The Geekly Reader

 I am home refreshed and relaxed after a family trip to Riviera Maya Mexico. The area is beautiful and I would also like to add the people of Mexico are so friendly and accomodating. I highly recommend visiting the area if you need a little beach vacation. The Barcelo Maya Caribe is a beautiful resort. Mayan ruins in Tulum Mexico Now for my review of my July Read of the Month , The Traveler's Gift , by Andy Andrews. The book follows main character David Ponder going through a rough stretch of his life. One minute David is driving down an icy road, and then the next he is on a journey meeting with seven famous figures from history that provide him with knowledge and tips for success. I really do not want to give much more away to the book than that mini summary, but I will list what I liked in the book: It is a quick easy read, I finished it in about three days It is a self-help book that is aimed at leadership and taking responsibility for your life. I like these kind of books for

 As a big John Steibeck fan, one of my favorite books is Travels with Charley   his 1960 travelogue depicting a roadtrip with his standard poodle Charley. The trip was Steibeck's chance to see the country one last time before his death. I love the idea of the book, and while I have not made the estimated 10,000 mile trip Steinbeck made with his dog, Ella (my rescue pup) and I have made plenty of journeys over the last year. Ella on a foggy morning walk You see, pre-Covid Ella would get two, maybe three walks per month if she was lucky. It was not until the shutdowns hit that I realized how much time I really have in a day (and how much I wasted I laying around doing nothing). I made a decision to walk every Ella at least two miles every day that I could (the only reason we would skip a day would be due to poor weather).  In previous visits with my doctor, he would always say it only takes two weeks to build a habit, and I have to tell you he was correct. It was not long before Ella

 It sure is nice, that when randomly texting with a friend they ask what you are reading this summer. I explained that I had started a book (my May read) but was in a funk and looking for something new. Within an hour there was a knock on my door and my friend had a new book for me to read. My July "Read of the Month" that a friend was so nice to share is The Traveler's Gift by Andy Andrews. July 2021 Read of the Month I have started the book and it is on the path of a self-help book intertwined with fiction. I am over 50% complete and should have a review soon. I guess I really don't like term "self-help" and will use "leadership" in its place. I do enjoy leadership books, as I use information from them both in my personal life and in my role as a teacher/student council adviser. Look for a review here in a week or two. Happy summer reading everyone!

 I was on a roll, I was enjoying reading and writing and then May exploded. In a normal year mid May to mid June is crazy for anyone working in education. When you throw in COVID restrictions coming to an end during the same time period my final weeks of work were exhausting. I had a May Read of the Month selected and had intentions to finish the book and review it, but life got in the way.  Once my school year ended on Friday June 11th I was simply mentally and physically exhausted. I had no desire to read or write that much. I decided to give myself the month of June off to truly let my brain relax (I did not take the month off physically, as I walked twenty-eight of thirty days in June.) So now that it is July I am mentally well rested and ready to get back into reading and writing more. I did not finish my May Read, The Girls I've Been, so I am sorry there is no review. I did like the book when I started, I just never found time to finish it, maybe one day I will go back and p

 Ah May, the peak of track season/AP test season/and end of the school year season has hit and backed up my reading and writing time. Thankfully both our middle school track season and AP test season wrapped up on Monday which really opens up my schedule. I did grab a new book from the CHS Library for my May 2021 Read of the Month. I am reading The Girl's I've Been by Tess Sharpe. My May 2021 Read of the Month...soon to be a Netflix series This novel follows Nora O'Malley, the daughter of a con-artist that targets men. The novel starts off with Nora and two of her friends in a bank.....that is then held up at gunpoint by two robbers. I have just started this week and I already like the way the novel is set up by Tess Sharpe. I will probably finish it this weekend and be back with a review shortly. Keep reading everyone (it's great outdoor reading season).

 Time to review my April 2021 Read of the Month, I am Still Alive by Kate Alice Marshall. I will not be able to say enough good things about this book. I loved the characters and storyline. I love the set-up of the novel, told as a running journal entry by the main character Jess. I quickly finished the book in just three days of reading, which with my busy schedule is about as fast as I can currently read a book. Once I hit the second half of the book I did not want to put it down. Don't judge....but this book nearly brought tears to my eyes...... SPOILER ALERT, SKIP THE NEXT PARAGRAPH TO AVOID MY SPOILER ..... Jess had to shoot and kill her dog that was her main companion throughout the novel....ughhhh....I get it but ugggghhhh....just because of this I probably will not go see the movie if it ever comes out. Ok if you skipped that paragraph good, the book was amazing; A solid 5/5....it ranks up there with some of my other favorite young adult novels from recent years ( The Hung