Why 100?

Last year I set out to read 100 books, but I ran out of time and only read 75. So this year, I will read one hundred books. And you're my witness :) The only thing stopping me this year is 9 seasons' worth of Seinfeld episodes- wish me luck!

Sunday, October 31, 2010

72. should count as 3 books

Another diana gabaldon book.... i think the fifth one maybe. 1000 + pages is too much for me this late in the game- rookie mistake but im plowing thru it all. Too bad the habibi and the school is so distracting. Im finding it all to be a little much but im happy :) and i will make it to 100 if it kills me.
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Friday, October 15, 2010

71. no pants night continues

the excitement never stops here at mi casa.  no-pants night continues on.  i have finished off the last of another book this evening: Vision in White by Nora Roberts.  Let me just say that was a whole lot of fluff in a whole lot of large-fonted, big-margined pages..... but it works.  the end result made me smile, which i suppose is the point of reading these fluffy nora roberts novels.  i am dissapointed to have finally read one of her books and realized it was so shitty, though.  she produces a lot of books (according to wikipedia, over 165)  she has also been in the number one bestseller slot for over 100 weeks combined with all of these books.  why?  this writing is crappy (no offense, nora, i am ultimately impressed with your skills- i am, after all, the one sitting at home alone on a friday night blogging about your book rather than writing my own....) and the sex scenes aka the entire reason to read one of these shitty romance novels are not good at all.  they are super fake and there arent' enough details to result in lady wood, which is what we all want from these graphic and corny descriptions of loooovvvve making.  so frankly, i just don't get it.  but i can now say that i have read one of these nora roberts stories.  and next time, i will pick up a harlequin blaze novel instead.  they are really graphic and corny and there are more of these looovvvee scenes than there are of the will they- won't they? drama.  VERY NICE! GREAT SUCCESS!  let me sum up my no-pants  night ramblings:
Nora Roberts= bad
Harlequin Blaze series= deliciously bad
*wink wink*

69. and 70. sha-wing

alright, i am a bit behind, i know.  i'm working on it.  i'm also working on several large projects and papers and presentations.... the list goes on.  BUT, i am enjoying everything (as of right now, when i have optimism towards the opportunity to do homework that will pop up all weekend long; talk to me on sunday night) i am liking the process of doing all the menial tasks involved in the GRADUATION process.   yes, graduation.  in seven months, i will have a degree.  from a college, not just my dinky high school diploma.  oh yeah that's right.  it is a little hard to see the forest for the trees right now, but eventually i will remember how glad i am to be so close to that time when i no longer have to look at my clock and think "if i miss this class, how much will it really matter?"  damn i'm going to miss it.  but right now, let's just focus on how much i do not like school.  it is sucking up all my reading time.  naughty naughty school.  but i have managed to squeeze in a few here and there- Friday Night Lights by H.G. Bissinger was a keeper of a true story (no "based on a..." b.s. here) and Sizzling Sixteen, the latest Janet Evanovich novel.  also known as the easiest 309 page book to read found out of the children's section ever.  but it was mildly entertaining, which is all i can ask for in a sea of floppy-backed books about teaching writing for insightful students blah blah blah.  but on another note, i think i may read a little tonight, too.  it is friday, after all, and i have to reward myself for going to class this morning- it's reeeeally hard to make myself put on real clothes and makeup and wait for the bus for 50 minutes worth of class.  i spend more time getting ready and waiting for transit than i do in class.  it's a time issue with me, not a laziness.  ha.  but i did!  then i came home and took some nyquil sinus! yaaaay! then i wrote the first half of a rationale for a midterm project due in like 5 days that i just now started and then i took a nap and watched modern family!!!!!!  it's been a day of excitement for me!!!!!  ha ha ha!!!!!!!  alright, i'm done with the exclamation marks.  so tonight, this monumental night, i am going to be thankful for two things, rather than look at the unpleasant side of them (which i totally could, but i'm not going to): 1. my roommate is too hung over to invite her friends over to drink beer and watch weird crappy godzilla remake movies in our living room, so i can use my kitchen to eat and drink whatever i like without judgement and 2. i have declared tonight a "no pants night."  that's right, i have shed my pajama pants and gone hog wild.  well, not so much hog wild, but i am going to pretend i don't have any pants for the evening, as i once did in the comfort of my private dorm room so many years ago.  while i would do anything to have my boyfriend here to hang out with me, i am going to enjoy the fact that i can go sans pants and enjoy his XL t-shirt without having to look pretty.  which is nice because i'm pretty sure i'm lookin heinous right now, and lookin pretty would  be a lot of effort at this point in time.  i have couch lines on my face from my nap, for instance.  foundation cannot cover that shit up.  trust me, i've tried.  so look- i have a glorious night on my hands.  and the whole weekend to do everything i've ever wanted and everything i did not want to do: homework, presentations, writing assessments, reading ,watching netflix, sleeping, eating, cooking, cleaning, getting coffee...... i know, i'm super exciting. no need to tell me twice. 
 
p.s. friday night lights: good, but too long-winded
sizzling sixteen: decent, but nothing like to good old days of stephanie plum

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

67 & 68

i'm at school right now so i have limited time until my next (unfortunate) class.  i can't wait to have someone tell me my opinion of a piece of literature is wrong again, as it is every week.  just kidding.  i in fact am not looking forward to this class and this rude teacher.  and shakespeare.  blech.  so i read two books since i last visited my blog.  Jesus by Deepak Chopra and Skeleton Man by Joseph Bruchac.  Both interesting and easy to read.  I have to write a "multigenre" paper about Skeleton Man, which should actually be kind of fun.  our assignment is to write a paper but to also incorporate artistic bits such as song lyrics, poems, pictures, newspaper articles, etc. into the writing to create one real full bodied piece.  it should be interesting.  i think i'm going to emulate one of my favorite books from when I was in third grad that i can't even remember what it was called but it was american girl and the pages of the book looked like notebook pages because it was a simulated journal of this girl whose name started with an a.  and i remember specifically this one really cool part where there was an envelope pasted in and you had to pull out the letter that her friend wrote her and i thought that was A-MAZING.  so i'm gonna somehow pull that baby into this paper and wow and amaze my teacher at my three dimensional abilities. i'll let you know how that goes. 

Monday, October 4, 2010

66. winter in the blood or something....

James Welch, author of Fool's Crow, also wrote Winter in the Blood.  i'm going to forget it as soon as I drop it off in the library return slot.... no dishonor to welch, but i just didn't get into itt.  "Remember the Titans," on the hand, I am watching right now and I haven't seen it since 7th or 8th grade, but it is still amazing and i remember all amazing bits of it.  this is one thing im somewhat looking forward to writing a lesson plan around.  dee-lightful.  winter in the blood, not so much.

Sunday, October 3, 2010

64. and 65. what a productive weekend (for reading at least)

since i have spent so much of my weekend reading things that i didn't necessarily need to read for school, i do not have much time to write out my thoughts and feelings on Eyes Up Nose Down by Merrill Mekoe, and Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi.  Persepolis was actually for a lesson plan assignment for my media literacy class..... apparently "graphic novels" are the next big thing in teaching.  I think i would have hated having to read and dissect this sort of thing in high school.  i don't do well with comics and graphic reading- there's too much going on.  give me the words and let me picture it on my own.  although i will admit that the graphics were pretty um word word word... i can't think right now.  it's a sunday morning and i'm distracted by the fact that my room is (still) a disaster.  and i also am upset that i didn't do this homework last night when i was motivated.  granted, its not due til wednesday, but i feel that i will be much relieved the more i get done today.  i, as of yet, have no misconceptions about how much will actually get done today though.  i have played this game many a sundays before.  im no stranger to the procrastination game (as you can clearly see- i am writing about what i have read this weekend in lieu of actually doing anything....) persepolis was kind of scary and im not sure how appropriate it would be in a classroom because of the violence, anti-government critique, religion, and curse words in it.  they say fuck a few times, which stands out a lot more in a "graphic novel" than in a regular novel because there are fewer words.  anyway, it was a good history lesson for me at least.  i had no idea of how or why or what went down in the islamic revolution of iran.  now i have some idea.  yay me.  i don't regret spending my saturday nigth reading this book and would recommend it to anyone because it was sort of intriguing.  i also liked the little veiled women pictures.  they reminded me of a darker side of madeline picture books. 

Friday, October 1, 2010

63. yep, i finished another one

To be fair, half of the books that I am finishing this week have been in the process for the past month.  but i would still like to recognize the fact that i am finishing them all!  :)  This was an interesting read for future english teachers..... there were some new ways of explaining the importance of alternative media such as comic books and political cartoons.  this would be great if you ever have to give a solid reason why you are using the particular medium in a class to a nosy parent or principle.  i'll copy a few lesson plans out of here.  i will not, however, be reading story books to my older students.  i mean really?  reading the leaf man did nothing for me, even though i am trained to pick up on literary cues.  i'm just sayin'. 
Teaching Visual Literacy, Nancy Frey and Douglas Fisher