Reading Nook

Per my favorite reader JT, I’ve decided to give a brief reading list based off of things on my shelf and things I really enjoyed reading. I’m still working on my summer project, so I will be listing those books as well as I finish them. Enjoy!

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

Another Bullshit Night in Suck City by Nick Flynn

New and Selected Poems 1974-1994 by Stephen Dunn

Winter Stars by Larry Levis

Jelly Roll: A Blues by Kevin Young

Crush by Richard Siken

Opened Ground:Selected Poems 1966-1996 by Seamus Heaney

The Passion by Jeanette Winterson

The Liars Club by Mary Karr

The Collected Poems by Anne Sexton

The Color Purple by Alice Walker

Drinking Coffee Elsewhere by ZZ Packer

Push by Sapphire

Ararat by Louise Gluck

Coffee Will Make You Black by April Sinclair

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

Oroonoko by Aphra Behn

My Fashion Blog

I’ve never claimed to be quite fashionable. I’m quite happy in jeans, a fitted tee and my favorite thong sandals, but recently things have started to change. So below is the link to The Fledgling Fashionista, my new fashion blog. Feel free to peruse it, leave comments or give me things to write about.

http://fledglingfashionista.wordpress.com/

Summer Project

On top of my new blog (a fashion one!) I have charged myself with a new summer project. For all intents and purposes, right now it seems I am going to have a lot of time on my hands and will be on a budget this summer.

That being said I’ve been on a book shopping spree. Spurned by a person I admire, I have moved from purchasing books here and there to building my library actively with purchases from large chains and thrift stores. I’ve found some amazing things, but coupled with my lack of pleasure reading during my two years in grad school and my lack of reading anything except student papers this semester, I now have a massive amount of books to get through.

Ah! I remember those days I’d read up to six books at a time and knew everything about them. I need to learn to be quiet like that again. So now onto my grand plan. I plan on finishing at least one (but hopefully upwards of three) book a week until the fall semester starts on September 3rd. I think I can do it (if I can pry myself away from gaming and those addictive judge shows on during the day!)

So I’ll keep a running list here and maybe even do a review or two. It will be interesting to see how much reading I actually get done.

I’m off to a meeting (*sad face*)

Uno…Dos…Tres

That’s right. School #3 is set for the fall. I’ll be teaching English 101 and English 102 at this one. If I hear back from #2 I will be teaching at all three this fall.  *tired happy dance*

I ended my semester at #2 tonight and just got done entering my grades. One I felt genuinely bad about because this person did so well this semester, but the school has a rule I can not change about the final paper.

#1is done on Monday and then I have about a week before I teach my seven week web course for #2. Both #1 and #3 start up for the fall in September, so really I have this summer to get back into my writing and maybe take up a hobby or something. I was set to teach a 102 course at #2, but it was 1 1/2 hours one way to teach a two hour course four days a week. Gas is $3.42 here and Mingus is guzzling it right now.

I’m still hoping to hear back from #4 about the fellowship I applied for. As well, I am waiting to hear from Cave Canem about this summer’s retreat. I have my fingers crossed.

I’m kind of tired, but I just wanted to share my news.