I have wrapped up the mythology unit in my Freshman English co-op class with American Born Chinese. Now it’s time to review the book that I used as the cornerstone of the unit. It might surprise you, but I went with Gods and Heroes: Mythology Around the World by Korwin Briggs. Of course, this won’t…
It was October when I was at a great Southern Pines, NC bookstore called The Country Bookshop with a coupon, so my choice of Cooking for Wizards, Warriors and Dragons by Thea James (co-author of the award-winning The Book Smugglers fanzine) was not just about enjoying fantasy books nor just about me having a project…
I read the Harry Potter series almost every Halloween-time. Last year I started the series by reading and then reviewing the illustrated version. This year I am doing the same thing with the Minalima pop-up edition, just it’s taken me a couple months to get around to reviewing it. (And, in fact, I waited for…
I know most of you can empathize, but it has been a busy season. I hosted Thanksgiving for thirteen and I go all out (and then multiply what you were thinking by ten), my daughter’s birthday fell the day before this year, we are still in a pandemic, I have Christmas to make happen on…
I have been reading Greek mythology lately. I have been teaching mythology to a small classroom of approximately-ninth-grade boys and I have, as a rabbit trail, plunged into book after book of Greek mythology. It was always a subject that interested me. (The truth is that just about everything in English 1 interested and still…
Ya’ll like gore? Blood? Torsos ripped in half by dripping, in-side-out monsters? Go no further than Beowulf in almost any iteration. The original epic. The 2007 movie. And this Gareth Hinds graphic novel, though it’s probably the easiest to swallow because it is cartoon-y and meant for a younger audience. Still… Beowulf is a true…
Perhaps I’m cheating. No, I’m not. I just wanted to buy a couple of the books that are on my TBR that are not already on my shelf at home. I chose some shorter ones. So sue me. Medea was up near the top, anyway, since it’s Greek mythology and that’s what we’ve been studying…
So, I was a little confused when I picked up this book. Or, no, before that. I had put One Thing on my list for reading this year. Then when the time grew nigh, I looked the book up and bought One Thing by Gary Keller, some sort of self-help best-seller. I think I thought…
I do intend to read a translation of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey one day. I actually believe I already read The Odyssey in high school. But this is where I am right now. I have stumbled upon the graphic novels of Gareth Hinds in my obsession with coming up with things that my middle school…
It might have something to do with having watched and thoroughly enjoyed the Sherlock series with Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman, but I just love reading Sherlock stories and I had such fun reading The Hound of the Baskervilles. I have previously reviewed the complete works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, but I had to…
I first read Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes by Edith Hamilton when I was in high school. It is unlikely that I read the entire thing, since it can be assigned in pieces and that is probably what my teacher did. Either way, closet nerd that I am, Mythology sparked a number of…
If you’re new here, then you alone are not sick of hearing this: I was reading I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings in order to write a curriculum for ninth grade homeschoolers in a class I am teaching this year. I was really hoping this one would stick, even though it’s a touch longer…
I was torn about whether or not to go with Persepolis for one of the two graphic novels I want to use in a ninth grade English class. It’s a powerful book, very well done, and covers some really important thinking ground. But I was reluctant to commit for a couple reasons and I thought…
I have disappeared under a tower of books that I am still considering for my English 1 class, at this, the eleventh hour. Class begins in a week and a half and I want to check on, oh, about thirty books. At least if I could read a book a day this week I might…
This is another book that I read because I was considering it for a ninth grade, homeschool co-op, literature class I am teaching this year. It is the third book I have now approved and I have slated this one for the first novel of the year. While it might not be my favorite book…
Born a Crime by Trevor Noah is one of the several books I am reading before deciding on a final curriculum for my English 9 co-op class this year. It is one of three that were recommended to me by a couple of rising juniors (my daughter and her friend) when I asked their favorite,…
Can anyone actually enjoy reading this book? I mean, appreciate it, dissect it, talk about it, parse it, give it a good rating, praise it, but enjoy it? The thing is, most books that I read while a teenager or even young adult, when I reread them I find waiting for me a completely different…
It is July. Notes on a Nervous Planet by Matt Haig is the seventh book I have read for my Pandemic Survival Book Club, which concentrates on mental health with a dash of spiritual health. This is by far my favorite of the year and I doubt that it will be unseated. It’s really a…
What do we always say first? I have been meaning to read this book for years and years. (I am middle aged. I am coming more to terms with the fact that I will not get to read ALL the books.) When the title popped up on some of the lists that I was looking…
Now it begins. Besides reading the couple books that I am reading for book club this summer, I am going to spend the next few weeks (at least) reading for the co-op classes I’m teaching this year. I have to be ready by August, and I already am supposed to have decided on most of…
the starving artist 