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.”

A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin.

“Never forget what you are, for surely the world will not. Make it your strength. Then it can never be your weakness. Armour yourself in it, and it will never be used to hurt you.”

I absolutely refused to watch the first season of Game of Thrones when it debuted on HBO. While it was something that I knew would be right up my alley, I insisted on reading the books first. So, my husband watched the show by himself. He also bought me a box set of the first four novels in hopes I would pick them up and get to reading...

I ended up binge-watching the first season when it came out on DVD and have since watched seasons two and three with my husband on Sunday nights. It's a show that I absolutely love, since high fantasy is something that has always been near and dear to my heart. The show is also a great escape from my own reality, and for that, I love it.

However, I've been avoiding the novels forever. Usually I'm not afraid of big books, but there is something so overwhelming about this series, and there's the fact that it's incomplete. Generally speaking, I like to wait for big series to be finished before I start reading them (exceptions would be Harry Potter and The Hunger Games), so that was a huge part of my hesitation. It also never felt like the "right time," since they are massive and require a lot of time to read.

But, I caved over break and told my husband I would start reading them. I even put the first title on my 2014 TBR Challenge list. So, it was time. I started reading on New Year's Day, and have been reading in smaller chunks since then. I actually think that seeing the show helped me slow down and hasn't left me super anxious to dive into the next book right away. Instead, I got to savor the writing and characters, since I knew the outcome. There was no mad rush to know what happened next! How interesting!

Anyway, reading the book was a truly a different experience in that I read slowly and savored the story. And while Martin definitely likes some heft to his stories, it was nice to sink into the world of Westeros and the shifting political landscape. I also enjoyed reading his little twists and feeling the shock of them coming alongside the characters.

One of the best pieces of the book was the character development. Each chapter is told from a different character's perspective, so as the reader, we learn bits and pieces here and there to form the whole story. I was already familiar with the characters from the show, and I was happy to see that my favorite characters were well-translated from the book (Jon Snow, Tyrion Lannister, and of course, Daenerys (she's my ultimate favorite)). I loved seeing the characters leap off the page and felt that Martin did a great job balancing their voice while in their perspective and seeing them from other perspectives. It was an interesting way to see them develop. A great example of this is Lord Eddard Stark, who had a great deal of chapters told from his point-of-view. Not only was he honorable and wise in his own voice, but it was pleasant to see the same kind of perspective from the other characters. Cersei Lannister was probably more evil in the book, as was her son Joff.

In all, the book was evenly paced if a bit heavy in parts (some unneeded description, and let's be honest, all fantasy has little side stories that aren't wholly necessary, but man, they're fun). The characters were developed fully and interesting. And the world is absorbing and mysterious. There were many little secrets Martin released (the bit about the missing black kitten, for example) that go untouched by the show that I could appreciate more during my reading. I also loved being able to understand character motivation a bit more-for example, Jon Snow's attempted desertion of the Night's Watch. Having that extra background information really made the story come alive.

I'm looking forward to eventually diving into the second novel in the series, A Clash of Kings, but I think I'll wait until next month. I'm hoping to finish book 3 by the time the fourth season airs in April.

“When you play a game of thrones you win or you die.”

This is the first book I finished in 2014, and also the first book I read to complete my 2014 TBR Challenge! Go me!

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

“But I tell you one thing, I don't want to be immortal if it mean living forever, cause then everybody else just die and get old in front of you while you stay the same, and that's just sad.” 

In general, the only non-fiction I read includes biographies and histories. Most non-fiction just doesn't appeal to me. However, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is a combination of things I'm used to...and not. While it definitely is part biography and part history, it also includes a lot of science and investigative jargon that was a bit outside my element. But I read it anyway, after hearing lots of praise for the book.

This is a book that's hard to describe, mainly because it does so much more than it sets out to.

Henrietta Lacks, also known as HeLa to scientists the world over, was a woman who died from a very aggressive form of cancer in 1951. Shortly before she passed away, doctors took samples of her cells (as was pretty common back then) without her consent. These cells, the HeLa cells, went on to grow and regenerate. They soon became a staple in all laboratories and became the focus of scientific experimentation and progress.

This book not only manages to explore all of the details of Henrietta's life and the immortal life of her cells, but takes it further to the legal and ethical issues surrounding those cells and the lives of Henrietta's children. Much of the book focuses on whether the scientific community had the right to the HeLa cells when they were taken without consent and whether the children of Henrietta Lacks, who help Skloot learn more about their mother, are entitled to some kind of compensation from the success of the scientific community in conjunction with research with HeLa cells.

It's an interesting balance for a book-combining family and personal histories with the advancements of science. It also puts a lot of questions "out there" for the reader to ponder:

• Did the doctors who took samples of Lacks' cells have the right to do so?
• Do scientists have the right to sell and distribute cells for scientific research?
• Who should earn the profit made off of cells like HeLa?
• How would this situation been different if Lacks hadn't been a poor black woman?

I personally don't have answers for any of those questions. Instead, I'm left pondering the meaning of the book and of where science has brought us.None of us can deny that researching the way cancer works is important! And knowing that HeLa cells have helped scientists understand the workings of cancer (and so many other things) can almost justify what was done to poor Lacks and her family. It's an interesting conundrum, and one that I still don't think I have a handle on.

For me, however, the biggest issues to stand out were those of race and class. How would things have been different if Henrietta had been white? More educated? Made more money? I don't know, but as Skloot reveals, perhaps Lacks was taken advantage of because of who she was. That says a lot about research!

In all, I found The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks to be one of the best books I read in 2013. It's a book that I wish more people in my life have read, so I can talk their ear off. It's also opened my eyes to reading more non-fiction in my future, including subjects that are out of my comfort zone. How else do we learn but by pushing ourselves?

“She's the most important person in the world and her family living in poverty. If our mother is so important to science, why can't we get health insurance?”

Weekly Wrap-up for January 12, 2014: A "Snowy" Week and Getting in the Groove.

How is everyone doing this fine Sunday morning? I'm typing this up quickly before packing up and heading to the library to get some work done! I find that I get a lot more done when I step away from the distractions of cuddly kittens, books, and a comfy couch.

This week was supposed to be our first week back at school, but we were hit with that nasty weather that plagued the Midwest starting on Sunday. We ended up having three snow days! It was a bit crazy, but I was glad for the first couple. I came down with another case of walking pneumonia (which I think I mentioned last week), so I would have been home Monday anyway). Having some extra time off allowed me to rest and relax a bit more from the safety and warmth of our apartment.

The weather was definitely COLD. It read negative 35 here at points, and the snow was crazy. The roads were still horrible when I finally left the house on Wednesday to escape to my mom's for a few hours. Thursday morning also was a bit of a harrowing drive, since there was still a lot of ice! But, I got a lot done in those 3 days, and it was nice to only have 2 days back before this weekend. :)

The kids were happy to be back, but with finals coming up in just another week, we're all feeling a bit pressured to get things done and get to review. I'm also excited to get to second semester content in my American lit class because I have a lot of fun things planned for them. I've been working all year to revamp some lessons and pull in some fun activities, and the kids are truly enjoying the class. AP U.S. is getting closer to their exam and my co-teacher is nearing her due date. She'll be leaving me in early April, so the last month before the exam will be spent with a sub!

In any case, I still have a lot of school work to get done before the semester ends and not enough time to do it. I'm only slightly regretting my super relaxing Christmas break, but I really did need that time off to recharge. My work will get done when it gets done. :)

In terms of reading, I finished A Game of Thrones yesterday morning. There is a post scheduled to go up on Wednesday. It's the first book I finished for the year, and it was a doozy. I also moved on and started A Moveable Feast by Hemingway last night, inspired by my reading of The Paris Wife. I'm not far into it, but I'm enjoying it.

Anyway, I best get to the library to get a good table. I hope you had a wonderful week with great reading!