am glad to have read it, even the extensive detail about the sewers of Paris.
• War and Peace AND Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy: I read these for college courses. One was definately in a European literature class and the other was for my junior seminar. I am not sure which was which. I do remember War and Peace was during the fall semester of my junior year (along with a number of other novels) and I was not able to finish before the winter break, but I did finish!  Both are books I took notes while reading to be able to discuss details in class and keep all the Russian names straight.
• Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien: Often the "books" of the Lord of the Rings series are split into three separate books. I did not read them that way. A friend who was appalled I had not read the books at age 29, bought me one big tome. (I had not read them because I was traumatized by Gollum after reading The Hobbit and watching the 1977 cartoon version.)  I had no idea they came any other way. It took me a few months because the beginning of the year in a teacher's life is often more hectic than later. I remember feeling lost after finishing since I had been immersed in Tolkien's world for so long. (This is often referred to as a book hangover.)
• The Baroque Cycle: Quicksilver (2003), The Confusion (2003) and System of the World (2004) by Neal Stephenson. These were a doozy. Theoretically, I would like to read them again one after the other. Realistically, I am not sure I have it in me until retirement.
• The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt: This one was a recent listen for me. I had a paperback on my shelf on and off a few times, once from the library, once from a Little Free Library, and once from my father, but in the end I listened to it over many weeks of driving and I enjoyed it immensely this way. 

 

Big books in my future reading life:

Fall by Neal Stephenson

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

I think one of these will probably be in the mix during my winter break this year and the other in the spring or summer of 2021.

 

What big books have you read?

What I've Read - What I am Reading - October 12, 2020

This was a random reading week. At first I had NO time, then we arrived in Florida and I had TIME.   

 

Read:

Between the plane and beach morning, I finished If I Never Met You by Mhairi McFarlane. I appreciated the main characters progression from someone who tied her identity to her male partner to seeing her value as an independent person. 

I started and finished The Geometry of Holding Hands by Alexander McCall Smith on the beach on Tuesday. This is Smith's 13^th Isabel Dalhousie novel. I have read them all. The descriptions of old Edinburgh, Scotland in these books are the main reason I wanted to visit there on our trip to the UK in June 2019. I think I remember this series being touted as mysteries at first, but the mysteries were generally of a domestic nature as in people trying to find lost relatives or Isabel getting involved in solving someone else's problems. The content of the stories has not changed, but I don't see them in the mystery genre any longer. 

Next I started and then finished Beach Read by Emily Henry. I thought this was going to be a lighter read than it turned out to be, but it was also more of a romance than I was expecting. I am not sure who commissions the design of book covers, but this one was misleading. I am not mad about it, but I don't feel like the cover did credit to the important work the two main characters did as they wrote books unlike those they had written previously. (I don't think the title is quite right either. I might have called it The Writing Bet or Two Authors: Two Lives, or something with more gravitas.) I embraced the meta nature of a novel about two novelists trying to approach new genres and topics that turned out to be personally therapeutic. This book spoke to the ways that writing about challenges in our lives can help us to confront them in realistic and healthy ways. 

Reading:

Now that I am home for a good long time, probably until Christmas time, I will finish The Empire of Gold by S.A. Chakraborty. I also started Megan Whalen Turner's 6th book in The Thief series, Return of the Thief, a book, among others, which I have been looking forward to seeing published. 

 

Listening:

In the past week I have not listened to much at all. During the time I did spend driving, I continued The Year of Living Danishly by Helen Russell.

When I finish this, I will move to Meaty by Samantha Irby. This is one of her earlier titles, but I loved both We are Never Meeting in Real Life and Wow, No Thank You to the point that I cried tears of laughter, so I think it will be an excellent investment of time. 

 

What have you read? What are you reading and listening to?

What I am Looking Forward to Being Published in 2020 and 2021

Because I have a NetGalley account, I have the opportunity to read books before they are released. Access to NetGalley is available to librarians, educators, booksellers, and bloggers as a way to offer e-gallies to those who are in a position to purchase and recommend books to others. As a librarian and blogger I both buy books for my collection and talk to students about new books I think they will like. And write about what I have read and am reading here.  

NetGalley offers many books, I cannot read everything I have access to. I try to prioritize by reading those I am thinking about purchasing for the collection followed by books in which I have a personal interest. Often new books fit both categories. The site asks members to give feedback by answering a few quick questions with the option to link to an online review or comment directly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Books I am looking forward to in 2020:

• Return of the Thief by Megan Whalen Turner (October 6): (Ok, so I am three days late on this one, but I wanted to include it anyway because - Eugenides! If you know him from the other books you know why this matters. If not, I suggest starting with the first book. This new one is the 6th in The Thief series that started in 1996. 
• Swamp Thing: Twin Branches by Maggie Stiefvater, illustrated by Morgan Beem (October 13): This is Stiefvater's first graphic novel. I am looking forward to how she handles a different format. Stiefvater is another author whose work I will always buy because I want to revisit and remember regularly.
• His Dark Materials: Serpentine by Philip Pullman (October 15- Yes, a Thursday.): In this novella, Pullman brings us the story of Lyra and her daemon Pan after the events of The Amber Spyglass during which their relationship was fundamentally changed. (No spoilers here.) I am excited for any return to Lyra's Oxford and it is nice to have this while waiting for the 3rd installment in the Book of Dust trilogy (for which there is currently no release date) AND it is illustrated by Tom Duxbury.
• Giant Days - Volume 14 by John Allison and Max Sarin (October 27): Graduation time is here so this will be the last volume of adventures for Esther, Daisy, and Susan (though she still has a few more years of medical school to go). This volume contains a post-graduation story. I wonder if they are experimenting to see if readers want more or if a graceful end is better.
• Super Fake Love Song by David Yoon (November 17): I am happy that Frankly in Love was well received so Yoon could publish another novel. This is also a rom-com in which Sunny tells a lie to impress a girl and hi-jinx ensue.
• How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories (The Folk of the Air) by Holly Black (November 24): This is a prequel to The Cruel Prince, exploring Cardan's days as child in Elfhame. Black is one of my "always" authors. As in, I will always purchase her work because I want to keep her books on my shelf AND this one is illustrated by Covina Rai.
• Ready Player Two by Ernest Cline (November 24): I loved Ready Player One, therefore I am apprehensive about this one. I don't envy any author who publishes a book that is loved by so many since the pressure to produce an equally fantastic sequel is massive. I did not like his second book Armada, but am hopeful that a return to the world of Ready Player One is better. 

 

 

Books I am looking forward to in 2021:

• Act Your Age, Eve Brown by Talia Hibbert (March 9): This is the 3rd in trilogy about three sisters. I read the second book Take a Hint, Dani Brown before the first Get a Life, Chloe Brown. There were a few details from the first book in the second, but that did not prevent me from understanding and enjoying the story. I just went back and read the first and everything was cleared up.
• A World Without Email: Reimagining Work in an Age of Communication Overload by Cal Newport (March 2): Newport is the author of Deep Work and Digital Minimalism along with a regular blog and now a podcast.
• Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid (May 25)- I started with Daisy Jones and the Six then found The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and I may jump into more of her back list while waiting for May. I don't know too much about this one, but the blurb says it starts at a party thrown by four siblings.
• Broken (in the best possible way) by Jenny Lawson (April 6)- Lawson's books are hilarious and healing and a reminder that so many are living with chronic illness or mental health concerns AND she just opened an independent bookstore the Nowhere Bookshop. Both Let's Pretend This Never Happened and Furiously Happy were fabulous to listen to as Lawson reads them. I am so looking forward to this one I will probably use an Audible credit for it.
• The Box in the Woods (Truly Devious) by Maureen Johnson (April 27): Stevie Bell solved the mystery of the century in the Truly Devious trilogy but now there is strange goings-ons at Camp Wonder Falls and the owner asks Stevie for help. I like the idea of an on-going YA mystery series since I read so many of these sorts of books.
• The Heart Principle by Helen Hoang (August 17): I like to read romance for the happy ending. The challenges in getting there are what make the reading interesting. Both The Kiss Quotient and The Bride Test took the romance tropes and mixed them up with diverse characters and unexpected twists for two charming, unpredictable stories. I think this one will be just as satisfying.

 

What new books are you looking forward to?

What I've Read - What I am Reading - October 5, 2020

I had much more time this week to read and listen than last week.   

 

Read:

I finished The Two Lives of Lydia Bird by Josie Silver. Overall I liked the story and was attracted to the magical realism elements of Lydia's experience with grief at the loss of her fiancé to a car accident. 

 

I read two graphic novels:

I Was Their American Dream - by Malaka Gharib. I ordered this title for my library back in the Spring, but with the delivery delays since we were not in school, I did not get my hands on it until just a few weeks ago. I was reminded to look for it after I watched an "In conversation" between Gharib and Robin Ha (author of Almost American Girl) through One More Page Books. Gharib's story explores her early life as a Filipino Egyptian American, while Ha's story is about her move to the US from South Korea as a teen. Reading the novels side by side offers the reader the opportunity to observe the varied experiences of young people who were not born in the US. 

AND

Go with the Flow by Karen Schneemann and Lily Williams. A quartet of sophomore friends start a movement in their school to eradicate stigmas associated with periods. Their fight revolves around the lack of pads and tampons in the school bathrooms while there seems to be no lack of funding for new football uniforms. The book makes many excellent points about the shame that is thrust upon women and in this case particularly teen girls for a natural, bodily function. 

I finished Eat a Peach by chef David Chang. I gave it 4.5 stars (out of 5) because I appreciated his honesty and insights into the restaurant world from his perspective.

 

Reading:

I am continuing to read The Empire of Gold by S.A. Chakraborty. Now I am getting to be embarrassed not to have finished. And I won't in the next week either since I am traveling and the book is too big to carry when I can just take one paperback and my Kindle. 

I am about 1/8 of the way into If I Never Met You by Mhairi McFarlane. This is the paperback I am taking for the plane and the beach. 

 

Listening:

I started The Year of Living Danishly, by Helen Russell. Though she has not mentioned her or the book by name, I think Russell owes a structural and inspirational debt to Gretchen Rubin's The Happiness Project. Russell's husband is offered a position at Lego headquarters in Denmark for a year. They agree to relocate and Russell uses the experience to study life in Denmark, which is allegedly the happiest country in the world. The book is organized by month starting when they arrive in January. In each month Russell, a journalist, explored one aspect of Danish life from gender equality to leisure pursuits to work-life satisfaction. I am most of the way through July, fast approaching August. 

 

What have you read? What are you reading and listening to?

What is Magical Realism?

I have just finished reading The Two Lives of Lydia Bird (2020) by Josie Silver, which prompted me to think about magical realism as a genre and revisit other books I have read in the genre. I found this book after reading and enjoying One Day in December (2018), which is not magical realism. I did not know this was magical realism until I started reading. Magical realism is not a genre I seek, but always like.

While I could describe what magical realism is well enough for you to understand, I found a satisfying definition and a discussion of the types of magical realism in this article in O Magazine from 2019. I particularly like this description offered by Ramona Ausubel, an award winning author:

"In other words, magical realism can be defined as stories rooted in reality—with a touch of, well, magic. They are fictional tales probable enough that they could actually happen, with a bit of whimsy.."

 

 

The first I read was Beloved by Toni Morrison as a junior in college. Sethe, the main character, escaped from slavery 18 years before, but has not escaped the horrors of that life. She is haunted by the ghost of her unnamed daughter and also by the memories of her past. The novel's realistic elements are a window to the experiences of someone formerly enslaved, while the magical elements ask the reader to accept that we cannot know or understand all the mental, emotional, and physical repercussions for someone who has suffered and lived on as Sethe has. The book is both painful and beautiful.

Another from college is The Metamorphosis (1915), a novella by Franz Kafka in which Gregor Samsa wakes one morning to find he has turned into an insect. There is no explanation for why or how this has happened. Samsa goes about his business to find there are professional and personal repercussions to his transformation. 

I also seem to remember having read The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende, but cannot remember much of the story. (This will need to go on a list of novels to re-read.) The book appeared on all the lists of magical realism I looked at to jog my memory of what I have read. 

Joanne Harris is an author who seems to specialize in magical realism as seen in Chocolat (2000), which is also an excellent movie, The Girl with No Shadow (US title) (2009), Peaches for Monsieur le Curé (2013), and The Strawberry Thief (2019). I have read the first two, while the other two are on my extensive TBR list. The stories take place in a small French village, Lansquenet-sous-Tannes and Paris and feature Vianne Rocher a chocolate maker with a talent for guessing every patron's favorite. 

I have read three novels in which the emotions of cooking are a significant element. In Like Water for Chocolate (1989), by Laura Esquivel, the emotions Tita is feeling as she cooks a dish are then transferred to those who eat the dish. The opposite is the case for Rose in The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake (2011), by Aimee Bender, who can taste the feelings of the cook. This is also true of Lumi in A Taste of Sage (2020), a romance by Yaffa S. Santos.

A.S. King is that rare case of author who I seek out because of the magical elements. I have read, in the order I read them:

• Ask the Passengers (2012) - Astrid sends thoughts and questions up to passing airplanes, in which a passenger hears and is prompted to their own introspection. 
• Reality Boy (2013) - This one is not magical realism, but an excellent book.
• Please Ignore Vera Dietz (2010) - This one is also just regular realism, but also highly recommended. 
• Glory O'Brien's History of the Future (2014) - Over night Glory gains the power to see a person's past and future in a glance.
• Dig (2019) - This one is my favorite. The story is told from the point of view of 5 teens and follows a twisty path all connected to the Hemmings family potato farm. This one is difficult to sum up in a few sentences. It is well worth keeping up with the twists and turns. 
• The Year we Fell From Space (2019) - This is a middle grade novel while the others are YA. (I was never prevented from reading any book I chose, and have adopted this philosophy as well, so if you want to know the age range for any book for young people there are resources like Common Sense Media to help guide you.)

And as I mentioned here, I recently acquired a copy of Still Life With Tornado (2016) that I am looking forward to reading soon. 

 

Other titles I have read and remember reading are:

• Belzhar (2014) - Meg Wolitzer - At a therapeutic boarding school, journal writing takes students to the alternate world of Belzhar.
• In Five Years (2020) - Rebecca Serle - One night Dannie skips ahead five years to a life she is not expecting, then wakes back in her time with mysteries she spends the next five years figuring out.
• Long Way Down (2019) - Jason Reynolds - As Will takes the elevator down toward a life changing act he is visited by ghosts of friends and family who help him to see what might come of his decision. This really does not do this novel in verse justice. I highly recommend just reading this one to feel the full power of the story. 
• Paris on Repeat (2020) - Amy Bearce - This is a Groundhog Day story in which Eve relives the same day of her 8th grade trip to Paris until she is able to fix some mistakes and take some risks to make the day "perfect."
• Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937) - Zora Neale Hurston - Hurston is one of the authors from the past I would most like to meet. When I was looking at lists of magical realism novels, this one was a surprise, especially since I used to teach it and read it numerous times in the 15 years I was an English teacher. But in thinking about it, I realized the influence of nature on Janie brings in magical elements.  

 

While I don't care for the click-baity nature of this title, "11 questions you're too embarrassed to ask about magical realism," the content is well research and informative about the origins and progression of magical realism as a separate genre.

 

What are your favorite works of magical realism?

What I've Read - What I am Reading - September 28, 2020

This week has been less about reading and more about minimizing and organizing in the new place, but I have managed to get in evening reading time just about every day.  

 

Read:

On Wednesday I went out to the Fairfax Public Library where I have a card because I work in Virginia. I picked up two more volumes of Giant Days: Volumes 12 and 13 by John Allison, Lissa Treiman, Max Sarin, Whitney Cogar, and Jim Campbell. This series is fun. The university students are now on the edge of graduation and wondering what will be next for them and how their friendships will fare when they go their separate ways. Every character is delightfully quirky and endearing. Volume 14 is coming in October and includes graduation plus a post-grad adventure. 

I finished, A Suitable Vengeance by Elizabeth George and placed the next one, For the Sake of Elena, on hold at the library. It should be a few weeks before it is available. While I like George's Lynley mysteries, I found this one less satisfying that the others because of one plot hole. Hole might not be quite the right word. There was an element of the mystery that occurred to me long before it did to them, which in itself isn't a problem, but was totally unrealistic given the obvious nature of the clue they should have looked at more closely sooner than they did. 

 

Reading:

I am continuing to read The Empire of Gold by S.A. Chakraborty. There are so many political and strategic twists I can only read this when I am wide awake. 

I have The Two Lives of Lydia Bird by Josie Silver who wrote One Day in December (Yes, another London romance with December in the title, which I thought was cleverly done) and If I Never Met You by Mhairi McFarlane from the library to start reading after I post this. 

 

Listening:

I have 45 more minutes left in Eat a Peach by chef David Chang. I have appreciated the detail he provides into how he made decisions about opening and closing restaurants, making changes based on reviews, and the role his mental health issues played in his interactions and decisions. If you enjoy his shows Ugly Delicious and Breakfast, Lunch, & Dinner then you will certainly want to read this since it has a similar mix of food, personal stories, and social commentary. 

 

What have you read? What are you reading and listening to?

Who are the Top Authors I Would Like to See in Person?

A few weeks ago I wrote about the authors I have seen in person (or virtually).  

Today I want to share some authors I would like to see if given the opportunity and others who are long gone, but who I think would have been great in person.

• Phillip Pullman - I have been reading Pullman since the His Dark Materials series in the 90s. As far as I have seen, he does not do book tours or festivals. I respect this if it is his preference, but I would enjoy hearing him talk about his work. Especially now that he has been writing another trilogy (The Book of Dust) set in Lyra's London. I have also read his Sally Lockhart mystery series.
• Connie Willis - Given my feelings about her time travel books, Willis is an author I want to have tea and a good chat with. I'd also like to see her talk about her work. 
• Erin Morgenstern - I rarely read books more than once, but I have both read and listened to The Night Circus. I haven't yet read her second novel, The Starless Sea, though I have owned it since it was released in the spring. I know I will be sorry to have waited, but there isn't a bad time to read a good book.
• Jason Reynolds - In reality I have seen Reynolds speak, but it was in his capacity as the National Ambassador for Young People's Literature, not in connection with his own writing. This is a goal.
• Tana French - The more mysteries I read, the more I am intrigued by mystery writing. 
• Ann Patchett - The first of her books I read was Bel Canto, the most recent was The Dutch House. In between I have never been disappointed. She is one of this generation's greats. AND she owns an independent bookstore!
• Glennon Doyle - I so enjoyed listening to her book Untamed recently. I am on the wait list for Love Warrior. I connect to her real voice because she sounds like a friend and to her written voice. She says things that make sense and encourage me to look inward.

I could probably write all day about authors I would like to hear talk about their work, the world, philosophy, life, but these are a few of the top who I will seek when there is again an opportunity for in person events. Until then I will look for virtual events, like the National Book Festival, which begins tomorrow.

 

 

I also made a list of authors who are no longer living who I would like to have had the opportunity to see and hear in person as well. They mainly include authors whose work I have taught, but in most cases I chose works I loved or found merit in so the authors are those I respect and whose work I would love to hear more about.

• Oscar Wilde - I love his satire from The Importance of Being Earnest to The Picture of Dorian Gray. I visited his resting place in Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, France. It is a beautiful memorial to a favorite writer.
• Edgar Allan Poe - Poe's work is attractive to students and therefore fun to teach. The short stories are masterful examples of the power of brevity. Despite his final resting place being in Baltimore, I have not visited, an oversight I hope to rectify soon. 
• The Transcendentalists and their friends - After visiting Concord, Massachusetts last summer for a National Endowment for the Humanities educator workshop I came to know this remarkable group of writers and philosophers more deeply than I had from only their writing. Seeing the places they wrote and spent their time offered insights that have made their work more meaningful to me. The writers I include are:
  • Henry David Thoreau
  • Louisa May Alcott
  • Ralph Waldo Emerson
  • Nathaniel Hawthorne
  • Margaret Fuller
• The poets Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson - 2019 was the 100^th anniversary of Whitman's birth. The Library of Congress had a special open house during which were displayed rare works and special publications. The Morgan Library & Museum in New York City had an exhibition as did the main branch of the New York public library. I was able to see all three.
  • I consider Dickinson and Whitman to be parallel poets, whose words resonate with me in similar ways. I have participated in an all day reading of Dickinson's poems to commemorate her birthday and visited her home in Holyoke, Massachusetts.
  • I think a walk in the park with the two of them and some time on a bench in conversation would be intellectually stimulating  and nourishment for my creative soul.
• Zora Neal Hurston - Because she was a groundbreaking writer, a talented folklorist, and Their Eyes Were Watching God is one of the most gratifying novels I have ever taught because of the ways in which almost all students find a point of connection with Janie Crawford's story.

There are certainly far more authors I could add to this list as well.

 

What authors do you want to see in person? Who are you sorry to have missed?

 

 

 

 

What I've Read - What I am Reading - September 21, 2020

This week was more busy than I was expecting, but I had some satisfying reading time anyway.

 

Read:

Late in the week I finished The Borrower by Rebecca Makkai. It was a relatively quick read, but one I almost did not finish. Had it been more difficult to read or longer I might have abandoned it, but I persevered and ended up finding it to be just ho hum. The main character is a children's librarian in Hannibal, MO. She is the weak link in the story. She just wasn't interesting to me. This is why I don't like to do traditional reviews. A character who was difficult for me might not be an issue for another reader. The other main character was Ian who I liked quite a bit. Finding out how the story ended for him is why I stuck with it. 

On Wednesday I picked up a bag of books from school from the carts of new arrivals. I jumped in right away to the graphic novels and read Giant Days: Volumes 10 and 11 by John Allison, Lissa Treiman, Max Sarin, Whitney Cogar, and Jim Campbell. Also in my bag was The Phantom Twin by Lisa Brown. It is the story of Isabel and Jane, conjoined twins in the 1920s whose parents sell them to a "freak" show where they perform as the Extraordinary Peabody Sisters until a doctor, looking for fame tries to separate them and only one survives. The details about the traveling side show life were well researched and the art was simple but effective for the story being told.          

When I signed into my DC public library account early in the week, I discovered a book that was about to be due that I had not even cracked yet. Eep!  So I read We Met in December by Rosie Curtis over the past two days. It was a fairly standard London romance. My favorite parts were when the two main characters Jess and Alex would amble around London seeing sites and visiting nooks and coffee shops. It was nice to revisit places I have been with them and note down new places for another visit. 

 

Reading:

I am continuing to read The Empire of Gold by S.A. Chakraborty because I want to savor this last book in the trilogy. 

I also started A Suitable Vengeance by Elizabeth George, the next in the Inspector Lynley series. I don't usually read the same author's mysteries so close together, but this one came up from the library more quickly than I was expecting and is due back in about a week. 

 

Listening:

I finished Dreams from My Father, written and read by Barack Obama. I voted for and supported Obama as president but this book revealed many things about his early life that I had not known. His early commitment to racial equality is impressive. I also learned a lot about his family, which is diverse and spread around the world. 

My next listen is Eat a Peach by chef David Chang. So far it is an interesting hop and skip through his early life. Since he is from northern Virginia he references many places and characteristics of the area that are spot on about local food, schools, and towns. He has just started describing how and why he started his first restaurant. I have no interest in going into the restaurant business, but I am fascinated by its inner workings from having watched every season of Top Chef and listened previously to Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential. 

 

What have you read? What are you reading and listening to?

Favorite Reads about a Minimalist Life

Despite the number of books I own, I have been working toward a minimalist lifestyle for almost 5 years. It started when I moved from southeastern Virginia to Washington, DC. This was a move from a large suburban home I had filled with "stuff" to first a studio, then one bedroom apartment. Now, since I have moved into a bigger place with two bedrooms and more living space I need to revisit my most inspiring minimalist reads to keep me on track to continuing to remove possessions without adding more. More living space does not mean I need to bring anything in to "fill" it. Instead, I want to enjoy the mental rest an uncluttered space offers. I look forward to doing yoga in the living room without having to move furniture or other clutter. I anticipate the satisfaction of passing possessions along to someone who will find them more useful, beautiful, or needed than I did. 

I first discovered minimalist through the Minimalists, Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus and their book Everything That Remains: A Memoir by the Minimalists (2013). The book is a series of essays they published on line, then collected into a book. I continue to read their blog and saw their documentary Minimalism when it was released on Netflix. Their work is inspiring because they are open about how each came to minimalism: one through personal loss and the other because he saw how much happier his friend was with fewer possessions. I will continue to follow their work. 

The next book I read was about minimizing the stresses of work life and personal life rather than possessions. Greg McKeown's Essentialism (2014) is a philosophy and guide to wading through the things we THINK we must do and getting to what is essential. He presents a simple concept with straightforward advice couched in the science and psychology behind why our work and personal lives can be streamlined for productivity and contentment. I go back to this one regularly.

Once you find the world of minimalism, you discover there are as many approaches as there are proponents. But that is one of the strengths of the pursuit - there is no one RIGHT way to declutter. If you stick around in the minimalist world for a bit you will run across a quote attributed to William Morris that asserts you should "have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful." (If you are interested, wikipedia will tell you all about designer and activist William Morris who was a multi-talented person.) Many of the approaches will use this quotation which is as much as they have in common in their advice for how to begin removing excess from your home. 

Some minimalists I like - mainly in the order in which I discovered them.

1. Joshua Becker: the founder of Becoming Minimalist who changed his life after too much time cleaning out the garage instead of spending it with his family. I have read The More of Less (2016) and The Minimalist Home (2018) both of which are predominantly practical, while also exploring the benefits of owning less. His approach is especially good if you are traveling the path with a partner and children. He is also co-founder of two online magazines Simplify Magazine and Simple Money, both of which are regular reminders of why and how to minimize. 

2. Cait Flanders: Cait is younger than others I have read, which makes her voice unique for me. Her first book is, The Year of Less: How I Stopped Shopping, Gave Away My Belongings, and Discovered Life is Worth More Than Anything You Can Buy in a Store. The sub-title isn't subtle. What you see is what the book is about. Her personal motivations and reflections differ from mine, but I appreciated her take and found much inspiration in her journey. Her second book, Adventures in Opting Out was released on Tuesday (September 15, 2020) and while I pre-ordered it to take advantage of some extras she offered, I have not done more than flip through it yet. 

3. Courtney Carver: Carver is the creator of the minimalist fashion challenge Project 333. The challenge has existed online for years, but the book Project 333: The Minimalist Fashion Challenge That Proves Less Really is So Much More was released in 2020. Her previous book Soulful Simplicity (2017) wasn't for me. I am much more drawn to the fashion specific part of her approach. 

4. Others I have read and enjoyed include:

• Gretchen Rubin - Outer Order, Inner Calm: Declutter and Organize to Make More Room for Happiness (2019). Rubin's focus in much of her work is on happiness and a variety of ways to increase it in your life. She also includes organization which other minimalists avoid, instead arguing that really it is better to get rid of things than to organize them. But I like all of her work and this added another layer.
• Erin Boyle - her book, Simple Matters: Living with Less and Ending Up with More (2016) is special because it is a companion to her blog which chronicles her life with a partner and 3 small children in a tiny Brooklyn apartment. While practical, the book is also beautiful because Boyle is a photographer. Her blog is ongoing and also features lovely photography as well as insights in to daily small living.
• Cal Newport - he writes on a variety of topics only one of which pertains to minimalism, Digital Minimalism (2019). This work is a guide to simplifying our digital lives in order to be more productive at work and less distracted in our personal lives. 
• Elizabeth Willard Thames - Thames, is best know as Mrs. Frugalwoods from her blog, hence the title of her book, Meet the Frugalwoods (2019). She and her husband gave up hectic lives in big cities to buy a homestead in rural Vermont where they are frugally raising their two daughters. While not strictly minimalists as she says both on her blog and in the book, they did simplify their lives in order to save to make the lifestyle change. 
• Manoush Zomorodi - Her work, Bored and Brilliant: How Spacing Out Can Unlock Your Most Productive and Creative Self  (2018) is a departure from the others, but one I think pairs well with Digital Minimalism. The book is about the ways in which we try to occupy every moment of our time and that of our partners and children, rather than allowing for boredom which in turn allows the mind to wander, often onto unexplored paths. I find that my mind really gets going when I am lying in bed and have let the concerns of the day go. For this reason I keep a pen and notepad on the bedside table to record these ideas so I can drift off knowing they will not be lost. 

 

 

Have you discovered minimalism? Is it a lifestyle you embrace or reject?

 

 

 

What I've Read - What I am Reading - September 14, 2020

A week and three quarters after the move, the apartment looks like a home and just about everything has found a place or been given away or donated, which does include some books. This means I was able to spend more time reading than I did last week. 

On Saturday I made a trip to Politics & Prose on Connecticut Ave. to pick up the latest Louise Penny mystery All The Devils are Here that was part of our ticket to the Zoom conversation between she and Hillary Clinton. 

 

 

 

 

Read:

Last week I began reading Bringing Down the Duke by Evie Dunmore, which I finished this week. I enjoyed it and thought it was sassy, smart, and swoony. I liked both Annabelle and her love interest Montgomery. Each was layered and flawed as well as believably attracted to each other based on backstory and events in the novel. I appreciated the strong friendships between the women working for women's suffrage in the Victorian age in England. This was a slice of history I knew little about which prompted me to do some research to discover how the movement in England compared to that here in the United States the centenary of which is this year. I intend to read the next in the "A League of Extraordinary Women" series A Rogue of One's Own.

Over the week I also started and finished The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid. I read Daisy Jones & the Six in November, which prompted me to seek another novel by Reid. The story of Evelyn Hugo is framed around her seven marriages, but the larger frame is that Evelyn commissions a talented but struggling writer, Monique Grant to interview her then write her biography after she passes away. The layers of both women's stories drew me into all the twists and turns of their lives.

I picked up two books in addition to the Louise Penny when I visited the bookstore. The first was the graphic novel, Wonder Woman Tempest Tossed, by Laurie Halse Anderson, illustrated by Leila Del Duca. It came with a signed book plate which was a surprise. I read it on Saturday evening. I want to read it again, but I think my 10 year old niece will like it too. 

I also bought Still Life with Tornado by A.S. King, which was also unexpectedly signed. I have read many of her works, each of which I have found surprising and mind-sparking. This one will go near the top of my TBR. 

 

Reading:

I am continuing to read The Empire of Gold by S.A. Chakraborty because I want to savor this last book in the trilogy. Since it is a library ebook due this week, I started The Borrower by Rebecca Makkai. I will finish it early in the week. 

 

Listening:

I finished The King of Crows by Libba Bray, just in time for the digital audiobook to go back to the library today. The series ended satisfyingly. I am thinking of grabbing the book from my library so I can reread the last few chapters. One of the reasons Bray is one of my favorite YA authors is because she writes a variety of genres. I think my first Bray read was the Gemma Doyle trilogy, which I have read AND listened to and still ranks as my favorite of her work. 

In the car today I started Dreams from My Father, written and read by Barack Obama. 

 

What have you read? What are you reading and listening to?

To picture books, with love

Many of us begin our reading lives by being read to. This is one important step in becoming a life-long reader, as is having access to books. Dolly Parton is such a strong advocate for getting books into the hands of children that she founded Dolly Parton's Imagination Library to gift books to children from birth to five years old. According to the site, 143 million books have been gifted as of August 2020. This is not the only program of this kind because being read to and having books is crucial for child development as well as future success. Reading is Fundamental is another organization that seeks to get books into the hands of all children. 

Each night before bed my brother and I were treated to a story. Sometimes two. Those times with my brother are the earliest memories I have, but I know I was being read to before he came along. I also know that having books and hearing books is what started my love of books and reading. 

We both liked the Dr. Seuss books, in particular One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish and Fox in Socks, both of which my father claims he can still recite. While neither of these is truly a story, they both feature rhyme and word play that I appreciate as an adult reader. In my favorite part of One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish a "nook has a hook on which is a book about how to cook" and in Fox in Socks I am partial to the segment about the "tweetle beetle battle." 

There were others I favored because I enjoyed the story. One I loved and still do is Christina Katerina and the Box by Patricia Lee Gauch. It is the story of Christina and her friend Fats Watson and the days following a new refrigerator and its box coming into Christina's home. The two friends turn the box into all manner of fantastic things including a castle and a race car. 

Others I remember are The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats and Best Friends for Frances by Russell Hoban. We were fortunate to have many books in our home to choose from and read on our own, once we could. (Being able to choose ones own books is an important element to becoming a lover of books and reading.) I was excited to learn to read and was able to do so quickly. 

When I got to school and had access to the school library I branched out. An early favorite was The Girl who Loved Wild Horses by Paul Goble, which won the 1978 Caldecott Medal and depicts the story of a girl of the Plains Indians of North America. [Goble's work is generally accepted as a respectful and accurate depiction of the Plains Indians as he was "adopted into the Yakima and Sioux tribes (with the name Wakinyan Chikala, “Little Thunder”) by Chief Edgar Red Cloud" in 1959.] I checked out this beautiful story as many times in a row as I was allowed then checked it out again once other students had had a chance. I own a number of copies today.  

Another book I have fond memories of and still own is The Star Wars Storybook that I woke up early on weekend mornings to read in bed before breakfast. 

As a high school librarian I am rarely asked for picture book recommendations, but as a school librarian it is important for me to be familiar with books for all levels of readers, because not all high school students read at a high school level and I might not always be a high school librarian. I have also over the years shopped for books for friends as they became parents.

My most reliable sources for knowing what is being published are:

• School Library Journal and Booklist reviews
• Awards lists 
• Browsing in bookstores 

I try to buy books that are current and not just fall back on old favorites. I like to explore new authors when possible knowing as this post from Book Riot reasons, many of the favorites of the parents as well as those buying the books are outdated without a broad or diverse viewpoint, and more practically may be purchased many times over for a new reader. 

Some recent books I have purchased either for my library or as gifts:

	The Undefeated	Kwame Alexander & Kadir Nelson
	Hello Lighthouse	Sophie Blackall
	Maybe Something Beautiful	F. Isabel Campoy & Theresa Howell
	Stellaluna	Janell Cannon
	Last Stop on Market Street	Matt de la Peña
	Henry Hikes to Fitchburg	D.B. Johnson
	The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore	William Joyce & Joe Bluhm
	Drawn Together	Minh Lê & Dan Santat
	Julián is a Mermaid	Jessica Love
	The Word Collector	Peter H. Reynolds
	And Tango Makes Three	Justin Richardson, Peter Parnell, & Henry Cole
	Parrots Over Puerto Rico	Susan L. Roth & Cindy Trumbore
	The House in the Night	Susan Marie Swanson & Beth Krommes
	The Insomniacs	Karina Wolf & Brothers Hilts
	What Do You Do With an Idea? What Do You Do With a Problem?What Do You Do With a Chance?	Kobi Yamada & Mae Besom

 

What are some of your favorite picture books to read and gift?

 

 

 

 

What I've Read - What I'm Reading - September 7, 2020

Life has been hectic recently. First was my birthday, then I moved. Moving was far more stressful than getting another year better. But amid the chaos I had the idea for a recurring post on Mondays. A "what I have read"and "what I am reading and listening to" post. I read quickly but depending on the books, some weeks I read an amazing amount and others I just make progress. This was a "make progress" kind of week. 

 

 

Read:

I finished Well-Schooled in Murder by Elizabeth George early in the week. As I have written, I love this series of mysteries, but have read the 5 most recent and then went into her earlier novels to catch up with the backstory I was missing. During the week, I was also had the opportunity to participate in a book event with Louise Penny and Hillary Clinton discussing Penny's most recent publication, All the Devils are Here. (The recording of this even does not seem to be available yet, but I will update the post with a link when it is.)

 

Reading:

On the 29th I went ahead and treated myself to a birthday book, The Empire of Gold by S.A. Chakraborty. 
I devoured the first two in the series The City of Brass and The Kingdom of Copper. I love when I can read a trilogy or series without waiting for publication since I sometimes forget important details if there is too much time between books. This trilogy has been a reader's delight because the world building and characterization are a fantasy lovers dream. In addition to enjoying these as a reader, I have appreciated them for their artistry as I craft my own novel. 

Since I want to savor The Empire of Gold, I also started Bringing Down the Duke by Evie Dunmore. I appreciate how she is able to weave current issues into a historical romance. The story is swoony and political without being heavy-handed. I have Dunmore's next novel, A Rogue of One's Own in the queue on my Kindle from Net Galley to bring into my reading over the next few weeks. 

 

Listening:

I finished Lindy West's The Witches are Coming just in the nick of time before it was due back at the library. My politics align with hers so I spent time while I was packing shouting "hell, yeah" and "YES!" while I was listening.

Just as I finished, The King of Crows by Libba Bray popped into my library so i jumped in as I unpacked. This is the 4th and final book in the Diviners series, which I have enjoyed all the way through. This one is 21 hours of audio so i need to buckle down and listed regularly as I go about my day in order to finish before the audio is due back to the library on the 14th. 

 

What have you read? What are you reading and listening to?

 

A How-To Guide for Seeing Authors in Person

One of the best ways to find out about author visits is to sign up for events announcements from your local bookstores or follow stores on social media. Both independent bookstores and chains like Barnes & Noble host author events. Public libraries also announce author visits on their sites and social media. Festivals and conferences have their own sites where lists of authors who will appear can be found. 

Via an e-mail I discovered that on Tuesday, September 2nd Politics & Prose, an independent bookstore in Washington, DC will be hosting an author chat between Louise Penny, Queen of Mysteries and Secretary Hillary Clinton. I am not sure of the connection between the two, but I am eager to find out when I participate in this virtual event. 

 

 

 

See Authors at Independent Bookstores:

Before moving to Washington, DC I had seen few authors in person. This was not for lack of interest, but lack of opportunity. There was only one independent bookstore near enough for me to visit regularly. There I saw the authors Lydia Netzer, Joshilyn Jackson, and Madeleine Miller. 

After moving to DC, the choices of independent bookstores to visit and authors to see became almost infinite. I could see an author every day and choose between options. Even now when bookstores are not hosting live events there are many in this area and the offerings have expanded to events around the world.

My first in DC was Joe Yonan, who is the food and dining editor at The Washington Post, at the Politics & Prose main store. The book was Eat Your Vegetables, a vegetarian cookbook. Since events like this are usually free, attendees are encouraged to purchase a copy of the book from the store, which is required if you want to have the book signed after the reading. In this case I did both. Sometimes you are permitted to bring additional books to have signed, but this is rare, especially for popular authors.  

A note on signed books: I have mixed feelings about signed books. Their ubiquity makes it unlikely that even signed first editions will see a large jump in value. For me the value of a signed book is in the time I have to interact with the author as they sign my book. After having waited in long lines to have 20 seconds to interact with an author, I often skip the signing. This varies though by venue and author. If the venue is small, like the Virginia Association of School Librarians conference, I wait for the signing because the author is committed to interacting more personally. When the venue is large, like the National Book Festival, I skip the signing as the lines are long and for an understandably limited time. When I go to author talks at local bookstores my decision varies based on whether or not I plan to purchase the book or will read it from the library. 

While many author talks at bookstores are free, this is not always the case. 

 

Authors I have paid to see through bookstores: Generally when an author event is a paid event, a copy of the most recently released book is included with the ticket, which sometimes also means the book is signed or there will be an opportunity to have the book signed at the end of the event. 

• Judy Blume - In the Unlikely Event - signed on site
• Neil Gaiman - This was part of his "An Evening with Neil Gaiman" tour and not connected to a specific new release, but signed backlist books were available to purchase
• Hillary Clinton - What Happened - pre-signed
• Louise Penny - A Better Man - pre-signed
• Patti Smith - Year of the Monkey - unsigned
• Bill Bryson - The Body - unsigned

 

Authors I have seen for free: These are in no particular order only as I remembered them. I have included the book I saw them touring for and where I saw them if I could remember it. Often these author talks are recorded and can be found on the store's site.

• Rainbow Rowell - Politics & Prose 
• Stephanie Perkins - Hooray for Books
• Jenny Lawson - Politics & Prose - Furiously Happy
• Jacqueline Winspear - Politics & Prose - The Care and Management of Lies
• Laurie Halse Anderson in conversation with Scott Simon - Politics & Prose - The Invisible Knife of Memory
• Jasmine Guillory in conversation with Nicole Chung - East City Books - The Proposal & All You Can Ever Know (respectively)
• Victoria Schwab - One More Page Books - A Gathering of Shadows 
• Sarah McCoy - One More Page Books - Marilla of Green Gables
• Libby Copeland - East City Books - The Lost Family

 

Authors I have seen virtually: I anticipate seeing more authors this way in the coming days especially with the National Book Festival going entirely online this year. 

• Jesse Dougherty - I believe Jesse organized this himself on Twitter live. - Buzz Saw: The Improbable Story of How the Washington Nationals Won the World Series
• Robin Ha and Malaka Gharib in conversation - One More Page Books - Almost American Girl & I Was Their American Dream (respectively)

 

See Authors at the National Book Festival:

Another reliable way to see authors speak about their work is at the annual National Book Festival. The event takes place in Washington, DC because it is organized by the Library of Congress, and even in non-COVID years, the author's presentations are recorded for viewing on the Library's site. The Festival originally spanned two days on the National Mall under tents, but in 2014 the Library hosted the event in the Walter E. Washington Convention Center over one longer day, and it has been there ever since. In 2013 I introduced Holly Black at the Festival and Rita Williams-Garcia in 2014. These were exciting moments in my bookish life. I have seen a variety of other authors speak including Jack Gantos and Congressman John Lewis. 

This year the Festival will take place online September 25-27.

 

See Authors at Non-Book Festival Library of Congress Events:

• Lois Lowry - I saw Lowry at the Library of Congress in conversation with Nikki Silver about making The Giver into a movie.
• Mukoma Wa Ngugi - I attended college with Mukoma and even sat next to him at our graduation where his father Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o was our commencement speaker. Mukoma visited the African and Middle Eastern Division of the Library of Congress to discuss his work.
• Jonah Solkoff Eskin Memorial Program 2015: National Ambassadors for Young Peoples Literature: A Tribute to Walter Dean Myers - This event took place on May 6, 2015 and included the Ambassador Kate DiCamillo, along with past Ambassadors Katherine Patterson and Jon Scieszka along with Myers's son author and artist, Christopher Myers. 
• Tim Gunn - I was invited by a friend who had secured two tickets to this event to hear Gunn speak about Disco fashion as part of the Library of Congress's Bibliodiscotheque in May of 2017. His memoir The Natty Professor is wonderful. 

 

See Authors at State and Local Book Festivals:

Every year (except 2020) the NOVA Teen Book Festival takes place at a high school in Northern Virginia. As part of that event, the authors come to town the day before to visit local schools for free. Schools are responsible for planning a program that will involve interested students in a small setting with the author. As part of this, my school was visit by:

• Rachel Hartman - Tess of the Road
• Heidi Heilig - The Girl From Everywhere and The Ship Beyond Time

This list of Writer's Conferences and Book Festivals from around the world has links to all the events it lists.

 

See Authors at Conferences: 

I attend the Virginia Association of School Librarians conference every year that I am able, which has worked out to 8 times in the last 10 years. Many authors are invited to the conference as presenters, panelists, and keynote speakers. I have seen a number of children's and young adult authors talk about their work in small group settings.

• Joseph Bruchac
• Libba Bray
• Ruta Sepetys 
• Maggie Stiefvater
• Meg Medina
• Sarah Dessen 

 

See Authors at the Public Library:

Brad Meltzer -History Decoded: The 10 Greatest Conspiracies of All Time

 

See Authors at Other Cultural Institutions:

I saw both of these through the Smithsonian Associates program which makes available books talks, lectures, and classes.  

• John Irving - Avenue of Mysteries - pre-signed
• Jodi Picoult - Leaving Time - signed on site

 

 

Writing this post has been a lot of fun, bring back many memories of sitting entranced listening to the authors I admire talking with passion about their writing.

 

What authors have you seen live and virtually?

 

Yes, comics and graphic novels are REAL reading.

I am not the first writer, nor will I be the last to make the case for the legitimacy of comics and graphic novels as "real" reading.

• "Raising Super Readers: Benefits of Comic Books & Graphic Novels" from Scholastic 
• "The Power of Comics" from the International Literacy Association

The reason I am writing about a topic that has been addressed by experts in reading and the ways our brains get involved in different types of reading is because even colleagues of my own, high school English teachers AND librarians sometimes still want to debate if students are really benefiting when they read comics and other graphic works, which leads them to forbid graphic stories as choice or free reading in the classroom. I believe this is harmful to students who need opportunities to read what they choose rather than what has been assigned.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Let's start with the difference between comics and graphic novels:

from "The Power of Comics" -

"Stylistically, comics and graphic novels are very similar. Comic books are usually about 24 pages and are released in single issues usually once or twice a month. These individual books often form an ongoing story that spans several issues. Like TV shows, they are published regularly and collected in what are called trades. Batman, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Bone are all popular examples of comics.

Graphic novels are basically longer versions of comics. Usually, graphic novels tell one full story and can be a couple hundred pages long. Examples include Amulet, The Witch Boy, and Smile."

 

There is also a fabulous book called Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud, who is a graphic novelist, in which he covers in great detail how visual communication works and the ways in which artists use pictures and words to convey meaning.

When I began reading comics, my first was the Sandman series by Neil Gaiman. The series was published between 1989-1996, but I did not read any of them until they were complete and I could get them in trade paperback form. I like reading comics this way because I am not usually able to acquire the next installment every month and fall behind. I would prefer to read them quickly to remember the story line. The books tell the story of Dream and his fellow Endless: Destiny, Death, Desire, Despair, Delirium, and Destruction. 

I am glad I began here because these are considered a triumph in cartooning. The series won more than 26 Eisner Awards among many others. Gaiman wrote the story but a variety of artists were brought in for the visuals. This means that each comic book or chapter in the story has a different look. This makes it vital for the reader to closely engage with the art to see and "read" details important to the story. 

While visual literacy is one of the reasons comics are good for the brain, it is also where I stumbled when I first began reading. I start by reading just the words and skipping the pictures, assuming I was getting the gist of it, but I wasn't. Facial expressions, gestures, and other body language as well as background details were telling parts of the story that I was missing. It took little time for me to slow down and modify my reading style to engage fully with the story. 

I have continued to read the work of Gaiman, but have added other comics. Some of my favorites have been 

• Saga by Brian K. Vaughn and Fiona Staples
• Monstress by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda
• Giant Days by John Allison, Lissa Treiman, Max Sarin, Whitney Cogar, and Jim Campbell
• Ms. Marvel by G. Willow Wilson and Adrian Alphona with a changing group of additional authors
• Rat Queens by Kurtis J. Wiebe, Roc Upchurch, and John Upchurch

Some of these are teen friendly but most are for an adult audience. 

 

When choosing graphic novels to read, I focus on those I have or will order for my high school library.

Some of my favorite authors are:

Raina Telgemeier 

Lucy Knisley

Gene Luen Yang

 

Some recent favorite books are:

Hey Kiddo by Jarrett J. Krosoczka, which is a graphic memoir and was a National Book Award finalist

The March Trilogy by Rep. John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell, which has won Coretta Scott King awards as well as a Robert F. Kennedy book award among others. The idea for Lewis to write about his experiences at the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom was prompted by "Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story," a comic published in 1957. 

Roller Girl by Victoria Jamieson, a book I enjoyed but is beloved by my 10-year-old niece

New Kid by Jerry Craft, which was the winner of the Newbery Medal, Coretta Scott King Author Award, and Kirkus Prize for Young Readers’ Literature

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson and Emily Carroll, which is a graphic version of Anderson's 1999 novel of the same name. It is powerful reading for any teen. 

 

It would take a novella for me to list and discuss all of the graphic novels I have read over the years, but I believe it is an important format for readers because of the need to visual literacy skills when we are surrounded by images in the news and social media. 

 

What are your favorite comics or graphic novels?

 

When the world isn't funny, satire still is.

I have always enjoyed the subtleties of well-written satire. Three favorites are by Jonathan Swift, Oscar Wilde, and Joseph Heller.

In one of my British literature courses as an undergrad at the fabulous Albright College, (Just ask, I could talk all day about what a good fit a small, liberal arts college was for me, and may be for others.) we read Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal." My mind was blown. What an example of satire in all its glory. Unfortunately, I did not have the same reaction to Gulliver's Travels (1725) no matter how many times it was assigned in class after class (AP Literature, British lit, Great Novels, etc.). It feels overwrought and too long while "A Modest Proposal" is a master class in brevity and precision. What surprised me on my first reading was its publication date of  1729. This is 291 years ago, but there are parts relating to abuses by the government that could have been written yesterday. 

For instance when Swift writes "I grant this food will be somewhat dear, and therefore very proper for landlords, who, as they have already devoured most of the parents, seem to have the best title to the children," he is acknowledging the way the landlord system in 18th century Ireland "devoured" the livelihood of poor parents leading him to wonder why they might as well devour the children too. To me, this is akin to the way employers wring out employees who are just barely able to survive on the current minimum wage. A good, modern book about this topic is Nickel and Dimed. It is non-fiction, not satire, and both interesting and informative. 

I loved to read "A Modest Proposal" aloud to my students. Those who were paying attention would start to look around with questioning looks on their faces at, "It is true, a child just dropt from its dam, may be supported by her milk, for a solar year, with little other nourishment: at most not above the value of two shillings, which the mother may certainly get, or the value in scraps, by her lawful occupation of begging; and it is exactly at one year old that I propose to provide for them in such a manner, as, instead of being a charge upon their parents, or the parish, or wanting food and raiment for the rest of their lives, they shall, on the contrary, contribute to the feeding, and partly to the clothing of many thousands." Every year in every class, someone would look up, shoot a hand in the air - or maybe just shout out - "Did he just say people were going to 'eat' babies?" YES!  That is exactly what he is saying - satirically. And that would launch us into a full discussion of the power of satire.

For 8 of my 15 years teaching English I taught 11th grade British literature, which can be a hard sell to 17 year olds, who I find delightful in many ways, but not when I am trying to engage them with literature that is far removed from their own experiences. I found success with both "A Modest Proposal" and The Importance of Being Earnest, by Oscar Wilde. This is a play I find so compelling that when I saw a performance in Washington, DC in 2014 I was so overwhelmed by its perfection that during intermission, I bought a ticket to see it again.

The play aims its pithy satire at a number of facets of life in Victorian England (If this sounds at all familiar it is because a number of my favorite mystery series also take place in that time and place.) including romantic love, marriage, familial relationships, and materialism. The word play is fast paced and highly entertaining if you can keep up. One of my favorite segments is when Algernon (who is going by the name Ernest) and Cecily meet for the first time:

Algernon.  I hope, Cecily, I shall not offend you if I state quite frankly and openly that you seem to me to be in every way the visible personification of absolute perfection.

Cecily.  I think your frankness does you great credit, Ernest.  If you will allow me, I will copy your remarks into my diary.  [Goes over to table and begins writing in diary.]

Algernon.  Do you really keep a diary?  I’d give anything to look at it.  May I?

Cecily.  Oh no.  [Puts her hand over it.]  You see, it is simply a very young girl’s record of her own thoughts and impressions, and consequently meant for publication.  When it appears in volume form I hope you will order a copy.  But pray, Ernest, don’t stop.  I delight in taking down from dictation.  I have reached ‘absolute perfection’.  You can go on.  I am quite ready for more.

Even now, I am chuckling and tempted to stop writing this post and instead re-read the play in its entirety. 

A newer example (1961) is Catch-22 by Joseph Heller, which lampoons the bureaucracy of war and those who have made it their life's work. If The Importance of Being Earnest is farcical, light satire, Catch-22 is its dark cousin as the ridiculousness of the regulations and inept leadership have terrible consequences. I have not read this one in over 10 years, but it is on my shelf to re-read in 2020. There is also a TV series available on Hulu, but I have not seen any of it and cannot speak to how well it stays true to the book. 

Truly contemporary satire can be found in The Onion, an online publication that has new "news" stories every day. One recent headline I enjoyed: "Ian McKellen Waiting In Line At Buckingham Palace Administrative Office To Get Knighthood Renewed Before It Expires" with an accompanying picture and "NCAA Reminds Boosters That Full Bribes Still Due Even If Football Season Canceled." They are fun to follow on social media as well as a break from the news sources I follow to keep up to date. 

Do you have a favorite work of satire?

 

How I started reading mysteries, or much love to the somewhat controversial Nancy Drew

In my previous post, I introduced the queens of my favorite sub-genre of science fiction - time travel. 

This time, I'd like to explore my second most read genre: mystery.

My love of mysteries began with the gift of a box of Nancy Drew books that had belonged to my mom. I am not entirely sure how they came to be mine, but I believe that during a trip to Michigan one summer or at Christmas, I was presented with this box that contained a wealth of reading material, not just Nancy Drew. 

As I recall, I started reading immediately. And by immediately, I mean I read the entire 13 hours home in the car. This was when I could read in the car without becoming nauseated. Since then I have switched to audiobooks or sleeping to get me through long car rides. 

I re-read all the Nancy Drew books and would also check others out of the library or ask someone to buy new ones for me. First published in 1930, Nancy Drew's stories were still being written in the 1980s and beyond. In 2018, Smithsonian Magazine  explored the beginnings and history of these popular tales that were not ever written by anyone named Carolyn Keene.

 

 

My favorites were: 

• The Clue of the Broken Locket (1934)
• The Secret of the Wooden Lady (1950) 
• The Scarlet Slipper Mystery (1954)

but while looking through a list on line, many of the titles struck a chord. I don't think there were any I did not like, just some I liked a bit better and re-read more often. 

My first school librarian job was in a middle school. A group of students asked to start a Nancy Drew book club. I agreed to read the first choice along with the club members - this was a mistake. Whichever book we read was not well written or anywhere near as exciting or engaging as it had been when I was a tween. This is not a surprise, since many books written for young people do not transfer well to adult readers. While not a part of the mystery we read, the original version of at least one Nancy Drew story contained overt racism and others contained characters who were negative stereotypes. If schools still have these versions, many of which have been revised to remove these elements I think parents, teachers, or librarians should find a way to engage readers with conversations about the problematic elements. The end of the story is that the students loved the book and had an intense conversation during lunchtime book club, then promptly lost interest and moved on to a Rick Riordan book club. 

When I was ready to move on from Nancy Drew, my father gave me a copy of Cat Among the Pigeons by Agatha Christie, this means my first Christie detective was Hercule Poirot, not a bad place to start. I really enjoyed moving to "adult" mysteries and Christie was a good choice since her stories are low gore and horror and high intrigue.

Now, my favorite mysteries are those in series that feature a crime solver I can get to know. The two queens of mystery writing for me are Louise Penny and Elizabeth George. Penny's books often take place in the town Three Pines in Québec. Her sleuth is Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of Sûreté du Québec. I am drawn to these novels because every character, including all the towns people and Gamache's family and co-workers are complex characters who each take a central role in one or more books and a smaller role in others.

Elizabeth George's books feature Inspector Thomas Lynley of New Scotland Yard. The stories themselves take place both in London and around the UK. Lynley's partner Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers features prominently while other characters come in and out regularly. 

Even after having read 14 by Penny and 6 by George I have not yet felt them to be repetitive or possible to figure out until the characters do or only just before. Both series work best if read in order, because the events build from book to book. I started to read the Lynley series because I was going to run out of Penny books, so now I have one more Penny to read before her next is released in September. 

Honorable Mentions go to:

• Tana French - these take place in Ireland and feature various members of the Dublin Murder Squad. My favorite has been The Secret Place. 
• Charles Finch - in these, British gentleman Charles Lennox, a member of Parliament, moves around Victorian London solving murders. There are 13 books in the series currently. I have read the first five and particularly liked A Burial at Sea which takes place on a ship making it a little like And Then There Were None since everyone is trapped with a murderer. 
• Alan Bradley - Flavia de Luce is the 11-year-old sleuth with an expertise in chemistry. The 10 novels, all of which I have read, take place in Bishop's Lacey, a small town somewhere in rural England. My favorite so far is As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust in which Flavia is sent to the same boarding school in Canada her mother once attended. 
• Laurie R. King - Of all the honorable mentions, I may be fondest of these because they feature the husband and wife team of Sherlock Holmes and Mary Russell with a focus on Mary. The books sometimes take place in parts of England but there is also some exciting case-based travel. I have read 14 of the 16 in the series. My favorites are The Language of Bees and The God of the Hive which work together more closely than the rest in the series. 
• Jaqueline Winspear - The Maisie Dobbs series begins just after the end of World War I during which Maisie served as a field nurse. She is now back in London solving murders and other crimes as a private investigator. There are 15 books in the series; I am caught up and looking forward to 16. A favorite is A Dangerous Place which takes place primarily in Gibraltar in 1937. 

 

Who are your favorite mystery authors and sleuths?

To travel in time, all you need is a book - about time travel.

What do the movies:

• Back to the Future (1985) and its sequels (1989 & 1990)
• The Terminator (1984)
• The Time Traveler's Wife (2009)
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) AND
• Groundhog Day (1993)

                                                have in common?

They are all stories wholly or in part about time travel. When I searched for time travel movies I was overwhelmed by the number and shocked at how many I have not seen. Shocked because time travel is my favorite sub-genre of science fiction.  

Because this is a beloved sub-genre I have read far more time travel books than I have seen movies. 

For my reading life, the crown for Queen of Time Travel Writing is worn by two authors:

1. Connie Willis

The first I read by her was Doomesday Book (1993). The story introduced me to a group of Oxford students traveling from the 21st century. In this book, Kivrin travels to the 14th century to witness life in this harsh time. While there are moments of lightness, joy, and humor in all of Willis's books, I find her attention to historic detail to be my favorite element. I originally listened to this book, one of my earliest audiobooks (perhaps even on cassette) and it was an excellent way to experience this adventure.

I next read To Say Nothing of the Dog (1998). This one is meant to be and is hilarious. 

It has been far too long since I have read either of these, so they are on a list of books I intend to re-read. I don't re-read often because there aren't enough hours in the day for all the new books (the lament of avid readers the world over). But I will reread these.

The next I read was Firewatch (1984), a collection of short stories. I don't remember these as clearly as I would like, but the title story (1982) (or novelette, for which category it won both the 1982 Nebula and Hugo awards) (Willis has won many awards over the years, in a variety of science fiction categories.) is set in the same world as the novels I have discussed. 

This brings me to the two books I consider Willis's masterpieces: Blackout and All Clear. Both take place c. 2060 (Oh, how I wish time travel were a possibility this soon.) and during World War II. The stories are so intricately crafted that you HAVE to read them twice in order to suss out all of the brilliant hints and connections Willis peppers about. I feel confident I saw the outer web, but am fairly certain I missed at least some of the inner web. Both of these are on my current TBR shelf because I will be rereading them in 2020. I read them the first time when they were released in 2010 and 2011 respectively. Even just a year apart, I know I forgot or missed details I will catch when I read them back to back this fall. 

 

2. Jodi Taylor

I have read the first 8 titles in her The Chronicles of St. Mary's series: 

Just One Damned Thing After Another (2013)
A Symphony Of Echoes (2013)
A Second Chance (2014)
A Trail Through Time (2014)
No Time Like The Past (2015)
What Could Possibly Go Wrong? (2015)
Lies, Damned Lies and History (2016)
And the Rest is History (2017)

I will read the others as well:

An Argumentation of Historians (2018)
Hope For the Best (2019)
Plan For the Worst (2020)
Another Time Another Place (April 2021)

While time travel is of course serious business, this series is also hilarious, romantic, thrilling, and altogether delightful to read. There is a regular cast of characters who are irresistible in their humanity which includes strengths, foibles, and passions all carefully wrought by Taylor. I rarely read this many books in one series. As a side note, Taylor's website says: "the Chronicles of St Mary’s series [is] the story of a bunch of disaster-prone historians who investigate major historical events in contemporary time. Do NOT call it time travel!"

There is also a spin-off series afoot that chronicles the adventures of the Time Police who do appear from time to time (pun intended) in the Chronicles of St. Mary's. 

I have read many more books featuring time travel, but I think a reader cannot go wrong starting with either of these two masters.

What are you favorite time travel books and movies?