Keeping 'Em All Straightened Out?

I wasn't sure if anyone else felt like I did, but even though I'm only through the first five chapters, we've been thrown a lot of characters! There are some places online where you can get reading guides that will serve as "worksheets" if you need them. (I'll try to post them on here later.) Anyway, I do have a couple of sites that I thought were interesting/cool that I thought I'd pass along!

Democracy Now! spent FOUR DAYS reading this...see their site about it.
One person's experience reading Tolstoy, from Salon.com
Oprah! even gives you some meat to chew on about Tolstoy! :)
An interesting thumbs up from U. of Virginia professor about reading Tolstoy.
And...someone who had way too much time and their hands and figured out messages embedded in his text (as if tackling revolutions and obsessed leaders wasn't enough)


Okay, I have to stop procrastinating the lesson plans I need to finish for in the morning! My Spring Break is officially over. :( No, I didn't find myself in a bikini anywhere (thank goodness) or covered in whipped cream (darn...that might have been nice), but I had a nice time reading. C'mon! This is a GRE LITERATURE blog...what can we expect but boring days of reading?!? All right...back to my lesson plans. Now THAT is boring! (28 more teaching days until Summer!)

At "War" With This List!

So we're off to War and Peace, which from what I understand, is a pretty incredible novel. I'm excited to read it, but I'm not excited by how far behind I am! Doc and Cool Breeze are doing great, but I am the one (the one taking the test no less) who has still only read the two of the books so far! I took some time out to read Kazuo Ishiguro's new book Never Let Me Go, which was a strange book, but along the lines of what I should keep up on in Contemporary Literature. I'm also reading Twilight by Stephanie Meyer because I've been on the list to read that book for months now! How could I pass it by?!? Anyway, good luck with War and Peace, and don't forget to post your thoughts and reactions!!! Good luck! :)

P.S. Doc and I have tickets to visit Greece and Turkey this summer from July 5th to the 20th! It's only taken us what...five years to actually go on our big international trip we've always talked about!?! :)

Shaw and Woolf

We're technically supposed to be reading "Arms of a Man" by George Bernard Shaw, and To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf. If you're like me, you're terribly behind!!! Teaching school and having a life outside of school just don't seem to mix. :) Thirty-six days until summer vacation, thirty-six days until summer, thirty-six days until summer...that is my mantra right now! Can I vent a second by saying how impossible every day seems as you near the end of the school year? Any good sense a student might have towards being able to pay attention and/0r concentrate have long flown out the window. So, quite literally, they're like the baby that's gone past being sleepy and is now giving whoever fits by screaming and flailing around. Doc Leer one time told me that someone needed to invent spray Ritalin so that a teacher might spray it over a rowdy class, but I'm thinking something more along the line of a strong tranquilizer might be better! :) Okay, enough on teaching! The fact that we've sunk to #25 in the world says plenty...and I wouldn't blame teachers!!!

We're going to be posting a schedule on here soon, so keep your eyes peeled (I've always wondered about the meaning behind that phrase). War and Peace are coming up pretty quickly, so I think we should all brace ourselves for the onslaught to come! Lots of love, and keep those posts coming; we all like to see how you're all feeling about these crazy pieces. :)