For once, I wasn’t sure if I would like the book better than the movie because I love this movie so much but WOW! If you are a fan of this movie, you For once, I wasn’t sure if I would like the book better than the movie because I love this movie so much but WOW! If you are a fan of this movie, you won’t believe how much more rich and complex the story is. A terrific read....more
This 2022 reading year stands out mainly because of Octavia Butler’s Earthseed Series: Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents. Lauren OlaminaThis 2022 reading year stands out mainly because of Octavia Butler’s Earthseed Series: Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents. Lauren Olamina is the female protagonist I’ve been searching for all of my life. After I read these, I found every interview possible with Octavia Butler and enjoyed learning more about her and her writing life. I wish she were still with us and had been able to complete the vision she had for the series.
The other stand out read this year was Kay Ryan’s Synthesizing Gravity. Ryan has a way of tapping straight into an intellectual pleasure center in my brain like no other.
Every year I read the Pulitzer winner for fiction, so I read The Netanyahu’s. It was entertaining. Funny, quirky and enlightening. But not likely a book I’ll find myself recommending to people.
Professionally, the best book I read this year was How Learning Happens. An excellent collection of evidence based advice for educators.
I read several poetry collections this year and one poem in particular has stayed with me: Natalie Diaz’s If I Should Come Upon Your House Lonely in the West Texas Desert from Postcolonial Love Poem. I probably thought I’d outgrown love poems, but it turns out I haven’t.
Let’s see, disappointing reads?
Be With, Forrest Gander Maybe it was just too masculine- no resonance for me at all
The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir Probably I’d had it too built up in my mind and I brought an anachronistic pov to it. I wasn’t terribly disappointed- so much was worthwhile. But I was a bit surprised that it was mostly anecdotal, personal analysis of women’s experiences as portrayed through psychiatric reports.
Boundary pushers I loved:
Janelle Monae’s The Memory Librarian and other stories of Dirty Computer
Maria Dahvana Headley’s translation of Beowulf...more
Murakami is something else. Every single time- he pulls me in with his simple sentences, elegant observations and weird stories. Loved this last read Murakami is something else. Every single time- he pulls me in with his simple sentences, elegant observations and weird stories. Loved this last read of the year. ...more
This is a very useful compilation of myth-busting explanations and evidence-based recommendations for educators in any context. After taking exceptionThis is a very useful compilation of myth-busting explanations and evidence-based recommendations for educators in any context. After taking exception to the title (can we please come up with less chauvinistic words than “seminal” and “disseminating” when we talk about research and ideas?), I found plenty of value in this collection. If you are looking for an EdPsy certificate in a book, you may find it here. You can take what’s provided here and apply it today in your teaching or instructional design work. I will take one more jab though- occasionally I thought that the authors unnecessarily ridiculed what they deem to be unsupported learning trends by reducing them to their most clunky applications (the straw man approach)....more
This book reads too prophetically. Butler brings to life the scattered dystopian fears of a Christian American driven fascist state that I've had gathThis book reads too prophetically. Butler brings to life the scattered dystopian fears of a Christian American driven fascist state that I've had gathering in my amygdala since 2016. And she does it through the eyes of a strong, empathetic woman. I'm kind of devastated that the story is over and I've been grieving the loss of it and Butler by learning what I can about her. She had writer's block for 5 years after writing this book because it depressed her so much to write it. But the book itself is not depressing in my opinion. She just presents humanity for what it is. With no sugar coating....more
Let’s see more of the same. I loved this translation! I had no intention of reading this over the weekend but randomly picked it up while playing a boLet’s see more of the same. I loved this translation! I had no intention of reading this over the weekend but randomly picked it up while playing a board game, then couldn’t put it down. I’ve probably read 4-5 translations of Beowulf in my. But I’ve never enjoyed it as much or seen it as well in my mind as I did here. Some gems: “Their leader unlocked his word-hoard. He was the senior soldier, so he spat certainty.”
“a predator without need of torch”
“since now the man was elite enough for permanence”...more
I returned to the Patternist series after a long break. I was stymied by the fact that Butler wrote a book that came before this one in the series butI returned to the Patternist series after a long break. I was stymied by the fact that Butler wrote a book that came before this one in the series but later disowned it and requested that no one read it. !! It took me until now to decide that I was going to obey the request so I was free to read this one. Again this story delivers better man and woman dialogue than any other author I’ve ever read. She builds exceptional worlds of beings with transcendent and intertwining psychic powers alongside physical and social realities that are entirely human and natural. She knows feminine power. ...more
Lauren Olamina. Another gift of a woman from Octavia Butler. What is this debate over where to find strong female protagonists? OB gave them to us YEALauren Olamina. Another gift of a woman from Octavia Butler. What is this debate over where to find strong female protagonists? OB gave them to us YEARS ago....more
The characters in this story really came alive. It’s a story of devastating death and tragedy told by sharing the beauty of the lives lost. It felt liThe characters in this story really came alive. It’s a story of devastating death and tragedy told by sharing the beauty of the lives lost. It felt like non-fiction in its matter of factness. ...more
It's been a while since I've read a book length work of critical theory, and I've never read any queer theory, so I was more than a little out of my dIt's been a while since I've read a book length work of critical theory, and I've never read any queer theory, so I was more than a little out of my depth here. But Snorton lays out carefully structured analyses and builds a compelling framework for this racial history of trans identity- at least as experienced through US based texts about black and white people. Snorton strives to say something so humanistically precise that he has to sharpen adjectives into nouns and distinct genres and theories into compound words. These machinations are both impressive and exhausting, but thankfully do not diminish the impact of the stories of the humans who appear in the medical, historical, journalistic and literary texts chosen to serve as his building blocks here. I will remember all of these people and likely follow up to learn more about them. ...more
I have been a follower of Dr. Patricia A Young’s work since 2009 when I discovered her Culture-Based Model and used it as the theoretical framework foI have been a follower of Dr. Patricia A Young’s work since 2009 when I discovered her Culture-Based Model and used it as the theoretical framework for my dissertation and the only award winning article I’ve ever written. In this book, Young shows off her methodical approach to defining terms and examining cultural context, analytical talent in creating taxonomies and resistance to status-quo understandings of design and technology. This work posits the phenomenon of “human specialization” as an answer to the failures of “personalization” in educational technology. What I have always appreciated most about Young’s work is her ability to spur me to new perspectives on the challenges and realities of my everyday work....more
I’ve had a crush on Janelle Monáe for a little bit, so I was thrilled when I saw her fiction debut at Solid State books. This book is a work of art. CI’ve had a crush on Janelle Monáe for a little bit, so I was thrilled when I saw her fiction debut at Solid State books. This book is a work of art. Collaborative, philosophical, sensual, sensorial and human. Very much the vision of an emerging generation we must learn from and listen to....more
This book is a page turner- I finished it in two sittings. It felt like watching a farce with historical tragedy interludes. If a book makes me laugh,This book is a page turner- I finished it in two sittings. It felt like watching a farce with historical tragedy interludes. If a book makes me laugh, it's memorable. And this one did. But it also made me feel like I was an outsider to an inside joke much of the time. I don't have the Jewish cultural chops to get some of the more nuanced humor here. But I've long had some opinions in re: Harold Bloom and Benjamin Netanyahu so to get an unexpected glimpse at the crossing of their paths was pretty fascinating. Having read all of the Pulitzer winners for fiction, I look forward to seeing what the newest one brings each year, and this one qualifies as capturing a uniquely American experience. ...more
I really didn't know what to expect when a friend gave me this book. I haven't read a legal thriller since the 90s (I bet you can guess who wrote the I really didn't know what to expect when a friend gave me this book. I haven't read a legal thriller since the 90s (I bet you can guess who wrote the ones I read then.) And I've never read a novel by a politician. Stacey Abrams is so multi-talented- and you can tell in this book that she loves language, puzzles and political machinations. This was a good plot-driven read that I could imagine seeing as a movie some day. Has anyone bought the rights?...more
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