I love the Nick Hornby novel High Fidelity (as well as the movie version with John Cusak). One of the organizing concepts that the main character, Rob, uses to manage his life is the "Top 5 List"-- top 5 rock bands, top five love songs, top five breakups, etc. The idea totally fits how my brain is wired as well, so, in honor of Rob from High Fidelity, I bring you my top 5's from life socially distanced: Top 5 books read while socially distancing5. Ribsy by Beverly Cleary 4. Keep the Door Open by Kristen Berry 3. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury 2. Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell 1. The Yellow Admiral by Patrick O'Brian so yeah, I've only read 5 (so far), so that rounds out the top 5 list. Ribsey is typical Beverly Cleary fare (she also wrote Ramona & Beezus, The Mouse and the Motorcycle, etc.) It isn't her best book, but it's not that bad. Mostly I'm just tired of reading Beverly Cleary books right now. My daughter has requested about a million and six of them in a row. I put my foot down after Ribsy. We're reading The Magician's Nephew by CS Lewis next. Keep the Door Open is a non-fiction book about a family that says "yes" to every foster child placement presented to them over the course of a year. My family provides respite foster care, so this one was interesting to read from that perspective. Fahrenheit 451 is one I read either in high school or college. It's a great book and since I'm assigning it for the English II kids to read, I figured it was time to re-read it. Interesting to read it from the perspective of being an adult compared to the first time I read it. Outliers was the first book by Malcolm Gladwell I'd ever read. He's a talented writer and the book poses and tries to answer some interesting questions in way I'd not really ever thought about. I've found myself telling other people about this book a lot more than anything else I've read in a long time. The Yellow Admiral is the 18th book in a series by Patrick O'Brian who may well be the very best writer, word for word, that I've ever read. His ability to paint word pictures is only rivaled by his mastery of dialogue. A pure pleasure to read. A couple of his books were mashed together to make the movie Master & Commander: The Far Side of the World- A great movie if you haven't seen it yet. You got a book to recommend for reading while socially distant? Post in the comments!
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Mr. McCrawTeacher, dreamer, father, husband. Not necessarily in that order. ArchivesCategories |