The Night Circus

“The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it, no paper notices on downtown posts and billboards, no mentions or advertisements in local newspapers. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not.”

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern is a fantastical love story set during the turn of the century. Historical fiction with a magical twist! I successfully completed reading it with five days to spare on my CLAMS rental! Gotta love Christmas break! Although slow in the beginning, the beautiful writing style and unusual storyline held my interest. Once the love story kicked in, I was hooked.

Is it so bad that my life is so dreadful that all I want to do is get lost in the pages of a good book? I definitely identified with the elements of longing for a connection between the main characters in this book and the sense of melancholy woven throughout.

”He longs to reach over and touch her, but he resists, fearful of destroying the delicate camaraderie they are building. He steals glances instead, watching the way the light falls over her skin. Several times he catches her regarding him in a similar manner, and the moments when she holds his eyes with hers are sublime.”

Do moments like these actually exist in real life or are they just in our imaginations?

The Little Prince

I know I’ve read The Little Prince by Antoine De Saint-Exupéry before. I know it’s a classic, but I couldn’t remember why. Thought I better refresh my memory since it’s the book we chose to gift all our fifth graders this year for the holidays.

I finished rereading it on Christmas Eve, and I actually hope some students will give it a chance because it has a nice little message about following your own heart and discovering what's really important in life. 

"All men have the stars . . . but they are not the same things for different people. For some, who are travelers, the stars are guides. For others they are not more than little lights in the sky. For others, who are scholars, they are problems. For my businessman they were wealth. But all these stars are silent. You—you alone—will have the stars as no one else has them—"

Extra credit for students who took the time to read it during their break and can complete a short, meaningful assignment about it!

“A lovely story . . . which covers a poetic, yearning philosophy—not the sort of fable that can be tacked down neatly at its four corners but rather reflections on what are real matters of consequence.”
—The New York Times Book Review

The Goldfinch

This book took me forever to read! But when I finally finished it, I decided to use it for an assignment in one of my summer courses, Reading From the Head and Heart. This is a lengthy—like the book—post, describing the process of comparing notes about "What We Noticed" while reading the book.

I chose to have a discussion with my friend Lisa who is a prolific reader and a great source of book recommendations for me. Because I’m a painfully slow reader, I don’t like to waste my time with duds, and her suggestions never let me down! Our book talk involved The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt, a very long but satisfyingly, multi-dimensional book that I just recently finished reading. I actually started reading the book in 2015 but picked it up again after purchasing a digital copy of it. Lisa read it and reviewed it again as well, and we are both eager to see the movie when it comes out in September!

Lisa belongs to a book club that meets once a month except in the summer. I explained the Book Head Heart framework to her and described how it is a useful strategy for immersing my students more deeply into their reading. I wondered if she thought it would work to promote discussion in the book club setting with adults, and she agreed it would. She promised to give it a try at their October meeting where she is leading a talk about The Overstory by Richard Powers, which I hope to read next too!

We began by talking about the structure of The Goldfinch, basically reviewing the plot and sharing our favorite and least favorite parts. Not surprisingly however, most of the insightful moments from our conversation took place once we branched off into the Head and Heart components. There is a lot of overlap, but I feel the dialogue below captures two insightful moments. The first is our thinking about why the author chose for certain events to take place, specifically many of the main character’s actions upon his return to New York City. Second, we began to talk about the theme and the character development of the main character, Theo Decker. 

Bonnie: So, there were a few things that surprised me about the story. I felt it was too much of a coincidence that when Theo returned to New York he ended up getting engaged to the daughter from the rich family he had lived with briefly after his mother died. Of all the people in the city who he could start a relationship with, why her? So much baggage. I would have thought he would want to start fresh with someone who didn’t remind him of the past.

Lisa: Well, that didn’t bother me so much because it was an easy choice for him, an understandable decision. After all the harrowing experiences he had gone through in Las Vegas, maybe he just needed to settle into something comfortable and return to the familiarity of his past.

Bonnie: I still feel that it was just too convenient for him to … settle for Kitsey. It was also too coincidental that he literally ran into her older brother the first day he was back in the city. But I do understand what you’re saying about his comfort level with the family and how it required little effort on his part to reenter their world.

 Lisa: But maybe this was also a way for him to prove something to himself. He felt like an outsider when he was a kid living with the family, and being in a relationship with Kitsey sort of elevated him to their status. He needed to belong somewhere, and it probably gave him solace to be welcomed back into a family that had shown him kindness before and who now needed to share their grief with him.

Bonnie: True, but after all his adventures and the unsettling events in his life, I wanted something better for him. I wanted him to hold out for, or more assertively pursue, the girl he really loved, Pippa. But as I say that, it sounds so pathetic. I guess I’m just a hopeless romantic. Unrequited love is just so sad, especially when all along the book hinted that maybe she had feelings for him as well. Or maybe that was just me, wishing. So, actually they were more like star-crossed lovers, and that’s even sadder to me!

Lisa: Yes, she represented just one more tragedy in his life. When he lost his mother as a child, it was his most important relationship, and he could never have it again. As an adult, he was denied the relationship with the girl he loved and felt most connected to. His whole life was about adapting to these unfortunate, uncontrollable circumstances, and as a character I think he didn’t always rise to the occasion and make the best choices. He had kind of a horrible life.

Bonnie: Well, I agree with his bad choices: the drugs, dishonest business practices, etc., but in the scheme of things, his life could’ve turned out so much worse. I guess I felt more hopeful for him. He kept pressing forward rather than just curling up in a fetal position and letting more horrors unwind! What do you think about Pippa’s final admission that she loved him too but didn’t feel it was healthy for two damaged people be together? I can really identify with that!

Lisa: I’m not sure, but at least the ending of the story leaves an opening that they may reconnect. Although it never said, I didn’t get the feeling he was going to end up with Kitsey. What do you think the moral of the story is? 

Bonnie: There are probably many themes in the story: how humans acclimate to loss and change in their lives; beauty is in the eye of the beholder; the responsibility we have to each other as humans and the bonds we develop even under the worst of circumstances.

Lisa: True, and the painting was a metaphor for how beauty impacts people’s lives in positive and negative ways. It provided a sense of solace for Theo after the explosion, and yet it also represented an ‘albatross around his neck’. He clung to it despite the danger it brought into his life. The contradiction kind of mirrors the different sides of his personality.

Bonnie: It’s very ironic that he discovers so late in the story that he didn’t actually even have the painting. It had been creating so much stress in his life, and finally it ultimately causes him to kill a man. The thing he cherished the most wasn’t even a positive influence anymore! And Boris, who he considered to be his oldest and dearest friend, turned out to be such a buffoon.

Lisa: So, what have we learned from Theo’s story? Is there a positive life lesson to be gleaned from the book? Or is the message truly as depressing as life is just a random string of events? 

Bonnie: I don’t know but I kind of liked how the book ended with some unanswered questions, open to different interpretations. I didn’t feel like it was setting up for a cheesy sort of sequel or anything, but I definitely appreciated the author allowing for readers to draw their own conclusions about the random tragedies in life and how art has played a role in helping humans cope.

What I Noticed:

My big take away from this exercise is that these types of exchanges whether between colleagues or students are so beneficial because they are unpredictable. They keep you on your toes and push you to elaborate your thoughts and feelings. You don’t know what direction the other person’s comments will take so you have to stay engaged in listening and thinking of a reply that makes sense. In addition to exploring deeper thinking intellectually and emotionally, it’s just good practice for the give-and-take of sharing ideas and effectively communicating in an academic setting. It requires students to practice agreeing and disagreeing with their peers in positive, productive ways. If it helps students to become more proficient in this regard, then it is definitely a worthwhile activity.

Talking about The Goldfinch with my friend also prompted me to do some deeper thinking on my own. After our discussion, I read some positive and negative book reviews for the first time. I agreed with one reviewer’s statement that this is a book people either love or hate! Many of the comments in the negative reviews didn’t really surprise me, but the intensity of the negativity on the part of the critics did. I think it was because they were annoyed that a book they didn’t appreciate had received the Pulitzer Prize!

For students, I think it is a good idea to provide them with sentence frames for having polite, productive discussions, especially when we are asking them to dig deep into their feelings about certain topics. They need plenty of chances to use academic language with each other (because most certainly don’t have any problem talking socially!) and to practice moving a discussion forward without getting hung up on disagreements. Some examples I have used are: “I hear what you’re saying, and I want to add these ideas … Is this what you meant when you said …? Maybe you’re right, but I was thinking a little differently … What do you think about the character’s actions/thoughts/dialogue? I disagree with what you said because …”

The Woman in Cabin 10

The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware began with great promise, hit a snag in the middle, maintained a brief climactic revival, and then died with a whimper! It was the perfect mindless read for my April Los Cabos vacation! Funny story: Camille read about five books during our five-night stay and I barely finished this one book (and a few chapters of the Stephen King classic The Stand downloaded on my phone) before vacation’s end. Truthfully, our last day in paradise I still had four chapters to complete. I was determined to leave it on the book exchange shelf at the resort (where I obtained it from a departing Canadian vacationer on our first day). I ended up downloading the audiobook and listening to the conclusion at the San Jose Airport, thereby I, the slowest reader in the west, DID successfully complete one book before our departure from Mexico!!

That said, see description above, it was just your basic psychological thriller, the perfect accompaniment to my days lazing by the pool and nights falling into a deep, sun-induced, snoring slumber zzzzzzzzz!

The Woman in the Window

The Woman in the Window by A. J. Finn is a pretty engrossing mystery story with a dreadful ending. The main character is an agoraphobic woman who becomes obsessed with her new neighbors across the street. There are some great plot twists and turns, but why must these types of books always end in a bloody heap with an action packed, over blown sequence of events that detract from the psychological aspects of the story and turn the conclusion into a trite Hollywood cliche?

The Cay

I’ve always wanted to read The Cay by Theodore Taylor, and yesterday I found it in a pile in my bedroom while I was disinfecting my house from the sick I’ve had for two weeks! I read half the book last night before bed and finished the second half this morning. It’s a classic survival story with some historical elements about the West Indies during World War II. I was happy that the cat did not have to die!! The story’s theme centers on the friendship and respect that grow between eleven year old Phillip, an American living on the Dutch island of Curaçao, and the old black-skinned Timothy, a deckhand from Charlotte Amalie, when they are stranded on a desert island together after a shipwreck.

The 860 Lexile level can be attributed to the geographical and historical terminology related to the time period of 1942, as well as the distinctive West Indian dialect infused in dialogue between Timothy and the boy.

I’m glad I finally read this novel as it fits nicely with a couple of our reading units in fifth grade. It incorporates the message of accepting and appreciating cultural diversity and also touches upon the power of nature when a tropical storm wreaks havoc on the cay.

Siege

Siege:How General Washington Kicked the British out of Boston and Launched a Revolution by Roxane Orgill is an unusual book about the British occupation of Boston at the beginning of the Revolutionary War. It’s written in verse from the perspectives of several different key players including George and Martha Washington and William Lee, Washington’s slave and personal assistant.

I enjoyed reading Siege while waiting around during my February vacation jury duty commitment. It’s a quick read because of the distinct, poetic structure. There are some challenging vocabulary words with opportunities for students to use context clues to decifer them. For instance on page 77 it says: “Found an abundance/Of ordnance at Fort Ti/Brass coehorns, iron mortars/Field pieces in all sizes....” Students can deduce that ordnance means military supplies including weapons, ammunition, combat vehicles, and maintenance equipment. Similarly, coehorns must be some type of bullet.

More context clues practice is provided on page 82, which describes Martha Washington’s arrival. “Departed mid-November; She did not travel alone/But with an entourage: Her son, his wife, five slaves/In white coats with red collars. Along the way she was feted/By light-horse brigades and honor guards/As if she were ‘a very great somebody’/(She wrote to a friend)/Which pleased her no end.”

Building on students’ background knowledge, lines such as, “Guns in surprisingly good condition/Except for their carriages/Wood rotting since the last war,” reference the French and Indian War. Page 24 reflects Washington’s perspective “When he surveys this ragtag lot/Fourteen thousand farmers/Fishermen, sailors/Coopers, chandlers/Shopkeepers, smiths...” Compare that to the Introduction’s description, “Seven thousand regulars/Camped out on the Common...” and the question posed on page 32, “Serve the crown/Or exchange a red coat for homespun/And be a deserter — Which will it be?”

More interesting tidbits: Boston to Ticonderoga was “About three week’s journey...” page 64. “General Howe hadn’t eaten fresh meat in three weeks, gazed through the spyglass at the cows grazing at Lechmere’s Point.” page 68. “HMS Nancy/of the king’s Navy/supply ship/bound for Boston — captured!” page 75.

The poem ends in the spring of 1776 with General Washington surveying, “The room he had occupied/For nine months....In a day, or two at most/He would quit Cambridge/Travel with Martha and Billy/Depart with aides and generals/For New York.” page 190.

Escaping The Giant Wave

Escaping The Giant Wave by Peg Kehret is the reading group selection all my fifth graders were begging to read. Unfortunately I only had so many copies thus only a lucky few received a coveted spot in that group. Truthfully, I thought the book was lame. Sure it has some exciting parts and even a little bit of character introspection, sibling rivalry, and interactions with a bully, but there is nothing spectacular about the language to make it worthy of guided reading time. Next year, I much prefer having all students read A Long Walk to Water, which stylistically and thematically offers much more for us to sink our teeth into!

A Man Called Ove

I recently discovered this author and started following him on Instagram. He’s a Swedish blogger and writer with a snarky, sarcastic voice. A Man Called Ove is Fredrik Backman’s debut novel published in 2015. Loved this book! There’s also a Swedish movie with English subtitles on Amazon Prime that made me cry because life isn’t fair and it’s so messy. Also I am a female curmudgeon.

This review sums it up.
"An inspiring affirmation of love for life and acceptance of people for their essence and individual quirks. A Man Called Ove is a perfect selection for book clubs. It's well written and replete with universal concerns. It lacks violence and profanity, is life-affirming and relationship-driven. The book is bittersweet, tender, often wickedly humorous and almost certain to elicit tears. I contentedly wept my way through a box of tissues when I first read the novel and again when I savored it for a second time.” (BookBrowse.com)