Category: Review

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Reading Review Work

13/52 happiness is… the end of a series

One of the best things about being a school librarian? Buying books you love so you can share them with your students!

And at my new school, they hadn’t yet discovered the pleasures of SA.Patrick’s ‘Songs of Magic’ series. So I was very happy to introduce them to Patch, Wren and Barver, and the adventures they have… only to discover during the purchasing process that there’s a third book and now I get to enjoy reading them again, with the third book to add to the enjoyment!

Yay my life!!!

Have a wonderful-discovery-type-week yourself, dear Reader!

KRidwyn

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Reading Review Work

9/52 on reading

Something I’m enjoying about being back in the library again, is recommending books and book series to my patrons, be they Year 12s or Preppies. And I’ve recommended several books to staff members too, over the past few weeks!

And seeing as I’m trying to recommend books from a collection I’m unfamiliar with, it behooves me to get my speed-reader on, and get familiar with it!

And a title I was rather impressed by, the last week: Cinder, book 1 of The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer.

Think Cinderella with a slice of James Cameron’s Alita and set several centuries into Earth’s future. And Cinderella doesn’t lose just her shoe, but her whole foot (did I mention she’s a cyborg?)… I also felt there were hints of Jay Kristofer’s Lifelike series in there too.

An interesting read; I’m hoping the rest of the series lives up to the premise!

And until next week, happy reading yourself, dear Reader!

KRidwyn

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Life Random thoughts Reading Review

45/52 on my Goodreads challenge for the 2024

This year, I decided to try a different style with my Goodreads challenge. Ever since I started, the ‘target number’ I chose was based on a specific number of books per week. So in 2015 it was one book a week (ie 52 books) which I obliterated by reading 73, then I upped it to two books per week (104 total) in 2016, for which I managed the exact 104, right on the lead up to midnight on December 31, from memory!

For the next three years in a row, I aimed for three books per week. 156 books! Okay, sure, I only achieved that goal in 2019, reading 168 books, but still! It was a pretty good goal. And reading 81 in 2017 and then 126 in 2018 is not really to be sniffed at either, when I think about it…

I must have been pretty impressed with myself because the following year I upped it again. 2020, the year of ‘four books per week’, for a total of 208. Which I achieved, reading 210… but I’m pretty sure I added that year’s shortlisted BookWeek books into that record… which included 12 picture books!

The following year, 2021, I set the challenge back to three books per week (156 total) and even though I made it, reading 157… the following two years I stepped it back again to just two books per week (104 total) and achieved it again, each year, reading 115 and 114, respectively.

Fastforward to this year. 2024, the year of one book per week again. There were a few reasons for this: not the least of which was that I was back in the classroom, teaching, instead of in the library as librarian, and the planning / reporting / marking workload would leave significantly less time for reading. And also, I wanted to ensure that every book I recorded was a worthwhile, 250+ pager, rather than the picture book or Bible book, just to bulk out my Goodreads challenge record (I try to read my Bible each year, which in itself contains 66 books… but I don’t record these in my challenge as this is a recurring thing for me!).

Currently, I’m on 46 read out of 52. And in the main, I’m happy with that. The most recent is ‘The Space Between Worlds’ by Micaiah Johnson – a book I co-read with my bothers, so we could chat about it. Quite interesting Sci-Fi, and what made it more interesting was to pull it apart with my brothers and work out what we liked / didn’t like, and why. That one before it? Passive income? Don’t bother. It’s really short (I didn’t realise that when I downloaded it) and it’s pretty general in nature. Still, it was a book I read, which is why it’s in there. And the other 13 in the image continue the ‘reverse chronological order’ thing 🙂

The book I’m partway through right at the moment? (again!) is ‘The Brothers Hawthorne’ by Jennifer Lynn Marnes… because my local library contacted me on Friday to tell me that the fifth and final book in the series is sitting there, ready for me to collect… which I’m planning to do, tomorrow! So reading Book 4 this weekend seems the most sensible course of action 🙂 Even though I only read it, 10 books ago…

Anyway, that’s my reading so far this year. How’s yours going this year, dear Reader?

  • KRidwyn

 

 

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Life Random thoughts Review teaching Work

41/52 Huh! Catching up… and aliens because sure, why not…

So we *do* have a new government. And Miss 16 has completed three of her four external exams, with her final this coming Wednesday, and Master 15 has recovered from his very successful Work Experience week, and I’m marking the Year 10 English (real) exams, ready for them to start Year 11 work next week.

Phew!

Oh, did I also mention I’m finishing four Halloween ‘inflatable alien’-but-without-the-inflatable-bit costumes for my year 1 Innovate class?

Long story.

“Innovate” is what my school calls the amalgamation of the two curriculae ‘Digital Technologies’ and ‘Design and Technologies’ and in 2025, it’s taught from Prep through to Year 10. And yours truly is the Prep, Year 1 and Year 2 teacher. The Year 1 class is studying ‘wearable costumes’ and – rather than just deisgning them – I thought it’d be fun to help the children actually *make* them.

The idea quickly paled though, when I was absent the lesson where the children decided on their costumes… and the relief teacher let some of them choose ‘inflatable aliens’. As in, this type:

Now, inflating a costume is something I’ve never done before. So that was never going to happen. Sewing though: I’m not great, but it’s do-able. So that’s what is currently happening. Four of them. And the kids are stuffing them with foam and adding eyes to the heads and enjoying the process.

Here’s hoping it’s all going to get done before this Thursday! Wish me luck!

  • KRidwyn
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family anecdotes places to visit Reading Review

37/52 On family holidays

The last time I holidayed with Hubby and all three of my children was pre-Covid. September 2019. My eldest was in Year 9; she’s now just 3 months away from turning 20.

But a family holiday on K’gari is what we’ve all just enjoyed over this past week. And it was amazing! The memories. Seeing my Miss19 repeating “I remember this” and “This has changed so much”… and now sharing the driving load! Wild.

Leaving Kiya at Mum’s though… that was hard. She didn’t look happy to see us drive off 🙁

And it was pretty great to be able to catch up on some reading. I particularly liked this little gem of wisdom:

The bit about tortuous Latin lessons showing how questions anticipate answers: one way to ask anticipates a ‘yes’ and the other anticipates a ‘no’. This was quite interesting, I thought! (The book less so, all things being equal…)

Well, that’s it from me for the week. I hope it was a wonderful one for you as well, dear Reader!

  • KRidwyn
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#blogjune Blogging challenges Reading Review Writing

#BlogJune Day 29

So I finished the trilogy I started on Monday: the Nevernight Chronicles by Jay Kristoff.

I’m thinking that he’s fast becoming one of my favourite authors. His writing style is as readable as Lynette Noni’s Akarnae and as witty as Kevin Hearne’s Iron Druid. But his descriptions are all his own… and they are sublime! His similes, in particular, are so cleverly crafted to fit perfectly within the exact time and place of the plot. Simply stunning writing.

It’ll be a hard act to follow these, I think.

Stay tuned though, dear Reader, as I may yet be surprised…

Have a wonderful day 🙂

KRidwyn

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#blogjune Random thoughts Review

#BlogJune Day 28

Seriously in love with these boots. I’ve had them a week and they’re fast becoming my new favourite footwear!

They’re fur-lined so it feels like slippers… worn while out and about! And oh so comfortable 🙂

Here’s hoping you have a ‘favourite item’ purchase soon too, dear Reader!

– KRidwyn

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#blogjune Review Writing

#BlogJune Day 24

This morning sees me train-bound, heading for Brisbane. New beginning for a new week; it seems apt that, with an hour long journey ahead with nothing to do but sit, I reward myself and download a novel I’ve been wanting to read for a while. Jay Kristoff’s NEVERNIGHT, the first in his trilogy of the same name.

So I downloaded, and then I opened it and started reading… and then stopped after the very first sentence.

Why? you may ask.

Because it’s brilliant! say I. And such an arresting beginning must be shared! (And, speaking from experience, I must act on this now before the novel swallows me and I don’t emerge for a lengthy period of time) so… here it is! Enjoy 🙂

Have an un-soiling-yourself week too, dear Reader!

– KRidwyn

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#blogjune Review teaching Work

#BlogJune Day 14

So I’ve been an avid avoider of anything and everything AI related (as much as I’ve been aware, that is). But earlier this week, I attended a Webinar on ‘GenAI in schools’ and, from that, figured I should probably find out more for myself. Engage with it, at least, so I can be familiar with some of the concepts in the conversation… so I did.

Yesterday I discovered something amusing. I’m currently starting a unit on A Midsummer Night’s Dream with one of my classes, so to cut down on my workload I thought I’d ChatGPT some of the significant quotes in Act One.

So Act One has two scenes. Scene 1 shows Duke Theseus and others in Athens; Scene 2 shows a group of ‘mechanicals’ (actors) who are preparing to rehearse a play. Neither scene shows any of the fairies: Oberon (King), Titania (Queen) or Puck (mischief making sprite). But check this out:

See the explanation after each bolded quote? Oberon! Then Titania! And so then this happened:

Ha! Humans for the win right here! (Although I didn’t use question marks when asking my questions, so I feel like I’ve lost a bit of credibility there too…)

Still, have a winning day yourself, dear Reader 🙂

  • KRidwyn
Categories
Reading Review teaching Work

9/52 On reading

Books I’ve read recently:

H. G. Wells’ War of the Worlds. I figured it was time; that I should read it at least once in my life. And it *was* good. I can see why it was such an influential novel in its time… but it was the introduction by Orson Scott Card (in the version I was reading) which impressed me more in its insight and readability. He’s an impressive writer, Orson Scott Card!

The Joy Luck Club: I picked this one up because again, it was one of those “I should really read this at least once in my life” moments. Halfway down the first page, I realised I’d already read it, probably a decade or two ago now! And I’d enjoyed it… but seeing as time is fleeting, reading takes it up, and I’d already read it before: I finished the first chapter then skipped to the final chapter for a quick re-read before putting it down. It’s the mark of a brilliant writer, I think, that Amy Tan can make me cry in just those first and last chapters! Although maybe, being half-Asian myself, the story resonates with me more…?


Hangman’s Curse by Frank Peretti. I enjoyed this more than I thought I would! The Christian overtones weren’t as ‘in your face’ as other Christian novels I’ve read, and as for the depiction of bullying in high schools: I don’t know if much (at all!) has changed in the intervening years since it was published in 2001.

And now: The Janson Directive by Robert Ludlum. Considering his Bourne series has been one of my favourites since my teens, this is proving to be quite an easy read. Again: what a writer, huh?


And that’s it from me this week. Now I need to go and get through those class sets of draft marking which are waiting patiently for me!

Have a great week, dear Reader 🙂
⁃ KRidwyn