October 5 - 11

The Blithedale Romance by Nathaniel Hawthorne
This was a book I read for my early American novel class. It was pretty interesting to read something by Hawthorne that wasn't The Scarlet Letter because now I have a better sense of his style. This story features a well-to-do Bostonian poet in 1835 who bands together with some idealists who try to start a Utopian-like farm together. The kind of thing where everyone shares the work and lives off the land, that sort of idea. The romance implied in the title is distantly narrated by the author. A stunning and proud woman nicknamed Zenobia, a determined philanthropist with a focus on rehabilitating criminals, and a wispy young girl who appears without explanation are the key players in the romance. There's spying, sympathy, intrigue, myths, hallucinations, and even a dramatic suicide (!!) with the final line of the novel revealing the biggest secret of all.

 (But not really, if you pay attention.)


Bullied: What every parent, teacher, and kid needs to know about ending the cycle of fear by Carrie Goldman
I stumbled by this book when I was idly searching my online e-book library to see what I might read next (since the fourth Temeraire novel is refusing to download properly, for whatever reason). I was intrigued by my educator side, and the synopsis was more interesting than I would usually expect from something about bullying anyway. I've heard so much about it that you'd think I'd be sick to death (terrible, terrible pun...) of it by now. BUT, like I said, the format is different from what bullying pamphlets and lectures I've usually encountered usually take. There are anecdotes! Ones that aren't horribly depressing! It's even funny sometimes, and often hopeful! It also covers an impressive scope of the "who" part of bullying: the usual targets of LGBTQ and students with disabilities, but Goldman also acknowledges that some kids just get flak for being in the wrong place at the wrong time (or wearing the wrong shoes at the wrong time, or whatever). I'm about a third of the way through, and although I don't feel like I've learned any particular strategies as an educator, I do feel like I've grown a bit in how to think about it and approach it. There's a lot of good stuff in here for parents, as well, so I've got some ideas on that part of my future now as well.