What I Just Finished: House Rules

Jodi Picoult used to be my favorite author, but the more I read, the more she stays the same.  All of her books are about an ethical dilemma of some sort, requiring the reader to think and wrestle with her beliefs, and that I like.  I find her books to all have the same sort of rhythm which I feel is a bit redundant.  After reading a few of her novels, they've all started to seem familiar even though I don't know the plot.


All that said, I'm still going to read Picoult's novels.  She always sucks me into the story, and her books are quick and easy to read even though they leave me thinking for long after I've put them down.

House Rules is one of her newer novels.  It's about an eighteen year old boy named Jacob who has Asperger's.  The novel begins by highlighting Jacob's daily life and obsessions, as well as the struggles of his mom, Emma, and his younger brother, Theo.  Then, Jacob is accused of murdering his social skills tutor, Jess.   I won't tell you if he did it or not, you'll have to find out.   :)

I've been interested in Asperger's and autism for a long time. The only trouble I really had with Picoult's descriptions of Jacob and the way that Asperger's affected him is that she took almost all of the symptoms and shoved them on Jacob's character with incredible intensity.  In my, albeit limited, experience with studying Asperger's (for a semester in graduate school) and tutoring or knowing a few different people with Asperger's it seems that Picoult's character was a bit over exaggerated for where she placed him on the autism spectrum.

Also, there are references, quite a few, that suggest a link between Asperger's and autism to vaccinations.  While some parents wholeheartedly hold on to the belief that immunizations directly resulted in their child's placement on the autism spectrum, most scientists and doctors disagree.  I think Picoult brought up this issue in a way that was a bit irresponsible, as she never presented facts from the other side of the argument.

Other than that, I thought she did a wonderful job highlighting the struggles of parents and siblings of people on the autism spectrum, as well as the person who struggles with the autism himself.  By writing from the point of view of each character, she highlighted vantage points that other characters could not see, many times pointing to how society could be (and should be) more accepting of people with autism and their families.

All in all, it was a good read.

Happy reading,

What I Just Finished: The Help

I know; I know. I'm behind. The Help has been on my reading list for ages.


I saw the movie in theaters; it was brilliant. I laughed and cried and all that jazz.  


The book, as usual, was better.  


Stockett is honest and genuine and poignantly describes with incredible accuracy the trouble with two races living in one south during the Civil Rights Movement. She outlines the cycle of black women raising white children and then becoming maids to those same children.  She highlights the love the white children have for their caretakers but, in many cases, gradually lose as they grow older and the world's lies masked as the truths of how things are and how things must be  creep into their growing hearts and minds.

I love this book because I teach a brief section on the Civil Rights Movement when we study To Kill a Mockingbird, and this will tie in so well.

I love this book because it's beautifully written.

I love this book because I've felt like Skeeter so many times.  A white girl who notices hypocrisies and isn't quite sure what to do with them.

I love this book because I know these people.  The white people who believe themselves to be entitled and the black people who are fighting to break the cycle of unfairness.

I love this book because at its heart and soul it's true.

I love this book because I want my children to understand the importance of colorblindness because, until we rise up and vehemently declare NO, there is always a danger of history repeating itself.

I love this book because I want the people I know to change.

I love this book because I want the world to change.

I hope you'll love it to,

What I Just Finished: I'll Walk Alone

I picked this book up at Walmart for $5.99ish.

I needed to preoccupy myself on a road trip home earlier this month.  I hadn't brought any work even though I had so much to do.  Unfortunately for my stressed out soul I finished the only book I'd brought on the ride to Arkansas.

So, you see, I had to find something, anything, to rescue my mind from the impending anxiety brought on by wasting seven hours in the car.

So, Marry Higgins Clark it was.  Typical for Clark, the book was slightly suspenseful and the reader couldn't be sure which characters were reliable and trustworthy and which one was the dirty scoundrel.

I drank  in the 418 pages in the car because there was too much else to do when I got home. 

Okay, but not great, it got me through, and for that I am thankful.

Happy Reading,

What I Just Finished

All Quiet on the Western Front. Erich Maria Remarque.


I'm not really a war book kind of a gal, so I wasn't super excited to teach this.  Then I started reading it.


Remarque's imagery is astounding. His characters are endearing.  His story is captivating.


Paul Baumer, the narrator and protagonist of the story, and his friends are German soldiers fighting in WWI.  They lament their lost youth and the educations they suffered through and no longer use, but more than anything they demonstrate the intimate and intricate relationships of wartime friends, brothers really.  


The book is mostly sad, but it's so very good.  I liked it because it was genuine.  The only agenda seemed to be telling the truth about war and what it's really like, and I appreciated its honesty.


Besides that, I love me some Paul Baumer. 

Happy Reading,


P.S. It's day 20 of my 21 day blogging adventure.  Who knew I'd make it?  I mean...I think it's safe to say I'll probably make it, but who knows...  I can't jinx myself now.

What I Just Finished....

A student recommended that I read The Thirteenth Tale.  I said I would when I had time, and she promised to bring it whenever I was ready.  As it turns out, I never really was ready.  The not being ready has to do with my own personality and the fact that I'm still an almost-drowning-gasping-for-air first year teacher.  So one day, the persistent tenth grader brought me the book.  No rush, she said.  I didn't rush.  I think it took me a month to actually start the book and quite a while after that to finish.

At first I found the novel to be wordy and a bit overly descriptive, as if Setterfield danced around what she trying to say by weaving such elaborate descriptions that once I'd finished the description it was hard to remember what was being described in the first place and whether or not it was important at all to the story.  Admittedly, some of this confusion comes from the fact that I was trying to read just before bed and would allow myself to doze off a bit, become confused, and have to reread.

I probably would've given up on the book if I didn't trust this student's literary recommendations so much.  Anyway, I soldiered on.  I reread what I'd forgotten.  And, finally, when I had committed to reading the book at an hour in which I was not likely to fall over from exhaustion, I discovered the glorious gift, that one so rarely finds, of a truly good story wrapped up the pages of this novel.

In her novel, Setterfield weaves vivid descriptions with such powerful emotion that captivates the reader wholly as she tells the story of two strange sisters.  The story is good; it is full of mystery and confusion and love and twists.  The protagonist is a lover of literature, so bits of the classics are thrown in here and there.

This novel is a prime example of why I love literature.  It is superbly written and reawakens a reader's thirst for words, that thirst most real readers have--to experience, to feel, and to understand.

P.S.  This is day three of my twenty-one day blogging adventure.  So far, so good.  Then again, it is only day three. . . .


Coming up Monday: Spring Break 2012--Our Trip to Montreal! See you there.

What I Just Finished Reading

I'm a sucker for a memoir, and I devoured this gem of a novel over Christmas break.  

It's the beautiful and heartbreaking story of the Wakatsuki family, and the hundreds of thousands of other Japanese Americans, who were thrown into internment camps after Pearl Harbor.

Jeanne Wakatsuki-Houston develops her story with grace and speaks honestly about the terrible conditions her family faced at Manzanar.  More importantly, Wakatsuki-Houston uses part of the novel to focus on the family leaving Manzanar and the difficulties they had reentering a society that three years earlier had shunned them.  

It's a fascinating tale of a girl trying to figure out who she is and where she belongs and who she belongs with.  An brilliant look into a young woman trying to find a balance between being the Japanese girl her heritage begs her to be and the American girl she needs to be to fit in. 

I loved the descriptions of her time in the camp and how honestly she discusses her trials and triumphs there.  Equally I loved how she explained her reintegration into society and her trials and triumphs there, too.

In Farewell to Manzanar, the reader is given a peak into American history that is generally left out of our textbooks and World War II lessons, and I loved every word of it.  

If you pick up a copy, I'd suggest the one with the new afterword by the authors.


Happy reading,

What I Just Finished....a while ago.

Almost a month ago, I wrote about Ann Voskamp's One Thousand Gifts.


I'll have to say that it took me a few pages to fully appreciate her writing style, but once I realized how she was crafting her story, I was hooked.


It's not an I-can't-put-this-down kind of book.  For me, it was an I-need-to-put-this-down-and-think kind of book.  Voskamp challenged me.


I thought I was thankful and grateful and all that happy jazz, and I found out I was deader than dead wrong.


In the book, she allows her readers a view into her journey of learning how to really live, how to really love, and how to really be loved.  It all starts with tragedy followed by a dare to write down 1,000 gifts from God.  Not one of those lists five year olds make at Thanksgiving where they have to sit down and really think.  This list is spontaneous.  She leaves a notebook on her kitchen counter and records little gifts and bits of joy throughout her day.


She uses her explanation of her journey to answer hard questions about faith, life, and difficult times.  I kept waiting for her to skate around a question she couldn't answer, but she didn't.  Instead of avoiding the tough stuff, she called on her faith.  


She admitted her faults and weaknesses with an incredible frankness.  It was refreshing.
Being fully present is something I so desperately need to work on, and, as a result, I found this book incredibly inspiring.

I would highly recommend!

And, if you're wondering (which I feel like maybe you are because I would be), I'm making a list of 1,000 gifts, too.

What I Just Finished...Oh, That Georgia

Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging is the diary of 14 year old Georgia. She is nervous, insecure, over zealous, sometimes too confident, and always hilarious. Mostly, she made me laugh out loud and be super glad I wasn't 14 anymore.

Here's What's Happening Now...

I just finished reading Julie & Julia. It was a very good read, a wonderful book. I got the book for Christmas, and I also received Julie Powell's second novel, Cleaving, and I am excited to read that soon (or maybe not so soon since my life is consumed with, well, life). At any rate, I'm excited to read that novel as well. Maybe tomorrow I'll tell you about how I made a guinea pig of Julie & Julia; it was quite fun.

So, as the title of the post promises, here is what is happening in my life right now:

Most of the gang is here. Charles is missing because she is at work right now. That's right, Charles is a girl. Please note that her parents are not cruel human beings; (from what I hear, her mother is a saint) they did not, in fact, name her Charles. Charles is a precious nickname that I gave her. (Incidentally, I'll be referring to all of my friends by their nicknames because I think it's more fun that way.)

Okay, so Charles isn't here, but the rest of us are.

I am in my room typing this blog post. Before I began this endeavor, I had just finished reading a good novel. I had to start reading the novel in the first place to serve as an escape from the Mini Panic Attacks that were looming over my head.

~MPA 1: I filled in my planner, and it's looking like the next five weeks are going to be insane. Are my teachers neurotic? How in the world can all these assignments be completed in FIVE WEEKS? I do not have super powers; oh dear, I'll probably just have to fail everything. Wait, I can't fail now; it's my last semester for crying out loud!

~MPA 2: It's my last semester?!?! I'm going to be done with college? Didn't I just get my high school diploma in May? (For anyone who lost track, I got it in 2007) I don't want to leave my friends; they're my family. I need them. I can't believe I'm graduating (I know, I used the 'g-word, but I felt it was appropriate) and getting married.

~MPA 3: Married!? What am I going to do about my wedding and the guest list and inadvertently leaving people off and someone getting their feelings hurt and other people wondering why we even invited them and who all is actually going to show up in Seaside to witness my nuptials and what if no one comes and what if everyone comes and what if everyone turns out to be more than 200 people (that's how many the chapel holds) and what if I don't find a dress.

And the 'what-ifs' ensued, so I opted for a nice escape-read and one of the cupcakes Too baked (they were delicious!), and now I'm here.

Kanis and Too are in the living room working on Too's Rubik's Cube; Kanis is teaching Too how to solve it using logic. Kanis is saying things like:

~"See, that's how it works! Isn't that so awesome! You just use all this weird logic and it works out!"

~"Once you figure out how to solve it, you'll be so happy. It just takes some practice."

~"It uses all this cool logic that's kind of confusing but so much fun, and it keeps my brain happy."

~"Look at you! You're ready for the next step!"

All this business with the cube is a bit over my head, and all those little squares make me a bit nervous anyway, so I just smile and nod and say encouraging things to Too as she embarks on this cube solving journey.

Tater is in the kitchen scrubbing feverishly at a cupcake pan that has a ridiculous amount of that baked-on, brown, burnt-looking goo that appears on metal baking pans. When you get a good look at it, it's pretty gross, so she's doing her best to remove it.

La is about to go to bed. That's right, I live with a college student who works hard to get in bed by 10 on a regular basis. It's quite cute, actually.

There you have it, folks. The Tuesday night happenings in Shores 204. In case you're concerned, the MPAs are no longer looming over my head; don't worry.

What I Just Finished...

I think it may be safe to say that Jodi Picoult is my new favorite author. After reading My Sister's Keeper earlier this year, I knew I had to read more of Picoult's work. Day before yesterday, I started reading Harvesting the Heart, and I finished it today.

I was hooked from the beginning. Picoult has the ability to create riveting fiction with fantastic literary qualities, and the best part is, she doesn't sugar-coat life. She tells real stories of real people. She forces her readers to think critically about life. She presents life's sticky situations in ways I've never considered them before; she makes me think, really think, about things. Novels that make me really think are some of my favorite kinds to read.

I hope to have the opportunity to read the rest of Picoult's books; I imagine they're just as good, if not better, than the two I've already been exposed to.

To learn more about Jodi Picoult and her work go here.

What I Just Finished...

Tender Mercies: Inside the World of a Child Abuse Investigator is a narrative written by CPS caseworker Keith Richards. I read this book for an assignment in my Child Abuse & Neglect class.

Literarily, this book has little merit. It does read quickly and easily, and if you're interested in a CPS worker's point of view on his job and it's difficulties with a few example cases thrown in, then this book is for you.

What I Just Finished...

I just finished reading Edward P. Jones' The Known World, and I LOVED it! The novel has several characters and lacks a protagonist, but Jones manages to weave a story together through the interconnectedness of his character's lives that is both beautiful and inspiring.

The novel is set in Manchester County, Virginia, before the Civil War. Centering around the activities of various citizens of Manchester County, Jones highlights the perversion slavery brings to a society. His beautiful language and attention to detail reeled me in from page one.

Now, even though I greatly enjoyed this book, I might hesitate to recommend it to just anyone. Since Jones chooses to use so many characters, it can be confusing, especially in the beginning, trying to keep everyone straight. However, once I got to know the characters, this problem went away. Another thing that some people may be bothered by is that there is no definite protagonist. Sure, there are characters who play a greater role in the novel than others do, but it would be difficult to pinpoint only one main character. I can see how this would be annoying or confusing to some people, but I found it interesting. The lack of a protagonist, for me, gave the opportunity to look at and experience the lives and feelings of each of the characters, instead of limiting myself to just one.

With those disclaimers aside, I must say that this book is definitely on my list of favorites.

I hope you'll pick it up and give it try!

What I Just Finished...

I just finished reading Wanting, a novel by Richard Flanagan.

Reading this book was an assignment for the Post Colonial Literature course I'm taking this semester, and I am pleased to report that I greatly enjoyed Flanagan's work. It is always nice to be assigned to read something that you truly end up enjoying.

Flanagan's diction was refreshing and thought provoking, and I appreciated his writing style. The novel is separated into two stories that flip-flop from chapter to chapter. At first, this flip-flop organization confused me a little, but once I understood what was going on it stopped bothering me. Flanagan borders on historical fiction, using historical figures to shape his story, but he does use enough creative license to make this work a truly fictional novel.

Overall, I found this book to be an enjoyable read. It is quite easy to get through, but it does provide thought provoking insight into the power struggle of humanity. Admitting that I have not delved too far into the genre of Post Colonial literature, I must say that from what I have read, Flanagan has thus far been one of my favorite authors.