Category Archives: Miscellaneous

I spent part of my winter break watching documentaries of the 3-5 episode variety about newsworthy events that have occurred, unconscionable crimes committed, or about people. I much prefer a documentary over a movie with a fictional premise. It would make sense that my love of documentaries is because I love nonfiction so I thought I would share a few recently-read nonfiction titles.

Two that focused on women in history. In particular, I’ve talked about How To Be A Renaissance Woman: The Untold History of Beauty and Female Creativity by Jill Burke to several people including one of our cosmetology teachers at our high school.

An essay collection about the 2000s by Colette Shade which I had fun with in remembering this time, especially the term Y2K!

I love a good biography or autobiography or in the case of Mo Rocca’s newest, a collective biography. Both were fantastic audiobooks.

And last, a Youth Media Award winner. A book published in another country in a language other than English translated for an American audience featuring the homes of animals near and far. Intricately drawn with straightforward but lyrical text, I enjoyed Home by Simler.

My boys are readers. Suffice it to say that having a librarian for a mom probably helps a little, but both have found their favorite topics and genres to have sustained their reading through middle school and high school with no signs of disengaging. And they still play plenty of video games and watch a lot of YouTube.

They regularly bring up what they’re reading in English class. Often it starts with “Mom, have you read X book?” To which I generally answer yes though for many of them it’s been a few decades or more while my husband generally hasn’t because he wasn’t in to school or books. That has changed. He’s found his favorite topics and genres and considers himself a reader. And a curious thing has happened this last year: he’s borrowed the audio versions of what our boys are reading in English class and throwing himself back to English class with the perspective of close for forty years more of living.

What fascinating dinner conversation we’ve had about Night by Wiesel and Things Fall Apart by Achebe.

It doesn’t matter when or how you become a reader. Just become one.

If English class in high school turned you off to reading, give books a chance again. (Tim Donahue wrote a guest essay in The New York Times specifically about the fad of only reading parts of a book rather than the whole thing).

If you don’t like to sit still, borrow an audiobook.

If you don’t know what you like, ask a librarian for a recommendation.

If you’re stuck in a reading rut, pick a new format, a new topic, a new category- we all need brain breaks.

But never stop learning through reading. And find a buddy to talk about books with. You’ll never know what perspective they’ll bring to the table as my sons realized in an animated conversation about the ending of Things Fall Apart with my husband.