Personal development
December 20, 2014
Book Club ’14: The Kite Runner
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Plot summary: From GoodReads, Amir is the son of a wealthy Kabul merchant, a member of the ruling caste of Pashums. Hassan, his servant and constant companion, is a Hazara, a despised and impoverished caste. Their uncommon bond is torn by Amir’s choice to abandon his friend amidst the increasing ethnic, religious, and political tensions […]
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December 17, 2014
Book Club ’14: Crazy Busy
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To give you an idea of how crazy busy I feel sometimes, I bought Crazy Busy and then it sat on a shelf a full six months before I even started it. Then I managed a chapter or two in a couple of months. Then I made a decision to spend 15 minutes or so each morning […]
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December 15, 2014
The Hobbit Reading the classics is always on my to-do list, thanks to my parents, who both loved a book that had stood the test of time (my dad and I had so many private jokes about the time he made me fight my way through A Tale of Two Kitties… I mean Cities). This year […]
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December 12, 2014
Today, a book I was eager to read but ended up disappointed with. Summary: From Goodreads: The children in this book defy the stereotypes of urban youth too frequently presented by the media. Tender, generous and often religiously devout, they speak with eloquence and honesty about the poverty and racial isolation that have wounded but not […]
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December 10, 2014
If you’ve never read Richard Paul Evans, think Nicholas Sparks (but even sappier) with a much-needed sense of morality. These two titles represent the last two books in a five-book series that started with The Walk. Alan’s wife, the love of his life, has a horse-riding accident, and in the month that transpires between […]
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December 7, 2014
Two nonfiction books today, both set in the same area (New Orleans) in the same era (Katrina and after). One is about Katrina, one isn’t really, both are about choices that may or may not lead to death, and both will make you stop and think about why and when people die. It’s a reflection […]
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December 3, 2014
Two books for this post: The Painted Veil, and Life After Life. Both about women with many layers, British women, both finding out that adultery isn’t all it’s cut out to be. One a classic, the other a modern bestseller. One to skip, and the other to lose yourself in for a weekend. The Painted […]
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December 1, 2014
Musicuentos Book Club 2014
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Welcome to the first (annual, I hope) Musicuentos Book Club. A book I read last year called The End-of-Your-Life Book Club, in which a son journeys through reading books with his mom while she is dying with cancer, inspired me to keep a record of the books I read and share my thoughts about them […]
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November 25, 2014
My first trip to the annual convention of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages was amazing. Well, there was the thing where I didn’t have any kids with me for a few days. I adore my children, but a few days off was much needed! Honestly, I didn’t get to attend many […]
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November 8, 2014
Since I had my precious Cottrell-itos on my trip to the annual conference of the Indiana Foreign Language Teacher’s Association, I didn’t get to spend as much time involved in the conference as I would have liked to, but I did greatly enjoy the time I did have. I reconnected with “old” friends, made new […]
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October 17, 2014
A new resource has become available to the Spanish teacher community and I really wanted you to know about it. Last night’s #langchat was about how we can push our students from Novice Mid to Novice High in all three modes (for a summary, keep an eye on the Calico Spanish blog). Several participants expressed […]
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October 9, 2014
It’s a wrap! I was back at my “home conference” in September for the 2014 Kentucky World Language Association annual conference and it felt like I hadn’t missed a beat- in a very good way. I got to hang out with old friends and make fantastic new ones, help and be helped, take a few […]
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