Speedy Reading Gonzalez

Hola Amigos,

Good news always comes first, and with that in mind, I've got plenty to explore this post.

The bad news? I'm a goofball and left my camera in my sister's car when I went home two weeks ago. I won't have my Woodstock pictures up for a bit, but it's well worth the wait. I might give you a sneak peek with something from my iPhone until then though...who knows!

In the meantime, I'd like to highlight a few of my favorite books from this summer's readapalooza. I was a speedy reading Gonzalez, finishing all three of these in under three days!

Where'd You Go, Bernadette? by Maria Semple

I admit to judging books by their covers, and this one caught my attention immediately. Bernadette (who's featured front and center on the cover) reminded me that you always have to stick up for yourself, keep your enemies closer (because, hey, maybe they're alright after all), and embrace your oddities.

• Favorite quotation:  "My mother always said that luxury is wasted on the rich, that you have to have been brought up on Velveeta and crackers in order to truly appreciate the fine things in life" (19). 

Dreaming in French by Megan McAndrew

I did not realize when I requested to put a hold on this book at the library that I had asked for the wrong one. I was trying to get my hands on the non-fictional version by Alice Kaplan. Despite this minor mishap, I really enjoyed McAndrew's book. Although my experience in France was quite different from these characters, I do agree with the majority of what they have to say about living abroad and growing up.

• Even though I'm not technically an expat, this rings so true in regards to my two years in Lyon: "Like so many expatriates, he had, rather simply become more attached to America, in a sentimental way that is only possible to achieve from a distance" (27).

• This applies to so many situations, don't you think? : "To this day, I'm not sure what she meant, but sometimes, it's the things you don't understand that make the most sense" (306).

• Whether you're 15 or 55, you always want someone to dance with! : "And so I wore it, even as I knew every woman's secret, that the girl lives inside you surprising you at odd moments, in the middle of the night, when you wake up and wonder if your mother has come home yet or at a party as you stand, a little self-conscious at the edge of the floor, your foot tapping to the music, hoping that you look all right, that no one can tell you're nervous, that someone will notice you and ask you to dance" (314).

Looking for Alaska by John Green

I've never been an avid young adult novel fan. I always ignored that section of the library growing up. Despite my low expectations, I absolutely adored the characters in this modern day "coming of age" story. Yet, others were extremely insulted by the plot, as noted in this article by The Knoxville Journal. I have to disagree with their thoughts on it being pornographic and inappropriate for high school students. I'm happy to see that many of the comments below the article read similarly to my internal dialogue. It's a wonderful book with real characters who, yes, do explore their sexuality, but also look at the bigger questions in life. Maybe this parent's reaction explains why I haven't gone back into the teaching world; I'd have to follow all of these rules while choosing literature for my class. Who wasn't curious about sex, alcohol, and cigarettes at 15 and why shouldn't teenagers wonder what all the fuss is about? They've got to live and learn at some point.

• A new twist on the YOLO motto: "Jesus, I'm not going to be one of those people who sits around talking about what they're gonna. I'm just going to do it. Imagining the future is kind of nostalgia" (54).

• I believe this would be a wonderful passage for moody high school teenagers to explore for a school paper. (*Spoiler Alert*: They do a final on this in the book, so why shouldn't we in real life?): "You spend your whole life in the labyrinth thinking about how you'll escape it one day, and how awesome it will be, and imagining that future keeps you going, but you never do it. You just use the future to escape the present" (54).

• This is how I still feel after losing a very special person: "And now she was colder by the hour, more dead with every breath I took. I thought, That is the fear: I have lost something important, and I cannot find it, and I need it. It is fear like if someone lost his glasses and went to the glasses store and told him that the world had run out of glasses and he would just have to do without" (144).

 So I leave you with these quotations fresh in your minds. Keep the peace and drum on!