Daring to Be » Books

I’m in a remarkably good mood right now. Which makes sitting in my windowless office all by myself a little hard to take!

Today I participated in a photo shoot for the university alumni fund. I was the College of Education student rep for the alumni reunion in June and part of that was having my name and face on a letter than goes out to Education alumni asking for donations to the alumni fund (for student scholarships and bursaries.) Today’s photoshoot was for a brochure about the alumni fund that goes out to something like 55,000 people. So I will be in the group photo on the front and then I am one of three people with individual shots and short write-ups inside the brochure too. I’m pretty excited about it! All the students featured get copies of the brochure for their own use. I think I’m going to get one for myself, my mom, my dad, and my grandma.

I am looking forward to this weekend. My birthday celebrations are this Saturday, starting with spending the day at the beach or something followed by having people over for board games, food and such. Monday, my actual birthday, I work but plan on going for lunch with Mom and Nicole followed by drinks with friends that night. Twenty four years old. I can’t decide how I feel about that!

In other news, I am re-reading all the Harry Potter books. I think I’ve only ever read up to book five or something. Since the seventh and final book is out, I decided I want to start reading and not stop until I’m done the whole series. What with my internship and ESS responsibilities, I figure I’ll finish around Christmas.

That’s my life in a nutshell… simple but lovely, just the way I like it.

I have nothing more to say on this subject because it is way too soon to say anything except wow, do I like kissing! So, sorry folks! Maybe more later.

So here’s some basic, less scandalous, news from my life…

I dug out a bunch of my old junior novels Friday night. Kass has an awesome suggestion of rereading Time for Andrew by Mary Downing Hahn. I loved that book! I re-read it as well as Wait Till Helen Comes, also by Mary Downing Hahn. Maybe it is time for some Big Kid books that take longer than a couple of hours to devour!

I went wedding dress shopping with Meg today. Let me tell you, Sean, your jaw is going to drop and stay there when you see her! Five more months!

Student teaching starts tomorrow for two solid weeks. I am in a grade five classroom with my friend Abby. We teach three lessons on our own and team teach three lessons, amongst about a gazillion other things we’re expected to do (observations, reflections, interviews, assignments from school, and so on and so forth.) It should be fun, fingers crossed that I don’t discover that teaching? Why would I want to do that? Because it would be lame to discover that the career path I’ve chosen is the wrong one. (That’s just paranoid Brea talking, stupid neuroses.)

All in all, I’m enjoying life lately. Not that I wasn’t before, but just more so now. Let’s hope my lucky streak lasts.

“I’ve travelled the world twice over,
Met the famous: saints and sinners,
Poets and artists, kings and queens,
Old stars and hopeful beginners.
I’ve been where no-one’s been before,
Learned secrets from writers and cooks,
All with one library ticket
To the wonderful world of books.”
-Janice James.

As far back as I can remember, I have loved to read. Unfortunately, for the past few years I have been too busy with a little thing called Life to read as much as I would like to. I decided I had to do something about that.

My original plan for 2007 was to read five books a month. However, with the usual school, volunteer, and social demands that my life is full of I have realized that this is just not feasible. At least, not if I actually want to remember what I’ve read or absorb anything from the books! Naturally, my plan had to change a bit, so I changed it to merely increasing how much I read. Of course, I read a lot for school (textbooks, required readings, etc.) but let’s face it… that just isn’t as much fun!

So far this year I have read (in order from most recent):

1. 1. One Hundred Years of Solitude Gabriel Garcia Marquez
2. 2. A Friend of the Family: The True Story of David Snow Alison Shaw
3. 3. The Mermaid Chair Sue Monk Kidd
4. 4. The Time Traveler’s Wife Audrey Niffeneger
5. 5. Veronika Decides to Die Paulo Coelho
6. 6. The Lovely Bones Alice Sebold

Also, because I am going to school to become an elementary school teacher, it is important that I am familiar with children’s literature. To begin with, I’ve re-read a couple of junior novels I remember from my childhood.

1. 1. James and the Giant Peach Roald Dahl
2. 2. The Phantom Tollbooth Norton Juster

I really enjoy junior novels because not only are they easy reads, but they actually can be quite thought provoking. My classes at university have taught me how easy and effective it is to use books to teach everything from mathematics to social studies, so I can’t wait until I am a teacher and can try it out!

I’m asking you, dear readers, to send my way any suggestions as to good books (adult or junior, I’m not picky!) for me to read!