My senior year in college flew by way too fast for my personal comfort. I miss the feeling of writing lengthy research papers, acing terribly difficult sociology exams, and standing in a theater. As a senior I had access to the Augsburg theater's keys and I loved that feeling of being in there and working, just me and my actors when I was directing, or as a stage manager closing up for the night, or even as a bitter actor ... knowing that my love for performing was withering away with the politics of theater and the mistakes I felt our department was making. Either way, those last few months were filled with nostalgia and fear.
In February, I applied for Teach For America. After months of interviews and applications, I was finally accepted and sent off to Oklahoma where my teaching experience starting in Tulsa as an Algebra II teacher. Now in Oklahoma City, and halfway done with my first year, I am learning that life in college was blissful and I miss it terribly. Being an adult is far less glamorous than I had hoped, but I'm enjoying my life with Scott and our adopted dog, Ike.
Some of my favorite moments now come from prolonged visits to Barnes and Noble, and/or books ordered online while I impatiently await their arrival to my apartment building. During the summer I enjoyed reading on our balcony on my orange bistro set, overlooking our vegetable garden. Now I enjoy reading anywhere I can - in bed, at school at my desk, on our futon, in our chair, on the floor, in the bathtub. Here are my favorite books from 2012 (or some of them anyway).
The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky ~ This book was recommended to me my friend here in Oklahoma whom I originally met in Cannes, France. She said it was one of her absolute favorites, and after reading it I can fully understand why. At first the book was slow moving for me, and I was lackadaisically interested. The letters to a random unknown correspondent seemed unnecessary and depressing to me, but soon I came to see the main character as a champion, as a hero, as a boy trying to survive a life that moves to fast for him to get through. The book is poignantly touching, and all at once I started to see how this boy's life is beautifully damaged. When some friends take a risk on him, he starts to realize that he can live life as opposed to just floating through it alone and unnoticed. The story is surprising, as well as secretive and revealing all at once. I would recommend this story to people who always wish that their life was a little more moving ... a little more infinite. This book will inspire you to hold on to those you love, and move past the dark things in your life that hold you back from finding those you love.
The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald ~ Can you believe I've never read this before? Scott bought it for me for my 23rd Birthday. It was perfect and small and smooth and brilliant. The way I see books is this - they are special treasures. I love the way the pages smell, and the way the covers feel. I love the artistic choices of the cover pictures, and the descriptions on the back. Gatsby is filled with fickle characters, none too smart, who are so enveloped in their lives that they forget to care about each other. They are greedy, and reckless, and it's poetic and beautiful.
One Breath Away, by Heather Gudenkauf ~ I saw Scott's mother, Jody, looking at this book in Target when she and the rest of his family was visiting us in Oklahoma. She didn't purchase the book, but it intrigued me and after reading the summary on the back cover, I bought it impulsively. She asked me to let her know how it was and I still haven't, but here I'll let you know that it was a great read, although not at all what I had expected it to turn out like. The ending was too simple for my tastes, but it's worth the journey to get there to that point. As an elementary school teacher I was struck by the plot line that a gunman is stuck in an elementary school somewhere. After recent current events this book made me feel a bit morbid reading it (as I was about to the end when the shootings in Connecticut occurred). The book is a basic tale of who is the man in the school and what does he want? It focuses on particular characters and their different roles in surviving the school holdup. The characters range from a young girl, Augie, stuck inside the Iowa school building trying to find her brother, her mother laying in a hospital bed from grease fire burns in Arizona, her grandfather trying to get his grand-kids out, and the female police officer trying to find the identity of this unknown man, and finally the veteran teacher whose classroom he is occupying.
Finally, this is my favorite book of the year that arrived to me in one of those long awaited packages from Barnes and Nobles. The Paris Wife, by Paula McLain. I found this novel incredibly powerful with bright, bursting images of Paris, Chicago, and Canada and the torrid romance between Ernest Hemingway and his first wife, Hadley. I deeply connected with Hadley and her descriptions of the love she felt for her husband, who was a dark man with unfocused eyes, and a deep passion for writing that was violent at best. Her ups and downs with her husband are real and visceral and I deeply encourage everyone to pick up this book to gain a glimpse of what this woman, the first Mrs. Hemingway, endured during her life with Ernest. She was his rock, and his inspiration, and finally she was the woman willing to let him go and live his life - as torrential and dangerous as it would become. This book captivated me from start to finish - I enjoyed it and cherish it as a piece of literary mastery. Here is the book's website. Check it out!!!
http://www.randomhouse.com/rhpg/features/paula_mclain/book/
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