Quarter Life Crisis

This past week I had what I have now dubbed my quarter life crisis.  As many of you know I teach and I work in a restaurant to afford my true passion: horseback riding.  Horseback riding is a blessing and a curse.  It is a blessing in that it is the most rewarding, fulfilling, and enlightening activity.  I have an incredible group of people in my life because of it that I am grateful for every day.  And I have this amazing creature (Coco) that I look forward to spending my time with every day.  Further, it has taught me throughout my life to persevere, to overcome, and to challenge myself.

It is a curse because it is singlehandedly racking up my credit card debt which is leading to the inevitable gray hairs that I sense are coming soon.  This in spite of the fact that I have cut out all luxuries in my life (travel, concerts, festivities, dinners out with friends) and I'm working 15 hours days at two low paying jobs.

The other day, in a conversation with my assistant about how much all of this costs, she (with the best of intentions) said "If that's what you really love doing, I mean this with love, why are you working here?"  She had a damn good point... and it sparked my quarter life crisis:

Thought 1: I love teaching but it isn't want I ever intended to do with my life and it's not paying for what I really love to do.

Thought 2: Well I need to go back to school to get a job that will actually pay for horses.

Thought 3: But what if I rack up so many student loans that I can't afford horses even with that new job??

Thought 4: Well then I just need to publish a book or win the lottery with one of the lottery tickets that I never buy.

Thought 5: BUT WHAT IF NO ONE EVER PUBLISHES MY BOOKS AND I DON'T WIN THE LOTTERY WITH ONE OF THE LOTTERY TICKETS I NEVER BUY!?!

Thus, quarter life crisis.  I always was convinced that it would all just work out.  No, I'm not a religious person but if I love to ride I figured I was meant to ride and someday all this work would pay off and I would get to ride.  But what if it doesn't all just work out?  "What if" is a terrifying and dangerous question.

So now I'm trying to come up with a new "plan" for how to orchestrate my life to be able to afford horses.  Temporary Resolution: Start buying lottery tickets.

A Lesson in Humility

Today I had to run a rather mundane errand on my way home from riding my horse: I needed to go to the bank.  As I was turning on to the street that my bank was on I noticed a young blind gentleman who had gotten himself into a predicament.  Using his walking stick he had navigated his way into a fenced off construction zone and could not find his way out.

I pulled into a parking spot for the bank and had already resolved to backtrack and help him out.  As I walked up the block toward the corner he was on, I noticed about a dozen or so people waiting to cross the street and I almost turned back.  I figured that at least one of those people would notice his predicament and help him out.  The light turned, and every one of those people walked on having not helped the young gentleman or even acknowledged him.

I continued walking along to help him.  The whole time he struggled, he wore a smile.  whether it was out of embarrassment or out of entertainment at his own frustrating situation I did not know.  But to smile and persevere knowing you were on a crowded street corner where many people can see but no one is helping you takes incredible courage.

I reached him and asked if he needed some help.  He politely accepted and then I walked him to his final destination one block up from where we were.  Turns out he was a Colorado native and had recently completed his Masters degree at the University of Denver- he was quite a smart man.  I did not learn his name and he did not learn mine.

I left him at the barbershop which he had been trying to find with tears in my eyes. Yes, I do cry at pretty much anything but there was good reason this time.  The tears were for all the people who didn't help him, for the challenges he overcomes in his every day life, and for the simple human interaction I had because I happened to be on that corner at that time.  

This interaction was a great reminder for me.  Take the moment to help a fellow human, even in the simplest way.  It is not going to be any huge inconvenience on your life, and more likely than not you will bettered because of it.

Date a Girl Who Reads

I stumbled upon this quote today and loved it because it is so 100% totally and completely accurate.  I probably should have seen it a long time ago but here it is...

“You should date a girl who reads.
Date a girl who reads. Date a girl who spends her money on books instead of clothes, who has problems with closet space because she has too many books. Date a girl who has a list of books she wants to read, who has had a library card since she was twelve.

Find a girl who reads. You’ll know that she does because she will always have an unread book in her bag. She’s the one lovingly looking over the shelves in the bookstore, the one who quietly cries out when she has found the book she wants. You see that weird chick sniffing the pages of an old book in a secondhand book shop? That’s the reader. They can never resist smelling the pages, especially when they are yellow and worn.

She’s the girl reading while waiting in that coffee shop down the street. If you take a peek at her mug, the non-dairy creamer is floating on top because she’s kind of engrossed already. Lost in a world of the author’s making. Sit down. She might give you a glare, as most girls who read do not like to be interrupted. Ask her if she likes the book.

Buy her another cup of coffee.

Let her know what you really think of Murakami. See if she got through the first chapter of Fellowship. Understand that if she says she understood James Joyce’s Ulysses she’s just saying that to sound intelligent. Ask her if she loves Alice or she would like to be Alice.

It’s easy to date a girl who reads. Give her books for her birthday, for Christmas, for anniversaries. Give her the gift of words, in poetry and in song. Give her Neruda, Pound, Sexton, Cummings. Let her know that you understand that words are love. Understand that she knows the difference between books and reality but by god, she’s going to try to make her life a little like her favorite book. It will never be your fault if she does.

She has to give it a shot somehow.

Lie to her. If she understands syntax, she will understand your need to lie. Behind words are other things: motivation, value, nuance, dialogue. It will not be the end of the world.

Fail her. Because a girl who reads knows that failure always leads up to the climax. Because girls who read understand that all things must come to end, but that you can always write a sequel. That you can begin again and again and still be the hero. That life is meant to have a villain or two.

Why be frightened of everything that you are not? Girls who read understand that people, like characters, develop. Except in the Twilight series.

If you find a girl who reads, keep her close. When you find her up at 2 AM clutching a book to her chest and weeping, make her a cup of tea and hold her. You may lose her for a couple of hours but she will always come back to you. She’ll talk as if the characters in the book are real, because for a while, they always are.

You will propose on a hot air balloon. Or during a rock concert. Or very casually next time she’s sick. Over Skype.

You will smile so hard you will wonder why your heart hasn’t burst and bled out all over your chest yet. You will write the story of your lives, have kids with strange names and even stranger tastes. She will introduce your children to the Cat in the Hat and Aslan, maybe in the same day. You will walk the winters of your old age together and she will recite Keats under her breath while you shake the snow off your boots.

Date a girl who reads because you deserve it. You deserve a girl who can give you the most colorful life imaginable. If you can only give her monotony, and stale hours and half-baked proposals, then you’re better off alone. If you want the world and the worlds beyond it, date a girl who reads.

Or better yet, date a girl who writes.”

~Rosemarie Urquico

What if We Had no Army?

Did you know that there are 23 countries around the world that have no standing military force?  That is to say, that they do not have any form of a military that is being trained and maintained on a daily basis?  I did not until I stumbled upon an article about Andorra today.

Andorra is a small European country nestled between France and Spain.  Though it may be small, it's still a European country.  A continent where both of our World Wars were waged.  You'd think having an army would be a good idea in such a place... but they haven't had a standing army in over 700 years!

South and Central American countries like Panama and Costa Rica dissolved their armies in the 20th century, and as a result Costa Rica is the location of the United Nations University for Peace.

Iceland, another country without a military, also uses their lack of armed forces for a greater good having created a Crisis Response Unit which aids in the efforts to maintain peace in areas of conflict like the Middle East.

Furthermore, there are financial advantages to not having a military.  The US spends 130% more every year on its defense and security budget than Costa Rica does.

Other countries that do not maintain an army include: "Lichtenstein, the Vatican, Samoa, Nauru, Kiribati.... Haiti, Monaco, Mauritius, [and] Vanuatu."  That said, all of these nations are small and/or islands.  In addition, many have signed defense treaties with neighboring super-powers in the event of an invasion.

Don't get me wrong, I am eternally grateful to our armed forces and what they sacrifice for us every day.  But it got me thinking.... is it possible for the US to not have an army?  If we were defenseless it seems like it would go against humanity for another superpower to attack us. Or, take it step further, what if no one had an army?  If these small countries can do it, maybe we all could and that would be a huge step toward peace throughout the world.

Politics According to 4th Graders

In my 4th Grade classroom, my Social Studies unit is about Ancient Greece and Rome.  We learn about these Ancient civilizations and then analyze our modern life for aspects that are reminiscent of them.  So, naturally, the other day we learned about Athenian Democracy.

We talked about all the different types of government in Ancient Greece: Monarchy, Oligarchy, and Democracy.  Then the task was too identify the advantages and disadvantages to each different type of government.  The kids aptly pointed out that the main issues in the monarchies and oligarchies are the possibility for a tyrannical ruler and the uneven distribution of wealth.

Then we talked about Democracy.  The kids thought it was awesome how people had the power and got to vote (although there was a bit of grumbling about the fact that kids don't get to vote.)  And then when we got to disadvantages, the room was silent.  One timid girl raised her hand (my little feminist from a previous post) and said "It seems like it would be hard to please everyone."

And therein lies the problem with politics, my brilliant little gem.  Everybody will never be satisfied.

I might as well just hand the class over to her at this point and call it a day.

Some writing..

For those of you following my own writing "career" I have received a few recent nibbles on publishing my Middle Grade book that I finished writing.  While I follow up on those, inspired by recent events in my life I've started writing a nonfiction book based on my life.  It bounces back and forth in time before and after a defining moment in my life.  Here's a little snippet, would love to hear thoughts/suggestions:

After

            I was teaching my class about Greece today.  I had them do a lesson in which they were assigned a topic and given a website and then they had to write down the ten most important facts they learned about their topic.  As we began to share the information about Ancient Greece… my female-heavy class realized something entirely on their own (yes they are NINE years old): Greece was a male-driven society.

            The Ancient Greeks existed over 3,000 year ago.  In Greece, females weren’t allowed to go to school, females could not partake in theater or the arts and their parts were played by males, and girls in their early teens were married off to men in their late 30’s without their consent.  Even in Athens, the most progressive of Greek cities and the model for our own democracy here in the US, women did not have the right to vote.  One of my students raised her hand and informed the class that even in Shakespeare’s time women were still not allowed on stage.  In America, women didn’t receive the right to vote until 1920, well into our country’s heyday, and women are still paid less for doing the same jobs as men today.

            This got me thinking… for thousands of years men have had the upper hand in government, in business, and at home.  I have always been told that the reason men have left me heartbroken without an explanation on so many occasions was because they were “immature” or “naïve” or here’s my favorite excuse “that’s just how boys act.”  But women have been fed these excuses and lines for thousands of years.  When are the tables going to turn?  When are we going to be in power?  When are we going to stop letting men control our lives and take the driver’s seat in our own car (literally and metaphorically.)  It’s about damn time, ladies.

            

Ode to Harper Lee

If there is one thing I learned from reading Harper Lee's latest novel Go Set a Watchman and then rereading To Kill a Mockingbird it is that high schoolers are in no way equipped to grasp the literary genius that is Harper Lee.  She is humorous and heartwarming in her writing, while simultaneously making subtle yet gigantic statements about society and human nature.

I didn't get any of that when I read this book in high school.  I remember Boo Radley, because I was certain (and hopeful) that it would end up being a scary story.  But Boo serves an entirely different purpose in the plot beyond myth and mystique.  He is yet another example in Harper Lee's literature that all human beings no matter their race, color, appearance, or eccentricity are simply that: human beings deserving of respect.  Although she never says it outright in the book, it is woven into the fabric of the book like it was there before she even started writing it.

On that note, one of my best friends told me that she was too afraid to read Go Set a Watchman because To Kill a Mockingbird is her absolute favorite book of all time.  She had heard that Watchman makes you hate Atticus.  I will say that there is a moment in the book when my exact reaction was "Ummm... are you freaking kidding me??" and you will know exactly what part I'm referring to when you get there but you MUST KEEP READING!  And while doing so remember this epic quote from Atticus' closing argument in To Kill a Mockingbird:

"Thomas Jefferson once said that all men are created equal... We know that all men are not created equal in the sense some people would have us believe- some people are smarter than others, some people have more opportunity because they're born with it, some men make more money than others, some ladies make better cakes than others, some people are born gifted beyond the normal scope of most men.

But there is one way in this country in which all men are created equal- there is one human institution that makes a pauper the equal of a Rockefeller, the stupid man the equal of an Einstein, and the ignorant man the equal of any college president.  And that institution, gentlemen, is the court."

I swear it gives me chills.  I reread it over and over and over and it still brought tears to my eyes every time.  I'm truly a lawyer's daughter I guess.  And that lawyer father stated it best when he told me that, more than being books about a trial, or race relations, or the South in the turn of the century, To Kill a Mockingbird and Go Set a Watchmen are about one thing: a young girl (and later woman) growing up and figuring out who she is. 

If you have not yet read Go Set a Watchman you should put down whatever you are doing right now and go buy it.  And then reread To Kill a Mockingbird.  I haven't started another book yet because I can't bring myself too.  Like I've said before, it's one of those books that when you're done you just can't let go yet because you become so attached to the characters and the story that you aren't ready to meet a new set of them yet.  I may just have to reread it again..

Gratitude

"Joy is the simplest form of gratitude," ~ Kari Barth

I have a new theme in my classroom this year (as mandated by my school but I have since assumed the responsibility enthusiastically), and that is gratitude.  Gratitude is a small word with a pretty big umbrella for what it can be referring to.

During Grad school I read an article about Gratitude Journals.  A Gratitude Journal is a diary of sorts, in which you record one authentic thing that makes you happy every day.  The key word here is authentic.  Research has shown that people who practice genuine gratitude consistently saw benefits both in their health and their personal lives.  They had lower blood pressure, had more successful relationships, and experienced less negativity in their every day life.

So in 4th Grade we are keeping a class gratitude journal.  Each day one student is nominated to say one authentic thing that they are grateful for and we write it on the board.  We are compiling these to put together in a small book that will go home with each of the kiddos at the end of the year.

Along with our talk about gratitude today we discussed what happened on 9/11 and why people remember this day.  One of my students said, "On this day many years ago a bunch of tourists came over from the Middle East to attack America."  It was said with such earnest, let me just tell you how hard it was not to laugh that she mistook the word "tourists" for "terrorists."

They seem so harmless..

That said it made me realize how grateful I am to have these little humans in my life every day speaking with such wisdom, albeit sometimes mistaken. Especially as I go through a somewhat difficult time in my life, it's always nice to be reminded of the little things that we take for granted every day.

As the quote at the beginning of this post says, sometimes simply being happy and recognizing positivity in your life is showing gratitude.  I challenge you to start keeping a gratitude journal, and see if you notice any positive benefits in your own life.

Here's some more research on Gratitude Journals if you're interested:

1. Expanding the Science and Practice of Gratitude
2. In Praise of Gratitude

End of Summer

Nothing says summer's over like one of my students asking me a redundant question the first week of school.
"Ms. Baker, when it says 'show your work' do you need to show your work"
Annnnnnnddd we're back.
In lieu of that I realized I really let my writing slip in the summer months.  Instead I was consumed by horses, and making enough money to afford horses (it's funny how those two go hand in hand.)  Never fear, in spite of not writing, I still did a decent amount of reading.  There were far too many books to write individual posts about, but here are a few of the highlights:

The Good Girl

by Mary Kubica

This book was in my top two for this summer.  It is a page-turning thriller about Mia Dennett, the daughter of a high-power attorney who has been abducted.  The story is told from the perspective of multiple characters- Mia, the man who abducted her, the police officer trying to find them, and Mia's mother.  It brilliantly weaves in the personal lives of all of these characters, unrelated to the crisis at hand, and makes you feel sympathy for the most unlikely of the cast.

The book cryptically also starts every chapter with "before" or "after," and it isn't until the very end that you discover what event these are referring to. Having been compared frequently to Gone Girl (perhaps only because of the title) it is my opinion that this book trumps Gillian Flynn's counterpart by far.

The Girl on the Train

by Paula Hawkins

This book did not come to me highly recommended.  It was with more of a "eh... you should probably read it."  I think it was seriously undersold.  The book's main character is a struggling alcoholic who is recovering from her failed marriage.  He husband left her for another woman, and she has to ride by their house every day on the the train.

Let me tell you one thing about this book, if you've ever felt bad about the state of your life for any reason, Hawkin's book will make you feel much better.  The main character, Rachel, is a hot mess.  It's almost painful at times to read how much she is falling apart.  One day on her train ride however, she witnesses something strange and finds herself swept up in a kidnapping that took place one house down from that of her ex-husband.  Rachel becomes entranced with solving the mystery, and convinced that her ex-husband is involved all the while battling her addiction to alcohol and the memory-loss it causes.  Also, a great read!

The Nightingale

by Kristin Hannah

In the likeness of All the Light We Cannot See, The Nightingale is a period piece about the Holocaust and is set in France.  The book follows two sisters who are as different as they possibly could be, bouncing back and forth between Paris and a small country town.  One sister followed the cliche path in life- she married young, had a daughter, and finds herself husband-less in the war and struggling to put food on the table.  The other sister is rebellious and defiant and determined to fight for France.  Both sisters are trying to discover the part they are meant to play in the war.

The book was a little slow at times, and fellow readers have said to me "I honestly just skipped about 80 pages in the middle and didn't find that I had missed much."  I don't agree with this sentiment entirely, and I actually really enjoyed the book.  Although it definitely falls short to All the Light when it comes to World War II pieces from this year.

My favorite book of the summer is not on this post.  Stay tuned.... it deserved it's own post :)

The Lost Girls of Rome

by Donato Carrisi

Since I started my blog, (and for most of my life for that matter) most of my book recommendations have come from the Amazon list or from my mother.  This book, however, I chose on my own and so I was a little wary if it would end up being good or not!  I picked it simply because it has the word "Rome" in the title and I will gladly reading anything and everything that has even the slightest bit to do with Rome.  It turned out to be a great choice, I powered through this book in two and a half days on vacation in Florida with my family.

Carrisi is a native of Rome and is more well known for his international best seller The Whisperer which is definitely now on my list to read.  However, I was a huge fan of The Lost Girls of Rome.  This murder/abduction mystery follows the intertwining stories of Sandra, an investigator for Milan polizia, and a priest named Marcus.  The two are both investigating the disappearance of a young woman in Rome, that is linked to a serial killer who is found dying in his mansion in the opening scenes of the book.  In an underlying plot, the missing girl is also linked to Sandra's late husband's death which, up until now, had been presumed to be a suicide.

The book is set in Rome which, in my opinion, is the best place for any story to be set.  It weaves in the long presence of the Catholic church in Rome's history.  Though at first the different plots were a little bit confusing, as the story progresses it becomes more and more spellbinding.  If you're looking for a good murder-thriller pick up a copy of Carrisi's The Lost Girls of Rome today!

All the President's Men

by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward

As I make my way through the Amazon book list that I set out to read, I become increasingly more interested in how they picked the books.  Originally, I had believed that it was because these were the 100 most page-turning life-changing books that Amazon's editors have ever encountered.  And perhaps, for some people, books like All the President's Men and A Brief History of Time are page-turning and life-changing.  However, for me, this was not the case.

Again, this is not to say that this is not a good book.  All the President's Men is a detailed account of the Watergate scandal by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, the two reporters for the Washington Post who covered it.  It was later turned into a movie starring Robert Redford (who once worked at The Sink in Boulder, CO) and Dustin Hoffman.

It's a very interesting look into the world of journalism, especially in days before internet and cell phones existed or were prevalent.  The book goes source by source and fact by fact as they were interviewed and uncovered, respectively.  As someone who once dreamed of being a print journalist for a newspaper, it was pretty cool to get a glimpse into what that world would have been like.

I trekked my way through the book, mostly because I hate giving up on a book.  But this kind of dry nonfiction is certainly not my type of read.  I'm sorry Bob and Carl, this book probably would not have made my personal Top 100 Books to Read in a Lifetime list.

All the Light We Cannot See

by Anthony Doerr

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr is another new favorite book of mine.  As is to be predicted, it was recommended to me by my librarian mother.  It follows the stories of Marie-Laure, a blind French girl from Paris who is relocated to coastal Saint-Malo when the Nazi occupation arrives in France, and Werner, a talented young German boy who is recruited by the Nazis as a radio technician.

Saint-Malo, France

Every few chapters a third lesser story is weaved into the text.  This one involves a mythical diamond called the Sea of Flames which supposedly has the power to save the life of the person who possesses it, but wreak havoc on the lives of those he or she loves.  It is insinuated that Marie-Laure's father has been in possession of the stone since leaving Paris.

As the book goes on, Werner is eventually brought to Saint-Malo to find the location of covert radio transmissions that have been coming from the small sea-side town.  The source of the transmissions is, of course, Marie-Laure's Great Uncle with whom she is staying.  Doerr has an impeccable ability to make you feel strongly connected to both of his characters, in spite of Werner's Nazi affiliations.  You find yourself rooting for their two paths to eventually cross.

Saint-Malo circa 1944

In the final stages of the book, Saint-Malo is horrifically and devastatingly bombed to ruin.  Having done a little research, I discovered that this was actually a true historical event.  In 1944 US forces mistakenly believed Saint-Malo to be stronghold for German forces and ripped the city apart with bombs.  For more information check out this website.  More power to Anthony Doerr for being able write such an inventive fictional story and tie it into these real historical events.

All the Light is an epic saga that intricately incorporates history, love, and little bit of magic into one incredible story.  This is one of my favorite books I've read in awhile, I recommend picking up a copy immediately!

The Phantom Tollbooth

by Norman Juster

Apparently, one of the people who contributed to Amazon's Top 100 Books to Read in a Lifetime list really enjoyed bizarre children's books.  I thought A Wrinkle in Time was out there, but The Phantom Tollbooth really takes the cake in that category.  

This novel is about a young boy named Milo who is extremely bored with his really nice house, fancy school, and plethora of toys (your basic first world problems.)  Seemingly to save him from boredom, a tollbooth appears one day in his bedroom (standard.)  He sets it up and drives a toy car through it only to find himself transported to a distant world (basically every child's dream come true.)  There he meets Tock, the watchdog, (a dog that literally is also a watch) and the Humbug who accompany him on his journey.

The entire story is basically one big play on words.  It is extremely inventive and clever the way Juster takes ordinary words, like "watchdog," and gives them a whole new purpose in the book.  The first half of the book Milo and his companions are simply meeting different character in this new world.  About 150 pages in (finally) you're given a purpose to the book: Milo is to rescue Rhyme and Reason, two princesses that have been stowed away in the mystical Castle in the Air.  Because of the absence of Rhyme and Reason, nothing in this world makes any sense.

As the story goes on the characters get even more nonsensical and there is even a troop of demons.  They are not your average every day demons with horns and glowing eyes, however.  They are demons of everyday life.  Like the Demon of Petty Tasks who delays Milo with meaningless jobs or the Demon of Insincerity who can never be trusted to tell the truth.

The slow beginning aside, this book is actually quite clever.  Though some of it may go over the head of the average elementary school kid, it has a great message.  Life's demons are things like boredom, meaningless tasks, insincerity, and the other "bad guys" encountered in the book.  But if you look closely, you can find joy and excitement all around you.

The Good Girl

by Mary Kubica

Now, pretty much on principle I refuse to like just about anything that my mother recommends for me.  For this reason I have yet to watch The Big Bang Theory or How I Met Your Mother, two shows that my mother is strongly encouraging me to watch.

I do this because it just pains me so much when she's right.  Although, let's be honest here, more often than not mothers are right about most things (Yes, Mom, I said it.)  She was right when she got me to watch Downton Abbey (Only the best show in existence) and she was right when she convinced me to read The Good Girl.

This was Mary Kubica's first novel which, as I mentioned in my entry about Painted Horses, makes me especially passionate about it.  However, Kubica's novel is in a much higher league than that one in my opinion.  This is without a doubt one of my top three books that I have blogged about thus far (So yes, Mother you were right.)

In a Gone Girl-esque plot, this book is about the mysterious kidnapping of a young woman.  That woman, named Mia, comes from a wealthy but detached and dysfunctional family.  The kidnapping is told from the alternating perspectives of Mia's mother, the detective searching for her, and the kidnapper himself.

As the book develops we learn more about Mia's estranged relationship with her family, and the kidnapper's own difficult childhood.  This leads to a major plot twist in the book, that makes it the encapsulating and page-turning novel it is.  I recommend making this book the next book you read, without hesitation!  You will not regret it.

A Wrinkle In Time

by Madeleine L'Engle

A Wrinkle in Time is a book from Amazon's list that I know I read at some point as a child, but chose to reread it because I have no recollection of it.  Lo and behold, it is quite a different experience as an adult.  As a child, you are transported into a fantastical world of time travel and faraway planets.  As an adult you find yourself wondering.... what drugs was this author on that she could come up with this!?!

I did some research, and it turns out that the world created by Madeleine L'Engle was a result of her studies in the classics, quantum physics, and a short article about the so called "tesseract" which features heavily in the book.  Apparently a tesseract is a "real" thing, or at least theorized to be real.  L'Engle was so fascinated with the concept of the tesseract and time travel that she wrote her entire series because of it.

Illustration of a tesseract

A Wrinkle in Time follows the story of young Meg, an outcast and underachieving girl from a family of geniuses.  Her mother is a genius scientist, her twin brothers are exceptional in school, her baby brother speaks like he obtained a PhD, and then there's her father- a scientist for the government who has been missing for years without explanation.  Meg has always felt like the most disappointing member of her family, until one day she gets swept off with her brother and a random boy from school to save her father in the far reaches of the universe.

 

With the assistance of three mysterious beings named Mrs. Who, Mrs. Which, and Mrs. Whatsit, the trio encounters distant planets and monsters I couldn't even dream up while in search of Meg's father.  I read this book in about three days, unable to do much else.  It is strange, bizarre, and fafetched but fascinating all the same.  If you didn't read it as a child, you should definitely give it a go as an adult.

Painted Horses

by Malcolm Brooks

Painted Horses is Malcolm Brooks' first novel.  As a novelist myself in the final stages of (what I hope is) my first published work, this especially drew me to this book.  It has come highly recommended by my personal literature aficionado and librarian: my mother.  It also had received stellar reviews, which is what made my mother recommend it in the first place.

This novel is set in the vast landscape of Montana where young Catherine, an archaeologist from a well-bred East Coast family, finds herself at her first official job.  She is charged with uncovering Ancient Native American relics in a canyon which is to be flooded, in order to potentially preserve the land from the dam.  This canyon also has a roaming herd of mustangs that tie into the story line.  There were so many aspects to this that appealed to me: horses, archaeology, relics, young female protagonist.

Further, the book was a love story.  The two characters who you so badly want to be together are continuously drawn together and apart throughout the plot, leaving you always wanting more.  I was hooked on the love story, and for that reason couldn't put the book down. 

The plot drags on for quite awhile, introducing a few odd characters here and there, and then reaches its climax toward the very end.  The ending was a little bit of a disappointment to me, as it made so much of the plot seem all for naught.  But the ride building up to it was captivating.  It sold me on the open spaces and untamed wilderness of Montana, and now I find myself wanting to plan a trip to see it for myself.  And from what I've read, most people enjoyed the cliffhanger finale... so I guess you'll just have to find out for yourself.

Thunderstruck

by Erik Larson

I found this book in a Little Free Library in front of a house by my sister's house.  This is the coolest trend, if you have never heard of it.  This particular library was an adorable little elevated cupboard out in front of the house, that could be mistaken for a birdhouse.  The idea is that you can borrow any book you wish from the library if you replace it with a book that someone else could read.  I had been wanting to read Thunderstruck for awhile and was thrilled to find it there.

Erik Larson writes entirely in my favorite genre: historical novel.  Although, I know there are not many other people out there besides my dad who agree with me on that subject... 

The book opens on a murder that occurred in London and the search for the fugitive killer. Then it follows two stories, one of Guglielmo Marconi who was attempting to invent wireless communication, and the other of Peter Crippen, a doctor who has been dealt an unfortunate lot in life and is seeking happiness.  As the book unfolds you begin to understand how the murder, Crippen, and Marconi's invention are all interconnected.

The second half of the book, once the murder has occurred and the chase has begun is thrilling.  I'll admit, I skimmed through a lot of the beginning bits that went into great detail about the invention of the wireless, as some of it seemed like a little too much information.  But, Larson has a masterful way of writing an entirely true story in a way that reads like fiction.  I saw this also in his book In the Garden of Beasts, the story of the US Ambassador to Berlin during the beginnings of the Nazi regime. That book is also worth a read.

Though it may be personal taste, I highly recommend any of Larson's books.  Many of them are New York Times' Bestsellers and all are intriguing.  Though this book was not on Amazon's list, it's certainly one of my recommendations!

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius

by Dave Eggers

I apologize again for taking so long in between posts.  I've actually read three books since my last post but have lacked the motivation to write about them.  To be honest, I have been avoiding writing this post because I was feeling guilty that this book did not quite live up to the hype in my opinion, and I've already said that about a few on Amazon's List.

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius is a memoir by Dave Eggers about the years succeeding his parents' death when he is charged with taking care of his middle-school-aged little brother.  The book follows the tragic and at times comedic story of the two brothers as they battle the norms of everyday life in their not-so-normal situation.

I had been extremely excited about this book because I saw Dave Eggers' TedTalk a few years ago about 826 Valencia, a free tutoring organization for inner city kids he created.  If you have not watched it, I highly recommend watching it here.  Eggers has a dry and brutally honest sense of humor that is extremely funny and I had been optimistic his book would go quite the same way as his TedTalk.

Boasting a front as a "Pirate Supply Store" 826 Valencia inspired many other similar free tutoring organizations around the world.

And if I'm being honest it was very funny at times, particularly in the beginning before anyone had died.  However, true to the title, it was also at times utterly sad.  To be fair, Eggers warns you of this in his forward in which he states that beyond the first hundred or so pages the book "Actually isn't any good," and the author himself recommends stopping reading right there.

The author

To the book's credit, I got pretty busy and distracted during reading and I don't think devoted the attention to it that it deserved.  In addition, my only real complaint is that it drags on a lot about subplots that seem superfluous to the actual storyline but do in fact have a connection to the greater existential meaning behind the book.  So, all in all, I would recommend reading this book to develop your own opinion; but go in fully knowing that it is at times wordy and at other times truly truly sad.


**Side Note:  I just watched the film version of one of my previously reviewed books, The Fault in Our Stars, and cried my eyes out at the ending.  It's well worth a watch.