We decided we should have a place where teachers could talk about what we're reading and why it rocks! So what is it you can't put down? Who knows, maybe one of us would like to read it! Let the sharing commence...
I’m reading/listening to A Dance with Dragons (Book 5 of the A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin aka Game of Thrones) and listening to Roy Dotrice’s voice is really bringing the characters to life for me...I think what I love most about the book is that it doesn’t seem like one book, or just one part of a series...it is one gargantuan piece to one gargantuan story...but it’s the story of a very difficult and closed-off, sexist kind of life that many people today think doesn’t exist anymore...
It's riveting, it's engrossing, and I find myself re-reading it whenever I come to the end. In the last twelve months, I must've read it 20-30 times.
That's interesting that even though I have not read the book you are talking about, I do know what you mean as far as people not thinking that the sexist mindset still exists.. that is something so powerful that has resonated throughout centuries, upon centuries and I'm sure it will continue years into the future..
I admire how you said that you have read the book at least a couple dozen times.. I feel that way about "Water for Elephants.." Books should be engrossing, and should make you want to read it over and over, and continue to leave you thinking once you're done reading.. who says you only have read a book once?!
I remember revealing to one of my classes that I'd read H.P. Lovecraft's "At The Mountains of Madness" maybe between 30-40 times (now it's probably 40-50) and watching students' eyes goggle at me as though books were like TV shows, as disposable.
There are just certain books, and "A Dance with Dragons" is definitely one of them, that I fall in love with, that enthrall me, that contain worlds within them... I'm trying to think of more, but I guess one that I've always wanted to teach has been Alexander Solzhenitsyn's "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" and about a hundred short stories (which I usually prefer to novels) that do a great job at the whole "slice of life" thing.
Danielle, I enjoyed Water for Elephants also. There are books I have read over especially classics I read when I was younger. I get so much more out of them now that I am older (uhh-umm) and wiser.
I enjoy historical fiction and just picked up Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress. It is semi-autobiographical. So far I can't put it down. Am 100 pages into it. It is a quick read that takes place in China right after the cultural revolution. Published in 2001 so easy to get at the library.
Hi Danielle,
ReplyDeleteI’m reading/listening to A Dance with Dragons (Book 5 of the A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin aka Game of Thrones) and listening to Roy Dotrice’s voice is really bringing the characters to life for me...I think what I love most about the book is that it doesn’t seem like one book, or just one part of a series...it is one gargantuan piece to one gargantuan story...but it’s the story of a very difficult and closed-off, sexist kind of life that many people today think doesn’t exist anymore...
It's riveting, it's engrossing, and I find myself re-reading it whenever I come to the end. In the last twelve months, I must've read it 20-30 times.
Hi Garth,
ReplyDeleteThat's interesting that even though I have not read the book you are talking about, I do know what you mean as far as people not thinking that the sexist mindset still exists.. that is something so powerful that has resonated throughout centuries, upon centuries and I'm sure it will continue years into the future..
I admire how you said that you have read the book at least a couple dozen times.. I feel that way about "Water for Elephants.." Books should be engrossing, and should make you want to read it over and over, and continue to leave you thinking once you're done reading.. who says you only have read a book once?!
I remember revealing to one of my classes that I'd read H.P. Lovecraft's "At The Mountains of Madness" maybe between 30-40 times (now it's probably 40-50) and watching students' eyes goggle at me as though books were like TV shows, as disposable.
DeleteThere are just certain books, and "A Dance with Dragons" is definitely one of them, that I fall in love with, that enthrall me, that contain worlds within them... I'm trying to think of more, but I guess one that I've always wanted to teach has been Alexander Solzhenitsyn's "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" and about a hundred short stories (which I usually prefer to novels) that do a great job at the whole "slice of life" thing.
What are you planning to read this summer...?
Danielle, I enjoyed Water for Elephants also. There are books I have read over especially classics I read when I was younger. I get so much more out of them now that I am older (uhh-umm) and wiser.
DeleteI enjoy historical fiction and just picked up Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress. It is semi-autobiographical. So far I can't put it down. Am 100 pages into it. It is a quick read that takes place in China right after the cultural revolution. Published in 2001 so easy to get at the library.
ReplyDeleteAren't you reading three books at once or something...?
ReplyDeleteYes, I have to stop doing that.
ReplyDelete