“making my pitch” – i talked to my eighth grade about this book last week – ila borders – first female pro baseball player in a long time – sad book – baseball seems like one of the last male clubs – and guys act rather poorly – she played during my sweet spot of remembering everything about baseball so i remembered her – didn’t know her story though – great book

“city of dreams” – story of Dodger stadium – being built – excellent book – i didn’t know about the history at all – it’s not as sad as i’ve heard it said before – the dodgers didn’t just run people out of chavez ravine – the stadium split the community – people were for and against it – it was a contentious issue – moreso than i thought

“dark territory” – excellent book – apparently, that’s all i read nowadays – but on cyberspace and what the US gov’t has done to secure it – spoiler: not much:) with the recent russian intelligence issues, it was an excellent in-depth book about a serious issue

“golden” – about steph curry – fun book – good recommendation for middle school guys

“inquisitor’s tale” – from ms. fuller at the county level – like canterbury tales – humorous – inappropriate at times – not that much though – good story – entertaining – i finished up after scholars yesterday

j

“Perfect Strangers” – book about survivors of the Boston Marathon attack in 2013 – the biography of a lady who lost most of her leg – and the rescue team she’s stayed in touch with – she’s actually probably going to marry the fireman – i sadly realized while reading this book that i know a lot about amputees now – and a lot of it is due to Boston – but i know that things are tough with them – running with a blade may look cool but it’s very, very hard – the other takeaway i had was that there are levels of surviving things – so you can’t lament your case when there are others who are worse – you just have to stick your head down and keep going

“strangers in their own land” – for my trip to mobile, a book about louisiana – it’s in bad shape, by the way – it was an interesting book – a cal-berkley sociologist – the book is supposed to “explain” southern white voters – and it did to a certain extent – side note, strangers appeared in both book titles – what are the odds?

“bad singer” – great book about tone deafness – can it be cured – can it be improved – how do we learn music – it was  good book – fits well with giftedness – what can you improve on – what are you just given

j

so i’ve been reading lately…

“i am” by brian wilson – famed beach boy – good book – another one i could share with my father – lots of summer memories singing beach boys songs growing up – combined with the mike love book from last year that i read, there’s lots to compare between the two – there’s also a lot of beach boys in the 1970s i apparently missed – sunflower being one – caroline, no being one – i really enjoyed the book

“the red bandanna” – very quick read – espn did a piece on the topic a few years ago – it’s show annually now – basically, just a remarkable story about a 24 year old who still lives on for his heroism – he was a year older than i was when the towers were hit – it made me sad to read about his parents still grieving b/c i pictured mine doing the same

“romeo and/or juliet” by north – great concept – a choose your own adventure book based on romeo and juliet – there was a path that shakespeare followed – there was a comical midsummer night’s drift that i want to read for my eighth grade – mature audience definitely for the whole book – but cute for those adults who’ve read shakespeare

“catalyst: rogue one” – my first star wars book – probably my last – i really enjoyed the movie – but the book – a prequel to the movie – wasn’t great – wordy – tom swiftlys abounded as well

j