October-ish Reading List
I realized that I never finished writing my book list for the summer, and now another month has come and gone.
I am totally lame.
I don't really know what is happening to all of my time, but this school year is really zapping my energy for some reason. It seems like all I do is read: I read books for class, I read books books for classes that I'm taking, and I read books for personal enjoyment, but mostly I read papers and assignments from my students.
I would estimate that for every page I read for pleasure I read three pages of student work. The rub is that I can read a page of well crafted writing in about a minute, but a page of student work can take me 4 or 5 minutes to read once, and I might need to read it again to figure out what the author's intention was.
Anyway...
This month I read:
1. "City of Fallen Angels" by Cassandra Claire-- This was something that I picked up for fun and I read it the weekend we went to Gaziantep. It is the fourth book in a series that I have been keeping up with because my students have liked it in the past. This was light, easy, and engaging without being absorbing. It's the kind of thing you can read on vacation and let your mind wander at the same time.
2. "The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference" by Malcolm Gladwell-- This is an interesting book. I picked it up as part of my new non-fiction kick because the title was interesting. Low and behold, I learned a great deal about how word of mouth epidemics start, get a foothold, and become movements. This is the stuff that I am trying to teach my seniors about: the power of the individual to affect change though social connections. I was totally stoked to learn about another way to think about connections. Key words to pass on? Sure: Connectors, Mavens, and Salesmen need a message with Stickiness and Context.
3. "Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers" by Mary Roach-- Yet another book in my non-fiction kick. This one might gross some people out. It deals with how testing on human cadavers has lead to not only better medical practices, but also safer cars, a better understanding of death, and changes in what funerals involve. I found it interesting and the author has a great conversational style that makes it seem more like you are listening to her tell a story, than you are reading an essay about dead bodies. Not light reading, but good.
4. "Divine Misfortune" by A. Lee Martinez-- This book is HILARIOUS. If you need something light or you need a good laugh, this is the book for you. Without giving too much away, this book hypothesizes what the world would be like if the gods really existed. This world of Mr. Martinez is an interesting place were just about anything can, and does happen. The book is super short, and you will be headed full speed to the ending which just get here too fast. Don't worry-- he has some other books you can pick up if you can't get enough of his style.
5. "The Bedwetter: Stories of Courage, Redemption, and Pee" by Sarah Silverman-- When I started reading this, I did so because I thought Sarah Silverman was suppose to be funny. Her humor is not for me. I kept reading it because I kept hoping I would get into her head space and understand her point of view. It never happened and I will not get the four or five hours that it took me to read this back.
I have also read lots of things for school. I might start doing web site reviews or blog reviews because I seem to be doing a lot of that sort of reading these days. I figure that if I'm doing more of that sort of reading, then you must be too, and you might be interested in what I find out there.
I'll try to have a more interesting list for next month, but with NaNoWriMo going on it might be a bit thin.
I am totally lame.
I don't really know what is happening to all of my time, but this school year is really zapping my energy for some reason. It seems like all I do is read: I read books for class, I read books books for classes that I'm taking, and I read books for personal enjoyment, but mostly I read papers and assignments from my students.
I would estimate that for every page I read for pleasure I read three pages of student work. The rub is that I can read a page of well crafted writing in about a minute, but a page of student work can take me 4 or 5 minutes to read once, and I might need to read it again to figure out what the author's intention was.
Anyway...
This month I read:
1. "City of Fallen Angels" by Cassandra Claire-- This was something that I picked up for fun and I read it the weekend we went to Gaziantep. It is the fourth book in a series that I have been keeping up with because my students have liked it in the past. This was light, easy, and engaging without being absorbing. It's the kind of thing you can read on vacation and let your mind wander at the same time.
2. "The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference" by Malcolm Gladwell-- This is an interesting book. I picked it up as part of my new non-fiction kick because the title was interesting. Low and behold, I learned a great deal about how word of mouth epidemics start, get a foothold, and become movements. This is the stuff that I am trying to teach my seniors about: the power of the individual to affect change though social connections. I was totally stoked to learn about another way to think about connections. Key words to pass on? Sure: Connectors, Mavens, and Salesmen need a message with Stickiness and Context.
3. "Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers" by Mary Roach-- Yet another book in my non-fiction kick. This one might gross some people out. It deals with how testing on human cadavers has lead to not only better medical practices, but also safer cars, a better understanding of death, and changes in what funerals involve. I found it interesting and the author has a great conversational style that makes it seem more like you are listening to her tell a story, than you are reading an essay about dead bodies. Not light reading, but good.
4. "Divine Misfortune" by A. Lee Martinez-- This book is HILARIOUS. If you need something light or you need a good laugh, this is the book for you. Without giving too much away, this book hypothesizes what the world would be like if the gods really existed. This world of Mr. Martinez is an interesting place were just about anything can, and does happen. The book is super short, and you will be headed full speed to the ending which just get here too fast. Don't worry-- he has some other books you can pick up if you can't get enough of his style.
5. "The Bedwetter: Stories of Courage, Redemption, and Pee" by Sarah Silverman-- When I started reading this, I did so because I thought Sarah Silverman was suppose to be funny. Her humor is not for me. I kept reading it because I kept hoping I would get into her head space and understand her point of view. It never happened and I will not get the four or five hours that it took me to read this back.
I have also read lots of things for school. I might start doing web site reviews or blog reviews because I seem to be doing a lot of that sort of reading these days. I figure that if I'm doing more of that sort of reading, then you must be too, and you might be interested in what I find out there.
I'll try to have a more interesting list for next month, but with NaNoWriMo going on it might be a bit thin.
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