Category: REVIEWS

Reading in 2024

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This entry is part 9 of 9 in the series 2024-Reads

You can see what I read last year—well, most of it—in the header image. I count a total of approximately 48 books. (I don’t think I missed any, but I’m not counting the Dragon Masters books that I read to my son. I am counting the Judy Blume and Roald Dahl books, though, since I actually had fun reading them. Dragon Masters, I mostly just enjoy vicariously through my son’s reactions.)    For me, the standouts were:  Nonfiction, Biographical: This one’s a toss-up between Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Between the World and Me, which I found a rather moving and troubling look at …

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November–December Reads

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This entry is part 8 of 9 in the series 2024-Reads

  Well, here’s the last installment of my 2024 reads. November was a hectic month, so I read less than I’d like—sick kid, couple of translation deadlines—but I still read a fair number of books. I’ll be posting an overview of my favorites from the year in a post in January 2025, but for now, I’ll just cover what I read in the past couple of months.  I read Roald Dahl‘s Fantastic Mr. Fox to my son. It’s a fun read, even if it does have its nasty moments. The (alcoholic!) rat in the Bean’s Secret Cider Cellar is a …

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TEFL Alice is Missing

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At the university where I work these days, one of the classes I teach every semester is Screen English. For the last three semesters, I’ve included the silent, text-based role-playing game Alice is Missing (from Hunter’s Entertainment) as one of our activities. Usually we play it toward the end of semester, when students are eager for something to break away from the familiarity of student-led discussion group exercises.  Despite a few challenges, it goes surprisingly well. The challenges include: 

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July-August Reads (2024)

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This entry is part 6 of 9 in the series 2024-Reads

July was something of a slow month for reading, since I was teaching as summer intensive course and working with my wife on a book-length translation project. That said, I did finish a few books I’d had on the go for a while, and launched into some new ones in August.  August wasn’t exactly slow, but I read less than I’d thought I might. 

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