Woo-hoo! Author event tonight. The Chautauqua series here in the Rogue Valley brings in three authors each year for a few days. The guest does a workshop with teachers, another directed toward students, and a public event.
I just started going to these things this year. The first event I attended was the public reading with Tobias Wolff. Marvelous. For the second one, a teacher friend recruited me to drive some students from her AP English and Creative Writing classes to the workshop with the Dickman brothers, identical twin poets. Again, amazing.
Tonight's event is the public session with Mark Salzman. My book club has been gearing up for this since November. At first we said we would all read his memoir Lost in Place, but some of us fell off that particular wagon and picked up different titles instead. I read True Notebooks, his memoir about working with young writers in a juvenile detention facility, and The Soloist, Saltzman's Pulitzer-nominated novel about a cello prodigy who has outgrown his giftedness. Now I'm off to soak up some of that awesome author glow.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
The books I should have read
I love a challenge. When my AP English teacher buddy Jenni sent me a link to Dana Huff's "Books I Should Have Read in School, But Didn't" challenge, I had to sign up. I figure this challenge is going to make an honest woman of me.
At school, I frequently find myself in the position of recommending books that somehow never made it onto my own reading list. The student is fingering a copy of The Outsiders. "I have to read this for English. Is it good?" "Oh yes, it's great! It's about gangs. You'll love it." Sometimes I fool myself: I can tell you so much about A Clockwork Orange that I've caught myself thinking I've actually read it (I haven't even seen the movie).
Of course, a librarian has to do a certain amount of this. It's a part of the job. I give book talks about all the new YA titles, but I can't possibly read them that fast. And there are some I don't care to read at all. I recommend Nicholas Sparks all the time to starry-eyed 17 year old romantics. Will I ever read one of his books? Sorry, life is too short. Ditto Darren Shan.
But I do feel a certain measure of guilt when it comes to the classics. I see this challenge as an opportunity to rectify some of the grossest examples of negligence in my literary education. Here's my list of 12 books I should have read, to be read in 2011:
First up: Wuthering Heights.
At school, I frequently find myself in the position of recommending books that somehow never made it onto my own reading list. The student is fingering a copy of The Outsiders. "I have to read this for English. Is it good?" "Oh yes, it's great! It's about gangs. You'll love it." Sometimes I fool myself: I can tell you so much about A Clockwork Orange that I've caught myself thinking I've actually read it (I haven't even seen the movie).
Of course, a librarian has to do a certain amount of this. It's a part of the job. I give book talks about all the new YA titles, but I can't possibly read them that fast. And there are some I don't care to read at all. I recommend Nicholas Sparks all the time to starry-eyed 17 year old romantics. Will I ever read one of his books? Sorry, life is too short. Ditto Darren Shan.
But I do feel a certain measure of guilt when it comes to the classics. I see this challenge as an opportunity to rectify some of the grossest examples of negligence in my literary education. Here's my list of 12 books I should have read, to be read in 2011:
Wuthering Heights
The Red Badge of Courage
Cry, the Beloved Country
The Color Purple
The Crucible
Heart of Darkness
Middlemarch
The Invisible Man
Slaughterhouse-Five
To Kill a Mockingbird
Catch-22
O Pioneers!
First up: Wuthering Heights.
Our story begins
There is truth in the saying that if you wait for the perfect time to do a thing, you'll never do it. I must have known this at one time or I wouldn't have five children. At any rate, I hereby declare this the perfect time to start my book blog.
My intent is to cover all things books-related in my life. There's a lot going on that area, so I shouldn't have much trouble thinking up posts. I'm a high school librarian, an avid reader, and a book collector. I've got favorite authors (dead and alive) and no shortage of opinions. Someday I might even write a book myself. For now, though, I'll stick to blogging. Every day. I promise.
My intent is to cover all things books-related in my life. There's a lot going on that area, so I shouldn't have much trouble thinking up posts. I'm a high school librarian, an avid reader, and a book collector. I've got favorite authors (dead and alive) and no shortage of opinions. Someday I might even write a book myself. For now, though, I'll stick to blogging. Every day. I promise.
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