So my apologies for being away for two months – obviously, it wasn’t for lack of reading…
“Do You Dream of Terra-two?” Teenagers are selected for a 20-year trip to a new Earth – what could possibly go wrong for them? Yeah, um, everything except their teenage hormones (gag…)
“Ken Jennings Jr Genius Guides: US Presidents” – fun book at Christmas from a former student
“Rebel Rising: Rogue One” – Watched again over Christmas and wanted a Star Wars book to read – meh…
“The Buried Giant” Ishiguto – Christianity Today recommended read – was good
“The Secret to Superhuman Strength” Comic on running/exercise/aging
“Reading the Times” Bilbro – similar to something else I read – and less good
“Just Like That” – Gary Schmidt – wonderful book – thirds in the Wednesday Wars set – and just as good as the other two
“The Mystery of the Meanest Teacher” – I had high hopes for this comic – based on the character in Legends of Tomorrow – but wasn’t that great
“The Shape of Thunder” – highly recommended from a librarian – but didn’t like it
“Cobra” – Dave Parker biography – as per usual with a biography, pretty self-serving – Parker glossed completely over his cocaine issue and that issue in baseball in the 1980s – but he still wrote 400 plus pages…
“Clubbie” – Greg Larson – the “inside” look at minor league baseball – which I already knew and which goes way deeper and darker
“The Power” – Alderman – recommended by many – didn’t really see it though – I’ll likely lose my feminist credentials soon
“A Tale Dark and Grimm” – Gidwitz – new book in our CMS library – interesting premise – but not that enjoyable
“Mascot” – Anthony John – another new CMS book
“Racing the Clock” – Bernd Heinrich – on running and aging – there were distractions about nature – Heinrich is a research professor – but it was overall a great read about aging – very wonderful
“The Only Way is the Steady Way” – baseball reflections – some good ones in there too – and about growing up – like the Clubbie book, there are times when I read about these “men” acting like adolescents – and yet with families and such and I just wonder what exactly went wrong for me that I didn’t get this same experience
“The Wisdom Pyramid” – so this was the better book from Reading the Times – and I used the pyramid with my eighth graders
“Practicing Thankfulness” – awful book – suicide and homosexuality – gender differences – are supposedly from a lack of thanksgiving – really bad stuff
“The Outlier” – Jimmy Carter biography – good – Kai Bird is a wonderful writer
“Reading While Black” – Christianity Today’s book of the year – and it was good
“Heavy” – Kiese Laymon – same week as the book above – this one was also about the African-American experience – this one was also good – just in a different way
“The Genius of Athletes” – I’ve used some of this material with my 8th grade – and some for myself – great book
“That Will Never Work” – Marc Randolph and the start of Netflix – it was interesting to read b/c he devoted hours – like I am devoting hours to teaching during a pandemic – but I’m not going to get the financial benefit he did…
“Shakespeare in a Divided America” – good read – my favorite chapter was on the musical Kiss Me Kate and how it relates to Taming of the Shrew
“Gently and Lowly” – friend sent me this one – and it was good – especially given my friend thought enough to send it
so I’m counting 25 books since Christmas