Life – Page 2

Life Lessons from Ponies

April 30, 2018

This weekend, I drove to my parents’ house to see my family and to play with my ponies. Let me tell you; there is no stress reliever like playing with a pony. Maybe it’s just the country boy in me, but being out in the sunlight and in the green pastures is so relaxing.

My horse, Daisy, has been my buddy for thirteen years. She is beautiful, and she knows it. She’s a world-champion show horse who has filled my life with more joy than I can even begin to describe. I’ve spoken about Daisy in the past. But she deserves several fangirl posts about how amazing and beautiful she is. And she’d happily accept all praise; she knows exactly how amazing she is. Daisy helps me to remember to be proud of myself and my accomplishments. She knows exactly who she is and she is not afraid to let other horses knows how great she is.

I wish I had an ounce of her confidence. But I try everyday to be as secure in myself–if not as aggressive about it–as my beautiful baby girl.

What I’m Reading Next

April 25, 2018

The school year is wrapping up and I’m finally reclaiming my time to read as voraciously as I want to. While most of my colleagues are planning their vacations or how they’ll spend time with family, or what shows they’re going to binge on Netflix, I’ve been working on my list of summer reads.

To be fair, I’ve planned all of those other things, as well. I’ve found a cabin to rent on a lake in the middle of nowhere where I intend to read by the water and get a tan and turn off my cell phone. I’ve already planned to watch my way through The Mary Tyler Moore Show this summer. So it just came down to books.

I have a stack of books I have on my TBR and I can’t wait to tear into them. But the books I’m most excited to tear into are ARCs I’ve received that I haven’t had time to read. I can’t wait to spend my days with debut authors and brand new characters.

Pablo Neruda – A Master of Love

April 21, 2018

In continuing my observance of National Poetry Month, I revisited some of my favorite poems by Neruda. He was a master of the love poem. I’d have fallen in love with Neruda if he’d written these poems to me. Guaranteed.

Neruda’s poems are beautiful in translation, but they’re so much better in the original Spanish. I don’t speak Spanish, anymore. I haven’t had someone to practice with in a long time. But I still read it pretty well and Neruda’s poems are so lovely.

I also have this wonderful edition of Neruda’s poems that prints the original text along with a really good translation. It really helped me to check my understanding. My favorite poem from this collection, however, is “Tu Risa.” I am posting the original text, alongside its translation.

Top Ten Tuesday – Books Set in New York City

April 17, 2018

Another Tuesday, another Top Ten. Today, I am dreaming (as I often do) about New York City and my imaginary life there. Years ago, before I settled into teaching in small-town Louisiana and longed for something more exciting that a mid-afternoon nap, I dreamt of moving to New York City and making my mark. I was a musician, it seemed natural to want to pack my bags up and try to make it big in the land of Broadway. Sometimes I think I could have made it, but then I remember how much I love stability and security. I like health insurance benefits and a regular paycheck.

So instead, I’ve been reduced to dreaming about what my life would be like in NYC. In my current imagining, I’m a novelist living in a brownstone in Brooklyn. I write in the mornings on my terrace, and then I wander down to The Strand bookstore and get inspired by the thousands of great books there. I write in the Jefferson Market branch of the NYPL. I attend book events. It’s a lovely dream, really.

I went to NYC in January to perform, so I won’t be returning any time, soon. Instead, I’ll have to stick to reading about New York and experiencing it through book characters’ eyes.

A Very Restless Plucky

April 12, 2018

It’s testing week! It’s testing week! And you know what that means! Actually, if you’re not a teacher, you probably have no idea. So I’ll break it down for you in a way that hopefully doesn’t sound like complaining.

It means a week of getting to school earlier than usual to sit in a room with kids you don’t teach and watch them take tests on a computer. And when I say watch them take a test, I mean that’s literally all we’re allowed to do. You may not grade papers. You may not read a book. You may not be distracted by that piece of dust that is fluttering just above that little girl’s head. You’re not allowed to daydream about sitting on the beach with something ice-cold and alcoholic in the hollowed out hull of a pineapple or coconut. I definitely didn’t do that. Definitely not. (And there was absolutely not a tiny little umbrella in my drink that I didn’t imagine. And there was definitely not a stack of books beside me that were dying to be read. That would be too much like heaven.)

Top Ten Tuesday : Books About Books and Bookstores

April 10, 2018

Last week, I participated in my first Top Ten Tuesday and had so much fun, I’ve decided to come back for me! Today’s topic is the very meta topic of books about books.

I adore books about books and bookstores. I find them charming. They’re usually easy, light reads. Not always, but often. I love the ways books are used as plot devices. Seriously. I adore books about books and bookstores.

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

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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?

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