Monday, March 5, 2018

Slice of Life 2018 Day 5: Eleven Things About Me as a Reader

Recently, I saw a blogger write a list of 11 things about her as a blog post for Slice of Life. This reminded me of Amy Krouse Rosenthal’s book, The Book of Eleven. Note: Amy Krouse Rosenthal’s categorizes this title on her website as one of her grown up books. The Book of Eleven, as many of Amy Krouse Rosenthal’s books, is one of my writing go-to’s when I am not sure what to write about. For me, creating lists is sometimes the only way I can get started in writing.
My personal copy of The Book of Eleven


In the spirit of the great Amy Krouse Rosenthal, below is a list of eleven things about me as a reader:
  1. I was a struggling reader for most of elementary school and middle school. I often share this with my students and wrote about it here.
  2. Most nights I end the day reading. It is usually in bed or on the couch between my two children. I once wrote a poem about it called Bookends.
  3. I almost always have an audio book going in the car. Right now I am listening to One of Us is Lying. When selecting audio books, I try to find books that will appeal to my high school students so I can use the titles when I confer with students and make recommendations.
  4. My least favorite genre to read is fiction stories about animals. I am pretty certain that this is because I love animals, especially dogs, and cannot handle it when a dog dies.
  5. The last book I finished reading was Louise Erdrich’s Future Home of the Living God. It is a dystopian feminist thriller, a kind of book that I didn’t expect from Louise Erdrich. Although this was not my favorite title from Louise Erdrich, I still loved it. Think Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale.
  6. I am currently reading Deborah Wiles’ book Countdown. This is a mixture of historical fiction and nonfiction through a variety of texts. I was introduced to Deborah Wiles when I participated in the 2017 Book Love Foundation Summer Book Club.
  7. My nightstand is nearly always toppling with books. It is a constant source of annoyance for my husband. I own too many books, but it makes me really happy to live in a house full of books. 
  8. For the past three years I have surpassed my goal for on my Goodreads challenge. This is where I am at right now: 
My current Goodreads challenge
9. I enjoy reading physical books more than electronic versions of books. Mostly, I think that this is because I dog ear pages of books all of the time. When I find a line that I want to linger over, I oven dog ear the bottom corner of that page. I know that there is a digital bookmark option, but I just can't get used to it.
10. One of my favorite places to visit is our local public library. I typically check out more titles than I can read before the titles are due at the library.
11. I must read before I go to sleep. Every. Single. Night. I have found that I have trouble sleeping without digging into a good book.

7 comments:

  1. I had totally forgotten about The Book of Eleven! I need to find that on my shelves. I love, love, love Amy Krouse Rosenthal. I need to write more lists.... they're among my favorite things to write and to read, but I often feel like I'm taking the easy way out somehow if I write a list instead of a more cohesive piece. I think I need to let go of writer guilt! We also share many reading habits. I also check out far more books at the library than I can possibly read before the due date. (My library's limit is 100 books, and I'm usually right up there.) And I also have to read for a few minutes before I fall asleep. Can't really sleep without a book first.

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    1. Hi Elisabeth. I adore MKR, too and cried when she died! I love that we share so many reading habits - kindred spirits!

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  2. A great post - I don't know the Book of Eleven so will have to check it out. I love making lists as well. A great idea for a post. Nice job!

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    1. Thank you! Book of Eleven is a fun read and often made me laugh out loud!

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  3. I've seen several Lists of Eleven and must say yours is my favorite. Maybe it's because you mention several writers I love (Louise Erdrich, Amy Krause Rosenthal, Deborah Wiles); maybe its because your reading habits sound much like mine; maybe it's because talking about books and recommending them to students is one of my favorite things to do. I wish I had joined the Book Love discussion last summer.

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    1. Glenda, your comment made me feel SO good! Thank you! I loved being in the Book Love discussion last summer. There's still an active (closed) FB group that I still really enjoy

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  4. I love Amy Krause Rosenthal. I did not know about the Book of Eleven. I will definitely check it out.

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