The end of November was extremely busy, so I didn’t have time to write a Nonfiction November recap. Because of stress and reading two books with over 500 pages, November wasn’t my best month for reading in terms of total books read (only ten). I was, however, able to read six works of nonfiction including my choice from bookshelf #5, Nobody Knows My Name by James Baldwin.
For the past few days, I’ve been trying to figure out how to articulate my feelings for James Baldwin. There’s just something about the way he writes that I love so much. Plus, I feel like my brain gets a good workout every time I read his work. He holds nothing back, and his ideas and critiques of America are still relevant and necessary.
Now for shelf #6!
On this shelf I’ve read all of the Nick Bantock books, and Waiting for Godot.
For some reason I’m being drawn to A Man for All Seasons by Robert Bolt. For a long time, I was fascinated by Tudor England, and I immersed myself in books about Henry VIII and Elizabeth I. When I visited the Tower of London, I stood where Anne Boleyn was beheaded and it was quite surreal. I enjoyed watching The Tudors on HBO, and one of my favorite characters was Sir Thomas More. I’ve only read one play this year, so this will be good for me.
I need to keep reading and finish this year strong!
For some reason, the first thing that came to mind when I saw today’s photo challenge prompt was how much I value the autographed copies of my books, especially those with the dedication, “To Michelle.” Here are the stories behind the encounters with some of my favorite authors.
I had the opportunity to meet Sir Ken Robinson at an extremely difficult time in my life. He was the keynote speaker at the Pennsylvania Educational Technology Conference and Expo (PETE&C), and I would have backed out if I didn’t want to hear him speak so badly. When it was my turn at the autograph table, I thanked him for his work and told him that my students always love his TED Talk, “Schools Kill Creativity.” He treated me like the most important person he’d ever met, had me sit beside him, and picked my brain about how I was using his work in my classes. It was a moment I’ll never forget, and it was exactly what I needed to bring me out of the funk I had been in.
In 2019, Dr. Ibram X. Kendi spoke at the Harrisburg Book Festival, so of course, I HAD to be there. He was speaking with Dr. Imani Perry, whom I had never heard of. I purchased a copy of Breathe: A Letter to My Sons, to familiarize myself with her work, and I was mesmerized by the brilliance of her writing. On the day of their talk, I was set on making myself look like the biggest dork in the world. On my way into The Midtown Scholar, I walked in front of a car and almost got myself run over. I was mortified when Dr. Kendi got out. He was very nice and held the door open for me, so I guess he wasn’t judging me too harshly! Then, when I was in the signing line, I was fangirling over Dr. Perry’s writing. Dr. Kendi laughed and told me that he felt the same way the first time he read her work. They were both so gracious and wonderful to talk to.
Dan Pink and Guy Kawasaki were also keynote speakers at PETE&C. I don’t have a funny story about Dan Pink, because I didn’t have a lot of time to interact with him. Guy Kawasaki was Apple’s Chief Evangelist, and I was trying to hide all my Windows devices from him during the smaller breakout discussion after his keynote. I remember joking with him about the Borg and Star Trek, which led to what he wrote on the cover of his book.
Another highlight of my life was getting to have lunch with an astronaut at Kennedy Space Center. As soon as I told Tom Jones I was a teacher, he treated me like a total rockstar. I kept thinking, “YOU’VE BEEN TO SPACE FOUR TIMES!!!” as we were talking.
It has been a long time since I’ve had the opportunity to see an author speak and then meet them. I need to work on that. As much as I appreciate interacting with authors on Zoom, I’d love to have more in person experiences. That may be a good reading goal for 2024!
The Underdogs: A Novel of the Mexican Revolution, was good. I didn’t love it, but I learned a lot and I’m glad I read it.
And now for bookshelf #5!
Since it’s Nonfiction November, I’ll read Nobody Knows My Name by James Baldwin. Once again, I’ve read most of the books on this shelf. Apparently I prefer authors whose names place them at the beginning of the alphabet.
Books I’ve Read:
James Baldwin The Fire Next Time
James Baldwin Go Tell It on the Mountain
James Baldwin Tell Me How Long the Train’s Been Gone
Today, I finished reading Verified: How to Think Straight, Get Duped Less, and Make Better Decisions about What to Believe Online by Mike Caulfield and Sam Wineburg for Nonfiction November’s “Web” prompt.
I consider myself a very savvy person when it comes to navigating information online. I’ve been teaching high school English for almost 24 years, and I have master’s degrees in Classroom Technology and Library and Information Science. I love teaching research skills, especially evaluating information for credibility and bias, mostly because I’ve seen so many people I care about get sucked into misinformation and easily debunked conspiracy theories. Because I know the information landscape is constantly changing, I do my best to keep up. When I saw that Mike Caulfield and Sam Wineburg were releasing a book, I knew I had to have it immediately, because I’ve used their work with my students and when preparing professional development for my colleagues.
I’m familiar with Caulfield’s SIFT method, and Verified provides many examples of how to use it in different contexts. As a longtime fan of the CRAAP test, I appreciated learning why checklists don’t hold up, and why the SIFT method is a faster and more reliable alternative. I may be most grateful for the chapter on Wikipedia because so many of my students and colleagues are not aware of how far it has come or what a valuable tool it can be. As I was reading, I kept marking pages with ideas that could be turned into activities for students (and possibly colleagues), and I see myself sitting with this book as I revise and update my research lessons. I learned a lot from the chapter on advertising because I found out that there’s so much I didn’t know about online advertising, especially native advertising. Caulfield and Wineburg also address AI in the postscript and explain how the SIFT method holds up in the face of AI generated disinformation.
This book is extremely accessible and would be valuable for anyone who wants to be smarter in how they approach the information they encounter online. For those of us who teach research, it’s a must read.
I’m a sucker for creative reading challenges, so when I saw posts about Nonfiction November on Instagram yesterday, I immediately scrambled to figure out what I wanted to read. I’m not sure I’ll be able to do the daily photo challenge, but I should be able to read four books based on the prompts. I love that the prompts are single words that participants can interpret however they want. Here are my selections.
Fraud — This Land Is Their Land: The Wampanoag Indians, Plymouth Colony, and the Troubled History of Thanksgiving by David J. Silverman
Web — Verified: How to Think Straight, Get Duped Less, and Make Better Decisions about what to Believe Online by Mike Caulfield & Sam Wineburg
Capital — How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy by Jenny Odell
Display — The Woman in Me by Britney Spears
Now I need to finish Underdogs tonight, so I can start Verified tomorrow.
Something to Declare is a collection of essays that are responses to questions Alvarez has been asked by readers over the years. She addresses her family’s involvement in the attempted overthrow of Trujillo, balancing being both Dominican and American, the writing of many of her novels, and her journey as a woman and writer. I always love reading Alvarez’s work, so this was fascinating and inspiring for me. I have been collecting writing advice for myself and my students, and I marked many passages as I was reading. In one case, Alvarez challenges what I was told by a favorite professor who always told us to write what we know. For Alvarez, writing is an exploration of what we don’t know and a way of figuring out what we need to know. She also acknowledges that our lives will always show up in our writing and that writers should never censor themselves out of fear of how those close to them will react.
“One of my theories, which may sound defensive and self-serving, is that there is no such thing as straight-up fiction. There are just levels of distance from our own life experience, the thing that drives us to write in the first place. In spite of our caution and precaution, bits of our lives will get into what we write. . . . I think that if you start censoring yourself as a novelist–this is out of bounds, that is sacrosanct–you will never write anything. My advice is to write it out, and then decide, by whatever process seems fair to you–three-o’clock-in-the-morning insomniac angst sessions with your soul, or a phone call with your best friend, or a long talk with your sister–what you’re going to do about it.”
What holds me back is worry over how those close to me will react. Reading Something to Declare has given me a bit more courage. I can write. I need to write, but what I do with what I’ve written is entirely up to me. I’m under no obligation to share everything, but if I keep all my ideas inside because of fear, I’ll never know what kind of writer I could be.
I highly recommend this for anyone who is or wants to be a writer or is a teacher of writing.
And now for more bookshelves!
I can skip shelf #3 because I’ve read everything on it. Margaret Atwood has always been among my favorite authors, so no one who knows me should be shocked by this.
Selecting a book from shelf #4 is easy because I don’t have much to choose from. I’m going to read The Underdogs: A Novel of the Mexican Revolution by Mariano Azuela because I need a break from nonfiction, and the only other book on this shelf I haven’t read is Margaret Atwood: The Essential Guide. I know very little about the Mexican revolution, and from what I’ve read, The Underdogs is required reading in Mexican schools. I’m looking forward to getting started.
I initially thought that last year was going to remain my top year (241 books), until I noticed that while I didn’t read as many books this year, I read over 5,000 more pages. I’m pretty impressed with that considering how stressful 2022 has been. Granted, when I’m stressed I tend to escape into books, which would explain why I’ve been reading a lot more fantasy and/or books that help me lose myself in another world or character’s situation. Here is a run down of (some of) my favorites from this year. I stopped myself after fifteen, which was hard, so you should check out the full thread of my favorites (all 134 of them) on Twitter.
Ain’t Burned All the Bright by Jason Reynolds with artwork by Jason Griffin
I have both the physical and audiobook of Ain’t Burned All the Bright, and I come back to them every time life becomes difficult. Jason Reynolds always seems to have the exact words I need, and Jason Griffin’s artwork is perfect.
Noor by Nnedi Okorafor
I read this in January, and I’m still grappling with the questions it poses about disability and what it means to be human. Okorafor’s characters and world building are so nuanced and complex; her books stay with me long after I’ve finished them.
Begin Again: James Baldwin’s America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own by Eddie S. Glaude, Jr.
Baldwin is one of my favorite writers, and Glaude’s book made it clear why studying his work is so important now. The quote from Baldwin that inspired the title: “Not everything is lost. Responsibility cannot be lost, it can only be abdicated. If one refuses abdication, one begins again.”
Ancestor Trouble: A Reckoning and a Reconciliation by Maud Newton
Newton’s journey to understand her family was honest and inspiring, and it made me very curious about my own ancestry. After finishing the book, I created and account on Ancestry.com and started my own exploration. While what I believed about my family’s background isn’t necessarily untrue, I’m learning that there’s so much more to my family’s history than I initially thought. What I’ve uncovered is fascinating, and I have so many questions to attempt to answer.
The Death of Vivek Oji and You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi
I read five books by Akwaeke Emezi this year, and I could easily include all of them. I think what impresses me most about Emezi is that they are able to write brilliantly for different age groups and in different genres. I also love watching Emezi talk about their writing, and what they are trying to accomplish in each piece.
Looking for Lorraine: The Radiant and Radical Life of Lorraine Hansberry by Imani Perry
In 2019, Ibram X. Kendi and Imani Perry spoke at the Harrisburg Book Festival. At that point, I didn’t know much about her, so I bought a copy of Breathe: A Letter to My Sons to read before seeing her speak. I vividly remember exactly how I felt reading the first page and how in awe I was at the brilliance of her writing. When I got to meet her at the book festival, I was stammering like a giddy fan girl, and Kendi (chuckling) chimed in that he felt the same way when he first read her work. It was definitely one of the dorkiest moments of my life, and I will cherish the memory forever. I hope to teach A Raisin in the Sun this year, and Looking for Lorraine will be such a valuable resource. I learned so much from it.
All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson
This is one of the most powerful, moving, and important memoirs I’ve ever read. I could write an entire dissertation on why it should not be banned, but that should probably be its own post.
The Broken Earth Trilogy by N. K. Jemisin
I’m not sure anything I write can do this series justice, but I was inspired to do some creative journaling after reading it (which is the only time this has happened). I used so many sticky notes, which doesn’t happen often when I read fiction. It’s no wonder Jemisin’s books win every single award, and I can’t wait for The Broken Earth trilogy to become a movie!
Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe
Another extremely moving, challenging, and important memoir. I read it twice because it was the most frequently banned/challenged book in 2021, and it was a common choice in educator book clubs. I should give this its own post, because I have so many thoughts and feelings. I wish I had a book like this when I was a teenager.
The Absolute Sandman, Volumes 1-5 by Neil Gaiman
I first read The Sandman for a graduate seminar in cultural studies focusing on the 80’s goth subculture. I was an undergrad at the time, but I convinced the head of the English department and the professor to let me take the course. I earned an A-, read Gaiman for the first time, and was introduced to Joy Division. Twenty-three years later, Gaiman is my favorite author and I’ve read The Sandman more times than any other text, but unfortunately, the Joy Division cover band my brother and I talked about forming never happened. This re-read was combined with watching the Netflix series, which was even better than I hoped it would be. Kirby Howell-Baptiste was perfect as Death, and Mason Alexander Park made Desire my favorite character. (Park has become one of my favorite performers, and I love them on Quantum Leap. I can’t get enough of their performance of “Space Oddity” with Mike Garson.) Season two will probably require yet another re-read.
The Chosen by Chaim Potok
Potok’s writing drew me in from the start, and the story is beautiful. The Chosen also gave me a lot to think about and brought up areas where I need to learn more about Judaism. My step-father was a complicated man and our relationship was not always pretty, but I deeply appreciate the values he instilled in me, which were largely drawn from his Jewish faith. I’ve been reading more texts by Jewish authors and reading more nonfiction about Judaism to connect with these values.
Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro
Ishiguro makes me uncomfortable (in a good way) by raising extremely complex ethical questions that tend to haunt me for years. I’m still trying to get everyone I know to read Never Let Me Go (which I read in 2006), and I’ll probably be doing the same for Klara and the Sun.
One of the many issues I have with those who are still trying to center the canon/classics is the assumption that contemporary writers aren’t on par with the writers of the past. This play absolutely destroys that notion. I’m in the process of getting it approved and added to my district’s curriculum because it addresses colonialism/post-colonialism in a way that I think will resonate with students, and Soyinka’s writing and dramatic structure is so complex and powerful. There are so many possibilities with this play.
Me (Moth) by Amber McBride
I finished this in one sitting, and when I was done my thought process went something like this: “WAIT! WHAT??? NO WAY. OMG HOW DID YOU [McBride] DO THAT???? I NEED TO START THIS OVER RIGHT NOW.
I can’t really write any more about this because I don’t want to give anything away. Just read it.
The Legendborn Cycle by Tracy Deonn
I’ve saved these for last because The Legendborn Cycle has the potential to become my favorite fantasy series of all time. I can’t say much, because anything I write at this point would be an epic spoiler (especially how I feel about a certain character whose initials are SK). I cannot recommend these enough!!!
Final Thoughts
I’ve read so many good books this year, and I owe a lot of that to the various book clubs and Twitter chats I participate in. I’d be remiss if I didn’t give a shout out to Roxane Gay’s Audacious Book Club and #THEBOOKCHAT on Twitter. Many of my favorites are books I probably wouldn’t have read if it weren’t for these two book clubs!
One of my reading goals for 2023 will be to write reviews of books as I read them, because I had a lot of fun writing the short blurbs for this post.
The good news is that 2018 was an amazing year for me. The bad news is that I didn’t blog about any of it, mostly because 2018 was ridiculously busy. I fully intended to write about crocheting, reading, and traveling, but I accomplished so much that I didn’t have the energy. Here’s a general summary of my year.
Crocheting My goal was to complete twenty-four projects, and I exceeded it. Here are a few of my favorite projects from 2018.
My crocheting goals for 2019 are to finish all my WIPs (I have too many!), use my epic stash of cotton yarn, write down and post the patterns I create, and blog about my crocheting adventures.
Books My goal is always to read fifty books in a year, but this year got a little out of control. I find that when I’m stressed and overworked, I gravitate toward very fast, engaging, and light reading. Since I started working on a second Master’s Degree, I’ve been obsessed with fantasy, and I tore through tons of series.
Travels If I took the time to go into detail about all of our adventures, this post would be ridiculously long. I’ll just summarize it by saying that our big adventures included Seattle and New York City, which were two of our best! I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.
NYC Adventure, June 2018 Mt. St Helens, The Space Needle, Mt. Rainier, Snoqualmie Falls, The Museum of Flight
It looks like 2019 will be full of even more adventures than 2018. My goal is to slow down and write about all the amazing things that happen!
