Gwen N. posted an article on A Novel Read - Feb 3, 2012, 10:21 am
I have noticed a decent number of hits to this blog recently. A quick update for readers - I haven't fallen off the map. I just moved to a new address. If you want to catch up on my current reads head over toanovelread.wordpress.com with the caveat that I am not updating as regularly as I once did....
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Gwen N. posted an article on A Novel Read - Jun 23, 2011, 3:53 pm
If you have read my blog over the past few years, than you know that Connie Willis is one of my favorite authors. I love her humor and her attention to detail. The books she has written about time-traveling historians fulfill some of my favorite fields: history, comedy, sci-fi. So I was thrilled whe...
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Gwen N. posted an article on A Novel Read - May 26, 2011, 9:00 am
I love Neil Gaiman's books. He can create the most fascinating, dynamic, unique worlds. I have read all of his adult books. But I am not as enamored of his children's literature. I feel it is a bit dark (who am I kidding, it's really dark). I liked Coraline as a story, but it is not something I have...
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Gwen N. posted an article on A Novel Read - May 25, 2011, 9:36 am
Now that my kids have jumped into reading I am beginning to realize how many levels of books it is necessary to have. I knew about the categories of pictures, beginning readers, and chapter books. But my kids are smack in-between beginning readers and longer chapter books. They can handle chapters, ...
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Gwen N. posted an article on Survivor: The PhD Years - May 24, 2011, 3:14 pm
Believe it or not, Boy2 uttered that phrase while skipping down a school hallway holding the director's hand. No surprise, the school was not the public school he has fought against for the past four months. After running away, we had some serious rethinking to do. A lot of parental conversations, a...
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Gwen N. posted an article on Survivor: The PhD Years - Apr 14, 2011, 3:14 pm
Do you ever have those moments when you think, "Okay, this is as bad as it can get. We've hit rock bottom. Now we can start climbing back up again." Only to have a moment the next week when you say, "Wait, I was wrong. It got worse. But at least now we're at the lowest point." And then the next week...
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Gwen N. posted an article on Survivor: The PhD Years - Mar 2, 2011, 9:52 am
I don't get paidIt is more frustrating than rewardingI would rather I didn't have to do this job So, why am I? Because dealing with Boy2 and his school is my full-time job. It is not a matter of want, it is a matter of need. When I started this blog I had no intention of it becoming a litany of woe ...
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Gwen N. posted an article on A Novel Read - Jan 12, 2011, 10:42 am
I first saw this book on a high school summer reading list at the bookstore in Colorado. Asking about it on the East Coast very few people had heard of it. That different alone peaked my interest. Is the academic interest in Hispanic culture that much larger west of the Mississippi? (Yes, there is a...
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Gwen N. posted an article on A Novel Read - Jan 11, 2011, 2:22 pm
Sorry for being gone for most of the past three months. I have hit a wall with blogging about what I read. I finish a decent book and thing, how much can I say about this series that I haven't already said three times before? Or I read a book for leisure, finish and think: enjoyable. Enough said. So...
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Gwen N. posted an article on A Novel Read - Dec 9, 2010, 10:32 am
During the month of October I focused on the books my kids were reading. I haven't found any of my recent reads that inspiring which is why I haven't posted much. However, I wanted to add another to the list of good kids finds. And I wanted to join the latest I Can Read Carnival celebrating early li...
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Gwen N. posted an article on Survivor: The PhD Years - Nov 15, 2010, 7:19 pm
Eldest is a really laid back kid. He takes most things in stride and usually lets problems roll off his back. One of the biggest compliments I got at meet the teacher night was that he is a good classmate; although the work is not challenging he does not make the other kids feel bad by pointing that...
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Gwen N. posted an article on A Novel Read - Nov 15, 2010, 11:35 am
Bestseller denotes a book that has sold many, many copies. However, does anyone ever track how many books have been read? That is, just because I buy a book and set it on my shelf doesn't mean I ever pick it up and read it. Nor does bestseller acknowledge the books that look good and get lots of hyp...
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Gwen N. posted an article on Survivor: The PhD Years - Nov 3, 2010, 11:24 am
I heard about Waiting for Superman probably on Facebook. I honestly don't remember. I told my parents, both retired public school teachers, to go see it if they had a chance. They called me in dead shock. "Someone gets it." Was the most pervasive comment they could make. In case you haven't heard a...
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Gwen N. posted an article on A Novel Read - Nov 3, 2010, 11:13 am
I have loved the Maisie Dobbs series since I read the first book. I was thrilled to realize I had an unread book in the series on my shelf: don’t know how I could have missed that earlier. I have heard people call the series “light” because they are mysteries, but really I think there is an in...
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Gwen N. posted an article on A Novel Read - Nov 3, 2010, 11:11 am
Yesterday (well, in October. I wrote this then and am posting now) I had to finish Hannah’s latest book. Everything else could wait; the book came first. My second novel by Kristin Hannah and I’m hooked. I will eagerly be looking for more of her work – she’s amazing. Hannah’s books are cha...
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Gwen N. posted an article on A Novel Read - Nov 1, 2010, 8:52 am
Shortly after I started my blog I joined Goodreads. What better way to keep track of the books I read. I love the ability to track my books and I love seeing what my fellow bibliophiles are reading. However, Goodreads has recently added a new dimension to my reading. They send a monthly email with b...
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Gwen N. posted an article on A Novel Read - Nov 1, 2010, 8:47 am
I have read most of Laura Childs’ books in all three of her series. Death Swatch is the sixth book in the scrapbooking series. And as much as I enjoy Childs’ series I am beginning to feel as though she is spread too thin. For the first time I found inconsistencies and problems in this story. L...
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Gwen N. posted an article on Survivor: The PhD Years - Oct 26, 2010, 10:06 am
Women of our generation have been told we can do it all, have a job, have a family, have a social life. But more importantly, we can do it all and be happy. And if we aren't happy, we must be doing something wrong. After all, isn't this what Women's Rights were all about? I realize this is a stereot...
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Gwen N. posted an article on A Novel Read - Oct 25, 2010, 12:20 pm
When my boys were much younger we belonged to a neighborhood playgroup. The kids ranged in age from newborn to kindergarteners. At Christmas we had a book exchange. Everyone brought an anonymous wrapped book and put it either into the "infant/board book" category or in the "older kid" category. I de...
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Gwen N. posted an article on A Novel Read - Oct 22, 2010, 9:20 am
I picked up this book at the school Book Fair in the spring because I liked the bright colors and the cartoony art. It turns out to have been a fun find for both boys. The story is a goofy, cute picture book. But you can read it to kids, and have them read it themselves at many different levels. Th...
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Gwen N. posted an article on A Novel Read - Oct 21, 2010, 10:17 am
**A special thanks to The Reading Tub for asking me to be part of her A Carnival for New Readers for the month of October** A good librarian is worth her weight in gold. Much of my childhood was spent browsing the shelves of our library with the librarian standing over my shoulder offering recommen...
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Gwen N. posted an article on Survivor: The PhD Years - Oct 6, 2010, 9:14 am
Last spring I spoke with my department head about what class he wanted me to teach this fall. Out of left field he suggested the French Revolution. I'm a French historian so it was a totally logical choice. However, since being at my university I have exclusively taught 20th Century classes. The stu...
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Gwen N. posted an article on A Novel Read - Oct 4, 2010, 10:54 am
Finding a series which is appealing to both boys and girls can be challenging these days. In a world which touts gender-neutral toys, chapter books do not follow the rules. So many of the plots are extremely gendered. Walking through the bookstore you can find pastel colored spines with titles about...
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Gwen N. posted an article on A Novel Read - Oct 3, 2010, 7:02 pm
Both of my boys are very visual. They have always loved reading picture books at bedtime. About a year ago when I attempted to read a chapter book to them Eldest declared, "I don't like chapter books because I can't see the pictures in my head." So we stuck with picture books. Even as they are readi...
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Gwen N. posted an article on A Novel Read - Oct 1, 2010, 10:24 am
I am going to take a break for the month from blogging about the books I am reading. I may hang onto the titles so I can post them later. But for this month I will turn my focus to children's literature. Both of my boys: Eldest and Boy2 have recently made the jump from Easy Readers to Chapter books....
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Gwen N. posted an article on Survivor: The PhD Years - Sep 28, 2010, 2:27 pm
Imagine if you will... It is the first day of a brand-new job. You are excited to get started. You have been looking forward to trying something new for a while. You meet new people, get situated in your office, and spend the first day learning the basic rules. Day two you again focus on the rule...
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Gwen N. posted an article on A Novel Read - Sep 28, 2010, 10:05 am
When reading a cozy mystery series there is suspension of disbelief and then there is "so far fetched I am having trouble with my disbelief turning into laughable disdain." What can I say; I applaud Hyzy for her attempt at a novel fun locale for her series. I think writing a series about the White H...
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Gwen N. posted an article on A Novel Read - Sep 22, 2010, 2:09 pm
I picked up Baker Towers on a whim at a discount bookstore. I had never heard of the book or the author. But the blurb on the back sounded engaging. I'm really glad I got the book. Haigh's novel grew on me as I read it. By today I wanted the peace and quiet to sit down and finish the story uninterru...
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Gwen N. posted an article on Survivor: The PhD Years - Sep 22, 2010, 1:37 pm
I rarely use this blog for discussions about my family but I feel a need to put some of my thoughts down on paper and this seems like a good venue for that. My youngest son - we'll call him Boy2 - started kindergarten three weeks ago. I have worried about him starting public school since he was thre...
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Gwen N. posted an article on Survivor: The PhD Years - Sep 18, 2010, 9:03 pm
Back in May I posted a list of a few books I hoped to read over the summer. It is mid-September which means summer is not quite over yet. Yesterday I finished the last book on the list What the Dormouse Said: How the Sixties Counterculture Shaped the Personal Computer Industry. I originally picked u...
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Gwen N. posted an article on A Novel Read - Sep 17, 2010, 10:44 am
Connie Willis is one of the most award-winning science fiction authors in the past twenty-five years. And yet her books will never be a part of the literary cannon. That isn't Willis' point. In fact, it is her ability to poke fun at so much of society that makes her books great. They are the antithe...
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Gwen N. posted an article on A Novel Read - Sep 15, 2010, 9:21 am
Last night I refused to interact with anyone in the house. I was bound and determined to finish Stieg Larsson's trilogy. On the one hand, I really wanted to know the outcome - how was he going to wrap up all of his story lines? On the other hand, I just wanted to finish the damn series! Stieg Larsso...
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Gwen N. posted an article on Survivor: The PhD Years - Sep 15, 2010, 9:01 am
I read blogs that talk about integrating technology into the classroom. I have had discussions about the merits of the internet, access to online sources, visual aids. There are teachers who are incorporating twitter and blogs and who-knows-what into their daily activities. I applaud the novelty. Bu...
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Gwen N. posted an article on Survivor: The PhD Years - Sep 8, 2010, 9:40 pm
And no, I'm not thinking of the old cowboy song. I was thinking more along the lines of Steve Tyler. Something a bit like this: I have a list a mile long of projects I *could* work on. But the big question is whether I will and or want to work on them. There are very standard traditional academic p...
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Gwen N. posted an article on A Novel Read - Sep 7, 2010, 9:05 pm
The Girl With a Dragon Tattoo is an international phenomenon. I have to believe everyone in the literate world has heard about this book in the past six months. My mom has read the series, my husband has read the series, friends have read the series. I finally decided I would bite the bullet and rea...
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Gwen N. posted an article on A Novel Read - Sep 3, 2010, 7:58 pm
First, let me say that I have learned after reading Fiona Neill's book Slummy Mummy that the term "slummy" in British English is more akin to our word sloppy as opposed to the more common usage of the phrase. Second, let me point out that I did not expect to like this book. I didn't think I would ha...
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Gwen N. posted an article on A Novel Read - Aug 31, 2010, 8:29 pm
I first discovered Jennifer Chiaverini by sheer chance. I stood in the bookstore looking for a book by Tracy Chevalier and was attracted by the cover of a nearby book, The Quilter's Apprentice. I am not a quilter but at the time I worked with a volunteer quilting group and I enjoyed watching them wo...
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Gwen N. posted an article on A Novel Read - Aug 31, 2010, 6:29 pm
I came at reading Geraldine Brooks in rather a backwards fashion. I started with March, followed by People of the Book and am only now getting to Year of Wonders, Brooks’ first novel. The friend who recommended it described the story as “a book about the plague with some romance thrown in.” Wi...
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Gwen N. posted an article on A Novel Read - Aug 27, 2010, 9:29 pm
Jenny White's first novel in the Kamil Pasha series, The Sultan's Seal, was far and away one of my favorite books this year. White has the uncanny ability of imparting a ton of knowledge about the Ottoman Empire, a subject of which she is well versed, without lecturing or falling into a litany of fa...
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Gwen N. posted an article on A Novel Read - Aug 21, 2010, 7:00 pm
I picked up The Russian Concubine at a discount bookstore based purely on the blurb on the back. A story about White Russians living in Junchow, China in 1928 sounded like a great locale and population for a novel. After a grad school classmate wrote a paper about Russians in China I became intrigue...
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Gwen N. posted an article on A Novel Read - Jul 23, 2010, 3:57 pm
Anna Quindlen is my hero. She has an incredible ability to vividly yet succinctly describe a scene. Reading her prose is effortless; I never feel like I am wading through unnecessary text, yet I can perfectly envision the world she narrates. Honestly, I have read almost none of Quindlen's more well-...
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Gwen N. posted an article on A Novel Read - Jul 20, 2010, 6:35 pm
Once upon a time a book-loving sixth grader met a generous intelligent librarian. This librarian, wise in the ways of tween girls, introduced our heroine to the world of fantasy books. Recognizing the dreams of young girls to be princesses and marry princes the librarian offered the young girl Robin...
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Gwen N. posted an article on A Novel Read - Jul 15, 2010, 7:51 pm
Prep satisfied everything that the last two books I read have not satisfied. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it, even if it wasn't exactly what I thought it would be. My husband noticed me reading a new book the other night and asked what I was reading. Based on the quotes on the cover I replied, "...
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Gwen N. posted an article on A Novel Read - Jul 13, 2010, 10:35 am
Murder in Miniature is a true cozy mystery. Nothing violent happens on screen - it is like reading a classic play. The only people who die, die offstage. The characters hear about what happened to them but never actually see any gore. Even the main character is never put in real danger - no gun toti...
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Gwen N. posted an article on A Novel Read - Jul 8, 2010, 11:11 am
I don't appear to be genetically created to appreciate literary award winners. The Shipping News won the Pulitzer prize after all and yet I found it... boring, honestly. Okay, I am glad that I read it now that I'm done. But it was not a book I enjoyed reading. I can understand why it was award winni...
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Gwen N. posted an article on A Novel Read - Jun 15, 2010, 12:05 pm
Once upon a time I loved reading Gothic Mysteries. Somewhere in that junior high era I discovered Philip Pullman's Sally Lockhart Series. I read Ruby in the Smoke eons ago. When my husband rediscovered the series he picked up the first book. Although his connection to the story was not based on ...
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Gwen N. posted an article on A Novel Read - Jun 9, 2010, 3:47 pm
My mom picked this book out for me based on its title and its cover art; she figured as a girl who has way too many Barbie dolls and two boys I could appreciate what O'Donnell had to say. Whenever my sons saw this book on my nightstand they would laugh and tell me all about the boy who was dress...
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Gwen N. posted an article on Survivor: The PhD Years - Jun 1, 2010, 11:50 am
Today is the first day of summer break. My youngest finished preschool on Friday and is home with me for ten days before his brother gets finished. While the transition to kids at home all day long can be a challenge, right now I'm enjoying it (admittedly it is the first day. Who can get too frustra...
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Gwen N. posted an article on A Novel Read - Jun 1, 2010, 11:01 am
Every semester I teach Introduction to the Study of History. The course covers the twentieth century and every student is expected to write a research paper. I have a distinct number of students fascinated with the history of technology - current computer/cell phone/internet technology in particular...
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Gwen N. posted an article on A Novel Read - May 27, 2010, 10:51 am
I am not a poet. In general I'm not even a fan of poetry. Yet Marisa de los Santos, who is a poet, uses incredible poetry in her descriptive novel. In fact, she breaks most of the rules writing guides tell struggling authors: she uses too many adverbs, she uses cliches with aplomb, and she lets ...
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