“Reading is essential for those who seek to rise above the ordinary.” – Jim Rohn Reading has been one of my dearest joys for most of my life. As a young girl, the highlight of my summers was going to the public library to participate in summer reading. I read so much one summer that I even got to be on "Reading Rainbow" to review the book "Peters Chair". As an adult, reading often takes a back burner when my life gets busy. So, this year, I added a goal to my list to read 26 books. That works out to be 2 a month during the school year and 4 a month during June and July. A reasonable goal! So here is a quick update on how my reading has gone so far this year. (Reviews are from my Good reads account!) Book #1: Ready Player 1 Fun, fast paced, and filled with the 80s—a great way to spend break. After seeing the movie, I thought I new what the book would bring--boy was I wrong. This fast paced adventure follows Wade Watts and the other Gunters as they search for the Easter eggs in the oasis that will give them control of the virtual world that runs society in the future. My favorite part of this book was all the 80s references--it was like my childhood came back to life in the future! Fun Young Lit read--highly recommend to reluctant gamer readers and all those obsessed with the 80s. Book #2: Morning, Night! Little Pep Talks for Me & You Ok, after seeing Hamilton, I started stalking Lin-Manuel Miranda on Twitter. He is obsessed with tweeting and most of my favorites are his gmorning and gnight poems. When I saw this collection on the library website, I was sold. Upbeat, encouraging, and filled with energy, this collection of poems by Lin Manuel Miranda were a bright spot in a cold winter. The encouragement and symmetry of each set of poems made me realize that there is always good as we start and end our days--even if it is hard to find. Book #3: The Gown An easy read, the story of three strong women emerges against the backdrop of Princess Elizabeth’s wedding dress. I was fascinated with the process of the dress being made and touched by the strength of Ann, Miriam and their friendship. The modern story of the granddaughter was a little far fetched, but the feel good nature of the story was fun just the same. Highly recommend to all of those who like to watch the Crown--this story will make your heart smile. Book #4: Dumplin'
A fun, easy read. Willowdean has made peace with her plus size self--or has she? This is the main theme of this novel. She struggles to stay true to her self love as she navigates high school dramas including dating, friendships growing apart, and the small town beauty pageant that obsesses her mother. Filled with comical stories and true moments, this is a fun read that makes one ask, "who am I and is that ok?"
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"It resonated with me because of what my troop leader had taught me: You can create your own opportunities, you can set your goals, you can break down what you need to accomplish ... and then just achieve them,"-Sylvia Acevedo For years, I have always gone "Awwwww...." when seeing book signings advertised or featured in pop culture. The idea of having a moment to speak to an author who has put their heart into writing a book speaks to my heart as a teacher and a creator. So, when it was time to make my list, I added this as one of my items.
Fast forward to July when a Facebook Friend posted that the Tattered Cover had an author visit program that was free to schools. She posted that Sylvia Acevedo would be coming to Denver to promote her book "Path the the Stars: My Journey from Girl Scout to Rocket Scientist." This made a light bulb go off in my head--we needed to bring a book signing to our school. I texted my principal to ask permission and got the event set up. Well, today we had our visit and it was such a fun day. Sylvia Acevedo grew up a first generation American who loved math and Girl Scouts. She learned valuable lessons about creating opportunities through the scouts and shared that learning with our students today. It was exciting to see my students realize that they had similarities with this inspiring woman. After her whole group talk, students who had repurchased the book were able to spend time one on one with the author. She took time to ask each and every student what they had related to in her talk. This then turned into her inscription in their book. My son Jaxon was the only boy to buy a book, so I thought he might feel out of place. But instead, he embraced the moment and shared how much he too liked math. It was a proud mama moment. I can't wait to go to another book signing. My friend Aimee invited me to go see Anne Lamott in a few weeks and I am excited to hear her wisdom in person. I may have found a new hobby! "I love everything that's old--old friends, old times, old manners, old books, old wine." -Oliver Goldsmith About a year ago, I saw this book on the shelf and Target and knew I would want to read it. It reminded my of my grade school days--where reading was fun and comic books were a great way to escape the boredom of visiting family. I read through this book in a couple of hours laying on a hammock overlooking the ocean. It was not a mental challenge, but rather a savory reminder of an easier time. I still love the four girls of the babysitters club--each with beautiful gifts and thorny challenges. I can't wait to read the next few--I found them for check out on my iPad from the library. They will bring a quick smile to my face next time I need to escape the stress of being a grown up.
Lab Girl has been siting on my shelf for the past couple of years. I started last summer and fell in love with Hope Jahren's elegant prose, but failed to finish the book thanks to our massive kitchen remodel. So, when it was time to pack books to take to the beach, this one was on the top of the pile for me.
Jahren is a paleobotanist who studies plants around the world. She has an elegant way of entertaining her own story of personal growth within snippets explaining how plants grow and thrive throughout our world. I highly recommend this read--I know I will return to it again. It gave me a new perspective on plants and I now wonder each time I go on a walk what each plant in our beautiful neighborhood's story is. Many things in this book struck a cord with me: being a female in science, dealing with mental health challenges, and the beauty of constant reinvention to learn something new. These themes have traveled throughout my own life and her elegant way of describing her experiences made me feel like someone else out there had lived similar experiences. I will definitely purchase this book to give my female students who are heading off into STEM fields so that they know they can too succeed. “I understood that it was this fact, more than any other, that made my family different: we didn’t go to school.” -Tara Westover Reading stories about those different than me was a major goal of my summer reading program. This book proved to be a fascinating story of a life that I cannot imagine--one without education being an enduring value of your family.
Tara Westover tells the story of growing up on Buck Peak Idaho in a family of fundamentalist mormons who were preparing for the end of times. Rather than going to school, the children in Tara's family worked the family farm, scrapped metal, and learned about holistic medicine in their mother's kitchen. Some days they "homeschooled" which mainly consisted of reading scriptures and famous speeches/writings from church elders. Math, science and history were given minimal attention. As she grew up, she new she was an outsider from the other girls in church. As she reached her teen years, she yearned to more freedom and sought a job in town. Soon Tara started her education with music and dance lessons in town which lead to acting in local musicals. She struggled to balance these new loves with her role in her family--particularly at the hands of an abusive older brother. Eventually, another of her brothers returned home from BYU and she decided that she too wanted to be educated. She used every spare moment of time to study for the ACT--knowing that if she earned a score of 27 she could go to the university. After her first attempt (and a score of 22), she pushed on and soon had earned the required score for entry into the school. Once at BYU, Tara soon realized just how sheltered her upbringing had truly been. In an early lecture, she raised her hand to ask what the holocaust was to the utter terror of her classmates. Over time, she learned that that history she had been taught had a very distinctive bias from her father. After taking a psychology course, she suspected that her father was bipolar which explained his epic highs and violent lows. After the first year of school, she returns to the mountain and realizes that her brother is still abusive and that she doesn't fit anymore. She returns to school and finds success studying history. She eventually does an interaction study (on scholarship) to Cambridge where she lands to compete her graduate work. She then moves on to a stint at Harvard--where her parents come to try and "save" her from her evil ways. She refuses to admit she is lying about abuse at her brothers hands and is soon disowned from most of her family. (She is supported by the other siblings who had left to go to college and their wives--what a blessing they are to her). As the book closes, you realize that we all are a sum of our choices. This quote captures the feeling for me beautifully: “Choices, numberless as grains of sand, had layered and compressed, coalescing into sediment, then into rock, until all was set in stone.” I highly recommend this book! I can't wait to see what she writes next! “Any day on the mountain is a good day.” -Unknown When I put a book from Colorado on my list, I assumed it would give me a good excuse to reread one of Diane Mott Davidson’s Goldie Mysteries. However, a new opportunity popped into my life when I went to a thank you dinner for Mindspark. In our goody bags, I found a copy of “The Spirit of the Trail” by Carrie Morgridge and decided to dive into this book instead.
The premise of this book is that Carrie and her husband John decided to go on an adventure trip together. After research, they decided to ride the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route from Banff, Alberta, Canada to the Mexican border in Antelope Springs, New Mexico. This day by day journal of their travels unpacks a story about learning how to slow down, push past your limits, and the importance of having a partner for the journey of life. My greatest takeaway from this read was the realization that we need to slow down and savor the best moments. Although the biked more than 2,600 miles, the couple cherished small moments each day. A warm bed, a shower, the world's largest pancake, a butterfly landing on a shoe, a dip in a mountain lake, the kindness of others along the way. These were just a few of the moments they found joy in the journey. After reading this book, I realized that I want to start documenting these small moments on my life list journey too. They are not the biggest adventures, but they are the sweetest. It was also fun to read this story as I have meet many of the people in the book through my work with STEM and Mindspark. It was a new adventure to see a world you can relate to come to life on the written page. What a fun treat! “Who you are is defined by what you’re willing to struggle for.” ― Mark Manson, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life Never judge a book by it's cover--this mantra has been drilled into my brain for years. But for my grown up summer reading, I decided to do just that--pick a book based only on the cover. This book was my winner--I simply love the word "f*$%" and would like to not give a "f*$%" more often as I am often accused of giving way too much of a f*$%.
Written by Blogger Mark Manson, the overall theme of this book is that we are not special snowflakes and our lives have become entitled. As we chase happiness, we confuse the journey and bad feelings with being "picked" on. However, in order to really find happiness, we have to embrace the hard parts and choose which ones we actually want to care about. Overall, this book was meh for me--a good reminder that our choices drive our happiness and that we must be fierce in choosing what we value. Otherwise, it left me wanting more. “No. Nature, nurture, both matter, both form us. But at some point, at so many points, the choices we make, the paths we take, they define us. You made yours. She’s made hers.” “Yeah.” ― J.D. Robb, Apprentice in Death Does nurture or nature make us who we are? This is the core question at the heart of this Eve Dallas Thriller. As Lt. Dallas seeks out the Mackies for a horrendous series of mass shootings, this questions resonates as she tries to figure out if she is like her criminal. Fun, quick read. I didn't realize this was part of a series when I picked it up at the library, so now I need to go back and start at the beginning as I really liked the characters, but felt like I missed something without the back story.
"Lust is temporary, romance can be nice, but love is the most important thing of all. Because without love, lust and romance will always be short-lived."-Danielle Steel Before heading out to Vegas last week, I stopped by our local library to find a romance novel to read pool side at the Mirage. As I wandered through the library, this bright blue covered called out to me and I decided it perfectly fit the bill--a Danielle Steel story is always filled with romance and family. As I read, I felt that this was an easy read--not earth shattering--but this book did fit the bill as a pool side treat!
This book focused on Kate, the owner of a successful secondhand clothing company in New York and her relationships with her four independent children. As they each pursue their own love lives, she has to come to the realization that she cannot protect them from learning hard lessons on their own--even though she spots them miles away. Her four children deal with a myriad of problems--death, drug dependent spouses, gay marriage, surrogacy, domestic violence, and dating a "cougar". However, the one constant that helps them all beat the odds is the deep love and support that they have as a family. "When we do things that are really hard, we can achieve great things - and that has worked as a great model for me."- Scott Kelly In the 35 years since Sally Ride launched into space on the space shuttle, I have been smitten with the great beyond. As a girl, I could not learn enough about out space program and our solar system. Now, as an adult, the trend continues. My shelves are filled with space books and I couldn't wait to ready Scott Kelly's memoir of his year long space mission to the ISS.
This book is written as a conversation with Kelly. Chapters flip from his year long space mission back to earlier events that lead him to this momentous flight. As I read through his relatable story, I had three key take aways! First, and foremost, hard work matters. Most people assume that all astronauts were the valedictorians of their schools and "perfect." Kelly's path disproves this stereotype quickly. He barely passed high school and his first year of college was not much better. However, after reading the iconic "The Right Stuff" he realized that he wanted to be a test pilot and eventually an astronaut. This vision, combined with his incredible work ethic, made his dream a reality. His career continued to blossom thanks to his hard work and dedication to doing hard things. Another key take away from this story is that there are ALWAYS opportunity costs for decisions that we make. Kelly realizes through out his story (and particularly his space flight) that others are losing time with him and are working to make this a reality. The benefits of his mission will help us to settle Mars, but it came at a cost of missing a year of birthdays, good days, bad days, and all of the moments of life with his own family. This made him realize the importance of his family in a whole new way that we all can benefit from. Finally, I was struck by just how much we actually do not know about how to settle Mars. Over the past several years, I have been learning a lot about the technical challenges and foundations of this work as my students have looked at landing on Mars. This book brought to the forefront for me the extensive work we need to do in order for astronauts to make the trip. We do not fully understand the effects and how to counteract negative ones. This mission will help move that work forward, but there is still so much to learn! Overall, this was a fun read. Kelly is inspiring, down to Earth and I enjoyed his tales. I will definitely be buying a copy for the library at my school--kids will relate! |
AuthorAlmost 40 and tired of the treadmill, I am going to LIVE each day as a new adventure while finishing todo items on my life list. Mom, wife, teacher, geek! Archives
May 2020
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