Category Archives: books

Rainy Days Are Meant for Reading

books, reading

Painting of woman readingI have always loved to read, tucked in a chair, sprawled on the bed or the floor, backed up against a tree, floating in the pool. Here at the farm I have the choice of several porches, indoor and outdoor, equipped with rocking chairs and small tables whatever cuppa I have carried along with me.

But, the older I’ve gotten, the less focus I seem to have for longer periods of time, a weakened ability to dive into a book, leaving the world behind. It’s not a surprise: adult life is much more complicated kid life when someone else was doing most of the things that I do now: I helped a bit with laundry and cooking, but I had specific chores rather than wide responsibilities. And then there’s work, of course, that boxes in the number of hours available in general.

Honestly, part of the reason I managed a reading workshop when I taught middle school and fully supported the school’s “drop everything and read” program was that it meant my students AND me sometimes had 50 minutes of reading in a day. Teachers were encouraged to be good role models, and I was happy to oblige.

I am determined to get back to those days of reading for hours on end, immersed in a book, in a story, to the point where the world fades away. I can turn off that grown up voice suggesting that I could be doing much more productive kinds of things than “just” reading. Just, indeed.

And, there is nothing like a rainy day to curl up and read.

I have given myself over to One Good Deed, David Baldacci’s new book, which I hope is going to become a series. It is 1949, and Aloysius Archer has just been released after a wrongful prison sentence and bussed to Poca City where he is determined to get a clean start. Despite those plans, he quickly gets pulled into a murder mystery. Baldacci’s novel has all the elements of a classic crime novel, with gritty realism and snappy dialog. Archer is a compelling character who discovers his army scout training can come in handy when you are the prime suspect in a murder.

I’m also in the midst of two other non-fiction books but for now, you can find me curled up by the fire with Baldacci.

 

Best Books of 2019

books, reading

Best Read: One of my last and best reads of the year. Devoured it and now want to read it more leisurely to see how Madeline Miller takes this minor mention from the Odyssey and creates a rich, complex character.

Circe

Authentic Voices: Fierce young writers who are writing about their lives and also showing how social media can be a force for good. I follow them all on Instagram and am excited to be able to follow their careers from the beginning.

On The Come Up
With the Fire On High
Dear Martin
Dumplin’
Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda

Good Reads: Engaging, thoughtful, funny

The Last Witchfinder
The Barrytown Trilogy
Where the Crawdads Sing (read it in one night!)

And for #10, one of those books that finds you when you need it:

When the Heart Waits

Getting Started with January Reading

books, reading

Picture of a pile of booksI have pulled together several LibraryThing challenges to compile my January reading list. The photo shows most of them but it doesn’t include the digital reads including The Big Burn, the story of the August 1910 fire that burned large parts of Idaho and Montana along with other states. A timely read that is part of a “natural disasters” challenge. I am also hoping to get in an Agatha Christie mystery, specifically Evil Under the Sun. (Checking that one out from the library via Libby.) It meets the alphabet challenge with both the A & the U represented! Plus, I want to read more of the classic crime mysteries, and Christie is the queen.

A disclaimer: I have no illusion that I will finish Annals of the Former World but the challenge was to read a challenging book. I have a scientist friend who reads this book often and almost exclusively and will be happy to know I have picked it up. My goal is to finish Book 1 by the end of the month. I don’t want to have to rush the reading just to meet a challenge. (It’s not like there are prizes or even badges for the LT challenges. They are friendly, pretty loosely defined and mainly there to encourage reading. I’d be happy just to finish Book 1.)

The collection of essays from Philip Pullman are meant for browsing. One particular essay led to my first read of the year: The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ. I’ll post a review tomorrow but the short version is that it is a fascinating, radical “fictional” version of the life of Jesus Christ.

LibraryThing logo

Real Life Reading Logs

books, literacy, reading

LibraryThing IconI have belonged to LibraryThing (LT) almost since it began and have written about it over the years.. My “thingaversary” is October 13, 2005. In LT lore that means that this year I get to buy 16 books on October 13, one for each year and one more for good luck. In those 15 years, I have moved from cataloging my reading to becoming part of a robust reading community. I join the 75 Book Challenge group each year and have a core group of friends.  But, I have not been as involved as I might be so this year I am committing to making that my main social outlet online. I have followed a few more people and am making time each day to check their posts.

For me, LT provides a model for an authentic approach to encouraging reading and writing  in the classroom. I know there is a lot of pushback against reading logs that track number of pages or minutes of reading, and while most of us on LT do some kind of statistical tracking, the focus is on sharing our reading  with others. Our stats also go way beyond number of pages: we think about our reading in terms of genres, geographic, racial and ethnic diversity, and so forth. We record them and then reflect on them personally and communally.

On Twitter, Michael Bonner asked about tips for increasing middle school literacy. There are specific skills to teach, but they can be taught and practiced through authentic reading, particularly at the middle school level. My answer to him was simple: let the kids read and write and talk about their reading and writing. (As always, I gave credit to my early mentor Nancy Atwell.) I would add that we should use the widest definitions of reading and writing and talking that we can to throw out the widest net. We can listen to text. We can read through images. We can talk through video.

And, the world of contemporary middle grade and young adult literature is rich these days. I haven’t compiled my list of best reads for 2019 yet, but I know it will include Finding Langston and Dear Martin and books by Jacqueline Woodson and Elizabeth Acevedo and Angie Thomas  and  Julie Murphy. Not sure where to start? The Nerdy Book Club is in the midst of announcing its awards for 2019 with lists from picture books to young adult fiction and everything in between. They’ve been doing it since 2011 and reading through all the lists would be a pretty amazing challenge.

For now, I’m busy setting up my LT thread, planning some of my reading and connecting with old friends and a few new ones. If you’re looking for a group of serious but fun readers, consider LibraryThing. Meanwhile, best wishes for a year of good reading and sharing.

 

 

 

Morrigan and Vasilia Save the Day

books, reading,

Two books filled my eyes and ears and mind this past week. Both featured strong young women as the main characters, young women who knew they were different and, over the course of each book, come to know the extent of their powers. Each woman was willing to take risk following unknown paths to save themselves and their families.

Cover of the Trials of Morrigan CrowWe meet Morrigan Crow from Jessica Townsend’s Nevermoor series as she awaits the end of the current age when, we learn, she will die. Morrigan is cursed, born on eventide 11 years before, the last day of the age, and she will die at midnight along with the other cursed children. Her father, a wealthy business man, had spent those years paying off the locals who accused his daughter of all sorts of calamities, even ones that were obviously not her fault.

But, on that fateful night, Morrigan is rescued, even as the Hunt of Smoke and Shadow is bearing down on her, and whisked to Nevermoor for an adventure that forces her to face her fears and learn to trust herself. She begins to find her place in the world as she discovers new powers that she must learn to harness.

I listened to this book over the course of several days both in the car  and at home. The narrator, Gemma Whelan, created a world with her voice, moving from character to character and into Morrigan’s own thoughts seamlessly. I am very much looking forward to the second book in the series: Wundersmith: The Calling of Morrigan Crow, with the audio version ready to go on the phone.

Cover ot The Bear and the NightingaleThe setting for The Bear and the Nightingale, could not be more different than the fantas world of Nevermore. Vasilia lives in medieval Russia, just on the edge of the Russian wilderness with her family. They spend long winter evenings tucked by the oven listening to her nurse tell  folk stories. But for Vasilia, these are more than stories as she is able to connect with the spirits from the stories. They live amongst the people who provide them with small offerings in return for their protection and help. But, evil is growing stronger, moving closer to their homes even as the local priest encourages them to abandon their pagan practices and the villagers begin to brand Vasilia as a witch. And Vasilia seems to be the only one who can save them even if it means she must lose herself.

Unlike Morrigan, Vasilia seems aware of at least some of her powers. She knows she can connect with the spirits and animals in ways that others cannot and is willing to be open to the supernatural in a way that others would consider madness or witchcraft. The local priest is both fascinated and repelled by Vasilia and works with her step mother, who also sees the spirits but is frightened by them, to get rid of her. Despite their ill intentions, Vasilia connects with and confronts them, trying to help them see the damage they are doing by trampling on the old ways.

I can highly recommend both books. The Trials of Morrigan Crow is lighter with lots of fun fantastical magic the might appeal to the younger side of the young adult continuum. The Bear and the Nightingale is darker, the evil more dangerous and not as easily dismissed as in the other book.