july: 19, 20, 21, 22, & 23

july!  every summer when i come to england i forget how much i read when tv isn't an option.  here i read during the time when i would be watching tv at home.  i was about to say "when i would read or watch tv at home," but that is a BIG FAT LIE.  i'd be watching tv, let's be honest.  while i'll be happy to go back to the world of television, i do really enjoy all the reading i'm able to do in england during the summers.  this month i read:


the weird sisters, by eleanor brown (a good, light-ish read - the story of three sisters whose father is a shakespeare professor - lots of shakespeare references throughout, but nothing too confusing if you don't get them all [i didn't].  the sisters are all very different in a kind of contrived way, but i did still enjoy it and it kept me entertained.  i'd recommend it, though not glowingly.)

mama's boy, preacher's son: a memoir, by kevin jennings (when i went up to teachers college for admitted students day in april, kevin jennings was the keynote speaker.  he founded GLSEN, is a teachers college graduate, and was really inspirational, talking about the power of teachers to prevent bullying in schools and to advocate for students, particularly gay students.  the fact that teachers college chose him as their keynote speaker - and the school i used to work for won't even allow students to start a gay-straight alliance IN 2012 FOR GOD'S SAKE - this dichotomy made it so apparent that i was making the right choice in going to teachers college.  i knew immediately that i wanted to read this book, a memoir of his life.  i'm a sucker for memoirs, and he writes eloquently about his tough childhood and his experience as a new teacher.  teacher-friends: you MUST read this book.  such an amazing story, and an important reminder of what we, as teachers, can do to help make our students' childhoods different from his childhood.  i loved the epigraph to the book - it spoke to my understanding of history: "one person's truth, if told well, does not leave anyone out." [paul monette])

the leftovers, tom perrotta (becky recommended this book to me, and i really liked it.  as with a lot of really good books, it starts with a great premise: one day some people just disappear, rapture-like.  the story is about those who are left on earth and how they cope with the loss of people they know.  some go on like normal, others join cult-ish religions of varying kinds.  there are 4 or 5 narrators that tell their version of the story.  really interesting, and i thought about it a lot when i wasn't reading it, which is often a good way to judge whether i like a book or not.  i'd really recommend it!)

the remains of the day, by kazuo ishiguro (i liked never let me go better.  is that bad to say as i start off this mini review?  well, it's true.  but i'll back up a bit...  this book is told from the perspective of a butler at a fancy english estate in the 1950s, as he reminisces about his career as a butler.  the remains of the day is subtle, and i definitely liked it and read it quickly, but it didn't compare in my mind to how much i loved never let me go.  i do want to see the movie, though, and maybe seeing it on screen will raise it in my estimation.)

the marriage plot, by jeffrey eugenides (ugh, another book i was excited to read because i'd loved other books by that author...and then it wasn't as good as the other books.  this book was fine and all - and again, i had no trouble getting through it, but it was no middlesex.  it's the story of a woman and two men involved in a sort of love triangle throughout college and in the years immediately afterward.  i enjoyed it, definitely, but i wouldn't send you rushing out to buy it.  the characters weren't ones i could relate to...that was part of the problem with it, i think.  shout out to vin for giving me her used copy, though! - and it was in her pile of books to give away for probably precisely the same reasons i've listed here.)