ANNOUNCEMENT: Blogging Return & Upcoming Series!

Well, hello everyone! 

It's no secret that I've been gone from this blog for quite some time.  I even need to relink my social media accounts so that I can stop seeing those strange smiley faces!  I wanted to re-evaluate the way I wrote reviews; how much subjectivity do I want to place in a review?  How do I feel about the star system? (Spoiler: I don't like it and therefore do not give star ratings anymore unless it's a 5* because it just resonated with me.)  How do I want my reviews to be formatted?  Who am I trying to reach? 

All of these have been on my mind as I've toyed with the idea of coming back to book blogging and book reviewing.  Literature has, and always will be, my first love.  And I'm so grateful that I've been able to translate that love into others through my profession.

I've been having a great time living life and settling into my role as a teacher.  I've been teaching for 8 years now but I've been a middle school teacher for the past 4.  I'm currently finishing my MA and working part-time as an English and History teacher at an Orthodox Jewish school.  (They have their Judaic studies in the morning and their General studies in the afternoon.)  Teaching middle school has really opened my eyes to what students are reading and how much I want to encourage parents to let their students read and read voraciously.  Trust me, middle schoolers know so much more than you think and being exposed to new concepts is only going to help them become better adjusted adults. 

Thus my new series that I'll be starting on here is going to be called FOR THE  PARENTS.  These are going to be reviews of middle school/YA books where I will tell you what I liked about the book while also being open and honest about the content so that you can decide if your child is ready for it.  I do really recommend that parents think long and hard.  Literature is a good thing.  Reading is a good thing.  I hope that these reviews will help parents encourage their children rather than restricting them.

I've also been doing so much traveling, as you can see from some of the pictures I've been placing in this post. (I do have a travel blog here, by the way, if you're curious!)  Traveling and reading are my true passions, my true hobbies.  I've been lucky enough to travel to over 20 countries and teach in 4 of them.  And soon that will be 5!  I am currently in the midst of accepting a job in Kuwait for the upcoming 2020-2021 school year as an English teacher at an American Academy.

So what does this mean for my reading preferences?  On top of the FOR THE PARENTS series, I'd like to also start a BECOMING CULTURED series, where I read works by people of other cultures and about other cultures, whether it be historical or current.  This can include fiction and nonfiction, too.  I have been adoring traveling to new places, learning about events and seeing things for myself - as well as meeting absolutely lovely people - and now I'd like to take my mind there, too, when I'm unable to travel due to work. 

So, that's basically my long winded way of saying I'm back to book blogging & book reviewing and I hope to connect with the community again.  Let's get reading!

BOOK REVIEW | Lord of the Flies by William Goulding

What a pity that so many adults had a bad experience with this novel in  high school that they never want to pick it up again. 

At first glance, this novel seems innocent enough: a group of English school boys find themselves stranded on a remote island and must learn survival skills to stay alive.  However, the direction that the author took this seemingly harmless premise could make anyone fall into an existential crisis. 

Truly, the mastery that went into "Lord of the Flies" is astounding.  There is so much allegory just leaking off the pages that sometimes I think people can get too caught up in the intellectual aspect of the novel.  And there truly is a lot to be discussed.  The island follows the same fate as the Garden of Eden.  As the boys fall more and more into their darker selves, the island itself becomes a character taking on an evil turn.  

In fact, this book has been banned and challenged relentlessly due to the fact that, in the end, Goulding's message is that all of humanity is evil at its core. 

This novel focuses on the murder of reason, the death of goodness and the dark truth of what it means to be human.  So much is condensed into this roughly 200 paged book that it's hard not to find yourself in a deep conversation about the human condition.   However, even though it is a well of conversation starters, as an adult I found myself more and more affected by the boys' deaths and descent into madness.  When reading this as a high school student, I was encouraged to focus only on the academic aspect of the novel.  But when reading it as an adult, I couldn't help but focus on the emotional side of it, too.

There were times when I read this that my blood ran cold.  Other times I felt myself in such shock that my body went numb.  I didn't have any of these experiences when I was a teenager.   I didn't have a connection like this with the book before.

I can't recommend that adults re-read (or read for the first time!) this novel enough.  And I hope in doing so, they'll find more meaning and more emotion than they experienced before. 

TOP TEN TUESDAY: My Fall TBR

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme started over at The Broke and Bookish.  This week we are focusing on our top ten reads we plan on devouring during Fall.

1.  Dracula by Bram Stoker.  The perfect Halloween book, right?  And yet I've not read it!  I hear there's a pretty amazing audiobook of it featuring Allan Cumming and Tim Curry and ... I don't know, I might pick the audio over the written in this case, even though listening to classics hasn't worked out well for me in the past.  Either way, it needs to be read.  This fall.  Must happen.








2. Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas.  I think I probably just need to give up on this series, but I've been persevering.  This might be my last Maas book unless it really starts to pick up.  I'll have to write a post in the future about why these books just aren't working for me.




 


3. Dangerous Boys by Abigail Haas.  I read Dangerous Girls by this author and, other than the ending, I really liked it.  I think she has a lot of talent (but why that ending... I mean just why?) so if the ending for this one isn't a big "twist" I think I'll really like it.

4. Monstrous Beauty by Elizabeth Fama.  Beautiful writing + cursed love + mermaids = YES.  I've heard amazing, amazing, amazing things about this and am very eager to try it for myself.








5.  The Titan's Curse by Rick Riordan.  I'm a little behind on the Percy Jackson series... but I'll get caught up!   To be honest, I'd love to get the original five read before 2015 but between other books + school, we'll have to see how that goes.

6.  Graceling by Kristin Cashore.  This is one of those books that has been on my shelf for far, far too long and I just need to get read already.  (To be honest, I have a lot of those...)






7. The Monk by Matthew Lewis.  Okay, "technically" this is a re-read, although not quite because I never finished it the first go.  Basically, this is a Victorian novel that is all flavors of messed up, mind bending insanity and I loved it.  I want to re-read it + finish it and it's very... Halloweeny?  It's dark is what I mean.  Perfect to read around the same time as Dracula.








8. Looking for Alaska by John Green.  It's no secret that The Fault in Our Stars didn't work for me, but I do want to try out more works by him before I decide whether or not I like him.








9.  Girl of Nightmares by Kendare Blake.  I read Anna Dressed in Blood back when it first came out and man, oh man.  That book was amazing.  It's sequel time.








10.  Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.  Yet another creepy classic I've yet to read.  This is very short and very good.  Some of my friends have told me that it's really a pity she didn't write more. 

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TOP TEN TUESDAY: Authors I've Only Read Once

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish.  This week's full theme is "Authors I've Only Read One Book From But NEED to Read More."  (I'm tweaking it a bit to include short stories.)

In no particular order, here are my Top Ten Authors I've Only Read Once:

1.  Joyce Carol Oates.  I read Oates's short story "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been" in university and fell in love.  She has this magnificent way of creating a subtext that can be interpreted in a multitude of ways.  I ended up writing an entire paper on this short story and found that the interpretations are endless.  I actually own her novel, Mudwoman, and will hopefully get to it early next year.

2.  Cat Winters.  I buddy read Cat Winters' debut novel, In the Shadow of Blackbirds, with Brandi from The Book Geek a year or so ago and fell in love.  Both of us ended up tossing our read-a-long schedule to the wind because the book was just that good.  I've heard her new book, The Cure for Dreaming, is equally phenomenal. 





3. Elena Poniatowska.  Ms. Poniatowska was one of the only female voices being published in Mexico before the 60s and her work, Lilus Kikus, was originally mistaken for a child's novel.  If you were to read it today, however, the feminist subtext is so blatant that I'm still amazed anyone could have thought it a children's story to begin with.  She has been a fervent voice for Mexican women and was originally a journalist.  Since Lilus Kikus, which I read, she has published a number of different books, short stories and journalist pieces detailing the position of women in the Mexican patriarchy.  I've technically read more than just one book by her, because I've read a few of her stories too, but she is an author I desperately want to read more of, and I encourage you to do so, too. 





4.  Kathryne Kennedy. Diving into a few romantic reads, Ms. Kennedy has a beautiful writing style that I found easy to engage in.  I was interested in the characters, I thought her world building to be fascinating and all around just really enjoyed my experience while reading her.   I've only read The Fire Lord's Lover, which I recommend to anyone who's a fan of romance, but I cannot wait to get my hands on more from her.  It honestly was one of the most beautifully written romance novels I've ever read.

5.  Rainbow Rowell.  I posted a review of Rainbow Rowell's Fangirl, which I absolutely adored.  I have honestly only heard good things about this author.  I know she has three other books out, one YA and adult, and I have been anxious to read them.  And honestly, who couldn't love an author with an amazing name like "Rainbow."  She's already inherently fabulous by default.







6. Laura Whitcomb.  Laura Whitcomb is the author of the beautifully written YA novel, A Certain Slant of Light.  This novel was my favorite read of 2012 and made it onto my personal-favorites list as well.  The prose in this is just to die for and she tackles tricky subjects with elegance and grace.  I'm very much looking forward to reading more by this author.'








7. J.R.R. Tolkein.  He's a legend.  He's a master.  He's a genius.  And yet I've only read The Hobbit by him.  At this point, being a 24-year-old fantasy lover, there's really no excuse.  As you can imagine, The Hobbit is filled with fantastical world building, interesting characters and lack of women.  (I'll do a post on the underrepresentation of women in fantasy novels soon.)  Reading The Lord of the Rings is one of my goals for 2015.  Because the time is now, my friends.

8. Margaret Atwood.  Ms. Atwood is one of the greatest writers of our time.  The voices she gives to women in literature, the light she shines on the dangers of patriarchy and the heart-wrenching tales that she writes have all earned her a spot on the "Best Authors of the Era" list.  I've only read The Handmaid's Tale, but found her prose filled with fascinating subtext.  She's an author I've been meaning to read more of for years.

9. Gillian Flynn.  I had very mixed feelings about Gone Girl, some of which stemmed from the book itself and others from the expectations I had before going in.  I'm still torn as to whether or not I think she's a good writer, but I do think she's an interesting storyteller.  I won't say too much, because I do have a review of Gone Girl coming soon, but she is an author that I think it worth more than one read. 

10. Don DeLillo.  DeLillo has a lot to say and he manages to get his message across using a relatively short page count.  He just screams satire.  He's honestly one of those authors that I'd recommend everyone give a try.  Even though he might not be your cuppa, you'll probably still appreciate what he's trying to achieve.  I've only read his novel White Noise, but very much need and want to read more by him.

Who are YOUR authors you've only read once and need to read more from?

BOOK REVIEW | The End of the Affair by Graham Greene

4 crazy stars.

First things first: I listened to this narrated by Colin Firth and he has a sexy voice. I feel like it's pertinent to note this.

I described The End of the Affair like this to one of my friends: It's about a crazy man lusting after his crazy ex-lover under the watch of a crazy god in a crazy world.

If I do say so myself, I believe my synopsis nailed it.

The writing was gorgeous, pensive and fluid.  Quite often, it can be hard to appreciate good writing when listening to an audiobook, but this book boasted such gorgeous prose that I believe it doesn't matter what format you devour it in.  The characters were tainted, innocent, corrupt and complicated. This is the kind of book where the synopsis sounds crazy (a man wanting to stalk his ex-lover), but the writing makes it almost philosophical. 

Morris, the narrator, is a jealous man; jealous to such a degree that I don't think I have ever met anyone so jealous. When Morris meets Henry again, the husband of his ex-lover Sarah, he finds that Henry has been suspecting his wife of an affair. Our narrator then hires a private investigator to stalk both Sarah and Henry, becoming inextricably linked into their lives again, falling deeper and deeper into their relationship and his own jealousy.  He wants to know if Sarah is having an affair and he also wants to know more about Henry, the man Sarah chose over them.  And in becoming so utterly involved in their lives, he begins to love them as well.

Throughout the book, there are many references to God and how the characters don't believe in Him. They are so adamant about it, so absolutely certain to the point that it doesn't sound certain at all. Sometimes things happen -- these things that happen everyday can be seen through the lens of rationality or faith; meetings can be coincidence or fate; healings can be psychological or supernatural; love can be a simple mixture of neurons and synapses or magic. What is comes down to is that it is about how much you're willing to see, in both directions. Morris wasn't willing to see anything. Morris, quite frankly, was blind.

Recommended for fans of The Great Gatsby and Their Eyes Were Watching God.