It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

I'm just getting my reading mojo back after being immersed in my Summer Institute at Coastal Savannah Writing Project. My Implementation Plan was due on Thursday, July 21st--that's where I put into writing the ways I will implement everything I learned in the four weeks of the writing project. It was really useful to me to think through and process what I had learned and how I might apply it in my classroom this year.

My current reading crush is Simon Van Booy. His collection The Secret Lives of People in Love is one of those rare books that feels necessary (like I want to carry it with me everywhere, and read every other word Van Booy has written). Here is a video of Van Booy reading a story from The Secret Lives of People in Love (and now I promise to stop gushing).

I've also been reading Kristen Painter's Living and Teaching the Writing Workshop. This is a wonderful, hands-on resource for the teacher-writer who wants to implement writing workshop in the classroom.

And on my Nook, I've been reading David Maine's strange and amazing Fallen. It is a retelling of the story of Cain and Abel, and unlike anything else I have read. The Old Testament stories are some of the most gripping, most profound narratives, and Maine is not the first writer to recognize this. Anyone who has a sibling has experienced sibling rivalry, and this story is about the original "nuclear family." It is fantastic. The reason why I'm reading Maine right now is I'm participating in a blog tour for the release of Maine's ebook Gamble of the Godless at the end of this month. You might have seen reviews of this author's well-received The Preservationist, which is based on the story of the Biblical Flood.

Finally, I'll also be reading Nancy Rappaport's In Her Wake for TLC Book Tours. This memoir is the story of the author's mother's suicide.

It's Monday--what are you reading?