Two Books!

So since I have written last, I have joined the Summer reading program at my library. I have to read 10 books by July 31st to recieve a cool beach bag. I am on Book 3. Here are the last two books that I read.

John Green- My abosolute favorite writer. His new book,' Paper Towns' exceeded my expectations. I highly reccomend this to any English teacher that is looking for a good book for their kids to read. There are several adolecent themes that are highlighted in this book. Plus it comes with discussion questions at the end.

Plot- A guy and his best friend are living out the rest of their senior year of high school . This guy and his best friend Margo are childhood friends. Margo is this spunky girl who is not so normal. She creates a series of pranks for them to do one night to get back at her cheating boyfriend. This turns out to be the narrators best night of his life. Margo then vanishes the next day. The narrator assumes that because she created this crazy night, there is more to the story.

I highly reccomend this book and any of his others, "Looking for Alaska", "Let it Snow", and" An Abundance of Katherines. "

I'll write about my other book later. This computer isnt letting me add a picture.

Its disheartening to think about this....

I can't even imagine what it would be like to be a kid today. Seriously, this is disturbing.... JUST WATCH!

O,Juliet by Robin Maxwell

I read this book a few weeks ago, because on a whim I thought it looked good on the shelf of the "new books" at my library. Now, I am an avid lover of Shakespeare, and always have loved the story of Romeo and Juliet...however, this book is different. Not only does Maxwell make the story set in the "real world" but she makes the characters come to life. She gives them known Italian family names, and even makes the families of the two lovers be friends with the Medici family that is famous in Italy. The characters also follow the social norms that would have been normative during this time. I guess what I'm saying is that if you are like me, and loved the story of Romeo and Juliet, then you should check it out? I found it much more believable to real life events, and also found the ending to be much more enjoyable. I hate how the end is just death in the original Shakespeare play. The other interesting thing about Maxwell is that she lets you know the reasoning behind her choice to re-write a classic story, and also tells you about the origins to the story. She gives this in a question and answer section at the end of the book, which I found extremely interesting. And...as a teacher, I find that this would be a wonderful book to eventually bring into the teaching of Romeo and Juliet. If you decide to read it, let me know what you think :)

Mary After All : Bill Gordon (First Novel)

Overall. Not a GREAT book.

General Plot: A young girls living on the Jersey Shore decided to get married to an older man at the age of Seventeen. She has two children right a way. While trying to raise her kids she stuggles with her husbands affair and her own desire to 'join the family buisness' as a bookie. This book offers moments of reflection and self-thought.

Best Line: "Air- Conditioning and Television: Before every household had and air conditioner, people sat outside on their stoops. So who was going to bother you, if I am outside watching? And televsion movies... before that people were out walking to the theater, coming home-decent people-out on the streets until eleven-thirty, midnight. Buth then they started staying home. Theair conditioner blasting, eyes glued to the TV set. The streets belonged to the criminals."



Maybe if the governement reccomended that people turned off their televisons, and air conditioners, we would not be dealing with and obese nation, and gang violence running rampent in Chicago...Just a thought for you politions out there....

I just finished the book "Dress your family in corduroy and denim" by David Sedaris. It's hard for me to pin-point what I like and dislike in his books because each chapter is an essay and none of them really correspond to each other. I did notice that in this particular book of his, quite a few of the essays ended on a sad note, which I haven't noticed when reading his other pieces. For instance, he has a short essay on a time his father threw him out of the house - David thought it was because he had graduated from college, moved back home, loafed around, and got high all the time. In the last couple sentences of the essay it's realized that none of these factors were the reason; his father threw him out because he found out David is gay. That broke my heart: to understand that the fact that David loafed around, didn't earn any money, did drugs all the time...none of that mattered like his sexuality did. I would find myself finishing essays with this kind of mood and I wasn't sure if it was something I could honestly like. While it was absolutely written well, it seemed to have been written in a slightly saddened, reflective time in his life. Granted, there were plenty of essays that made me laugh or times where I laughed during the sad essays, but it wasn't really what I was expecting and therefore I still can't decide if I liked it. I definitely would recommend it, but I would be more apt to recommend one of his other pieces first.

I'm picking up more hours at work and it's getting to be summer time so I'm looking for lighter, funnier things to read. Does anybody have any suggestions? I have a lot of serious books that I've wanted to read, but I just can't bring myself to dive into them right now. Anybody read anything witty and funny lately that they would recommend?

T-Rex SUE

So many of you know that I work as a Docent at the Field Museum in Chicago. I absolutely love this job. Even though I don't get paid, the amount of information that I have access to is unfathomable. As an educator, I can use this to my advantage. Whether it be preparing my kids for field trip, or using what I have learned there to start a lesson in my classroom, it is this kind of job that defines a person. I know that the econonmy is stinky, and that it is hard as hell to find a job, but I am rich with knowlege. One day who knows maybe I will write a book.

I am reading Tyranasaurus Sue. It is fantastic! Much of the information in this book, I have already learned about while training/studying for my docent test on Sue. Sue is the most complete T-rex ever found in the United States. None of the other t-rrex's found come close to her completeness. Having been found in 1990, and then put on display in 2000, one can imagine that her in her ten year hiatus, there was much controversy. This book explains the leagal battle over he bones. It is an excellent read!

Busy little bees, we are....

So I finished the book," Remarkable Creatures." I really enjoyed it because it allowed me to have more educated conversations with the other Docents at the Field Museum. This week I will probably read physics, and chemistry books to prepare for my test. All in all it looks like I will be very busy til May. Then maybe a trip to DC ( I will need this).

So what is everyone else doing/ reading??

I think, by now, I am a test taking professional....

Well there goes my life until April 17,2010. Recently, I was told by the State of Illinois that I needed to take my Biology content area test to receive my License in Illinois. I am actually looking forward to studying, and seeing how much I have retained from the last test in October. In addition to the study guide from the testing website, I bought this book that tells me me a little bit more in depth what to focus on. I have compare it to the Michigan one that I have, and there are few similarities, and differences. The Illinois test had geology, physics, and chemistry.... o my!



I am going to give it my best shot and hopefully I will get this on the first try...

A.M.A.Z.I.N.G....

I have experienced something that hardly anyone ever gets to do... So this past weekend I went to the Mammoths and Mastadons Training at the Field Museum of Natural History. It was amazoing. For months on my coffee table sat a National Geographic Magazine with a baby mammoth on the cover. Never had I thought that I would actually get to meet the scientist that found her, and studied her. Meeting Dr. Daniel Fisher of the University of Michigan, was one of the most beneficial learning experiences I have ever encountered. His journey with Lyuba, and what he has uncovered about Mammoths and Mastadons is truely revolutionary.Lyuba was found in 2007 in Siberia. She was completely unvocered and required no excavations. Her body was what scientists would call "pickeled." She was in a condition that was described as perfect. There was even hair on her body, and skin that was 42,000 years old. AMAZING!!

Seeing him talk in front of Lyuba in the exhibit of the Field Museum, was extreemly moving. When asked, " How do you feel about working and disecting with Lyuba? He responded, " How do you think it feels holding a 42,000 yr old heart in your hands." Most often when people come into the Field Museum they have no idea what they are looking at. They have no idea the history that goes into studying these artifacts, let alone the entire process of how it was discovered. Because of my expereiences at the Field Museum, I can only imagine how my students will benefit in my classroom.

"Remarkable Creatures" Epic Adventures in the Search for the Orgins of Species

This book is amazing. I bought it in DC when I went to visit my sister. Its about the many adventures of major scientific explorers-Darwin,Bates, Wallace, Debois...etc and their discoveries in the persuit of the transitonal species between man and ape.It also breifly mentions predator and prey relationships, as well as the discovery of Batsian Mimicry- by who else Mr.Bates. If you have a science background, or are interested in science this book is excellent.However, if you don't have a science background, it might be a hard read. This book uses a great deal of scientific vocabulary. I would give it Five Stars!

What are you reading?

Life has been busy. However, I have managed to start another book. Tess; I decided that 'Dear John' would be worth the read. I don't think that I am going to go see the movie though. I have read Nicholas Sparks before and they are usually a fast read for me. So far so good.

Don't Discriminate: JUST READ....

Yesterday, while I was returning," The Dive from Clausen's Pier," to the 25 cent rack at the Library, I thought about how often I make choices about the books that I read based on the cover of the book. Publishers know this because they change the book covers of classics every 2 years or more. Look....

Three different covers of the exact same book. Which one would you choose based on looks alone? What does that say about your generation, country(where it was published)age group...etc? We all know this and yet we still pick the flashy, new-looking books without reading the jacket or back of the book. Think about the Harry Potter/ Stephanie Meyer phenomena...(we must read these books). I get it, it is one big marketing ploy, but how can we as 'lovers of books" teach others to not discriminate against good books, without the good looks....?

The Dive from Clausen's Pier- Ann Packer

So I just finished reading," The Dive from Clausen's Pier," by Ann Packer. Out of a possible 5 stars I would give it 3. At times I felt that this book was a bit depressing and felt that the plot was a bit smooshed together.The story opens with a group of friends at a Memorial Day weekend celebration. The friend are having a good time, when one of the guys dares another guy to jump from the Pier. Mike, the diver, ends up becomeing a quad- and will never walk again. The story the moves through his struggle as a quad,and his girlfriend's struggle with him being a quad. All in all I felt that the characters were extreemly relatable to any age group.

So this book blog might not be turning out how I wanted it. I have been thinking though of changing the purpose of this book club. Instead of all of us reading the same book, we could talk about the different books that we are currently reading. This way we arr not spending enormous amounts of time and money on some book that we might or might not like. Tell me what you think...

Love and Rockets,
Maggie

Check this Blog Out!

This is a really cool blog about People Reading.

I Love it!

Some books to get us started....

Okay, so I really like the idea of starting with Sarah's Key -Tatiana de Rosnay. Here is a short summary.

Summary

What do you think???

I think that you can also get it in paperback from Amazon for eight bucks, or you local library.
Please also add your suggestions for the next book. I though that we could decide after we read the first book.....:)

Also please tell your friends about the book blog, and feel free to share the link with them as well.


An Abundance of Katherines- John Green
Looking for Alaska- John Green
1984
Catch 22
Where the Wild Things Are
Feed
The Catcher in the Rye- Salinger
Push
Eat, Pray, Love
Dear John

Books!

Hey Ladies!

Welcome. Our first task is to come up with a list of books that you would like to read, maybe four or five and post them.