Week 21: 5/24/2020 - 5/30/2020

Well after all that, I neither read nor wrote, but that's not unusual for the last week of school. It all ends up being a mad dash of grades and post planning. I'll get back to it this week, so I'm holding on to the same list from last week

The List:

1. Wonder Woman: Warbringer by Leigh Bardugo
2. White Cat by Holly Black
3. The Game of Lives by James Dashner
4. What Elephants Know by Eric Dinerstein
5. The Good Son by You-Jeong Jeong (Non - YA)
6. We Are Okay by Nina LaCour
7. Clue: On Stage by Jonathan Lynn (Finished 5/26/2020)
8. Ghost-Spider: Dog Days Are Over by Seanan McGuire
9. The Book Whisperer by Donalyn Miller (nonfiction)
10. Stiletto by Daniel O'Malley (Non-YA)
11. Spider-Geddon: Covert Ops by Priest
12. Packing For Mars by Mary Roach (nonfiction)
13. St. Lucy's Home For Girls Raised By Wolves by Karen Russell (Non-YA)
14. Zom-B: Mission by Darren Shan (Finished 5/25/2020)
15. Zom-B: Clans by Darren Shan (Finished 5/25/2020)

Week 20: 5/17/2020 - 5/23/2020

So I utterly failed on the writing angle of things, but I did manage the feat of reading 7 books in 7 days which I feel bizarrely proud of. I also spent some time this week putting plants into my garden boxes and clearing more of the crazy and the year end dash to finish off school is in progress. All and all a successful week but this week I want to make sure I do a post every day.

1. Wonder Woman: Warbringer by Leigh Bardugo
2. White Cat by Holly Black
3. The Game of Lives by James Dashner
4. What Elephants Know by Eric Dinerstein
5. The Good Son by You-Jeong Jeong (Non - YA)
6. We Are Okay by Nina LaCour
7. Clue: On Stage by Jonathan Lynn
8. Ghost-Spider: Dog Days Are Over by Seanan McGuire
9. The Book Whisperer by Donalyn Miller (nonfiction)
10. Stiletto by Daniel O'Malley (Non-YA)
11. Spider-Geddon: Covert Ops by Priest
12. Packing For Mars by Mary Roach (nonfiction)
13. St. Lucy's Home For Girls Raised By Wolves by Karen Russell (Non-YA)
14. Zom-B: Mission by Darren Shan
15. Zom-B: Clans by Darren Shan
16. The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon (Non-YA)

Week 19: 5/10/2020 - 5/16/2020

I over hauled the list for this week. I've gotten back into the reading zone, so it's time to get the complexity going again. I still have a hefty amount of YA but there are two nonfiction titles in there and two non-YA fiction in there too.

The List:

1. Wonder Woman: Warbringer by Leigh Bardugo
2. How to Eat by Mark Bittman and David Katz (Finished 5/11/2020)
3. White Cat by Holly Black
4. Iron Man: The Gauntlet by Eoin Colfer (Finished 5/13/2020)
5. The Game of Lives by James Dashner
6. What Elephants Know by Eric Dinerstein
7. The Good Son by You-Jeong Jeong
8. We Are Okay by Nina LaCour
9. Spider-Gwen: Ghost-Spider Spider-Geddon (1) by Seanan McGuire (Finished 5/10/2020)
10. Spider-Gwen: Ghost-Spider Impossible Year (2) by Seanan McGuire (Finished 5/10/2020)
11. The Book Whisperer by Donalyn Miller (nonfiction)
12. Crazy House by James Patterson (Finished 5/11/2020)
13. The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling (Finished 5/10/2020)
14. St. Lucy's Home For Girls Raised By Wolves by Karen Russell (Non-YA)
15. The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon (Non-YA)

A Busy Satisfying Day of Reading

It's always hard at the end of the school year to maintain focus. I empathize greatly with the kids. Today was hectic in the extreme. Along with teaching my classes, I also worked today to iron out the final details of the High School Summer Reading and helped with the Middle School summer reading set up. I also cooked us a breakfast and a lunch and "facilitated" Thomas in cooking dinner. Busy as the day was, I still managed to finish three books. I was almost done with one when I woke this morning and two were graphic novels, so it's not as crazy as it sounds.

All three books were very good. In fact, all the books I've read this week have been winners. There is something just delicious about trying a new book and being excited about it.

Spider-Verse and Spider-Geddon

So what started me on this extended project to catch up on the more recent Spider-man was seeing "Into the Spider-Verse."  However, you can't just dive into "Edge of the Spider-verse". Oh no, no, no. To properly understand what's going on, you have to read "Spider-Noir", "Spider-Ham", "Miles Morales," and "Spider-Gwen." All of these are fun, and involve characters in the movie. So, good on that. However, when I finally got into "Edge of the Spider-Verse" and "Spider-Verse" I found that it had very little to do with the movie.

I have a student who apparently read the comic books first and had a very dim view of the movie. His view was that the movie was nothing like the comic series and he didn't like what they did to Miles's character either. I can see his point. It would seem, at first, like the movie has nothing to do with the comic books aside from sharing some characters. I've come to the conclusion that the events of "Into the Spider-Verse" happen just before "Edge of the Spider-Verse"

My reasoning is that soul sucking life-force vampires bent on devouring all the spider people in all of the dimensions of the multi-verse is a pretty big omission. These vampires are called The Inheritors and are the central conflict for both Spider-Verse and Spider-Geddon.

So, I get to continue liking the movie.

Spider-Verse and Spider-Geddon are equal parts bedlam and inspired. (See my post about the Spider-Verse) Spider-Geddon sees the return of the Inheritors and the legions of spider people fighting them. Miles develops nicely and I have to admit that there are several new characters I would like to see more of such as Spider-Punk and several of the Spider-kids.

I don't know. It's fun, but I can see why people get obsessive. You almost have to be obsessed to keep it all straight.

Week 18: 5/3/2020 - 5/9/2020

Well in terms of getting back into the reading, this week was definite progress. I cleared something like six titles. I tailed off at the end of the week but it is still progress. That being said I'm largely leaving the list alone and continuing on with it in the next week.

1. Wonder Woman: Warbringer by Leigh Bardugo
2. Serafina and the Black Cloak by Robert Beatty (Finished 5/5/2020)
3. The Gauntlet by Eoin Colfer
4. Three Black Swans by Caroline B. Cooney
5. Alex & Eliza by Melissa de la Cruz
6. The Game of Lives by James Dashner
7. Spider-Geddon by Cristos Gage (Finished 5/4/2020)
8. How to Stop Time by Matt Haig
9. We Are Okay by Nina LaCour
10. March: Book One by John Lewis (Finished 5/5/2020)
11. March: Book Two by John Lewis (Finished 5/5/2020)
12. March: Book Three by John Lewis (Finished 5/6/2020)
13. St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves by Karen Russell
14. Zomb-B: Gladiator by Darren Shan (Finished 5/6/2020)
15. The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon