Book #32: The Great Gilly Hopkins
The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This was another tutoring read, and it sparked quite a lot of interesting discussion between me and my student. She enjoyed reading it a lot, and I hardly had to push her to read at all, which was a pleasant surprise.
The main character, Galadriel "Gilly" Hopkins is tough, angry, and brilliant. She's a foster child who's been shuffled around too many homes before she ends up at Maime Trotter's. Gilly is a fascinating character, a girl who is at once so jaded and yet so full of hope and romance. Her one goal in life is to see her mother, whom she idolizes, and convince her that she's worth keeping.
That thread of desperate longing runs through the book and Gilly's characterization. My student and I had a tough time trying to put ourselves in Gilly's shoes, but Paterson did a wonderful job of helping us connect to her.
I loved how the ending of the book was not "happy" but was still satisfying. We had a great time following Gilly's story, and both finished the book happy for Gilly, but still hoping that things would get better for her.
View all my reviews
*****
So it's my last week of work! This time next week, I'll be on a plane to Beijing. I'll be there for about a day and a half, and then I'm off to Seoul for a layover before ending up in the good old ATL. I'm really looking forward to it. Here are the things I plan to do as soon as I get there, in mostly chronological order.
1. Take huge lungfuls of clean, Georgian air.
2. Pass out in my large, fluffy bed with my stuffed pooch that I had to leave behind.
3. Drive my car, be really nervous for the first 10 minutes, ease back into the driving groove.
4. Eat Chipotle!!!!!!
5. See high school friends. Geek out with Michelle about series 6 of Doctor Who.
6. See family friends, eat lots of food. Squee over adorable, recently adopted baby girl of friend who deserves happiness more than anyone I know.
Baby Ava, I can't wait to meet you!
7. Visit favorite second hand book shop.
8. Bake something.
9. Marvel over how much Atlanta has changed in a year.
10. Go pool hopping in the neighborhood pools.
11. Play with my best friend's dog.
12. Go to either Screen on the Green or Movies at the Fox or both!
13. Go shopping in the outlets. I need some work trousers, and classier tops that don't make me look a) super young and b) tremendously busty.
14. See as many concerts as I possibly can.
15. Hunt for Citrusmint flavored Orbit gum. They must be out there somewhere!
16. Go boating on Lake Lanier or white water rafting, or any other outdoor thing.
17. Fly to Amsterdam!
I think that's a good list to be getting on with. I'm sure I'll think of tons of other things to do in the coming week. I'm so excited!
*****
In other news, we wrapped up another day of interviewing, but nothing of particular interest happened there. We're busy finishing up the year, constant planning and evaluation going on. By Friday I'll need to have cleaned up my cube area and backed up all the files I need on my computer. What to do with things former coworker left behind? I suppose I'll pack them in a box and leave them at the front gate with the guards if they have room.
I'm really happy though, because they're planning to completely overhaul the computer system here. They'll either be putting the newest Windows on each computer or replacing them entirely. I really hope mine is a replace. The computer I'm using now is so outdated that it's still running Windows XP and every time I pop in a DVD it completely f***s up the graphics and I have to reboot. Also, I'm still so used to using a Mac that I'll accidentally press 'Alt' while meaning to press 'command' and mess up the file I'm working on. And I keep moving the cursor into the corners to try and get to desktop view or to other browsers.
Also I think there's office drama going on. Rumor has it, a coworker, A (you might remember her from the Earring in Ear Saga) posted a very insulting thing about another coworker and friend of mine, G, on Facebook. I typically go into their office to see if they want to go to lunch, and G wasn't there. A seemed angry too and there was a tension in the air. She invited me to go out to eat with them, but I really didn't want to be around so much anger so I left. I texted G and asked if he was ok, and he replied "No".
Ugh, office drama is ridiculous. I hope I don't get drawn into it. Knowing A though, I probably will be.