A Handmaid's Tale

Recently my wife and I had our second baby boy. He is a delight, and we are all healthy and happy. In other news, I've been trying to create my summer assignment for my students so I've been reading some other excellent books, including "Ghost" by Jason Reynolds, and the graphic novels, "Persepolis" and "American Born Chinese"  So between work and ya know growing my family I may have gotten behind on my reading goal. But I am now back on track, and I am feeling good to continue this year.

PBS launched their "Great American Reads" program this summer. They surveyed people from various backgrounds, locations etc and created a list of 100 great books, you can vote for them at http://www.pbs.org/the-great-american-read/vote/ it's really fun. Anyway, I bring this up because you guessed it, The Handmaid's Tale made the list. Quite frankly, how could it not? Marget Atwood's speculative fiction novel is a masterpiece. I've seen it on lists for years, I knew about the Emmy award-winning show, but I just never read it. Which begs the question...what was I thinking.

I mean this book is great, definitely sad, definitely makes you stop on more than one occasion and reflect on well everything. I mean in a #metoo world that we live it, the themes are very overt, which is fine, they should be. But what makes this book so powerful is Atwood's rich use of language and her slow plodding realistic revelations about how Gilead came to be. What is so jarring is that it doesn't feel fake. It feels real.

However, the most fascinating part to me was Atwood's style, the way she plotted the story, and her word choice was a masterful example of writing. There are so many great lines that show how power structures work.  She was able to create Offread as a fully formed human in a terrible environment. 

All in all, I can see why it would be on every list, and why it is so powerful. This novel does what all great novels get you to do. It makes you think, and process the world around you differently, and makes you stop and consider...are we really that far off from that kind of a world....?

March

I'm not sure which part of my reading challenge these three books fall under: they are a memoir, which fits and they are a graphic novel which fits, and they are written from a POC's perspective...also fitting.  No matter how I choose to classify the books, they are supremely interesting and thought provoking.  I came upon these books attending a conference and learned that several colleges had used March Book Three as their freshman text. My interest was piqued but I still needed further convincing. Then I watched Dave Letterman's new Netflix show, "My Next Guest Needs No Introduction" in which the inaugural show featured former President Barrack Obama. Interspersed throughout the interview is a field segment with John Lewis. At the end of the show Dave Letterman mentions the regret he felt about not participating more in the Civil Rights movement. he lamented his failure to act, if you haven't watched it, I recommend it.

Dave's sentiment is something I feel too.  I am way to young to have lived through the Civil Rights era but I often wonder about my own moral compass: Would I Act, Would I be Just, or Would I be Complicit?  I think hindsight is twenty-twenty and it's obvious to say, of course I would help on  the underground railroad, or I would hide a jew, or in this case of March...of course I'd march.  But...I also know that I hate conflict. My natural inclination is to smile through, do the right thing and keep to myself. It's something I am working on.  Anyway I digress back to the books.

I wish students were taught with this platform. How awesomely effective is this text.  We think of history as unconnected events that occur an isolation instead of an interconnected tapestry in which one event leads to another. This book shows how bad things truly were, and how without such bravery in the face of opposition we would never have made progress as a nation.  I can't think of a more timely text for students to read than this...given everything that is happening in our country. The book is a quick read...but powerful. The comic intertwines the true text of multiple historical documents and speeches, with vivid black and white images.  There are panels that will stick with you...there are messages that stick with you. A good book, should make you stop and reflect and maybe just maybe act.  Reading should change you, Reading should grow you, Reading is powerful.  These graphic novels are good reading. 

Sing Unburied Sing

I have to be honest when reading Sing Unburied Sing by Jesmyn Ward, I kept thinking about the movies. Specifically, those Oscar movies that you only want to see once. Like you are glad you saw it, you know it was important, but you don't really want to revisit that world again. That is how I felt reading this novel.  I am glad I read it, I know it was important, I know it made me uncomfortable, and I know I don't really want to go back. 

The novel was powerful. I found my heart breaking for these characters because I knew they were grounded in reality despite the mystical elements of the novel. The raw realness was potent. In hindsight, the opening description of the slaughtering of a goat signaled the rawness that would follow. The command of descriptive language by Ward beckons the reader to experience the world through the eyes of these characters.  Throughout the novel...specifically the road trip, I kept wishing for a break, the sadness kept creeping in. And maybe it is my naiveness that I don't really know of this world but my word...my heart broke for those kids. I think it broke because I know there is a truth that grounds this fiction. 

Having said all of this, in the end, I found myself wishing for more. I knew that this was a snapshot of the family and one plight but I was hoping for more.  Well, I was hoping for a happy ending. But  I guess if there was suddenly a happy ending in this novel. I'd be mad. It would have betrayed her narrative. For Jojo and Kayla, happy endings look different I guess.
 

Little Fires Everywhere

Little Fires Everywhere, by Celeste Ng, was a fascinating look into what makes a family, and asks what does it mean to be a parent.  The novel centers around the Richardson family, and the tenets of their rental home, Mia and Pearl.  Little Fires Everywhere discusses how complicated a simple life can truly be.  The crux of the novel centers around a court case in which they have to decide the legal guardianship of an adopted child. 

For me, what made this novel so captivating was the writing. I found power in the writing. For example, after a poignant scene in which the director of a family planning clinic stands up to Mrs. Richardson the simple sentence, "in fact this was the last lunch the two women would ever have together yet they remained cordial the rest of their lives." In one sentence so much is conveyed about this world, and these characters. As readers, we don't need two or three pages of exposition describing their entire ordeal, yet in one sentence we learn so much about them. 

Excellent writing aside, I believe the mark of a great novel is one that makes you think.  And for me this novel definitely made me think. I found myself wanting to learn more and more about these characters, each chapter I learned a new wrinkle about them, and I feel like I got to know them.

My one complaint was with the end, I am not sure why, I just felt that it was rushed and needed to be fleshed out more. However, my feelings may have been influenced by the fact that I didn't want the book to end.

All in all it was a great read, that I wouldn't be surprised if this wasn't made into a movie or a TV show one day. The richness of the characters and of Shaker Heights jumps off the page.   

Born a Crime

This book fits the memoir/biography aspect of my reading goal for 2018.  I have to come clean. I am a huge fan of Trevor Noah, I've seen him live, I enjoy his brand of comedy. I know he isn't as popular but I think he is doing a great job as host of The Daily Show and I wish him all the best.  Becuase I am a fan  I had low expectations, I know this sounds odd, but I felt like I already knew him before I read the book. What was there to learn that I didn't already know. I knew he was bi-racial in apartheid South Africa. Boy, I was wrong?

The book focuses on a mother's love for his child. She is the true star of his life. He downplays his rise to fame, choosing to focus on his humble upbringing. It works. It is great. His mother and his life are crazy...in a good way. One thing I love about memoirs is that you get to see life through a different lens.  In my schooling, we never talk about South Africa. As a literate person, I know who Nelson Mandela is and Desmond Tutu but I didn't know.  I had no clue how engrained racism was in the society.  As a comedian, Trevor does a great job deconstructing the absurdity of racism and of South Africa's ludicrous laws.

Although he doesn't have the weight of a founding father or a titan of business I think his memoir is a great read. Infused with humor, and insight the book is about a nation a half a world away but the reader can draw parallels to today's world. I highly recommend it.

In the slightly trivial news, I've re-watched some of his stand-up routines after reading the book, and they are so much better, now that I know how grounded they are in reality.

Long Way Down

ANAGRAM NO. 3

COOL = LOCO 

Jason Reynold's book written in verse gives the reader a surreal look into the mind of a young black male (Will) seeking revenge for his brother's murder. The whole novel, takes place on an elevator ride where along the way we meet various people from Will's past that help him decide whether or not he should avenge his brother's death. 

Enough has been written about Jason Reynolds and his novels that I don't believe I can add anything of merit to the discussion. His pacing, like that of Kwame Alexander, is unique. The musicality of his writing is evident. I could not put this book down. In a few short poems Reynolds created Will's entire world. 

As a middle school teacher in a rural area, my students don't live this life. Yet, I believe they are quick to judge and too often stereotype. I think books like this allow my students (most likely not his intended audience) to see the world through someone else's eyes. 

I have been on a Reynold's kick as of late and I want to continue to go down the rabbit hole of his writing. I think his style is so approachable that my students will love it. 

As far as my challenge goes, this is my first verse novel.  Yes I know it is a YA read, but whatever, it is great! I know that this isn't the best writing about it, but I am rushed for time. Believe me when I say you should take an afternoon and read it. 

Below is a video of his interview...I hope his passion ignites a fire in young people.    

Exit West

"We are all migrants through time"

The first book on my 2018 reading journey is the excellent novel Exit West by Pakistani author Mohsin Hamid. The novel focuses on a couple who falls in love in an unnamed city under siege by religious fundamentalists become migrants.  Obviously, this is a gross simplification of the novel but this post is not a summary but a reaction piece.

I found this book to be filled with little snippets of fantastic lines that made me stop and pause.  The idea of migration and our moral responsibility to migration is inescapable in today's world.  However, this book sheds a personalized humanity on it. The idea that we are all somehow migrants and we can live in the same town and one-day wakeup and the world would be unrecognizable is a strong subplot of this novel.  As an educator, I'm amazed at how we continue to teach students for a world that doesn't exist. A world of the past.

But getting back on track, one of the most fascinating pieces of the novel were the concepts of "the doors".  In this touch of magical realism, the novel has doors open up for migrants and they can suddenly be transported millions of miles away.  So our protagonist, Saeed, and Nadia begin a trip gradually going west but the focus of the book is not on the journey but rather on the destination, and on what happens next.  What happens when you've migrated, what decisions led you there? What are you leaving behind?

A novel that has strong undertones of prayer, family, modernization, identity, all force the reader to stop and ponder.  It is no surprise this novel was critically acclaimed, in its simple prose Hosin is able to transport the reader through time and space.  This is the kind of book that sticks with you and slowly creeps into your subconscious slowly shifting the paradigm through which you view the world. 

I am only briefly touching the surface the novel. I highly recommend it. I am hoping to expand on my thoughts later. It is an excellent read, well worth it.   

2018 Reading Challenge - A Broader Perspective

Okay - I'll come clean this blog is now going to shift again. What started out as a grad school assignment that stressed me out somehow morphed into a coaching/teaching blog. However, now it is going to be my 2018 reading challenge tracker.  As I give reviews/thoughts/critiques of the books I'm reading this year I plan on trying to use a "stream of consciousness" approach. By which I mean, I'm going to have typos, grammar errors, and probably not fully thought out analytical analysis. The blog is to track and create a snapshot image.  I'm also tracking this on a thread on twitter @SFSDBreslin so they will probably link together from time to time. I know I'm an English teacher, I know I've written for academic journals, and spoken at conferences...but I'm giving myself permission to just read and review the books the best way I see fit.  I may try to revisit the critiques later after I've digested the books some, but who knows.  As a grad student, teacher, father of a 3 year old (with one on the way) I may not get time to do as much as I'd like.  Who knows! So here we go:

Challenge:
Monthly: I'll read one book by a non-white straight male authors
Quarterly: I'll read one autobiography/memoir about someone I think is interesting. Can be anyone from a historical figure to a celebrity
Quarterly: I'll read one novel written in verse
Every Six Months: I'll read one graphic novel
Throughout the year: I'll read one impulse read.
Total: 23 Books

This does not include: books I'll read to my child, books for my books clubs at work, or other "professional books" these are books above and beyond this.

Rationale: 
So there are a couple of reasons that I chose this goal, and I'm sure in my haste to post this I will forget some so I may edit this later. I live and work in a small rural area and I believe because of my background I can improve my world view.  Given the times we live in, I believe the more diverse my reading diet the healthier I'll be.  If  I can make a diet metaphor.  I think reading is a powerful way to shape the paradigm in which we view the world.  I am a white middle class male, who has benefited from white privilege.  I know this, but we live in a diverse world now, I need to see the world through other perspectives.  I believe this goal will help me grow as a person. I am excited to attempt it!

Rules and such:
My plan is to try to stick to this plan as much as I can. I may not complete my goal, but I am going to try.
The monthly books will be fiction as much as possible. I really like non-fiction so I may stray from fiction once in a while.  They should primarily be adult fiction books, that have some gravitas in the literary world. But, I may sneak in a YA novel.  For example, in 2017 I may have included The Hate U Give into this goal.  Furthermore, I want to try to push for diversity in my author choices.  For example, in May I may read a book by an author with a Middle Eastern heritage whereas in June I may read a book by a gay author.  The purpose of the challenge is to understand people from different backgrounds.
The quarterly books can be read at any time, and can incorporate any person or book of verse.  The idea is just to learn about others and appreciate a style of writing I typically don't read.
The graphic novels can incorporate any genres. I like super heroes so this may be my reprieve from heavier reading. 
I'm trying to keep them in categories. So if I read Trevor Noah's memoir that is a memoir not a book by a mixed race person. I am doing this because otherwise I'll cheat and try to double count the books, and that is no good.

Anyway- I hope this works. I hope you like it. I'll take suggestions. I can't promise that I'll blog all the time about, or that I'll make it through the year, but I can at least try!

Here's to a broader perspective in 2018!