Scratch that Book-Buying Itch (but for a Good Cause)

 Buying is fun, right? 

When the pandemic struck in March of 2020 we found out fifth period that we were shutting down- that day. Many of my classroom library books were with my seniors at their homes, and, since we aren't allowed to have visitors on campus and many have since gone to college, my books never found their way back (understandable!). 

I set up an Amazon wishlist for my class that I use to purchase from, but also decided to recently share it in case anyone wanted to scratch that book-buying itch. No pressure, of course, but if you are so included please see the list below and thank you for your consideration! 

https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/3NZ4K7F0X4XBX?ref_=wl_share

Five Things About... On All Fronts

Five thoughts on Clarissa Ward's On All Fronts:

I learned a ton about the Middle East- Ward is informative without being boring. She doesn’t weigh anyone down with excessive history or data, but instead provides the right amount of context for her various experiences.

Along with her own personal perspective, she works to bring voices to different people in areas like Syria, Georgia, and Libya. She refrains from making sweeping judgements, instead focusing on explaining why cultures and individuals may be the way they are (I heard her on NPR’s Fresh Air the other day doing the exact same thing, when explaining why in rural Afghanistan there is more of a concern for survival as opposed to women’s rights).

Her writing is solid- she strikes a good balance between being personable, descriptive, and informative (which is why she’s such a great journalist).

While I don’t have much of current desire to travel to many of the places she discussed, it was fascinating to feel so immersed in travel. I have some major wanderlust lately, so this was a treat. 

So often with reporters we see them on camera, but her discussion is more behind-the-scenes moments seemed so honest. She talks about withdrawing from loved ones after tough trips, being concerned about what motherhood would do to her career, and how exhausting being in war zones was. 

Bookish (and not so Bookish) Thoughts

I'll post more about it soon, but I finished Clarissa Ward's On All Fronts yesterday and was so sad to be done. It will be a contender for my top ten list of the year, I think. I just started Murakami's Kafka on the Shore, which I am sure will be excellent, but I find it slightly hysterical that I thought now would be the time to begin something challenging.

Twenty of my fifty-four books so far this year have been non-fiction! That's nearly half! I think last year I tapped out around fifteen, and I'm assuming I'll probably read 5-10 more nonfiction before my January, so that's a pretty large increase. 

My son started getting homework this week, and, traditionally, a second grader should get around 20-30 minutes a night. He's been getting closer to an hour... sigh. I think the issue is that his teacher adds a lot of video content before the actual work and maybe doesn't realize how much time it's taking. I don't want to be the annoying teacher-mom who says something, but it's making the time between work and dinner pretty miserable. He is good about sitting down and doing it, but after a full day of school and knowing he's missing out on play time, it's a lot towards the end. Hopefully the kinks get worked out. 

We have for the first time EVER Back to School Night at the high school were I teach (done virtually). Here's the thing- parent contact is important and I know the lower grades do theirs every year. I am pretty sure turn out will be extremely lackluster, since it's also the first home football game, so I am screwing up my entire evening because of it. Luckily my husband works at home right now and can help with my son, but still. Anyway, we'll see how it goes. 

I have fallen back on the single-use K-Cup train again and I am so ashamed. I have been using the reusable ones you fill with ground for years, since it's cheaper and better for the environment, but now that I am in such a hurry and I have a Keurig I am using in my classroom, I caved in and bought some. Global warming is all my fault, I'm sorry guys. 

I listened to the Armchair Expert with Quentin Tarantino the other day, and, I kid you not, he claimed that he "punctured the consciousness of the zeitgeist." First of all the phrase is brilliant and the English teacher in me practically crashed her car swooning. Second of all, could his head be further up his own ass? 

I need a new audiobook, since I have a long, solo (!), car trip ahead of me soon. I'm so picky about what I will listen to, since it can't be something I'd read. But if I deem it inferior it can't be that bad, since I can't stand to listen to something that's complete crap. There's a fine line. 

I've been doing a lot of daydreaming lately about paying off all debt, including the house early (Dave Ramsey has a great calculator). I paid off my student loans earlier in the year, my car will be next, and then the HELOC. I still fantasize about getting a little RV, but then once in awhile I daydream about investing in a little condo somewhere in Tahoe or towards Yosemite (obviously this is all under the guise that our financial situation and health stays the same; I've been in plenty of situations where it's all about staying on top of the current bills, so this is not me coming from a place of being spoiled). Honestly, this is what it feels like to be old. 

It's Not That I Hate Babies

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A lot of my friends are moms and a pretty consistent refrain I'll hear on social media is, "I miss my babies" or "I wish they were small again" or "just you wait until they're older." I feel like with so many moms this starts when their babies are like nine months and I'm guess will continue until they have grandbabies or pop another one out in the final quarter (ie early forties). Recently, though, I saw an old high school friend talk about how every stage her kid is at is her favorite and I was like "ME TOO!" Finally. 

It's not that I hate babies, because babies are super cute. The cheeks, those little sweatshirts with animal hoodies, all the firsts, and how sweet they feel when they nap on you. Don't forget, though, the total and complete incapability to control their bodily functions, their lack of concern about sleep, and the fact that they really don't communicate all that effectively. 

Toddlers? My toddler was a gem- never once did he throw one of those nightmarish fits and he was capable of doing very quiet, tedious activities like putting stickers on paper for hours. Watching them learn so much about the world is absolutely delightful and hearing them talk is the best. But, still. They need help with EVERYTHING. I mean, sometimes I don't want to put shoes on another person. Put on your own shoes. It's not that hard. 

Then, they become tiny people! Hooray! They're housebroken, then dress themselves, they put cream cheese on their bagels, they have conversations with you, their hobbies start emerging, and you can rationalize with them (most of the time). It's great.

I've worked with all ages of elementary between teaching, student teaching, subbing, and whatnot, and I've been at the high school level for more than a decade. I know that aging doesn't make kids void of flaws, and there are always hiccups along the way. There are many inevitable, uncomfortable things headed my way in the years to come, I know. 

But still.

I'm glad I don't have a baby anymore. Maybe it's because I waited until I was thirty to have a kid and had a good, long taste of comfortable adult life while not being responsible for a human. Maybe it's how I'm wired? It's not that I'm not maternal, because I think I am, and it's not that I hated pregnancy, because mine was fine. I just love not being responsible for an super tiny creature and I thoroughly enjoy seeing my son become more grown up. 

Ultimately, it's a commentary on motherhood, and out society's expectations of women. We're supposed to make comments about our ovaries aching at baby showers and get weepy when looking at old pictures of our little munchkins. Taking it a step further, we're supposed to want babies in the first place, and at least two, since we'd never want our first o be *gasp* not have sibling (please, so many people don't even really like their siblings, ever- not me, I love mine). Don't even get me started on whether we're supposed to do crying it out, institute allowances, fight with our spouses in front of our kids, or any of the other seven million things people have such strong opinions on. 

(If I was grading this, I'd give it an abysmal score for staying on topic and being organized)

I love my son and he was the cutest baby I've ever seen in my life, but I'll take a conversation about Harry Potter, an afternoon of him playing upstairs with LEGOs while I read, or (when COVID is "over") an easy travel partner any day over those pudgy little cheeks. 

Five Things About.... The Vegetarian

Five thoughts on Han King's The Vegetarian:

This is not a happy book, not that books have to be happy. Just be prepared- the characters are all completely miserable.

There have been many comparisons to Kafka and his abstract existentialism, and I definitely concur. As a reader we’re constantly questioning the characters’ distortions of reality, all the while forming conclusions about their identity. 

The narrative is told in four parts, with another character’s dreams and thoughts spliced on. I typically don’t love this style, since it makes me feel inevitably detached from characters, as there’s no return to their thread for closure. It worked for this novel, though, form and function coinciding. Detachment is such a crucial thematic concept, so it’s parallel to the structure was appropriate. 

I appreciated the glimpse into South Korean life- the food, setting, gender roles, medical system, etc…

There’s this interesting portrayal of this sort of decay of natural beauty, specifically flowers. At one point an artist paints beautiful floral designs all over another character, but soon the beauty fades, the flowers symbolizing something much darker and almost grotesque