i can't really sing, so

This is a meme going around facebook. I like lists, but I also like annotating lists. I, in fact, have made annotated tracklists for mixtapes/CDs I've given to friends. So, this. Notably, this is in "no particular order". It also considers that I have been a "reader" since I learned to read. Ostensibly, this list should be much longer & books that have stayed with me have been edited from here. "Stayed with me" is sort of a hard designation. There are books I love, books I consider my "favorites" that aren't on this list. This is because sometimes I read something and love it, but the plot/characters/etc. go out the window when I think back on it. Often I can tell you why I know I love the book, but not much else about my own personal relationship with it. Does that mean it has "stayed with" me? Not so much as the books on this list, which I can relate facts about AND tell you why I loved it. I tried to avoid books that stic...

If there is one thing I've learned being a professor at a University, it is to never make promises. Never promise you will have anything graded by a certain date. Never promise that something will or will not be on an exam. Never promise that something will be easier or more difficult than something else. Seeming objectivity becomes soft, marshmallow-like when entering the brains of students. So when I promised myself that I would read more this semester than last semester, I should have known better. This is not to say that I didn't enjoy a few fabulous books this semester. Books Read Fall 2010 Sometimes a Great Notion by Ken Kesey I read this on recommendation from a friend of mine from the Philadelphia Folk Festival. It took me a couple of months to get through. Kesey's descriptions of Oregon are often long winded, but clear as blustery winter day. The events of the book don't span a long period of time, and a good reader can trace where they are going from early on...