Summer Reading

 The eight year old and I entered the summer reading club at our library. It just ended - which seems early to me, but here we are at the end of July and all of the summer activities are winding down, even though we have three weeks of vacation left. Only!

Neither of us won a prize. Instead of cheap plastic toys and coupons for ice cream cones, the prizes were gift cards and educational sets. I earned something like 17 tickets and entered almost all of them in the drawing for the HEB $100 gift card, but didn't win. The 8 year old spread her tickets around, but mostly wanted to win a little robot that draws. She was pretty disappointed not to get a call from the library yesterday. She was sure she was going to win. She was motivated to log hours and write book reviews to earn more tickets, so the incentive worked, but we'll see if the crushing diappointment of winning nothing deters her from participating next year. She can be a bit dramatic in her responses to even very minor tragedies.

Despite winning nothing, we have done a bit of reading over the summer. I have spent much too much time pouring over the Wall Street Journal in the mornings. since we aren't rushing anywhere. Too much bad news about economic downturns and inflation. On our recent road trip, I read Joseph Bruchac's Rez Dogs, a young reader book about a young girl named Malian who is visiting her grandparents on a reservation and gets stuck with them when the world shuts down for Covid. A stray dog provides companionship and protection for her as she struggles with loneliness and internet connectivity and missing her parents. Bruchac is a writer I discovered when doing my research for the nature writing class. He has a number of young adult books out that primarily feature main characters who are Native Americans.  This is my first, and I give it two thumbs up. It may be a bit lacking in drama, but it provided a peak into a strong grandparent- grandchild relationship, a look at life on a reservation, and a small peek into some of the hardships experienced by young people growing up on a reservation 60 years ago. Both of Malian's grandparents were taken as children and sent to boarding schools. The book is written as narrative poetry, so it reads quickly. Despite the backdrop of suffering, the book had a hopeful tone - Malian's grandparents don't dwell on bitterness, and Malian is unusually appreciative of her circumstances. 

I also just finished a book for the lit class I'll be teaching next year: Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie. The department chooses a novel for the intro to lit courses, and this one is paired with Antigone, of which it is a retelling. I wasn't familiar with Shamsie, although she has a large number of novels to her name. Home Fire follows the plot of Sophocles' classic loosely, but places the two sisters in contemporary London, where their family immigrated from Pakistan. In this case, the two sisters are Muslim and must confront the actions of their brother and father, who both joined extremist organizations. Somehow the family survived the death of their father, but when their mother dies, the siblings struggle to stay unified. The oldest sister raises her two siblings, but eventually leaves to study in America, while the two younger siblings, twins, start to make their way separately after they graduate from high school. The sister pursues a degree, while the brother picks up a job, but falls into the grip of jihadist recruiters. Add in a love interest who happens to be the son of the home secretary who is monitoring the movements of the brother, and tragedy is sure to follow - and of course, knowing the source story, tragedy is expected.  An interesting and engaging read, with lots of themes overlapping, which is good for an assigned book. For a book I have to assign to first year students, it has an overly descriptive passage with a love scene that I probably won't discuss in class, but it's in there, and will probably keep students reading. 

I can't remember if I mentioned that I went on an Ann Patchett spree - This is the Story of a Happy Marriage and Commonwealth and some articles in between. Enjoyed both the memoir/book of essays, This is the Story, which I listened to as a book on tape on the trip to California in June, and the novel, which is a riff on Patchett's early life. Had I not just read Patchett's memoir, I might not have caught that. Commonwealth is the story of a broken marriage, the secrets children keep, family connections, and the possibility of reconciliation. A bit melancholy but a redemptive ending. Maybe kids whose parents are messed up end up closer because of their neglect.

After many weeks, I finished Peter Wohlleben's The Heartbeat of Trees, a companion to The Language of Trees.  I enjoyed them both, a mix of popular science, environmental writing, and personal memoir. Not fast reading, though. I'd read a chapter and then set the book down for several days before reading another. Wohllenben was a German forester who now devotes his time to writing and promoting good forestry practices, among other environmental pursuits. His writing voice is friendly, encouraging, and even hopeful, despite the degradation he sees of the natural world, For instance, one of the oldest trees in the world is threatened because of tourists hiking to its remote location to view it. On the one hand, it would be terrible if this tree died from people stamping around it to view the oldest tree. On the other hand, the reverence showed to this little alpine tree is encouraging. Wohlleben's own story of shifting  practices in German foresting is hopeful for future conservation efforts that allow commerce and conservation to complement each other to an extent. 

I also finished a book for my book club reading challenge called Tomorrow Will Be Different by Sarah MacBride. MacBride's memoir tells of her transition from male to female late in her college career, early in her political career. She is now a delegate to the Delaware state government, one of the first openly trans politicians to serve in that governing body, if not the first. The tone is upbeat, despite a section describing the death of Sarah's husband, who was also trans, from cancer not long after they married.  The reading challenge has several categories that are outside my normal reading trends, and this one was interesting, but not one I'd normally choose, partly because I don't really read political books, and this one read a bit like promotional material for the next election. 

I've also been reading my Bible study book, Encountering God by Kelly Minter, which describes different spiritual practices all familiar to Catholics - prayer, fasting, confession, adoration, meditation. I appreciate the immense number of Biblical references to these ancient practices, but the book is written for a reader who is unfamiliar or unused to these practices, so it's geared toward beginners and those who need convincing that fasting or confessing to others is worthwhile for spiritual growth.  The conversations have been enriching with my group, an ecumenical bunch I was introduced to by one of my Navy spouse friends. 

I've also been catching up with the newest Norton anthology of literature, shorter version. I'll be teaching an intro to lit class this fall. New school, new textbook, new syllabus. Thought I would be further along with developing that than I am, but classes don't start until the end of August - which will come all too quickly.

Reading with the 8 year old: My Father's Dragon, Dragons of Blueland, Pippi Longstocking, and various picture books from the library. This suburban library doesn't have the quaint appeal, the quantity of books, or the familiar librarians from our old library, but we are getting used to it. It's not a four block walk, either, but this month we have been going about once a week, since our schedule is more open. 

In the meantime, I've got a stack of books to read that are waiting for me. I thought I would get more reading done on our recent trip to OKC, but instead shopped upholstery fabric, chairs, flights, and hotels for upcoming travels. More to come!