Books I Read and Other Assorted Oddities

 I've been to the bookstore a couple of times in the last couple of weeks, thanks to my husband. Here's what I got: I bought The Most Boring Book Ever  by Brandon Sanderson for my kids. I added the following books to my TBR and collection: Edgedancer  by Brandon Sanderson Between Shades of Gray  by Ruta Sepetys The Life Impossible  by Matt Haig Glorious Rivals  by Jennifer Lynn Barnes Katabasis  by R. F. Kuang At the second bookstore, I bought: How to Stop Time  by Matt Haig My Friend Anne Frank  by Hannah Pick-Goslar I've been really excited about Matt Haig lately, after revisiting The Midnight Library  this summer. In part, it's for my English 12 classes, and the other half...I just really loved Midnight Library . I also always love Brandon Sanderson, and Ruta Sepetys has her good moments. I picked Katabasis  because a couple of my coworkers are obsessed and highly recommended it. And then I had to get Jennifer Lynn Barnes to cont...

 All right, at work on Wednesday, I pulled Les Misérables , A Wrinkle in Time , and Speak  from my shelves. I forgot that my copy of Speak  got horribly water damaged at one point (it happens) and I need to replace it. So that one might not be going back to school. But I've added them to my currently reading shelf, and will be working through them as they come up in rotation.

In case you haven't noticed, I read a rather wild assortment of books. Some of that's because I'm a teacher, and I'm trying to read widely for the sake of my students, and some of that is because I have an insatiable desire to read every book ever published. Just kidding. But really.  One of my coworkers reads in a rotation format, and late last year, I decided to give it a try and see how it goes. For one, I love reading multiple books at once and seeing how many I can keep straight at a time (turns out it's quite a few). For another, it's helped me get out of some slumps ( Fourth Wing , I'm looking at you). By rotating through, I know I have several other books that come in between having to read a book that I'm not as into (but don't want to DNF). This has been a marvelous way to get myself motivated to read, and to get out of my slumps.  So I did a crazy thing and I took all of my books that I haven't read in my house and put them in a giant ...

 This book was wildly popular when it came out, and both my dad and my sister liked it (well, my dad LOVED it, but that's a different story). I've been meaning to read it for ages, and finally got around to it. Wade Watts is a Gunter - fascinated with the contest set by eccentric video game creator James Halliday, which asks internet users to find his legendary egg. Gunters must dive into 80's pop and nerd culture to find the answer to the clue left by Halliday. In a world where everything revolves around the OASIS and virtual reality, this is Wade's one escape. As he discovers the secret to the hunt, suddenly Wade finds himself famous and embroiled in the center of a corporate scheme to control the internet. Can Wade open all the gates before the corporate goons (called Sixers)? This might be a hot take, and that's ok.... I found the book boring. I get the nostalgia factor for someone who grew up in the 80s (probably dates me but oh well). I got tired of the trivia...

 I thought the synopsis of this book sounded interesting, and I picked it up on Audible years and years ago. I finally got around to listening to it. It's short, and easy to get through. I realized when I started it that it is geared towards upper elementary/middle school readers. The Golden Orchard  by Flora Ahn follows the story of Maya. Maya's grandmother has come to live with her and her mother. Maya's grandmother has dementia, and struggles to remember where she is, and other details. However, she does remember recipes, and begins teaching Maya traditional Korean recipes. These cooking sessions have a twist: Maya realizes her grandmother can take her back in time to witness her memories. What will Maya learn from her grandmother? In general, I liked this book. I liked the characters, and the plot was sufficiently complex to keep my interest, and the characters were interesting. I liked what the author included and explained about Korean culture and food. I felt that th...

 I love the  Harry Potter books and films, and I saw that a few of my friends had read this book. One of my coworkers suggested that I should bump it up in my to-read list, and so I did. Tom Felton outlines his experiences getting into acting, growing up with all brothers, and his early family life. Felton details his experiences working on the Potter films, and the actors, crews, and directors he got to work with. He is so complimentary of these great people, and he makes it clear how privileged he felt to get to rub shoulders with all of the people he worked with. He then tells of experiences after Potter , and his eventual spiral into substance abuse and eventually how he ended up in rehab. I found Felton's story honest. He doesn't hide behind the mistakes he made, or what he ended up doing. I also found his account humble, and he takes great care to recognize all of the people he worked with. His tributes to these actors is sweet, complimentary, and really interesting. I l...