English Teachers Chat

For today I made a simple graphic highlight a number of 2022 books. These are all books I've read this year that I can't get enough of.  For some students, sometimes that familiar book is just the next step to push them towards something fresh.

Yesterday I released my Best Books of 2021 . Today I return with my best YA books of 2021. All these books were published this year and worth all your attention. I hope you find sometime to read and love. If you want an easy one page printable, click here . 1. Love is a Revolution by Renee Watson I could go on and on about how much I love this book. It manages to capture teenage love and teenage apathy like none other. It’s in a class all its own this year (it also appeared on my best books of the year overall). So many books are trying to be so grand, but sometimes the most intimate stories are the most important ones. This is why I read YA fiction. 2. Off the Record by Camryn Garrett If they decided to turn Harvey Weinstein’s story, serial rapist and atrocious human being, into a YA novel, it would be this. But the book is so much more as you meet Josie, an aspiring journalist, who is thrown into the adult world. These are books that teens need, but everyone will be better for readin...

Well... it's that time of the year again. As of this writing (and still 10 days to go), I've finished 164 books. A record for me. But I'm here to tell you what made my top 10 adult books for the year (hopefully within the week I will publish my top 10 YA books). If you would like a one page printable copy, click here . So without further ado, here's the list.  1. The Prophets by Robert Jones Jr.  The Prophets isn’t just the best written book of 2021, it might be the best written book of the millennium. Beautifully written but also heart breaking, this genre bending novel recalls Morrison at almost every turn, and in the process tells one of the most gorgeous and heart breaking love stories of all time. This is the story we need in 2021. A true reckoning of our past. 2. Bewilderment by Richard Powers After The Overstory, all attention is on Richard Powers. But Bewilderment is so different. Rather than a sprawling narrative, we’re given something far more intimate. A stor...

Just last week I posted my 2021 Young Adult Summer Reading Guide , but we're back this week with the adult contemporary version. Like the YA version, in order to be eligible for the list, the book needed to be published in 2021. This list offers a wide variety. When I think of summer, I do think of lighter more "exciting" reads (if I can use such a nebulous term). That said, there are some heavy hitters on here, so be sure to read the descriptions. All these books are amazing in their own right. So find something (or several things) to enjoy this summer. And if you're checking this list on June 21st 2021, be sure to head over to Barnes and Nobles which is offering many of these books at 50% off! If you'd like a one page printable list, click here .  So without further ado: 1. Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid Malibu Rising is quintessential summer reading. Celebrities, rock stars, gossip, love affairs and bad decisions, Reid’s newest novel is framed by litera...

Yesterday I released my Top Books of 2020 . Today, I wanted to give some attention to the top YA books of the year. Young adult literature is doing what adult literature can't keep up with: diversity. More diversity and experimentation is occurring for young adults than their adult contemporary counterparts. I hope the publishing industry is noting this because they need to fix this problem. I also must thank the Project Lit Community which brought to light so many amazing diverse authors to my attention this year.  As per usual, any books on this 2020 list was published in 2020. Give any one of these books a read and you'll be a better person for it. For a one page printable of this list, click here . So without further ado: 1. This is My America by Kim Johnson Tracy’s father sits on death row and she continues to write to the Innocence Project in the hopes to free him. With time waning, Tracy needs to stop the wrongful execution, but the people with power are controlling mu...

This year, I managed to read 157 books in 2020. And while 2020 sucked in so many ways, books were not one of them. As per usual, my top 10 books are books only composed of books published in 2020. So while I read some other remarkable books (and some that would near the top of this list), they were excluded to keep the focus on what's present. In terms of trends, I'm happy to say that my list was full of more diversity than ever before with half the authors of some minority. There's still a long way to go. This year, I'll also be writing my top 10 YA books of the year , so look forward to that later this week. For a one page printable of this list, click here . So without further ado: 1. The Vanishing Half by Britt Bennett Is there any book more worthy of our attention than Bennett’s masterpiece? No book felt more pressing. A novel about race, American identity and the American Dream, the story of twin sisters who go and live completely different lives is unlike anythin...

This year I managed to read some 140 books (there's still 13 days to go so I'm sure my number will grow). Here were my top 10 of 2019 that were published in 2019 (along with some other titles I loved this year). 1. Save Me the Plums: My Gourmet Memoir by Ruth Reichl.  I want to describe this book as The Devil Wears Prada but with food. But that’s a gross misrepresentation of Reichl’s journey from food writer to editor-in-chief of Gourmet magazine. Reichl shows us that food writing is more than just about food; it’s about politics, family and travel. It is at our essence as humans. Reichl’s book is the most human piece of 2019. 2. Daisy Jones & the Six: A Novel by Taylor Jenkins Reid.  Daisy Jones is the reason why I read. To get lost. To become so utterly submersed in a world that the character’s feel tangible. Written from the perspective of over half-dozen characters, with interviews and monologues, Daisy Jones is a biting, hilarious and enjoyable look at po...