2023 Roundup: Books
I read some great books in 2023. Here are a few favorites.
Books
Posts about books – reviews, discussions, etc.
2022 Roundup: Books
Books remain at the heart of the media I consume – not perhaps the most significant by volume, but certainly by the effect they have on my life. I finished 16 books in 2022. It’s a step forward from my 12 in 2021, but nowhere near the 30-40 I want to […]
High Speed Reread
It’s a good idea to have different “gears” for reading. I slow down to my slowest speed when I’m reading poetry. Every word is so carefully selected, so I want to savor them, hear them. My next gear is for novels – brisk, but I’m not a speed reader by […]
2021 Roundup: Books
Books remain at the heart of the media I consume – not perhaps the most significant by volume, but certainly by the effect they have on my life. That said, I read just 12 books in 2021. This is the lowest number of books I’ve read since I started keeping a […]
99pi Presents The Real Book
I’ve said more than once that the world needed a proper history of The Real Book. And Adam Neely did a great job with his video about the handmade viral sheet music collection of the 1970s. But never did I imagine something made with the loving care that Roman Mars […]
Three Children’s Books
I spent the last fifteen minutes of rehearsal reading three children’s books to my students. We preceded it with a conversation about what it takes to deliver a potent performance to an audience. With a solid year since most of them gave a performance, it’s important to at least talk […]
2020 Roundup: Books
Books remain at the heart of the media I consume – not perhaps the most significant by volume, but certainly by the effect they have on my life. I read 26 books in 2020. I would have thought that number would be higher, given the state of 2020, but it turns […]
Read Aloud Only
The evenings for the past few weeks in my house have been filled with our first read-aloud of The Hobbit. Our oldest had read it last year as a free choice book in English class, but for the other two kids it’s the first exposure to Middle Earth. The interesting […]
Why I Love Literature
I love nonfiction books because they can give me in-depth perspective on a new or historical idea. I can learn more about reality. I love literary novels because I can learn about human nature from well-written fictional accounts of humans. I can have experiences, from the inside, that I would […]
Imagination Is About Perception
“You won’t understand anything about the imagination until you realize that it’s not about making things up, it’s about perception.” From The Secret Commonwealth by Philip Pullman (Chapter 9) I came across this quotation today and was struck by it. Do you think of imagination as invention, or as understanding? […]