2019 Reading

 This year was another diverse year of reading, like most are. I wrote my MA thesis which provided some of the books on the list. Then after that was finished, I dove into reading a number of things that I had been saving up "for when I had time."

Academic ESL Writing (my thesis topic)

Eli Hinkel's Effective Curriculum for Teaching L2 Writing - If one wanted a one-stop book on designing a curriculum for Academic Writing for English Learners/Newer Users, this would have to be it. Hinkel combines a fabulous amount of research with pointedly practical comments on what should be included in such curricula.

Suresh Canagarajah's Critical Academic Writing and Multilingual Students, meanwhile, describes a beautiful approach to teaching writing (and English, in general), considering how to balance the global and local demands of language learning and how to respect local cultures while also working with Western academic standards and culture.

Meanwhile, Peter Elbow writes more generally about teaching writing; I use selections from him in my teaching because it provides a useful orientation to a philosophy of education which many students may not have encountered previously. This year, I'd mention his Everyone Can Write and Writing with Power. I haven't read anything of his without benefit yet.

Historical Books

Last fall, a student recommended The Other 1492 by Teofilo Ruiz to me. I listened to the audiobook, and I'd recommend it to any and all who have an interest in history. Around the same time, one of my daughters did her summer research project which used the Maestros' excellent short history of "The Exploration and Conquest" of the Americas. Now it's on loan to a student who asked for something about American history. These two books shared themes and ideas but at quite different levels.

My wife's grandfather fought on Iwo Jima, and he is obliquely mentioned in Iwo by Richard Wheeler, so I'd wanted to read it for a long time. It was sobering; I hadn't read about WWII for quite a while.

Nelson's Trafalgar by Roy Adkins was a fascinating read due to my long enjoyment of the Hornblower series of books about the Napoleonic wars. It shed a lot of light on what was going on throughout navies of the world around that time as well as graphically describing the way an individual battle (Trafalgar) could play out, over hours. Not exactly deep, but quite in depth.  

Christian 

Fool's Talk by Os Guinness has so far been an excellent challenge in thinking about how a follower of Christ ought to interact with those who have different beliefs, especially in a world hostile to its key beliefs.

Fiction

Out of the Silent Planet and Perelandra - C. S. Lewis - I had never read any of Lewis' Space Trilogy till this year. It was insightful and enjoyable, as nearly everything Lewis wrote seems to be.

They Shoot Canoes, Don't They? - Patrick McManus - On the very light end of things, McManus provided entertainment, as he never fails to do. I am always reminded of close friends when I read McManus due to the context in which I was introduced to him.

Christopher Williams's Restoration series was surprisingly engaging, especially since I'd previously enjoyed his space trilogy. How many authors can switch genres that successfully? The first book in the series is free.

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad was a gift from a friend. It is a remarkable piece of literature with many insights into humanity, and yet, it is not exactly an enjoyable read and is certainly not a simple one. One thought that it clarified for me was that a part of the awfulness of evil is its purposelessness. As Conrad speaks of the darkness, he never bothers to discuss the details. Rather he depicts darkness in its shadowiness and its echo heard within ourselves, which he expresses in striking elegance. The book is also fascinating to me as the work of a non-native speaker of English who mastered a new language as an adult and became a master in its literary works.

A favorite adventure novel from my youth which I re-read this year was The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne. He has long been one of my favorite authors, even though I only appreciate about half of what I have read of his works. On the other hand, with greater learning and experience over the years since I have read this book, I found this year that I have unexpected critiques of it. The racial biases both subtle and more direct that while they might have seemed acceptable (or even enlightened?) at the time of writing are a clear mark against the book. As well, while the amalgamation of flora and fauna on Lincoln Island is certainly creative, it seems less believable than one might wish.

To go along with those, I've started the engaging book How to Read a Book, re-read old favorites like The Lord of the Rings, and almost all of the Sherlock Holmes stories, and read The Janissary Tree, and interesting mix of detective novel and recipe book set in Ottoman Istanbul.


Recommendations from years past: 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011