I read this book nearly
every year, and I also assign it to my novel-writing students. Reading it (even
for the fifth time), you feel your heart grow.
It’s a novel about football and
war—my two least favorite subjects—and yet Billy and his soldier cohort of brave and
vulnerable goofs got into my heart.
They are so out of their league, being paraded around as heroes at a Dallas Cowboys football game on Thanksgiving Day, and they are trying
their best while observing some deeply disturbing things about the country
they are risking their lives to defend.
His whole nation is celebrating what is the worst day of his life
Nineteen-year-old Billy Lynn is home from Iraq. And he's a hero. Billy and the rest of Bravo Company were filmed defeating Iraqi insurgents in a ferocious firefight. Now Bravo's three minutes of extreme bravery is a YouTube sensation and the Bush Administration has sent them on a nationwide Victory Tour.
During the final hours of the tour Billy will mix with the rich and powerful, endure the politics and praise of his fellow Americans - and fall in love. He'll face hard truths about life and death,…
I simply love this collection of
stories, and I return to it often, including this year. Lesley Bannatyne writes
about ordinary things—families reuniting, people forgiving themselves, people
finding the person in the world who makes their heart go “ping,” and many other
forms of grace.
Bannatyne is a genius with short story craft. For that
reason, I’ve probably taught more stories from this collection than stories by
any other writer! We emerge as readers feeling that everybody—EVERYBODY!—is
living such a delicate, precarious life with the potential for beauty and
kindness.
Unaccustomed to Grace is a collection of short stories where the unlikely outcome for irresponsible acts and unfortunate events result in redemption. Bannatyne's mastery of the written word informs these stories of common conflict with a brilliantine magic rarely found in contemporary literature. From the unlikely romance between a zoo employee and a spiritualist/activist to the redemption of a grandmother's long-rehearsed vengeance, these heart-warming stories are the contemporary fables we need in these stressful days.
This book is one of two of Lambert’s books that I reread
often and find myself reflecting on long after finishing it (the other is Mind Over Water, which I wholly
recommend too!)
But Shadow Work deserves
its place in my top of the year canon because of its clear-eyed, damning look
at the many ways we human beings willingly donate our time to businesses by
doing the “self-service” things—like self-check at the supermarket, or “please
listen carefully because our menu has changed” customer service calling
systems—that used to require real human interaction.
This book is a wakeup call
and an excellent read about the often-blurred lines between our leisure and our
work.
With the exception of sleep, humans spend more of their lifetimes on work than any other activity. It is central to our economy, society, and the family. It underpins our finances and our sense of meaning in life. Given the overriding importance of work, we need to recognize a profound transformation in the nature of work that is significantly altering lives: the incoming tidal wave of shadow work.
Shadow work includes all the unpaid tasks we do on behalf of businesses and organizations. It has slipped into our routines stealthily; most of us do not realize how much of it…
Arden thinks the world has ended when her parents decide to trade their large house (where she has her purple bedroom with a window seat!) for a small backyard guesthouse built like a wooden boat.
The worst part is that it’s not big enough for their dog to come along. Things worsen when her best friend moves away and a pandemic shuts school, leaving Arden’s family quarantined in very little space. Arden just wishes life would go back to normal.
As neighbors leave town, shut themselves away, and get sick, their pets are left behind, and Arden becomes the safekeeper of all the abandoned animals. When the pandemic touches home, Arden must use all her creativity and courage to help those she loves—family, friends, and dogs!
Lauren Wolk takes
on heavy issues—loss of home, loss of parents, loss of friends, bullying
with real consequences, and more—and explores them unflinchingly through a
child’s perspective.
She also does this with the sentences of a poet. Her
books are addictive yet so well-written that they require savoring.
Once we finish reading one aloud, we are already hungry for the next. Of all her books, Echo Mountain holds the highest spot in our hearts because it features a perfect younger brother and a perfect dog.
"Historical fiction at its finest." -The Horn Book
"There has never been a better time to read about healing, of both the body and the heart." -The New York Times Book Review
Echo Mountain is an acclaimed best book of 2020! An NPR Best Book of the Year * A Horn Book Fanfare Selection * A Kirkus Best Book of the Year * A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year * A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year * A Chicago Public Library Best Book of the Year
After losing almost everything in the Great Depression, Ellie's…
My son was really
taken by the ways that the author portrays kids—not much older than him and not so long ago—dealing with an unsafe social scene in ways that are
far above their maturity level.
He also loved the pack loyalty among the
greaser gang, as well as the small bursts of empathy between the rival
gangs after both groups have lost members.
50 years of an iconic classic! This international bestseller and inspiration for a beloved movie is a heroic story of friendship and belonging.
Cover may vary.
No one ever said life was easy. But Ponyboy is pretty sure that he's got things figured out. He knows that he can count on his brothers, Darry and Sodapop. And he knows that he can count on his friends-true friends who would do anything for him, like Johnny and Two-Bit. But not on much else besides trouble with the Socs, a vicious gang of rich kids whose idea of a good time is…
