Sweet and Vicious by David Schickler

My latest running while reading audio book. Since my teaching colleague Kim has decided I should runa half-marathon with her in November, I have started doing longer runs to see how far this old body can go. Twice in the past week I have run over 7 miles. That means an hour of book!! I am really enjoying this funny book by David Schickler. I had read his collection of short stories, Kissing in Manhattan, a few years back. This book is the story of a jewel thief/thug named Henry Dante who crosses paths with a young, born-again Christian woman who is saving herself for the right man. She convinces him he is the one, but first they must marry and dispose of the jewels. I am laughing out loud.

Desire by Lindsay Ahl

This is a book that I ordered from the library very early in the summer after reading a review of it in some publication. I had almost forgotten about the book when it can in at the library. What a surprise - as I am teaching Heart of Darkness, I am surprised with a new novel set in 1975 in Kenya. Against the back drop of the ivory black market, a woman revisits her youth to solve a mystery that has kept her mind in the past. I liked the book alot. Very poetic sentences. There is a page of facts I will use in class about how many pounds of ivory were needed to make piano keys. I had never put pianos into the ivory equation. It is chilling.

I am also intrigued by the publishing company, Coffee House Press, which is a nonprofit outfit that takes submissions. Again, I should be writing a novel instead of reading so many of them.

Garden State - Movie

This weekend David and I went to see the movie Garden State. Although it has a predictable plot, it is very engaging. The story is about a young man who returns to his home town in New Jersey for his mother's funeral. He revisits old friendships and finds a new chance to love and believe in happiness. And this movie had a motorcycle with a sidecar!

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

Students often wonder whether I re-read a book everytime I teach it. Because Heart of Darkness is such a slim volume and because I felt like last year I did the best job teaching it that I had ever done, I am trying to do even better this year. It is so difficult to get students into this book. I am teaching from this Dover edition.


Some of the other recent cover art is really cool.

Atonement by Ian McEwan

Tonight is bookclub at the home of Mary Brooks, retired teacher friend. We read Atonement by Ian McEwan, a book I had read quickly a few summers back. At the time, I was interested in the first section of the novel, which is about a little girl who wants to be a writer. Then the second section moves to WWII, where the girl is serving as a nurse. I confess, I read the ending very quickly and the book didn't have much of an impact on me. This time, I really enjoyed the ending, which is a sort of writer's alternate ending to the horrible reality of her life.

Danny Deckchair and George Plimpton

We went to see the movie Danny Deckchair which I had read about in the New York Times this summer. It is an Australian movie about a shiftless cement worker who dreams of escaping his boring life. He ties helium balloons to his deckchair in the middle of a backyard "barbie" and takes off for a new life in a new town with a new woman. The movie was a hit with David because it has a motorcycle in it. This story had been on my classroom bulletin board for the first day of school as an example of the American Dreamer. The coincidence is I have taught this story before. I originally read about it in Robert Fulghum's book All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten. It is the story of Larry Walters who really did tie 42 weather balloons to a lawn chair and shoot up 16,000 feet into the air. Now Larry's flight is the cover story of a book of previously published essays by George Plimpton called The Man in the Flying Lawn Chair. We bought this book Labor Day weekend and David read it.

The True and Outstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters by Elisabeth Robinson

On the last Saturday morning of the summer - the morning of my daugther's 10th birthday - I began reading The True and Outstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters. This novel is the last library book I save from the pile before I return the other books I won't be getting to this summer. I think I save it for the cover. It shows a little girl with a magic wand and I want to use it to erase the reality of the coming school year. It is the story of a young film maker who is called back to Ohio from Los Angelos to be with her sister while she suffers from leukemia.

The True Story of Hansel and Gretel by Louise Murphy

While on vacation with the kids in Toronto and Montreal, I read The True Story of Hansel and Gretel. This novel was recommended to me by my cousin's wife, who is Jewish. She read it this summer and thought it should be taught in schools. It is the story of two Polish children who escape the Nazis by hiding in the woods with a wild woman who is believed to be a witch by the people of her village. It is obviously a parable, based on the Hansel and Gretel Fairy Tale. I had a hard time getting through this whole novel because it is so disturbing. It opened my eyes to a lot of practices that took place during this horrid time in history.

And Then There Were the Audio Books

Before leaving for Virginia in June, we subscribed to audible.com. As David and I drove to Virginia back in June we listened to T.C. Boyle's Drop City - at least part of it. We couldn't quite figure out how to get the Ipod to go back to the part we had missed, so we listened to the first 12 chapters or so and then got "dropped" into the middle of a chapter 100 pages or so beyond that point. I don't have a real clear feel for the middle of the book, but it is about a group of drugged-out hippies in a commune in California who decide to relocate in Alaska.



My other goal of the summer was to begin running 5 miles. I had previously been running 2 -3 miles each time I ran. I have been running in the Metroparks with my audible book and enjoying doing two things at once. The latest for me is Carl Hiaassen's Skinny Dip. This funny book tells the story of a woman who was pushed off of the deck of a cruise ship by her husband on their anniversary. She is rescued by a retired cop who proceeds to help her spook her husband who, of course, believes she is dead.

Some Things That Stay by Sarah Willis

This is another gem of a novel with an innocent young narrator. Her parents move every spring to a new furnished house in a new remote location so that her artist father can have a new landscape to paint. Her mother, who never complains, has been hiding her tuberculosis through several moves, until it becomes so bad that she is sent to a sanitarium. The narrator decides it is time to stay in one place and hold the family and their lives together.

National Book Festival

Here is the information about the National Book Festival in Washington, D.C. This year there will be a great gathering of authors. I would love to go see Joyce Carol Oates, since her work is the subject of my Masters Thesis.

Reader's Bill of Rights

I found a great little book a few years back called Better Than Life by Daniel Pennac. This book includes the following
Reader's Bill of Rights. It is interesting food for thought.


1. The right not to read.


2. The right to skip pages.


3. The right to not finish.


4. The right to reread.


5. The right to read anything.


6.The right to escapism.


7.The right to read anywhere.


8. The right to browse.


9. The right to read out loud.


10. The right to not defend your tastes.

The Center of Everything by Laura Moriarty

Here is another interesting comparison between the covers of the hardback and paperback editions. I had seen this book at the bookstore and ordered it from the library. When I went to the library to pick it up, the cover art seemed so much more serious looking than the book I was expecting. It is a dellightful story told by an innocent 10 year old narrator who interprets everything in her world - from her mother's unexpected pregancy, to the evolution versus creation debate at her school, to the difference between God and Jesus. I really enjoyed the narrative voice.

Books About Books - Or Getting Ready to Teach

Ruined by Reading by Lynne Sharon Schwartz
This book was the first I read to prepare for my first day AP English Summer Reading presentation. Schwartz has many opinions about reading that I agree with. She describes herself as an addict and tries to explain the reasons for her addiction to reading.


So Many Books by Gabriel Zaid
This book is full of observations about the world wide literary condition. Zaid is a Spanish writer who lives in Mexico.

Summer in the Land of Skin by Jody Gehrman

Okay so it is August. And I am reading a smutty sounding Beach Book. Actually I saw an ad for this book in last Sunday's New York Times Magazine's spread about Beach Reading. The cover looked interesting since I live in a house of guitars. Then when I saw the book at Borders last Monday and turned it over to read that the author ". . . has a weakness for fine guitars and the people who play them" I figured it was a good book to throw in my beach bag. Today I began it while laying in the sun at my parents' cottage near Vermilion. It is the story of a young woman whose father was a luthier. She becomes interested in his craft after his sudden death, and begins a journey to find out more about her father, and untimately, herself. So far it is quite good. I am also interested in the publishing company, Red Dress Ink. According to their website, the publish Chick Lit written exclusively by woman. And they are accepting submissions. So if I can just find time to write a novel yet this summer . . .

A Ship Made of Paper by Scott Spencer

This was the fourth book I grabbed earlier in the month at the Buy Three Get One Free sale at Borders. I knew nothing about it except that it had a medal sticker on the cover - National Book Award Finalist. I read this book pretty quickly. It is the story of a white man who falls in love with the mother of his daughter's black playmate. During a stormy night when the power goes out, he is stranded at this woman's house and a relationship begins that creates chaos in both of their lives. The book is set against the racial tensions of the O J Simpson trial, which I remember being glued to years back. Scott Spencer also wrote a book called Waking the Dead that was made into a movie directed by Jodi Foster, so now I am on a quest to find it.

Above the Thunder by Renee Manfredi

This book was on the New Fiction shelf at the Strongsville Library and I picked it up because it had a blurb on the back written by Scott Russell Sanders, author of the article "Ten Reasons Why We Need A Story". I read that the author, Renee Manfredi has been a regional winner of Granta's Best American Novelists Under 40, so I took a chance. The novel is about a woman named Anna whose only child has been gone for many years. Suddenly, Anna finds herself caring for her granddaugher Flynn and a cast of characters from an HIV patients support group. The book is a little dark, but the ending is sweet.

Like the Red Panda by Andrea Seigel - Run Out and Read This Book

Wow. This is the new The Perks of Being a Wallflower on my list of books to recommend to (1) teenagers (2) AP/Honors students (3) angst ridden girls (4) parents of angst ridden girls. This book came to me from my sister-in-law from California who was in Ohio at David's parents for the family reunion weekend. David brought the book home and I read it every free moment I had. It is written by a 24 year old Andrea Seigel who captures the voice of an AP English student.

Anna Karenina - 0r A Big Book on the Bedside Table all Summer

The truth. I bought Anna Karenina the first week of summer vacation because it is one of those books I have never had to read - so I haven't read it. I know Oprah has resumed her bookclub to turn readers back on to the classics, and I think that is admirable. I wasn't excited about the length of Anna Kerenina, but I began the summer by calculating that if I read 100 pages of it each week, I could still read the pleasure books and not feel like I was spending a huge chunk of my summer with Anna. I have read the first 200 pages - and it sits like a brick on the bedside table. But I already know how it ends. Should I finish?????????

Keeping Track

I'm just home from the Strongsville Homecoming Days parade, where I frequently see former students and students who know they are in my classes in the fall, I just don't know them yet. Strange circumstances to be told, "You don't know me yet. but I have you." Tonight I heard about some AP scores that last year's students have received in the mail, and it puts me in the mind to start recreating my summer reading so I will be ready on the first day of school. So starting at the beginning, this is what I've been reading this summer.

The Gesture Life by Chang-Rae Lee

I chose to read The Gesture Life by Chang-rae Lee because it was included in the list of novel titles on the 2004 Literature Free Response essay novels. I had never heard of the book and looked it up as soon as the tests were released. It is an interesting tale of a Japanese man whose life in the present is haunted by the events he witnessed as a medic in the Japanese Army in WWII. The prose is very rich and the story moves back and forth in time.

The Mammoth Cheese by Sheri Holman

This book may be the surprise of the summer. I loved it. After having my name on the waiting list at the library for this book, I broke down and bought it at Borders and read it in just a few days. The story centers on a woman who owns a dairy farm in Virginia adjacent to the property owned by a couple that just had 11 babies. The media comes to town to cover the births, and since it is an election year, the presidential candidate who favors farmers becomes interested in the area. When he is elected, the town pulls together to recreate the 1,235 pound cheese that was made when Thomas Jefferson took office.
The book reminded me of Empire Falls and anything by John Irving. It made me laugh out loud. There is also a teenage daughter who has a crush on one of her teachers and a Thomas Jefferson impersonator.

I really started to love the book when I did a little research into the original Jefferson era cheese.

Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant by Anne Tyler

I purchased a secondhand paperback copy of Anne Tyler's Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant in Asheville, N.C. because this book was on my mental list of books to read this summer. At the last AP Literature conference I attended, teachers were discussing which books to teach at the end of the school year when senior students have lost their interest in reading the serious books on the AP reading lists. This title came up as a book students enjoyed. I'm not so sure. Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant has shown up on the free choice novel lists several times in recent years. The novel is the story of Pearl Tull, whose three children have very different personalities. I guess I'm just not an Ann Tyler fan. She has lots of good novels to her credit, but I'm just not convinced what might make this one AP worthy. I'll probably add it to my lists for students because it is a pretty easy story to read.

A Sucker for a Borders Deal

Today we went to Borders and I discovered the Summer Reading Getaway shelves full of Buy 3, Bet a 4th Free deal. I was impressed by the selection and, although I was trying to use the library this summer, I spotted (1)The Mammoth Cheese on the shelf. This is a book I ordered from the library at the beginning of the summer, and since it hadn't come in yet, I bought it and had to buy three more books to get my money's worth. Also purchased, (2) My Invented Country by Isabel Allende, because Allende writes with such a lovely prose style that even this memoir will be enjoyable to read some day. (3) Second Glance, by Jodi Picoult whose novel The Pact is a favorite of juniors every year during free choice novel time. (4) A Ship Made of Paper by Scott Spencer because it is National Book Award Finalist and it has a photograph of an unmade bed on the cover. I may very well have bought Good Faith by Jane Smiley at the sale based on the cover photo of a woman in stockings and heels and a man in suit pants shot from the knees down. I'm something of a sucker for cover art. But luckily I was almost halfway through the book - from the library - which was sitting on our coffee table sporting a hardback cover that is much more boring. Like the book. I loved Smiley's A Thousand Acres, but Good Faith is a summer read that I stopped half way through.

The Sixpence House by Paul Collins - Or Buying Books on Vacation

True confessions - English teachers on vacation love to go to book stores in cool new places. Yes, I bought books while on vacation. At the bookstore at Hollins University, where Annie Dillard went to college, I bought a book about the Annie Dillard, Lee Smith and the Hollins Writers. At Atlantic Books and Folk Art in Asheville, N.C., I bought a used paperback copy of Anne Tylers Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant (see later entry). At Carl Sandburg's Home we bought a few poetry books and at the Thomas Wolfe House we bought a copy of Look Homeward, Angel. In Richmond Virginia we escaped a thunderstorm by spending an hour in Cafe Gutenberg, the cutest establishment labled Books, Coffee & Wine Lounge. While it rained, I read so many of the poems in Absolute Trust in the Goodness of the Earth by Alice Walker that I decided to buy the book. And I was very intriqued by a little paperback by Paul Collins called The Sixpence House, with the subtitle, Lost in a Town of Books. I bought it and read it almost entirely in a lavish room with two couches in The Jefferson Hotel. Collins, who works for David Egger's McSweeney's Books, took his wife and baby from San Francisco to live in the little village of Hay-on-Wye. This Welsh village has the distinction of having fifteen hundred inhabitants and fory bookstores. I loved reading this book and underlined lots of passages that I will probably use in class someday. In the ending of this memoir he describes trying to return to the U.S. without a passport in a scene that I labled Catch-22.