So I just finished The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb. The book clocks in at 730 pages and is heavy: both in actual weight and subject matter. The author covers such topics and themes as:

American Civil War
Iraq War
Korean War
Women's sufferage
Anti-slavery movements
Prohibition
Columbine shootings of 1999
September 11, 2001
Hurricane Katrina
alcoholism, drug usage, AA meetings
incarceration - particularly of women
rape, incest, other abuse
familial relationships: ancestry, step/adoptive families, genetic traits and characteristics
marriage, divorce, adultery
anger management, violence, rage

There are probably more, but I'm too exhausted to add more to this list. Lamb also incorporates characters and events from his previous two novels, She's Come Undone and I Know This Much Is True as well as the volumes of writing he edited written by female prisoners at the York Correctional Institution. The characters are complex and generally believable, although the flow of the story is often a bit hard to follow. The plot jumps from "current time" to letters written during the Civil War and then snippets from the life of a minor character in the 50's. Some parts I found myself wanting to skip, and I experienced anger at the ending of the novel as well. I suppose I just like a happy ending - and that would have been possible in this novel if Lamb had so chosen.

Either way - this tome has worn me out and I think my next summer read will be The Wednesday Wars by Gary Schmidt. More posts to come!

summer plans

As a teacher, I could easily lounge around all summer wasting my time, so instead I'm setting some goals.

First - I have two trips that are non-negotiable. I'm flying to Maryland with Ryan for my grandfather's 80th birthday/ family reunion. This is just a weekend trip.I'm also driving to Florida and back - totaling 2.5 weeks - for the Church of the Nazarene General Assembly and high pointing with Ryan. One of the spots we're camping is an island off the coast of Florida in the Gulf of Mexico called St. George Island. I'm pumped!

So with these trips on the schedule, here are some of my other goals:
1. Re-arrange the contents of my filing cabinets from school and recycle unncessary papers.

2. Read books:
- "The Last Olympian" by Rick Riordan
- "I am the Messenger" by Markus Zuzak
- "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith
- "The Wednesday Wars" by Gary Schmidt
- "Hotel on the corner of bitter and sweet" by Jamie Ford
- "The Book of Lies" by Brad Meltzer
- "The City of Ember" by Jeanne DuPrau

3. See movies:
- "My Sister's Keeper"
- "Harry Potter 6: The Half-Blood Prince"
- "X-Men Origins: Wolverine"

4. Perhaps try to re-finish my shoddy kitchen table. Does anyone have any free paint? White/blue/green... whatever.

5. Take a couple of classes through the school district.

6. Cook interesting vegetarian dishes. I am armed with a vegetarian cookbook and a bunch of courage - we'll see where it takes me.

7. Apply in a couple more school districts in the New England area.

8. Make my own windchimes using random scraps from random places. This is ambiguous because I technically have no idea what I'm talking about - I'm just wanting to try it.

Eight seems like a good place to stop. I'll probably forget to blog about all of this - so maybe I should make it a goal of mine to write about various adventures. Don't hold your breath... I'll be busy. Expect pictures - I'm good at that. Okay - happy summering!