drugs – Peaceful Reader

Demon Copperhead

“First, I got myself born. A decent crowd was on hand to watch, and they’ve always given me that much: the worst of the job was up to me, my mother being let’s just say out of it.”

Barbara Kingsolver’s opening line is a great introduction to Demon, our young hero, who will become part of the reader’s heart and soul. It’s a magnificent tale of heartache, addiction, family, and poverty set in the Appalachia Mountains. From the very beginning Demon is burdened with tough choices. His mother is young and grieving over Demon’s dead father. He and is mother occupy a doublewide trailer near another family, the Peggot’s who are raising their grandson because his mother is in jail. He loses important parts of his family and gains others. He shows us the hardship of foster care. This is your cast of characters: people down on their luck trying to do their best but often failing in an area of our country that has been torn apart. I loved the book so much I could start the first page again and as I finished the last paragraph I shed some tears.

I’m glad I finished the book when I did because I was able to devote a good amount of time to it even reading a few pages before school and during lunch. I’m feeling overwhelmed with a too long to-do list and the knowledge that I’m on too many committees. I’m on rotation this year for observation and need to complete my professional portfolio by March 1st. I have a book fair coming my way in March. I have a district-wide tech conference and planning for our school’s literacy night both in February. Beyond that I’m on our district’s equity committee, and our teacher’s association, as well as daily lesson planning. I spent most of my Sunday planning for Black History Month and a connected research project for 3rd-6th graders. Whew. I need a night off.

On the relaxing side I have kept up almost daily with Adriene’s January yoga challenge and that keeps me together most days. I’m headed there now to connect and wind down for the night.

Be well.

Sex Object by Jessica Valenti

I felt compelled to order this from the public library a few weeks ago because of a Litsy post. I’ve heard Jessica’s name and her first book, Full Frontal Feminism, before and just hadn’t picked it up to read.

Sex Object; A memoir took me by surprise. I don’t know why as the title is fairly explicit I just didn’t fully understand that I’d be reading about Jessica’s sexual escapades and yet I feel calmer having relived some of my own sexaul past through her experiences. For years I felt like there must be something wrong with me; did I have a sign taped to my back that said “abuse me/pick me”?

I’ve suffered through my own bits of harassment, stalkers, and leering overstimulated “manly” men (creeps). Jessica’s story brought that message home; every woman has her own scary tales. Her story assured me that I was not the only one. Even sharing creeper tales with friends I always felt like I won hands down. That we even have to share stories about this is ridiculous.

Not only do we deal with men’s expectations of us but we shoulder a lot of that ourselves. Many of us never feel smart enough, sexy enough, pretty enough. Expectations on whether or not we are pretty both from our own selves and the men that surround us is a universal problem and I hear from my own daughter, which truthfully, is so hard to bear. It’s like I went through this already and raised you to BE yourself, to share your opinion, to speak and you still complain that you don’t look right, your hair isn’t right, you feel awkward.

I feel like I made it through my own swamp of insecurities to get to a place where I have a job that I feel secure in, a husband who loves me no matter what, and children who are beginning to see that I am smarter than they thought. It’s also easier to be a feminist in my own head and heart, in my own home, about my own body. Jessica’s journey has been one of sounding the alarm and putting herself out there loudly speaking about gender and women’s issue for most of her adult life. That’s impressive to me. And she’s been crucified through social media posts about her opinions, what she has to say. It must mean even the haters are listening.

I would love to hear Jessica speak. The book, told in a chaotic, back and forth method, relays her past and present. It’s told in un-chronological order yet the last two chapters sort of sum up where she’s at today, happily married and the mother of a precocious daughter.

I think to be secure in ourselves is to be complacent and it’s really about just finding some bit of peace every day. You-made-it through-another-day feeling whole. I’m glad to have had a chance to think about my own past/present as I read through Jessica’s.

4 New Books to LOVE!

At the beginning of September I challenged myself to read through my big and beautiful, ever-growing pile of ARC’s from Little, Brown and Company. I aimed for ten and finished seven. Here I bring you the top 4 realistic fiction titles to look for.

Ask the Passengers by A.S. King: This was my absolute favorite story. I’m now a huge fan of A.S. King and her coming-of-age, coming-to-grips tale of Astrid Jones. She’s unusual and knows it yet longs for the shelter of a loving family and honest friends. She struggles with her own identity, familial disfunction, her sexuality, and what it means to be a good and true friend. This story is a marvel and Astrid is a character that I think about often. Buy this for your library or a teenager in need. Booklist Online has a very creative interview with A.S. King – read it, it will make you laugh. (ARC provided by Little, Brown, and Company, release date October, 2012)

My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece by Annabel Pitcher; The Matthews family is broken in every way. Jaime, the youngest, narrates the story of this family’s critical loss. Rose, Jaime’s sister and twin to Jasmine, dies from a terrorist bomb in a local park. Jaime’s mother, trying to heal herself, attends a local grief group, meets someone else and leaves the family. In order to douse the overwhelming pain Jaime’s father drinks. Eventually Jaime, his sister, Jas, and father move to the country to get out of London and away from the Muslim’s. Jaime’s father blames all Muslim’s for the death of his daughter and he emotionally abandons his two living children while grieving for Rose. This book brings out the blanket racism that clouds good judgement as Jaime, in his little country school, befriends a local Muslim girl. This book by debut author Annabel Pitcher is beautifully written with rare wit about a topic that will have people talking. (ARC provided by LBC, August, 2012)

DJ Rising by Love Maia; Music is Marley’s world. With a scholarship to attend a prestigious school and a job busing tables at a hip restaurant he has his hands full just trying to make it on his own. In the midst of his own teenage life he juggles caring for his drug-addicted mother who never recovered from the death of her husband, Marley’s music-loving dad. Marley has two dreams: one is to DJ at a fancy club and the second is that the beautiful Lea Hall will talk to him. When his mother tries to recover, and the DJ world starts to suck Marley in, will he be able to accomplish any of his real goals as he learns to figure out what is most important? This book is well worth reading as you want Marley to triumph over the life he’s been handed and Maia’s lyrical writing make it a quick read. Soundtrack to come according to her website. (ARC provided by LBC, Feb., 2012)

The Boy Recession by Flynn Meaney; At first glance this could appear to be a fluff YA chick read but there is much deeper stuff below the surface. Budget cuts leave Julius P. Heil High without a football coach or a team causing several affluent families to take their young players to private schools. With so many young men gone the girls start looking at the second and third tier of eligible guys. The theatre geeks, the band boys, and the stoner dudes suddenly all have a place at the table. Through this new adventure Kelly begins to see her old band-friend, Hunter, in a new light; he could be truly crush-worthy if the plastic girls (the “Spandexers”) can keep their hands off him. I enjoyed this story as it explores high school stereotypes and told through Kelly’s and Hunter’s alternating chapters. Hunter is a boy I would have loved and you will cheer for him as he finds his true voice. Flynn Meaney is also the author of Bloodthirsty. (ARC provided by LBC, August, 2012)

These four easily captured my attention. I have several others still to review including an elementary fiction title and four picture books and I am happy to share these exciting titles. The common denominator is identity which is something teens struggle with whether gay, straight, male, female, rich, or poor and these titles raise awareness for this angst.

Thank you Zoe!! You make my day with your monthly emails.

How To Buy A Love Of Reading by Tanya Egan Gibson

I can’t imagine not having a book in my hand for most of my life. Even in my wild 20’s I read during parties and in my 30’s I read between waitressing and bartending shifts. I’ve never wavered in my love for books and all they hold so it was interesting to have my handsome husband give me this book for a birthday gift.

Synopsis:

When Carley Wells is asked by her H.S. English teacher what her favorite book is, she answers: “Never met one I liked.” Her parents are both horrified when the English teacher passes this information to them and so begins her parents quest to bring literature to Carley. Because they have a ton of money her parents decide to hire a writer who will help Carley create a work of fiction. Through the hired author and Carley’s eyes we see this incredible life of money, boredom, parental error and self-loathing.

My Thoughts:

Carley is an overweight young woman who is in love with her best friend Hunter. Hunter suffers from major depression and chooses to drown his feelings in Vicodin and alcohol. Hunter and Carley have a somewhat toxic friendship as they rely on each other, trying to hide their own negative feelings.

The parents of each of these teenagers is a terrible parental example. Hunter’s mother has a thing for Jackie O and spends more time watching clips of Jackie’s tour of the White House than she does listening to her son. Carley’s mom wants her to be thin and reminds her of it every day. Carley’s dad had a few good qualities until its revealed that he’s having an affair. They seem to think throwing money at each problem is the best solution. It doesn’t work. Carley’s character grows throughout the story and this makes the journey very worthwhile. Does she get a love of reading? You’ll have to read the book to find out.

A sample:

Carley’s father had bought her Choose Your Own Adventures when she was a kid, mazelike books that begin with you waking up places like the planet Zantor and having to make choices like whether to trust a family of six-headed purple Zantorians who tell you to follow them home to safety before sundown when the planet’s carnivorous plants will wake up. Only problem is that the Zantorians, with their six mouths of fangs, are a little vague about what they themselves eat. If you take the Zantorians up on their offer to “have you over for dinner,” turn to page four. If you decide to take your chances tiptoeing through the snapping tulips, turn to page ten. The only thing Carley ever liked about them was working backward from the end, taking the forks in reverse to figure out how to end up on a spaceship bound for home. (39)

Here is Tanya Egan Gibson’s website and her twitter link.
I am interested to see what her next book might be like.

p.s. I read this book way back in August-one of these cold Fall days my reviews will catch up with what I’m reading now.