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29 June 2015

Top Ten Tuesday- Best of... So Far

The Broke and the Bookish ask us for our top ten favorite reads so far this year (I love looking back at the end of the year to see what stayed on the list and what fell off). While I am proud of my twenty-five books so far (I am a full-time English teacher and the mother to a very active one-year-old, for those just stopping by), I wish there were more. 



In no particular order....

1. Sous Chef by Michael Gibney- I wrote about this on a restaurant memoir round-up I just wrote yesterday, but I loved the fast-paced syntax and unique voice of this day-in-the-life style memoir.

2. We Are All Completely Besides Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler- I thoroughly enjoyed this tale about what happens when a girl is raised alongside a monkey, and what happens when she gets older.

3. Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage by Alice Munro- This was my first Munro experience and I loved her writing.

4. Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout- I'm such a sucker for connecting short stories. 

5. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison- This is old-school Toni; magical realism, delicious prose, and raw emotion.

6. Blood, Bones, and Butter by Gabrielle Hamilton- A chef memoir written by a chef with a degree in writing. Perfect.

7. In the Best Interest of Students by Kelly Gallagher- I'm not one for "teacher books," but I greatly appreciated Gallagher's navigation of pairing The Common Core changes with what we already have in place. I have so many new activities to bring into my classroom next fall.

8. Gulp by Mary Roach- A woman that can make the digestive tract fascinating. 

9. Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabrielle Garcia Marquez- I taught this book again and still love the unorganized narrative and magical realism.

10. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel- While I am tired of this genre, this one was well-written and fascinating. 

What made your cut? 

7 comments:

  1. We Are All Completely Besides Ourselves sounds pretty interesting I must check it out at some point. Great list :)

    My TTT https://jazminjade.wordpress.com/2015/06/30/top-ten-tuesday-so-far-in-2015/

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  2. When you have so many responsibilities (how many hours you must work as an English teacher!) you must be selective and you have been. You may have "only" read 25 books, but these are all excellent choices.

    Here are my Top Ten favorites of 2015 so far!

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  3. Yay for Alice Munr and Station Eleven! Both made my list this week (well, the latter had an honourable mention ;))

    My TTT

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  5. I haven't read any of these, but they look good.

    Great list! Thanks for sharing!

    Here's my Top 10

    And here's my $30 giveaway

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  6. I have never read that Garcia Marquez but I'll check it out. Actually, I haven't read any of the books on your list although I have The Bluest Eye on my shelf for my July TBR.

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  7. We Are All Completely Besides Ourselves is the only one of these that I have read, and I really enjoyed it.

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