What I Read: May

Now that May is over and we're out of school for the summer, I'm sooo excited to have more time for reading!

Books:

• Science Notebooks: Writing about Inquiry by Lori Fulton- This was a book suggested at a science training I went to and I was excited to read. It was quick and easy and gave me some good ideas I was able to go back and implement in my classroom right away.

• The Ersatz Elevator by Lemony Snicket- Book #6 in the Series of Unfortunate Events. I felt like this one was not as engaging as the others.

• Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel- This was on the librarian's shelf whose recommendations I always love. It was so good. I loved the recipes and the fable-like aspect of the story. I was so into the book and just absolutely loving it. Then the end was so awful I was almost pissed off. I'm curious to talk to the librarian who had it on her shelf to see what she thought of the ending. It has grown on me a bit since I read it, but I still think it could have been better.
  

• Octopus!: The Most Mysterious Creature in the Sea by Katherine Harmon Courage- I got this one from a Little Free Library and was really excited about it because I think octopuses are fascinating. I was super disappointed in it. There were 2 entire chapters devoted to eating octopus. Then basically every other chapter mentioned eating octopuses and had recipes. She also referenced popular culture a lot which was annoying. I just wanted to read about octopuses! I probably should have given up on the book, but I powered through it. It took me a long time and it was not worth it!

• The Vile Village by Lemony Snicket- Book #7 in the Series of Unfortunate Events. This was probably my favorite book so far. I really enjoyed it and read the entire book in the car on the way home from Topeka.
  

eBooks:

• Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris- This wasn't my favorite of his books, but still funny. There was one story that I had already read in his Christmas book.
  

• Beloved by Toni Morrison- I started this as an audiobook, but absolutely hated it. It was read by Morrison. Her voice was just so quiet it was hard to hear and follow. I decided to switch to trying it as an ebook. I liked it a lot better as an ebook, but it was still hard to follow. She'd switch perspectives and it wasn't clear which character was telling the story. It was a bit of an odd story.

• The Ground Breaking: An American City and It's Search for Justice by Scott Ellsworth- I love Ellsworth's writing style. I was a little disappointed that this book was more about the after-effects of the Tulsa Race Massacre rather than what actually happened. But when you look at the title, it makes sense that was the focus of the book. Ellsworth has another book about what happened during the massacre which I would like to read and I'm sure that's why this book had a different focus. I've decided to read a book about the Tulsa Race Massacre every year around the anniversary. So I read this one a little bit beforehand.
  

Audiobooks:

• What Happened to You? Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing by Bruce D. Perry and Oprah Winfrey- This book was incredible. Audiobook was the perfect format because it was like I was in on a conversation with Oprah and Dr. Perry. As a teacher so much of this resonated with me and put words to how I've felt about dealing with children who have underlying trauma that leads to problem behavior. Love or hate Oprah, she has done a great job of getting important conversations started and getting otherwise little known issues more attention. This was our book club pick and I wasn't able to go to the meeting when they voted so I was a little disappointed this was the choice. I read a book about trauma last year and felt like I knew as much as I really wanted to about the issue at this time. I also felt like the group was likely swayed by the fact that the book had Oprah's name on it and I wasn't sure that was something that interested me. This really broadened my understanding on trauma and it's impact and with the focus being more on childhood trauma and specifically attachment at a very young age, I felt it was a very necessary read for me as a teacher.
  

• One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey- I saw the movie based on this book when I was a kid, but it had been so long I didn't remember a lot of the specifics. As I listened to the book, I'd remember things as they happened, but didn't remember all the details until I heard them.

• Run Rose Run by Dolly Parton and James Patterson- I kind of wanted to read this one, but Dolly's other book I read wasn't very good. I decided with Patterson helping, this might be worth a read. I put it on the list of choices for the month I was hosting book club and it was picked when we voted. I decided on the audiobook version because Dolly was one of the narrators. I ended up loving it a lot!
  

• Turtles All the Way Down by John Green- This was one I had on my to-read list because I kept seeing it on book lists. It was an interesting view into the life of someone with mental illness. I really enjoyed it.

• The Book Woman's Daughter by Kim Michele Richardson- This was kind of a sequel to The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek. I listened to that one as an audiobook so I decided to do this one as an audiobook as well. Having the narrator with a Kentucky accent added to the story. I loved this one just as much as the first one. It was so good!