Sunday, February 13, 2011

Weekly Wrap-up for February 13, 2011: Long Week, New Books, Readalongs, and More.

You know you're a teacher when you consider 6am sleeping in. That's when I got up this morning and of course, the husband is sleeping away. :) He was out with some friends last night, so I suppose I can let him sleep in a little longer. Besides, if he's sleeping it means I can get in some blogging and reading this morning!

Anyway, this week has been a long one. Last week the kids were coming off having Monday off for teacher professional development. We had school Tuesday, two snow days, and school Friday. Needless to say, they were all glassy eyed by Wednesday. I ended up changing some of my lesson plans to help the poor things out, but I'm still happy with where we are.

My classes reading Of Mice and Men are only through the second chapter, and so far the general consensus is that the book is weird. I actually wasn't a huge fan of it when I read it for the first time last year, but it is growing on me with this reread. Surprising!

My seniors are reading The Glass Castle and are supposed to be through page 139 by class tomorrow. That book is a huge hit and they are really getting into it. That makes me happy.

The only bummer is that the entire school seems to be coming down with some sort of plague. Everyone is coughing all over the place. I hope I don't get it, but I have been feeling super run down the last few days and I'm all congested. Yesterday I kind of lounged around the apartment after my cleaning regime in the morning and felt like death. I actually laid down at 7:30 last night and watched some TV with Matt before he went out. I woke up at 11, groaned, and went back to sleep. I must have needed it and I feel a little better this morning (but still congested).

In bookish news...

Even though I spent my book allowance for the month...and maybe a little more...Matt and went shopping yesterday evening for some things we needed. And we stepped into the bookstore because I had coupons and such burning holes in my wallet. I walked away with the two books you see at left. The top one is The Jungle Books by Rudyard Kipling and the bottom one is Across the Universe by Beth Revis. I know that the bottom one isn't a classic, but I have been anxious for this title since I saw it was being published. I am a huge sci-fi fan and this book seems right up my alley. I also LOVE the fact that the publisher gave it a reversible cover. I have it switched to the one inside (I kind of prefer this one over the faces). I think that's a great idea and I hope that more publishers go with this idea!

Reading wise, this week was not so hot for me. I made very little progress in Oliver Twist. I think feeling under the weather had a huge impact on the fact that I simply didn't read very much this week. I am still chugging through War and Peace and have a post that will go up later today over the third section. My plans were to read Across the Universe last night, but yeah, I fell asleep so early! Hopefully I get to it one night this week.

This week I am going to finish Oliver Twist no matter what. I also have a few other books on my shelf that are calling to me. I have a 4-day weekend coming up, so I may just have a mini-readathon and plow through some things. Anyone want to join me?

I hope you all have a great week!

Happy Reading!

8 comments:

  1. I can't say just how much I'm looking forward to daylight savings time. It'll be the first time I've slept well in months! I'm glad you're feeling a bit better this morning. :)

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  2. I don't think we've had a full week since this semester started...definitely a challenge to keep students on task. I'm a big fan of ReadAlongs and as soon as I catch my breath, I'm going to jump in on some of yours :)

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  3. I know that feeling of coupons burning a hole in your wallet. . . it's tough to resist! I do miss my Dickens so I may break down and get an audio of Oliver Twist for the car, I find that I really enjoy rereads that way. There's no pressure to finish them quickly since I already know the ending! I just wish my library had more Dickens selections on audio since they're all books I've read before and I do want to finish all of Dickens someday.

    And how nice that you still have the 4-day weekend coming up! They canceled our President's Day holiday in my girls' school district to make up for the recent snow day -- the calendar was pretty tight this year and in South Texas the snow is so freakishly unusual that there's never enough wiggle room so the holiday had to go.

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  4. And I forgot to say I'm glad your students are enjoying The Glass Castle! I found it mesmerizing and read most of it in one sitting. In the middle of the night, couldn't sleep and the book was so good I stayed up almost all night reading it.

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  5. I have definitely spent more than I should recently. I keep telling myself I'm going to go on a book buying ban, but the truth is I get really stressed when I limit myself and I'm stressed enough as it is between school and work. I had the flu last week, which sucked, but i actually did get quite a bit of reading done while sitting in bed. I'm jealous you have a four day weekend! Not that I particularly need it, but still.

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  6. Oooh! Reversible covers sound cool!

    Our school also has the plague. :-(

    I am finding it hard to get through Oliver Twist. It's not that I dislike it, exactly. I even like it. But... it's so heavy. War and ace seems light in comparison...

    I (might) unofficially join in for part of your readathon next weekend.

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  7. Okay Allie...I hope you and Jillian don't curse me. My school appears to be plague-less. *fingers crossed*. Still, I haven't read or caught up with blogs & postings in days. I expected to be further along with Oliver Twist.

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  8. I love love love the reversible cover for AtU.

    Also, I still need to sign up for The Three Muskateers.

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