This post qualifies for the 64 Challenge because my reading life in 2019 was a direct result of my goals as a reading teacher -- to keep to a personal reading goal, to know more about myself and my reading identity, to read more books I can promote to my students, and to increase my knowledge. All of these things happened, and more. I'm documenting this here mostly for myself -- but then, that is what most of these blog posts are anyway, right?
Statistics:
Adult fiction -- 17
Young Adult/Middle Grades -- 38
Poetry -- -9
Nonfiction -- 24
Professional -- 5
Authors I read the most:
Barbara Kingsolver (5)
Jewell Parker Rhodes (3)
Nonfiction books that were fascinating a variety of ways:
The Library Book by Susan Orlean
Just Mercy: A True Story for the Fight for Justice by Bryan Stevenson
The Soul of America: The Battle for Our Better Angels by Jon Meacham
The 57 Bus: A True Story of Two Teenagers and the Crime That Changed Their Lives by Dashka Slater
Three Harrowing Memoirs:
The Light Years by Chris Rush
Shout by Laurie Halse Anderson
Educated by Tara Westover
Books I read in one day:
Orbiting Jupiter by Gary D. Schmidt
Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson
Shout by Laurie Halse Anderson
Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai
Adult fiction books that lived up to the hype I'd heard about them:
The Dutch House by Anne Patchett
Unsheltered by Barbara Kingsolver
Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson
Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichi
Books by authors I know personally or have met:
Mobius Strips and Other Stories by Tom DeMarchi
Khmer Girl by Peou Tuy
Spirits on an Island by Virginia L. Amsler
On the Street of Divine Love by Barbara Hamby
Most overrated adult fiction book:
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens (a crawDUD)
The "I thought I was done with John Green books" turnaround when I read...
Turtles All the Way Down
Young Adult/Middle Grade Books that were absolute delights:
The First Rule of Punk by Celia C. Perez
Lucky Broken Girl by Ruth Behar
Song for a Whale by Lynne Kelly
Chained by Lynne Kelly
House Arrest by K.A. Holt
Orbiting Jupiter by Gary D. Schmidt
Young Adult/Middle Grade Books that take issues head-on and do it well:
Dear Martin by Nic Stone (racism)
Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes (Emmett Till, Tamir Rice)
Ninth Ward by Jewell Parker Rhodes (Hurricane Katrina)
Towers Falling by Jewell Parker Rhodes (9/11)
Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai (refugees after Vietnam fell)
All American Boys by Justin Reynolds (racism)
Genesis Begins Again by Alicia D. Williams (skin color)
Harbor Me by Jacqueline Woodson (ICE raids, racism, and more)
I need to read more books by:
Nic Stone
Poetry that as difficult to read because of subject matter, but I persevered:
Whereas by Layli Long Soldier
Another America by Barbara Kingsolver
Books with spiritual and natural world themes which enlightened:
Standing on the Edge:Finding Freedom Where Fear and Courage Meet by Joan Halifax
On the Brink of Everything: Grace, Gravity, and Getting Older by Parker J. Palmer
Red: Passion and Patience in the Desert by Terry Tempest Williams
Best Professional Books:
We Got This: Equity, Access, and the Quest to Be Who Our Students Need Us to Be by Cornelius Minor
Disrupting Thinking: Why How We Read Matters by Kylene Beers and Robert E. Probst
Books that gave me faith in humanity and possibilities for America:
The Shortest Way Home by Pete Buttigieg
Gumption: Relighting the Torch of Freedom with America's Gutsiest Troublemakers by Nick Offerman
The Soul of America: The Battle for Our Better Angels by Jon Meacham
Standing on the Edge:Finding Freedom Where Fear and Courage Meet by Joan Halifax
On the Brink of Everything: Grace, Gravity, and Getting Older by Parker J. Palmer
Small Wonder by Barbara Kingsolver
Books that have sat on my shelves for years, and I FINALLY read them:
Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler (the longest -- I've had it since the late 1980s!)
Ceremony by Leslie Marmom Silko
Pigs in Heaven by Barbara Kingsolver
Books I had started in earlier years and finally finished this year:
When You're Falling, Dive: Lessons in the Art of Living by Mark Matousek
Storyworthy by Matthew Dicks
Transfiguration: A Meditation on Transforming Ourselves and Our World by John Dear
Lester Higata's 20th Century by Barbara Hamby
Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris
The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiessen
Small Wonder by Barbara Kingsolver
(and all the poetry books, as I rotate 7 of them a week, and read one a day)
Books I got to share in the classroom with my students:
The Bridge Home by Padma Venkatraman
Peak by Roland Smith
March Book One by John Lewis and Andrew Aydin
Books I read with the CLMS Book Club I started:
The Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene
Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinnelli
That Was Then, This is Now by S.E.Hinton
Izzy, Willy-Nilly by Cynthia Voigt
The book I know I recommended the most:
The Library Book by Susan Orlean
LOOKING TOWARD 2020
My goal will be 108 books.
I want to alternate between white authors and authors of color or global lit. I'd also like to pick up the number of adult fiction I'm reading.
I have three books on my shelf which have been there for many years that I have targeted to read because they were either Pulitzer Prize or National Book Award winners (The Road, The Color Purple, and Middlesex)
I want to finally read Little Women (the movie was amazing and I want to compare), along with the book March by Geraldine Brooks, a Pulitzer Prize winner, which brings to life the father of the March sisters.
REFLECTION
I learned a lot about making time for reading. There were a few times I took a little time "off" from major reading, but I already have an established habit of reading certain things in the morning. So, I'm never really off.
I liked having the goal, and having online pages with other teachers doing the same kind of challenge. Some of the books I read and really loved I was directed to by these teachers. For most of the books I read, I create a reading goal sheet to help keep me on track -- the same one I teach my students to use.
My reading identity has been changing steadily over the past few years. Occasionally I focus in on one author (something I used to always do), but now I find I prefer to bounce around a little. Opening myself up to literature from other cultures and experiences is a big direction for me. But, as I've learned from doing the book club, it is also good to dig back and find the lost gems, the classics that have been overlooked. Going to try to keep that balance.
All in all, the year didn't end up as I originally thought it would, and that is quite all right! I didn't necessarily read what I thought I would read. On the other hand, I read more books than I ever thought possible. I thought I read a lot in 2018, and it turned out it was just 35! So this has been a great experience, and I intend on moving forward.
The expansion in my thinking has been noticeable and incredible. It's like I am continually seeing new colors in a rainbow, or new facets on a diamond. It's a joy and a delight and I am grateful to every writer who has the courage to get their books in print. I will do my best to uphold my end as a reader!
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