Aurora Dimitre's Books and Rambling

 

 I did this a couple times last year, kind of randomly, and I think I want to keep a better updated version this year. Of course, this does include re-reads, and my final, Top 19 of 2024 will not, but... here we go. Current top ten, worst 5 books of the year. I've read 32 books this year, for context. 10. Holly by Stephen King This was not my favorite Stephen King book (I rated it four stars), but it's not a bad Stephen King book. I could appreciate what it was trying to do and it was definitely gross at times. I love gross! 9. The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan Re-read! I read this with one of my groups of fifth graders and By God there is a Reason This Man Is Still The King of Middle Grade.  8. Can We All Be Feminists? by June Eric-Udorie Nonfiction essay collection. I felt like it said a lot but was more of an introduction to intersectional feminism than anything.  7. The Lady's Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzi Lee I've stated that this mostly made me want...

 

 

 I decided this week that I wanted to start being consistent with my blog posts and my YouTube posts and all that. Theoretically, it's been MWF Videos, T-TH blog. Like, that's where I put it in my little agenda and that's how I used to do it back when I was consistent. And it's going! It's going great! Here we go! Unfortunately, I'm starting to like, run out of stuff to talk about, so I'll have to do that... maybe I'll do book reviews? On here? About books I've read? Man! The opportunities! Maybe I'll talk about teaching! I'm a teacher! I could talk about that! Kids've been real goddam goofy lately!  But, yeah. Look forward to more blog posts, more consistent videos... videos are still, you know, years old, but at least they're being posted consistently now.

 

 Hello hello! So Guillaume--my next book--it's coming out March 3rd--I'll let you know when I have a pre-order link I PROMISE--now has a cover! The cover is done! I'll post cover + synopsis below! (Cover by Larisa Katz , by the way) SIX YEARS AGO, FORTY-TWO BOYS CRASHED ON AN ISLAND IN THE CARIBBEAN. ONLY FIFTEEN OF THEM MADE IT BACK ALIVE.             Now in his first year of college, Ashton Collins is trying to keep his life normal. But turning eighteen means that Guillaume Argot, the purported antagonist of the island, has been let out of the psychiatric ward he’s lived in since their rescue. And Guillaume getting set free means that Ashton has to confront some things he’d rather keep inside: for example, the fact that he was Guillaume’s right-hand man.             When Guillaume shows up as Ashton’s college roommate, Ashton is faced with a decision: does he slip r...

 

 As I type this, I am one book behind on my Goodreads reading challenge. My goal was 497, so, like, you can imagine how much I've been reading these past couple of weeks... but school has also been going on and, you know, as you probably know, teaching is not exactly a job with a lot of reading time. I do make the most of my reading time, and also, I do get to read my book and call it 'modeling' because I have a great group of fifth graders that are well-behaved enough that I can read my book during silent reading instead of like, pacing around the "U." I have my desks in a "U." It's my favorite desk configuration. I have nineteen kids and a big room, so it works. I've also been snatching up all the bookshelves I can. Today I introduced a new book into the library that was one of my favorites as a kid-- Encyclopedia Horrifica . The bidding war to get to read that one first was so intense that I had to have them pick a number between one and fifte...

 

 

 

 

 Uh.  Bad.  At the end of 2022, I had less books on the book wall than I'd had at the beginning of the year. This had been the first year since the book wall's conception that it had happened. I was doing great! I was doing fine! We were cruising along going at a neat forty-five miles per hour and then-- Something happened.  I failed. I started 2023 with 2047 books on the book wall and ended it at 2112.  Fuck .  I do, obviously, intend to try again this year. I have a whole extra spreadsheet to help me, because if anything can help me, it's more goddam spreadsheets. I plan to actually like, stick to the pass system that I failed to stick to last year . I always have all of these grand intentions. How often do they stick? Well, they did in 2022, so hopefully they can this year, too. Anyway! Book reading goals? To keep up my average of 500 a year, I need to read 497 this year, because I was three over my goal last year. Not as many over my goal as I was in 2...