Reading Material

I've been having plenty of time to read this summer while avoiding my packing and here is what I have come across so far...

One of the books assigned to my students next year is Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. I had never read it before and so picked it up on the "Summer Reading" table at Barnes and Nobel just after school got out.

The story is a simple tale of one man's journey through life and change in Africa during colonization. We see, through his eyes, the effects of changes to life and governance once the white man comes, and as readers we are challenged to compare the brutalities and beauty of both cultures as they interact.

The writing style was very plain which reinforced the simple beauty of the story and I highly recommend it. I cannot wait to discuss this story with my 10th graders next year!

I've also just read The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood which was shocking and though provoking. The book is about a woman living in the not-to-distant future where the United States has been taken over by a puritanical government. Due to pollution and war, much of the population is unable to have children and so special "handmaids" have been designated to act as surrogate mothers for powerful couples unable to have children. Unfortunately, the handmaids really didn't have a choice in the matter and face harsh punishments if they step out of line.

The time in this novel isn't always linear, sometimes it takes place in the narrator's present and sometimes it takes place in her past, so it can be difficult to read. Also, the subject matter is pretty mature so I'd say it's good for 11th graders who like to be challenged and up.

Currently Reading: Twighlight (a teen vampire novel) and about to start Coriolanus (Shakespeare Play).