Saturday, August 16, 2014

The 2014 ALIXIRS!

This has been one hell of a fecund summer: so much so that it doesn't bear going into much at this moment. I've made some big life decisions - like, several - and so stay tuned to hear those ruminations. But for today, I'm announcing the ALIXIRS! 

Last year I read 60 books and it was pretty darn cool. This year I read 58. I think this is still pretty good; furthermore, I think that it merits an awards post! So, this is the 2nd annual Alixirs awards: wherein I sort and rank the myriad and random assortment of books I've read over the past year.

Like the Oscars, each of the books nominated in the award categories (aside from the 'groaner' group) is a fabulous read and comes highly recommended!

THE ALIXIRS!

First, the basic demographics:
Written by a woman: 60%

Nonfiction: 22% 
450+ pages: (approximately) 22% 

Young Adult Literature: 21%
Written by a POC: 12% (shameful!)
LGBT-themed: 12%
Re-read: 2% (just Catching Fire)


The Funniest Read All Year:
You Shall Know Our Velocity - Dave Eggers
Where'd You Go, Bernadette? - Maria Semple
Beautiful Ruins - Jess Walter
Ask the Passengers - AS King

And it goes to. . . Where'd You Go, Bernadette?!!!





Wherein I Took Breaks to Cry it Out:
On the Beach - Nevil Shute
The Sky is Everywhere - Jandy Nelson
White Teeth - Zadie Smith
Tell the Wolves I'm Home - Carol Rifka Brunt

And it goes to. . . On the Beach!!! (by a teardrop)


The Most Searing Memoir:
Are You My Mother? - Alison Bechdel
Wild - Cheryl Strayed
Don't Let's Go To the Dogs Tonight - Alexandra Fuller
The Goldfish Went on Vacation - Patty Dann
Into the Wilderness - Kim Barnes

And it goes to . . . Are You My Mother?!!!





Could Not Put Down: Or, the <48-Hour Club:
We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves - Karen Joy Fowler
Tell the Wolves I'm Home - Carol Rifka Brunt
Where'd You Go, Bernadette? - Maria Semple
Girls I've Run Away With - Rhiannon Argo

And it goes to. . . Tell the Wolves I'm Home!!! (for shortest time)


Kick-Ass Girls Not Afraid to Tackle the World:
Swamplandia! - Karen Russell
The Hangman's Daughter - Oliver Pötzsch
Girls I've Run Away With - Rhiannon Argo
Where'd You Go, Bernadette? - Maria Semple
Tell the Wolves I'm Home - Carol Rifka Brunt
The Green Glass Sea - Ellen Klages
Serena - Ron Rash
Catching Fire - Suzanne Collins
Ask the Passengers - AS King
Year Of Wonders - Geraldine Brooks
Fingersmith - Sarah Waters
Letters From Skye - Jessica Brockmole
We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves - Karen Joy Fowler
Into the Wilderness - Kim Barnes

And it goes to. . . Who am I kidding? All of them: Ava to Magdalena to Rosemary to Susan!


Important Social Reads:
One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel García Márquez
There Are No Children Here - Alex Kotlowitz
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks - Rebecca Skloot
Tess of the D'Ubervilles - Thomas Hardy

And it goes to . . . One Hundred Years of Solitude!!!


Big-Hearted, Beautiful YALs:
The Green Glass Sea - Ellen Klages
The Sky is Everywhere - Jandy Nelson
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe - Benjamin Alire Saenz
Ask the Passengers - AS King
Mockingbird: Kathryn Erskine

And it goes to. . . Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe!!!




If You're a Lady-Loving Lady:
Pages For You - Sylvia Brownrigg
Ask the Passengers - AS King
Are You My Mother? - Alison Bechdel
Girls I've Run Away With - Rhiannon Argo

Read all of them. SRSLY. Or you'll no longer be a card-carrying member.


Misfit Dudes:
The Last Policeman - Ben H. Winters
The Gamal - Ciarán Collins
Grendel - John Gardner
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao - Junot Díaz
Wonder - RJ Palacio

And it goes to. . . The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao!!!




Most Accurate Portrayal of Grief:
The Sky is Everywhere - Jandy Nelson
Tell the Wolves I'm Home - Carol Rifka Brunt
The Still Point in the Turning World - Emily Rapp
The Goldfish Went On Vacation - Patty Dann

And it goes to. . . The Sky is Everywhere!!!


The Groaners (not a one bad, but the lowest-rated of the year):
Sarah's Key - Tatiana Rosnay
Ship Breaker - Paolo Bacigalupi
The Uglies - Scott Westerfield
Bossypants - Tina Fey

I won't single out these poor guys further!

FINALLY! All the 9+ Rated Books of the Year (in chronological order):
Swamplandia! - Karen Russell
On the Beach - Nevil Shute
Maddadam - Margaret Atwood
Tenth of December - George Saunders
The Goldfish Went On Vacation - Patty Dunn
Pages For You - Sylvia Brownrigg
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks - Rebecca Skloot
Grendel  - John Gardner
White Teeth - Zadie Smith (the only perfect 10!)
Where'd You Go, Bernadette? - Maria Semple
Beautiful Ruins - Jess Walter
We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves - Karen Joy Fowler
The Sense of an Ending - Julian Barnes
One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel García Márquez
Tell the Wolves I'm Home - Carol Rifka Brunt
The Sky is Everywhere - Jandy Nelson

Congrats! Now, get reading! I know I will! (I'm about halfway through The Bone People - fab!)

Over and out ~


Tuesday, May 20, 2014

(Re)claiming 'Nurse'

And here we are, at the end of May. It's been a wild ride of classes (micro and patho, this past semester); I've traveled the spare sage brush of literal and figurative distances. Through the high peaks and dusty bottomed-out roads, however, I've had the constant of my little pre-k ones.


That is, until today. Yesterday, I got up, got dressed, and hopped over to my school. I chatted with a couple of the teachers in the sunny entryway, and with it reflected in my daily bendición of how my Spanish has improved over the last six months. I picked up my babies from the bus - now, even the quietest little girl will point out purple flower or a sparrow alighting on the roof. In her gruff little voice, she announces: "Mire. Un gorrión." To volunteer 'sparrow' when she was once pressed to say 'bird' before is a great and tiny triumph.

I showed our little scholars the recently-hatched Painted Lady butterflies, fetched snack, exchanged pleasantries with the parents. . . and then I left. For, you see, I was dressed in scrubs. I drove straight over to Santa Fe Community College to begin my first day of my accelerated BSN program.

It was a long day - 8.30-3.30, with a lunch break spent wrestling with registrars for transcripts - and one full of mandatory introductions and handbook-reviewing and sitting sitting sitting in a persistently air-conditioned room. My token of comfort through that long day (in the way of pivotal days, yesterday seems simultaneously a long time ago and still continuing) was the card in my scrubs pocket: Maestra Alix, it says, Nunca te olvidaré



I'll tell you, more than once yesterday I wanted to turn tail and run back to my primary colors and Crayola paints. If being an EA wasn't a criminal salary, I'd be highly tempted to just do that for a couple of years. Every day, I got practice in patience, compassion, creativity, love, and plain out fun and laughter. I'm getting saccharine, so I'll cut myself off. But really, I knew I needed to just remember the end in mind. Though it's pretty far out of my realm of experience, justice through healthcare is the aim.

This reminder was helped by a long walk through my Santa Fe neighborhood, a chat with a good friend, a satisfyingly-gross Baskin Robbins novelty flavor,  and my favorite agave in the entire world. The bees and tumbling hedge of yellow roses didn't hurt either.





Today, I had a wonderful time. This lunch - and WOWZERS, does an hour-long lunch feel delectable! - I had with a few of my program-mates (there are 13 of us in all), and then lounged in the grass reading Wild by Cheryl Strayed. In terms of academics, we had a basic math lesson in conversions, a morning of therapeutic communication analysis and lecture, and an afternoon chock full of the history of nursing, the art and sciences of professionalism and caring, and a brief discussion on the changing political and social landscape of healthcare.


So, I am happy to claim my SFCC patch: Student Nurse. I have for a few years been thrilled about the various opportunities subsequently available to me: most notably, midwifery, birth assistance, L&D, women's health, hospice, and school nursing. However, I honestly don't think I had quite realized the incredible competence and autonomy, as well as the altruism and compassion, of this inspiring profession. I will be posting more on this, as I learn more. For now, suffice it to say that it - like the other 'female' field of primary school education - is an immensely under-recognized field.

Yes, we love our nurses. We love our teachers. But our society does not yet give either their full due of professional respect. Nurses hold the whole web of public health together, and do so at all levels of technical and intellectual expertise. It seems we should look more to the Brits, with their Olympics tributes and lovely BBC Call the Midwife, to understand more fully the prudent, professional nurse.

It's a tall order, but damn exciting one.
Over and out ~