This is not news for anyone who knows me, works with me or has been in my class at WLHS. Summer is the part of the year when I catch up on all the reading I have missed out on during the school year and my grad classes.
I scoured the Books a Million close to our house and found some books I can't wait to start reading. In no particular order, here they are:
1. The Meaning of Matthew: My Son's Murder in Laramie and a World Transformed, Judy Shepard: Sometimes I feel like I preach tolerance into a room so full of outside noise that no one hears. The Matthew Shepard legislation on hate crimes is incredibly important to me, so I'm excited I found this book.
2. South of Broad, Pat Conroy: I've never read anything by Pat Conroy, but people who are "book people" like me have raved about him, so here goes nothing! I love that this book is set in Charleston, one of my favorite places and a vacation destination this summer!
3. God's Problem: How the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important Question: Why We Suffer, Bart D. Ehrman: Dr. Ehrman is one of my all-time favorite professors. His class at UNC is always full and draws lots of attention because of his controversial content. I have picked up each of his books as I've encountered them, and this one was in a clearance section :)
4. The Water is Wide, Pat Conroy: Again, I've never read anything by Conroy, but this is the book that seems to be the most popular. It's his first person account of teaching, so you know that's in my interest range. I was drawn to this one because of its subject and its genre. I can read lots of fiction, but sometimes a girl needs to broaden her horizons.
5. Eats, Shoots and Leaves: Illustrated Edition, Lynne Truss: Another book I've been after that I found on clearance. My inner nerd did a little dance when I picked this gem off the shelf. I'm hoping it will have some teachable content, too. No point in not getting as much out of it as possible!
On a side note, and I don't intend to use this blog for political purposes (though it's mine and I can!), the look I was given by the guy at the register was...interesting? quizzical? I don't know. Here's the scene that ensued:
Cashier:"isn't that Matthew book about a guy who got killed because he was supposedly gay?"
What?
"Um," I stammer, trying to police myself so I don't make a scene, "The Matthew Shepard legislation is about hate crimes." Good, PC answer.
"Oh..." he gives me that weird look again. "God's Problem, huh?"
"Yes," why am I defending myself at the book store?! It's my money!
"Dr. Ehrman was my professor at UNC. I have all his books."
"Hmph," he says. Can I just pay now?!
Note: no comments on Conroy, nothing on Eats Shoots and Leaves...just judge my politics and your perception of my religion.
Ahhh, life in the South.
2 comments:
Lindsey, I am so excited that you are reading Conroy. The Water Is Wide is simply amazing. The language and description give me chills. I love everything he's written. I can't even choose a favorite. Beach Music and The Prince of Tides are beautiful and deep and dark and sad. The Lords of Discipline is powerful and shocking. The Great Santini is my least favorite; but it's still good. I, too, am reading South of Broad this summer. Let me know what you think of both. :)
hey lindsey...whoever mrs. r is, i totally agree with her about pat conroy...he's my absolute favorite--and i own every book he's written. my prince of tides book was the one thing i was able to save from a horrible house fire--it's in my bookcase: charred, readable, beautiful!! it took me about 30 seconds to devour south of broad!! i love it! you have to know, though, that he personifies and exalts charleston, detests racism and two-faced people, and loathes and reveres catholocism.
he's a living oxymoron! probably why i love him...i wrote about him on my blog a week or so ago...here's the link: http://boxofchocolates29.wordpress.com/2010/06/21/in-love-with-an-ex-catholic/
as for the others, i've read the punctuation one...it's funny...don't know the other ones.
let's chat soon...
stephanie
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