The Plucky Reader

Review – Call Me By Your Name by André Aciman

April 9, 2018

Today, I am sitting in a lovely little coffeeshop between a rehearsal and a performance. I think I have spent more time, collectively, in coffee shops than anywhere else in my entire life. And I’m perfectly okay with this fact.

Sitting today, I have a little time to reflect the book that I finished yesterday.

Call Me By Your Name is not a book I would describe as lovely. (Which is shocking, I know. That’s my standard adjective for a book I love.) But it was a beautiful, moving, and touching story.

Top Ten Tuesday: Required Reading

April 3, 2018

Happy Tuesday! This week (we’ll see what happens next week) I’m hopping on the #TopTenTuesday bandwagon. Since I spend my entire life at school, it seems only appropriate to talk about my top ten books on school required reading lists.

I’ve chosen books from all levels of education, elementary school through college. All of these books are near and dear to my heart, and have had a huge impact on my reading life. Some of the books on this list might have not been required reading for me, but they appear on required reading lists around the nation.

Happy April

April 1, 2018

Today is a beautiful and wonderful day! Today, I am happy to be celebrating Easter and The Resurrection with my family. There is nothing better than celebrating with my family.

March was a much kinder month to me than January or February proved to be (old-man back notwithstanding). I read some really great books, starting with Every Heart a Doorway. I followed that up with Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison at the request of a student who chose it to do her senior project over. My eighth graders read Flowers for Algernon in their English classes, so I read it along with them for the first time. I can’t believe I’d missed reading it!

Next, I read the epistolary The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Annie Barrows. I’m not normally a fan of epistles–books narrated by letters–but I really fell in love with this book. It was a delightful read and a nice palette cleanser after Flowers for Algernon and before rushing into The Mothers by Brit Bennett.

Review – The Mothers by Brit Bennett

March 23, 2018

29313946_10101375704983601_3649220526414495744_n

This weekend, I spent a few hours with a good book, a few cups of tea, and a warm blanket. This kind of ultimate relaxation is rare for me; I work the equivalent of two jobs and I’m usually too ADHD to sit still and read a book straight through for any length of time.

But something about the end of spring break prompted me to get in one more book and to make the most of it. So naturally, I read a really relaxing, not at all emotionally taxing book about nothing heavy or deep at all. Because I’m known for reading really chill reads. Or, you know, I read a very heavy, amazingly written book that almost made me cry, but not quite.

I’m sure I’ve spoken about this before, but I love heavy books. I want a book to make me cry. I want my world to be shattered, broken, swept up, glued back together in a different way, and to change completely because I’ve read a book. There’s something beautiful about a book that inspires this deep, painful, visceral reaction. I want a book to make me cry. I’m a literary masochist, what can I say?

The Magical Librarian

March 21, 2018

Last year, I was at the library–you know, just one of my casual trips I make three times a week–and I saw a sign for my library branch’s book club. I had recently “changed my membership” from one library branch to another and was excited to see my new branch was reading Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race

So at 28 years old, I went to my first book club meeting, ever. And it was as magical as I’d expected. I met readers like me. Readers who consume as many books as they possibly can and want to talk about books and about bookish life. I met readers who were open-minded free thinkers who liked books to help them reassess their views of the world. I met readers who read and really, really read. It was wonderful.

That first meeting, I was afraid I’d be out of place. I didn’t know anybody there, and–while I’m very much an extrovert–I need a security blanket to help me initiate conversation. Apparently my book was my security blanket, because I had no trouble hopping right in. It was invigorating.

Review – Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire

March 9, 2018

This weekend, I had the immense pleasure of turning 30 and then immediately throwing out my back. It was exactly as much fun as you can imagine. Lying on the couch with no WiFi for hours on end until the repairman could come out. Staring into the void and pondering life’s great questions: Why are we here? Why do we love? Where does that other sock always disappear to?

28870210_10101363046236831_9178162242385489596_n

Bright side, my Kindle was fully charged and loaded with unread books. I’m way behind on my reading for the year–like I need to read eight books in three weeks to catch up behind–so I figured there was no time like the present.

In my muscle relaxer haze, I started Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire.

I’m going to caution you REAL fast. DO NOT READ THIS PARTICULAR BOOK ON A MUSCLE RELAXER. IT WILL NOT BE PRETTY. WHAT DID I DO?

Happy March!

March 1, 2018

So, February came and went much faster than I anticipated. January lasted exactly seven years and thirteen days. And February lasted six minutes and forty-three seconds. I’m not sure how that happens, but I blame flat earth, aliens, chem trails, and MK Ultra.

So today starts March, and with March comes my new monthly thing. I have carefully complied and curated a playlist of the music I like to listen to while I read. I will post a new playlist every month. It’s a nice way to discover new music that you wouldn’t have listened to, before.

With March comes big things. First, I turn 30 tomorrow, which sounds equal parts ancient and immature. Like, surely by this point, I should have figured out how to get my act together. But maybe that’s a 35-year-old skill. And if you ask my students, then I’ve got 1.5 feet in the grave. I’m just waiting out my final days, now, as far as they’re concerned.

Facing Your Fears

February 26, 2018

A few weeks ago, I wrote about what happens when you achieve your dreams. Now that I’m a few weeks out, I’m learning what happens after you achieve your dreams.

For me, at least, you dream bigger. You rewrite your list. You reevaluate your dreams. You take a step back and reassess and start over. You edit and you rework and you put yourself in new situations that you hadn’t considered for yourself.

In my own practice, this means venturing out to getting my novels published. So I’ve taken a couple of leaps of faith and pursued avenues I hadn’t considered. For the longest, both of my novels have been free and available (and grossly unedited) on Wattpad. In fact, one of my books was featured on Wattpad for a while and garnered 120,000 reads.

Review – Every Day by David Levithan

February 6, 2018

My Facebook memories reminded me of this photo I uploaded five years ago. (How could this possibly have been five years ago?)

The best part of this memory is that it reminded me of the discovery of one of my favorite books I’ve ever read. This particular book opened my eyes to a world I hadn’t considered before. It’s one of the catalysts in helping me transform into the open-minded, open-hearted liberal that I am today. I don’t mean liberal in the political sense, but in the social sense. You see, friends, I was raised in the conservative South around gun-toting “Christian” republicans who, through no fault of their own, are often extremely narrow-minded.

I don’t fault them this. I don’t begrudge them this. I grew up in this conservative bubble and we were happy. We didn’t have hurtful political discourse. But moving and living in a new environment and opening myself up to the life experiences of others helped me to become the person I am today. And I kind of love the person I have become.

Every Day by David Levithan fell into my lap during this transitional time. I had always supported my gay friends. I had always supported gay marriage as an idea, but I didn’t quite get it as far as fighting for equality when. I supported it because it impacted my friends’ lives, not because it affected the fabric of our nation, of our society and world.

Wake Me Up When January Ends

February 1, 2018

Look, I’m just going to say it.

January was AWFUL. It was awful. It was only highs and lows. There were no middle-of-the-road, chill days. There was literally as high as possible and literally as low as possible.

I would have killed for an average day in January.

One of my friends mentioned that January 2018 felt 6 months long to him and I have to agree. I’d almost ask for a do-over, but I’m afraid January would figure out how to fix it so the highs didn’t happen. And I definitely needed the highs to counteract it all.

FOLLOW