Finished!

I finished Learning to Swim yesterday and all in all, it was pretty good.  The author did a fabulous job building suspense in such a way that you couldn't stop reading and also couldn't wait for the surprise you knew she had in store.  I don't want to give away the ending, but I will let you know that the dad was an honest guy and not involved in the kidnapping whatsoever.  I was very happy about that, as you want to see the best in people and he genuinely seemed thrilled when Paul was returned.  I don't want to give anything away though in case someone is interested in reading it.

So I've reached (actually exceeded) my reading goal of 42 books in 2013.  And that was starting in August when we began blogging.  Not too shabby for a mom of three little ones who works full time!  I am thinking of making my 2014 goal 75 books.  Hopefully I can make that happen.  What will your reading goal for 2014 be? Time to start thinking about it.  We will be updating our goodreads goal in January.  Happy holidays!

Learning to Swim

I am about  65% through Learning to Swim by Sara Henry.  I actually saw this title on the Cincinnati Public Library downloadables page and it sounded really intriguing.  I had never heard of the author before, but I really enjoy her style and the plot is engaging.

Summary:
Troy (a girl) is riding on a ferry near Virginia.  She sees another ferry crossing paths with hers and sees a young child being thrown overboard.  She sees his eyes specifically, pleading with hers and makes the snap decision to jump in.  She swims towards where she saw him go under and eventually rescues him.  After a long swim to shore, she discovers two somewhat strange things: no one is waiting for him (she was expecting ambulances and a worried set of parents) and there is an adult sweatshirt tied around him, binding his arms to his body so he can't move.  This was intentional.  Troy probably doesn't make the best decision here.  She fails to involve authorities and takes the boy back to her house.  She feeds and bathes him and makes sure he is comfortable and then tries to investigate who he is and who did this to him.  Paul, the boy, is Canadian and eventually reveals to Troy that he and his mother were kidnapped together.  His mother was killed and he was kept in a room for months before thrown off the ferry.  His father is still living in Canada.

Troy decides to go and see the father for herself to determine if she thinks he is innocent or was involved in the kidnapping.  After their initial visit, she feels that the father, Phillipe, is innocent and therefore reunites the boy with his dad.  Paul has really bonded with Troy though, and so Troy accompanies the boy to Canada and stays in the family house for awhile to help ease the transition.  Once there, it becomes clear that the lead investigator is suspicious of Phillipe and so Troy starts digging around in the house and on the family's home computer.

Connections:
It's kind of a mystery novel and in some ways reminds me of a couple of my favorite authors: Diane Chamberlain, Jodi Picoult, and Gillian Flynn.  Sara Henry really has me curious about Phillipe and if he was really involved in the kidnapping.  I also wonder what will happen to Paul if his dad is/was involved.

There have been several real life kidnapping cases, where children are abducted and forced to live in a small, secret space for long periods of time.  Most notably, the Ariel Castro victim's in Cleveland, Ohio.  Fortunately for Paul, he was only held in captivity for five months, but you can see through the author's details that it has really impacted him.  For example, he didn't have any access to laundry, so he could rinse out his own clothes in the sink and hang them to dry.  He started doing this at home, even though his father was very wealthy and he had a washer and dryer (and even a family maid to was his clothes for him).  He is having a hard time letting go of some of these survival tactics he developed while in captivity.

I'm glad it is winter break, as I know I will have time to finish this book soon and get started on another one.  Happy holidays!

Google Glasses

This weekend I was able to try out Google glasses.  My older brother works for Google and he just got a pair last week.  (Right now, buying them is pretty exclusive.  You have to have an invitation to buy them and they are $1500).  But, since my brother owned a pair and we had talked about them in 451, I decided I had to try them on and take a picture.  Since he had some inside scoop, I thought I would share a few things I learned about them.  First of all, Google is not planning to release them for purchase to the general public until the cost is down to around $500.  Secondly, since they are still a very new technology, its abilities are somewhat limited.  Here are my honest thoughts:

1. The screen you saw while wearing them was a true holographic computer screen, displayed above my right eye, a bit in the distance.
2. There were not actual lenses over my eyes...I thought there would be.  According to my bro, they will be available with prescription lenses as well.
3. The blye part near my right eye could be used as a motion sensor to switch between screens and see new information, kind of like how your finger swipes a smartphone. 

Will I own my own pair in the near future?  Probably not.  Pretty much everything they can do can also be done on my smartphone and I think it looks a little too Jetson-like for me at this point in time.  Regardless, I'm still excited I got to try them on! 

 

Now I know this technically is not independent reading BUT it does connect to 451, so I feel like I can share it on my reading blog.

The Rosie Project

I just started reading this last night, at the recommendation from my mom.  We share a Kindle account and she had bought this book and was telling me about it so I decided to give it a go.   Couldn't hurt, as it was already paid for!

It seems kind of like a "chick lit" book so far, but I haven't read one of those in awhile, so it's kind of relaxing.  The protagonist is a young adult/middle-aged man who has asperger's syndrome.  If you know nothing about this, please go back and click on the word Asperger's to take you to an informational piece.  Anyways, Don is highly intelligent, a professor.  And he is healthy, works out, has a good job, etc.  One of his few friends (a common quality of people with asperger's is social awkwardness) suggests he would be a good husband, so he decided to get married.  In the first 10% that I've read, Don decided a wife is a good idea, and he may as well make his search for a wife a scientific one.  He creates an interest inventory that he gives to women, where their answers must line up to his very specific responses.  He goes on two dates (one is more of a young professional's group dinner).

I already know from the back of the book that he is going to meet someone named Rosie who does NOT fit his ideal description of a wife but that love doesn't always follow a mathematical equation.  I totally agree with this.  I used to have this whole list of qualities that my husband would have to have, and when I met him, I just knew he was the one.  The list of criteria didn't really matter, so I'm assuming this is what will happen to Don in regards to Rosie.

I do have a few questions.  Hopefully I'll be able to return and update this post at the end of the week; I have a feeling it is going to be a quick read.

• How do Don and Rosie meet?
• Are there any funny stories of bad dates before he meets her (based on the writing so far, I will predict yes)
• Has this author written any other novels?  I'd never heard of him before.
• What about Rosie will not meet Don's ideal criteria?  (For example, he wants someone who enjoys red meat and is always on time, among others)

Happy reading!

Fahrenheit 451

I have always loved teaching Fahrenheit 451. There are many things I love about this book:

1. Students almost always enjoy it.  Especially because dystopian novels are "in" right now and this somewhat fits the bill.
2. Bradbury's writing style is phenomenal.  He has such interesting figurative language and imagery…something we will be looking at and discussing in detail later this week.
3. Many of his predictions for futuristic America are correct.  He predicts we will become complacent, addicted to television and that human relationships will suffer as a result.  This is somewhat true, though change television with smartphones and you have yourself a connection!
4. I have always loved science fiction books, so the fact that I get to teach an entire sci fi novel just makes me happy!

Currently, my students are all through part one of the novel.  We have been introduced to the four main characters: Montag, Mildred, Clarisse, and Beatty.  We have been introduced to the setting: futuristic America where technology has really overtaken many of the human relationships and/or responsibilities.  And we have been introduced to the conflict: Montag realizes books may have valuable information and perhaps he should stop burning them (his job as a fireman is to burn books in case you have never read the novel).

I saw this video on the news the other day and it totally seemed like something Ray Bradbury might have predicted:

The thought that this could be in our near future is just insane to me!  (Though I can't say I wouldn't use it; I'm a big fan of Amazon).   I also read an article about it that suggested you could order something online and have it at your door in thirty minutes or less.  The article also discusses the current limitations on this service.  What an innovative idea!  Have you seen this video?  What are your thoughts?  Any other cool new technologies you know about?  I'd love to hear details!

Bloggers of the Week

Drumroll, please!

For bell 1, I love Gwen's blog, which can be found here.  Gwen does a really great job maintaining focus in her posts and providing a lot of specific details from her reading.  Yea, Gwen!

In bell 2, Tori is still rockin' the blog with honest, reflective posts and making great connections with texts.

If you are in bell 4, check out Michael Hall's blog.  He's done a great job writing with a casual voice and making connections.  Keep up the great work!

And finally for bell 5, Maddie has a great first post of the trimester where she asks questions and makes predictions about Unspoken.  Perhaps you can help her answer some of her questions if you've read this before.

Also, this week we are quad blogging for the first time and our featured class is Mrs. Bross, who teaches in Z3.  Check out her blog here and then make sure to comment on her students' blogs.

Invisible Underwear, Bus Stop Mommies and Other Things True to Life

What a title, right?  I started reading this book of columns written by Karen Rinehart before Thanksgiving break and started up again today.  She is most definitely a humor columnist.  Her topics range from life, child rearing, school, fashion, hobbies, survival, etc.  Being a parent of three wee ones, I can totally relate to a lot of her posts and how chaotic parenting young children can be. 

Karen retired as a columnist after ten years in the profession and now blogs here.  I had a great time reading more of her current work. 

Below is one of her recent blog posts:

As If I Need Another Reason to Love Nordstrom

11/25/2013

 

I expect it. I know it’s going to happen. So why do I act surprised, shocked and insulted every time retailers pull out the Christmas merchandise before I've purchased my Halloween candy?  I don’t get it.

I wandered into the big box home improvement store in desperate need of a new grill cover, only to find the entire “Outdoor Entertaining” section gone. In its place were inflatable santas, dancing reindeer, singing squirrels and cube shaped, glitter coated illuminated snowmen. I did find a box of ornaments in the shape of a grill, bbq tongs and picnic table.  But still no cover for our grill—not even a tiny one for the grill ornament.

A week later, the same store's sales flyer arrived announcing their, “New Expanded Assortment of Holiday Decorations!” What'd they do—temporarily take over the plumbing department too? Below the pictures of pre-lit artificial trees, live poinsettia plants and a wide variety of boxed lights, were cordless powered scissors, drill kits, socket wrench sets and stainless steel gas grills (still no covers). Those are " holiday decorations"? I don’t get it.

Around the corner from my neighborhood, on a busy, narrow, curvy road, a family faithfully fills their front yard with a  dozen 30 foot tall inflatables like the ones at the above mentioned store (have yet to see socket wrenches hanging from their trees but it's still early). To date, not a single gawking motorist has driven their car into the zip line Santa, giant bell-ringing, stocking cap-clad inflatable squirrel or neighbor's brick wall. I don’t get that.

A couple weeks before Thanksgiving, I was trolling the mall in search of the Perfect Office Party Dress That Wouldn't Eat Into My Fruitcake Budget. There were Christmas decorations in every square foot of the upscale mall -- 50 foot tall ornately adorned trees, “Holiday Sales” and “One Day Early Shopper Specials” in every store. Little kids were lined up to see Santa. The mall corridors were lined with seasonal-only shops on wheels. The Hallmark store stuffed my favorite line of greeting cards in the stockroom to make way for singing, dancing and flashing Limited Edition ornaments and countless cards with red envelopes.

When I finally realized every perfect party dress required double layers of Spanx or a second mortgage, I surrendered to the humility of wearing last year's dress and started the trek back to my car. As I comforted myself with the knowledge my glove compartment contained a secret stash of ibuprofen and dark chocolate, a strange gleam caught my eye.

I stopped in front of the most inspiring department store window display I'd ever seen—more breath taking than the windows I've had the privilege of fogging up during Christmas weeks spent in New York City, Rome and Paris. This display consisted of nothing but a few clean cardboard boxes and simple lettering on the window: “You might notice our store is kind of bare.  We will not deck our halls until after Thanksgiving. Why?  We prefer to celebrate one holiday at a time.”

Now that I get.  Finally. God Bless you, Nordstrom. God bless us, Everyone.

Mrs. Palmer's comments:

I have to admit, I am one of those people who have had my Christmas decorations up at my house since a week before Thanksgiving, but I do hate when the mall is decked out from October.  I really like all of her hyperboles, like "When I finally realized every perfect party dress required double layers of Spanx or a second mortgage" and "There were Christmas decorations in every square foot of the upscale mall -- 50 foot tall ornately adorned trees, “Holiday Sales” and “One Day Early Shopper Specials” in every store."  Hyperboles are a literary device that I use frequently when speaking, but not so much when writing.  I guess I always fear they will sound cliché, but that is my new goal.  Try to incorporate hyperboles into my writing.  For Karen Rinehart, it's almost like a trademark.

If you liked this column, you should totally check out her website.  There's a ton more where that came from!