Teacher's Reading Challenge

Making my tiny footsteps to get back into the reading game.

I read Leningrad this morning for about 45 minutes, which is a triumph for me, given all that's been going on.


And now I have selected a crime fiction read, thanks to Maxine at Petrona. For a minimal price, I purchased Into the Darkest Corner by English writer Elizabeth Haynes on the Kindle. Many, many reviewers have stated that it's an "I can't put it down" read, which is exactly what I need to get back on the horse of reading fiction. Haynes, who lives in Kent, wrote this debut novel as part of NaNoWriMo, the global phenomenon known as National Novel Writing Month. I, too, have participated in this event, three times over, and know the power of group encouragement, synergy, and a 30-day deadline to get the bare bones of a plot fleshed out from start to finish. Once that is done, writers can go back and add, edit, and revise. If I weren't teaching, I would be participating once again for certain.


As I mentioned in my previous post, I also need to read a banned, censored, or "challenged" book. I have finally! chosen Annie on My Mind by Nancy Garden, which created a huge sensation in 1982 when it was first published. It was the very first book written for teenagers about a girlfriends' relationship that turns into a love relationship. Very sensitively done, too. The censoring sort of people went wild with it. "If my daughter reads this, she'll become a lesbian!" and all that rot.