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For WordCount I am challenging myself to read 5 books. I've got a stack of things I already WANT to read .... the question is which of them will I ACTUALLY READ? Here are some of the things waiting for my attention: Just Us: An American Conversation by Claudia Rankine; Long Petal from the Sea by Isabel Allende (I've been SAVING that one!); Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman; Lost Prophet, a biography about Bayard Rustin (I've been wanting to read that one forever); The Long Haul, An Autobiography of Miles Horton (which I started but haven't had a chance to finish)... and I'm kind of hoping cookbooks count because... you know... baking!
I'm going to try to raise the most money because I don't think I'm going to be the person reading the most books (that whole working mom thing is kind of cramping my reading time). Hope you'll pledge, read, and share on social media! Use my fundraising page https://runsignup.com/wordcountforgabelyon plus #IHWordCount.
I'll post what I read (and listen to) throughout WordCount below
12/21 - I read SouthSide Weekly's Best of the SouthSide 2020 - I became a subscriber this summer after reading online. I am going to SAVE this edition. This is a paper that reminds you through expert reporting what community news is, why it matters and who our neighbors are. Also as a nearly 3-decade southsider I always learn about new places and history I want to check out.
12/23 - Today I made progress on the incredible biography of Myles Horton, The Long Haul. I have always been fascinated by the history and impact of the school he founded and to read about his evolution and philosophy is incredibly illuminating and compelling. Bonus (for me!) the autobiography was "told" to one of my other all time favorite education writers, Herbert Kohl.
12/26 - 
My mom gave me a book about Mark Twain and cats! I'm a cat lover who has been without a cat for a long stretch. We adopted a big orange cat during Covid and he's really added to all the characters in our family. In addition to great excerpts from Twain's writing throughout his life the book has terrific photos of him with some of his cats.
12/27 - I'm now in the thick of A Long Petal of the Sea by Isabelle Allende. The title is a reference to a description of Chile by poet Pablo Neruda and every chapter opens with an excerpt of a Neruda poem - all of which is making me think about trying to find some of the full poems. It's a hard book to put down.
12/30 - I finished A Long Petal of the Sea last night. It WAS hard to put down. Best news this morning: my Chicago Public Library Libby App let me know Wild Seed (the first book in Octavia Butler's Patternist series) is ready to borrow. This is going to be a good book to bridge into 2021... speculative, robust, complex, challenging - and something that I have a feeling will help me think about the familiar in new ways.
1/2 - I devoured Octavia Butler's Wild Seed. I read it for hours on the 1st of January. It was my "bridge" into 2021. Shapeshifting, healing, devouring, finding some sort of balance... I would have liked to go right into the 2nd book of the Patternist series but I've turned instead to Ta-Nehisi Coates' The Water Dancer.
1/3 - I went into WordCount thinking I'd be reading a lot of nonfiction but it seems that fiction is feeling "right" these days. I want to shout out to all the amazing supporters who are donating to my fundraising campaign for our Odyssey Project. THANK YOU SO MUCH! What a great feeling to start the new year with!
1/9 - finished Ta-Nahisi Coates The Water Dancer. So glad I read this. I'll be glad for a very long time.
1/17 Cherie Dimaline, The Marrow Thieves. (Is there a sequel yet?)
1/23 - Watched The King on Netflix which led me back to Henry V, by Wililam Shakespeare - the MOVIE. (Movies based on books count!)
I've started Virginia Woolf's "A Room Of One's Own" but I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to finish it by the 25th.... Stay tuned!
