Books I Read and Other Assorted Oddities

 Since it came out, Wonder has been highly recommended, and it's been on my to-read list for years. I finally listened to the audiobook, and I really enjoyed it. Wonder by R. J. Palacio follows the story of August Pullman, a boy with an incredibly rare genetic mutation that caused his face to form incorrectly with some other additional health issues. Though Auggie wasn't supposed to survive for long after his birth, he pulled through and lives an almost normal life. However, the deformity to his face causes a lot of people to stare and make fun. Auggie starts school at Beecher Prep Middle School as a fifth-grader, and though he has never attended a regular school before (he was always homeschooled), he does extremely well academically. The story follows Auggie's crazy first school year. I loved Wonder . My students also greatly enjoy this book. It's a fast, simple read with a really enjoyable plotline. I loved the characters of the novel, and how it switches among point...

This is my second time through The Great Gatsby . This time, I was reading to annotate it so that I'm ready to teach it. I really enjoy this book! The Great Gatsby  by F. Scott Fitzgerald is an American classic set in 1922 at the height of the Roaring 20s. Nick Carraway is new in New York City. He moves into a dumpy house next to this gorgeous mansion owned by one Jay Gatsby. Across the bay, in the upper-class East Egg lives the Buchanans, a distant cousin of Nick Carraway. Tom and Daisy Buchanan are "old money," while Gatsby is "new money," with no one actually really knowing where he got all of his cash. Gatsby and Daisy dated for a time before he went to Europe to fight in WWI. While he was gone, Daisy married Tom, and Gatsby is trying to win her back. He throws elaborate parties at his mansion in an attempt to impress her. Will he win her back and get the happily-ever-after he wishes, erasing the past few years? I love The Great Gatsby . Maybe that's the...

Charlie Holmberg came to a young writer's conference that I attended with a group of students. She did a presentation on magic systems that I highly enjoyed. I've been eager to read this book for quite some time. Ceony Twill wanted to be a smelter, but instead, they asked her to be a folder. As she neared the completion of her magical education, the direction of her life was changed forever. Her new mentor, Emery Thane, teaches her the basics of paper folding before the deranged Excisioner, Lira, shows up and literally steals his heart. Can Ceony save him? I had a really hard time rating this book. Part of me found this book absolutely delightful. I loved the magic system. Holmberg is very careful in the way she uses magic - one of the rules she follows that many authors skip is that the magic used has to be within the bounds of what the reader already knows. This makes it more believable, and readers can logically follow the jumps the character takes to solve problems. This is...

As much as I loved The Way of Kings , I have to say, I loved Words of Radiance even better. Words of Radiance  by Brandon Sanderson picks up almost immediately after The Way of Kings ends. Shallan is shipwrecked and Jasnah killed. Kaladin struggles to protect the Kholins against the coming storm. And the storm is coming; Dalanar has predicted it, somehow. It's the Everstorm; the last and greatest storm that will be the end of the peoples in Roshar. Can they stop it in time? Can they find the ancient city Uruteau that was the home of the Knights Radiant? What of Shallan's newly acknowledged powers? And Kaladin's? Can Dalanar outwit Sadeas at long last? This book is just as beautifully written as The Way of Kings . The rotation among characters is still flawless and beautiful. Brandon Sanderson's outlining abilities and character arcs are amazing in this series. My frustration with this series is still the small storylines found in the Interludes. I'm sure they'll...

This book came up in my free monthly Audible Original. I've been on a British Royal kick (don't judge, but yes, I watch The Crown on Netflix... I may have seen it several times). I don't know a lot about British or European history, and so this sounded like an interesting read. The Life and Times of Prince Albert by Patrick Allitt is not a comprehensive biography of Prince Albert, the husband of Queen Victoria. Instead, it focuses on several places where he had influence. Albert made something of his role as the queen's consort, a position that had little importance before he pushed for change and reform. This book was less of a book and more of a lecture series. Allitt himself does call it that, and since it's from the Great Courses, that's what readers should expect from the start. I personally enjoy history, so I did enjoy the content. It was engaging and interesting. I liked that Allitt was not afraid to show Albert's struggles as well as his successes a...

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...

This is another book that we chose to read as a book club. I have to admit, I was really excited to read it, even though I'd never heard of it or Nadia Murad before. The Last Girl  by Nadia Murad is the tale of her fight against ISIS in Iraq. Nadia grew up in a small village in northern Iraq. Their village was generally unaffected by the American invasion in the 2000s except that American soldiers did come to their village. Nadia and her village are part of a minority religion called Yazidi. When ISIS gained power following events in Syria, they invaded Nadia's village. They killed the men of her village and took the women captive, claiming them as slaves that they were free to abuse. The Last Girl  is Nadia's tale of captivity and abuse at the hands of her captors and her escape to freedom. I loved this book. This story is raw and honest. Murad doesn't leave out the excruciating details of what she went through. In the U.S., we largely ignored ISIS and what was happeni...