Faith, Hope, and Love

May is National Asian-American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month and Mental Health Awareness Month, so I choose to read books that featured Asian characters and/or dealt with mental illnesses in some way. There were a few books that didn't fit into this reading theme (I'm not great at sticking to strict reading plans, plus when a library hold comes in, you gotta read what you gotta read before due dates and stuff), but here's what my reading looked like in May! 1. We Were Liars by E. Lockhart.  This was a quick, short read. And the ending ultimately threw me. It's about a rich family who spends every summer on their private island. Until one summer, something happens. The second half of the book follows the main character trying to heal from the trauma of whatever happened, as well as try to figure out what  happened.  She's an unreliable narrator, and so the ending definitely was unexpected and the twist kind of crushed me.  2. Afterward  by ...

A few years ago, I began to get the itch. It was time to move on from teaching.  And so I began to think about what I would do next, what dreams would I chase... and this year, I decided to go after one of my very first dreams--reading books for a living. I turned in my resignation in March and my last day as a full-time teacher will be June 1st! One of the first steps I took to pursue finding a job in book publishing was to apply to some publishing courses. I had to write a person statement explaining my love for books, my interest in working in the publishing industry and what I hoped to do in my career. It could be no more than two pages. Double-spaced.  Here's what I ended up with... In early elementary school, I was one of the few black children in my class. But even though we were the same race, my Nigerian-ness made me “other,” and I was often teased for “talking white” and called an Oreo. When I was seven, my family moved to Nigeria. While there were other...

A new year means a new reading challenge! And the blog behind one of my favorite podcasts, What Should I Read Next? , has the perfect list to tackle. It's short and simple. Twelve categories (so you could say one per month), with good variety (to ensure you push yourself in your reading habits). I first heard of the Modern Mrs. Darcy Reading Challenge back in 2016 from my dear friend and fellow reader, Erica. However, I didn't actually complete the challenge until last year (and MMD had TWO lists , so I felt pretty accomplished to finish both). Because of the 2017 MMD Reading Challenge, I ... Finally  Little Women (it was a book that was more than 600 pages). While I have seem the movies plenty of times, and have read the sequel Little Men  more than I can count, I realized that I never actually finished Little Women  after I once tried to read it when I was around 8 years old. I only got through Book 1 and never came back to it. Well, finally did in 2017! Got...