Week 8: the first hurdle

Page Numbers for the Week: 533. Total Pages for 2019 so far: 5766. Page Average Per Day: 107. Total Number of Books: 20.

I've hit my first block. It's probably because I got behind while I was sparring with the flu and then I made a mistake. I really think Sedaris is my kryptonite. I really want to like the guy, but every time I pick up Me Talk Pretty One Day, I get bogged down. It's becoming a point of pride to finish the dang thing. Then I'm going to sell it. That thing is bad juju.

Tsundoku Stack Short List:

1. Dinner for Everyone by Mark Bittman*
2. Copper Sun by Sharon M. Draper
3. Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman*
4. A Discovery Of Witches by Deborah Harkness
5. The Wall by John Lanchester
6. Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris*
7. The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey*
8. Teaching English by Design by Peter Smagorinsky (Pedagogy Book)

In light of everything going on, I'm going to to stick with the same list. Lets hit the easy button.

The Boyfriend List: 15 Guys, 11 Shrink Appointments, 4 Ceramic Frogs and Me, Ruby Oliver by E. Lockhart
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The most interesting thing about this one is format. The whole narrative is written in the style of journal composed as part of therapy. The narrator has then gone back through the text and inserted footnotes commenting on the events. I can count on one hand the novels that rely on footnotes to move the narrative forward. Often, it’s annoying because footnotes interrupt the flow of the text. In this case though, the footnotes represent a slightly older and wiser voice that comments on the events of the text, often with quite a bit of humor and sarcasm. This older voice adds a layer to the story that I found fun.

At its core, this is just a highschool drama told from a tight first person point of view. Ruby, the narrator, has found herself at the center of a lot of drama and starts having panic attacks. As a result, her parents make her go to a therapist. The therapist has Ruby compose a list of all her boyfriends regardless of the seriousness of the relationship. The result is a list of 15 relationships, most of which are just flirtations or might-have-beens. One doesn’t even involve a real person.

In any case, Ruby’s narration of why each of these boys is on the list forms the core of the story and leads her to some realizations about herself. It’s a good book. I’ll have to track down the sequel.


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Some books I pick up because I’m looking for material for my students. I’m a big reader, but I tend to read a lot of fantasy, sci fi, and speculative fiction. Not everyone is into that. I have student, Erin, who likes teen high school dramas. She’s not alone so I’ve been building my “Erin Collection” the guiding principle of which is, “would Erin like this?” In the process of building the collection, I’ve found that I actually like some of these books.

Week 7 - From My Histrionic Sick Bed

Page Numbers for the Week: 560. Total Pages for 2019 so far: 5233. Page Average Per Day: 109. Total Number of Books: 18.

I was correct when I said I was coming down with something last week. Turns out I was coming down with influenza...the real stuff. It's been a while since I've been quite that sick. The biggest problem was focus. I'm used to sinking into books, but I had a hard time maintaining the thread...even when I was enjoying them. As a result, I'm about halfway through four books. (Denoted with an *) This is going to make the weekly list longer. I'm going to to give myself ten slots instead of the usual six. Hopefully, I'll knock out those half done titles with expediency.

Tsundoku Stack Short List:

1. Dinner for Everyone by Mark Bittman*
2. Copper Sun by Sharon M. Draper
3. Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman*
4. A Discovery Of Witches by Deborah Harkness
5. The Wall by John Lanchester
6. The Boyfriend List by E. Lockhart - Finished 2/18/2019
7. Modernist Cooking Made Easy: Infusions by Jason Logsdon - Finished 2/19/2019
8. Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris*
9. The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey*
10. Teaching English by Design by Peter Smagorinsky (Pedagogy Book)

I'm dreadfully behind with my reviewing. I can't really feel bad about it, but at the same time....I really feel like I need to catch up. Also, it's put me even more behind of various writing projects. I guess it all just takes time.

Week 6 Reviewed

Page Numbers for the Week: 956. Total Pages for 2019 so far: 4,673. Page Average Per Day: 117. Total Number of Books: 16.

It's interesting going through my stacks. I think I must have thousands of books stuffed in the house. Strangely, for most of them, I know where they came from. I know where I bought them and why, even if it was just on a whim. It's like a strange little literary scrapbook of my life.  Anyway, Tsundoku Fest continues. I seem to be averaging about three books a week.

Tsundoku Stack Short List:

1. The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo - Finished 2/11/2019
2. Stand Tall by Joan Bauer
3. Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman
4. The Wall by John Lanchester
5. Modernist Cooking Made Easy: Infusions by Jason Logsdon
6. Teaching English by Design by Peter Smagorinsky (Pedagogy Book)

Short post this week, I think I'm coming down with something.

Lu by Jason Reynolds
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The final book in the series, Lu follows the last of the newbies on the Defenders track team. He’s an albino and oh-so-slick. In the previous books, Lu made the decision to learn the hurdles and this novel picks up after his first somewhat humiliating experience at a meet where he wiped out and ended up disqualified. Hurdles are tough and not because they are high, they aren’t really. It’s because they look massive when you are sprinting up to them. More than any other high school level track event, the hurdles are a head game.

Lu is all about the head game. He psychs himself up every day and he talks a big game because this is a novel about growing up different. Albinism is incredibly uncommon and it comes with a lot of other complications. Lu’s whole life is one of being visibly different which means dealing with an awful lot of jokes from friends and bullies both. I can’t imagine what it’s like having your difference literally on display like that. What’s incredible is the people around Lu. All the side characters in Lu’s family and on the team are well developed and rounded. I was particularly impressed by the development in coach Otis.

This is an excellent finale to the Track Series.


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Elevation by Stephen King
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Elevation is a novella with a straight-forward premise: what would happen if someone started mysteriously dropping weight without dropping physical mass. Nothing else changes, just less and less weight each day. That’s what’s happening to Scott Carey. It doesn’t take long for him to realize that this mysterious process can only have one ultimate end.

This is a story about closure and about mortality. Scott uses his remaining time to live well and put a few things right. The focused story coupled with King’s typically immersive storytelling makes for a quick read. While I can’t say I’m feeling my mortality quite the way Mr. Carey is, I hope that I face my end as well as he does.


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Odd One Out by Nic Stone
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

To start with, this is excellent book for teens to read regardless of sexual or gender orientation. This isn’t a book about being gay, or straight, or even bi. It’s a book about teens trying to figure it all out, both who they are and how to be ok with what other people are. I think that’s a topic everyone needs to explore a little.

Here’s the set up: there are three teens. Coop: male, straight, and completely in love with his childhood friend Jupiter. Jupiter: female and gay. She’s never been anything else but gay and she’s known this since she was very, very young. Coop and Jupiter are close, and Coop knows his love for Jupiter can’t go anywhere. He’s trying to deal with it when Rae enters the story. Rae is a big ole question mark. She hasn’t really considered what she likes until she meets Jupiter and Coop. Things get complicated fast.

I really like there are no easy answers here and Stone doesn’t give her characters any easy outs. She doesn’t make it less complicated or paint a rosy picture. However, she does make the characters equal to their personal challenges and present the possibility that friendships can evolve and change enough to persist despite challenges (and some pretty phenomenal bad decisions)


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Week 5 in Review

Page Numbers for the Week: 688. Total Pages for 2019 so far: 3,717. Page Average Per Day: 113. Total Number of Books: 13.

Welcome to Tsundoku Fest. All of February all I'm reading are books I already own. All the library books are back in their respective homes. That was really hard actually. I had to give back about seven books unread. I started the last week with about seven books, read three, but they just kept coming in from previously made requests. There's pressure somehow to read them which I suppose in a community way makes sense. Other people can't have those copies because I have them. I guess I just get too excited when faced with a library catalog.

Tsundoku Stack Short List:

1. The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer (from my classroom library) - Finished 2/9/2019
2. The Wall by John Lanchester
3. Life Below Stairs by Alison Maloney - Finished 2/4/2019
4. Ringworld by Larry Niven
5. The Song Rising by Samantha Shannon - Finished 2/7/2019
6. Teaching English by Design by Peter Smagorinsky (Pedagogy Book)

So, it seems like my comfortable reading rate during school is about 100 pages a day. Next to the national average, that's none too shabby but it's not where I thought I was. I need to decide whether I'm changing my goal or if the average comes up significantly during off school times. It's going to be a big wait and see game.

I'm having to put January's pedagogy book aside. That isn't because it is bad or slow, it's because I picked a grammar text to start with. I'm going to continue picking at it...but my brain goes swimmy if I spend too much time on it at once.