The best part of reading books for me is doing it in community with others. That said, one might think that I join book clubs. I don’t. What happens often is that I read books that others recommend to me and then follow up with that person as I’m reading. It’s a great way to discover new stories, ideas, and authors from people I admire. The best part about this is that I often recommend these same books to others down the road. It’s a virtuous circle!
Of the 17 books I read this year, several were recommended to me. Father-ish by Clint Edwards, offered by a family member, was quirky and funny. It reminded me not to take my many father-failures to heart. Such a Pretty Smile by Kristi Demeester was referred to me by a few students. While the genre (horror) is not my cup of tea, we read it simultaneously and had some good conversations about it. I read Gholdy Muhammad’s Unearthing Joy with a push from a colleague. It was a great follow-up to her first book, which I really enjoyed. Decoding Boys by Cara Netterson, which I read after a family member, was a fascinating look into boyhood. If there’s one piece of advice that I learned from this book, it is this: As boys age and begin to pull away, do everything you can to stay close to them, even if they despise you for it. The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa was recommended to me by my assistant principal and was standout from the year. It brought compassion, human connection, childhood, and math all under one roof. Painless Statistics by fellow math teacher Patrick Honner was an outstanding way to brush up on my stats. While I didn’t read this book alongside anyone, and it wasn’t recommended, I know Patrick personally. It felt like I was in conversation with him as I read.
Another theme in my reading this year emerged from pursuing a newfound passion: learning piano. I’ve wanted to learn to play for most of my life. As I gained momentum in my playing, my practice took away from the time I would have probably spent reading books. It was a sacrifice I gladly made. Over the course of the year, playing piano stirred in me a growing interest to learn more about the instrument itself (I know very little) and people who love it. Thad Carhart’s The Piano Shop on the Left Bank was a homey memoir of a one man’s relationship with a neighborhood piano shop and the many learnings that result from it. Grand Obsession by Perri Knize, about the author’s unwavering search for and maintenance of her grand piano, stayed with me long after I put it down.
This year, I have two honorable mentions: All the Living and the Dead by Hayley Campbell and Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. All the Living was unusually gripping because it featured profiles of individuals who make it their job to handle and care for the dead. The writing was superb. I’ve never read Frankenstein before, but I picked it up, on a limb around Halloween and never put it down. Bizarre and unexpectedly touching, I loved every bit of it.
bp
lazy 0ch0 