Book number 6 ended up being something that wasn’t on my original list and the next few after #7 are going to the be the same since I got a stack of books for my birthday.

#6 Eating Animals by Jonathan Foer

I saw this book on our shelf at home, left behind from our renters. I just picked it up and started and it was a quick-read to the end. I’m not sure why I felt compelled to read this. I’m already a vegetarian. I already know how horrific factory farming and animal-for-consumption-slaughter is. I’ve avoided fish even longer, realizing the damage we are doing to the ocean is a travesty. So, I’m not on the fence in need of further convincing. But what this book did give me is more data and reasoning behind my arguments. Not that I go around proselytizing. Quite the opposite–people attack me when they learn I’m vegetarian and I often find myself on the defensive these days. Because as soon as someone asks me “why?” then with my answers they automatically assume I must be judging them. I try to avoid these conversations because these decisions are moral and ethically motivated, so I don’t know how to respond without people feeling like I’m the one doing the attacking. But Foer makes a good point in that it’s not enough that I don’t eat meat. I should lean into these conversations and I think this book has given me some good ways to do that.

#7 Hag-Seed by Margaret Atwood

At first I was a bit skeptical about this book. It’s a re-telling of The Tempest and at first I thought that the main character directing The Tempest was just a little too much–too beating me over the head with it. BUT, I came to adore this story even long before the brilliantly clever ending. As the narrative points out, The Tempest itself is like a play within a play. And so this re-telling makes it a *Tempest* within a *Tempest* within a *Tempest*, as the themes and narrative are played out at multiple levels. At the same time, the theme of imprisonment in the actual play is re-told in an actual prison and so the level of further understanding one gains from the original play becomes so much more rich.

I loved the characters in this novel and the wry tone. I adored it that the prisoners were only allowed to use Shakespearean insults as their curse words. Insults ends up being one of my favorite lessons with students and so these parts were particularly entertaining. I loved Felix, the main character, and the magic he wove both with his drama program and with his revenge in making his enemies live The Tempest. This was so clever. I cannot wait to read this book again with students. As someone who loves Shakespeare, this re-telling was so special to me.

A little haul:

For my 40th birthday, I had margaritas and then spent a good hour or so in the Boulder Bookstore. I also ordered a couple of books I had an eye on. So, my next current reads are Running Home by Katie Arnold and Training for the Uphill Athlete. 

It’s looking like maybe with my goal of 10 I was being a little too easy on myself this summer. Perhaps I can do more? I have well over a month to go….