ooh, the scary, scary darkness of chelsea park before DST ends…

“hard choices” – by hil clinton, our next prez (kidding – that one gets people upset – although, they used to be a lot more upset prior to the current one we have now:)

“hard choices” – okay, so politics being what it is, you typically like a book according to where you are on the scale – i liked the book though in my objectionable take – or my effort at it – b/c foreign policy is good to study – particularly b/c no one else does – i guess the criticism of this book was that you could see political ambitions behind the book – and her desire to run a lot through the sec of state offices (sort of trying to be president herself)

“one world schoolhouse” – the director of khan academy outlined his view of education – that we live in an era possible for 1-to-1 education – ironically, he wanted a classroom of 100 kids and three teachers to do this (that part left me hazy) – the author is really bright – probably whatever he would’ve taken on, he would’ve done well with – he’s very balanced in his educational views – i’m not sure i believe videos are the end all, be all though

“all the truth that’s in me” – third high school BOB finished – and definitely the strangest for “entertainment” – got “missing girl” beat up and down the road for creepiness – the final message was sexist too – i hope it’s a book you never ever ever have to read:)

well, one last week of journals before my nanowrimos cut out…

maf

“all our yesterdays” – second BOB at the high school level for me – what does high school BOB mean, anyway? i would argue, mostly adult-ish fiction material – a few of them are more adult fiction – but most still have young characters – anyway, i’m missing the point here b/c the point is to complain about this book:) spoiler alert – girl from the future goes back in time four years to kill her boyfriend of the past – who turned evil in the future – the girl in the future enlists the support of her future boyfriend – who was the boyfriend’s best friend in the past – a guy the girl in the past couldn’t stand (b/c if i’ve learned one thing from stupid fiction reading through the years, the key to a girl’s heart is getting her to hate you at the start – you’re bound to be lovey-dovey by the end if that’s how you start) – anyway, so the girl goes back to kill the boyfriend – but, tragically, the boyfriend in the past comes back from the future to kill everyone – b/c he’s just that evil – and so lots of sighs, laments, crash scenes – etc. – and for all that, a title that alludes to shakespeare – oh, why couldn’t there have been a sequel???

that was it for the week – you know the big other book i’m reading – if you’re watching – i’m still working on that one – do hope everyone enjoys the week

maf

the problem with this blog thing is that i’m already on another book – the world’s worst BOB ever – it’s a high school one – and i so want to complain already…

“george whitfield” – there was another title to it – but it was a biography on the guy – who was a large part of the great awakening – which you may – or may not – learn in american history now – i’m not sure – i’m very sure we went through it though – this was one i’d call a challenge book – thankfully, it was just 270 pages of teeny tiny print – if it’d been longer, i would’ve struggled greatly – very worthwhile read though – and some of the book reminded me of some of the matters in the church today

“origami yoda and the pickletine gets on the bus case” – something like that – as always, cute – i worried at the start that the book wasn’t fresh or new anymore – that it was a sad book just extending a series – lots of series get that way – but i wasn’t ready for it to end – as usual, the origami was cover for getting through middle school “issues” – i do love what the principal did for standardized testing – we should do the same

“the teaching brain” – i taught you the best part of that book – that we have up’s and down’s in learning – i needed a bit more practicality – less theory – but hey, the writer went to harvard – she also gave up teaching after 10 years – maybe there’s a book in me too:)

enjoy your day off tomorrow

maf

slacker that i am, just one book this past week – the other is just taking a while…

“a season to remember” by carson tinker – all alabama fans should be required to read the book – really, any college football fan would enjoy it – good things in there about saban and how he runs things – i think i tried to teach the sixth grade some of it – and we all know how well that goes (my trying to teach things)

the other book i’m getting through – slowly but surely – involves the Great Awakening – which i doubt is covered in history until high school – and maybe not there any more – but it’s definitely an enjoyable read – here’s a fun (billy) bonus trivia question for you: Harvard’s school motto is “veritas” – truth in Latin – what was the original motto???

chelsea park had a fall festival friday – today when i ran by the elem school, there was a small-ish cowboy boot in the grass – near the school – i think there’s a story there – thoughts???

maf

just watch the marathon record fall under two hours, three minutes – amazing…

“brewster” – my “tough” book – or book i can brag about in adult conversations – b/c i totally have those – enjoyable read – the passages about running were outstanding – traditional adult fiction book with issues that would make not non-recommendable to YA – but i can’t fathom why kids would read outside of their target area anyway – but i really enjoyed the imagery in the book

“do life” – quick read – how a 360 pound guy lost 140 pounds, finished a marathon, and became a triathloner – there was a sad beginning – the kid knew he was overweight but it took a comment from the “cute” girl in fifth grade to destroy his self-confidence and spiral his life out of control – i could identify, in ways

“sure signs of crazy” – i actually would’ve liked this book better if it’d been about the title – about a girl trying to hold it together with a mom that’s been committed – but sadly, the book wasn’t anything like that – yucky BOB read

“counting by 7’s” – so i don’t know what book sarah is reading b/c 7’s took me a day – not nine weeks:) as for the review, i feel obligated to ruin it for sarah since she won’t read it – apparently – it was a decent enough book – to be technical, i had issues with the counselor – and the unlikely-ness that a genius would just fall through the cracks like that – but whatever, most books are about boys liking girls – or vice versa – so genius books are okay with me:)

maf

i thought it was supposed to rain today and get cool…

“after (something) after” – nicole should know the title for this one – but i forget it – it’s a follow up to “drums, girls, and dangerous pie” – a BOB last year – i think there are more books in this series – more power to them – the author, and the company – i, however, am not a fan – just b/c it’s really very low end reading – very predictable – and very unrealistic  – but for you fans of spicy eighth grade romance, go ahead:)

“january 365” – bad BOB – bad BOB – book one of 12 – hello??? 12 books for the series – in middle school??? before i lose track of all my anger, let’s go with this: someone help me, is there a Richmond in great britain or australia – b/c two pages in, i read “mum” and knew it was british – but they keep referring to the setting as richmond – and the only richmond i know is virginia – and there’s an original british publisher – so i think they switched some names to “american” to sell more books – or sucker US kids – who are apparently suckered if we’re reading this for BOB

so bad week with books – always next week…

maf

the sixth graders that are new – i’m brain dead after a race so there’s no telling what i’m about to blog – i know, excuses, excuses…

“left for dead” – i’ll start with the one i finished yesterday – BOB – i can see why some liked it – i can see why some hated it – i thought the whole 11-year-old that saves the world plot of the book a little much – in the sense that just b/c someone’s 11, doesn’t mean we stop congress and override a naval decision from years ago – but that can be how things operate when the media gets involved – of course, none of that bring back a naval captain that killed himself 25 years later

“my conference can beat your conference” – by paul finebaum – sports radio – why the SEC dominates – it was entertaining, perhaps most when paul talked about growing up – loving sports with his father – finebaum has this persona where it can be hard to believe much of what he says – and the book has to be taken that way – but the family moments were nice – i hope to get the book autographed this december at the Ole Miss/Florida SEC Championship game (i would not be happy if those were the teams, by the way…)

“Buffy Vol. 2 Omnibus” – well, you request one book and get a better book – the buffyverse is huge – i’m learning that – these comics were older than the ones i read a couple of weeks ago – 300 pages – enjoyable – particularly b/c i have yet to start season 7 so starting season 8 in a comic is confusing

brain tired – tv pretty…

maf

From Wednesday’s pep rally – hey, when you don’t have a game that day, you can go deep into your pep rally roster…

1D 4 eva!!!

maf

up, up all night

second grade coloring sheets raise many, many unanswerable questions…

“tesla’s attic” – i’ll try to start with a book that some of you might read – since it’s BOB this year – the good news is that it isn’t bad – i didn’t find it predictable – the baseball references were cool – there was even a part that could’ve been from an episode of buffy (the raising of the dead bit) – and it was very readable – so yeah BOB – that said, i will not read the other books in the trilogy, the romance was easy to spot and predict, and, most disturbing, these peopled moved from tampa to colorado – hello???

“stake your destiny: buffy the vampire slayer: the suicide king” – a choose your own adventure type book – or rather, choose your own death type book – these books should depress readers b/c you typically end up killing yourself a half-dozen times before you reach the “true” end – that said, i didn’t even know this genre existed any more – so i’m happy about that – there should be more choose your own adventure books – like for middle school – “choose whether to do mr. mayfield’s journals: sorry, the stress got to you and you DIED!!!”

“the best nonrequired reading of 2014” – the introduction was from daniel handler – and he had a bit from lemony snickett – so those were highlights – like all anthologies, it was hit or miss – and as i got bored, lots more misses – people do like to write non-fiction about romance – bah…

happy homecoming week

maf

i mean, that’s where the day got it’s name in the first place, right??? this evil teacher, mr. mayfield, made his students labor so hard, day after day after day, that a special day was created to honor everyone’s attempt to read a billion books a week – and write responses that were never exactly creative enough to meet his high demands (b/c he was creatively brilliant – i mean, a superhero with a binder battling a tragedy bear??? you just can’t make this stuff up people…)

“rickey and robinson” – book on the relationship between jackie robinson and the GM that signed up to break baseball’s color barrier – amazing as it is, the author knew both guys – i just honestly assumed everyone was dead from that situation that could add light on the subject – so it was a very good read – regardless of your interest in baseball, robinson is a great biography read

“you might have known me…” – biography on phil hartman(n) – he did SNL – he did tv – he was on peewee’s playhouse – he voiced troy mcclure on the simpsons – really funny/creative guy to read about – his end was tragic

“buffy the vampire slayer: season eight, volume 1” – okay, i don’t think i have any audience members out there, but those of you that regularly read comics/graphic novels – mega props – i was thoroughly lost and confused trying to do so – lots more to them than i ever figured – i definitely got a lot out of it

remember, all day reading and writing on labor day or else you fail sixth grade!!!

maf