Thursday's questions for the Clear Away the Clutter Read-A-Thon comes from the Teens Read and Write site. The Neverending Shelf is sponsoring this week-long event, but other blog are pitching in and asking questions to help us with our blogs and our reading piles.
Here are today's questions and my answers:
1.) Is there at least one book on your growing TBR that has been there forever and (if you were honest) you could give up without to much trauma?
Um, yes. There are probably several books on my TBR shelves that will continue to be put off for quite a while. My problem is this: The YA books I read end up on the Free Reading Shelves in my classroom. There is always a student for a book, no matter how poorly written or uninteresting that book may be to me personally. I'd hate to miss catching the interest of a struggling or bored reader because I was not liking the subject of a book. So, I will read just about anything for my students. It's a complex I have.
2.) What is your latest "Gotta Have It" book? (that you can get once you've given up that one in question #1)
Wow. There are a ton of "gotta have it" books on my list. Probably Some Girls Are by Courtney Summers is topping this list because I just read an awesome book by her called Cracked Up To Be. It was my first, but it definitely won't be my last!
3.) What are your classics - you're 'comfort books' that you never want to give up?
Another great question. It's kinda weird, but I have a couple of favorite authors who have just about nothing in common with one another, except maybe that they're all American authors. They are: Toni Morrison, Jack Kerouac, Kurt Vonnegut, and John Steinbeck. Pretty diverse. I have tons and tons of books from these four authors, some of which I haven't read since college. But, I'll never part with them! They hold too many memories, as weird as that sounds.
4.) What are your best tips for keeping that TBR in check?
My best tip is that I often read a TBR that I've been looking forward to and then I'll follow it up with one I have been dreading or putting off. It's kinda like Mary Poppins and the whole "Spoon Full of Sugar Makes the Medicine Go Down" philosophy.
So, that's it for now. My prep period is over and it's back to the grind for me!
