literary junkies - march 2016.

Here are this month's questions:

1. What are you reading right now? Tell us about it.

I just finished reading Facing the Lion: Growing Up Maasai on the African Savanna by Joseph Lemasolai Lekuton, which was a new addition to our school library's nonfiction section. I can't stop telling people about it because I learned so much! Joseph's tribe is a minority group in Kenya, where most people live what we would consider modern lives (like my college roommate, Njeri!). The Maasai are nomadic and adhere to traditional gender roles in which the women build houses and take care of children and the men care for livestock, hunt, and train as warriors. When Joseph was six, the Kenyan government passed a law that each Maasai family had to send at least one child to school - Joseph's family couldn't spare their older sons, who were needed to care for the cattle, but he wanted to go to school so badly that he convinced the school officials he was eight, the minimum age. He took to school quickly and found his passion in playing soccer. Being challenged to win a game by the President of Kenya turned out to be the gateway to a college education in America. All the while, Joseph straddled being a child of two worlds - flying to New York on airplanes which confounded his parents and participating in tribal manhood rituals his teachers and classmates didn't understand. Today, he works as a teacher in northern Virginia and works to help preserve tribal traditions in Kenya while improving the quality of life and education for children there.

2. If you could visit any book setting, which would you choose and why?

Could I give any answer but Hogwarts here? It is, after all, my literary second home. I'd love to see the cozy Hufflepuff common room, stroll through the greenhouses, visit the library, and eat a feast in the Great Hall! 

Realistically, I've wanted to take a literary trip to London since college! Not only is it full of Harry Potter locations, I want to visit Notting Hill, tour places associated with Jane Austen's life and books, see a play in Shakespeare's Globe Theater, and pay my respects to Geoffery Chaucer at Westminster Abbey.

3. If you could sit down with any book character, who would it by and what would you ask them?

I'd want to sit down with Alba, Henry and Clare's daughter from The Time Traveler's Wife, and ask her about her experiences in the past and present and how she controls what destinations she'll end up in. Time travel has always been the most fascinating fictional power/ability to me.

4. If you wrote a memoir and it was turned into a movie, what actor or actress would play you?

Since I'm not 100% white it's really hard to see myself in Hollywood actresses. She's older than me, but as a kid people were constantly telling me I looked like Winnie from The Wonder Years (Danica McKellar). The only other actress who I think I look remotely like is Ginnifer Goodwin. She is closer to 30 and would also be awesome, and I'm pretty sure she could sound like me since she's from Tennessee - plus, she's got a built-in younger version, Bailee Madison, who plays young Snow White on Once Upon a Time.


5. What have you recently added to your to-be-read list that you are completely excited to pick up next??

I just picked up Patrick Ness' The Rest of Us Just Live Here from the library - I've heard it's delightful. It's about people like Xander in Buffy - all of the sidekicks and best friends in worlds where magic and superpowers are part of everyday life. The blurb on Goodreads says, "What if you aren’t the Chosen One? The one who’s supposed to fight the zombies, or the soul-eating ghosts, or whatever the heck this new thing is, with the blue lights and the death? What if you’re like Mikey? Who just wants to graduate and go to prom and maybe finally work up the courage to ask Henna out before someone goes and blows up the high school. Again." It's a very clever premise, and I already know Ness is an awesome writer, so I hope it'll live up to my expectations.

What have you been reading lately? Come link up with us at 

Pink Heels Pink Truck and Lattes, Life, and Luggage!

[the circle] spring break: loss and reunion.

This month's theme for The Circle link-up hosted by Kiki from In Its Time is Spring Break Plans. As a teacher, I'm part of the minority of lucky adults who still get an official spring break, and mine is next week, so this prompt was very timely.

I haven't written about it on the blog yet, but we suffered a loss in our family earlier this month. Mr. Q's beloved Nana passed away peacefully after developing Altzheimers several years ago. I consider myself very lucky that I had the opportunity to meet and get to know Nana before the disease took hold and even share some time in her favorite place, the Outer Banks of North Carolina, on a family vacation. Due to the nature of Altzheimers we were able to grieve together when she still understood that she was ill, which was a unique experience, and it's so comforting to be certain that she is no longer suffering. She and her husband wrote out specific plans that made her wishes very clear. She did not want a funeral or memorial service; instead, she wanted a celebration of music with wine, music, and dancing - she even specified the songs she wanted us to sing! My Spring Break will begin on Friday evening with a celebration in Nana's honor. Since she loved the beach, we are going to have sand and seashells on the table and give her closest friend lighthouses from her collection. I'm sure that tears will be shed, but I know we'll feel a sense of closure. 

I'll also have the opportunity to reunite with my dearest college friends, my sisters from the Christian fellowship I was a member of (IVCF), over break. My beautiful graphic designer friend will be shaving her head (so bold!) for the St. Baldrick's Foundation, which supports research to find cures for childhood cancers. I can't wait to spend time with those girls - they always lift me up, and visiting Charlottesville will feel like a mini vacation even though it's only a few hours from home!

What are your Spring Break plans? Link up with us!

literary junkies - february 2016

Here are this month's questions:

1. What are you reading right now? Tell us about it.

I just finished the Welcome to Night Vale novel by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor. I'd listened to a few episodes of the podcast a while back after seeing some of Celeste's doodles inspired by the show and wondering who Cecil and Carlos were and why Tumblr was so obsessed with them! I didn't get obsessed with it, but I appreciated the weird, Lovecraftian surrealism - probably my favorite Night Vale offshoot is their Twitter account, actually. I didn't know about the book until a few of my fellow Female Geek Bloggers mentioned it, and then saw it under my library's new eBook releases. Just as the podcast took me a few episodes to appreciate, it took me a few chapters to get into the book, which focuses on two mysteriously connected characters, perpetually 19-year-old pawn shop owner Jackie and single mom (to a shapeshifting teenage boy) Diane. They live in the utterly weird desert town "where the sun is hot, the moon is beautiful, and mysterious lights pass overhead while we all pretend to sleep." The book's mystery begins when a bland-looking man in a tan jacket gives Jackie a piece of paper she can't put down, and a similarly forgettable man goes missing from Diane's office (Evan? Ethan? Everett? What was that guy's name again?). The trouble with living in Night Vale is knowing when something weird is actually weird enough to be worried about.

2. Have you ever read a book that made you want to immediately travel to that destination?

Nothing comes to mind automatically, but in college I desperately wanted to move to New York and I think it was because I was reading large quantities of "chick lit," like The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing, where the main characters were usually in low-level publishing jobs in the city.

3. What is your ideal reading spot? (Ex. Reading nook in a library, in bed, in a hammock on the beach, etc)

I guess I should say my zebra chair in my classroom, because I love reading to my kiddos every chance I get, but I can't lie, my end of the sofa is indented lower than Mr. Q's because it's the perfect cozy spot to read, usually early in the morning or late at night. However, my all-time favorite reading spot anywhere in the world is the McGregor Room in Alderman Library at UVa - the closest I'll ever get to the Gryffindor Common Room. I also spent a lot of time lying on the grass with a book in the Ampitheatre on sunny days when I was in college. As a tween reader, it was this spot at my local public library.

4. If you wrote a memoir, what would the title be?

I can't even think of a new name for this blog, but I think my memoir would need to be called 30 Going on 13 because teaching middle school is the biggest part of my life, I love puns, and my students are my heart and soul (and best source of funny stories and quotes like, "School food is for hobos.")

5. One of our great literary giants has recently passed, author of To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee. Did you read the book? Thoughts/opinions. What about Go Set a Watchman? 

I have a cat named Scout; what do you think? TKAM was required reading in 10th grade advanced English at my school, and even though most of my classmates were overwhelmed by the length and serious subject matter, I got hooked (it helped that my mom had already shown me the movie!). I can still remember my teacher describing it as a "perfect book" and explaining that she meant that there wasn't a single word or phrase in the novel that didn't need to be there. Since then, I've always tried to remember that good writing should be succinct. I did read Go Set a Watchman, and while I wasn't blown away by it in a literary sense I could really relate to Scout's struggle - when you grow up, how do you continue to love your family members once you see that they are flawed?

What have you been reading lately? Come link up with us at 

Pink Heels Pink Truck and Life with a Side of Coffee!

literary junkies - january 2016

Here are this month's questions:

1. What are you reading right now? Tell us about it.

I just finished The Demon King, the first book in the Seven Realms series by Cinda Williams Chima. It was recommended to me by one of my former students and two of my current students are reading the series along with me. I knew they were fantasy, but had put off starting the series for a while because I'd really assumed they were "boy books" (I was in a very female-focused reading mood for pretty much all of 2015), and this series seems to attract my guys when they've finished the Ranger's Apprentice or Percy Jackson books. I was surprised to find out that The Demon King actually has two main characters - one male and one female! Han Alister, the male lead, is a reformed street thief who was practically raised by the mountain clan who taught him their ways when he was a child and sheltered him from his enemies when he left street life behind. The book's conflict is introduced when Han and his friend confront three cocky young wizards fleeing a magical fire in the mountains and Han ends up with a frightening magical amulet. On the other side of the Queendom (yep) is our female lead, Princess Raisa, who has tasted clan life herself and is now back at court and finds herself courted by many suitors who send extravagant gifts. Raisa isn't interested in her suitors or in a hurry to marry - she longs for freedom and to reconnect with the friend who has just returned from military training.

2. Are you doing any reading challenges in 2016? Share them with us.

The only challenge I'm holding myself to is my Goodreads challenge, which I've upped to 50 books because I'm trying to read every day in 2016. There are a few challenge lists I'm going to look to for inspiration when I'm in a rut - from Modern Mrs. Darcy, Popsugar, Stxrybooks, and Worthington Ave. - and I'm also working my way through the Newbery Medal winners I missed between being a kid and teaching kids, as well as the AP novel list so I can help my students be better prepared for high school course work. I'm planning a fun post for next week with some ideas and recommendations for these challenges!

3. Have you discovered any new authors lately? 

In addition to digging Cinda Williams Chima's work in The Demon King, I've recently become obsessed with Sarah J. Maas and I'm plowing through the Throne of Glass series - I'm in fantasy euphoria land right now, basically. Both of these authors get an A+ in worldbuilding.

4. There are a ton of book to movie adaptations coming out this year. Are you excited for any in particular or disappointed in any?

I haven't read The 5th Wave yet - when I saw the movie trailer, my first thought was "is that the book from the book fair?" I remembered thinking it sounded like yet another Hunger Games knock-off when I showed the book trailer before the book fair rolled into the school media center, but now I'm thinking I should read it before all the kids want to (and they will - movies have a powerful impact on what kids want to read) so I'm not out of the loop!

I've heard nothing but good things about Me Before You by Jojo Moyes, so I'll be trying to get that one read before the movie comes out in March!

5. What is a book you were looking forward to reading and then had a complete let-down feeling when you finished?

I tend not to finish books that aren't doing it for me - life's too short! The last book I can remember truly feeling disappointed by was Midwinterblood by Marcus Sedgwick - it was a Printz award winner and Carnegie Medal nominee, and the premise intrigued me - seven interwined stories taking place on a Scandinavian island that has been home to Vikings, vampires, ghosts, artists, and lovers, exploring the magical bond linking the characters. Unfortunately, the overarching mythology of the story didn't interest me and it felt like Sedgwick was having to work too hard to make the seven stories connect. I felt like he was aiming for a YA Cloud Atlas, but I don't think real teenagers could engage with most of the stories.

2016 moodboard.

Images, L-R: 1, 2, 3 | 4, 5, 6

This month, the theme for The Circle link-up at In Its Time was to create a moodboard for 2016. As I created my moodboard, I thought about how I want to 2016 to feel and what I want each day to look like. Here are some areas of my life I want to prioritize this year.

calm mornings

I've always been something of a night owl, but lately I've really been looking into how my sleep affects my overall health. My mornings are typically very rushed, and it doesn't help me start the day in a very nice mood. I'd like to be able to wake up earlier and spend some quiet time eating a "real" breakfast and actually enjoying my coffee, reading, doing a devotional, practicing yoga, writing in my journal, or setting goals for the day before I have to greet 30 teenagers!

nurturing my passions

• Teaching - I love, love, love my job. I definitely want to be involved with teaching and/or working with young people for the rest of my life. However, I've gotten a little complacent lately - I've gone from being the new teacher who was constantly reading professional development books, taking classes, and attending conferences to being the veteran who recycles lesson plans and goes home to watch Netflix. To try to rekindle that flame, I've applied to several programs for this spring and summer that should help get me back on track. I really want to be a teacher who is always innovating and trying new things.
• Writing - If someone had told me ten years ago that I wouldn't have published anything significant by the age of thirty, I probably would have gotten very depressed. My writing is another thing I think I've gotten complacent about - I use the busy-ness of my teaching job and personal writing, like blogging and Tumblr, to avoid writing for a purpose. Just like with exercise, if I don't make time to write creatively, it's not going to happen. What am I hiding from?

welcoming change

Change is scary to me, but my One Word for 2016 is horizon and when I look at the image of the girl facing the horizon, I see that she's facing the ocean and its ever-changing waves - one of my favorite places to be and one that I find incredibly calming. Change is a constant in life - in relationships, at work, and with our personal interests. I had to reevaluate some friendships in 2015, and gained a stronger sense of self (a little more about that here). Buying a house and being able to turn it into a place to welcome friends and family any time we want will be a big change. Moving to a new school for a semester will be a big change. I need to face the horizon rather than trying to run from it.

health and wellness

• I'm not exaggerating when I say that yoga has changed my life - I'm calmer, more patient, and more centered, and as a nice side effect my body is leaner. I want to keep practicing yoga regularly (at home in addition to the class I attend) and challenge myself to try more difficult poses.
• I've been working to improve my health and diet for almost four years now, since receiving my PCOS diagnosis, but nothing has been as helpful to me so far as the app that came with my Jawbone UP2 band (read more of my thoughts about the UP2 here) - the combination of tracking sleep, workouts, and food and positive reinforcement really seems to be working. I've tried various boot camps, diets, and cleanses, but none of them have really "stuck." Hopefully I'm on to something now!
• One of the things I'm most looking forward to when we do move out of our current townhouse is being able to have a garden and grow our own vegetables. I grew up in a rural area and sometimes I just need a little dirt therapy.

community

The time has come for me to break through my social anxiety and find a place to pray and worship (I wrote a little more about this here). Ever since reading Rachel Held Evans' book Searching for Sunday last year (my review is here), I've been yearning for the kind of transformative experience she writes about. I don't want to be yet another millennial who left the church and never returned - unlike some people I know who thrive on solitary spiritual paths, I am just no good at staying in the Word on my own. I have been making excuses for far too long, and this needs to be the year I find a church home, even if that means going alone. I miss the sense of belonging and understanding that I had in college with my fellowship, small group, and close-knit church. As I've said before, I know that there's no "perfect" church, but there must be one out there (hopefully not too far away) that I can help make wonderful.

year in review - favorite posts of 2015

Along with the most popular posts of the year, I always like to shine a little spotlight on my personal favorites. Here are the posts I enjoyed creating and writing, the ones I enjoyed re-reading the most, and the posts that were most meaningful to me in 2015.

Inner Bookworm: My TBR List - I'm a sucker for surveys that encourage me to reflect on my reading preferences and behaviors - which is no surprise, since I'm constantly asking my students to journal about their goals and progress. I practice what I preach, y'all. I wrote a little here about how I use Interactive Notebooks at school, and I completely changed the way I use those this past semester, so I'll probably write a post about them on my classroom blog soon.

A Letter to My Younger Self - This was a really great topic from The Circle link-up. I decided to write to myself as a first-year college student. I'd also like to write to my middle/high school self and add the advice, participate in P.E. class and learn how sports work.

Style: My Second Stitch Fix - Not my most successful Fix, but it did include my favorite dress, which I refer to as my "Fleetwood Mac dress" because it was perfect concert attire.

If I Could... - Totally ripped off the idea from Micah, Holly, Erin, and Katie, but this post ended up being more personal and insightful than I imagined.

16 Weird Ways to Celebrate Star Wars Day - Once in a while I come up with a really oddball idea for a blog post. I still love this post. It truly was the year of Star Wars.

Retro Summer Style: Aquamarine and Gingham - One of Pantone's colors for summer, a major pattern trend, and a TV show/book that were right up my alley all came together to inspire one of my all-time favorite style boards. Nicole called it "daintiest little inspo board" and I think that comment was right on target - I found myself adding little '60s touches to my outfits throughout late summer and fall. I need this kind of inspiration more often.

Travelogue: Charleston, South Carolina - We had an absolutely lovely, though short vacation to Charleston this summer, and I was so happy to finally be in the city I'd read and dreamed about. It was every bit as beautiful as I'd imagined. We're so lucky to have so many amazing places within driving distance, and I'm hoping we'll have the time and budget for even more travel in 2016. I think the biggest lesson I learned from Charleston was that vacations don't have to be long or obsessively planned - exploring random streets and following friends' recommendations or random Yelp reviews can be just as memorable as a scheduled tour or complicated reservation.

Midsummer According to Instagram - I participated in several Instagram style challenges this summer, primarily to keep myself from defaulting to pajamas every day (#teacherproblems). I did not expect so many compliments from real-life friends who genuinely liked seeing my outfits every day and thought they were creative - one friend even asked if I was buying new things just for the challenges (I wasn't!).

#ROANOKESTRONG - This post was very meaningful for me to write, and I wish I hadn't had to write it. My community experienced tragedy this year that I will never forget, and for a while I wasn't sure we'd ever be able to return to normal life. Seeing Alison Parker and Adam Ward's family and friends out and about, experiencing and enjoying life after such an excruciating loss, has been really inspiring. 

#5FandomFriday: Favorite Fictional Teachers - My topic suggestion got picked for October, and I knew exactly who my list would include.

Halloween Recap: Our Adventures as Cap and Peggy - This was my favorite Halloween ever. Peggy Carter is my favorite Marvel character, I love history, and I love dressing up. It was perfect, and I have the best husband in the world.

Holiday Craft: DIY World Map Ornaments - I'm so happy with how these turned out, and really hoping some other crafty folks will use this idea! When my mom came over for Christmas Eve, I asked her if she liked my new DIY ornaments, and she looked at our tree and said, "I don't see any handmade ornaments." Crafting win!

Bloggers, what were your favorite posts from 2015? 

Share your links in the comments!

literary junkies - december

Here are this month's questions:

1. What are you reading right now? Tell us about it. 

I just finished reading Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas, after reading so many good things about it from book bloggers, and it did not disappoint. The main character, Celaena Sardothien, formerly the most notorious assassin in the kingdom of Ardalan, has been granted a reprieve from  imprisonment in a salt mine when handsome playboy prince Dorian Havilliard selects her as his entry in a competition his father, the king who has conquered and outlawed magic, is holding to select a Champion to do the kingdom's dirty work - in exchange for freedom. Coached by the Captain of the Guard, young and often judgmental Chaol Westfall, Celaena enters the competition, and the stakes become higher as her fellow competitors (all men, of course) begin to meet untimely and mysterious deaths. In beautiful gowns that hide the scars on her back, Celaena is introduced to the king's court as Dorian's friend Lady Lillien and becomes the envy of every woman at court - except a foreign princess who seems to know more than she lets on. Calaena leans that while magic may be illegal, it definitely hasn't been eliminated, and she has to stay one step ahead of whatever dark force is at work in order to protect herself and her new friends. Celaena Sardothien is fierce, stubborn, intelligent, and one of my new favorite YA heroines ever.

2. What were your favorite reads of 2015?

My absolute favorite was The Girl with All the Gifts by M.R. Carey - it was the one book that really moved me to tears this year, I was so connected to the main characters, Melanie and Miss Justineau. I'd wanted to read it ever since I saw it reviewed on io9. After reading, I thought M.R. Carey's use of third person point of view was skillful and perfect - at first it was a little bit unnerving, because I'd gotten so attached to Melanie, but being able to see the story's events from multiple characters' perspectives gave it more of a cinematic quality for me. The realization of what Melanie really was, and why she was being treated with such care and caution, was a punch to the gut, and the journey the characters must go on was tense, terrifying, and utterly believable. The two books that made me think the most were The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood and Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi - I couldn't have imagined how well they would complement each other before reading both, and I think both should be required reading for college students. I had the most fun reading Winter by Marissa Meyer - it was so fun and action packed, and I loved that each of the Rampion crew members (especially my faves, Cress and Thorne) got their happy ending.

3. What was your book-read total for 2015? Did you make your goal for the year?

I read 40 books, which was my goal for the year. I set a lower goal this year than I did in 2014 because I knew I'd be reading some longer books and I didn't want to feel the pressure to read random short books at the end of December just to meet a goal! I wish Goodreads would allow users to set a page number goal rather than a goal based on the number of books read.

4. How many books would you like to read in 2016?

I think I will stick with 40, and if I read more, that's great! I'd love to be able to read a book every week and set 52 as my goal, but I don't want reading to ever start to feel like a chore.

5. What is the number one book sitting on your Must Read list right now?

I got Mindy Kaling's Why Not Me? for Christmas, and I'm finally next in line for my library's e-book copy of Felicia Day's Everyone's Weird on the Internet, so I'll be starting 2016 with some funny ladies! I also want to read Diana Gabaldon's The Drums of Autumn, the next book in the Outlander series for me, and finish the Throne of Glass series and Graceling realm. There are also several new-ish books I haven't read yet by authors I love, like Ally Condie's Atlantia and Marie Lu's The Young Elites, that I want to get to in 2016.

What have you been reading lately? Come link up with us at 

Pink Heels Pink Truck and Life with a Side of Coffee!

#5FandomFriday/The Circle: Holiday Traditions

5 Fandom Friday is a weekly prompt challenge hosted by The Nerdy Girlie and Super Space Chick. This week's #5FandomFriday topic is holiday traditions, which is also one of the topics for The Circle link-up this month. I wrote about some of our family's traditions back in 2012 for Sunday Social, and it's interesting to look back and see what's changed and what hasn't.

5. Attending a Play - This is a new tradition my BFF Breeze and I decided to start this year. She got a hankering to see a play this fall, and when I found out that one of my childhood dance studio friends who is bound for Broadway stardom had gotten a part in Mill Mountain Theatre's production of 42nd Street we set a date. When we saw that next year's season includes White Christmas we decided a theater must become an annual event! We are so lucky to have some amazing drama venues in Virginia, including the Barter Theatre in Abingdon, which is one of the oldest theatres in America and the American Shakespeare Center in Staunton.

4. Dodgeball! - A few years ago, the P.E. department at my school started the tradition of having a charity dodgeball tournament the last week of the fall semester. Eighth grade's is the last day (and the last hour!) of school before break, so we have the Red team versus the Green team, the kids wear Santa hats to play, and the last round is teachers versus students, with the teachers wearing the most ridiculous holiday/athletic outfits we can put together - one of our Civics teachers played in a Clark Griswold sweater and Captain America socks this year. The kids go crazy cheering for their teams, make posters, and paint their faces, and we don't have many discipline problems that day because they are so happy.

3. Fashions for Evergreens - This is another tradition Breeze and I have and we're trying to get as many friends involved as possible. The beautiful Hotel Roanoke hosts a charity event where local businesses and organizations decorate Christmas trees that are displayed throughout the lobbies and halls of the hotel. Here are my pictures from last year's event.

2. Small Town Christmas Celebrations - I was raised in a small town and love the little community where I live now. Give me a short parade with miniature horses, high school marching bands, baby baton twirlers, and fire trucks over huge floats any time! My town hosts an annual Christmas celebration where the streets are closed to traffic and fill with vendors selling food, crafts, and Christmas decorations. There are also carriage rides, local performers, pictures with Santa, and a group carol sing. It's a lot of fun and we always see lots of friends, students, and family members while we are there. This year we took Breeze's one-year-old niece for her first picture with Santa - which, of course, ended in tears.

1. Family Christmas Gatherings - I think Mr. Q and I are lucky that negotiating where we spend the holidays has been fairly easy so far. Growing up, my family spent Christmas Eve with my maternal grandmother at our house and Christmas Day at my maternal grandmother's house with my huge extended family, but both of my grandmothers passed away when I was a teenager. Since before Mr. Q and I were married, my mom and I have joined his extended family for Christmas Eve dinner and gingerbread, watching A Christmas Story, and exchanging gifts (always youngest to oldest). On Christmas Day, we head over to my uncle's house in the mountains for more yummy food, visiting my cousins, and hearing stories from my mom's childhood in rural Kentucky and Southwest Virginia - I think I learn something new about my family every year. 

literary junkies!

1. What are you reading right now? Tell us about it. 

Despite having several Iranian-American friends in high school and college, I knew basically nothing about the Islamic Revolution until reading Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis in college. When I spotted Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi at a secondhand book sale, I recognized it from lots of recommended title lists. It's a memoir written by a literature teacher who attended college in America and returned to her home in Iran just as the revolution was beginning. After she took her first teaching job at the University of Tehran, Iran's laws became increasingly restrictive and eventually abusive toward women, and she was eventually forced to resign for refusing to wear a veil in the classroom. After the war with Iraq, an acquaintance convinces her to return to teaching, which she has missed terribly, although her more conservative students frequently challenge her choice of "decadent" novels like The Great Gatsby and Daisy Miller. She and a few of her most passionate female students decide to start their own book club, meeting on Thursday morning to discuss everything from Lolita to Pride and Prejudice, and along the way her "girls" become like daughters to her. The book really forced me to think about how dangerous fundamentalism can be when the lines of church and state are blurred and corrupted, and about how our perceptions of literature are shaped by our own backgrounds and experiences. I've added Professor Nafisi's syllabus to my TBR pile.

2. What book reminds you of summertime as a kid?

The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis - I finished my first reading of the Narnia books in the back of my parents' car while being taken to summer camp. When I got to the book's ending and realized, in a way my 11-year-old brain really couldn't put into words, that the whole series had been an allegory for God's kingdom, I started crying. My parents thought I was upset about going to camp and were ready to turn the car around until I explained as best I could that I was crying because my book made me so happy. They probably talked about what a weird kid they had after that.

3. What book did you have on your summer reading list that truly nailed it as a summer reading favorite?

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed The Madman's Daughter by Megan Shepherd - a really creepy novel inspired by H.G. Wells' The Island of Doctor Moreau, but then I remembered how much I loved Rebecca last summer. I'd downloaded it because it was a Kindle deal and had a cool name, and got completely sucked in to the main character's desire to find her father and her inherited obsession with scientific discovery, the isolated island and the two men she feels torn between. For some reason, I guess I need to counterbalance hot, sunny summer days with suspenseful Gothic mysteries?

4. Who is your favorite author and why? Give us your top recommendation by them. 

As an English major and teacher, there is no way I can choose one favorite author, so I'll narrow it down to one genre. My favorite YA author is Maggie Stiefvater - not just because of her books but because she has a great online presence and I got to meet her at a reading conference for teachers! Her Raven Cycle series is really popular right now and has developed a fandom, but my favorite Stiefvater book is the stand-alone The Scorpio Races, in which she takes the myth of the water horse and builds a whole world. It's full of action, romance, and amazing description (I use it as a mentor text in my class!), and has a very timeless quality that I think will make it a YA fantasy classic.

5. Fall Book Reading lists are starting to make their appearances. What are you excited to read that's being released this fall?

Never Always Sometimes by Adi Alsaid (August 4th) - Best friends Dave and Julia were determined to never be cliché high school kids. They even wrote their own Never List of everything they vowed they'd never, ever do in high school.  Julia is beautiful, wild and impetuous. So when she suggests they do every Never on the list, Dave is happy to play along. 

This sounds like such a perfect back-to-school read - I love books about male/female best friendships and how complicated the can be, and the "Never List" is a fun concept.

Dream Things True by Marie Marquardt (September 1st) - A modern-day Romeo and Juliet story in which a wealthy Southern boy falls in love with an undocumented Mexican girl and together they face perils when ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) begins raids on their town. 

I cannot resist a Shakespeare retelling, particularly Romeo and Juliet which is the play that started it all for me. This sounds like a really unique, creative twist on the familiar story.

Why Not Me? by Mindy Kaling (September 15th) - Kaling shares her ongoing journey to find contentment and excitement in her adult life, whether it’s falling in love at work, seeking new friendships in lonely places, attempting to be the first person in history to lose weight without any behavior modification whatsoever, or most important, believing that you have a place in Hollywood when you’re constantly reminded that no one looks like you.

I love Mindy and I adored Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?, so I'm sure her second collection of essays will be equally awesome.

Winter (The Lunar Chronicles #4) by Marissa Meyer (November 10th) - Princess Winter is admired by the Lunar people for her grace and kindness, despite the scars that mar her face, and despises her stepmother, Queen Levana. Together with the cyborg mechanic, Cinder, and her allies, Winter might even have the power to launch a revolution and find their happily ever afters.

The Lunar Chronicles is one of my favorite recent MG/YA series, so I'm very anxiously looking forward to the conclusion. I hope Meyer can tie up all the lose ends in a way that is satisfying but not too perfect or cheesy.

5 Fandom Friday: Character Wardrobes!

5 Fandom Friday is a link-up hosted by The Nerdy Girlie and Super Space Chick that I want to get more involved in now that I've decided to jump right in and embrace my geeky side here on the blog - I always love seeing my friends' cute posts. I missed last week's perfect topic, so I'm just gonna go for it this week - Characters with my favorite fictional fashion. You can see the upcoming prompts here at the master post (this week's is actually fandom guilty pleasures if you don't want to be a rebel with me).

Mary Margaret Blanchard/Snow White, Once Upon a Time

Mary Margaret was the first character I really fell in love with on Once Upon a Time. I've loved Ginnifer Goodwin since she was in Mona Lisa Smile (speaking of great wardrobes), and without Mary Margaret giving Henry the storybook, Emma would still be bounty hunting in Boston. Mary Margaret's teacher wardrobe full of modest dresses, lace blouses, and cardigans is perfect - it basically looks like she bought stock in ModCloth and it's how I would dress for work every day if I had an unlimited budget! The costume department also puts her in adorable outerwear for all the winter scenes the cast films in fictional Storybrooke, Maine.  In Snow White mode, she's definitely the best dressed bandit in the Enchanted Forest.

Scarlett O'Connor, Nashville

One of the main reasons I watch Nashville is to see what Music City's resident Bohemian songbird will be wearing. Some of Scarlett's outfits verge on hobo, but they suit her singer-songwriter persona and Clare Bowen always looks adorable in them - come on, there is no way a real person could pull off those huge sweaters and flowy dresses!

Jemma Simmons, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Besides being adorable, Agent Simmons demonstrates perfect practical workplace style. She pairs her pants and sneakers with pretty printed and colorblocked tops and makes more casual pieces work-appropriate by layering them with Peter Pan collared shirts and blazers. Is it just me, or did her style get a little sassier after she became a double agent for Hydra?

Rose DeWitt-Bukater, Titanic

Kate Winslet's costumes in Titanic are practically a character on their own - after all, we see her hat before we see her face, and we instantly know that she's high-class (it's one of my all-time favorite character introductions). I was already obsessed with the Victorian period when I saw Titanic as a middle schooler (thanks, Samantha Parkington!) There's a reason all of my high school Homecoming dresses had some sort of mesh overlay going on. There's a reason I wanted to get pointe shoes. There's a reason I got so excited to see several of the costumes from the movie at the Titanic Museum. And the reason is Rose, my seventh grade feminist icon.

Claire Beauchamp Fraser, Outlander

Oh Sassenach, you know that true love sometimes means wearing really uncomfortable clothing. Diana Gabaldon does a great job describing Claire's clothes in the novels and the costuming department for the television series has done an amazing job creating pieces that are not necessarily identical to Claire's outfits in the book, but perfect for the time period and atmosphere of the show (even her smart 1940's outfits match the show's earthy color palette). I can't wait until the show gets to the events of Dragonfly in Amber so we can see the dresses she wears in Paris!

Which fictional characters' closets would you love to raid?