A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway.

“You expected to be sad in the fall. Part of you died each year when the leaves fell from the trees and their branches were bare against the wind and the cold, wintery light. But you knew there would always be the spring, as you knew the river would flow again after it was frozen. When the cold rains kept on and killed the spring, it was as though a young person died for no reason.” 

I'll be honest and say I don't know a great deal about Hemingway, and I probably should. I definitely know the basics and have read a couple of novels (The Sun Also Rises and A Farewell to Arms) as well as a few short stories (I actually use "A Soldier's Home" in my American lit class). He's one of those figures in American literature I tell myself to read more of, but never seem to find the time. Then I had my experience with The Paris Wife over my break (post here) and found myself quite fascinated with Hemingway and his work.

This title had been sitting my shelf for quite some time, so I knew it would become a part of my TBR Challenge for this year, as well as a jumping off point for some further exploration of his work. And, so enthused by my recent reading of The Paris Wife, this become book #2 that I finished in 2014.

It was fabulous.

From the very first chapter, I was taken in by Hemingway's writing and transported back to his years spent in Paris. Through his recollections, I also got to meet some great literary figures-Stein, Pound, Ford, and Fitzgerald (all of which I should also explore at some later date). His gossipy chapters about their lives and his writing and his experiences on the streets were vivid and simple and complex all wrapped up in succinct observations. It was beautiful.

His observations of his fellow writers was both entertaining and heart-breaking. In particular, his chapters on Fitzgerald and his decline broke my heart, perhaps because I just finished teaching The Great Gatsby to my sophomores. Through Hemingway's eyes, I had to see Fitzgerald as weak and unsure...and a captive to his alcohol. But I also got to see him through a friend's eye-not just as someone I've admired from years away and based solely on his writing. I found that to be a bit of a profound experience. I mean, I love writers and their products and while I love to research their lives and experiences, I don't always get to see them in such a raw way. Hemingway's observations made that come to life.

However, my favorite parts where Hemingway's musings on his craft. His words about making stories appear, and living through them, was also raw and emotional. He took his writing seriously and set rules for drinking around his writing (interesting, right?). He also mentioned the devastation of losing his early work when his first wife, Hadley, was bringing it to him (it was stolen on her train). The idea of losing my own work, as unimportant as it is, breaks my heart, so I can imagine that he truly did feel lost when it was gone. Like myself currently, Hemingway had a real connection to his words. It was beautiful to see that passion and drive come through even as his reflection.

In all, I found this memoir to be inspiring. To know that he often felt discouraged and hopeless, that he and Hadley lived in tiny apartments cramped with books and paper...it was a bit soothing to tell the truth. It was all they really needed to be happy.

I'm curious to read more about hie life and more of his work. And by reading something that came out after his death. I think I can read his work with a new perspective-see his mind working away at crafting enough work each day. I'm so tempted to craft another author study for him, but I know I should finish those I've already undertaken.

And if you haven't read this and are looking for a way to introduce yourself to Hemingway, why not start here. It's a great recollection of his days in Paris before truly "making it" as a writer.

“There is never any ending to Paris and the memory of each person who has lived in it differs from that of any other. We always returned to it no matter who we were or how it was changed or with what difficulties, or ease, it could be reached. Paris was always worth it and you received return for whatever you brought to it. But this is how Paris was in the early days when we were very poor and very happy.”

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Things on my Reading Wishlist.

Hi everyone!

It's Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by the lovely folks over at The Broke and the Bookish. This week's topic is about the Top Ten Things on our Reading Wishlist-those characters, settings, themes, trends, etc that we want more of in our reading!

I had a lot of fun thinking about this list. Please let me know what things would be on your reading wishlist!

1. Strong Heroines: I like a girl with sass and attitude. So give me more of them.
2. Well-crafted worlds: I started off my year by reading A Game of Thrones, which, let me tell you, takes place in a very well-crafted world. I love being able to disappear into another world like that!
3. Revenge: I LOVE revenge themes! Maybe a reread of The Count of Monte Cristo is in order!
4. Victorians: I love the Victorian writers, and it has been some time since I've read one!
5. Cats who aren't evil: Why are cats always the bad guys? The bad omens?
6. Redemption: This is another one of those themes that I've been yearning for....
7. Inventive Fantasy: I see a lot of the same things in fantasy literature....I'm looking for something new!
8. Better Book Covers: Granted, not a writer driven category, but I really love a book cover and nothing has caught my eye recently!
9. A non-orphaned hero: I know orphans make things easier for writers, but for once, can we have a hero with both parents? Just once?
10. No more dystopia: I've read too many of them. I want something else!

Now that you've seen my list, do you have any recommendations for me?

"I Have Been"

This is a little meme that I do from time to time. I don't remember where I initially saw it, but it's a fun little questionnaire that I see making rounds on the blogs from time to time. And since I am procrastinating doing a little more grading tonight, I figured I might as well. :)

I have been:

{writing}

 I just finished grading a set of essays, so I've been writing lots and lots of comments about writing. I actually had my kids complete their entire essay in Google Docs, so I also typed their rubrics. I think it took a little longer than it does for me to write out comments, but it was easier on my hands (typing hurts a little less than writing when I'm having a flare). I don't know how it'll go over with the kids, but we'll see.

{reading}

I've been reading Sister Carrie over the last few days and I really want to dive back into it tonight....but to be honest, I'm trying to hold off to get my grading done. I know that as soon as I pick up the novel I'm going to get sucked in.

 

{listening}

I've had Pandora on while grading. I like the background noise and my current station of choice is 90s Pop Radio. It's a good trip down memory lane!

 

{watching} 

We have shows that we like to watch in bed and go through spurts of different shows and seasons. We just finished watching Bob's Burgers last week, so now we're on to That 70s Show. I love mindless entertainment before bed! Besides nighttime TV, I've been avoiding TV to grade and read. :)

 

{looking}

...right now I'm looking at my crate of papers to grade. And a mess in my kitchen. The kitchen will definitely get cleaned up before bed. There is also a very sleepy kitten next to me. He's pretty cute.

 

{learning}

My teaching certification expires in June and I have a few classes to take online to qualify for renewal. During my earlier procrastination, I took a peek at one of the ones I signed up for related to social studies. There's some crazy awesome documents on there, so I'm excited to dive into it after this semester ends.

  

{feeling} 

A bit stressed.  I have a lot of grading left to do. I'm feeling overwhelmed with papers and not sure where to start to get it all done. While we have half days 3 days this week (our exam days), and the exam time to get things done....I really didn't want to spend ALL that time grading. I have prepping to do! It'll all get done.....at some point.

 

{anticipating}

I'm going to California in April (my Spring Break) to visit my sister at Disneyland! She has an internship with them for the next 7 months, so it'll be a fun time! I've never been to that part of Cali. The only other time I've been was to San Francisco.

 

{wishing}

For my papers to grade themselves, for all my kids to pass and do well on their exams this week, and that I remain flare free for the next couple of weeks.

 

{loving} 

My students. Bless their little hearts...their e-mails and tweets as they prepare for exams are adorable. I love my job.

Weekly Wrap-up for January 19, 2014: Exam Week.

This past week was a long one. Coming off of 2 1/2 weeks off from school (because of our snow days) and a measly 2-day week the week before, 5 days of school was trying for teachers and students alike. But, we managed to push through and now I am trying to avoid a very big pile of grading (I'm not exaggerating, I have a plastic crate FULL of things to grade). And while this coming week is exam week and I know I can use that time to grade, I really need that time to prep and plan for the second semester. As soon as I publish this post, I'm heading over to the library to get some work done. I'm so much more productive when I'm there!

Besides the fact that it was a very long week, I did get a lot accomplished. I spent a good deal of time yesterday grocery shopping and cooking. I've been meaning to make some things to stick in the freezer for those days when I'm not feeling good and don't feel like cooking (more often than not, I pick up food on my way home on those days...which means I'm not eating particularly well...). So, I bought doubles of a few things and managed to double up on some casseroles to shove in our very small freezer. I also bought a rotisserie chicken, which I shredded and turned into a big batch of chicken salad for lunches this week. I often just bring a salad and yogurt for lunch, but I'm getting pretty tired of that and thought that some chicken salad with grapes and walnuts would be a nice change!

And this morning I made up a big batch of broccoli-cheddar soup, so we have that for this week as well. In all, I feel quite accomplished and I'm happy we have some food put away. It's so easy to fall back to what is easy (and crappy) to eat, so now we have some good options waiting for us. It's a good preventative measure, especially if and when my Lupus flares up again.

Besides the cooking extravaganza yesterday, I spent some time organizing a few of our cupboards, including the dreaded tupperware cupboard. I don't know about you, but it always turns into a disaster with lids all over the place and containers shoved every which way. I tossed some that didn't have their lid (or vice versa) and reorganized so we can actually find what we're looking for.

My next big thing to organize is my book closet. I have about 15 boxes of books in my closet, and while I culled them a couple of years ago, I think I need to dig back in and re-cull. I know for a fact that there are a bunch of textbooks in there that I've had since college. I need to just sell them to amazon and get what I can for them to get some more space for storage. I'm pretty content with my collection now. There are quite a few things I wish could be on shelves, but we don't have the room for any more bookshelves. And I know there are many things I will never read or don't want to look at again-why am I holding on to them? I'm hoping to do this in a few more weeks when we have a long weekend.

In reading news, I decided to start Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser. I adored An American Tragedy when I read it a few years ago, and this title has just been sitting on my shelf. I really didn't want to start another challenge book so soon, so after looking around, this title jumped out at me. As of this morning, I'm on page 314, so you can tell that its going well and that I REALLY like it. I can't wait to see where the story goes, and I can't wait to tell you all about it.

After I finish it, I'm not sure what I'm going to read next. I'm thinking of reading a Thomas Hardy (because for some reason, Sister Carrie makes me want to read him?), so I might grab one of those off my shelf-maybe Tess or Under the Greenwood Tree. I also feel a pull to Vanity Fair, so we'll see what my mood says once I finish Sister Carrie. Any other recs for me?

Anyway, I best be heading to the library before all the good spots are taken. ;) Have a fabulous reading week!

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman.

“Adults follow paths. Children explore. Adults are content to walk the same way, hundreds of times, or thousands; perhaps it never occurs to adults to step off the paths, to creep beneath rhododendrons, to find the spaces between fences. I was a child, which meant that I knew a dozen different ways of getting out of our property and into the lane, ways that would not involve walking down our drive.”

I'm not sure I have anything new to say about Gaiman's very recent novel, The Ocean at the End of the Lane, but I'll try and say something new anyway.

First, I should be upfront and admit that I haven't read a ton of Gaiman (American Gods, Neverwhere, Stardust, and Coraline), and I am pretty divided about how I feel about his writing. Sometimes it grabs me, sometimes it doesn't. So, when I saw this out at bookstores, I was incredibly hesitant to pick it up.

I finally caved after seeing so many glowing reviews. I'm glad I did because I thoroughly loved this book.

The novels opens with a man returning home after many years away for a funeral. Stifled by being home after so long, he begins to remember things from his youth and a girl who lived down at the end of the lane. As he sits by her old pond, which she called an ocean when they were kids, he begins to remember things from his childhood.

Now, I could tell you about the story itself, but that would ruin it. Instead, I want to talk about the importance of childhood memories. Because as the man begins to remember his childhood and what happened to him, it brought to mind my own memories. As he struggled with the pretty horrific images from his youth, I also thought of things from my own youth-happy and sad. And I wondered, how well do I really remember things from my past? Has my mind, as I've aged, started to change the way I remember events?

That, I think, is the magic of Gaiman's novel. There is a balance there-between the depth and romanticism of our youth with the harsh reality of adulthood. Because as we age, the horrors and monsters we faced as children become something much more real. And we cannot escape inside ourselves-we have to face those monsters and the evils of adulthood!

Ah, there is so much more I could say about the novel itself, but I don't want to spoil it. It's a magical thing that you need to read and experience for yourself.

But trust me, it's a good one.

“I do not miss childhood, but I miss the way I took pleasure in small things, even as greater things crumbled. I could not control the world I was in, could not walk away from things or people or moments that hurt, but I took joy in the things that made me happy.”