Books Read as of January

It was a mixed month. I met my reading goals for the total month but my proportions are already off, which is unsurprising.

January's Total Page Count: 5,224

YA Literature

1. Yummy: The Last  Days of a Southside Shorty by G. Neri (1/1/2017) - 96 pages
2. El Deafo by Cece Bell (1/1/2017) -248 pages
3. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (1/2/2017) -320 pages
4. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (1/6/2017) -550 pages
5. Code Orange by Caroline B. Cooney (1/12/2017) - 195 pages
6. The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate (1/14/2017) - 304 pages
7. *Crewel by Gennifer Albin (1/15/2017) - 353 pages
8. Clementine by Sara Pennypacker (1/21/2017) -136 pages
9. On the Devil's Court by Carl Deuker (1/22/2017) - 201 pages
10. *All-American Boys by Jason Reynolds & Brendan Kiely (1/26/2017)- 315 pages
11. *Altered by Gennifer Albin (1/27/2017) - 387 pages
12. *Unraveled by Gennifer Albin (1/28/2017) -288 Pages

Short Story Collections

1. Confessions of a High School Word Nerd edited by Arianne Cohen & Colleen Kinder (1/3/2017) -168 pages

Adult Literature

1. Bad Monkeys by Matt Ruff (1/4/2017) -227 pages
2. Witches Abroad by Terry Pratchett (1/21/2017) - 350 pages
3. Small Gods by Terry Pratchett (1/25/2017) -386 pages
4. Animal Man by Grant Morrison (GN)
1. Volume 1 (1/29/2017) - 240 pages
2. Volume 2: Origin of the Species (1/30/2017) - 224 pages
3. Volume 3: Deus ex Machina (1/30/2017) - 232 pages

All-American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely

All-American Boys is another NCTE find. I actually met Jason Reynolds, who is a very nice soft-spoken man. I heard Reynolds speak in the keynote along with G. Neri and a few others. I think that one of the most important things authors do is expose their readers to new ideas and social issues. It's not about having answers, necessarily, it's about informing and drawing people into the narrative.

All-American Boys is a novel that particularly relevant in the wake of the recent police scandals and black lives matter movement. However, this is not a polemic. Using two main viewpoints, Reynolds and Kiely explore several sides and perspectives surrounding this issue. It is difficult to be sensitive to both sides in narrative like this, but they manage it.

Rashad, who is black, is mistaken for a shoplifter and becomes the victim of an unnecessarily violent police response. Quinn, one of his teammates on the varsity basketball team and white, witnesses the attack.  Things are further complicated for Quinn by being the best friend of the police officer's younger brother.

Rashad is a member of the JROTC and generally a good kid. So clearly, he's dealing with being the victim of violence and in the media spotlight as a result. Quinn however is torn between loyalty to family/friends and doing what's right while coming to terms with some views that he'd never questioned before.

There are no glowing perfect people in this. All-American Boys deals with an issue that we all deal with in this country at some point and there are no easy solutions to them for any of us. Every character is portrayed with compassion and understanding.

While the reading level is probably appropriate for middle schoolers, the subject matter and depth consideration required makes it more of a high school YA. So far I've handed this to two of my coworkers who each loved it as well.

Moroccan Inspired Chickpeas, Cauliflower and Couscous

I've come to the slow realization that no matter how much I like a cookbook author, I will generally want double or even triple the spices in any given recipe. Now, it could be that I'm constantly getting old spices, but I think, given the consistency it's more likely that cookbook authors worry quite a bit over the ability of the american palate to cope with flavor.

In any case, this is pretty closely adapted to the recipe in Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Fast.

Serves 6

1/4 c. olive oil
1 onion, chopped
3 carrots, peeled and chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbs ground coriander
1 Tbs ground cumin
1 Tbs ground cinnamon
2-3 c. cooked chickpeas
2 Tbs. tomato paste
28 oz can diced tomatoes undrained
4 cups water or stock
1 head of cauliflower, chopped
1/2 c. couscous (we prefer whole wheat)
zest of one lemon
Salt and Pepper to taste

Cook the onions, carrots, and garlic in the olive oil over medium heat. Chose a deep skillet. Something with a lot of surface area.

When the vegetables begin to soften, add the cumin, cinnamon, and coriander. Cook over medium low until fragrant (about 1 minute). Add chickpeas and tomato paste, stir well and cook until the tomato paste begins to darken, 2 or 3 minutes.

Add diced tomatoes with their liquid, water, and cauliflower. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer until the cauliflower is cooked through the way you like (5-15 minutes).

Add couscous, stir in, and remove from heat. Let couscous steep for 5 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste and lemon zest.

A Political Post

I don't tend to comment publically on politics very much. There are a number of reasons for that having to do with my job and my general philosophy about people. However, those reasons aren't very important right now.

 We, all of us, have allowed a man to be elected into our highest office who worships at the alter of ignorance to such a degree that he doesn't even know what the powers of his office are. This is a man who was elected despite his documented crimes against women. This is a man who was elected despite his obvious collusion with a foreign national power who has had a dubious relationship with our country and national interests for decades. He was elected on the strength of petulant tweets and empty promises. He got elected because we allowed our disillusionment with our political system to fool us into grand gestures like protest voting instead of working day by day to change it. We've been childish and we have elected a child to govern us.

It's time to step up people. This has happened before. Did you know that Hitler never won the popular vote in Berlin. The Nazi party only had 40% of the national vote in 1932. Yet in 1933, one of Hitler's first acts was to toss out the German constitution. Now we have a president who lost the popular vote by 3 million votes. We have a president whose first acts have been to trample on our constitution by violating one of our founding principles that anyone, irregardless of national origin or religious background, can become an American.

We need our elected officials to stand up to this playground bully and enforce the rights guaranteed by our Constitution and Bill of Rights. We need to support our  congressmen and senators and the state and national level by getting involved. We the people must mobilize. Get out there and tell your reps what you want to see happen. And if they don't listen vote them out when the time comes. I don't care what party you subscribe to, get out there. If we want to keep our voice, if we want to shout down Trumps tyranny, then we must speak out as loudly as we can.

Impeach the tyrant elect.

Unraveled by Gennifer Albin

Once I finished the first two books, I had to see how it all ended and I jumped right into the third book, Unraveled.


Back on Arras now, and isolated in the control of Cormac Patton (the bad guy), Adelice must play a game of political intrigue that she admits that she is just not equipped to play. However, she makes the choice to give herself up to buy more time for the Agenda (rebel group).

Since I've read so many books, I usually have a sense of how things are going to end. In this case though, I could see at least two possible end scenarios with a handful of variations  and I really didn't know until the last 20 pages or so where it was headed

The love triangle resolved as well. While it's not the way I would have gone with it, it was still a satisfying resolution.

Overall, the series is a good example of the genre with a good sense of character and plot. While I wouldn't introduce the genre on this series, it's a good pick for those who already like the dystopian books

Altered by Gennifer Albin

There's something going on lately with the dystopian genre. There are a ridiculous number of them featuring female protagonists. Not that I have anything against that per se, but it seems wildly disproportionate. Off the top of my head, for the girls there is: The Hunger Games Series by Suzanne Collins, The Pretties Series by Scott Westerfeld, the Divergent Series by Veronica Roth, and now the Crewel World series by Gennifer Albin. The only one featuring a male protagonist that I can come up with is The Maze Runner Series which I haven't read yet. It's possible that there's more out there and I just need to go looking, however it seems odd that I haven't tripped over them yet.

One of the hallmarks of the female dystopian novel is love triangle. Most of them feature a subplot wherein the protagonist must pick between two boys. The boys are generally representative of two sides of this fictional world. Crewel World follows the same general set up. Adelice must pick between two brothers (as it turns out) Jost and Erik.

At the end of the first book, Adelice escapes Arras with the two brothers to Earth. Most of Altered, the second book, is centered around developing the mystery surrounding the two worlds and the relationships between the two boys and Adelice.

Generally, I find the love triangle subplot kind of annoying. Done wrong, the protagonist comes off as either chronically indecisive or pathologically cold. Albin struck a good balance. Adelice's romantic problems make sense and the complex relationship between the two brothers factors strongly into what happens.

Overall, it's a good continuation from the first book. It adds strongly to the sinister elements already present and pulls the world into sharper focus.

Terry Pratchett, I have wronged you. . .

So, for years Terry Pratchett has been one of those authors that I know I'm supposed to like. However when I read him in high school and college, I found his books intensely hit or miss. At best I found them mildly amusing, at worst I found them intensely boring. So, I petered out on them and eventually excised them from my personal library.

However, I had plenty of friends who still read them and apparently read them so from time to time, I tried again. The recent attempt was inspired by the BBC's production of Going Postal. I love Richard Coyle and was enchanted by his performance by Moist von Lipwig. However, I've never gotten far enough along in the series to read the book it's based on. So, I decided to give the books another chance.

I'm reading them in order. I'd always found The Color of Magic a tortuous slog in the past, but this time I enjoyed it enough to be audibly giggling while reading it. It was a shock. I've similarly enjoyed my all the way through Small Gods,  which I just finished.

I've finally figured out why, this read through is so different. I'm much better read. A lot of what is so wonderful about the books is clever use of literary allusion and satire. He covers everything from Beowulf, to Macbeth, to Anglo-Saxon allegory. While the books work without a solid understanding of the referenced texts, much of what makes them clever and funny is derived from those texts.

Apparently, I'm finally a mature enough reader to appreciate what I'm reading. I apologize Sir Terry if I've ever maligned you.

On the Devil's Court by Carl Deuker

The way we find books is interesting. In this case, I have a student who more or less refuses to find his own books and more or less refuses to read the book I find for him. He's very picky. So, I found this title through research, our librarian bought it for him and I gave it to him to read. He took it for three days and then handed it back me saying that he read it. He even said he liked it. However, that is exactly all he'll say about it and since I haven't read it, I'm having a hard time pressing him on it.

The problem is that I suspect he's lying to me. He might of read it though, and the only way I'll find out is to read it myself so I know what questions to ask. So, even though it is yet another sports book, even though it is firmly aimed at a male audience, and even though it is aimed strongly at teenagers, I read it.

I expected to have to slog through it. It was not a slog. I devoured it in a matter of hours because it is a very good book.

"Dr. Faustus" is an Elizabethan play written by Christopher Marlowe. It used to be, way back in the day, part of the high school canon. It more or less got dropped from the canon before even I went through high school. Which is a shame because it is an interesting story with excellent themes worthy of consideration. However it's also dense, fairly cerebral, and the language is hard for the average high schooler to interpret.

On the Devil's Court is almost written as a companion piece to the play "Dr. Faustus." The main character, Joe Faust, is reading the play in class while the events of the larger story unfold. Because of this, he actively considers, and attempts, to sell his soul to the devil for one perfect season of basketball. He doesn't really believe in the devil, so he doesn't really believe that he can sell his soul to him. But then, everything starts going eerily right.

The book does an excellent job of examining the classic themes present in the play while making them more approachable for a modern high school audience. I'm really seriously considering On the Devil's Court as a classroom text for next year which would, I think, allow us to read Marlowe's play as well.

Help - Poetry

So, it's all well and good to say I'm going to read more poetry, but I don't really know where to start. I'm open to suggestions.

I like the Renaissance poets and the Romantics. I tend to write loose forms but I enjoy reading the highly formatted types like villanelles, sonnets, and the like. I'm looking for poets who are a little more current.

Any ideas?

Thomas's Chili

Thomas is a good eater, but many of my chili recipes are too spicy for him. This started as a test run of my new slow cooker, but he loved it. The trick with dry beans in a slow cooker is the amount of liquid they need to absorb to become soft. The 30 minute precook helps with that, but if you don't have time for that, canned would work fine. I prefer the dry because the broth ends up with more depth of flavor.

Serves 12-16

2 cups dried pintos (or sub 2-3 15 oz cans, drained and rinsed)
1.25 pounds of Sausage (non-spicy)
2 onions, chopped
5 cloves garlic, minced
6 Tbs chili powder
1 Tbs cumin
28 oz can diced tomatoes
1 12oz bottle of beer
1 Tbs salt
Salt and pepper to taste

Cooked pasta for serving

1. If starting with dry pintos: Rinse the pintos and soak (if you like) and drain. Put in a pot with enough water to cover by 4 inches and bring to a boil. Simmer for at least 30 minutes. They should be starting to soften but not yet near to ready. Drain and reserve liquid.

2. While the pintos simmer, remove the sausage from the casings if necessary and brown over medium heat. Break sausage into smallish pieces. When the sausage is about halfway browned, add in the onions and garlic. Continue to cook until the sausage is brown and the onions soft.

3. Drain off excess oil, and return to low heat. Add the chili powder and cumin and stir until fragrant, about 1 minute. Empty into the slow cooker insert.

4. Add drained pintos, diced tomatoes, beer, and salt. Add enough of the reserved pinto cooking liquid (or water if you use canned beans) to cover. Cover with a lid and turn on slowcooker at high. Cook for 5 hours.

5. Adjust seasoning and serve over the pasta with whatever toppings you enjoy

Clementine by Sara Pennypacker

The weather sucks today. It's rainy and grey. The wind is blowing and I'm worried that the tree behind the house is going to fall and clobber me. If the tree doesn't fall, it's entirely possible the house will just float away. I'd watch t.v. but things keep hitting the roof, which is very distracting. It is definitely a day where I feel restless and nervous.

So, I picked up a kid's book. Clementine is named for its main protagonist, a third-grade girl who suffers from an entertaining case of ADHD. Clementine seems like a smart kid who tends to think outside the box in the ways that adults tend to find most frustrating. She seems absolutely incapable of focusing on the world as adults want her to see it. Which is how she ends up helping her friend Margaret by chopping off Margaret's long hair.

This is the beginning of an awful week.

I'm sure my enjoyment of Clementine stems partly from the mood I was in when I read it. However, it is an entertaining fast paced read. While it was certainly written with a female audience in mind, Clementine is enough of a tom-boy that I could see boys enjoying it too. I think any kid who finds themselves in trouble repeatedly despite the best of intentions would like this.

Homecoming

I never really got into Homecoming when I was in high school. Of course, I hated high school, so that's not a surprise. It's also in my nature to move forward, I don't tend towards nostalgia or sentimentality. It's just not how I'm wired.

Since teaching though, I've started to realize that Homecoming isn't really for the current students, it's for the alumni and the staff. It's interesting to see my former students. Some of my sweet little boys have turned into six foot five mohawk sporting thugs.  Still sweet though. Some of my girls are starting families, some of them bring their kids. It's really weird too, because since I've been teaching 10 years now some of my first class of seniors are getting close to 30. They really aren't too young to be starting families.

I suppose all this could make me feel old, but it's just the passage of time.

Go Cougars!

Behind

It was predictable, but I'm already two books behind my pace and I'm having a hard time keeping up with the blog. Also, the writing has gone right off the table. Partly it's the start of a new semester. Things have been busy as we gear up for homecoming. Like I've said and said again. It's all in the striving. Hopefully, things will get a little more efficient here in a little bit and I can figure out how to fit things in.

I'm reminded of Sir Walter Raleigh's poem, "The Nymphs Reply to the Shepherd:"

"But could youth last, and love still breed, 

Had joys no date, nor age no need," 

Of course, Raleigh was talking about love, but the pervasive theme of time and how it is of limited supply makes me thoughtful

Arggg!

I am officially exhausted...I'm so tired, I can't even read. I think I'm fighting a bug.

Crewel by Gennifer Albin

I think our school librarian must see me coming and groan a little. On the inside, anyway. Lately, I've been combing through the school's collection to get a good feel of what we have and what gaps we should fill. The big gaps I've been attacking just lately are when I find that we have a first book in the series but are then missing the rest of the series. I've spotted several in the last few months.

Crewel is one of those books. It's the first in a series and I suspect that Susan either bought it when it first came out or it was a donation. I don't know if any of the kids have read it, but it's in the same dystopian vein as the Matched Series or even the Divergent Series. Maybe with a little Margaret Atwood's Handmaid's Tale thrown into the mix.

Adelice lives in a rigid world controlled by the Guild of 12 and the Spinsters. Spinsters are young women with the talent to see the pattern of the world woven together like threads. More than just see it, given the right tools that can manipulate it. People can be added and removed, weather created, and materials moved from one place to another with little trouble. A young woman with the talent has no choice but to become a Spinster. Most young women dream of this. Spinsters are pampered and given the best of everything. They are also not allowed to marry or have children...which is a nice play on words really.

For Adelice though, she's not just talented, she can see the weave of the world without the specialized equipment and her parents question many of the government's rules. So when Adelice's gift is discovered, they try to hide her. It doesn't work of course and it sets her apart in a world that she is simply ill equipped to navigate.

Definitely aimed at the high school set and at a female audience. It's a decent pick for those who got into Divergent and Hunger Games.

Writer's Block

Sometimes, I have a very hard time figuring out what to write about when I'm not reviewing a book. There is, I suppose a lot of things out there to talk about, but I'm naturally a little reticent about my political beliefs, I believe religion/belief is private, and most of what I do day to day is teach and read. I can talk teaching all day long but I know most people don't find it that interesting.

It just seems like we spend so much slathering the internet with mindless observations about life that we don't spend a lot of time living it. We live in a perpetual state of distraction. The challenge is finding the worthwhile mired in a morass of inanity.

Carrot-Beet-Cabbage Slaw

Some recipes are less recipes than they are ingredient lists. However, everyone said this was good last night so here's the recipe.

serves 10

1.5 green cabbage, shredded
2 medium carrots, grated
2 small beets, cleaned, peeled and grated
4 Tbs olive oil
2 Tbs vinegar (sherry or white wine is nice)
dijon mustard, a good squirt (about a Tbs)
Salt and pepper to taste

combine the vegetables in a big bowl.

Whisk the oil, vinegar, mustard, and salt in a bowl. Pour over the vegetables at let marinate.

The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate

Our media specialist does a good job of featuring new additions to the library, and when she first brought The One and Only Ivan into the library, it sat on display for a couple of months. Nobody, as far as I know, checked it out. This is the problem with getting people/kids interested in books. A good display is a fine thing, but it takes more. You almost have to run an ad campaign and really sell it. That's why book talks work.

So, anyway it languished there. Even I didn't do more than pick it up a flip through it a couple of times. Honestly, even though the library has always served middle and high school ages, most of the foot traffic is high schools because of its location and The One and Only Ivan looks like a book aimed at a younger set. The print is large, there's plenty of white space on the page, and there are plenty of illustrations.

It really is aimed at an audience starting at about the 4th grade. However, it's a well written and impactful story. I'm not an overly sentimental person, but it even got me tearing up at the end. I would recommend it to just about anyone regardless of age.

It's the story of Ivan, a gorilla born in the wild but raised in captivity who lives in a sad little display with elephants and other exotics. He also has little mutt of a dog, Bob, as a friend. Things change for Ivan when a new baby elephant named Ruby arrives.

As it turns out, Ivan in the book is based off of Ivan in the Atlanta Zoo who spent about 30 years isolated in a display out on the West Coast. Shifting understandings of primate needs caused a public outcry and Ivan was rescued. He's now on permanent loan to Zoo Atlanta where he is part of a primate group with females and juveniles, a much better situation.

The book is only loosely based on the real story, but it's still a story worth reading.

Code Orange by Caroline B. Cooney

It's a little weird finding a new book by a person who was writing when I was in Middle School. Caroline Cooney is the author of The Face On the Milk Carton. Oddly, I'm not sure how many people remember the book. I'm not sure how much I even remember the book, but the title stuck with me.

Mitchell (Mitty) Blake is a junior in high school. He's a smart kid, but he's kind of given up on school and junior year is not going well. However, a biology paper is standing between him staying in the only class with Olivia, who he has a crush on. So, Mitty decides to actually try on this one.

The paper is on infectious disease. Each student must pick some type of disease. Mitty picks Variola Major. I didn't know what Variola Major was. Turns out it's smallpox. Mitty picks it because he finds a couple of leftover scabs in an envelope in an old medical textbook.  Of course having found those scabs, Mitty might now have a very serious problem.

It's a fun read and quick. There was something stilted in the delivery but the story was engaging enough that it didn't matter.

This is a good solid offering for kids about 12 years old and up and particularly those with an interest in the sciences or medicine.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

So Holocaust lit. I've said it before, this isn't my favorite genre. However, in the last few years I've had at least four students read The Book Thief for their independent reading. And... *sigh* ... I made a commitment to read what my kids are interested in.

So, I read it over the break.  It took me a total of eight days to get through. Now, I realize that sounds fast to most people. Let me put it in context. I read 160 (ish) books last year. That means that on average I read a book every other day or so. Realistically, an average nonfiction book will take me around five days, a novel takes about three usually, a YA novel in about a day, and I can usually read two middle readers in a day and still get other things done. So, for something billing itself as a YA novel to take me eight days is...odd.

The main character,  Liesel, is a lutheran but her parents are communists and after her father dies, her mother takes Liesel to a little town outside of Munich to be cared for by a foul-mouthed laundress and her gentle husband. Liesel eventually understands that this was done to protect her, but she's a kid and feelings of abandonment are inevitable.

She eventually adjusts, but she's a little girl living in Nazi Germany and things are complicated. The Book Thief's plot spans the war following Liesel's life. Oh, and it's narrated by Death who seems to have a soft spot for her.

Honestly, I don't think this is really YA lit. I'm not saying that it's inappropriate for a high schooler to read. It's a good book. It's just really dense, and while it has a youthful protagonist, that doesn't necessarily make it YA.

Every few chapters I found myself having to put it down to process the material and read something a little lighter. It's a worthwhile read but be prepared to process a lot of complicated and thorny issues. Zusak is unflinching in his depiction.

Bad Monkeys by Matt Ruff

This is a Ryan recommendation. I've read Matt Ruff before and his books are stunningly diverse. With most writers, there is a definite feel to their work that links it all together. Each book of Ruff's that I've read, has had a unique writing style. This isn't a bad thing, but it does mean that you never know what you'll get picking up one of his books.

Bad Monkeys is a strange book. Part of it is that I'm reading a lot of YA with a lot of very young protagonists, Jane Charlotte is in her 40's. Most of it is that Jane Charlotte is an unreliable narrator and a not terribly likable one.

This is a psychological thriller. The story begins with Jane Charlotte in the psych ward attached to a prison. She's guilty of murder and being evaluated by a psychologist. During this evaluation, she tells her story. The plot then alternates chapters between the psychologist and the events of her story.

Jane Charlotte insists that she is part of a secret society guiding human culture. She's part of the unit that eliminates irredeemable members of society, those that cause widespread harm. Before long, she encounters a group with the opposing purpose to cause widespread chaos and harm.

Clearly, these groups are in conflict.

It's rare to read something that creeps me out so completely. That's a compliment actually. I believe that any book that can cause a strong emotional reaction is by that factor alone a good book. So by that metric, this was a very good book.

I will never be reading it again.

First Day Back

I'm giving myself a little break since it is my first day back in school for the semester. I love teaching but I have to admit, that moment staring over the precipice of a new semester is one of mixed feelings. Sure I want to go, and sure I want to teach, but jeez is it a lot of work.

Confessions of a High School Word Nerd edited by Arianne Cohen

Somewhere along the way the big standardized test (ACT & SAT) became this academic boogy man. I didn't have a hard time with them, but then I've always had a talent for test taking. Most of the students I teach really struggle with them - really smart kids too, some of them. Sometimes I think it's more about the specter of the test than its actual difficulty.

Anyway, this anxiety has spawned all sorts of prep materials. Most of us are familiar with the ubiquitous study guides, but there are also a bunch of books that are geared at vocabulary acquisition. Confessions of a High School Word Nerd is one of those books. It's a collection of short stories or memoir pieces about the high school experience and shoe-horned full of SAT words.

I'm a firm believer in the idea that the best way to acquire new vocabulary is through exposure. Since most people don't trot out their vocabularies in everyday speech, that means reading for most of us. Ideally, that vocabulary is built up over a large amount of time - years. However, books like this are designed to be a sort of catch up tool.

While I did not laugh off my gluteus as promised by the book, the stories were moderately amusing and well written. The writers did a good job of integrating some pretty diverse vocabulary without being awkward. On the downside, there is so much vocab pressed into these stories that is a little like listening to astrophysicists try to talk about the weather.

Anyway, it's decent for what it is, but I don't think I would hand it to a kid whose actively studying to sit the ACT or SAT.

Lemony Tuscan Bean Soup

Two things are going on here. 1. I sometimes have a hard time convincing myself to eat leftovers. 2. Ryan encourages me to experiment more in the kitchen. It seems to be his view that I've read so many cookbooks that I've absorbed the wisdom of the ages (or something like that)

In any case, this might have ended up being one of the best things I've ever cooked and I might never be able to do it again.

Serves 6

2 Tbls olive oil
1 yellow onion, chopped
3 carrots peeled and diced
5 cloves garlic chopped
4 cups leftover Tuscan Style beans (If you don't have leftovers 4 cups of cooked white beans, a handful of chopped fresh sage leaves, 5 or 6 extra garlic cloves, and an extra splash of olive oil should do the trick)
water to make soupy (3 cups or so)
zest of one lemon
juice of one lemon
2 or 3 oz angel hair broken into 2 inch pieces
salt and plenty of pepper

Heat the oil in a pot. Cook the onion, carrots, and garlic until softened and starting to brown.

Add Tuscan Beans (or substitute ingredients) and water. Bring to a simmer and let cook for about 10 minutes. Add lemon juice and angel hair. Cook, stirring occasionally, until angel hair is soft, about 5 minutes. Keep an eye on the liquid levels.

Add salt and pepper. Stir in lemon zest just before serving.

Missed Day #1

I wish I could say that I missed a day because I was off rescuing kittens from frost laden trees, but really I just spent the day video game gorging.

Clearly, I need to work on priorities, but it's a process.

The Beach

Most people think that I am not a beach person. I avoid the sun and I'm not a big fan of sitting in cheap salt resistant lawn furniture. I don't much like crowds and loud noises for that matter. I can see where they get the idea that I don't like beaches. However, I actually love the ocean and by extension the beach. I just tend to like it in the winter when nobody is there and I can have it to myself. I love the way the air smells and watching the weather come in over the water. I listen to the surf at night and find it comforting. I even like fishing, though I haven't done it in years. If I could, I'd live near the ocean.

Last year we won a week in Destin, Florida from the end of year raffle at school. We are here now. The condo is amazing, right up against the beach and I've spent the week walking along the surf and cooking. I know most people go out of town to avoid household chores but I actually like to cook. Especially for appreciative eaters. So, for me, this has been an excellent vacation and I will be sorry to return to normal life.

I'd never been to Destin before this. It turns out I like it here. I found the local fish counter pretty early on and we've been travelling up and down the coast a little to see attractions. Wednesday we took Thomas to the Gulfarium up at Fort Walton Beach. We also went to walk on the nature trails at Henderson State Park. Most of the rest of the time,we've just wandered around the beach. 

It's been restful.

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

This is one of those books that I've been waiting to read for a while.

Usually I'm pretty aware when one of my authors is about to put out a new book. I don't necessarily track them, but I tend to keep an eye out and the digital commercial overlords are usually pretty good about notification. However, I tripped across this book when on a trip with some friends in Asheville. It came out of nowhere really. That was a couple of years ago.

I've been avoiding buying books (they just sort of collect up in drifts against the walls when I'm not looking) and there have been so many other things out there on my list to read. One of my coworkers had this lying around and he handed it to me at the beginning of break. So, I figured it was time to get around with it.

Gaiman's written a lot of different types of literature. He writes graphic novels, short stories, adult novels, picture books, kids lit, and now middle reader/YA. Thematically, he tends to stick to a kind of benign dark fantasy.

The Graveyard Book is the story of a toddler who miraculously escapes a serial killer and ends up raised by a cemetery full of benevolent ghosts (and one.... I think he's meant to be a vampire.) The boy grows up, but the killer is still out there. The ghosts try to educate him, but there are problems of course.

If I have a criticism, it's that having introduced the villain he sort of disappears and it is unclear through most of the text that there is anything really supernatural about him at all. He could just be a maniac, after all. Of course there is something up with him, and it does become clear eventually.

It's a fun read read: quick and satisfying.

El Deafo by Cece Bell

I'll admit it, I deliberately started off the year with two graphic novels in order to get a quick jump on my reading list. In my defense, I don't read that many graphic novels in proportion to my general reading, and both books had been languishing in my stack since early December. They would soon need to be returned to the library.

El Deafo was discovered as part of the glut of titles I researched for my fiction involving disability reading ladder. When I originally grabbed it, I had no idea it was a graphic novel. It came as a little bit of a shock actually to open it up and be confronted with page after page of long eared bunnies.

In any case, this is the story of Cece who lost her hearing as a result of an illness while she was very young. Mostly, it's about adjusting to the disability and finding her place in a hearing community. It was surprising how much the book focused on how other people interacted with her. Specifically, how much well meaning people either did things that made it harder for her or even made her feel more isolated.

I have to admit, I didn't really connect to this one. It's nothing against the writing, but I just am not the intended audience and didn't get drawn in. However, it's a good book for young people, it conveys the feeling of isolation and frustration well, and does a lot to explain what it's like coping with a world filtered through a hearing aide.

Yummy: The Last Days of a Southside Shorty by G. Neri

The NCTE conference was like being in book nerdvana and I expect many of the books that I read in 2017 are going to have some connection for me to NCTE 2016. G. Neri, for example, was one of the keynote speakers. He writes YA and Middle Literature. He used to be a teacher in one of the high risk schools in L.A. and so many of his books feature protagonists like the kids that he taught.

Yummy is an fictional retelling of an actual event that happened in Chicago in 1994. I vaguely remember hearing about it in the news, in fact. Essentially, an 11 year old boy, Yummy, shot and killed a 14 year old girl in his neighborhood. She was not the intended victim. Yummy, despite his young age, was in a gang and he intended to shoot a member of a rival gang.

The incident became nation-wide news overnight and stayed a topic of news for days as Yummy eluded capture by the police. Everyone had something to say, mostly about gangs stealing our youth and how young people were becoming little monsters. Mostly, I remember the panic and that I was the same age as the girl who was killed.

Neri, recast the story as a graphic novel aimed at young people. Roger, the fictional narrator, speaks about the event from the perspective of another kid in the same neighborhood. Roger talks about Yummy's family and his history as Roger knows it. He makes no excuses for Yummy but is, at the same time, sympathetic to his environment and wonders if he could have ended up the same way.

Neri did a good job with a tough subject, and, while grim, this is an excellent read. The length and writing is appropriate for Middle School Readers but the subject matter keeps it relevant up through High School.

Master List Version 1.0

Ok, I'm going to do this a little different this year. Instead of brand new themed lists each month, I'm going to work off of a master list. The list is a work in progress, so every month or two I'll pull off the things that are read and add in new titles that make the stack.

At the end of each month, I'll post a running list of the titles read for the year.

YA Lit

1. Crewel by Gennifer Albin (L)
2. Altered by Gennifer Albin (UF)
3. Unraveled by Gennifer Albin (UF)
4. He Said, She Said by Kwame Alexander (UF)
5. The Crossover by Kwame Alexander (UF)
6. Booked by Kwame Alexander (UF)
7. Solo by Kwame Alexander (UF)
8. The Playbook by Kwame Alexander (UF)
9. The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate (L)
10. El Deafo by Cece Bell (L, GN)
11. The Letter, the Witch, and the Ring by John Bellairs
12. Masterpiece by Elise Broach
13. Drowned City: Hurricane Katrina & New Orleans by Done Brown* (GN)
14. Simon Thorn and the Wolf's Den by Aimee Carter* (UF)
15. Simon Thorn and the Viper's Pit by Aimee Carter*
16. The Warrior Heir by Cinda Williams Chima (CL)
17. The Wizard Heir by Cinda Williams Chima (CL)
18. The Dragon Heir by Cinda Williams Chima (UF)
19. The Enchanter Heir by Cinda Williams Chima (UF)
20. The Sorcerer Heir by Cinda Williams Chima (UF)
21. The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco*
22. City of Bones by Cassandra Clare (L)
23. City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare (UF)
24. City of Glass by Cassandra Clare (L)
25. City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare (L)
26. City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare (L)
27. City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare (L)
28. The Pants Project by Cat Clarke*
29. Code Orange by Caroline B. Cooney (L)
30. The Maze Runner by James Dashner (L)
31. The Scorch Trials by James Dashner (UF)
32. The Death Cure  by James Dashner (UF)
33. The Eye of Minds by James Dashner*
34. The Rule of Thoughts by James Dashner* (UF)
35. The Game of Lives by James Dashner* (UF) 
36. 13 to Life by Shannon Delany (L)
37. Secrets and Shadows by Shannon Delany (L)
38. Bargains and Betrayals by Shannon Delany (L)
39. Destiny and Deception by Shannon Delany (L)
40. Rivals and Retribution  by Shannon Delany (UF)
41. On the Devil's Court by Carl Deuker (L)
42. A Girl Named Disaster by Nancy Farmer
43. City of Dark Magic by Magnus Flyte
44. Life Is Funny E. R. Frank
45. The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke (L)
46. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
47. One for Sorrow by Mary Downing Hahn*
48. The Someday Suitcase by Corey Ann Haydu*
49. I Am David by Anne Holm
50. The Water Seeker by Kimberly WIllis Holt
51. Tiger's Curse by Colleen Houck (CL)
52. Tiger's Quest by Colleen Houck (UF)
53. Tiger's Voyage by Colleen Houck (UF)
54. Tiger's Destiny by Colleen Houck (UF)
55. Lemonade Mouth by Mark Peter Hughes (L)
56. Accidents of Nature by Harriet McBryde Johnson (L)
57. The Right Track by Harmony Jones* (UF)
58. The High Note by Harmony Jones* (UF)
59. Sold by Patricia McCormick (L)
60. Wildwood by Colin Meloy (L)
61. Under Wildwood  by Colin Meloy (UF)
62. Wildwood Imperium  by Colin Meloy (UF)
63. Autobiography of my Dead Brother by Walter Dean Myers (L)
64. Sunrise over Fallujah by Walter Dean Myers (CL)
65. The Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers (CL)
66. I'll Give you the Sun by Jandy Nelson (L)
67. Yummy: The Last Days of a Southside Shorty by G. Neri (L, GN)
68. The Seance by Joan Lowery Nixon
69. Jacob Have I Loved by Katherine Paterson
70. Clementine by Sara Pennypacker
71. The Ruby in the Smoke by Philip Pullman (UF)
72. The Shadow in the North by Philip Pullman (UF)
73. The Tiger in the Well by Philip Pullman (UF)
74. The Tin Princess by Philip Pullman (UF)
75. The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
76. The Key to Rondo by Emily Rodda
77. The Wizard of Rondo by Emily Rodda (UF)
78. The Battle for Rondo by Emily Rodda
79. A List of Cages by Robin Roe*
80. So B. It by Sarah Weeks (L)
81. Window Boy by Andrea White (L)
82. Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin (L)
83. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (L)

Short Story Collections

1. Wizards edited by Jack Danin and Gardner Dozois
2. Thrilling Tales edited by Michael Chabon
3. Confessions of a High School Word Nerd
4. The Sci-Fi Factor edited by Perfection Learning
5. The Case Against Tomorrow by Frederik Pohl

Adult Literature

1. Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
2. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (L)
3. The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie R. King
4. The Blind Side by Michael Lewis (L)
5. Sabriel by Garth Nix
6. Witches Abroad by Terry Pratchett (B)
7. Small Gods by Terry Pratchett (B)
8. Bad Monkey by Matt Ruff
9. Drowning Ruth by Christina Schwarz
10. The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara (CL)

Poetry

1. Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein (RR)
2. A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein (RR)

Professional Reading & NonFiction

1. A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah (NF)
2. L.A. Noir by John Buntin  (NF)
3. The Science of Star Wars by Jeanne Cavelos (NF)
4. Literature Circles by Harvey Daniels (P)
5. Mini-Lessons For Literature Circles by Harvey Daniels & Nancy Steineke (P)
6. Charles and Emma by Deborah Heiligman (NF)
7. The Disappearing Spoon by Sam Kean (NF)
8. Book Love by Penny Kittle (RR) (P)
9. Choice Cuts by Mark Kurlansky (NF)
10. The Eastern Stars by Mark Kurlansky (NF)
11. Reading Ladders by Teri S. Lesesne (RR) (P)
12. Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt (NF)
13. Good-Bye Round Robin by Michael F. Opitz (P)
14. The Writer's Workout Book by Art Peterson (P)
15. Cooked by Michael Pollan (NF)
16. Stiff by Mary Roach (NF)
17. Black Beard and Other Pirates of the Atlantic Coast by Nancy Roberts (NF)
18. The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks (NF)
19. Teaching English by Design by Peter Smagorinsky (P)
20. An Edible History of Humanity by Tom Standage (NF)
21. Proust and the Squid by Maryanne Wolf  (NF)

(L) = from a Library    (B) = borrowed     (RR) = ReReads    (UF) = unfound/don't have access yet
(GN) = Graphic Novel    (NF) = NonFiction    (P) = Professional

New Year - New Challanges

A lot of things happened this year. In many ways, it's been an excellent year. I started out with a vague goal of reading 100 books and ended up reading over 150 (the actual number is a little unclear depending on what counts as a book). On the other hand, it has been a exceedingly challenging year. While, I've restarted my reading habit, in a big way, I'm still struggling with the writing, and there have been several long gaps in the blog.

As a result, I have a new set of self-challenges in both reading and writing.

Part of my success reading is a result of really owning my position at the school as the resident "book lady." I firmly believe that part of the reason kids hesitate to read is that once they've finished a book, they can't really share the experience unless they can find someone else who read the same book. Reading can be a very isolating pursuit in that way. Part of the reason kids disappear into video games/youtube/television is that it's easier to find a connection. The time investment is less and, for many games, there are ready made online communities to connect with.

About two thirds of the books I read this year were YA or Middle Readers. I picked up anything I saw one of my kids with and then anything those books led me to. I talked to the kids about what they read and I got them talking to each other. It was actually very successful in its way, but it meant that I read a lot of young people lit. On a downside, this lead to some stagnation. I enjoy YA lit, but it isn't stimulating in the same ways as other literature so here's the goal for the upcoming year:

100 YA Novels/Middle Reader Books: What I'm doing with my students is valuable and that means I have to keep reading in this area. So I am committing to reading at least 100 YA books in the upcoming year. It's not a hardship but the trick is going to be avoiding stagnation

20 non-fiction/professional books: I need to read more nonfiction. I just do. I like nonfiction even, but it's slower going than fiction and I tend to put it aside for later.  This year I will read 20 of them, ideally they won't all be pedagogy books, but those do count. So do cookbooks for that matter.

10 short story collections: It's often easier to get a reluctant reader to commit to a 20 page story than a 200 page book. Which is great, if you have a handy stock of short stories to suggest... which oddly I don't. I know the standard high school text book stories...but that's about it.  10 collections for the next year will be a start.

10 books of poetry: I have a dirty secret. I secretly dread the Poetry Unit that my 9th graders do each year. Strangely, I love teaching poetry for my 12th graders. I suspect it's an issue of familiarity. Clearly, I need to read more poetry recreationally.

60 adult fiction and genre: I love YA fiction. Really. But, I'm in my 30's. I need to read some adult stuff from time to time to maintain sanity.

It all adds up to:

200 total books: To help with managing all this, I'm going to divide my monthly lists into categories. While it's possible for a book to qualify in multiple categories, it can only make the count for one. Additionally, I'd like at least 50 of the books for the year to have been published in the last five years. (so, since 2012) I'll do something like an asterisk for those .

Other Goals:

Fully read the text books: We bought new text books this year at the school. So, as an additional reading goal, I'd like to fully read through the two text books that I am particularly responsible for: 9th grade and British Literature.

Blog: I have a love hate relationship with this blog. It's like a never ending deadline. However, it's good for me and it helps me keep a record of what I read. So, my goal is to have a complete year, no missed days for 2017.

Other Writing: I keep coming back to writing. Creatively, I mean. I don't know that I will ever produce something publishable, but I know that if I don't pursue it on some level, I will look back at my life and wonder what if? So 30 minutes minimum, every day.

It seems like a lot, and it's probably too much taken all together. I know I have at least one person reading out there who specifically said 200 books were too many. However, I don't believe that all goals should be necessarily achievable. Goals are valuable for the striving. Sometimes, we meet them, but even if we don't, if we genuinely strove for it, that's success.

Any one of these goals is possible, but all together, it might be too much. However, wouldn't it be amazing if I actually managed it?