Top Ten Tuesday: Books connected to schools… somehow

TTT back to school

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, featuring a different top 10 theme each week. This week’s topic is a School Freebie — and lacking the brain power at the moment to come up with a coherent theme, I thought I’d go for a more random post.

All of these books, one way or another, remind me of school or learning — so I’ll just go ahead and share my list and then explain why I chose these books.

1) Educated by Tara Westover: There’s the title, for starters, plus what’s more iconic when thinking about school than a big old pencil?

2) The Most Likely Club by Elyssa Friedland: I just finished this book, and it absolutely took me back to the days of high school yearbooks, extracurriculars, and cafeteria table groupings.

3) A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik: I did say this was going to be rather random. This is an example of a school that I would never, ever want to attend. It’s terrifying and potentially lethal.

4) The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune: As opposed to this one, which is more of a home for magical children than a formal school, but education happens, so it counts! And it’s so lovable that I’m always happy to include it in a TTT post!

5) The Finishing School series by Gail Carriger: Now here’s another school I’d be happy to visit! I mean, it’s set on a dirigible! ‘Nuff said.

6) The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder: I will always be scared by the scenes of the children trying to get home from the schoolhouse in a blizzard. Brrrrrrr.

7) The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare: This book doesn’t have much to do with a school, although the main character does teach others to read. I associate it with my own school days, since I think it was pretty much required reading for every schoolkid in Connecticut, at least back when I lived there.

8) The Lottery by Shirley Jackson: Does this still get taught in high school? I read this for an English class, and this was long enough ago that “dystopian” wasn’t an entire genre yet. It felt so startling at the time!

9) The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan : And now, a weird detour into my more recent reading! This is all about a remedial school for parents deemed negligent in some way, and it’s very disturbing.

10) True Biz by Sara Novic: Wrapping things up with one more school-based book — this one takes place at a boarding school for the Deaf, and it’s amazing.

So… was your school freebie more organized than mine? What theme did you go with? Please share your TTT links!

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Top Ten Tuesday: Where do I enroll? Ten fictional schools I want to attend!

TTT back to school

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, featuring a different top 10 theme each week. This week’s topic is a Back To School Freebie — which got me thinking about which fictional schools I’d really want to attend.

1) Hogwarts. Obviously.

2) Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. Because who wouldn’t want to live in a time loop and have secret powers?

3) Mademoiselle Geraldine’s Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality, from Gail Carriger’s silly and delightful Finishing School series. A school that’s a dirigible floating over the English countryside? Yes, please. Especially if they’ll teach me the deadly art of wielding a bladed fan.

4) Spence Finishing School. Well, I’m only on the 1st book of the Gemma Doyle trilogy by Libba Bray, but I like the witchiness lurking beneath the surface, even if certain snobby mean girls would just drive me bonkers.

5) Brakebills, from The Magicians. It’s like Hogwarts, but a lot naughtier. I want to hang out with the Physical Kids and play welters.

6) Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children. I guess if I did go to a magical land and then get kicked out, I’d rather lick my wounds at Eleanor West’s Home than anywhere else. (And keep looking for my secret door the whole time, of course.)

7) Watford School of Magicks — because I pretty much love Simon Snow and would want to just go and hang out with him.

8) The Academy from Codex Alera. Because I want to learn to be a Cursor!

9) Oomza Uni from Binti. Granted, I’d have to lick the whole traveling through space to another planet issue, but other than that, it sounds great!

10) Galileo Academy from Martians Abroad by Carrie Vaughn. The school may be located on Earth, but wouldn’t it be awesome to have Martian classmates?

Happy Back to School! Please share your TTT link and I’ll drop by for a visit.

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Do you host a book blog meme? Do you participate in a meme that you really, really love? I’m building a Book Blog Meme Directory, and need your help! If you know of a great meme to include — or if you host one yourself — please drop me a note on my Contact page and I’ll be sure to add your info!

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Top Ten Tuesday: Ten books from ye olde school days to re-read… eventually

TTT back to school

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, featuring a different top 10 theme each week. This week’s topic is a Back To School Freebie — so I’ve decided to focus on books from my school days that I’d really like to revisit someday.

Here are ten books from my middle and high school reading adventures that I recall fondly… and really should re-read to see if they still grab my attention:

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1) Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell

2) A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

3) Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

4) Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton

5) Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

6) 1984 by George Orwell

7) Hiroshima by John Hersey

8) The Lottery by Shirley Jackson

9) Nectar in a Sieve by Kamala Markanday

10) Seven Gothic Tales by Isak Dinesen

What books made your list this week? Please share your TTT links!

If you enjoyed this post, please consider following Bookshelf Fantasies! And don’t forget to check out our regular weekly features, Shelf Control and Thursday Quotables. Happy reading!

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Do you host a book blog meme? Do you participate in a meme that you really, really love? I’m building a Book Blog Meme Directory, and need your help! If you know of a great meme to include — or if you host one yourself — please drop me a note on my Contact page and I’ll be sure to add your info!

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The Summer Reading List: Back to School Edition!

Public schools are back in session — yes, already! At least where I live, they are. My kid is safely ensconced in an institution of learning, ready to absorb all sorts of wisdom…

… and all the back-to-school hoopla has started me thinking (uh-oh).

On a trip this summer, we happened to be traveling with several families who had teens with them (and they were all quite lovely to be around!). Most of these teens spent their time on the various bus rides trying to barrel through their required summer reading. First off, I was happy to see teens reading actual books (you know, those things made of paper) and not constantly texting, tweeting, etc. Second, I was impressed by some of their reading assignments. Third, I started thinking about just how long it’s been since I’ve read some of these books, and felt quite ancient when I realized that for some, it’s been decades.

So I decided to give myself a back-to-school reading assignment. I’m quite wary of reading challenges these days, since I invariably fail. (Can I help it if I get distracted by all the shiny books waiting to be read and have a problem sticking to a pre-defined list?) I thought I’d keep it simple and doable. Sometime during the coming school year, I intend to read three or four “summer reading” books and see how they stand up a) compared to my memories and b) as experienced by an adult rather than a high school student!

I intend to read:

  1. To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
  2. Lord of the Flies by William Golding
  3. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

If I finish all of these and the school year isn’t over yet, I may add a 4th book to the list. Any suggestions?

I haven’t set myself a timeline or schedule at all, so I’ll be reading these more or less whenever I feel like it. BUT, if anyone wants to join me, I’d be happy to make it a bit more official and “assign” a due date so we can discuss.

Let me know if you’d like to join me in my back-to-school reading! No pop quizzes, I promise.