Vacation Update

I am finally back from a very long vacation and a long back-to-school-week. I have really been slacking off in my reading. In July I read 12! books.
This month I'm only up to 3 and 2 of those I read yesterday.

August Books

Orange is the New Black by Piper Kerman
The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
Austenland by Shannon Hale

In addition to those completed titles I am also still working on The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand and Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser.

I'll discuss my newly finished books later this week. I am still catching up and just wanted to check in. I will say that during my travels I recommended and discussed Orange in the New Black several times. It was just that good.

Tampa by Alissa Nutting

Let me just start this off by saying that I  did not read this whole book. I read the first and the last chapters and was able to save myself some time by skipping the middle. I don't usually write about all the books that I start and don't finish here, but this one needed to be spoken about. This, like all my other posts, is not a book review. It's just me, talking to you, about a book that I read.

Obviously I didn't like the first chapter or I would have read more. I knew that the story was  controversial. I'm cool with that, but I was looking for a good story, not a listing of the ways this woman can get off in her middle school classroom. If there had been a good story with a good hook I would have been on board. If this had been a love story I would have been on board. If this had been a convincing profile of a psychopathic woman I would have been on board. This book is none of those stories.

It's the story of a 26 year old woman who starts her first year of teaching with the express purpose of getting it on with a 14 year old boy.

I'm not a prude. I like sexy books. I even liked 50 Shades of Gray since it had a great story regardless of the writing. But this book was not sexy it was just plain too much. I don't know if it's because I work in a public school or if it's the fact that I don't understand how anyone could be attracted to 14 year old boys except 14 year old girls. Even when I was 14 I wasn't attracted to 14 year olds. When you are an 8th or 9th grade girl you are always crushing on the 16 and 17 year old boys.

I just found it weird, and unbelievable, in a bad way. I like unbelievable, but make it believable or the story will be no good. This was no good.

I love writing and I love writers. It's a hard job. I feel for Alissa Nutting. It sucks to get bad press especially after everyone has tried so hard to pump up and talk about her book. I hope I'm wrong about this book. Maybe all the middle parts are redeeming... but I doubt it.

Orange is the New Black

I remember getting this book from the library when it first came out. It sounded interesting even though it was a hipster's account of jail. I didn't end up reading it then for what ever reason, but when I heard it was made into a Netflix series I found myself interested again.

We recently finished watching all 4 seasons of Arrested Development (including Netflix's not- so original series) and couldnt' find another new show that was as funny and entertaining until I stumbled upon this. I think I read about it in Entertainment Weekly and it jogged my memory so we started watching it.

We've only been through the first 4 episodes, but so far I love it. It's a little heavy on the lesbianism for me, but it is a women's prison after all, so I deal with it as best I can. The story is awesome. Piper is weird and so are all the other women in the prison. What I love about it are the stories that are told about why the different women are in prison. Their stories are shown through flashbacks as a way to explain their behavior in prison. Laura Prepon is amazing as Piper's ex-girlfriend and Natasha Lyonne is always a spicy quirky ingredient.

The show is an odd duck. I wouldn't call it a comedy or a drama. It's more like pure entertainment in a fish out of water kind of story. My husband isn't as big a fan as I am, but he couldnt' tell me why. I think there just isn't enough action or violence in it. He keeps looking for similarities between this and WEEDS since it is produced by Jenji Kohan as well. The only similarity that I can see it that they both tell the story of a strong women in a strange situation.

I highly recommend it. On Netflix streaming only.

PW 2013 Fall Children's Books

It's here! It's here!

I just started it last night. This issue will take a little time. It's one of my favorite issues becuase I actually create buying lists from this issue. I circle, cross out and star selections and put it in my desk for the day when I get my budget numbers from the school district in November.

So far I'm still in the articles. I loved the one about what indie booksellers do to stock their stores with kids and YA books. It made me think, " How do I become a children's book buyer?" Can I honestly be paid for that? I mean I get paid for it by the school district to buy books for the library, but I also have to read to 600 children a week too, and all for the awesome salary of $12/hour. I bet if I worked for a  book store I would get paid more than that and wouldn't have to apply bandaids and clean up bloody noses.

Oh, this magazine always make me think and drool.

5th Grade Reading List

I've got my son's reading list for 5th grade this fall.

I am not impressed.

Chocolate Touch
Chocolate Fever
Milton Hershey
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
The Witches
The Castle in the Attic
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever
George Washington's Socks
Maniac Magee
Tangerine
BFG
The Cay
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIHM

I mean the choices are okay. They are all classics. A little bit of Roald Dahl never hurt anyone.
I think I was just expecting to see something more challenging. All the books seem more like 3rd or 4th grade reading level.

If I was going to choose:

Wonderstruck
Titanic: Voices from the Disaster
Tuck Everlasting
The Graveyard Book
Holes
Island of the Blue Dolphins
Hatchet
Walk Two Moons
Flipped
The Wright 3

It seems to me that the teachers are using the same books they used when they started out teaching. There is nothing new in that list. The newest book is Tangerine which was published in 1997. I know there have been a lot of great books written since then but why aren't teachers using them? Are they afraid to read new books? Are school districts afraid to approve something newer? I don't get it. If the idea is to get kids interested in books then lets give them books that make them think and that challenge them. Lets also give them books that were written in their lifetimes. Diary of a Wimpy Kid is great, but it's not a class lit set read.

It's frustrating for me both as a parent and as a librarian. Not every child has the benefit of a librarian mother to curate book choices for them. They rely on their teachers, but most teachers don't have time to read, or just plain don't make time to read. How can they teach a child to love reading if they don't themselves? My child's 5th grade reading list just shows a lack of effort on the part of the teachers and school district. I am sorely disappointed.

This is What Happy Looks Like

A 17 year old movie star accidently emails a girl in rural Maine and then likes her so much he moves his movie shoot to her town and surprises her. She has no idea he's a movie star and has to avoid him due to the paparazzi and her secret past scandal involving a rising politician.
To sum it up this book was super cute. It was well written and entertaining and I wasn't rolling my eyes at the way that teens speak to each other. I would highly recommend it as an easy cute summer read. I have to warn you though that the ending is a little bit disappointing. I love neatly tied up happy endings and this is not quite as neat as I would like. It's decent, but not perfect. I know she ended it like that on purpose because life does not always turn out neatly, but this is fiction and I like my happy endings.

I finished this yesterday morning and I am now knee deep in Celine by Brock Cole. Holy Crap is he an amazing writer. He writes like Diablo Cody in Juno. It's smart and sassy and witty and totally believable for smart aleck teen dialog. I can't tell where it's going yet, but I'm excited for the journey.

In throw back news I am also reading The Monk A Romance by Matthew Lewis. It was published in 1796. It is amazing. There is so much sex and scandal in this book it's a wonder it's not written by Jackie Collins. I love it. It has ghosts and gothic elements and monks being led astray and it  is also about true love. Is there anything better to write a story about? I think not. I can't wait to finish it.

Philippa Gregory and Women in History

I recently read The White Queen by Philippa Gregory. It was not my first foray into historical women's fiction. I can't seem to get enough of it recently. I chose The White Queen because it tells the tale of Elizabeth Woodville, the mother of the two boys who were supposedly murdered and killed in the Tower of London. It is one of the greatest historical mysteries. But I'm not wriitng here today to discuss this book.

I was at the library perusuing my favorite section, (942) English History, and I came across The Women of the Cousins War, by Philippa Gregory. She has a series of historical fiction that documents this 'Cousins War' and this is the non-fiction companion to those books. She gives great biographies of the three women who were instrumental in the War of the Roses.

Now even if you are not the least bit interested in this portion of English history, this book is worth picking up just to read her essays on Women in History and Women Excluded from History. It gave me goosebumps. She describes how women in history, if they are shown at all, are either portrayed as Eve the temptress or as Mary, mother of God. The examples are eye opening. She then goes on to give reasons as to why women were excluded from the historical record and how finally in the 20th and 21st centuries history is finally including women.

What I found so fascinating is that nowadays in order for a women to be included in history she usually has to do something that has never been done by a woman before; rule a country, travel in space, start a Fortune 500 Company. These are all very distinct jobs and trades.
In history if we know of women it is because they were the mothers, sisters, or wives of someone historical. They in essence could make history by doing what women traditioanlly do; get married and have children. No one is legendary anymore because of those things (unless of course you are a Kardashian).

What Philippa Gregory is trying to say is that these women, although hidden from history, made huge impacts in politics and history in general just by being wives and mothers. They looked out for their families by conniving and plotting. They took care of all the things behind the scenes. They educated thier children themselves and then looked out for the best education ouside of their homes. This is what made them great and gave them a lasting imprint on society.

What frustrates me is that women now, as then, are still looked down upon for taking care of their families. I am an educated woman. I am actually an engineer as well as a librarian. I worked for
years as an architect and even ran my own architectural firm. What I couldn't do was be a professional and take care of my home and my family in a way that was balanced and successful.

I am all about women's rights and I would say I am a feminist. I think women can do anything men can do, and usually better and with more compassion than men, but I'll be damned if I think it is possible to work professionally AND have a family. Something or someone suffers if you try to do both.

In the past a women was lauded just for taking great care of her family. Now you cannot get that unless you also work 40 hours a week in a profession. Since the doors have been opened to women, we are all expected to not only have a family, but also to work. You are looked down upon if you just stay home with your kids, and looked down upon even more if you stay home with your kids and don't have a college degree.

With all my expensive education (I made the first $450 payment on my Master's Degree yesterday. 119 more payments to go) I still work only part-time for $12/hour. It is my choice, yes, but it is not an adequate use or compensation of my talents. I have 3 children, 2 family businesses, 2 blogs, and a voracious reading appetite. Working full time is just not in the cards for me.

What reading those essays did for me is make me realize that even though I am a smart intelligent woman with degrees up the wazoo, I can make a difference just by being there for my children everyday and making sure that they make the right life choices. If I look out for my family's interests both in the business world and personally then I am doing things right. I don't have to walk on the moon, or write a best selling novel. History will change just because I am here and I am taking care of my family.