Letters to a Young Teacher - Jonathan Kozol

I read my first Jonathan Kozol book, Savage Inequalities for a sociology book report my senior year in high school. I'd seen Kozol's books on my mom's bookshelves for years, and once I got through the first, I wondered what had taken my so long to check him out (I also recommend Amazing Grace, Death at an Early Age, and Rachel and Her Children). Kozol, a former teacher himself, has become one of the nation's leading critics of the American educational system. Through his books, he consistently lends his voice to the poor, minorities, single mothers, the working class - everyone who is trying hard to get by, but finding themselves jammed up against so many obstacles. Kozol's latest book is a collection of letters he wrote to "Francesca" - a first year second-grade teacher in Boston. His letters are filled with encouragement and support for the frustrated first-timer, as well as funny and touching stories about Kozol's own early teaching years and the children that have shaped his view of our current system. As much as we all know how horribly unequal our public schools are, Kozol manages to capture the sense of urgency in a solution while maintaining, even after all these years, a great deal of hope for the future. Kozol never fails to bring tears to my eyes - he is an amazing writer and a brilliant advocate for children everwhere. Letters to a Young Teacher is merely the tip of the iceberg in terms of the work Kozol has done in education - and I think all his books should be mandatory reading for every single person living in this country.

Everything is Illuminated* - Jonathan Safran Foer (unfinished)

I think all readers feel badly when they just don't want to finish a book. You wonder how much of a chance you should give it - or perhaps that something is wrong with YOU if you just can't get into it (after all, REALLY smart people said it was amazing!). Recently, I read an author who said, given all the books there are to read, you should read (100 - your age) amount of pages before you decide to give up on a book. If you're 100+ years old, then you're allowed to judge a book by its cover. I think this was from Nancy Pearl, but don't quote me. So, that means I have to read 69 pages of a book before putting it aside. I gave Everything is Illuminated that much of a chance. Friends whose reading selections I trust have said both that this is one of the best books they've ever read and that it's the absolute worst. The writing reminded me a lot of Absurdistan, which I also was not a huge fan of - written from the perspective of someone just learning English. I have a feeling that plot-wise Everything is Illuminated could get quite interesting. I just don't have the patience right now to slog through the writing.

In similar news - a book that I LOVED this year (Shadow of the Wind) is the current Stanford Book Club selection - and people seem to not be able to get into it or think that it's just "fluff." Perhaps I need to come to terms with the fact that I just like mindless drivel. It's kind of depressing. But, I still think Shadow of the Wind is much more complex than folks are giving it credit for!

(* - listed in 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die)

Playing for Pizza - John Grisham

I am a shameless fan of John Grisham. I find his legal thrillers comforting, even though they follow the same formula everytime. But, his non-legal books have never quite held the same appeal for me (Bleachers and The Painted House, for example). So, I was a little hesitant to pick this one up - but he's always a fast read, so I figured I'd give it a shot. Playing for Pizza is the story of a third-string NFL quarterback. He's spent his career bouncing from team to team, until he absolutely blows the AFC championship in Cleveland and no team wants to touch him. Humiliated, he ships off to Parma, Italy to play for the little known Football Americano league overseas. There, he encounters a team of Italians who with little financial support from the country, play for the love of the game, and of course - for pizza. As the American is introduced to Italian feasts and the beauty of opera, he is forced to rediscovery the true meaning of football. Sounds cheesy - and it is. This book is horrible. But for the occassional swear word and the multiple sexual references, I think this would be about the speed for an 8-year old boy who enjoys reading books about sports (ala Matt Christopher). The soft spot in my heart for Grisham makes me want to find something about this book that was wonderful, so I can recommend it. The food descriptions did make me crave the amazing dinners we had while in Tuscany - but, for that kind of reading, I think Under the Tuscan Sun and Eat, Pray, Love do the job much better.

Something Wicked This Way Comes - Ray Bradbury

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Bradbury: This is another re-read from my childhood. In the fall, when a gust of wind sends leaves flying down the street, I always think of this book. It is the story of two best friends, Will and Jim, and Will's aging father Charles. A mysterious carnival comes to town, led by Mr. Dark, the Illustrated Man, and the boys are drawn to the carnival's merry-go-round. When they discover its sinister secret, Jim finds himself entranced, and Will horrified. Mr. Dark attempts to lure them into his freak show, as Will struggles to show his father and Jim how to accept themselves as they are, and not the people they think they want to become. Bradbury is a master story-teller - he always manages to make my spine tingle while also making me think. I think this is a wonderful story for 12 and 13 year old boys, but it's also a pretty good one for adults.

No One Belongs Here More Than You - Miranda July

I feel like the short story form must be making a come-back. After Amy Hempel's collection appeared on the NY Times Best of 2006 list, I have heard a lot of people talking about short story writers, and see many featured in book reviews or in some of my favorite bookstores around town. I can't remember where I first heard about Miranda July, but she is a performance artist whose film "Me and You and Everyone We Know" won a number of awards and accolades at Sundace a few years back. This is her first (I think) collection of short stories, and it was pretty much what I expected. She is kind of a cross between David Sedaris and David Foster Wallace, but with a better feminine perspective. Her stories are short, sometimes shocking, a little weird, but fun and innovative. I often think it must be difficult these days to come up with a unique writing style in which you can still tell a good story. It seems like everything has already been done - I felt that way while reading this collection. It was a little too familiar, like I'd read the stories before, but I think it was worthwhile for a taste of the future of literature.

The Laments - George Hagen

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Saroyan - Every other year, Stanford gives out a literary prize named after William Saroyan in both fiction and non-fiction. I have volunteered this year to be a reader/reviewer for the prize. Before I begin to judge, I thought I better read the past winners (as well as some of Saroyan's own works). I started with The Laments. This book tells the story of Howard and Julia Lament, originally from Southern Rhodesia. When their newborn son is stolen from the hospital, they reluctantly take another couple's child (Will) to raise as their own. They then proceed to move. From Africa to England to America - because, after all, that's what Lament's do. As Julia's irritating mother nags her from thousands of miles away, she gives birth to twin terrors and stands up for racial and gender equality. There is no real ultimate purpose to The Laments and some of the things that happen to the characters seem quite outrageous and unnecessary, but ultimately, it is the story of a very endearing family - in particular the character of the adopted son Will. This was a good read from beginning to end - when I make my Best of 2006 list at the end of the year, I think this will most likely be on it.

The Yellow Wallpaper* - Charlotte Perkins Gilman

I've mentioned Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own as one of the books that had the most influence on me in college in terms of my feminist identity and the idea that all women need their own space (and their own money) in order to create and define their own worlds. The Yellow Wallpaper, for me, was the perfect illustration of what would happen if you failed to heed Woolf's advice. This very short story, which I re-read while eating my lunch yesterday, is the fictional diary of an unnamed married woman. She has been taken by her doctor husband to a country manor of some sort to rest and alleviate the symptoms of her undefined disease (no doubt seen as hysteria, but more accurately an acute depression). As her husband pats her on the head and tells her nothing is wrong, the author fixates on the decaying yellow wallpaper of her makeshift prison. She is a woman who has absolutely nothing to do - it's unclear whether she has children, but she lives in a world where her only job is to be the perfect wife. It seems like it would be so easy and wonderful, but what she really wants to do is write - but her husband and doctors discourage it in favor of the "rest-cure treatment" (lying around and doing absolutely nothing). The Yellow Wallpaper was written at the end of the 19th century, but in the past 30 years it has been studied as a textbook psychological portrayal of a woman suffering from a mental breakdown. Gilman, in real life, suffered from bouts of depression, but struggled mightily on behalf of women everywhere as an advocate of the equal division of household labor between spouses, and of women working outside the home - for reasons greater than financial necessity. When I think of how hard women (and many men) work today for these same ideals, I find it tremendous that she was fighting the good fight over a century ago. The Yellow Wallpaper is brutally depressing, but it is a tremendous argument in favor of the need to find something that you love to do - no matter how small - and claiming it all for yourself.

(* - listed in 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die)