10 March 2017

2017 Read Harder Challenge


Here's my working list for Book Riot's 2017 Read Harder Challenge.

Key to the colors on my list:
Black-books I intend to read but haven't started yet.
Lavender - books I'm currently reading
Green - completed books

Read a book about sports. -  Moneyball, maybe?
Read a debut novel. - Other Voices, Other Rooms - Capote
Read a book about books.  - The Uncommon Reader- Alan Bennett
Read a book set in Central or South America, written by a Central or South American author ?
Read a book by an immigrant or with a central immigration narrative. ?
Read an all-ages comic.  ?
Read a book published between 1900 and 1950. Planning to finally finish Is Sex Necessary by Thurber and White
Read a travel memoir Sahara Unveiled
Read a book you’ve read before.   ?
Read a book that is set within 100 miles of your location. 
Read a book that is set more than 5000 miles from your location- The Hunting Party- A. Chekhov
Read a fantasy novel – LeGuin?
Read a nonfiction book about technology. Edwardian Farm, by Alex Langlands, Ruth Goodman, and Peter Guinn
Read a book about war.- The Naked and the Dead – Norman Mailer
Read a YA or middle grade novel by an author who identifies as LGBTQ+??? 
Read a book that has been banned or frequently challenged in your country.  So many to choose from!
Read a classic by an author of color. Their Eyes Were Watching God?
Read a superhero comic with a female lead. ?
Read a book in which a character of color goes on a spiritual journey  - Castaneda?
Read an LGBTQ+ romance novel  I don’t read romance novels.  Would Anais Nin count?
Read a book published by a micropress.
Read a collection of stories by a woman. – The Yellow Wallpaper – Charlotte Perkins Gillman
Read a collection of poetry in translation on a theme other than love.
Read a book wherein all point-of-view characters are people of color.  The Color Purple


03 March 2017

Au revoir, facebook.

I decided to take a break from facebook, semi-coincidentally coinciding with the beginning of Lent.  I've been clean for two days now, and I have to say I feel a bit better.  I've finished a few crossword puzzles and the latest New York Times Magazine, among other things.  

The only thing I really miss about facebook so far is sharing things I've read.  Easy solution:  restart this blog.  


One of the best things going on the radio these days is Kris Boyd's now-nationally syndicated (in Texas- happy belated Independence Day, y'all) program Think, broadcast locally on 90.1FM and at kera.org.
Her interview with Tom Nichols, a professor at the Naval War College, about his book The Death of Expertise, pretty much stopped me in my tracks.  He was speaking my thoughts!   In addition to citing the instant access to Google that is chipping away at the foundations of actual knowledge, he stated that the real problem with education and our schools is parents;  parents who have never allowed their children to fail, parents who email or call the teachers and professors of their adult children to complain about grades...  This behavior and the tolerance of this behavior is handcuffing and hobbling some truly caring and hardworking teachers.

The podcast:

http://www.podcastchart.com/podcasts/kera-unlimited-kera-s-think-podcast/episodes/the-death-of-expertise

The book:
https://www.amazon.com/Death-Expertise-Campaign-Established-Knowledge/dp/0190469412/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1488575938&sr=1-1&keywords=the+death+of+expertise

The Texas Standard is another organization doing a bang-up job of broadcast journalism these days.
http://www.texasstandard.org



More to come.