Diary of a Part Time Harlemite...and Book Thief

Last year I read and responded to Sherman Alexie's The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian

This year it will be Markus Zusak's The Book Thief

I'll also be posting my thoughts on YA literature, the experience of reading in the digital age & thoughts from the Teaching Reading in Secondary ELA class I'm teaching this year. You can find out more about our project at: #teachread.

For more from this Part-Time Harlemite, you can find me at: developingwriters.org and on Twitter: @writerswriting .
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Other #teachread Blogs
schoolforkidswhocantreadgood: Looking for a new book to add to read this year?  I sometimes get in a reading rut where I read the same types of books over and over and have to make a conscious effort to switch it up. (It helps that I try to alternate fiction and nonfiction.) I created the 2013 Reading Challenge as an easy and fun way for me (and you) to fit more varied books in this year. A lot of people create goals of reading a certain number of books in a year, but I think that can be stressful or worse—you may end up racing through shorter, mediocre books in order to reach your quota for a given month. I used to try and race through books in order to tick them off a numbered list, but I’ve found that it’s more challenging and enjoyable to try and read books that are outside my comfort zone, or in a genre I’m not familiar with or that I haven’t read in years.  I created the below lists as a way to get started, but the books I’ve listed for each section are just my personal recommendations. The important thing is not to read any of them just because I’ve listed them here—you should only read them if they jump out at you as being interesting or worth your time.  Above all, reading should be fun. I used to feel like I had to finish every book I started no matter how much I hated it or how bored I got. I don’t do that anymore. If I’m not enjoying myself, I don’t finish the book. You know yourself better than anyone! Only choose what you know what will bring you genuine pleasure and enjoyment. (And won’t be a waste of your time!)  Have fun and let me know what books you pick in each category! I’ll keep you updated by posting reviews here when I’m finished. Read a childhood favorite you haven’t picked up in years. Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery Time Enough for Drums by Ann Rinaldi Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes Mara, Daughter of the Nile by Eloise McGraw From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg Read a nonfiction book about religion or religious culture (or the lack thereof). Rapture Ready! by Daniel Radosh The Unlikely Disciple by Kevin Roose The Prophet’s Prey by Sam Brower A Generous Orthodoxy by Brian D. McLaren The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins Who Speaks for Islam? by John L. Esposito and Dalia Mogahed Read a classic you haven’t touched since high school English. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee Read a popular historical fiction novel. The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory The Book Thief by Markus Zusak The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel Nefertiti by Michelle Moran The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield The Memoirs of Cleopatra by Margaret George Read a nonfiction book or memoir about an illness or disease. Unbearable Lightness by Portia de Rossi The Journal of Best Practices by David Finch Ninety Days: A Memoir of Recovery by Bill Clegg The Mercy Papers by Robin Romm An Unquiet Mind by Kay Redfield Jamison Monkey Mind: A Memoir of Anxiety by Daniel Smith Read an entire popular YA book series. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling Divergent series by Veronica Roth The Ender Saga by Orson Scott Card Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman The Time Quintet by Madeleine L’Engle Redwall by Brian Jacques Read a book that was made into a movie or television show released within the past year.  A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin (Game of Thrones) The Woman in Black by Susan Hill (The Woman in Black) Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith (Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter)  Life of Pi by Yann Martel (Life of Pi) Les Miserables by Victor Hugo (Les Miserables) John Carter on Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs (John Carter) The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien (The Hobbit) Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (Anna Karenina) Read one of the books on New York Times reviewer Michiko Katutani’s Meanest Reviews list and decide for yourself whether the meanness was warranted. “The Original of Laura” by Vladimir Nabokov “Chronic City” by Jonathan Lethem “The Discomfort Zone” by Jonathan Franzen “A Long Way Down” by Nick Hornby “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” by Jonathan Safran Foer “Until I Find You” by John Irving “The Dying Animal” by Philip Roth “Point Omega” by Don DeLillo “Nocturnes ” by Kazuo Ishiguro “The Witches of Eastwick” by John Updike “NW” by Zadie Smith Read one of Amazon’s Editors’ Picks for January 2013. Me Before You: A Novel by Jojo Moyes Ship It Holla Ballas! by Jonathan Grotenstein, Storms Reback Hikikomori and the Rental Sister by Jeff Backhaus Tenth of December: Stories by George Saunders Rage Is Back: A Novel by Adam Mansbach Little Wolves by Thomas James Maltman Snow White Must Die by Nele Neuhaus Jujitsu Rabbi and the Godless Blonde by Rebecca Dana My Beloved World by Sonia Sotomayor The Fifth Assassin by Brad Meltzer Read a nonfiction true crime book. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote My Life among the Serial Killers: Inside the Minds of the World’s Most Notorious Murderers by Helen Morrison and Harold Goldberg The Executioner’s Song by Norman Mailer Devil in the White City by Jonathan Larson Manhunt by James L. Swanson Columbine by Dave Cullen Helter Skelter by Vincent Bugliosi and Curt Gentry The Monster of Florence by Douglas Preston Mind Hunter by John Douglas Read a book about a sport that usually doesn’t interest you in the slightest. Moneyball by Michael Lewis Secretariat by William Nack The Secret Race by Tyler Hamilton and Daniel Coyle Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer The Boys of Summer by Roger Kahn The Game They Played by Stanley Cohen Paper Lion by George Plimpton Friday Night Lights by H. G. Bissinger Swimming to Antarctica by Lynne Cox Read a collection of short stories. Blasphemy by Sherman Alexie Dear Life by Alice Munro Night Shift by Stephen King The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway by Ernest Hemingway Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri Nine Stories by J. D. Salinger Naked by David Sedaris Eleven Kinds of Loneliness by Richard Yates The Best American Short Stories 2012 by Tom Perrotta and Heidi Pitlor Unclean Jobs for Women and Girls by Alissa Nutting I’d love to hear your thoughts! Do you have any books to add to these lists? What will you read in one of the categories? So many good options!

schoolforkidswhocantreadgood:

Looking for a new book to add to read this year? 

I sometimes get in a reading rut where I read the same types of books over and over and have to make a conscious effort to switch it up. (It helps that I try to alternate fiction and nonfiction.)

I created the 2013 Reading Challenge as an easy and fun way for me (and you) to fit more varied books in this year. A lot of people create goals of reading a certain number of books in a year, but I think that can be stressful or worse—you may end up racing through shorter, mediocre books in order to reach your quota for a given month. I used to try and race through books in order to tick them off a numbered list, but I’ve found that it’s more challenging and enjoyable to try and read books that are outside my comfort zone, or in a genre I’m not familiar with or that I haven’t read in years. 

I created the below lists as a way to get started, but the books I’ve listed for each section are just my personal recommendations. The important thing is not to read any of them just because I’ve listed them here—you should only read them if they jump out at you as being interesting or worth your time. 

Above all, reading should be fun. I used to feel like I had to finish every book I started no matter how much I hated it or how bored I got. I don’t do that anymore. If I’m not enjoying myself, I don’t finish the book. You know yourself better than anyone! Only choose what you know what will bring you genuine pleasure and enjoyment. (And won’t be a waste of your time!) 

Have fun and let me know what books you pick in each category! I’ll keep you updated by posting reviews here when I’m finished.

Read a childhood favorite you haven’t picked up in years.

Read a nonfiction book about religion or religious culture (or the lack thereof).

Read a classic you haven’t touched since high school English.

Read a popular historical fiction novel.

Read a nonfiction book or memoir about an illness or disease.

Read an entire popular YA book series.

Read a book that was made into a movie or television show released within the past year. 

Read one of the books on New York Times reviewer Michiko Katutani’s Meanest Reviews list and decide for yourself whether the meanness was warranted.

Read one of Amazon’s Editors’ Picks for January 2013.

Read a nonfiction true crime book.

Read a book about a sport that usually doesn’t interest you in the slightest.

Read a collection of short stories.

I’d love to hear your thoughts! Do you have any books to add to these lists? What will you read in one of the categories?

So many good options!

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#intertextuality stream of consciousness

This week in #teachread we are considering intertextuality as a element of texts and interpretation. We have also been discussing what distinguishes “literature” from other types of text. On the Twitter backchannel, we’ve also been hashing out the boundaries of “text.”

So, this morning, I had the following exchange on Twitter, and realized the intertextuality inherent in my “reading” of Zaha Hadid’s architectural designs and my (re)interpretation of The Wave once I saw the naturally-formed rock formations realized man-made in steel and glass. I have been to The Wave (one of the lucky few) and my readings of the images of the wave and the structures are affected by my experiences with the rock. And then I realized the intertextuality of the previous conversations about text that played into my tweets and the writing of this very post…and then…

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Recommended #teachread FanFic! →

I haven’t been able to read The Book Thief along with my #teachread grad students this semester like I had hoped to do. This fanfic by @SaganClifford, however, is making me reassess my priorities. Maybe I can just read her rendition. It is beautiful prose. Click the link above to be sent on a journey…

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#howiwrite #whatiwrite: I’m using @ommwriter to center my thoughts on telling the intriguing stories of 4 young men’s development as writers. http://ommwriter.com

#howiwrite #whatiwrite: I’m using @ommwriter to center my thoughts on telling the intriguing stories of 4 young men’s development as writers. http://ommwriter.com

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If you’re going to NY Comic Con later this week, chances are you see what I see. (I’ll be doing a guest post on Connect the Pop. Stay tuned!) (Taken with Instagram)

If you’re going to NY Comic Con later this week, chances are you see what I see. (I’ll be doing a guest post on Connect the Pop. Stay tuned!) (Taken with Instagram)

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From word to stone. It’s been a weekend of meaning & making. #luckygirl #preemptiveed #teachread (Taken with Instagram)

From word to stone. It’s been a weekend of meaning & making. #luckygirl #preemptiveed #teachread (Taken with Instagram)

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#teachread via @ktdrame: Why the Best Kids Books Are Written in Blood →
Link
Confessions of an Unmotivated Teacher

This is the true story of an unmotivated adult. I know. You were expecting me to say teen. I didn’t. I said adult and I meant it. For over a week now I have owned a copy of The Book Thief on my nook and it’s even available on my phone. I have posted at least three Instagram photos about the reading of this book. But the book isn’t the only fiction involved here. “The reading of this book” has been the other fiction. I can’t get started. I can’t get motivated. 

The irony here is that last Wednesday, “Reading: Motivation, Engagement and the Adolescent” (or something to that effect) was our topic for the Teaching Reading in Secondary ELA class. We discussed attributes attributed (yeah, not motivated enough to find a synonym) to teens and the role of motivation and engagement in reading practices and comprehension. (The class doesn’t know it yet, but we’ll be returning to reflect on their initial “invented adolescents” to consider how they are “constructing adolescence.”)

For now, I think I’ll dwell on motivation from the inside, while in the unmotivated state. What can I learn from being unmotivated that all the answers from all of our course readings couldn’t tell us? (Lesson #1: “Motivated” or “unmotivated” are poor labels for individuals. Though I can’t get myself to read more than the first screen of words for this book, I’m motivated enough to spin the heck out of it for this blog post.)


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after a few mins reading #TheBookThief for #teachread on my phone, I wondered what it was reading #cylones #toomuchbattlestargalactica (Taken with Instagram)

after a few mins reading #TheBookThief for #teachread on my phone, I wondered what it was reading #cylones #toomuchbattlestargalactica

(Taken with Instagram)

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I think the writers of Battlestar Galactica have read a little Kim Addonizio:

Late Round
When the fighters slow down, moving towards each other
as though underwater, gloves laboring to rise
before their faces, each punch followed by a clutch
when they hold on like exhausted lovers,
I think of us in the last months, and of the night
you stood in my kitchen, drunk, throwing wild combinations
at the air, at something between us that would not
go down. I watch the two of them
planted in that ring, unable to trust their legs,
the bell’s reprieve suspended in some impossible distance,
and I remember my voice, cursing our life together
until there was nothing either of us would fight for.
These men, you’d say, have heart—they keep on,
though neither remembers his strategy
or hears the shouts from his corner. And it’s true
you had more heart than I did, until that night
you gave us up, finally, and dropped crying to your knees
on my kitchen floor. The fighters stagger and fall together,
flailing against the ropes. They embrace
and are separated, but they don’t let go.

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It begins, or rather, it will end. #thebookthief #teachread (Taken with Instagram)

It begins, or rather, it will end. #thebookthief #teachread (Taken with Instagram)

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I should probably explain, that this is a mosaic, in process, by Manny Vega. It is of the Trickster, which is what I expect the Death narrator to be in The Book Thief. This semester I’ll be using Instagram to explore #TheBookThief as I read it as a part of #teachread! (Taken with Instagram)

I should probably explain, that this is a mosaic, in process, by Manny Vega. It is of the Trickster, which is what I expect the Death narrator to be in The Book Thief.

This semester I’ll be using Instagram to explore #TheBookThief as I read it as a part of #teachread! (Taken with Instagram)

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todaymyfavouritesongis:

“Cheat Codes” - (Beta Version) - Happy Leviathan (by HappyLeviathan)

maybe it’s mathcore or chiptune but i like to, affectionately, call this “nerdburn”

(via )

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futurejournalismproject:

Selected comics from No Safe Harbor: Essays about Pirate Politics with works by Lawrence Lessig, danah boyd, Cory Doctorow and the Electronic Frontier Foundation among others.

Via No Safe Harbor:

No Safe Harbor, released January 24th 2012, is a collection of political essays, texts, and discussions that help explain and educate about Pirate Party positions…

…Topics covered include notes on the 4th Amendment, the history of copyright, biopatents, and corporate personhood.

The book is released under a Creative Commons license (CC-BY-NC-SA) and sharing of it is strongly encouraged. To further that, the book is available in a number of DRM-free formats, free of charge. In addition a paperback edition can be purchased through Amazon.com for $9.99

Images: Mimi and Eunice by Nina Paley. Select any to embiggen.

(via schoolforkidswhocantreadgood)

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parttimebrooklyn: natiland: and here’s the protagonist, Arnold.He’s great. Something that strikes me about Absolutely True Diary is the transparent, lucid way that Arnold views himself.  What kind of a kid would really draw themselves as a knobby-kneed, bespectacled, stuttering pubescent who doesn’t look like he could fit the definition of “cool” any more than he could fit into a size L tee shirt without looking like he is swimming in it?  It is this element of Absolutely True Diary that makes me wary. Is Arnold peculiar in his lucidity surrounding who he is and where he comes from? I know that as a kid I would be hard-pressed to admit to anyone that I came from a family of farmers. It was so much a part of me, but you would never be able to tell from looking at me or from asking me anything about myself back then. What kind of pride does Arnold have for who he is? Does his pride in being Indian make his ease with which he expresses candidly who he is possible? Is his awkward adolescence in all its glory highlighted and accentuated by his “Indian-ness”? Or is he just a kid? I think it is interesting that this is how he draws himself at the beginning of the book and then how he talks about himself at the end is so different. I would like to see another self-portrait. If he is that shaky, how can he play bball so well? I imagine the self-portrait at the end of the book would be closer approximation to how others see him.

parttimebrooklyn:

natiland:

and here’s the protagonist, Arnold.

He’s great.

Something that strikes me about Absolutely True Diary is the transparent, lucid way that Arnold views himself.  What kind of a kid would really draw themselves as a knobby-kneed, bespectacled, stuttering pubescent who doesn’t look like he could fit the definition of “cool” any more than he could fit into a size L tee shirt without looking like he is swimming in it?  It is this element of Absolutely True Diary that makes me wary. Is Arnold peculiar in his lucidity surrounding who he is and where he comes from? I know that as a kid I would be hard-pressed to admit to anyone that I came from a family of farmers. It was so much a part of me, but you would never be able to tell from looking at me or from asking me anything about myself back then.

What kind of pride does Arnold have for who he is?

Does his pride in being Indian make his ease with which he expresses candidly who he is possible?

Is his awkward adolescence in all its glory highlighted and accentuated by his “Indian-ness”?

Or is he just a kid?

I think it is interesting that this is how he draws himself at the beginning of the book and then how he talks about himself at the end is so different. I would like to see another self-portrait. If he is that shaky, how can he play bball so well? I imagine the self-portrait at the end of the book would be closer approximation to how others see him.

(via )

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