Reading

Did any of you ever watch "The Great Space Coaster" on morning TV before school when you were young? And by "you," I mean the 37 year old crowd out there that might match my age demographic. Anyhoo, on this show was this guy called Speed Reader. He could run around in super short runner's shorts, tube socks, and sneakers (and maybe a tank top?) and he would read, read, read. I specifically remember he did a handstand on a stack of newspapers at and would read the headlines in the one second when he was upside down. I thought he was awesome, and a mobile version of my physically handicapped dad.

My dad was a prolific reader. We went to the library weekly, he would check out literally 8-12 books, and read them all in that week. It blew my mind, even as a kid. Now, as a professor of reading/writing it really blows my mind. How did he read that fast? I mean, really, how?

But I have been channeling my dad lately since I have acquired this new commute. Twice a week I schlep out to Kingsborough Community College to teach my Freshman Composition course. Three days a week I commute to Bryant Park in the city. The past ten years I have worked two subway stops from my house which does not even warrant pulling out a book. While I should use my commute to grade, I have decided to allow myself that time to read. And it is glorious.

Since September, I have read seven books:
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
The Unthinkable
Girl in Translation
There's no Jose Here
The Kid
Blindness
The Help

And I am back in love with reading. Not that I have ever been out of love with reading, but it's hard to carve time out of your day to read amid the grind of job, kids, grading, socializing, laundry, etc. But I feel a new sense of connectedness to my books. I have even chosen to read over watching TV some nights--imagine that!

But this has all made me think of my dad more. I wish I could ask him what his reading strategies were (he had no commute--how did he read so much?), how he became such a big reader, and all the questions I poke and prod my students with in order to better understand others' reading approaches. Instead I guess I'll just have to model his speed reading behavior to my kids so that one day, when they look back for memories of me, these memories will be of me with a book on my nightstand, in my backpack/purse, in my hand and want to do the same.

A Year of Books

"Chatting" with an old friend from middle school/high school about a year ago on Facebook revealed a couple of things I didn't know about her. One, she is a rabid Jane Austen fan. Two, she tries to read 50 books per year. I thought that seemed like a good idea (50 books per year, not Jane Austen rabidity), so I have kept a running list of all the books I read this year. I only made it through 30, but I figured that was pretty good. Here's my tally (* means reread for the 2nd time):

1. Netherland by: Joseph O'Neill (great NYC setting with cricket. love cricket.)

2. Unaccustomed Earth by: Jhumpa Lahiri (my fave of hers so far)

3. Pride & Prejudice by: Jane Austen (such a great soap opera of a novel)

4. Made in America: Immigrant Students in our Public Schools by: Laurie Olsen (a decent read for an academic book)

5. The Wind Up Bird Chronicle by: Haruki Murakami (LOVED this book. not sure why, but it was beautiful.)

6. The Road by: Cormac McCarthy (horrifying and realistic)

7. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close* by: Jonathan Safron Foer (best 9/11 novel; best child protagonist)

8. Sister of My Heart by: Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni (started slow, good middle, blah end)

9. The Blue Sweater by: Jacqueline Novogratz (see review here)

10. A Saint on Death Row by: Thomas Cahill (Texas: you suck)

11. My Antonia by: Willa Cather (don't think I could have been a pioneer, but those who were were bad a**es)

12. A Hope in the Unseen: An American Odyssey from the Inner City to the Ivy League by: Ron Suskind (amazing and illuminating)

13. The Ventriloquist's Tale* by: Pauline Melville (second read didn't like as much)

14. The Robber Bride by: Margaret Atwood (don't like her stuff unless it's about the end of the world and decided that during this novel)

15. Oral History by: Lee Smith (gothic and creepy and love the South!)

16. Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? by: Beverly Tatum (transformative stuff on racial identity formation)

17. Birth: The Surprising History of How We Are Born* by: Tina Cassidy (fascinating and amazing anthropological and historical look at birth)

18. My Brother by: Jamaica Kincaid (oh jamaica, we have the same family issues...)

19. The Skin I'm In by: Sharon Flake (Young Adult--YA--book)(not bad, abrupt end)

20. Monster by: Walter Dean Myers (YA book)(liked a lot, actually)

21. Annie John* by: Jamaica Kincaid (didn't like as much 2nd time)

22. Prospect Park West by: Amy Sohn (trashy book about Park Slope, my 'hood. fun read.)

23. The Outsiders by: S.E. Hinton (had never read before!)

24. Farenheit 451 by: Ray Bradbury (loved it)

25. Angela's Ashes by: Frank McCourt (wowza, wish this guy had taught me)

26. Flowers for Algernon by: Daniel Keyes (weird book, man.)

27. The Joy Luck Club by: Amy Tan (meh--didn't like)

28. The Year of the Flood by: Margaret Atwood (great, not excellent)

29. Oryx and Crake* by: Margaret Atwood (both books are better together)

30. Eclipse* by: Stephenie Meyer (after seeing New Moon I couldn't remember what happened next so I reread Eclipse. the writing is awful, but so much fun)

31. Every Time A Rainbow Dies by: Rita Williams-Garcia (YA book) (good)

32. Sisters on the Homefront by: Rita Williams-Garcia (YA book) (better)

33. Nurture Shock: New Thinking About Children by: Po Bronsen and Ashley Merryman (I think the writing is pretty awful, but good/interesting ideas)

The Blue Sweater

Adam has been joking with me regarding the crazy amounts of books I have been reading. I am on a roll. My most recent read was The Blue Sweater by Jacqueline Novogratz. I had heard about this book long before its publication due a friend who works for Ms. Novogratz's brain child, Acumen Fund. Never a jaded or negative word has come from his mouth regarding his workplace or his boss (Jacqueline), and he touted this book's debut as if it were tantamount to the second coming of Christ. As a doctoral candidate in International Ed Development, a public teacher who has seen schools in Third World America, and a person dedicated to a life of serving those less fortunate than me due to the sick amount of privilege I have, I was intrigued.

I dove into The Blue Sweater head first. Having just heard a tidbit on NPR on how the book's title came to be, I felt an instant connection to this woman. I, too, had seen youth in West Africa wearing the fashions that I wore in middle school when I traveled there with students in 1995. While I didn't see a particular item of MY clothing, I KNEW those clothes, and was thrown that they had somehow sailed across the Atlantic and into the hands of children in a small village on the Burkina Faso/Ghana border.

But I had a hard time investing in this book at first (wow...bad pun there). The chronology was repetitively linear, and while the story of her life and her development enlightenment are fascinating, her writing lacked a certain flow that made it an easily enjoyable read. I kept defending her, though, telling myself that she came from banking for Christ-sake, has an MBA, and knows how to crunch numbers, therefore I could deal with her lack of writing voice. Deal I did, and I am glad.

For in spite of its lack of a writerly je ne sais quoi, she is brilliant. When recounting ideas to Adam, I started using words like micro-finance, drip irrigation, and incremental housing and he was intrigued by my vocabulary. I empathized with her in so many instances--as a solo woman traveler who has had that fearful moment of "what have i gotten myself into?!", as a white educator who has been questioned repeatedly by fellow teachers, students, and parents on if I should/can teach Black/Hispanic kids, as a person who is desperately seeking a path of both efficacy and love in their chosen career....the list goes on.

In the end, the book gave me hope. Not only in that cliched "one person can change the world" mantra, but also in the idea that change can't be all heart or all numbers, it has to be both. Can you please add education to your areas of interest for Acumen Fund, Jacqueline, and can I be an Acumen Fellow?

I like violence, sex, and drugs...

Every Monday, in my 90-minute 11th grade English classes, we have independent reading. I have been pleasantly surprised at how much the students actually enjoy this time to read to themselves in a quiet (somewhat) environment. The only rule is that you have to read a book (no daily newspapers or magazines allowed), but any type of book is okay: manga, graphic novels, urban fiction, Moby Dick...it's all valid for independent reading.

After six weeks of independent reading, I had the students write a summary of what they have read as well as a note to me about what they'd like to see in my measly classroom library which is mostly composed of books people in my neighborhood put on their stoops. All the good books I find (books in urban settings, with characters that are teens of color, that might have some mild drug dealing, etc. within their pages) are snatched up and passed around immediately, leaving the less desirable books on my shelf. I'd like to supplement my library, but I want to make sure I buy things the kids will read.

Some responses from Monday's assignment =

"I like books about violence, drugs, and sex. Action books really."
"I like to read about kids being abused, killing, things related to teens, and action."
"The book I'm reading is Tasting Cindy. I'ts about a married housewife that has sex with other men when her husband is away. She was blackmailed by her husband's brother. He forced her to have sex with him and his mistress. She does it because she don't want her husband or her mother to know about her secret sex life."

WOW.

I am still constantly surprised by my students desire to read such pornographic books. I read some of this smut over their shoulders and I blush. It poses a hard question as to what we can allow in school. We certainly would not show a pornographic film in class (even if it could potentially supplement a lesson!), so should we allow such books in school? How can we police this work? What actually constitutes the crap from the plain, old urban fiction that might have some cursing and drugs but is still far from a porno?

Above is my fave student book from a few years back: Homo Thug. A man gets sent to prison and has to find love in the arms of another man.

The people who write this "shit lit" are rich, fo' sure.

blindness

have you read this book by jose saramago?

the one thing i have most enjoyed about breastfeeding is the amount of reading i have accomplished this past year. i think this is the best book i have read in terms of an innovative structure, mind-boggling content, and thought-provoking themes....and it is being made into a movie! i am wondering if i can teach this book next year. with bloomberg proposing over a million dollars in budget cuts in the department of education, it seems as if we won't be ordering any new books. i think i'll post some proposals on donorschoose.org and maybe some of my rich friends (ha!) can fund some books for my AP class!

but i digress. (motherhood induced ADD is brutal).

i highly recommend reading it. it blew my mind. the movie is getting lackluster reviews from cannes, but i'm going to see it nonetheless.