In addition to the 1250 AP Lit essays scored in Louisville, I spend summers away from required reading to plow through a dozen or so books I've acquired since the last summer break. Here's what I've read so far:
- The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
(Kindle edition) - If you've been treated for a major disease in the past thirty years, you owe a debt of gratitude to Henrietta, whose killer cancer cells continued to grow after her death. These HeLa cells are cultivated around the world, but her family never knew the truth about what happened to Henrietta's cells until author Rebecca Skloot entered their lives.
- Faceless Killers
- Turns out that Stieg Larsson isn't the only Swedish mystery novelist. Henning Mankel's been doing it for years. Faceless Killers is the first of ten novels to feature the work of detective Kurt Wallender
- The Shallows: What The Internet Is Doing To Our Brains
- If you teach, you need to read this book. Nicholas Carr explores the science behind neuroplasticity - how our brains change based on what we "feed" them. Long story short: If you've read up to this sentence, you're doing much better than the average web reader.
- Tinkers
- Paul Harding won the Pulitzer Prize for his debut novel, and it is easy to see why. As an old man lies dying, he drifts in and out of consciousness, recalling his life as well as the lives of his father and grandfather. Harding does not employ a traditional narrative, so don't expect to be pulled in a la The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
. Instead, be patient. Savor the poetic prose, especially Harding's attention to the wonder of the natural world.
Back to my reading. Next up: Wesley Stace's
by George
, a story about a boy, his grandfather, and his grandfather's ventriloquist dummy. The dummy "narrates" much of the story.
Here's Nicholas Carr to explain The Shallows on The Colbert Report:
Have you checked out Yann Martel's 'Beatrice and Virgil,' yet? I'm contemplating making a Schuler's shopping trip and I haven't heard much about it...
ReplyDeleteI just started reading 'The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing To Our Brains' because you posted it here. I'm about 23 pages in (via Google Books) and the only reason I stopped reading it was because Google Books preview only goes to 23 pages. I haven't noticed anything wrong in my head with reading long articles/book. I am definitely buying it the next time I stop by Barnes and Noble! Thank you for the book suggestion!
ReplyDeleteJW - I have Beatrice and Virgil in my stack of summer reading! TW - I think you'll enjoy the rest of The Shallows - it's an eye-opener!
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