As 80 approaches, a summary

A summary of what I have read thus far, a count of 79:
1. Ten Days in the Hills, Smiley 2. Who Moved My Blackberry?, Kellaway 3. Girls of Riyahd, Alsnea 4. Dragonfly in Amber, Gabaldon 5. Teaching Poetry in HS, Somers 6. Neither Here nor There, Bryson 7. Teach Like Your Hair's on Fire, Esquith 8/9/10. Bad Boys in Black Tie, Foster, McCarthy, and Leigh 11. The Map of Love, Soueif 12 T.E.T., Gordon 13. The Giver, Lowry 14. Something Blue, Giffin 15. Dear Joh, Sparks 16. Engaging Readers & Writers, Wilhelm 17. Deeper Reading, Gallagher 18. The Moor's Last Sigh, Rushdie 19. Mediterranean summer, shalleck 20. the road, mccarthy 21. second helpings, mccafferty 22. classics in the classroom, jago 23. split second, baldacci 24. you are what you eat, browne 25. little lady agency, browne 26. joey pigza swallowed the key, gantos 27. white noise, delillo 28. the treasure, johansen 29. reading native american literature, goebel 30. sunburned country, bryson 31. the phantom tollbooth, ,juster 32. blogs, wikis, podcasts, richardson 33. the help, stockett 34. room with a view, forster 35. moscow rules, silva 56. little lady, big apple, browne 37. even cowgirls get the blues, robbins 38. little lady and the prince, browne 39. ellen foster, gibbons
40. the scarlet letter, nathaniel hawthorne
41. love the one you're with, emily giffin
42. queen of babble, meg cabot
43.smitten, janet evanovich
44. the secret of lost things, sheridan hay
45. goodnight nobody, jennifer weiner
46. letting go!, mara fox
47. a thousand acres, jane smiley
48. a journey to the east, herman hesse
49. the lost symbol, dan brown
50. everything is illuminated, safran foer
51. pretty little liars, sara shepard
52. fourth comings, megan mccafferty
53. the kitchen god's wife, amy tan
54. vanity fair
55. charlie and the chocolate factory, roald dahl
56. leaf man, ehlert
57. voyager, diana gabaldon
58. is it done yet?, barry gilmore
59. the language of baklava, diana abu-jaber
60. native son, richard wright
61. the love songs of sappho, sappho
62. how to stop worrying and start living, dale carnegie
63. of mice and men, john steinbeck
64. teaching visual literacy, nancy frey and douglas fisher
65. persepolis, marjane satrapi
66. nose down, eyes up, merrill markoe
67. winter in the blood, james welch
68. Jesus, deepak chopra
69. skeleton man, joseph bruchac
70. friday night lights, w.h. bissinger
71. sizzling sixteen, janet evanovich
72. vision in white, nora roberts
73. drums of autumn, diana gabaldon
74. the hidden life of dogs, elizabeth marshall thomas
75. shakespeare's sonnets, shakespeare
76. literacy in the digital age, r.w. burniske
77. the maltese falcon, dashiell hammett
78. the associate, john grisham
79. the legend of sleepy hollow, washington irving
80. the secret, rhonda byrne

oh my gosh, i totally forgot to count a book this summer (a hefty one, too)- a thousand acres, by jane smiley!  so i'm at 80!  yaaaay! happy weekend!!!

looking back so far:

Before number forty makes its' debut on the list, let's review the first 39 in quick, pageant style, review:
1. Ten Days in the Hills, Smiley+
2. Who moved my blackberry?, Lucy Kellaway
3. Girls of Riyahd, Alsnea
4. Dragonfly in Amber, Gabaldon+
5. Teaching Poetry in HS, Somers
6. Neither Here nor There, Bryson+
7. Teach like your Hair's on Fire, Esquith
8,9,10. Bad Boys in Black Tie, Foster, McCarthy, and Leigh
11. The Map of Love, Soueif
12. T.E.T., Gordon
13. The Giver, Lowry
14. Something Blue, Giffin+
15. Dear John, Sparks (or lack thereof)
16. Engaging Readers and Writers with Inquiry, Willhelm
17. deeper reading, gallagher
18.the moor's last sigh, rushdie+
19. mediterranean summer, shalleck
20. the road, mccarthy
21. second helpings, mccafferty *yes!*
22. Classics in the Classroom, jago
23. Split Second, Baldacci
24. you are what you eat, dr mckeith
25. little lady agency, browne+
26. joey pigza swallowed the key, gantos
27. white noise, delillo
28. the treasure, johansen
29. reading native american literature, goebel
30. sunburned country, bryson+
31. the phantom tollbooth, juster
32. blogs, wikis, podcasts..., richardson
33. the help, stockett
34. a room with a view, forster
35. moscow rules, silva
36. little lady, big apple, browne+
37. even cowgirls get the blues, robbins
38. little lady and the prince, browne+
39. ellen foster, gibbons

#14: the giver

guess who just read The Giver by Lois Lowry in less than the amount of time since writing my last post? that's right- me. SUCK ON THAT, SCHOOL! I remember reading this in the 6th grade, but i'm glad my teachers are making me revisit it, especially after taking my philosophy class- the one about good and evil and utopias and dystopias and right and wrong.... well, you get the point. The Giver is very reminiscent of Ursula Le Guin's "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas." An entire community lives a life of happiness without pain at the expense of one person who contains the suffering for them. This isn't exactly the case with The Giver because that one person that is "honored" with all of this knowledge is also given emotions such as love, joy, and true happiness.... as well as the feeling and sight of sunshine, sky, and, of all things, colors! can you imagine living in a place with no sky? no COLOR? i can't even comprehend it. then of course, you have to wonder how this all relates to God.... is Le Guin's story a fable that criticizes/examines the story of Jesus? How He suffered for our sins on the cross? Then how does Lowry interpret these thoughts into her much lighter version, created to be non partisan reading for children to make them think.... think about choices, and life, and emotions that we can feel.... and to question- what is there that we can't feel? what lies are we being fed? for our happiness or is it some other person's idea of happiness? it's hard to imagine the world we live in as a utopia, but is it a utopia to someone or some group out there?