january: 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5

a productive month, spurred by the book challenge!  probably my best january so far.  this month i read:

gilead, by marilynne robinson (this was a re-read, done because i decided i wanted to read the two follow up books.  gilead is told as a letter written from an aging father to his young son.  i remembered loving this book, and at times when i was re-reading it i wasn't sure why.  at other times i could remember - the writing is so beautifully done, the characters and the setting so vividly described, the narrator so thoughtful.  i'm really looking forward to home, which tells the story of the ames family and the broughton family from another character's perspective.  in my book challenge, i'm counting gilead as "a book recommended by a family member" [thanks, uncle mark!].)

everything i never told you, by celeste ng (i bought this book this fall at our school's book fair, and i enjoyed reading it - the story of a multicultural family in the 1970s dealing with the loss of a child and what significance different characters take from the death.  i found this book really interesting - and more than anything, really sad.  it was a book i was eager to read when i got in bed at night, but not one where i stayed up past my bedtime reading justonemorechapter.  thank to willis for this recommendation! - in my book challenge, i'm counting everything i never told you as "a book with a blue cover.")

citizen: an american lyric, by claudia rankine (i'm counting this as "a book of poetry" even though it's not.  the back cover, at the top, where it tells you where to shelf it?  "poetry/essays."  it is 90% essays and 10% poetry but who cares, i'm counting it as poetry.  this is a book that one of our senior english teachers assigned to her students this fall, and no fewer than three of the kids i work with wrote about it or mentioned it in a college essay.  had to read it!  it's a perspective on race in america that was at times really thought-provoking, at times challenging.  this was not an uplifting perspective, but it's an important one and i'm glad i read it!)

ready player one, by ernest cline (i'm counting this as my "romance set in the future" which tells you a little bit but not too much about this book.  this was our faculty book club pick this month, and i loved it!  i don't think i ever would have picked this book up on my own - futuristic homage to the 80s set inside a computer game? not normally my speed.  but it does what my favorite stories do, which is tell you the structure of the book at the beginning and then guide you through it.  in this case, the quest to find the "egg" hidden in the world.  thumbs up to this book!)

old school, by tobias wolff (i'm counting this as my "book from the library," and it's one i was compelled to read because we are considering it for our summer reading for the upper school kids this year.  i found it a little slow and the setting a bit foreign for our audience - an all-boys new england boarding school in the 1960s - though there are some great things to discuss that come out of it - what honesty is, among other things.  i won't be suggesting we read this, but it doesn't mean you shouldn't, if this kind of book is your thing!  faint praise, i fear.)

“For last year's words belong to last year's language. And next year's words await another voice. And to make an end is to make a beginning.”
—T.S. Eliot

well, i cried my way through this one: my wife and i are (both) pregnant.  beautiful!

powerful feeling: when yoga class is hard, but you are doing 98% of it.  the girl next to you is struggling and finally picks up her mat and leaves.  it's not very yoga-like of you, but it makes you feel powerful and you work doubly hard for the rest of class.  yes!  strength!

"you like to think memory goes far back though remembering was never recommended.  forget all that, the world says.  the world's had a lot of practice.  no one should adhere to the facts that contribute to narrative, the facts that create lives.  to your mind, feelings are what create a person, something unwilling, something wild vandalizing whatever the skull holds.  those sensations form a someone.  the headaches begin then.  don't wear sunglasses in the house, the world says, though they soothe, soothe sight, soothe you."
--citizen: an american lyric, by claudia rankine, pg. 61

this visual of wearing sunglasses when you remember what has happened in the past, as though the past were too bright - hurt too much - to look at with your bare eyes - i love this image.  and i'm really liking this book, though it makes me uncomfortable, angry, frustrated.

what i'm listening to right now

"beautiful drug," by zac brown band:

day 4

i have conned two people at work into doing the bon appetit cleanse with me - yesssss.

i can't believe i'm saying this, but i like my oatmeal for breakfast.

the barley is not the end of the world.

i am eating reasonably sized portions.

i brought a hard boiled egg to work for my afternoon snack and it sat in the work fridge all ridiculous as only a single egg just sitting in a fridge can be and it was delish.

who am i.

it will all go (slightly) to hell on wednesday when i go to trivia and eat a veggie burger with french fries, but that's okay.  my biggest pet peeve of people on diets/eating plans/whatever is when they can't go out to eat with me because their plan doesn't allow it.  or if we have to go to some weird restaurant.  i don't plan on going crazy, but dinners at restaurants are allowed.  because i say so.

it's time for resolutions and shit

i'm doing the bon appetit food lover's cleanse which i am oddly very excited about.  i mean, i've CHOSEN to do it, so i guess i should be excited.  no dairy other than yogurt (apparently dairy is hard for your digestive system to digest, so we are "giving our stomachs a break" or something), lots of whole grains, only four alcoholic drinks a week.  i am subbing in vegetarian meals when the "cleanse" tries to make me eat meat (tofu stir fries and lentil soups, among other things).  i am personally going to focus on portion size - i eat pretty healthily in general, but i also probably eat twice as much as i should for dinner on a regular basis.  so there's that.

after purchasing only alcohol at the grocery store on 12/31, i purchased only good shit on 1/1.  i bought things i've never eaten by choice before.  chia seeds!  barley!  steel cut oats!

i feel so superior to other humans.  is this what healthy people feel like on a daily basis?

i made a batch of oatmeal yesterday, and portioned it into four tupperwares for breakfast.  today i added honey and almond milk and raspberries and it was actually delicious.

i made a batch of barley yesterday, too, and i had to eat some of that at lunch and it was fine and all but not, you know, delicious in any sense of the world.

to be continued.

my year in books

a recap:
2010: i read 15 books.
2011: i started my book challenge with the goal of reading 25 books; i read 38.
2012: year two of the challenge; i read 34 books.
2013: year three; i read 34 books again.
2014: year four; i read 32 books.
2015: year five; i read 35 books.

2015 broken down:
21 books written by women
14 by men

24 fiction books
11 nonfiction

7 diverse books (as in, the main character or the author is not white)

my favorite books of 2015?  deep down dark (nonfiction) - dear mr. you came in a close second - and the book thief (fiction). read these books!

on to 2016!  i'm going to do this reading challenge to guide my reading a little.  let's be frank: i have a ton of books on my "to read" list, so i don't really need a challenge like this, but i mean, look how fun it looks!  i love the idea of thinking about what books might fit what categories.  so i'm in.  i have started a little facebook group with other people who seem interested in playing along, so let me know if i should add you!