Last night I couldn’t sleep. So I did what most people do I in the darkest, loneliest hours of the night… downloaded free books on my iPad. Now, I always knew the selection of free books available to the public was extensive but I never realized how wonderfully accessible it all is. So, like a kid in a candy store, I downloaded works by Kate Chopin, and F. Scott Fitzgerald, Virginia Wolf and Joseph Conrad. Kipling and Kafka and Carroll. It was my childhood junk food response all over again

– consume until satiated.

I knew no moderation.

I’ve mentioned before that growing up in small town Alberta we had no REAL bookstores to speak of and then the one that did finally pop up had a collection of “young adult” fiction that extended the length of one shelf of one bookcase. Thank goodness this miniscule collection included Nancy Drew Mysteries and works by the goddess of young adult literature, Judy Blume.

What filled the huge, cavernous gaps between the acquisition of reading material was the fact my mother had a little collection of literature that she accumulated before she was married and kept it neatly shelved in the storage room beside the “big freezer”. Mom was smart, when she was a young woman it too was impossible for her to purchase books in the middle of the Saskatchewan prairie during the early 1960’s, so she became part of the “Reader’s Digest Book Club” . She was shipped classics like “Wuthering Heights”, and “Gone with the Wind” every month or so.

Mom was very free in letting me peruse her volumes, reading whatever caught my eye. Once in awhile I’d find a trashy paperback loaned to her by one of her friends (or so the name inside the front cover showed) and I’d secretly read it sitting atop of the freezer consuming all sorts of mild debauchery I couldn’t understand…as well as frozen cookies. I’d quickly replace it (and the baking) if I heard her footstep on the staircase.

And I still haven’t gotten over the fact the public library wouldn’t allow “farm kids” to get library cards. I’d LIVE for library time at school so that I could sign out books to my heart’s content (that would be two, two books. One fiction, one nonfiction). Needless to say I now abuse my public library privilege and download with a frenzy seen only at blue light specials at Kmart.

As a kid, if I would have known my future would include immediate accessibility to all sorts of stories I would have found the wait torturous and willed myself to fast forward in time. But alas, I would have had to appease my impatience with the world of H. G Wells… if finding a volume wasn’t as impossible as time travel.

I’ve always loved reading. The acquisition of a good story sitting at my fingertips is one simple thing that truly makes me happy. Maybe it’s because it was a struggle to simply find a book and doing so was like finding a treasure, a glittering gem in a pile of ash. Needless to say the fact that today a plethora of tales lies at my immediate disposal is like a dream come true and I find myself behaving like a little kid at Christmas surrounded by wrapped gifts…. so giddy and excited she starts unwrapped one gift, then notices another with glittering paper and starts unwrapping it just to drop it for another – often have three or four books on the go because I need to consume as many stories as I can for fear they will be taken away.

I used Classicly to feed my free book obsession.

I am someone who believes in the magic of books I am a passionate advocate for giving sharing, and buying books for every occasion.  As a teacher I have a little classroom library and I’ve seen how a collection of books can create a safe place for my students. The shiest student can be standing in front of my bookshelves and be spontaneous met by another student where an impromptu conversation starts around “what to read”. Other times if a student has no place to “be” during lunch or break I often find him/her wandering into my classroom to look at my books and then finding a quiet corner to read. EVERY human should have their own little library at home even if it’s just a collection of a few books. What better occasion to help contribute to this library than Christmas! Because I always have people ask “what should I read?” I’ve decided to gather some of my favouites this year and post them for you! Please include any of your own suggestions in the comment section.  It’s always a good thing to share title suggestions.

I have to admit most of my titles are for young adult and adult readers, however  I HAVE  to mention “The Good Little Book” by Kyo Mclear for young readers, especially young reluctant readers.  It’s a charming story about how a book can be a young boy’s friend.

Young Adult titles

1. “Dumplin’” by Julie Murphy.   LOVE this novel!  A great story about a plump high school girl with THE most positive body image.  Love Willowdean’s voice. She’s funny and smart and a warrior princess at heart.
2. “Sorcerer to the Crown” by Zen Cho. Who doesn’t like magic and British folklore? Another book with a strong young female character who, although is not our protagonist, is one of my favourite characters that I’ve met this year.
3. “The Nest” by Kenneth Oppel. I’d describe this as a “supernatural allegory”. Creepy but beautiful at the same time. A story about the love of family told from the perspective of a young boy.
4. “Belzhar” by Meg Wolitzer Literary summer school for troubled youth where the author for discussion is Sylvia Plath.  A book that possesses enchanted journals as a plot device.  
5. The “Unwind” series by Neal Shusterman …all four of them. You want to generate a great discussion with your kid?  Read the series with him/her. Seriously one of my favourite series EVER!
6. “Lumberjanes” graphic novel series by Noelle Stevenson, Grace Ellis and Shannon Waters and Brooke Allen.  A group of “kick-ass” girls who go to summer camp and fight supernatural creatures. LOVE the art, love the story with a diverse cast of characters.
7. “Nimona” by Noelle Stevenson. a graphic novel that again possesses a VERY strong (and hilarious) character that can morph into other beings. So funny and sarcastic.

Deep reads

1. “A Little Life” by Hanya Yanajihara I can’t remember the last time a book made me cry but this one had me sobbing on a number of occasions. Brutal but beautiful. It’s a long and emotional read with unsettling topics.  
2. “The Girl with all the Gifts” by M. R. Carey.. I didn’t know I would enjoy “zombie literature” until I read this book. A story about a gifted little girl who just happens to be a “hungry”.  One of my favourites…so much so I had our High School librarian buy 6 copies for students.  Like “Unwind” it is a novel that conjures up some deep topics of discussion.
3.  “X: The Southern Reach Trilogy” by Jeff Vandermeer.  I had to go on discussion sites to get my head around what I read, especially in the first (Annihilation) and the third (Acceptance). Science fiction and allegorical.  Environmental themes as well as conspiracy theories.  
4. “Far from the Madding Crowd” by Thomas Hardy.  A good classic!  I admit I hadn’t read Hardy’s novel until after I watched the movie (Amazing by the way!!!).  The book has become my new “old” favourite.
5. “The Illegal” by Lawrence Hill.  Ok I admit I haven’t read this one yet…I’m saving it for my holiday BUT reviews are amazing and everyone I’ve talked to who has read it has raved about it.  I LOVED “Book of Negroes” by the same author so I expect good things from this one.
6. “My Brilliant Friend” by Elena Ferrante. Easy enough to read but deep in theme, especially regarding relationships. Fair warning, it’s first of a series called “The Neapolitan Novels” of which there are 4 and they are addicting.
7. “The Sparrow” by Doria Russell.  Science Fiction. Theological. Heartbreaking. Jesuits in Space.  Sounds intriguing doesn’t it?

Escapist reads:

1. “Omens” (first of the Cainsville series) by Kelley Armstrong.  One of my “dessert” reads.  I downloaded and started reading “The Omen” after I met Kelly Armstrong at a book fair.  20 pages in I thought it was drivel, 30 pages in I was hooked and now I own all three (downloaded the third one the day it was available).  I want to be friends with the main character…I find her so amusing.
2. “Krampus the Yule Lord” by Brom Art…who doesn’t like a nice Christmas horror story? (amusingly creepy). Don’t worry, Santa is pretty kick ass in this story.
3. “The Son” by Jo Nesbo. Not as gory as his Harry Hole series. One of my favourite of his.  Mystery, crime and suspense.  A story about an escaped murderer junkie who just happens to remind people of Jesus.  Oh, and he’s the son of a policeman.
4. Any Jack Reacher Novel by Lee Child.  If I’m in the mood for a quick crime story these novels are my “go to” books.  Easy to read and there are 34 titles to choose from.
5. “The Searcher” by Simon Toyne.  Toyne deviates from his “Sanctus” trilogy (Which are “unputdownable” by the way) and writes a story about a mysterious albino man who arrives at a small town the same time an airplane crashes just outside the town’s boundary.  This man knows all…but remembers nothing.
6. “The Girl who Couldn’t Read” by John Harding.  Weird things are happening in a insane asylum where “progressive” treatment means submerging a patient in ice cold water for endless hours.  Murder, secrets, and insanity. I read this one in a day.
7. “The Martian” by Andy Weir.  I bought 6 copies for my classroom…they are all missing.  My 10th grade boys LOVED this novel.  I stayed up all night reading it.  My students say the book is better than the movie!

I have just brushed the surface but I hope this little list helps you in your book gift buying adventures! Please write your own favourites of the year in the comments of this post!  

Merry Christmas and Happy Reading!

Yay!  Another year of book cub.  Last month my book buddies and I met to vote on books to read for the next 12 months and I’m so excited about the diversity of our list this year! We’ve got Sci Fi, Mystery, Fantasy, Literary, Historical…a plethra of genres. The competition was fierce but here is the list!  I will also include the “runners up” if you want to expand your reading list (And who doesn’t?). Enjoy!  Let me know what your book clubs are reading this year.

2015/16 Book Club Selections The Winners

November – The Night Sister  by Jennifer McMahon

December – In the Unlikely Event by Judy Bloom and The Searcher by Simon Toyne

January – The Illegal by Lawrence Hill

February – The Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho

March – The Nature of the Beast by Louise Penney

April – Sweetland by Michael Crummey

May – The Orenda by Joseph Boyden

June – The Nightingale by Kristina Hannah and The Girl with All the Gifts by Mike Carey

Runners – Up:

The Perfume Garden by Kate Lord Brown

Village of Secrets by Carolyn Morehead

The Martian by Andy Weir

What We Talk About When We Talk About God by Rob Bell

The Legacy of Grazia Dei Rossi by Jacqueline Park

The Shadow Queen by Sandra Gulland

Smaller and Smaller Circles by F.H. Batacan

Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeyer Authority by Jeff Vandermeyer Acceptance by Jeff Vandermeyer

Moonshot – edited by Hope Nicholson Thunderstruck by Elizabeth McCracken

The Library at Mount Char – Scott Hawkins

A Novel Bookstore by Lawrence Cosse

Cross Your Heart and Hope to Die by James Patterson

The Heart Goes Last by Margaret Atwood

My English students are studying Gatsby.  For a writing assignment I get them to choose (and this is THE most difficult part of the assignment) their favourite quote from the novel….

then write.

They can responded any number of ways, I just want them to write.

Write unencumbered,

Write with abandon.

Here are some questions I may pose to get the creative juices flowing:

What is it that you like about this quote?  The language choice?  The imagery?

What confuses you?

How can you personally identify with what is being stated?

….guiding questions aside, they usually choose to approach this assignment their own way.  And their own way is usually more profound.

I then share with them MY own response to the assignment.  Sharing your writing with others is a difficult thing to do.  It makes you feel vulnerable.  It makes you feel über vulnerable when you’re 17. I figure I can’t ask them to do what I am incapable of doing myself.

What you’ll read here is my attempt at the assignment.  You will find my student’s responses as text or as links to their own personal blogs, in the comment section:

“It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life. It faced – or seemed to face – the whole external world for a moment then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favor. It understood you just as far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as you would like to believe in yourself, and assured you that it had precisely the impression of you, at your best, you wanted to convey.” Fitzgerald – The Great Gatsby

I long for such a smile. I would find it difficult not to fall in love with someone who smiled at me this way,

someone who has taken everyone and everything in the world into account and

focuses on me with “an irresistible prejudice”.

Because, if truth be told, I often want it to be all about me.

With one look you know, deep within the recesses of your existence, thatyou’ve been understood and accepted even with all your flaws, and shortcomings and ugliness that once in a while rears its ugly head.

That someone thoroughly believes in you more than you can ever believe in yourself – all without condescension or impatience or obligation.

Imagine being looked at with the assurance that you are presenting yourself at your best and that best is pretty spectacular.

I am going to practice this smile. The most difficult thing will be its authenticity. Not to merely procure and manifest such a smile but to do so with sincerity. To smile at someone with absolute pure delight where a switch has flipped and joy released.

I bet you can remember a time you’ve been given such a look, the gift of such a smile. The first time you met your spouse? Your baby’s first smile? And I bet you’ve stored the wonderful feeling it created in your memory. But do you remember giving such a look?

To whom did you bestow such a gift and why?

Please enjoy the “comments” that follow!!

I recieved this Advanced Reading Copy from goodreads. “Sleep in Peace Tonight” is a novel I didn’t expect to like as much as I did. Sure,I enjoy learning history through the use of story but WWII has never been a favourite historical event of mine, and being a Canadian I never took interest in Roosevelt’s involvement…Churchill being the more vibrant character. But I must say James MacManus kept me both intellectually and emotionally engaged throughout the entire narrative. Simple to read but not condescendingly so, I especially wanted to know more about our heroine Lenora. And I’m so grateful to MacManus for not making her the token arm candy some male writers of historical fiction do. Surprisingly the author does not bog us down with pages of political maneuvering but includes just enough to support the narrative, develop character, and maintain a sense of historical authenticity. I must say I did enjoy combing home after a hard day’s work and escaping to the London Blitz. Would love a sequel to know the fate of one of our characters!
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<a href=”https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/9325942-lisa”>View all my reviews</a>

Today I had my rock star English students respond to lines in the poem “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.  Here is MY response.  Student responses follow as comments.  Enjoy!

For I have known them all already, known them all;

Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons,

I have measured out my life with coffee spoons;

I know the voices dying with a dying fall

Beneath the music from a farther room.

So how should I presume?

T.S Eliot

Poor J Alfred Prufrock.

When I teach this poem to my high school English classes, students find it difficult to identify with the balding, socially inept Prufrock and consider him  to be pathetic at most. What they can identify with, however, is the idea of  symbolically measuring the “worth” of one’s life with a repetitive action or routine. Actions or routines that help define who we are.

A validation, or proof of sorts, that we exist.

J. Alfred’s measurement is the endless afternoons he spends alone contemplating his inadequacies over endless cups of tepid sludgy tea.

Sad, but there it is.

I’ve had students state they’re measuring their life  with dance recitals performed, or hockey games played. Proof that some thing had been accomplished.  My graduates have been measuring their lives by papers or midterms written (Facebook statuses read “only 2 more to go until summer break!  Only 1 more to go!).  Proof that learning has occurred (… or in some cases, maybe not!)

I believe our “units” of measurement vary depending on what time in life we happen to be treading. I took the year off  work some years ago and I kept track of all the wonderful books I read during that time. THAT’s how I measured my life during my hiatus.

And it felt good

and full

and worth my while.

Proof that I finished a story, a different story every time a new book opened.  Stories that contributed to my own.

Is life measured in paychecks earned?  Children birthed?  Hearts broken? Or do you find a more symbolic value in the little actions that fill your days like smiles performed and good deeds accomplished.

Proof that you’ve worked.

Proof that you’ve loved.

Proof that you exist within someone else’s reality other than your own.

Every year when I teach this poem, I too try to come up with a measurement of my life.  Papers to be marked?  Hugs to be given? Stories to be written?

Here’s a question to ponder if you’ve got a moment:  How do you measure your life?  What action or routine is your symbol?  And once you’ve figured out what this is, are happy with with this revelation?  I think what you discover will say a lot about how you percieve yourself at this moment in time.

And if you don’t like it? Go out and pick out a better measuring stick.

P.S  And go and find yourself a copy of T.S Eliot’s “Love Song for J. Alfred Prufrock”!

“He is the long-delayed but always expected something that we live for.”

Tennessee Williams “The Glass Menagerie”

What is YOUR “long delayed but always expected”?