What am I reading? Quite a bit, actually. Prepping for six classes is kind of insane.

One of my favorites (more technical) is Writing With Style, by John R. Trimble. It has really impressed me and affected the way I think about my own writing.

Conor

Are you scheduled to teach six different classes?

Yessir. 6th and 7th grammar and writing (combined), ELA for each of 6th, 7th, and 8th, American Lit (9th and 10th combined) and Modern Lit and Philosophy (11th and 12th combined).

However, it's such a small class that I have less than 15 kids in each class. Prep is crazy but grading will be much easier, I think (and hope).

Conor

Wow that is quite a bit to get ready. I'm sure they picked the right man.

I'm getting there.

Another good book I'm reading is Philosophy and Literature, the textbook for the 11th and 12th grade class. It goes through the categories of Truth, Beauty, and Goodness, with philosophy, poetry, and fiction for each category.

I just finish "The Bear" by Faulkner. It was a great story. I've read a few of his novels, but this story was amazing. If any of you hunt (and I know many do), this is definitely a must read for you. I'm not a hunter, but it made me want to. Or at least get out into the woods again.

Conor

I just read the Marriage Plot, the 80s love triangle at Brown (and beyond) - or an updated version of a victorian tale. I really liked it. A smart page turner, filled with more references than High Fidelity, and interesting and pretty complex characters. The ending maybe leaves a little something to be desired. But, so it goes. Anyone else read it?

Reading Steve Job's biography.

I recently started another circumnavigation of the works of Patrick O'Brian. It feels a little like what Aubrey and Maturin feel when they've sunk the land on another voyage, freeing themselves from the accumulation of trouble and woes on land: escape!

Just started Blood & Thunder, a story of Kit Carson by Hampton Sides.

House of Morgan. Very interesting so far.

Had some business on Pine Street today so I stopped by 23 Wall Street to take a look at the original J.P. Morgan building and found it covered with scaffolding while they're gutting it to turn it into condominiums. It's also playing host to Halloween Superstore. So it goes.

Trip English wrote:

So it goes.

Just read that. Kurt has some good stuff. I loved Cat's Cradle.

Now reading Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert. Not sure who I am going to feel bad for; her, him, or both.

Drown (a collection of short stories) by Junot Diaz

Richard Pipes' "Russia Under the Bolshevik Regime." A little long, and in the end the butler did it. Sort of.

Could also have been called "Trotsky gets the Shaft."

About two months ago I set the goal to make my way through all of Dickens. I have read many but not all. Started with Pickwick, Oliver Twist, and Nicholas Nickleby, but am bogging down a bit on the Old Curiosity Shop.

Pickwick is marvelous.

Am having a great time reading Sherlock Holmes stories to my kids at bedtime. Even at 9 (boy) and 11 (girl) they still love getting read to. It's some of the only time we spend together during the work-week. They love trying to figure out the mystery before the end. They are getting pretty good at it!

I am reading (and enjoying) various Great American Short Story Collections for the years: 1915, 1920, 1921 which I picked up on my Kindle, cheap.