What I Read: July

This month was a busy one! I got the key to my classroom in late June and spent most of my free time in July up in my classroom cleaning, setting up, and getting it ready for the first day of school in August. I still found time to read and got through some really good books this month. I also had a few flops, but that's how it goes.

Books:

• Ya Yas in Bloom by Rebecca Wells- I was really excited when I came across this book at Goodwill because I loved The Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood when I read it many, many years ago. As I started reading it, I remembered there was a 2nd book in the series that I read and didn't really like. I really struggled through this one and would almost say I hated it. I would have just scrapped it all together but it wasn't very long and I kept hoping it would get better. It didn't. I even kept nodding off in the car when I was trying to read it on the drive to my 50k. It was that bad.

• A Map to the Next World: Poems and Tales by Joy Harjo- I almost hate to admit that I don't really like most poetry, but I absolutely love Harjo's work. I think she may be the only author whose poetry I like more than her books. I love that she weaves tales in with the poetry. This was a signed copy I bought from our independent book store in town which made it extra special!
  

• Fish! A Proven Way to Boost Morale and Improve Results by Stephen C. Lundin- When I had my meeting with our superintendent, she recommended I read this book. I remember all those years ago when I met with the superintendent when I was first hired on in the district, he really pushed this book. At the time I was going through a move and preparing a classroom so I didn't have time to read it, but loved the philosophy and made a little notecard of the main points as a daily reminder I kept on my desk. Since I had more time this go around, I decided to read the book. It was such a great reminder to be present and to stop what I'm doing and give others my full attention. I am the worst about doing chores while the kids talk to me. I made a conscious effort to stop what I was doing and look at them as they spoke. Carter didn't seem to notice, but Elise really did. I noticed she was less demanding of my attention throughout the day when I stopped and gave her my full attention when she spoke to me. It was like she was just looking for my attention and if I didn't fully give it to her, she kept trying. Since I gave her my full attention, she was satisfied with fewer interactions. And I could tell it made her feel special that I took a break just to see or hear what she wanted to show or tell me.

• Incense and Sensibility by Sonali Dev- I've loved all of her modern day re-tellings of Jane Austen novels. The way she used a large family so each character could have their own book was genius and I love getting to see where the past characters are when you read the next book. They go from a main character to a minor character. This was the 3rd book. She's done Pride and Prejudice, Persuasion, and Sense and Sensibility so far. I'm sure she plans to keep going and am super excited to see which character she chooses to use for Emma.
  

eBooks:

• World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments by Aimee Nezhukumatathil- I absolutely loved this book. Each chapter was a little story about her connection to that animal, plant, or place through a story from her life. Some of the stories were magical and I loved the way she wrote. I loved this so much, I plan to buy it with some of my birthday money so I can re-read it.
  

• Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins- Most of the series I've read lately, I like to read other books in between them to stretch them out and not get bored by them. The Hunger Games trilogy was so good, I had to read them back to back to back. I had multiple books come in on hold from the library at the same time and needed to read them because there was a long hold list behind me so I bought this as an ebook to read since the library didn't have an ebook version. I'm currently reading the 3rd book and I swear each book gets better than the last!

Audiobooks:

• Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness- This was book #2 in the All Souls Trilogy. After not really liking the first book I was excited for this one because I thought it would focus on her learning and practicing her skills as a witch. There was very little of that in the book and I, once again, didn't really care for this book. I don't plan to read or listen to the third book. It's set up for a war but I'm guessing that, like this one, the action will just be a small part and the rest will be boring.

• Other Words for Home by Jasmine Warga- This was a middle grade chapter book. Since I've listened to and read quite a few middle grade chapter books on Libby, it will recommend them to me sometimes. This one looked interesting and had a picture of a girl wearing a hijab on the cover. I will admit that in the past when I saw a woman wearing a hijab, my immediate thought was that she was marginalized and likely had few choices due to her sex. My mindset has changed as I've learned more about the Muslim faith. I liked that this book touched on that in a small but impactful way that would help children be more accepting of the religious and cultural differences in others.
  

• Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America 1619-2019 edited by Ibram X. Kendi and Keisha N. Blain- This book was phenomenal. There were so many different authors and each one wrote about a 5 year span of time, starting with the first African brought to America. So many of the stories were things I had never heard about. When you are hearing about each thing in succession with the others, it makes it so obvious how slavery and generational oppression led to where we are now with African Americans still suffering from the inequalities of the past as well as the racism of the present. There were multiple different narrators which made it even more powerful as an audiobook. I would highly recommend it as an audiobook if you are interested in reading it.

• The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson- I picked this up from a Little Free Library when I was dropping off books I'd read and didn't want to keep. I knew it was about a pack horse librarian and was super excited to read it. I had a bunch of library books on hold that came in at the same time, but I really wanted to read this one so I decided to get it as an audiobook from the library. The book really surprised me and I loved it even more than I expected I would. I was shocked at the end of the book when I found that her blue skin was based on actual people who lived in Kentucky. At first I thought it was a sci/fi element and then when she brought in the medical terms, I thought it was made up. So when I got to the end of the book and it discussed the Fugate family, I was tingling with the excitement that comes from learning something new and unexpected. I loved this as an audiobook because the narrator's accent really added to the story.
  

• One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston- I liked Red, White, and Royal Blue by McQuiston and one of the boxes on the summer library bingo was to read a book with an LGBTQ+ character so I put this one on hold. I really liked it and thought it was way better than her other book I read. It was fun trying to figure out what Jane's deal was in the beginning of the book.
  

• From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg- I picked this book up at Goodwill and didn't think I had read it before. I was looking for a short audiobook to listen to while I waited on one I had on hold to come in so I decided to listen to it. Once I got a bit into the story, it all felt pretty familiar. I think I may have listened to it as a read aloud either with my mom or at school at some point. I was really excited to see what other stories came out of the mixed-up files and was bummed when I realized there was only one book.