"Reading is your intellectual vitamin."
--Madame Esme
There is something about a bookstore that can calm all worries, relieve all fears, and quiet that disquieting voice at the back of a person’s brain; something about a bookstore that allows them to relax. The bookstore is my church. I go there when I need quiet time, when I need to be around people without actually speaking, when I need to think or when I need to get my mind off of other things. The bookstore is my haven. It holds all the answers. And the answer is always yes, buy that other book.
I would like to recommend The Boys of My Youth by JoAnne Beard. She is an Iowan writer (from Cedar Rapids) using a creative nonfiction form. Her stories are both humorous and haunting; one of the best books I’ve read all year. Some of you will be turned off by either the “nonfiction” thing or else that I’ve said they were “haunting.” DON’T!! It’s worth the read!
I’ve also recently reread Educating Esme: Diary of a Teacher’s First Year by Esme Raji Codell. I was lucky enough to hear her speak two months ago and she is a one of a kind extraordinary person. This book is not just for future educators!! She imparts loads of wisdom but does it in a way that is hilarious and poignant, not condescending or self-important.
I’ve also reread The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. This book is fast joining books like The Outsiders in becoming the canon of young adult literature. It’s a series of vignettes, about 110 pages that can easily be read in under an hour. Highly, highly recommend it!!
I’m currently making my way through several books. I’m on the second book in A Series of Unfortunate Events. Hilarity ensues on every pages. I’m also reading The Thin Pink Line about a whack job pretending to be pregnant (this is my relief book because, as an English major, reading Joseph Conrad all day can tend to dull the senses. This revives me) and Two Parts Textbook, One Part Love by Louanne Johnson (of Dangerous Minds fame). Very insightful as a future educator.
One last suggestion. Wigfield by Amy Sedaris, Stephen Colbert and Paul Dinello, about “a can-do town that may just not.” I swear, you won’t regret it!!
