#10: Annie On My Mind by Nancy Garden For my Spring class, I read a lot of YA classics, or “touchstones,” as we called them. Out of the bunch (20+), the only ones I really loved? The Catcher in the Rye To Kill A Mockingbird and Annie On My Mind. That’s kind of a high [...]
Archive of entries posted on December 2011
Best Re-reads of 2011
Forever… by Judy Blume Ah, I used to really enjoy some Judy Blume when I was a child. Just As Long As We’re Together. Are You There God, It’s Me Margaret? I’ve read Summer Sisters more times than I can recall. Mmm. But despite my prodigious love of Ms. Blume, reading Forever still makes me [...]
Best Adult Books of 2011
Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua You are all probably sick of hearing about this book, but I will tell you why I liked it on two different levels. Level One: I just really enjoy parenting memoirs. This one is about as down and dirty as they come: Chua never pretends that [...]
Best YA of 2011
The Shadow Speaker by Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu If you are thinking that sci-fi/fantasy is a little too white, a little too European, a little too hyper-masculine, a little too predictable, then this is the book for you. Okorafor-Mbachu’s novel is set in post-nuclear Africa. A bizarre act of bioterrorism has left many children with supernatural powers, [...]
Best Middle Grade of 2011
Tom’s Midnight Garden by Phillipa Pearce I thought I’d start this 2011 Reading Extravaganza off properly with a book that was published in 1958. Nice, huh? To make matters worse, Tom’s Midnight Garden definitely harkens back to another book about gardens, written in 1910. Oh, and it’s a historical fiction time travel book, too! Oh [...]
Best Reads of 2011!
Yes, it is that time of year again. Time for me to spend hours and hours… Gazing on my long list of books read in 2011 Placing said list in various spreadsheets, organizing and re-organizing Deciding which ones I like the most Changing my mind about which ones I liked the most And oh yeah, [...]
last/first
Dec. 2, 20011 – Finished last from-the-syllabus book of the semester Dec. 4, 2011 – Finished by first not-from-the-syllabus book since August The Borrowers was okay. But Where Things Come Back? Drool-worthy plot-weaving & writing + I-am-jealous-I-did-not-write-this-book + Sufjan Stevens + giant woodpeckers + LOOK at that cover! Yeah, I liked it.
end of an era
I just realized that in four hours, I will finish my last MA Children’s Lit class. I am having trouble expressing exactly how baffling this is. Not only am I growing sickeningly closer to The Future in which I Apply For Jobs, I also have to leave this community of professors, classmates, and scholars who [...]
