Challenge: 50 Books discussion

I own over a hundred books that I haven't read (that's the danger of working in a bookstore). I want to put a real dent in them by reading one per week this year.

1. Night by Elie Wiesel

2. Fires in the Bathroom by Kathleen Cushman

3. New Rules of Lifting for Women by Lou Schuler

4. Appetite for Life by Noel Riley Fitch

5. Shattered Dreams by Irene Spencer

6. Lift by Kelly Corrigan

7. The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron

8. Winter Harvest Handbook by Eliot Coleman

9. A Red Herring without Mustard by Alan Bradley

10. The Polytunnel Handbook by Andy McKee and Mark Gatter

11. Mike McGrath's Book of Compost

12. What Works in Schools by Robert J Marzano

13. Under the Sea-Wind by Rachel Carson

14. How People Learn by John D Bransford (ed)

15. The Self-Healing Cookboob by Kristina Turner

16. Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard

I'm a big fan of Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. Dillard is such a stylish writer--beautiful to read. What did you think?

It's a wonderful book. A friend saw it on my shelf and told me that it taught her to slow down while reading, and she was right. I tend to skim through descriptive passages, but this whole book is descriptive.

I do a lot of reading over breakfast and coffee, but I couldn't do that with this. Something about reading about a giant water bug slurping the guts out of a living frog while I was eating my oatmeal turned me off a bit. On the other hand, her facts were spot on and I was surprised when I found out she didn't have a background in biology.

I chuckled over the "water bug slurping" line. Certainly not breakfast material! Dillard does make you slow down and relish the line. My students struggle a little with her because her prose isn't geared toward instant gratification--you have to work a bit.

I wish someone had made me read Annie Dillard.

17. Real Food by Nina Planck

18. Research on Educational Innovations by Arthur K Ellis

19. The Vegetable Gardner's Bible by Barbara Ellis

20. Multimedia Projects in Education by Karen Ivers

21. Meteorology Today by C. Donald Ahrens

22. United States of Arugula by David Kamp

23. The Teacher's Guide to Success by Ellen Kronowitz

24. Building e-Portfolios Using PowerPoint by Kathleen Montgomery

25. 44 Scotland Street by Alexander McCall Smith

26. Gift of Fear by Gavin de Becker

27. Experience and Education by John Dewey

28. Love Over Scotland by Alexander McCall Smith

29. World According to Bertie by Alexander McCall Smith

I love Alexander McCall Smith, but have only read a few outside of his No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series. Did you love this one? And which others of his are you especially liking?

I like Alexander McCall Smith a lot. This one is the fourth in the 44 Scotland Street series. They were written as a serial for a newspaper, so the chapters are really short. There have been a couple of times where characters or issues are introduced, but then drop out of sight. Otherwise, the characters are endearing, and I had trouble putting it down.

30. On Being a Teacher by Jonathan Kozol

31. Breaking Free from Emotional Eating by Geneen Roth

32. Women Food and God by Geneen Roth

33. When You Eat at the Refrigerator, Pull Up a Chair by Geneen Roth

34. When Food is Love by Geneen Roth

35. Assessment of Children and Youth with Special Needs by Libby G. Cohen and Loraine J. Spenciner

36. Special Education by Marilyn Friend

37. To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis

38. The Craggy Hole in My Heart and the at Who Fixed It by Geneen Roth

39.Plenty: One Man, One Woman, and a Raucous Year of Eating Locally by Alisa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon

40. Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength by Roy F. Baumeister

41. Methods for Teaching Science as Inquiry by Joel Bass

42. Menfreya in Morning by Victoria Holt

43. It's a Long Road to a Tomato by Keith Stewart