What I'm Reading

Brain Rules is fascinating. I'm only about 1/3 into it but I can hardly put it down. This book came highly recommended by a fellow educator during a discussion about multiple intelligences and differentiated learning. Medina goes into the current research into how our brains work and how to improve our cognitive abilities. The best part is that he explains the science in a way that a non-science person can understand. I'm excited to incorporate some of what I've learned into the next class that I'm teaching this weekend!

What I'm Reading

I heard Sir Ken at a conference last year and he was so good I listened to him give the speech again on the TED website. A co-worker bought his book and loaned it to me, so I started it the other night. I'm only 30 pages into it but I'm already intrigued. Do you ever worry that the changes in technology happen so rapidly that you'll be left behind? Is the fact that my husband is a JAVA programmer and I am still not really sure what that is going to keep me from being a qualified employee in ten years? Do you worry that the education our children are receiving is completely inadequate for the kind of thinking they MUST be able to do to be able to be contributing members of society? So far this book has only made me more concerned, but I'm optimistic that Sir Ken has some good ideas about how to handle the future. One thing I do know...this book has already challenged me to be a much better teacher.

Don't Bother

All of this recession talk makes me want to do something proactive rather than dwell on the doom-and-gloom that seems to permeate the news these days. Yes, times are tough, but how can we make something positive come from this? I purchased this book after skimming a few chapters thinking it would help me be more proactive about our finances and optimistic about the future. Unfortunately, the book was completely worthless to me. The budgeting information was standard fare, the tips for saving money were the same as everyone else's, and the completely random relationship advice was heinous:

"During a weak economy, expect that your man will be hit on by other women with alarming frequency. The vultures will be hungry and looking for a meal ticket from any man with a pulse and a steady income...Stay alert and aware of your husband's whereabouts, his social schedule, and with whom he associates" (p. 118).

The relationship advice only got worse from there. I should have stayed away from the book when the title made me wince, but there are so few books out there that take the approach that I'm wanting to believe: things are bad, they might get worse, but there are things we can do to come out OK on the other side.

I'm Also Reading...

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle has been the perfect book for where I'm at right now. Thought-provoking, but not too deep. Inspiring, but not so inspiring that I feel inadequate (if that makes any sense). This is Kingsolver's account of her family's attempt to eat only locally grown food or food they grow themselves. It also details the impact that our food choices have on the environment and developing countries--for instance, eating strawberries in January means that a lot of oil was burned transporting them for our consumption.

Her description of the asparagus growing in her garden makes me want to move asparagus to the top of the list of vegetables we plant this spring:

"The shoot emerges from the ground like a snub-nosed green snake headed for sunshine, rising so rapidly you can just about see it grow. If it doesn't get its neck cut off at ground level as it emerges, it will keep growing. Each triangular scale on the spear rolls out into a branch until the snake becomes a four-foot tree with delicate needles... (p. 39)"

What I'm Reading

One of the realizations I had on vacation was that the Mister and I have come to rely on meat too much for our protein. My blood sugar is dicey so protein is very important for my diet, and meat is easy. It's what I was raised on, familiar with, and easily obtained. Besides that, is there anything tastier than a New York strip? A recent trip to the library allowed me to pick up several vegetarian cookbooks to start experimenting with. This 15-Minute Vegetarian Recipes book has been a good place to start. This weekend we'll be trying our first recipe!

2008 Reading Recap

I read 59 books in 2008. I beat my goal by 7! Here is the list in the order that I read them, with a few exceptions as some of the books were for research on personal topics. My favorites have links to their Amazon page:

In a Sunburned Country, Bill Bryson
Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith, Anne Lamott
Bird by Bird, Anne Lamott
Won't Take Nothing for My Journey Now, Maya Angelou
Lean Mean Thirteen, Janet Evanovich
What You Have Left, Will Allison
Tomorrow, Graham Swift
The Godmother, Carrie Adams
Here If You Need Me, Kate Braestrup
The Last Summer (Of You and Me), Ann Brashares
My Father's War, Lucinda Franks
Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her, Melanie Rehak
Bad Luck and Trouble, Lee Childs
Can You Keep A Secret? Sophie Kinsella
The Other Boleyn Girl, Philippa Gregory
The Mermaid Chair, Sue Monk Kidd
The Promise, Oral Lee Brown
Born Standing Up, Steve Martin
T is for Trespass, Sue Grafton
The Year of Living Biblically, A.J. Jacobs
Dead Heat, Dick Francis and Felix Francis
Trip Wire, Lee Childs
Shakespeare, Bill Bryson
Without Fail, Lee Child
Time Bandit, Andy and Johnathan Hillstrand
Mrs. Greenthumbs, Cassandra Danz
Mrs. Greenthumbs Plows Ahead, Cassandra Danz
The Violin Maker, John Marchese
Mozart's Sister, Nancy Moser
The Chris Farley Show, Tom Farley Jr. and Tanner Colby
Out-Takes From a Marriage, Ann Leary
A Reporter's Life: Peter Jennings, Kate Darriton, etc.
Hate Mail From Cheerleaders, Rick Reilly
The Art of Learning, Josh Waitzkin
City of Fire, Robert Ellis
Stolen Into the Night, Patricia MacDonald
The Ex-Debutante, Linda Francis Lee
Fearless Fourteen, Janet Evanovich
Certain Women, Madeleine L'Engle
Eat, Pray, Love; Elizabeth Gilbert
unChristian, David Kinnaman
Getting Rid of Matthew, Jane Fallon
The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath
Twilight at Monticello, Alan Pell Crawford
America: The Last, Best Hope; William J. Bennett
Unveiled, Deborah Kanafani
Another Man's Moccasins, Craig Johnson
Redemption, Lee Jackson
Letters to a Young Teacher, Jonathan Kozol
Diary of a Real Estate Rookie, Alison Rogers
Franklin and Lucy, Joseph E. Persico
The Last Qeen, C.W. Gortner
Three Cups of Tea, Greg Mortensen and David Oliver Relin

Histories and Mysteries

That's all I've been reading lately, it seems.

• America: The Last Great Hope (volume 2) by William J. Bennett
• Another Man's Moccasins, Craig Johnson
• Unveiled, by Deborah Kanafani
• Redemption, by Lee Jackson

I'd give them all a B+. Bennett's work is always well-researched, whether you agree with his politics or not is another issue. The Johnson mystery was a strange mix of Asian, American, and Native American cultures but he made it work. Kanafani's story gave deeper insight into Mid-East politics (which I badly need), and Redemption was a scary trip into the future. It emphasized post-9/11 politics and civil liberties.

I'm A Slacker

I've been reading a lot, just not posting much. Several projects/dreams are starting to come together this fall, both personally and professionally, so there probably won't be a lot of time to post. Either that or I'll be the most faithful poster ever because sometimes my compulsion to do everything can't be tamed.

Finished three excellent books at the end of September: unChristian, Eat, Pray, Love and The Bell Jar. As of this writing I've finished 48 of my 52 books for the year.

Don't Waste Your Time

I'm embarrassed that I picked it up, more so that I read it. I had ten minutes to pick up books at the library and I just grabbed it. The worst part? This was the best book in the bunch!

One realization that's come from my 52 book challenge is the sad acknowledgment that there's very little good fiction out there. It's been so long since I've read something that inspired me. I love to read non-fiction, but sometimes it would be nice to read a novel that makes me sing a little bit inside when I finish it. They're few and far between, that's for sure.

Thoughts On America From A Former Canadian

Reading A Reporter's Life reminded me of how woefully ignorant I am of world politics and events. My respect for Peter Jennings was cemented during 9/11--his calm and steady presence as he reported the news made it easier to digest what was happening. On the rare occasion I watched World News Tonight the amount of research he obviously put into his broadcasts was compelling.

It reads like a biography, but it is a compilation of interviews with over 80 of his friends, colleagues, family members, politicians, and professional rivals. There's a deep respect for his high journalistic standards and thorough understanding of world affairs.

My favorite quotation came after he became an American citizen:

"I aspire to be a good American. And I aspire to stand for the best American values. That's not easy. It takes work. I know of no people on Earth who are more generous, who are more open, sometimes to the point of distraction. I know of no people who mean better...So I aspire to be a good American means to see the best of America, but it's also to see the bad, and to work in a responsible way to try to make that which is bad better, and to relish the best in the country. It is an exceptional country... At its best, it's a joyous experience, a really, truly rich experience" (p. 260).

He was also apparently vain about his appearance (from an interview with John Leo):

"Peter loved ties. He particularly loved ties his friends were wearing. You'd go out to dinner with Peter and he'd admire your tie, and you'd say thank you and try to get back to the conversation. No, no, Peter would extravagantly admire your tie over and over until you took it off and gave it to him. And that's how he acquired a great many of his ties. At his fiftieth birthday party, we dummied up a slide show of all the events of his life that were likely to be embarrassing...The one that got the biggest laughs was--he turned fifty in the Dukakis year--was of him stripping the tie off Dukakis during their interview. Everybody roared over that because every man in the audience had lost a couple of ties to Peter. He did send me six ties one year, to apparently make up for it. They were the six most hideous ties I've ever seen in my life" (p. 240).

Stories like that are why I like biographies so much. The public persona is very rarely interesting to me--I like to see the goofball, dorky, and just plain strange sides of people.

Finished on Friday

I have never been a fan of Chris Farley. I thought his "Matt the Motivational Speaker" character was terrible. His humor just never did anything for me. The Mister has the opposite reaction to Farley's "work", so I checked this book out for him. After reading the introduction (and crying a little) I was hooked. His sense of humor may never have resonated, but the struggles and pain he experienced certainly did. Even as jaded as I am about Hollywood, fame, and movie stars, I'm always struck by how troubles don't skip over the famous but instead seem to latch on.

Finishing

Went to the library yesterday to pick up some reference books I needed for a project I'm working on. Passed this book on my way in and had to grab it. I don't know much about the violin or classical music, but I do have an appreciation for the patience and skill of a master craftsman. The author does an excellent job of weaving in tales of modern violin making with the history and mystique of the past.

P.S. I hate how Blogger re-formats your text once you insert an image, and again after you post. Having to fix a four-sentence post four times before it finally looks decent annoys me. What's worse, I hate that I don't have the patience to do it very often!

New Endeavor

I'm currently reading Educational Research because I'm going to be the Teaching Assistant for an online class this summer and again in the fall. This is a huge opportunity to get more university teaching experience and I want to make the most of it.

It's been a while since I've read academic work aside from the 1-2 articles a week I read for my job. It's a different mindset--I can't skim as much, for one thing. That part of my brain is definitely rusty, but it feels good to get back to it.

Kansas City

Kansas City was delightful. Our hosts were warm and welcoming and had a weekend of relaxation planned, which was perfect. I had no idea the Mister and I were so run down until we both slept 10 hours, two nights in a row, which is unheard of. We wandered around the Plaza, sampled cheese, ate BBQ, and had a great time together.

Our hostess is an accomplished gardener, and also very generous. She gave me two books on gardening which I have already devoured. I'm not sure which is better--gardening, or reading about gardening? She also gave us divisions from her heirloom peony bushes so we drove back to Denver with a back seat full of peonies! I'm praying that they thrive in our backyard because they are gorgeous.

All Stop

Been doing a lot of reading for work lately, so Enrique's Journey was put on hold. Actually, that's just an excuse. I knew it was going to be an emotionally draining book to read and I just don't have the stamina for it. I am wuss.

The Mister loves the show Deadliest Catch, so I picked up Time Bandit from the library. He has so much schoolwork that he doesn't read for pleasure anymore, so I've been reading the best parts out loud to him.

The season premier was a few weeks ago and the Mister was getting antsy for it to start. Our conversation went something like this:

Me: Are you excited for the new season? Are you ready to see all your "friends" again?

The Mister: I have but one friend...the sea!

Help Me

I first heard about Enrique's Journey a couple of years ago on NPR when they interviewed the author. It sounded like an amazing book, so I made a mental note to remember it the next time I was at the library/bookstore, then promptly forgot all about it. My brilliance, sometimes, astonishes me.

Fortunately I have a new cube-mate who loves to read as much as I do and we spend more "work time" talking about books than we probably should. She started talking about how much she loved the book and offered to loan it to me. I started the book last night, got about 40 pages into it, and in the process used at least 3 tissues for all of the crying. Still, I will persevere, because I'm completely engrossed in the story and the amazing lengths the author went to in her research for this book.

Hot Water

Our hot water heater went on the fritz on Sunday and we've been trying to get it fixed all week. Showering at 24 Hour Fitness every morning has not been my favorite, but it does make me grateful for all of the appliances that are working! Never have I felt such fondness for a furnace or a dishwasher...

Nothing like a little home repair drama to increase your stress level. To counter that, I've been reading quite a bit. Finished Sue Grafton's T is for Trespass on Tuesday with a sigh of contentment. Grafton's books never fail to entertain me. For a while in college I took up jogging because the main character runs three miles a day! Unfortunately, that phase did not last long.

Now I'm working on The Year of Living Biblically, which has been on my "To Read" list since it came out. I loved The Know-It-All so much I paid to have it shipped to my cousin in Malawi so she could read it! The new book is excellent and more thoughtful than I was expecting.

This week at the library I hit pay dirt. Sometimes I go in and feel noncommittal about what I end up checking out. This week it seemed like every book I saw was going to be interesting and exciting. My book bag was groaning with the strain of getting all of my finds back to the house.

On A Roll

Finished My Father's Secret War last night. It wasn't your typical World War II memoir as the emphasis was just as much on the relationship between the author and her father as it was about his experiences in the war. This book certainly passed my "No more nice!" requirement! I admire the author's tenacity to get the stories from her father in the face of his reluctance and even obstinance. It would have been so easy for her to write off all of his quirks and never investigate his past enough to learn the truth.

What I'm Reading

I knew I needed a good cry last night, so I started Here If You Need Me, and it did not disappoint. I'm about 1/3 of the way through it and only the strong hint that the alarm goes off at 5:30 AM from the Mister kept me from finishing it. Her sweet memories of her husband and the reasons she loved him made me remember all of the ways that I am blessed. As a member of a faith community that's a little bit outside of the mainstream, her emphasis on hearing people's stories and actions that speak louder than words gave my spirit a little boost.

Bird by Bird

I'm not a writer, and don't really have aspirations to be one, but Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott was excellent. A source of inspiration and guidance for would-be writers, it encouraged me to be better at the things I am interested in doing. I find Lamott's work to be funny, hopeful, and uplifting.