Do you have comfort reads or a comfort genre? I love science fiction. When I was a kid my dad would always take us to the bookstore. I remember it being one of the few places where my sister and I could just go in and have free reign. Of course we always went straight to the kids section but when we were ready to leave we would look for my dad. Without fail he would be perusing the science fiction and fantasy section. We always made fun of him, thinking he was so nerdy. But lo and behold I would fall into his footsteps. As kids, books were the only thing my dad would buy us no questions asked. He’s definitely the reason I’m the reader I am today. I’ve expanded my genres but sci fi will always be one I fall back on if I’m in a slump or just need to relax.

Pictured are the three books A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe (gifted by the incomparable @nerdtasticnoms ) Record of a Spaceborn Few, and Nemesis Games.

A Big Ship was wild fun. Boots Ellseworth is a fantastic hero and I love the character arc of her and Nilah. I love a rag tag crew and this one hit all the right marks. I’ll definitely be checking out book 2 because I’ll be too sad it’s over.

In Becky Chambers we trust. I loved Record of a Spaceborn Few. Completely character driven. Only she can write these space stories that feel so intimate and warm. I’m not ready to read the last book in this series.

Nemesi Games is book 5 in the expanse series. It’s not something I recommend to everyone but it’s dear to me. With any series this long (and books this long) some parts do drag but I love Holden and crew too much and I’m too curious to see where it’s all going.

#ScienceFiction #TheTruthIsOutThere #ComfortReads #Bookstagram #TheExpanse #beckychambers ...

DRAGON HOOPS by Gene Luen Yang is a graphic novel I really enjoyed. I usually read graphic novels when I’m trying to get out of a slump or when I just need to sort of let the pictures do the heavy lifting for me because I’m tired. Yang’s graphic novel did not disappoint.

At the time of writing, he was a high school teacher and he was trying to find inspiration for something else to write about, after having written AMERICAN BORN CHINESE (one I need to get around to reading as well.) Looking for inspiration he finds it in the basketball coach and his team. He travels with them and gets to know the coach and the players. I love basketball as a sport, and watch it regularly so I had immediate buy in, but I do feel like most people would enjoy this journey through high school sports. I love sports stories because I feel like athletes give them so much of themselves in dedication to the game. Some of the most tender hearted and inspirational stories come out of sports. This one is no different. I also liked Yang’s personal reflections in this story. At one point he is trying to get more backstory from two of the top players on the team, but they are reluctant to share that part of themselves. Eventually he has to back off, and I like that he realizes this because it is none of his business and he understands that it is only one part of who they are, not the whole.

Definitely check this out if you like graphic novels or sports stories. I enjoyed it a lot.

[ID: The graphic novel Dragon Hoops, by Gene Luen Yang resting on a glass table with green leaves from a potting plant over it]

#DragonHoops #GraphicNovels #LosAngelesReader #ReadMoreGraphicNovels #BasketballBook #SportsBooks #GeneLuenYang #Bookstagram ...

Celebrate Indigenous Americans (and all Indigenous peoples across the world) today and every day. Pictured on a desk are the books We Are Still Here, We are Grateful, Ancestor Approved, Sisters of the Neversea, Fry Bread, Indian No More, Water Protectors, Healer of the Water Monster, and The Barren Grounds. Also this post is performative. And if I do not follow it up by explicitly educating the kids or advocating for land back then it is all hot air. I hope the middle grade teachers who follow me here will consider getting some of these from your local library or buying them if you are able. If you’re an LA teacher I also recommend watching City Of Ghosts on Netflix. There is an episode dedicated to the Tongva people and it is beautiful. Thanks @hyazzolino for showing it to me. #middlegradebooks #iteachfourth #mglit #booksforkids #booksformiddlegrade ...

I read this book back in July and I’ve been trying to wrap my head around a reflection but honestly I just can’t. Brain soup strikes again. Sometimes a book is just f**king good. And there isn’t really a whole lot else to say. This is definitely one of my favorite science fiction reads of all time. I liked that it was a shorter sci fi novel so it was easy to fall into. This book accomplished what Dark Matter could not. I enjoyed the tone of this one more. It wasn’t cheesy. (Nothing against cheesy but it is what it is) Some sci fi is heavy on the world building (understandably) so sometimes it can take time to get settled. This one hits the ground running. The main character is complicated and the villain is one of the best I’ve read in long time. Definitely made me think of Mark Zuckerberg or Jeff Bezos. But on a more intense scale…@ibingebooks let me know a second book is coming out and I can’t wait.

I guess I did have a lot to say...but yeah, I loved this one. Highly recommend for sci fi fans and those dabbling in the genre.

[ID: The book The Space Between Worlds being held by Viv with some white flowers and bushes in the background.]

#TheSpaceBetweenWorlds #ReadScienceFiction #AlwaysReading #Bookstagram #DystopianBooks #ApocalypticBooks #libraryglaredontcare ...

September wrap up. Blood In the Water is a clear standout. I enjoyed all my September reads a lot. Leaned heavily on the sci fi to get me through it. A genre that will always soothe my soul. Pictures on the layout over a garden photo are the books Blood In the Water, A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe, Prairie Lotus, The Final Revival of Opal and Nev, A Record of a Spaceborn Few, and Beautiful World, Where are You? #bookstagram #losangelesreaders #bloodinthewater #abigshipattheedgeoftheuniverse #howtoavoidaclimatedisaster #prairielotus #recordofaspacebornfew #beautifulworldwhereareyou #alwaysreading ...

Soooo I read this. And I’m just gonna say a few things. First of all, Bill Gates is no dummy. I learned a lot reading this book, especially about our power grid system and how we get our food. It was helpful and not a waste of time. I obviously knew I was not going to get an intersectional view of the climate crisis and solutions. This is Bill Gates afterall. That being said, there are some glaring blind spots here that I feel need to be addressed.

Although I understand that this is a book focused on solutions I think not interrogating how we got here is a mistake. If we are to truly create a zero carbon future how will that jive with a system that values profit over people? Correct me if I’m wrong, but I feel like a large part of the reason why we are in this mess is because a select few took all the resources and wealth from the many. And in this process they destroyed the planet. It seems odd to omit this from the narrative. I understand that the green economy will have to make money, I’m not naive, but wealth has to be better distributed or what the f*ck are we even talking about? Without acknowledging how we got here we are doomed to repeat past mistakes.

At the end of the day, I found this book useful because I learned about the science and tech needed to get us to zero, but I understand that this book paints an incomplete picture. I have trouble trusting a billionaire like Bill Gates, someone that takes private jets everywhere and is the single largest agricultural landowner in the United States. He’s wearing rose colored glasses, while the rest of us I think have a greater understanding of just how complicated and controversial (even though many of them SHOULDN’T BE) getting these solutions off the ground will be. While I appreciate this intention, I worry some people will let this be the only book about the climate crisis they read.

ID: The book HOW TO AVOID A CLIMATE CRISIS by Bill Gates being help by Viv with a garden in the background)

#ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #Bookstagram #LibraryGlareDontCare #LosAngelesReader #CaliforniaReader #AlwaysReading #fuckbillionaires ...

First of all thank you so much to @thatgoodgoodbook for sending me this ARC. I squealed with delight when it landed. This story follows two friends as they move through the world trying to figure out love, friendship, work, and just the general meaning of life.

I’m not gonna lie when I first started reading it I was a bit perplexed. 120 pages in and I’m kind of wondering where it’s all going. It's a lot of emails and general musings that mostly sound like Rooney is just talking to us, which fine? I guess? I was on the cusp of a DNF after speaking with @ellehaunter but also like “eh I gotta give it another shot.” On a sleepless night I picked it up again and couldn’t put it down till 2 AM.

It really pulled me in and I enjoyed it. It was relaxing at a time I needed it most and Rooney’s writing is oddly soothing. I know there is a longer conversation to be had here about the many themes of the novel but at its core this is a romance novel. I will also die on this hill with @caseythereader. I mean I get that there were a lot of philosophical musings having to do with the apocalypse, the fall of civilization blah blah blah, but I just didn’t really care about what these two people had to say about it. Like yes, we are all scared because it does kind of seem like we’re in the end game, but many people of the global majority have probably shared that sentiment for generations. I’m not saying these two women are not allowed to have those feelings, of course they are valid, and it speaks to the way I am sure a lot of people are feeling, I guess for me it just didn’t add to my experience reading the book. I feel like Rooney shines the most when she is examining how humans interact with one another and how we see ourselves. The biting conversations between the lovers were the most interesting to me (but for the love of god I need quotes and paragraph breaks). Those pieces are always the most illuminating. And at the end of the day no matter how you feel about Rooney I think we can all agree she isn’t going anywhere...

#SallyRooney #BeautifulWorldWhereAreYou #LiteraryFiction #AlwaysReading #Bookstagram #ContemporaryFiction #ilovereading ...

“A benediction blanketed the yard in all the words that weren’t needed to be said. It was simply, painfully, the finality of time. All along they wanted peace, or to be happy, and they are good things to want, especially for children, but they'd been drawn again and again into the past, where all pain lives. She wondered if everyone was haunted by being a kid. Haunted by the feeling of being unshielded.They weren’t protected from everything, August remembered, not the words hurled by the other locals in town, not the slurred looks, not the school history books and those lies, not everyone around her whose spirits were shattered in a thousand pieces…”

This book is a force. I am supremely impressed with what Tara June Winch was able to accomplish here. Weaving together three different stories that all take place in different timelines and formats, she gives us a picture of Aborigine life in Australia in the past and present. Winch is Wiradjuri. The protagonist, August, comes home after her grandfather Poppy has passed away only to find that a mining company has bought her ancestral lands. On a mission to defend her family’s property she must find Poppy’s life work in order to save their land and history.

I was most impressed with the way the three stories are told and how they are interwoven. My favorite one was Poppy’s writing. He was creating a dictionary of their peoples language, trying to revitalize what was lost. The wisdom that comes from each definition is moving and beautiful. Each one a story on its own.

Not much more I can say here, but I loved it a lot. It was unique in the way it was told and her writing is masterful. I was swept up in this one and it is a book I will recommend to all. #AlwaysReading #TheYield #TaraJuneWinch #Bookstagram #ReadIndigenousAuthors #readaustralian ...

#AugustReadingWrapUp My reading was sort of all over the place this month. Definitely a mood reader...I definitely think about SEEK YOU often and THE YIELD is a book I hope gets more hype here. I have to shout out @literarylauren_ for the YEARBOOK rec. Seth Rogen’s voice and the rotating cast on the audio made it a worthwhile listen. And also @read_tmc for Dragon Hoops. An excellent graphic novel, I will definitely be checking out his other works. Will I write a reflection ever again? Perhaps. But I am still having a lot of fun with overlays. Ha.

Here is a list of the books as they appear on the post with a garden background: Seek You, The Yield, Yearbook, Equity Centered Trauma Informed Education, Nemesis Games, The Memory Police, Arsenic and Adobo, Dragon Hoops.

#AlwaysReading #TeachersofInostagram #Fiction #GraphicNovels #ScienceFiction #Yearbook #DragonHoops #TheYield #SeekYou #Bookstagram #readmorebooks ...

Picture book appreciation post. I’m so excited to finally do read alouds in person. There is something so special about sharing a story with a classroom. I’ve been slowly curating my picture book library and I am so happy to finally have these gems back in the classroom. They’ve been in my child’s library so when I was taking them he asked what I was doing and that they were his books. When I asked if I could borrow them for my students he said it was okay, thankfully. Crisis averted. Haha. Hope y’all are having a nice Friday. Any picture books you think I should add? Let me know! #picturebooks #teachersofinstagram #bookstagram #classroomlibrary ...