In the High Peaks
















Wednesday, January 23, 2013

When Work Brings You Too Close to Bookstores: Kate Morton & Mark Helprin

Dear Readers,
This is my dilemma this semester. I'm teaching my courses at a "satellite campus," which is perilously close to a Barnes and Noble, the only bookstore within 60 miles of my home. "Go for it!" my inner reader says. Ah, yes, I'm afraid I have already.

I have an extra-long commute now, so on Monday, as my next semester began, I traipsed into Barnes & Noble and purchased The Secret Keepers by Kate Morton, in audiobook. I've listened to 2 of the 17 discs thus far, and I am so hooked, I've slowed my speed on the highway to 60 mph. Everyone zooms by me, but the book and the reduced speed are exquisite for relieving stress. I need that after last semester. I also bought the American Mark Helprin's latest novel, In Sunlight and In Shadow, at a deep discount. Oh, yes, how I've tried borrowing audiobooks from the library, but I'm so tired of getting super-absorbed in a novel or biography or memoir, and then Disc 5 or Disc 7 is so scratched, it's unreadable. I've decided I need and deserve better for these hours and hours spent in the auto.
Posted by Judith at 6:30 PM

4 comments:

  1. bibliophiliacJanuary 24, 2013 at 8:45 PM

    Judith, enjoy The Secret Keeper--I just loved it. How is your semester going? I hope listening to audiobooks will make your long commutes more bearable. Mark Helprin is another author I love, and I have In Sunlight and in Shadow on my list of books I'd like to get. I'm looking forward to hearing how you like it....

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    1. JudithJanuary 26, 2013 at 4:59 PM

      I'm so glad you loved The Secret Keeper. I think it's going to be a book that will have me dreading the arrival of the ending.

      In Sunlight and in Shadow is 24 CDs long! So it will be quite a while before I finish, I imagine, especially considering I'm on Disc 3 of 17 Discs for The Secret Keeper.

      My semester started just this past week, and so far everything is going smoothly. How is yours going?

      May the few and far between days of reading be long,
      Judith

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  2. bibliophiliacJanuary 26, 2013 at 10:48 PM

    We are halfway through the year...My students stay with me, and I'm just starting to feel that I know them very well. I teach high school sophomores, and they are really fun most of the time. But the district mandates, never-ending rounds of testing, and grading are grinding me down right now. On the other hand, there's the beauty of The Great Gatsby, which I'm reading with my students now.

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    1. JudithJanuary 30, 2013 at 6:19 PM

      Yes, I can imagine that tenth-graders would be a fun group to teach. I remember that I read The Great Gatsby in my English class that year. A great choice for them.

      New York State demands too much of this as well. I literally have to unteach the only way they are taught to write according to the dictates of the New York State Regents Exam. The procedure is so ingrained that many students have difficulty breaking out of the rigid mode.

      Judith

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