book talk: Beatrice & Virgil

Yann Martel's new novel, Beatrice & Virgil, is rather fantastic. However, it's a "the less you know going into it, the more fun you have figuring things out on your own" type of novel, so no lengthy chit chat here.

Fans of Life of Pi will enjoy seeing animals at the center of the storytelling again. The novel is worth your time, and it shouldn't take too much of it to complete. However, while the novel is just short of 200 pages, it promises to be a conversation starter. I'm looking forward to discussing the novel and figuring out what I missed on my first read.

That's all I'm saying. Well, that and this: do NOT go looking through the reviews and such that are out there already. Some of the reviewers have no concept of what spoilers are...

What I should have chosen first...

A while back, I posted a few books that I was considering reading at the time. Let the Great World Spin fizzled out about 80 pages in. I enjoyed Plainsong but not enough to go out and buy Eventide immediately. Tonight, (or this morning or whatever) I found myself hooked on this fantastic novel by Jeffrey Lent, In the Fall.

Before I continue, here are two facts you need to know about me. After something like 8 or 9pm, books make me sleepy. Really sleepy. Also, books that come highly recommended or with loads of unbelievable praise don't so well with me. I like to find things on my own instead of refinding what someone else just found... Whatever...

Now that you know that, know this: In the Fall has me up reading until 4am. I've not read nearly as widely as many of my friends, but I can count on one hand the books I've been this excited about recently. Seriously.

Do yourself a favor - grab a copy of this book.

Fair warning - The novel doesn't have some sort of earth shattering opening. (well, the prologue has me thinking still, but that's not the point...) The first of the three "books" brings the narrative that's been picking up steam over 150 pages to a full boil. If you agree to pick up this book, you agree to read through the end of the first book. Also, apologies to those of you who have read this book and are much better suited for writing this sort of endorsement... Feel free to fill in any cracks I've left/correct any mistakes or places I may have misled people...

The Future of Publishing

As a Kindle user, I've had the thoughts about if in X amount of years, all my students will walk into class with something like that.

In some ways, that would be great.

In others, well... I'm not so sure.

I like the feel of a book in my hands, and that sensation is definitely lost during the Kindle (or any ebook) experience. This video takes an interesting look at some of that future.

The clip is likely to have some place in a classroom about making snap judgements or assumptions about others. Be sure you watch it all.

Also, to be fair, I found this video at Lemuria's blog (here). Lemuria books is a fantastic little independent bookstore in Jackson, MS which, one day, I will have the privilege of entering. Until then, I visit here. Thanks to them for the video.

McCarthy Covers

I know there are a few people who read this who are also big Cormac McCarthy fans. This link, shown to me by a good friend, is all about the new set of covers that McCarthy's books are being reissued with (maybe just in England? I'm not so sure...).

I tend to agree with the some of the commenters who voiced concerns about dropping the subtitles for Blood Meridian, and the covers are far from perfect; if nothing else, they're something pretty to look at and tempt you to rebuy copies of books you already own.

Also, I tend to like the covers more for the books I've not read. Not sure what that means, but it's something to think about.

Enjoy.

Edit: I like this cover for The Road better than the eventual design...

two things... eh, sorta three

First thing.

I've continued to support my problem of buying more books than I can possibly find time to read by purchasing an Advance Reading Copy (ARC) of Yann Martel's Beatrice & Virgil (the one that won't be in bookstores until sometime in mid-April). I'm really looking forward to reading it for a couple of reasons. Despite the fact that I was annoyed when given Life of Pi in my freshmen English class in college (I wanted something I had already read. You know, to prevent me having to do much work...) I actually enjoyed reading the parts of it I read to write the paper. I wasn't on the English teacher track at that point, and I'm now a little bit disgusted with myself for not reading this a little more closely. Oh well.

Not sure which is the actual coverart. Or which I like more. Guess I'll just be surprised. :)

The book is fairly short, but it promises to leave me thinking for a good, long while afterwards (which I prefer greatly to the tome that's answered all its questions 50 pages before the author stopped writing...). It'll also be nice easy reading after the other stuff I'm trying to tackle this spring break.

Second thing.

N. T. Wright's book, After You Believe, is not easy reading. It's much different from the two previous books in the same line of thought in both density of information (is this even a thing? it's the best way I know to describe what I see on the page... nearly every paragraph begs to be read and reread to start to move towards understanding his point) and his decision to express his point with much more theological language than I'm used to encountering these days. I'm getting acclimated again, it's just taking a little while.

However, this is not what I really have to share.

Amid the dense, theological language, Wright turns to Hamlet to help illustrate one of his points in the second chapter. While discussing how living a life of "virtue," or Christian character as he has carefully constructed thus far, often requires readjusting our nature to what we may be comfortable with at the moment, Wright quotes this passage from act 3, scene 4:

Refrain tonight;

And that shall lend a kind of easiness

To the next abstinence; the next more easy;

For use almost can change the stamp of nature,

And either curb the devil, or throw him out,

With wondrous potency. (lines 165-170)

Wright's inclusion of this quotation allows him to draw connections to what's going on in the "religious world" (I hate this term, but can't come up with an applicable alternative at the moment...) at the time Shakespeare penned these words and to offer encouragement given the difficulties of beginning to engrain this a type of life into our daily schedules until it becomes second nature.

Undoubtedly, I have misrepresented some of what I understood Wright to have said and am likely to have simply misunderstood some of what he intended in these passages. His book is challenging me to think more about how I think and how I live, and I can't recommend it highly enough. Hopefully I haven't scared anyone off from it. The best thing for both of us would be to talk about what he's mentioning in the book and figure it out together.

Anyone have any insight on extra application of the passage from Hamlet? I'm very interested in any additional perspective (literary/theologically/whatever). He seems to stick to a few stories that he continually references, so your help will really help me as I continue through this. Thanks.

also, this Thursday, March Madness vs. Incredible books on my shelf. Not sure who's going to win that fight...

Books that aren't for English class/New thinking excitement

Through several of the talks over the past three weeks at Church and in our comgroup, I've really felt like it's time I started reading about how Church happens again. Starting around this time of year during my sophomore year in college, I began to think about how Church traditionally happened around me and how that lines up with the models depicted in the New Testament (see Acts 2 as a good starting point).

Tonight, I started reading N. T. Wright's After You Believe.

I'm excited about the challenges the book is sure to bring about in me and the opportunity to write about how I'm being changed.

Hopefully it'll spur me on to some good topics to blog about as well.

teacher stuff

Trying to explain this to people is complicated and doesn't lend itself to the blog very well. Also, at some point, I started to address my co-workers in the second person. If that's not you (read- if you just asked yourself what second person is), then sorry.

I teach with a fantastic group of people. They are a creative, insightful group individuals who care about both their subject matter and their students. They manage to successfully earn students' trust while continuing to challenge their classes to excellence. Furthermore, they're a blast to hang out with.

In general, I enjoy my job and feel like I'm keeping up my end of the bargain as a teacher.

However, I'm worried about a few things. I'll try to explain.

Reality #1: I've taught two new classes this year. When I'm not teaching the class I taught five times a day last year, (and sometimes even when I'm in front of those students) I'm generally afraid of what might happen. One of those anything and everything can and will go wrong situations...

I'm not sure why, but it genuinely freaks me out to tackle new material for the first or second time in front of 15 year olds.

Reality #2: I'm pretty sure that most of the people who occasionally offer me a flattering comment have no idea how unsure I am of myself when teaching my new classes this year. (And for those scoring at home, this applies to both courses I've taken on this year that aren't about American lit...)

Also, I'm well aware that I'm the guy who's always bugging someone with questions about this and that or how this happened or what went well a certain part of today and all that sort of thing. I don't know any other way to learn how to do this job.

Reality #3: If I had fallen into some other situation where the people around me weren't willing to explain lessons to me over and over, I would have quit. A long time ago, I would have walked and never thought twice about it.

That's not ok.

How can so many fantastic teachers exist around me and I not have a good way to learn from them?

(I suppose some witty/ironic thing about how there is now way for the teachers to teach the new teachers how to teach well should appear here... I'm not feelin it right now, but know that it should be said. )

Beyond looking at a calendar or sacrificing a planning period to watch someone else teach, there aren't many good ways to figure out how all that great teaching that happens in your classrooms comes to life.

In a meeting today, discussion went round and round about the merits and ills of submitting written lesson plans. I've seen fewer topics divide people and spur on pessimism like this one.

So, what's in it for you to write lesson plans?

If nothing else, they would help me learn to be a better teacher. If you write them how they make sense to you, it will help me learn to think differently. I would love to look through the notes my friends have made about how they teach The Road, Catch-22, Midsummer, Romeo & Juliet, 1984, Huck Finn, and a host of other works to see not only what my students may have discussed in the past that I could draw connections to with my units, but also to get ideas about what I might be able to adapt from other courses or levels to fit in my own classroom.

It's no big deal to me what the administration might do with the lesson plans developed by our department. I'm interested in looking at how you convince students to learn in your classroom. I don't want to know every gory detail about how class went or see some foolishly complex documents completed about what's happening in your room. What I'd enjoy seeing want to see is how you move from one thing to the next. I want to see the connections you make and the discussions you love having with certain literature. When I get stuck, it's the kind of resource that could both help my attitude and predicament.