The Sunday Salon - 24 August 2008

Hello, fellow Saloners! School started two weeks ago, and I've been busily planning lessons, grading papers, and trying to keep my sanity - hence, the lack of posting recently. Teaching is great; I love my students, but I'm still trying to figure out what I'm doing. And all the drama is crazy, too. It's a big change, and I'm starting to feel (*gasp*) like an adult with a real career, which is an amazing feeling.

Moving on...I have managed to do a bunch of reading, in-between all the teacher-related stuff. At school, we have a required 20 minute reading period, so during that time I'm reading The Once and Future King, by T.H. White. I haven't gotten very far into it, but I love it! We have to do a King Arthur/mythology unit at some point, and I'd like to incorporate it in that.

I also got my first ARC in the mail, which was incredibly exciting! It's Superpowers, by David J. Schwartz. It was actually released in June, but I hadn't heard of it until it showed up in my mailbox. I read it in three days, which is impressive considering the lack of free time I have right now. The book is about five college students who have a party with homemade beer and wake up the next morning with various superpowers. There's a flyer, a telepath, a speedster, a superstrong girl, and an invisible girl. The book is set in the months leading up to September 11, 2001, so I realized pretty early on that was going to factor into the story, but just not in the way that I thought it would. I really liked it; it purports to be a true story, and I think it's a pretty realistic look at what would happen if people really had these kinds of abilities. As realistic as it can be, I suppose.

The other books I've been reading are ones that my sister left at my apartment - mostly Fear Street, and a few other YA series. I'm terribly behind on my challenge books, but I'll make more of an effort with those after I get my lesson plans straightened out. I like having the cheesy YA books on hand, because I can speed through them and not worry about really paying attention to plot, characterization, etc. They're great for when I'm trying to sleep at night or want to take a break from grading.

And now I'm off to do more teacher stuff. Happy reading!