Dear peoples,
hope you’re having a good weekend – or good week – whenever you read this (except for if you’re reading this Christmas Day – in which case, STEP AWAY FROM THE COMPUTER AND GO SEE WHAT SANTA LEFT YOU – honestly, some people…)

let’s see, last week i read…

“justice: what’s the right thing to do?” by sandel – great book – enjoyed it a ton – written by a professor at harvard – lots of topics and matters i’d studied in high school debate – sandel brought in real-world examples which made the book all that more enjoyable

i’ve now started “dracula” by stoker – it’s pretty good, 100 pages in – sort of like frankenstein – peoople were more easily scared back then, i guess:) anyway, the book is told through the POVs of different characters – dracula sort of comes and goes – he’s currently at castle dracula in transylvania with his three women – i think he’s coming to london soon though in the book

in magazines, i read about the cincy reds and how they plan to win the NL central (by playing the cubs as often as they can) – i’m also reading all my alabama articles from the b’ham news (the article about the groundskeeper today and the nutritionist yesterday were both interesting reads) – i read the book of genesis last week – pretty bloody opening round book of the Bible…

hope your reading goes well

sincerely,
maf

yo,
happy week before football!!! or, i guess for the band kids, happy week of football – or something like that…

finished the fitzgerald book – the poor couple who were waiting for granddad to die so they could get his money ended up destroying their lives – and on the last appeal, did get the money – it was too late though – the man had gone psycho – lesson i learned is you’ll wasted your life away waiting for grandmother’s money… 🙂

started walden by henry david thoreau – i’m about 1/2 way through – the book is sort of disappointing  – like i read it in college and liked it – now, i’m like “who’s this 30-year-old that supposedly solved all of life’s problems – and reached solutions different than anyone else had ever reached – what made him so smart?”

over the weekend – okay, like friday – i read “out of my mind” – by sharon draper – second book in the BOB series i’ve read – it was good – would make a wonderful complement to rules by cynthia lord – i wasn’t that surprised by the book – i sort of saw the twist coming at the end – so yeah for me, i guess…

finished most of the minor prophets this week – zechariah is waaaaaaaay different than the rest of them – much more like revelation – angel of death and such – i also read about the saban movie coming to theaters this friday – i’m thinking road trip

oh, mockingjay comes out this week too – for those that care… 🙂

happy reading,
maf

howdy!!!

well, the summer/fall has come upon us again – time to get some journals started…

“hunchback of notre dame” – i read this on the nook – 570 pages of fun – pretty slow reading – took nearly a week – what i found interesting was that the main character was the building – the cathedral at notre dame – the book was a bit like moby dick in that there was a ton of detail about things i didn’t know about (in this case, architecture)

“teach outrageously” – teaching book – basically, the book taught about how to be a teacher that dresses up and dramatizes things for the students – sorry, i wasn’t inspired to make the switch

“the gollywhopper games” – cute book – sort of charlie and the chocolate factory in the 21st century – some of the puzzles i got, most of them, i didn’t – i thought the wrong person won the contest though – the girl beat the main character in every race but the last one – how’s that fair???

“the beautiful” by f. scott fitzgerald – also on nook – nook’s theme for barnes and noble classics this week is “tear jerkers” – strangely enough, this book isn’t one – it’s basically about two people who desperately want to be rich (they keep waiting for the guy’s grandfather to die and give them money) and when that doesn’t work out, their lives fall apart – poor, poor people who want to be rich… again, the book is written to sort of condemn that lifestyle – tragically enough, the main character went down the same path in his life (we can put him in the “creative genius who destroys his life” hall of fame that includes several others)

i also read about uganda, alabama football, and the book of ezekiel (the valley of dry bones) – guess those are the highlights – anyway, happy reading

sincerely,
maf

Because you’re never too old to learn new things, right??? let me know if it works…

sincerely,
the b’day boy (plus one day) mafeld

A5 Starter Notebook Page 1

one week-ish and counting…

“phantom of the opera” – awesome little classic – different from the play/video – no music, of course – story though of genius and gifts – and how to fit into a world that doesn’t make room for you – hauntingly beautiful – really, really enjoying the story (1/2 through) – oh, and i’m reading it on nook – so thanks barnes and noble

“paradise regained” – another nook read – john milton – very good – had read paradise lost twice – basically, this story tells the tell of christ in the desert and the temptations of satan – milton adds details to enhance the story – very well done

“dealing with intensity” – i think – i forget the exact title – but a book about gifted kids and their intensities – what they get excited about – i couldn’t relate b/c i never get excited about a thing… 🙂 i took good notes – the parts about gifted adults i thought of running off just so that ya’ll knew what you had to look forward to…

“conversations with america’s best teachers” – disappointing – i guess when you have that title, you expect the best – just a q and a with teachers of the year – and i wasn’t that impressed with what they had to say – other than their enthusiasm was encouraging

also read christianity today, the book of isaiah, july 09 edition of an english magazine (how to bring fun back to the english classroom), and a myriad of other small things

hope summer reading is coming to a close in a bang-smackingly awesome way – or that you’ve found a way to be gone from class for the next few weeks…

sincerely,

maf