An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

This book was recommended to me via Amazon's suggestions based on previous history.  I'm not sure what exactly led to that, but I requested it from the library and picked it up, along with a few others, last week.  Since it is an older book (2006), it has a longer checkout period and went to the bottom of my "to read" pile.  Then yesterday happened.  

Yesterday marked two years since my mother died of cancer.  I woke up sad.  I donated 11" of my hair to Locks of Love.  I felt uplifted and humbled by the Facebook comments about it.  My husband had to cut down a tree at his mother's house that had held his childhood treehouse.  He was sad, and I felt sad for him.  My mother-in-law took my son to Barnes and Noble and ran into my high school best friend.  Their selfie popped up on Facebook.  I laughed thinking imagine if WE had cell phones back then.  I joined my husband shooting.  I still really stink at it, so I felt embarrassed and down on myself.  I'm taking care of my sister's critters while she's away.  I drove over to find I locked the lock I don't have a key for.  That might've been the breaking point.  I cried on her back steps while her dog barked at me then pooped on the floor.  My husband had to come over and break into their house via a bathroom window.  I went home exhausted from a ridiculous emotional roller coaster.

Long story short, I needed to read something funny and happy.  I pulled this out and started reading early afternoon.  While it certainly isn't going on the all-time favorites list, it was a good read that had me smiling.

Colin is a half-Jew former child prodigy who only dates girls named Katherine.  His best friend Hassan is an Arab Muslim, who is also an overweight nerd.  Both speak multiple languages, use "fug" instead of "f*ck* (I won't spoil why), and struggle with the social conventions of American high school society.  They up and decide to take a summer road trip in Colin's beat up old car known as The Hearse.  They drive from the suburbs to Chicago with no real direction or plan and end up in Gutshot, Tennessee.  

Through a bizarre and comical chain of events, they take up residence with a paramedic in training, Lindsey, and her textile factory owning and town historian mother, Hollis, in their bright pink mansion.  Lindsey has a boyfriend also named Colin, former football captain and local big-shot.  Hollis hires Hassan and Colin to interview the old people she hasn't gotten to yet in creating the town's history.  Over the next few weeks, dotted with hilarious and yet deeply philosophical moments, Hassan and Colin really figure out who they are and what they want in life, culminating in a feral hog hunt that does not disappoint.

Being that Colin is a genius, there is a fair bit of math and foreign words, but all are footnoted.  The author even had a real-life math genius write an appendix to prove Colin's theorem correct.  I know I passed the AP Calculus exam, but I skipped the appendix ;) 

Summer Reading Raffle Winners

Congratulations to our Summer Reading Raffle Winners!

Kindle donated by Mrs. Lynch: 

Leanna Corvera

Kindle donated by Mrs. Woychowski: 

Alexandra Criscuolo

Viva Dance gift certificate donated by Kelvia Aguilera: Anh Ha

Duffy’s gift certificate donated by the Walsh Family: Jasmine Hasty

Duchess Diner gift certificate donated by Maria Toussas: Sumedha Chowdury

Goldworks gift certificate donated by the O’Brien Family: Emani Stallings

Amazon gift card donated by the Lynch Family: 

Kobe Brantley

Subway gift card donated by the Lynch Family: 

Brandie James

Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell

Absolutely adored this book!

Eleanor is starting a new high school.  She has spent the previous year in foster care.  Her father has a new fiance and stepson and therefore cares not for his own children.  Her mother has remarried and has a new baby.  This is in addition to the other 4 she already has.  Eleanor's stepfather is an abusive alcoholic who clearly has a perverted sexual attraction to his stepdaughters.  Upon their marriage, Eleanor, her siblings, and mother move to Richie's old neighborhood in Omaha.

Park has always been different.  He is half-Korean.  His father is from the old neighborhood crew, same as Richie.  Park is a disappointment to his father.  He can't drive a manual stick shift.  Park and his brother have been taking Martial Arts since childhood, but although he is good at it, he's not really into it.  He'd prefer to read comic books and make punk mixtapes.  He dares to wear eyeliner.  It is 1986.

It is only two black girls who will befriend the bedraggled red-head.  Eleanor wears whatever her mother can buy at Goodwill.  The other white girls treat her poorly and make fun of her for being a little chubby.  Park learns Eleanor has been reading his comics over his shoulder on the bus.  They become friends and eventually a couple. 

Park and Eleanor must keep their relationship secret from Richie.  They go through all the trials of teenage love and then some, thanks to Eleanor's home life.  When things finally reach a breaking point, Park redeems himself in his father's eyes in his efforts to save Eleanor.

A really great read!  Thanks to the student who recommended it!

Living in the Dark Ages!

Although tech services says our district Outlook mail is fixed, I just tried to send an email to a trusted recipient and had it bounced back. 

In the interim, please note:

If you are a teacher or student at Carrigan, Bailey, or WHHS, you can email each other using your school issued Gmail.  You cannot send or receive an email to anyone without an apps.whschools.org address.

You can send messages via FB or Twitter to me and I'll try to get them to the right person.

Most advisors and coaches share a cell number with kids.  They may have be able to get an important message to a teacher via text. 

PowerSchool remains down at this time.

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews

"So in order to understand everything that happened, you have to start from the premise that high school sucks.  Do you accept that premise?  Of course you do.  It is a universally acknowledged truth that high school sucks.  In fact, high school is where were are first introduced to the basic existential question of life: How is it possible to exist in a place that sucks so bad?" Greg Gaines, chapter 1

Yep, pretty much.  Greg is a senior.  He is chunky, slightly pimply, and has a sinus condition.  He's not a goth, not musician, not an athlete, not a nerd, not a Christian, not black, not anything.  He just wants to get through senior year without someone beating him up.  He wants to make and watch movies with his best colleague Earl.  All of that comes crashing down though, soon into the school year.

Greg and Earl are polar opposites.  Greg's parents are affluent; his father is a hold-over hippie professor.  His mother is super sappy.  One teenager sister going through a phase and a six year old surprise sister.  They have a cat.  Named Cat Stevens of all things.  Earl, on the other hand, is one of at least 7 half brothers.  His mother is an alcoholic; his father is in Texas, stepfather in prison, Mom's boyfriend MIA.  He is black while Greg is white.  Nonetheless, they form a bizarre friendship over film-making.

Rachel and Greg went to elementary school together (a private Jewish elementary school).  Rachel is diagnosed with leukemia.  Oddly, it is the same type that took my mother's life in 2013.  For some reason, Greg's mother and Rachel's mother think they once dated and are still very good friends (both false).  They orchestrate a meeting for Greg to cheer Rachel up.

Nothing goes according to Greg's plans.  In fact, things go completely the opposite.  It's funny, heartwarming, heart wrenching, silly, strange, and sad all at the same time.

Now, I really thought I'd like to watch the movie that just came out based on the book.  However, I watched the trailer.  I think the movie way over does the heartwarming part and leaves out a lot of the silly and sad.  It remains to be seen at this time.

Also, don't forget to get those summer reading forms in!  Due by Friday 1:45 p.m.!

Follow me on Twitter at @RamblingsLMS

Daughter of the Loom by Peterson and Miller

Mrs. Patricia Libero, our Board of Education Chairwoman (and Mrs. Gardner's aunt and long-time friend of my Dad's), donated several books to the WHHS LMC upon cleaning out her mother's home library.  Some were added to our collection, some were donated to the Public Library, some are now part of the book tree (yes, it's back!), and a few came home with me.  This was one that I chose to take home.

I have family ties to Lowell, Mass.  My grandfather was given up at birth in Cambridge.  He bounced around foster homes and orphanages until he turned 18 and joined the Navy.  One the places he was fostered was in Lowell.  And by fostered, I mean he was child labor for an upholsterer.  So, naturally, I was intrigued by the description on the cover about the Industrial Revolution and the mills of Lowell.  This is the first in a series, of which there are 3.  All of them will be added to our collection in the LMC.

Lilly is the youngest child of a farmer in what was East Chelmsford, now Lowell.  Sadly, her parents are now both deceased and Lewis, her older brother and a gambling addict, has sold off the farm to the factory investors.  Lilly has no choice but to seek work in the mills she despises.  Worse, she learns her former love is one of the investors. 

Lilly is on a mission, one she believes God has set for her, to sabotage the mills from within while earning enough to survive.  She befriends the matron of her boarding house and the other miller women living there.  Lilly is not the only one out to ruin the mills though.  I won't spoil any more. 

This was a pretty quick read, done in an afternoon.  Be aware, there is much conversation about God and being Christian, just in case that's not your cup of tea.

My one wish is that there was more background information given in this piece of historical fiction. 

@RamblingsLMS
#whhslmc

In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware

This was on the NYT bestseller list for a while, so I put in a request for it at WHPL.  It took nearly all summer.  To be honest, I'm not sure it was worth the hype!  I did not feel all of the characters were developed well enough to flesh out the plot.  I feel like I know more about the sassy gay friends than the main antagonist.  More on that in a minute.

Clare is getting married.  Her best friend and maid of honor (and seriously obsessed bordering on crazy) Flo is throwing her a hen party.  This is what we call a bachelorette.  The story takes place in England, but there is not enough to confuse the reader with British vs. American English.  Flo invites dozens of people, but only a handful show up.  These include Nina (one of the sassy gay friends), Tom (the other), Melanie (a new Mom), and Leonora (who has not seen Clare in 10 years and is not invited to the wedding). 

Now, WHY do we need TWO stereotypical homosexual characters?  I mean, every stereotype known is thrust on these two characters--from Nina being a big girl to Tom being in theater--it was overkill.  Trying to be inclusive?  Didn't know which fit better (gay guy or lesbian woman)?  It was almost silly.  Melanie also serves no purpose other than to find the phone line has been cut when she tries to call home to check on her new baby. 

Someone cuts the phone lines.  There are footprints in the snow.  Drunk (and some high) playing with a Ouija board.  Sound a little cliche?  It was. 

We later learn Leonora once dated the future groom.  When he is shot in the dark, it becomes a blame game.

I won't spoil who did it vs. who gets the blame.  I barely made it to that point anyway.

All in all, I can't say I'd recommend this one!  I really wanted to, but without any feeling toward the characters (neither love nor hate), I had no vested interest and really didn't care by the end.

Speaking of which, there is a cliff hanger at the end.  If you haven't figured it out by reading my previous posts....I HATE THAT!!!!!  And it was a STUPID one at that!!!!!

#whhslmc
@RamblingsLMS