My, my, my,...time certainly DOES fly! I can't believe it's been so long since I've blogged, but life has been playing on high-speed lately. I have been keeping up my reading, though, making sure I fit it in either early in the morning or late at night. If there were only more hours in a day, I might be able to get more done! I promise to give reviews on some of the great books I've read lately, but not yet. I need another week to wrap some things up.
This week is the last week of school. Every year, it is the same for me. I truly enjoy my summer break, but...I know I will miss my students. I've become a little more sentimental in the past couple of weeks. I worry there is something I've forgotten to tell them or teach them. I find myself writing little notes in my phone or on a pad, "Be sure to tell David that I have really enjoyed reading his writings this year," or "Tell Shelby she's smart and can accomplish anything." Have I told them these things already? Yes. But they need to hear it again, just one more time (or three) before we say goodbye.
So, please forgive me for ignoring my blog for awhile. At this time of year, any extra attention I have is showered on my students. Even my husband takes a backseat and, God bless him, he never complains. He knows my heart and knows it's very important to me to send my 72 children out into the world with my love wrapped around them for safe keeping.
And, at the end of a school year, that's the most important wrap up of them all.
I love what I do. Have I mentioned that lately? I absolutely love being a teacher, and I love my students. Every day is different, every child is different, and to watch them learn and grow as human beings amazes me. My students make me a better person and remind me of what is really important in this world.
Because I love my students and the work that I do, I don't like to be absent from my classroom. Unfortunately, I've been ill the past couple of months and had days that were really a struggle to get through. I did have to miss some work, but tried not to miss too much if I could help it. I was honest with my students on rough days. I told them that in spirit I was completely fine, but that I tired quickly and needed to sit more than usual in class. Normally, I'm a very active teacher and seldom sit down. My students were quite wonderful and adapted to their teacher's limited movements. The kindness and consideration my students had for me helped to make me better on difficult days.
Now, I am happy to say, I am well! What was wrong with me is better and improving every day. I feel like myself again for the first time in quite awhile. It's like a natural high to be able to move and breathe and live without the limitations that burdened me. While I have always had an appreciation for life, that appreciation has certainly been renewed!
I was reminded just how far I've come when I did a little storytelling yesterday. We've been studying different types of myths, and I had some students ask me if I'd read "The Chenoo" myth out loud for them. The students had read the story previously in class and answered questions about it. They just wanted to hear me read aloud with expression. Storytelling. It was only a few students, so I told them to come in before school started the next day, and I would read it. You can imagine my surprise when my classroom was full of students waiting to hear the tale the next morning.
As I read the story and bellowed out the voice of the Chenoo (stomping around for effect, of course...), I felt energized from head to toe. I had so much fun watching my students enjoy the story, and we all laughed together at the end when I tried to get some of my students to bellow with me. When the bell rang to go to first period, and we had to leave the classroom, one of my students said, "I dare you to go out in the hallway and do that in front of everyone!" I laughed and winked and said, "No problem!" as I took my performance piece out into the busy hallway.
Later that day, one of my students said, "When I saw you in the hallway this morning stomping around and being silly, I knew you were really, finally better!" I'm sure I had the biggest, goofiest grin on my face because I realized just how much better I really felt, too.
And, trust me, feeling better is the absolute best! :)
Well, I'm not exactly sure. I don't think I've ever sought out what I consider "dark" novels. Dark humor? Yes. Read books that were somewhat dark? Yes. I've read a few murder mysteries over the years and, while I enjoyed them, they really aren't a genre I reach for very often.
I guess the darkest book I ever read before was Stephen King's novel, It. I read that back in the 80s. I remember the book giving me the creeps. I also remember, quite well, finding out that I was pregnant with my first child when I was only halfway through the novel, and I felt unable to keep reading it. It was just too warped and had children being harmed in it. I remember wondering what kind of man (King) slept by his wife, had four children of his own, and could write about a clown that mutilated and murdered small children. Pennywise still freaks me out...
I did, however, finish the novel eventually. I wanted to know how it ended. I picked the book up and finished it some time after my daughter was born. I thought most of the book was well-written, but I thought the ending was stupid. Really stupid. Needless to say, the ridiculous ending helped to relieve some of the terror I'd felt over the book. It no longer scared me (as much...) because I thought the ending was an unrealistic, cop-out compared to the rest of the book.
Wow, didn't mean to go down that road...
Books do that to me, though. I relate other times and memories and people to them. I remember what I was reading when certain things happened in my life. I associate some books with people I know or have known. Some are good memories, some are not. It is what it is. When reading books are a part of your life, you tend to remember what book you were reading when something important happened.
I'm jumping the track again, aren't I? No worries. I'm famous for it. ;)
Back to my original question: Do I like "dark" novels? It sounds weird for me to say, "Ooooh, I read this novel about this family that gets murdered and chopped up and...it was really good!" Doesn't that just sound wrong?! I have to say, though, when my friend, Tammy, recommended Gillian Flynn's Dark Places to me, she warned me it was different and dark. She didn't want to tell me much about it, which I appreciated. She and I usually like the same novels, though, so I trusted her judgment.
It is a good book, but it is a dark book. It is definitely one that I read every chance I got because I wanted to know what happened next. I sympathized with more than one of the characters, and they just felt so...real. The premise of the story is that one child survives when most of her family is murdered (her mom and two sisters) by her 15-year-old brother, and she was the only witness to it. Her testimony, at seven years of age, is part of what helped convict her brother. The book opens in present day with the child grown into adulthood and her brother serving a life-sentence in prison. Her life is going nowhere, she's numb and has never recovered from what happened to her family. She's still in a dark place. Almost against her own will, she begins trying to figure out exactly what happened the night of the murders and why it happened.
The novel goes back and forth between present day and the past (1985), which is something I don't usually like. It all flowed together well, though, in this novel. Both stories are good stories - what the main character is struggling with and leading up to in the present, as well as, what events back in 1984 led up to the tragic events of one night in early 1985.
So, who knew? I do like dark,...I just don't like to stay in it for too long. I think my next read needs to have some magic and some faeries in it. Now, if Patrick Rothfuss would just finish that third book I want to get my hands on...
Happy reading! :)
Yes, believe it or not, as much as I love to talk about books, I do enjoy movies, as well. I don't usually enjoy them as much as I do books, but - now and then - I get a truly pleasant surprise. I'm pleased to share one of those with you that I recently enjoyed, although,...it isn't a recently released movie.
I had finished reading a wonderful historical fiction (which I'll talk about later) and was still marinating it, which means I was still researching some information from the historical fiction, still thinking about the storyline. I wasn't ready to start a new book yet, but I wanted something to keep me company for a couple of hours one day. I knew what could satisfy my desire: Kindle Fire.
The great thing about my Kindle is his Fire not only burns passionately with beautiful books, it also glows with Netflix and Amazon. (There is more than one reason I love him, you know.) It helps that I'm a Amazon Prime Member, too, which means I love shopping for a "free" instant movie to see what hidden treasures I can find without paying an additional price for them. (What can I say? Along with being born a bibliophile, I'm also a born bargain shopper. It's the thrill of the hunt!)
The movie I found, on this particular hunt, was "Amelie" from 2001. I had never heard of it before, but I loved the look of the pixie-faced actress on the cover. She reminded me of a faerie, and I love faeries. When I read the reviews and a bit of the synopsis, I decided it might be just the thing I wanted. I also admit it appealed to me because the film was set in Paris (one of my most favorite places), and it was in French with English subtitles (which helps me practice my French). I thought I might like the film. Little did I know, I would fall in love with it! I smile, even now, just thinking about it.
To me, "Amelie" is everything a movie should be: art and magic and wonder. A movie is a place to lose yourself for a little while and enter another world. If it's a good movie, you take a part of that world with you when the film is over. It's a place you remember fondly and, if the movie is really good, it might be a world you'll want to visit again. "Amelie" is definitely that kind of movie.
I was going to post a link here to the movie trailer, but I feel it gives too much away. I'm glad I didn't really know much about the movie before I watched it (which is why I only read a bit of the synopsis, I hate knowing too much before watching a movie or reading a book. Spoils the fun, in my opinion. I believe I've said this before, yes?)
I'll end my recommendation with this, if you find yourself wanting to spend some time in a lovely place with a pixie-faced faerie girl as your guide, just give "Amelie" a try. She'll lighten your heart and make you smile, and we all need some of that, oui?
Books...
Oh, yes, I do have a book recommendation, as well. I won't go into a review, but I will say this book was another great surprise (so, don't think my lack of review indicates a lack in the book). It was one I had on my shelf, but had not read yet. It was meant to be a "filler" book or a "tweener" - you know, something I was reading to kill time until my next Kristin Cashore book arrived. I was pleasantly surprised to find the book was more of a main attraction than I would have imagined.
If you love historical fiction, as I most passionately do, I recommend you read The Irish Princess by Karen Harper. I've never read Harper before, but I liked her style. I also like the research she did for her book and the references she gives to the real information at the back of the book. I found the novel to be a springboard into some interesting research of my own. I admit to having a particular fondness for the setting, as I love England (another one of my most favorite places), and was more than a bit thrilled to see some places mentioned I know and love well, such as Leicestershire and Charnwood Forest - truly lovely places with truly lovely people.
Time to go now...
Not that this post was short, but I do feel a bit rushed in writing it. You see, today is my last day of Spring Break. It's back to work tomorrow. I have a few things on my "just gotta do list" to end my break in style and, of course, one of them is reading. My Kristin Cashore book has arrived from Amazon, and I am anxious to spend a little time in that world before enjoying some other things this lovely Sunday.
Happy reading! :)
