Skip to main content

Enter the Dice Book Choices

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 spreadsheet by genre. The idea is that I'll roll a die or two to determine my next read. I'm hoping it'll take some of the mood reading picks out of the equation, and I'll actually branch out into books that are on my TBR that I own.

Here are my current reads (and categories):

  • Fantasy: The Courting of Bristol Keats by Mary E. Pearson (63%)
  • Sci-Fi: Nothing - I just finished Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
  • Realistic Fiction: Nothing
  • Young Readers: A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness (I know it's cheating, deal with it... I teach this one every year!) (39%)
  • Brandon Sanderson (yes he needs his own category): The Frugal Wizard's Handbook for Surviving Medieval England (12%)
  • Nonfiction: The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt (12%)
  • Classic: Nothing
  • Mystery/Thriller: The Final Gambit by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (22%)
  • Historical Fiction: The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah (23%)
  • Audio: Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake (0%)
So, I have three categories to roll for: Sci-fi, realistic, and classic. I also have a bookstore trip scheduled for tomorrow... Convenient!

Sci-fi roll: d10















5 is A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle. I read this as a kid, and haven't read it since. It's in my classroom library, so I'll have to pick it up on Wednesday when I'm back there. Super excited about this roll!

Note: I have some books where I have part of the series here at home and part of the series in my classroom library... I decided at some point in my career to quit taking all of my books to school. So with A Wrinkle in Time, I have one of the sequels here, but not the first book.

Realistic Fiction: d6












I rolled 4 which means I need to pick something from my classroom library that I haven't read. The first one on my list is Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. I've read this one before, but didn't review it, and I definitely think it merits a re-read. It's so good!

Classic: d10 + d6



A roll of 9 on this one gives me Les Misérables by Victor Hugo. I love this story and the musical, but have never read the original novel. Several of my coworkers swear by it, so I'm super excited to read it. In English. The whole thing. Yes, I know it's long. The copy I have at home is a pretty one, so I'll have to grab my... plain one from school when I'm back on Wednesday.

Dang it, dice! I wanted to buy new books! Oh well, better luck next time haha.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Markus Zusak: The Book Thief

 This is a book that I read for the first time around four years ago when I first started teaching. This novel is one that I have loved ever since then. The Book Thief  by Markus Zusak takes place in World War II in Nazi Germany. Liesel Meminger is not quite an orphan, but she is placed in foster care because her mother can't provide for her. Liesel goes to live with Rosa and Hans Hubermann, and they completely change Liesel's life. On her way to the Hubermann's, Liesel's younger brother dies on the train. In the graveyard where he was buried is where Liesel steals her first book: The Grave Digger's Handbook. Hans teaches her to read it, and inspires her love of the written word. The Hubermann's will then hide a Jew in their basement for a time. What will become of that hidden Jew? What will become of Liesel? What will become of Himmel Street, her friends, and her family in the wake of a violent and terrible war? This book is probably one of my all-time favorite...

Brene Brown: Daring Greatly

Brene Brown is one of my favorite TED speakers of all time. I have listened to her TED talks numerous times and used them in my classroom each year. I love her message: that we can't have success, innovation, change, and creativity without first having vulnerability. I love that she is seeking to demystify vulnerability and teach what shame is and how it destroys our ability to accept ourselves and others. I am not normally into the self-help kind of books, but of the books I've read this year, this is one of my favorites! Daring Greatly  by Brene Brown discusses the concepts of shame and vulnerability and how we need vulnerability, but not shame. She gives strategies for combating shame and becoming "shame resilient." She gives strategies to use as parents, teachers, friends, and spouses. For one thing, I love Dr. Brown's Texan accent (she narrates the audiobook herself! 💗). Her voice and personality are all throughout this book. She is not afraid to use persona...

Art Spiegelman: The Complete Maus

 This is again another book I intend to use for AP. Something I love about this is the rhetoric is two-fold - you not only have to look at the dialogue but the drawings as well. Art Spiegelman relates the story of his parents' experience as Jews in Poland during World War II and all that they went through in the camps. This book goes through conversations Art had with his father in the present (he lived in New York before his passing) and their World War II story in the 1930s and 1940s. Vladek (Art's father) owned a textile mill in Poland. He was drafted and sent to the border to fight the Germans before the onset of the War. He was captured and sent to a POW camp before being released and sent home. Once the Germans took over Poland, Vladek lost his mill and he moved his family in with his in-laws. Things gradually got worse for them. They lost Anja's (his wife's) grandparents, then Anja's parents, and their young son was sent to live with extended family for his s...