Category: Books

Books

Book that Makes You Cry

Day 4:

The Tale of Three Trees

I cannot remember the last time I watched a movie that didn’t make me cry.  It is a weakness I’ve always had.  But ever since giving birth to my first child (exactly five years ago today), the water works button on the back of my eyeballs has become overly sensitive.  I find myself getting teared up at non-Hallmark commercials and shows like The Biggest Loser or more recently, The Voice.

So of course my new-found trigger-happy emotional gun does not exclude things like books.  Weirdly, I can remember the first book that made me cry.  It was Les Miserables by Victor Hugo, in 7th grade.  (This makes two mentions of my 7th grade English teacher’s influence on my reading addiction.)  I only recently admitted that I had a real problem though, when I found myself finishing Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand and crying on a stationary bike in the middle of the fitness room at a very crowded YMCA.

Pathetic.

This story, The Tale of Three Trees, is my favorite Christmas story.  I’m sure I heard it as a child in Sunday school or perhaps at summer camp, but ran across a paperback version at the Scholastic Book Fair one year in college, and started reading it every Christmas season to whoever would listen.

No matter how many times I’ve read this book (nor to whom) I always get choked up at the very same line…And suddenly the first tree knew he was holding the greatest treasure in the world…  (No lie, tears in my eyes right now even as I type it.)  Even knowing the line is coming up isn’t enough to emotionally prepare myself to hold it together.  Two years ago I read the story in both Christmas Eve services at church and cried both times.  (To my credit, the entire congregation cried too, and it was nothing short of magical.)

If you have children and you do not own this book, drop everything immediately and purchase it.

30 Day Book Challenge, Books, Humor

Day 3: Book that Made You Laugh Out Loud

Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris

Quick backstory: I picked this book up out of the “book exchange” basket in the teacher’s lounge of a long term 5th grade sub-assignment, my first real job out of college.  It caught my eye and I sort of skimmed the first chapter, thinking it was all about speech impediments and elementary school speech therapists.  I was living with a girl who was getting her Masters in speech therapy, so I thought, “Ooh, Elizabeth might like this.”

Elizabeth: my super conservative, engaged to her high school sweetheart (and only boyfriend, ever), Baptist-Texas-daddy’s-girl roommate who I moved in with during my final semester in Waco when her other four roommates moved out.  (Don’t get me wrong, that townhouse was my best living situation before we bought this house and she was one of my best roommates before John.)

It wasn’t a good book recommendation.  She handed it back to me and said in her very Katy, Texas high pitched drawal, “Clay-er?  Did yew even reeed thee-is?  I’m not sure it is supposed to be about speech therapy.”  Then, whispering, she said,  “I think it’s about a gay guy.  Anyway, you can have it back.”

Curious, I read the first chapter later that day in my favorite coffee shop on 8th street.

I was spitting my coffee, crying, laughing out loud, and totally falling in love with David Sedaris, one little life story at a time.  People kept interrupting to ask what I was reading.

(I never “exchanged” a book, for this one, by the way.  And I never returned it either.)

To this day, Me Talk Pretty One Day remains my favorite of all his books.  I love, now, that he’s from Raleigh.  I love listening to him on NPR.  I love the Jesus who died on two morsels of lumber and he go above of my head to live with your father.  I’m laughing out loud right now just remembering it.

John and I have vowed to make the trek one day to stand in line at Quail Ridge Books to listen to a live reading.

Books

Book that Made You Laugh Out Loud

Day 3:

Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris

Quick backstory: I picked this book up out of the “book exchange” basket in the teacher’s lounge of a long term 5th grade sub-assignment, my first real job out of college.  It caught my eye and I sort of skimmed the first chapter, thinking it was all about speech impediments and elementary school speech therapists.  I was living with a girl who was getting her Masters in speech therapy, so I thought, “Ooh, Elizabeth might like this.”

Elizabeth: my super conservative, engaged to her high school sweetheart (and only boyfriend, ever), Baptist-Texas-daddy’s-girl roommate who I moved in with during my final semester in Waco when her other four roommates moved out.  (Don’t get me wrong, that townhouse was my best living situation before we bought this house and she was one of my best roommates before John.)

It wasn’t a good book recommendation.  She handed it back to me and said in her very Katy, Texas high pitched drawal, “Clay-er?  Did yew even reeed thee-is?  I’m not sure it is supposed to be about speech therapy.”  Then, whispering, she said,  “I think it’s about a gay guy.  Anyway, you can have it back.”

Curious, I read the first chapter later that day in my favorite coffee shop on 8th street.

I was spitting my coffee, crying, laughing out loud, and totally falling in love with David Sedaris, one little life story at a time.  People kept interrupting to ask what I was reading.

(I never “exchanged” a book, for this one, by the way.  And I never returned it either.)

To this day, Me Talk Pretty One Day remains my favorite of all his books.  I love, now, that he’s from Raleigh.  I love listening to him on NPR.  I love the Jesus who died on two morsels of lumber and he go above of my head to live with your father.  I’m laughing out loud right now just remembering it.

John and I have vowed to make the trek one day to stand in line at Quail Ridge Books to listen to a live reading.

30 Day Book Challenge, Books

Day 2: Least Favorite Book

Unlike my favorite book choice, which was hard to narrow down from a pretty good list, least favorite book is difficult for the lack of material to choose from.  Honestly, if a book is not going well in the first fifty pages, I tend to put it down.  More often than not, I also read the very end right away to make sure the journey is worth completing.  Because of this, I rarely get to the end of a book and say, “That was really bad.”

There were a handful of required reading books that rank low on my list, like Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea.  Had a hard time reading it in high school and again in college, despite how short it is.  There’s just something about a story with only two characters (one of which is a fish) that doesn’t especially appeal to me.  But the English teacher in me simply cannot give the least-favorite award to a classic.

Apologies to the millions of people who loved Twilight, but it is on the very bottom of my good reads list.  I realize it is a risky move to announce that the first book of one of the most popular series of this generation ranks as my number one least favorite book.  I don’t need to reiterate that I’m not especially big on pop-culture hype.  I had low expectations for The DaVinci Code (rightfully so) and even less enthusiasm for The Purpose Driven Life.  However, like Oprah’s Book Club, even though I might not jump on the bandwagon just because everyone else is doing it, I’m also not afraid to praise something that is actually getting more people to read.

When it began circulating among my high school students (many who had admitted to never reading an entire book on their own before my class) I was genuinely curious.  When the number of boys reading it increased, so did my interest.  Then I began noticing how often groups of adults were meeting in the cafe of Barnes and Noble to discuss it, and thought, “I should probably read this book.”  Still, I put it off.

The moment finally came, early one Silent Reading Friday morning, when a boyfriend-girlfriend couple in my 10th grade Honors English class were having an argument (she loved them, he hated them).  The boy finally looked at me and said, “Mrs. Wait, will you just read the books so I can settle my point and win?”

So I did.  It took me 105 minutes that Friday in class to get more than halfway through the first book, and I was convinced of exactly why these books were so popular and exactly why I subsequently could not join the fanatics.

In these books, Stephenie Meyer perfectly captures the hormonally charged melodrama of teenage angst.  I sort of felt like I was reading the diary of a really insecure 15 year old girl.  It wasn’t the vampire thing that bothered me.  In fact, I saw it as the plausible ploy of a Mormon writer to maintain her convictions about sex before marriage without alienating her audience.  Genius, really.

I didn’t hate the plot line either.  I only made it through the first three and a half books of the series before I finally gave up (and was told later that the 4th book was the one that makes it all “worth it”) and though a little slow, I didn’t find the story itself to be terribly boring or unoriginal or anything like that.

I just hated Bella and Edward.

I’m sorry.

She was by far the most annoying book character I’ve ever encountered, and ironically, the actress who plays her in the movies was perfect and equally annoying to me.  I fell asleep in the first movie and haven’t even seen any of the others.  Edward, on the other hand, was just too unrealistic.  I get it that he’s a vampire who is mentally and emotionally centuries old, but is physically trapped in the body of the sexiest age of a man.  But of course, for most teenage girls (and apparently many grown women), this phenomenon didn’t exactly translate. Far too many readers got the idea in their minds that this is the man they want to marry.  I hate to burst your bubbles ladies, but this kind of man does not exist in real life.  There is no such thing as a teenage boy with Edward’s sense of self-control, wisdom, unconditional love and devotion, and commitment to fidelity through marriage, when his hot teenage girlfriend is literally throwing herself on top of him.  And, when a man is actually old enough to possess such wisdom and self-control (which is typically gained through past experience, by the way), his body is more than likely no longer that of a sprightly young and perfectly chiseled 18 year old.

And don’t get me started on the love triangle.

In short: we watch Bella have her cake, eat it too, then complain about it until she gets to have seconds, thirds, options for other desserts, and someone feeding them all to her on a silver spoon.

I cannot believe these books made grown adult women swoon.

Books

Least Favorite Book

Day 2:

Unlike my favorite book choice, which was hard to narrow down from a pretty good list, least favorite book is difficult for the lack of material to choose from.  Honestly, if a book is not going well in the first fifty pages, I tend to put it down.  More often than not, I also read the very end right away to make sure the journey is worth completing.  Because of this, I rarely get to the end of a book and say, “That was really bad.”

There were a handful of required reading books that rank low on my list, like Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea.  Had a hard time reading it in high school and again in college, despite how short it is.  There’s just something about a story with only two characters (one of which is a fish) that doesn’t especially appeal to me.  But the English teacher in me simply cannot give the least-favorite award to a classic.

Apologies to the millions of people who loved Twilight, but it is on the very bottom of my good reads list.  I realize it is a risky move to announce that the first book of one of the most popular series of this generation ranks as my number one least favorite book.  I don’t need to reiterate that I’m not especially big on pop-culture hype.  I had low expectations for The DaVinci Code (rightfully so) and even less enthusiasm for The Purpose Driven Life.  However, like Oprah’s Book Club, even though I might not jump on the bandwagon just because everyone else is doing it, I’m also not afraid to praise something that is actually getting more people to read.

When it began circulating among my high school students (many who had admitted to never reading an entire book on their own before my class) I was genuinely curious.  When the number of boys reading it increased, so did my interest.  Then I began noticing how often groups of adults were meeting in the cafe of Barnes and Noble to discuss it, and thought, “I should probably read this book.”  Still, I put it off.

The moment finally came, early one Silent Reading Friday morning, when a boyfriend-girlfriend couple in my 10th grade Honors English class were having an argument (she loved them, he hated them).  The boy finally looked at me and said, “Mrs. Wait, will you just read the books so I can settle my point and win?”

So I did.  It took me 105 minutes that Friday in class to get more than halfway through the first book, and I was convinced of exactly why these books were so popular and exactly why I subsequently could not join the fanatics.

In these books, Stephenie Meyer perfectly captures the hormonally charged melodrama of teenage angst.  I sort of felt like I was reading the diary of a really insecure 15 year old girl.  It wasn’t the vampire thing that bothered me.  In fact, I saw it as the plausible ploy of a Mormon writer to maintain her convictions about sex before marriage without alienating her audience.  Genius, really.

I didn’t hate the plot line either.  I only made it through the first three and a half books of the series before I finally gave up (and was told later that the 4th book was the one that makes it all “worth it”) and though a little slow, I didn’t find the story itself to be terribly boring or unoriginal or anything like that.

I just hated Bella and Edward.

I’m sorry.

She was by far the most annoying book character I’ve ever encountered, and ironically, the actress who plays her in the movies was perfect and equally annoying to me.  I fell asleep in the first movie and haven’t even seen any of the others.  Edward, on the other hand, was just too unrealistic.  I get it that he’s a vampire who is mentally and emotionally centuries old, but is physically trapped in the body of the sexiest age of a man.  But of course, for most teenage girls (and apparently many grown women), this phenomenon didn’t exactly translate. Far too many readers got the idea in their minds that this is the man they want to marry.  I hate to burst your bubbles ladies, but this kind of man does not exist in real life.  There is no such thing as a teenage boy with Edward’s sense of self-control, wisdom, unconditional love and devotion, and commitment to fidelity through marriage, when his hot teenage girlfriend is literally throwing herself on top of him.  And, when a man is actually old enough to possess such wisdom and self-control (which is typically gained through past experience, by the way), his body is more than likely no longer that of a sprightly young and perfectly chiseled 18 year old.

And don’t get me started on the love triangle.

In short: we watch Bella have her cake, eat it too, then complain about it until she gets to have seconds, thirds, options for other desserts, and someone feeding them all to her on a silver spoon.

I cannot believe these books made grown adult women swoon.

Books

Favorite Book

Day 1:

I was first introduced to this book by my 7th and 8th grade English teacher, Mr. Senger.  He started reading it to us out loud in 8th grade just before Christmas, and as it turned out, I switched schools instead of returning in January.  I checked the book out at the library and read the entire thing in my parents’ formal living room on a pink couch that, to this day, I cannot remember ever sitting in before or after that book.

Ender’s Game sucked me in in that way that (previous to this book) I’d only heard that some books can do.  I had a hard time connecting with reality for several days after finishing this book.

I reconnected with it in high school, when I caught a pot-smoking friend of mine reading it under his desk during Bible class.  I took it from him and three pages was enough to convince me I not only needed to re-read it, but own it.

I read it to my delinquent boys in the woods at night before bed.  Within three nights, my group’s night time culture became the best in camp (and remained far after the book was over, because those boys followed me to the end of any book after I introduced them to Ender’s Game).  I taught it my first year of teaching freshman and I’m fairly certain it is the sole reason any of my students actually liked me.  I immediately figured out a way to work it into my curriculum for every single grade, despite its 7th grade reading level.  Sidenote for you: the author lives about forty-five minutes away from me; I’ve never actually met him.

I don’t know what it is.  I’m not going to summarize it, I’m simply going to say it is just that good.  If you read it (or have read it) and don’t like it, you and I might get along okay, but in the back of my mind, I’m consciously assuming something is wrong with you.

I have a very hard time picking favorites of anything.  I like things in categories and even then, typically I label things in “Top 5’s.”  Favorite is difficult for me.  So Ender’s Game is listed as my favorite book under the following criteria:

  • It is the first book I read all the way through in one sitting.
  • It is the first book I ever re-read.
  • It is the one book I’ve read and recommended the most.
  • It is by far, the favorite among all of my students.
  • When it comes up, randomly, in conversation among semi-strangers, it is an instantaneous bond of friendship that requires no explanation.
30 Day Book Challenge, Books

Day 1: Favorite Book

I was first introduced to this book by my 7th and 8th grade English teacher, Mr. Senger.  He started reading it to us out loud in 8th grade just before Christmas, and as it turned out, I switched schools instead of returning in January.  I checked the book out at the library and read the entire thing in my parents’ formal living room on a pink couch that, to this day, I cannot remember ever sitting in before or after that book.

Ender’s Game sucked me in in that way that (previous to this book) I’d only heard that some books can do.  I had a hard time connecting with reality for several days after finishing this book.

I reconnected with it in high school, when I caught a pot-smoking friend of mine reading it under his desk during Bible class.  I took it from him and three pages was enough to convince me I not only needed to re-read it, but own it.

I read it to my delinquent boys in the woods at night before bed.  Within three nights, my group’s night time culture became the best in camp (and remained far after the book was over, because those boys followed me to the end of any book after I introduced them to Ender’s Game).  I taught it my first year of teaching freshman and I’m fairly certain it is the sole reason any of my students actually liked me.  I immediately figured out a way to work it into my curriculum for every single grade, despite its 7th grade reading level.  Sidenote for you: the author lives about forty-five minutes away from me; I’ve never actually met him.

I don’t know what it is.  I’m not going to summarize it, I’m simply going to say it is just that good.  If you read it (or have read it) and don’t like it, you and I might get along okay, but in the back of my mind, I’m consciously assuming something is wrong with you.

I have a very hard time picking favorites of anything.  I like things in categories and even then, typically I label things in “Top 5’s.”  Favorite is difficult for me.  So Ender’s Game is listed as my favorite book under the following criteria:

  • It is the first book I read all the way through in one sitting.
  • It is the first book I ever re-read.
  • It is the one book I’ve read and recommended the most.
  • It is by far, the favorite among all of my students.
  • When it comes up, randomly, in conversation among semi-strangers, it is an instantaneous bond of friendship that requires no explanation.
Books

30 Day Book Challenge

It is winter.  January and February couldn’t go by faster (thank God one is the shortest month of the year) because they are, for me and many others, the most depressing months of the year.  Hence, I’ve been on a reading kick.

In addition to books, I’m frequently on the lookout for blogs to follow that I don’t end up hating three-quarters of the way through one post.  No offense to everyone who blogs, but there are very few of you who capture my attention and affection.  I understand I might perpetuate this exact problem, but I guess I’ll never know.

I like (and continue to try) reading the blogs of friends, for no other reason than to keep up with their lives, but even a personal connection to the blogger doesn’t guarantee my reading if the person is a boring writer or leads a boring life.

Anyway, I recently found this girl: http://chewyourlipstick.wordpress.com/.  I hope she doesn’t think I’m a freakish stalker or something, but so far, all she’s written about are books and nail polish, two things I happen to take an un-average interest in as well.

On her blog, she posed the 30-Day Book Challenge, something someone suggested to her.

I’m taking it under consideration.  I’m just nervous that I’m not going to be able to think of a book in each category.  My memory for books is a lot like my memory for holding grudges.  Things come to me at the weirdest times, and never on demand.

I realize if I do embark on such a regimented writing routine, some of my regular readers are going to check out for exactly 30 days.  That’s fine.  Once in a while, the teacher in me likes to have an assignment.

The Rules…*

Day 1: Favorite book
Day 2: Least favorite book
Day 3: Book that made you laugh out loud
Day 4: Book that makes you cry
Day 5: Book you wish you could live in
Day 6: Favorite young adult book Favorite Series
Day 7: Book that you can quote/recite
Day 8: Book that scares you
Day 9: Book that made you sick
Day 10: Book that changed your life
Day 11: Book from your favorite author
Day 12: Book that is most like your life
Day 13: Book whose main character is most like you Most surprising plot twist or ending
Day 14: Book whose main character you want to marry Author you used to love but don’t anymore
Day 15: First “chapter book” you can remember reading as a child
Day 16: Longest book you’ve read
Day 17: Shortest book you’ve read
Day 18: Book you’re most embarrassed to say you like
Day 19: Book that turned you on
Day 20: Book you’ve read the most number of times
Day 21: Favorite picture book from childhood
Day 22: Book you plan to read next
Day 23: Book you tell people you’ve read, but haven’t (or haven’t actually finished)
Day 24: Book that contains your favorite scene
Day 25: Favorite book you read in school
Day 26: Favorite nonfiction book
Day 27: Favorite fiction book
Day 28: Last book you read
Day 29: Book you’re currently reading
Day 30: Favorite coffee table book

*I can already tell I’m going to be changing/skipping some of these categories because so many are redundant or just boring.

Books

Good Taste Day

I like to periodically check in and write about my book life, because like some of my most important relationships, books are a part of me.  Plus, when I find someone else with similar reading material tastes, I always like hearing what they have to say.  For the pleasure of my reading and non-reading followers alike, I’ll try to keep things short (and just for you Laura, I’ll take the time to imbed some pictures).

Recent Book Club Picks:

         

This is the third book club I’ve participated in in the last three years.  Reasons why I like it the best:

    1. These women not only read the selected books, but actually discuss them, with thought and depth and librarian style enthusiasm.
    2. I am probably the youngest person in attendance, which nearly guarantees I can avoid talking about children, if I want.  And when the subject of children does come up, there are enough generations in the room to help me keep a proper perspective on my place in life.  It is bliss.
    3. Does anyone from Mrs. Abbott’s English class remember Good Taste Day?  It was our favorite book project every semester because the requirement was simply to read a book then bring a food that relates to the book to share with the class.  I liked the idea so much that as a teacher, I did it twice a year with my own classes.  I have apparently found the adult-non-graded version of Good Taste Day.  The only difference is that it is just the hostess (who selects the book as well) who must provide thematically appropriate food, which I look forward to enjoying one Thursday evening of every month.

These are the last two books we read for this book club and I gave both of them four stars.  For sure, these are two books I would have never picked up on my own, but I can honestly say they were worth my time.

Finally Came in After Five Months in my Library Queue:

I read Twilight, so you know I had to pick this one up just see if it lived up to the hype.  I am proud to announce I place it no where near the reject pile that Twilight ended up in.  This book did not blow my mind nor change my life.  Truth be told, it didn’t even really make me think.  But it was entertaining, and I enjoyed all three hours it took me to read it.  If I was a middle school teacher, I’d recommend it to all of my students but I’d never teach it.  I’m eager to read the next two in the series and I can’t wait to see it as a movie.

Middle School Teachers Told Me To:

Every once in a while I find myself on a YA Fiction kick, because even as a high school teacher (or especially because of this) I need to have an ever-ready arsenal of good but somewhat easy reads.  This is one that is actually pretty widely taught across many middle schools, and I can see why.  As a Holocaust story, it is completely untraditional.  For the record, parts of it did make me cry, which isn’t completely unusual, but it isn’t a rule with books and me, like it is with movies.  This book took me much longer to read than the font and short paragraphs originally seemed to suggest.  It was a little slow, but worth the effort.

A Personal Endeavor:

On my shelf currently is a growing list of parenting books.  If you know me, you know it isn’t usually my thing to read books that I feel like I could have written.  (Most “Continuing Education” requirements currently come to mind.)  But I’ve had this idea sort of brooding for several years now that at some point in my life I could probably teach parenting seminars.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not amping up my scholarly reading for lesson fodder, because obviously I haven’t knowingly used any of their techniques or advice so far, but I figure it would be good preparation.  When I consider normal parenting reading habits, I’d like to be able to speak to people as though I am one of them and not an enemy.  Or something.  Mainly, I’m preparing for the questions in my daydreams which go something like, “What do you think of so and so and what he says about…?”  (Who knows, I might even end up agreeing with one of them.)  Here are the few I’m on the verge of cracking: