Reading for the Past Five Days

I have been reading an array of books lately.

Number One: Educating Esme by Esme Raji Codell. Awesome! Amazing! Really funny! It's the diary of a first year teacher in Chicago. It's a beautiful book, and the ending is my favorite part. It makes me want to be a teacher more than I already do. Esme is twenty four, with a class of thirty one students. The book starts with Esme attending a funeral, which is a great example of starting in media res. Esme does all manner of crazy things with her class - including roller skating and doing an Indian dance through the hallways. A book I think any reader would like, especially teachers and those who want to be teachers. Warning: it's in the teen section for a reason!

Number Two: Wise Child by Monica Furlong. Another good book - I haven't finished it yet, and I've never read it before. It's about a ten year old named Wise Child in the medieval ages, in Scotland. She's training to be a doran, which is a fancy word (in Gaelic) for a healer and practicer of magic. At the moment, Wise Child is learning about herbology from her mentor, Juniper.

Number Three: The Odyssey. I just finished reading book eight, and it leaves you on a cliffhanger. I think I'm going to like this part of the Odyssey much better than the Telemachy. I think that Homer describes everything way too much, but the story is really cool. I like the queen that Odysseus just met - I think her name is Arete. I also like Odysseus much better than Telemachus, because Odysseus seems more honorable and intelligent.

Did anyone else notice that the Telemachy is Telemachus' name with a y instead of a us, just like the Odyssey and Odysseus?

Enchantment... Again.

I am currently reading two books: one nonfiction, one fiction. The fiction book I've read before, and I love it. It's Enchantment by Orson Scott Card. It's also a romance, with plenty of fantasy. Before the male readers of my blog zone out, it's written mostly from the guy's point of view.

The main character is Ivan - or Vanya, or Itzak. He's a Russian Jew born in the 1970's. But, he moves to the US by the age of eleven. He's multilingual, and most of the book is written when Ivan is in his early twenties.

If I had to describe the book in three words, it would be romantic culture shock. It's like a modern day version of Sleeping Beauty, except this isn't for those under the age of ten. Ivan is the 'prince', who defeats a bear and kisses Katerina, 'Sleeping Beauty'. Though, Katerina is from 870 AD - and doesn't speak a written language. Poor Ivan has to marry her, and help her to save her kingdom from Baba Yaga.

I really like this book. It's in my top 50 or so. I got it for my birthday, but I read it for the first time two or three years ago. I've read it since then, but I got sick of the library copy, and asked for it for my birthday. It's an amazing book.

Be warned if you decide to read it: the first chapter will shock you. It's not really for the fainthearted - it can get gross.

First Thoughts on the Odyssey

I feel kind of bad for Odysseus (or Ulysses, depending on the translation). He's stuck on an island with someone who is constantly trying to get him to fall in love with her. Also, he didn't get to see his son grow up. But then, Telemachus is speaking to Athena (or Minerva) about finding his father. And in the midst of everything, Penelope, Odysseus' wife, is weeping over her lost husband.

It seems like it will be a good story, but confusing. I want to call Homer crazy, but from what I know of the plot line, the story looks intriguing, and I can't wait to read more.

Summer Reading

I read many books over the summer, but there are a few I remember the most. I couldn't narrow it down to just one best book of the summer, but here are three.

None of the books I chose were the traditional "beach reads" that I sometimes find pointless. One of the books I read was far from it: Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy. I still do not know what to think of this book. It's shocking, but it's also romantic. Tess is a young adult in the beginning, and she manages to get herself into a big problem. Her mother wants to marry her off, but she goes to the manor of the D'urbervilles, a rich family she could be related to. She gets a job there that pays well, and makes friends with her male "cousin". Her cousin takes advantage of her, and she returns home immediately. She's pregnant. She undergoes about 200 pages of being a milkmaid, and meets Angel Clare, a man who she falls in love with. The plot continues to get more and more twisted. I liked the plot, but Tess was not my favorite character. It did make me think, and in the end, I liked the book on the whole (despite the 300 pages I was unsure about).

One of the other books I remember the most was a haunting book called Willow, by Julia Hoban. It's definitely not for the fainthearted, and I admit to crying multiple times while reading it. I thoroughly recommend it, though. It's about a girl, named Willow, who accidentally killed her parents. She falls into a strange state where she doesn't want to feel emotion. Her only escape is cutting. She meets a teenage boy named Guy, who wants to be her friend no matter how many times she says no. They fall in love. Willow tells Guy about cutting, and Guy tries to get her to stop. It's an amazing book, but I won't reveal the end. I think I will remember that book for the next twenty years. The story is so believable, and so real.

Christy by Catherine Marshall is a book that I have decided I'll read every summer. It's (once again) about a young woman - Christy. She hears a sermon at church on a missionary school in the Appalachian mountains that need school teachers. It's during the Prohibition. She goes to teach in the rural town of Cutter Gap, where the locals don't want her there - at first. She teaches a huge class in a one room schoolhouse, and faces a series of troubles. She falls in love with the minister, David, but the county doctor also wants to be closer to Christy. Strange things keep happening at the school: finding drunk pigs under the schoolhouse, books and maps ripped, and then there's the McAllan murder. Somehow, someway, it all connects to the illegal distillery. David and Christy get more serious in their relationship. Everything seems to be going well - but then, typhoid breaks out. Christy is an amazing book. If you're going to read it, though, be warned that it is religious (Christian).

These are three of the most memorable books from my summer. I wish I could share all of them, but then there would be about 50 books on this list.

Happy reading.