And This is Why I Love My English Class

Hello! In lieu of a regular post, I wanted to share the story of my first day of sophomore English.

When we found our way to the class in the basement on Wednesday afternoon, our teacher was nowhere in sight. I turned to the boy next to me. "I bet he's going to make some grand entrance," I whispered. We'd all been told that this teacher is pretty out there, but never received a further explanation.

And then he walked in, casually. If we hadn't been expecting him, we wouldn't have even noticed him. "Hi, guys." He was calm, unlike all of our other antsy and overeager teachers of earlier in the day. "So, there's a poem under your desks. Pick it up. Let's read it, shall we?"

He didn't start with roll call or anything, we just dove right in. The poem was by Wendell Berry, and I've copy-pasted it below for your reading pleasure:

Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front

By Wendell Berry

Love the quick profit, the annual raise,

vacation with pay. Want more

of everything ready-made. Be afraid

to know your neighbors and to die.

And you will have a window in your head.

Not even your future will be a mystery

any more. Your mind will be punched in a card

and shut away in a little drawer.

When they want you to buy something

they will call you. When they want you

to die for profit they will let you know.

So, friends, every day do something

that won’t compute. Love the Lord.

Love the world. Work for nothing.

Take all that you have and be poor.

Love someone who does not deserve it.

Denounce the government and embrace

the flag. Hope to live in that free

republic for which it stands.

Give your approval to all you cannot

understand. Praise ignorance, for what man

has not encountered he has not destroyed.

Ask the questions that have no answers.

Invest in the millennium. Plant sequoias.

Say that your main crop is the forest

that you did not plant,

that you will not live to harvest.

Say that the leaves are harvested

when they have rotted into the mold.

Call that profit. Prophesy such returns.

Put your faith in the two inches of humus

that will build under the trees

every thousand years.

Listen to carrion – put your ear

close, and hear the faint chattering

of the songs that are to come.

Expect the end of the world. Laugh.

Laughter is immeasurable. Be joyful

though you have considered all the facts.

So long as women do not go cheap

for power, please women more than men.

Ask yourself: Will this satisfy

a woman satisfied to bear a child?

Will this disturb the sleep

of a woman near to giving birth?

Go with your love to the fields.

Lie down in the shade. Rest your head

in her lap. Swear allegiance

to what is nighest your thoughts.

As soon as the generals and the politicos

can predict the motions of your mind,

lose it. Leave it as a sign

to mark the false trail, the way

you didn’t go. Be like the fox

who makes more tracks than necessary,

some in the wrong direction.

Practice resurrection.      

He read this poem to us. The first stanza, sarcastic, as it should be. The rest, lullaby-like. That is, until the last two lines. He took in a big breath. "PRACTICE RESURRECTION!" Shouting would be an understatement. The room jumped.

"Christ! Never sleeping in this class again," a girl behind me muttered.

"Now that the class has been resurrected," the teacher said, stifling a chuckle, "shall we discuss? Pick your favorite line and tell me why you like it."

The next thirty minutes spun into conversations about corporate America, women's rights, and (from yours truly) how decisions that differ from the majority and are free of influence from the "generals and politicos" are what make our lives a) worth living, b) worth remembering and c) ours.

I've been waiting for an English class like this. Don't get me wrong, I've had other great English teachers (and I'm not just saying that because at least one of my former teachers reads this blog, I mean it), and that's probably one of the key reasons I love English as opposed to, say, math. But to avoid all of the formal stuff (we're still waiting on a syllabus and it's the second week) and just go straight into the heart of the matter of literature? It's about time.

~D

NPR's 100 Best-Ever Teen Novels

I'm not an overly huge fan of NPR (I don't really listen to it at all, to be honest... but then again I'm not a massive fan of radio in general) but an article on their website caught my eye this morning--The 100 Best-Ever Teen Novels.  This seemed like as good of a place to share it, since, you know, we're book-nerdy here and whatnot. 

I've gotta say, despite having read nearly half of the 100 books on the list I'm a bit curious as to how some, like the Twilight series made it while Lloyd Alexander's The Chronicles of Prydain series and anything by Mark Twain (gasp!) were left out.  Bit of a travesty there, if you ask me (I'm a huge Mark Twain fan, thanks). 

Anyhow, I guess there was a bit of outrage (rightfully so) that quite a few good books were left off the list so NPR put together a little blurb justifying their methods of choosing books for the list.  If you're interested, check it out here.

I've read 37 books from this list... more if you count the books that were in a series.  Here's my list:

1. Harry Potter (series), by J.K. Rowling
2. The Hunger Games (series), by Suzanne Collins
3. To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
4. The Fault in Our Stars, by John Green
5. The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien
6. The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger
7. The Lord of the Rings (series), by J.R.R. Tolkien
8. Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury
10. The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak
11. The Giver (series), by Lois Lowry
12. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (series), by Douglas Adams
15. His Dark Materials (series), by Philip Pullman
16. The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky
17. The Princess Bride, by William Goldman
18. Lord of the Flies, by William Golding
23. Flowers for Algernon, by Daniel Keyes
25. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, by Mark Haddon
26. Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson
30. Tuck Everlasting, by Natalie Babbitt
32. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (series), by Anne Brashares
33. The Call of the Wild, by Jack London
35. Go Ask Alice, by Anonymous
37. Stargirl, by Jerry Spinelli
40. Abhorsen Trilogy / Old Kingdom Trilogy (series), by Garth Nix
43. My Sister's Keeper, by Jodi Picoult
46. Forever..., by Judy Blume
49. The Princess Diaries (series), by Meg Cabot
51. Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson
58. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, by Ransom Riggs
59. The House on Mango Street, by Sandra Cisneros
60. Something Wicked This Way Comes, by Ray Bradbury
64. The Truth About Forever, by Sarah Dessen
73. The Last Unicorn, by Peter S. Beagle
85. Chaos Walking (series), by Patrick Ness
89. Weetzie Bat (series), by Francesca Lia Block
91. Confessions of Georgia Nicolson (series), by Louise Rennison
99. Wintergirls, by Laurie Halse Anderson

How many have you read?  What books do you think were left out or did NPR get it spot on?

Read on,
S

August Sister Read - Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson

Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson

Synopsis (as taken from Goodreads):  Lia and Cassie were best friends, wintergirls frozen in matchstick bodies. But now Cassie is dead. Lia's mother is busy saving other people's lives. Her father is away on business. Her step-mother is clueless. And the voice inside Lia's head keeps telling her to remain in control, stay strong, lose more, weigh less. If she keeps on going this way—thin, thinner, thinnest—maybe she'll disappear altogether.

In her most emotionally wrenching, lyrically written book since the National Book Award finalist Speak, best-selling author Laurie Halse Anderson explores one girl's chilling descent into the all-consuming vortex of anorexia

D’s Rating: ❤❤❤½  (out of five hearts)

S’s Rating: ❤❤ ½  (out of five hearts)

D’s Thoughts:
As much as Laurie Halse Anderson is not S's favorite author, I really do love her books. Speak actually isn't my favorite (but I will admit that it's my guilty pleasure), nor is Wintergirls. The nerd girl that takes too much for granted that essentially describes me simply adores Catalyst above all else. But hey, that's another story for another day.

Why did I choose this book for our sister read? Well, for starters, I expected more out of the book, so it would be more enjoyable for us...I'll get there momentarily. More importantly, however, I chose Wintergirls because I know S and I have both felt the way the main characters, Cassie and Lia, felt. I didn't feel the need to deny myself food because I had to be the most gorgeous person, though, but instead because I felt undeserving of food entirely. This made it harder for me to connect with Lia, as I didn't understand why she cared so much about how she looked to others when she made absolutely no respectable attempt to communicate or socialize with anyone. I suppose that's a mental aspect of anorexia that will never be clear to me. The lack of logic in a single character--not just Lia, but everyone--was what turned me off to this book. It's either a real eye-opener to how little people think or a poor plot execution. I believe it's a little of both.

The thing that redeemed (and then some) Wintergirls was Anderson's astounding analogies and way of expressing the emotions of a broken girl. Throughout the book, Anderson would literally cross out what Lia was actually thinking and replace it with something more acceptable. I personally wouldn't have ever thought of that! Additionally, as you'll see in my quotes section, she composes bold-yet-fragile statements that, when taken out of context, are beautiful--not conceitedly, but silently so--and are too easy to relate to in the ways you don't really want to talk about, in the ways you don't really want to remember... 

And that is why Wintergirls will still be memorable.

Standout Quotes:"The doctors tied me back together with twine...they tied me back together, but they didn't use double knots. My insides are draining out of the fault lines in my skin, I can feel it, but every time I check the bandages, they're dry."
"...Anesthetic turns into poison and by then it's too late because you are mainlining it now, straight into your soul. It is rotting you and you can't stop.
Look into a mirror and find a ghost. Hear every heartbeat scream that everysinglething is wrong with you.
"Why [we hurt ourselves] is the wrong question. Ask "Why not?"" 

"Dr. Parker and all my parents live in a papier-mache world. They patch up problems with strips of newspaper and a little glue."
"There is no magic cure, no making it all go away forever. There are only small steps upward; an easier day, an unexpected laugh..." 

Album to listen to while reading this book: Not an album, but instead the Deryck Cooke version of Gustav Mahler's 10th Symphony. For those who don't know, Mahler died before completing this work, and it is often said that he knew he was dying when he wrote the 10th Symphony. The piece reflects on the choice between life and death. Just. Like. Wintergirls. 

S’s Thoughts:

Ahhh… Laurie Halse Anderson… the author of Speak, that much overrated-everyone’s-reading-it-in-high-school-so-I-should-too book.  I hated Speak… probably because it was the book to read.  I don’t know.  Moving on from that though, let’s have a look at Wintergirls.

I found the book to be a bit unnerving in that I could see some of my habits within Lia’s.  Not to the extreme as with her but I do count calories constantly (though I don’t know calories by heart) and I do work out on almost a daily basis nowadays.  I’ve lost nearly 30lbs since January, not out of compulsion but because I had to, both for my self esteem and my physical health.  Lia, on the other hand, is without a doubt extremely anorexic.

I knew girls like Lia and Cassie growing up.  Starvation and bulimia are infectious, especially when your friends are doing it, and I’d be lying if I said I’d never tried either.  Really though?  I like chocolate way too much and I hate barfing, so both options were immediately out.  Some of these girls now have serious health problems from diabetes to being infertile.  It’s sad, really.  But I do know what it’s like, to feel that desperate need to be thin or to be “clean.”  It’s a tough emotion, one that I still occasionally struggle with.

So what did I like about the book?  While I didn’t like/appreciate Speak, Anderson’s almost lyrical prose is very engaging.  She reminds me a lot of one of my favourite authors, Francesca Lia Block.  That’s definitely a plus in my book!  (If you haven’t read anything by Block, smack yourself and then pick up I Was a Teenage Fairy.)

What didn’t I like?  I’m not sure what it was about this book that made me give it 2 ½ hearts.  I just didn’t feel like I liked it very much.  It wasn’t a bad book, it wasn’t a fantastic book.  Insert shrug of shoulders here.

Standout Quotes:
"I don't need a muffin (410), I don't want an orange (75) or toast (87), and waffles (180) make me gag."

Album to listen to while reading this book:

Evanescence? Maybe?

September’s book is S’s choice and is Story Sisters by Alice Hoffman.  It may be super early in the month or towards the end as S will be relaxing on the beach for two weeks in the middle of the month. Additionally, D will have begun school and will have a marching band competition almost every Saturday, plus a few details regarding S and D's mother's upcoming marriage. Be jealous of S and extend your innermost pity to D!

See you soon! S & D