July Reading Update!
The last day of July and my last weekday of summer... *whamp*whamp* It has been a productive month of reading for me! Here is my reading update!
7-3-15: A Book That Became a Movie - The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger. I bought this book at the Claremont Forum for $2.50 and started reading it right away. The first chapter definitely hooked my attention but then the story just lagged... On and on and on about this self-centered woman and her crazy antics. I was waiting for some sort of character development but in the end, the protagonist cusses out the antagonist and quits her job. Good for her. The End. I rented the movie too. The movie was ok, I guess. Having just read the book I felt like there were certain liberties taken that made the movie feel less complete to me. But then I was just bitching about how the story went on and on. Urgh. I guess I can't decide if I liked the book or the movie better. The book definitely had a more kick ass ending.
7-6-15: Read an iBook - Transforming School Culture by Anthony Muhammad. Ok, "Read an iBook" isn't on my 2015 Reading Challenge list but it's a first for me so I wanted to include it in my reading list! I had to read both of these books for my Administrative Credential class this summer but only read this one. I read parts of Our Kids but realized I could get by the class by not reading the whole thing - I just didn't have time. Anyway, the book by Muhammad was actually very interesting. I liked it a lot because it helped me better understand the culture of my school and the types of personalities that exist within it.
7-7-15: Read a Book By An Author You've Never Read Before - The Moral Imperative Realized by Michael Fullan. Another book I had to read for both of my classes this summer. It was a super easy read. I borrowed it from a classmate and returned it within the week. I think it was only like 90 pages long. But again, very interesting topic about schools and our "duty" as school leaders to provide the best education possible to all students who come through our doors.
7-12-15: Read a Book Recommended by a Friend - The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. This book was recommended to me towards the end of the school year by one of my coworkers and then again by my friend Megan and again by another coworker. So clearly, I needed to read this book! It was amazingly difficult to read in regards to the content of this memoir. Her writing is supremely vivid and descriptive - I had to force myself to take breaks and put the book down! I would definitely recommend it to anyone!
7-13-15: Read a Book at the Bottom of Your To-Read List - Good to Great by Jim Collins. Yet another book I had to read for my admin. classes. I started this one back in May but only read the first six chapters, which was all I really needed to read in order to complete the project. I picked it up again this summer to finish it and then give a book report presentation for another class/different teacher. I chose the "Book at the Bottom of Your To-Read List" prompt because this would not have been a book I would have even put on my "to-read list," rather it was assigned to me. But I quite enjoyed it! One of my friends from church had read it before and had already put together a Power Point explaining the key points. He totally let me borrow his Power Point for my book report presentation! That saved me a lot of time.
7-16-15: Read a Book That Takes Place in High School - The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier. Jeff has wanted me to read this book for a long time and since it fit one of the prompts for the reading challenge, I gave it a shot. It is definitely very androcentric, which could explain why Jeff liked it so much when he was a young guy. It's also a good read - very dramatic, lots of interesting characters, and the overarching theme of good vs. bad, power vs. weakness. I powered through this book during the three hours I waited for Audrey's VBS to finish in Arcadia.
7-27-15: Read a Book That Received Bad Reviews - Go Set A Watchman by Harper Lee. For this prompt, I was going to resort to Google to figure out which books had received bad reviews and see if I could find one that interested me. Well, this one fell right in my lap! I had preorder this book on Amazon way back when I had first heard about this book's possible publication. I had forgotten about it until I started seeing all this buzz on Facebook about how this book should never have been published and what a shame it is for Harper Lee to be taken advantage of in this way, etc. etc. Then the next day, the book was on my doorstep. Oh well - I figured I paid for it, I may as well read it. It's true that the only place Harper Lee can go is down and that's what this book did. It wasn't that great. But I also know that this was a first draft of To Kill a Mockingbird, which happens to be one of my favorite books of all time. I read it as if it were a first draft - not too high of expectations. But it really danced around the issues and left me feeling unresolved by the end. No real big lessons were learned. So I get why book critics were so harsh toward the manuscript and I get that I contributed to the feelings of poor Harper Lee being abused by the big back publisher by buying a copy of this book. But... oh well. (You can read some of the reviews here , here, and here.)
7-31-15: Read a Book Based on a TV Show - The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer by Jennifer Lynch. I got this for Jeff for his birthday but beat him to the punch in reading it. Really only true fanatics of "Twin Peaks" should read this book. It is extremely graphic and made me feel uncomfortable on multiple occasions. But the book is true to Laura's character in the TV series "Twin Peaks" and certainly to her character in the movie prequel to the series, "Fire Walk With Me."
And now on to my next book - I am going to tackle the 500 page book! The prompt is to read a book longer than 500 pages but this book I have is exactly 500 pages... I figures I can count the front and back cover to make it count for this prompt.
Happy Reading!
7-3-15: A Book That Became a Movie - The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger. I bought this book at the Claremont Forum for $2.50 and started reading it right away. The first chapter definitely hooked my attention but then the story just lagged... On and on and on about this self-centered woman and her crazy antics. I was waiting for some sort of character development but in the end, the protagonist cusses out the antagonist and quits her job. Good for her. The End. I rented the movie too. The movie was ok, I guess. Having just read the book I felt like there were certain liberties taken that made the movie feel less complete to me. But then I was just bitching about how the story went on and on. Urgh. I guess I can't decide if I liked the book or the movie better. The book definitely had a more kick ass ending.
7-6-15: Read an iBook - Transforming School Culture by Anthony Muhammad. Ok, "Read an iBook" isn't on my 2015 Reading Challenge list but it's a first for me so I wanted to include it in my reading list! I had to read both of these books for my Administrative Credential class this summer but only read this one. I read parts of Our Kids but realized I could get by the class by not reading the whole thing - I just didn't have time. Anyway, the book by Muhammad was actually very interesting. I liked it a lot because it helped me better understand the culture of my school and the types of personalities that exist within it.
7-7-15: Read a Book By An Author You've Never Read Before - The Moral Imperative Realized by Michael Fullan. Another book I had to read for both of my classes this summer. It was a super easy read. I borrowed it from a classmate and returned it within the week. I think it was only like 90 pages long. But again, very interesting topic about schools and our "duty" as school leaders to provide the best education possible to all students who come through our doors.
7-12-15: Read a Book Recommended by a Friend - The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. This book was recommended to me towards the end of the school year by one of my coworkers and then again by my friend Megan and again by another coworker. So clearly, I needed to read this book! It was amazingly difficult to read in regards to the content of this memoir. Her writing is supremely vivid and descriptive - I had to force myself to take breaks and put the book down! I would definitely recommend it to anyone!
7-13-15: Read a Book at the Bottom of Your To-Read List - Good to Great by Jim Collins. Yet another book I had to read for my admin. classes. I started this one back in May but only read the first six chapters, which was all I really needed to read in order to complete the project. I picked it up again this summer to finish it and then give a book report presentation for another class/different teacher. I chose the "Book at the Bottom of Your To-Read List" prompt because this would not have been a book I would have even put on my "to-read list," rather it was assigned to me. But I quite enjoyed it! One of my friends from church had read it before and had already put together a Power Point explaining the key points. He totally let me borrow his Power Point for my book report presentation! That saved me a lot of time.
7-16-15: Read a Book That Takes Place in High School - The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier. Jeff has wanted me to read this book for a long time and since it fit one of the prompts for the reading challenge, I gave it a shot. It is definitely very androcentric, which could explain why Jeff liked it so much when he was a young guy. It's also a good read - very dramatic, lots of interesting characters, and the overarching theme of good vs. bad, power vs. weakness. I powered through this book during the three hours I waited for Audrey's VBS to finish in Arcadia.
7-27-15: Read a Book That Received Bad Reviews - Go Set A Watchman by Harper Lee. For this prompt, I was going to resort to Google to figure out which books had received bad reviews and see if I could find one that interested me. Well, this one fell right in my lap! I had preorder this book on Amazon way back when I had first heard about this book's possible publication. I had forgotten about it until I started seeing all this buzz on Facebook about how this book should never have been published and what a shame it is for Harper Lee to be taken advantage of in this way, etc. etc. Then the next day, the book was on my doorstep. Oh well - I figured I paid for it, I may as well read it. It's true that the only place Harper Lee can go is down and that's what this book did. It wasn't that great. But I also know that this was a first draft of To Kill a Mockingbird, which happens to be one of my favorite books of all time. I read it as if it were a first draft - not too high of expectations. But it really danced around the issues and left me feeling unresolved by the end. No real big lessons were learned. So I get why book critics were so harsh toward the manuscript and I get that I contributed to the feelings of poor Harper Lee being abused by the big back publisher by buying a copy of this book. But... oh well. (You can read some of the reviews here , here, and here.)
7-31-15: Read a Book Based on a TV Show - The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer by Jennifer Lynch. I got this for Jeff for his birthday but beat him to the punch in reading it. Really only true fanatics of "Twin Peaks" should read this book. It is extremely graphic and made me feel uncomfortable on multiple occasions. But the book is true to Laura's character in the TV series "Twin Peaks" and certainly to her character in the movie prequel to the series, "Fire Walk With Me."
And now on to my next book - I am going to tackle the 500 page book! The prompt is to read a book longer than 500 pages but this book I have is exactly 500 pages... I figures I can count the front and back cover to make it count for this prompt.
Happy Reading!