Books & Shamelessly Using My Friends

Still completely buried under school work.  Nothing new here.

EXCEPT!  I have a very special guest speaker in my class today.  Nat King Cole, ala our elite Lit Society, is giving an overview on Digital Storytelling.  I may or may not sit in the back, with my feet propped up on a student's desk, and guzzle a martini.

She's the lesser of the Two Crazies (on the left).

Although I'm too tired to go on living, I have managed to read a few more books lately.  And by 'read' I mean flip through 3-4 pages every night before my eyelids come crashing down.

Lone Wolf by Jodi Picoult

If you haven't read Jodi Picoult before (I think most of you have), I highly recommend any of her books!  The funny thing is that I have read so many of them, but don't think I've blogged about them at all.  Her work - as bad as this is going to sound - is formulaic, in that she usually writes books centered around a controversial idea, and her chapters are usually told from different characters' perspectives.  At first, this was novel (pun intended!) and now it's just par for the course for her books.  That said, she cranks out a novel just about every year and manages to write beautifully and incorporate complicated themes into her work.  I've seen her speak and she's so personal and down to earth.  So, you know, what's the problem with a little writing formula here and there?

Lone Wolf was an interesting read for me, considering that we visited Mission Wolf recently.  It's the story of a man who just about gives up on human normalcy in order to live as a wolf, in the wild, with a pack in the forests of Canada.  His broken family, an ex wife and two adult children, must decide what to do when he is involved in a life-threatening accident.

Just like her others, it is a good read.  And just like her others, if the motif (wolves) isn't your thing, you probably won't enjoy it too much.  She has a new book out called Leaving Time that centers around elephants and I'm dying to read it but wonder if it's too sad.

Ok!  Time to go prep all my stuff for today so that I can shamelessly use my friend to teach my class.  Why didn't I think of this sooner?!