78. Reading break
What I’m up to
I’ve started and restarted this newsletter several times, but keep abandoning it for such endeavors as lazing about the house or shopping for Christmas presents. The problem is every time I restart, I have to rewrite whole sections. So here’s hoping I actually finish this time!
It’s winter break! We worked and partied plenty to close out the year and we have a lot planned for the break, but I am definitely enjoying the slower pace of vacation. So far we’ve stayed the night at a fancy hotel (a thoughtful gift!), done a lot of Christmas shopping, and taken my parents to their favorite old haunts (aka Costco, Hola, and Carrefour lol). We also headed to the beach town of Kenting quite spontaneously.
We are halfway through the school year. I’m old enough that the days pass so swiftly, I am not so foolish as to wish time away.
What I’m reading
I realize belatedly that my Goodreads Reading Challenge (I’ve set a goal for 52 books every year since 2016) was glitching and I was, in fact, not on track — I was 12 books behind!! So I’ve been blitzing through novels, as I am wont to do during winter breaks anyway. Not sure I’ll make my goal this year, but it’s fun trying.
The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell - it’s so good, but I read it very slowly. It’s one of those books where you begin at the end before going back to the beginning, and while I find that device somewhat irritating, it worked and the ending was satisfying and even… spoiler alert? hopeful. An aside: one of my students wrote a poetry analysis on “My Last Duchess” by Robert Browning and I realized midway through the book that the protagonist of The Marriage Portrait is the “last duchess” from that poem. How awful to be immortalized because of your victimhood.
A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan - this is a reread. I wanted to revisit this because I requested it for our school library (after it turned up in an AP Lit teacher forum as a recommended contemporary novel to assign in class); then promptly got nervous because I hadn’t read it in a decade+. I was swept away. The funny thing is when I went to add it to my Goodread list, I noticed I gave it 3 stars the first time around. I changed it to five stars now. I’ll have to read it again in another 10 years. The book is a series of connected short stories but, more than other books with this structure, feels like a cohesive novel. The best part about rereading this now is The Candy House, a sequel, came out last year, and I’m getting to read them practically back-to-back.
Counterfeit by Kristen Chen - I picked this up from our library, figuring it would be a quick and easy way to work towards my reading goal. It is very fun, with some dark humor, a dash of intrigue, and some plot twists.
The Stand-In by Lily Chu - This is a rom-com with an interesting (to me) premise: a woman agrees to be a stand-in for a Chinese starlet who happens to be her doppelgänger. I picked this up because a blurb said its “exploration of multi-racial identity was resonant and nuanced.” I don't know if I’d say that; I also had some trouble with the character development (and plotting).
Run, Rose, Run by Dolly Parton and James Patterson - I have never read a James Patterson solo novel, but I’m always curious about his collabs. I think I enjoyed the Dolly Parton parts of this novel (a dramatic look at the rise of a country singer) more than the Patterson parts (the “thriller" elements).
Now working on the aforementioned The Candy House. On deck is Lucy by the Sea by Elizabeth Strout and Stephen King’s Fairy Tale, the latter of which I might save until the New Year since it’s soooo long and will impede progress toward my reading goal.
What I’m thinking about
I struggled hard during my last Chinese class (probably due to the aforementioned partying and also just a general sense of absolute exhaustion), but my teacher and I still managed to cover such topics as AI and plagiarism. (Again, to be clear, the reason I can have these conversations “in Chinese” is my teacher’s endless patience, not my actual Chinese fluency. My Chinese is still really terrible.) In discussing the differences between education in the West and the East, it dawned on me: plagiarism, rote memorization, teacher salaries, respect for elders — it’s all connected.
In Taiwan, teachers are highly respected. As my teacher said, she was raised to believe the most coveted career options were teaching and medicine. In schools, students see teachers as the authority, and exams are based on a student’s ability to recollect their teachers’ wisdom. Copying an expert’s ideas makes the most sense, because why would a student deign to offer up his or her own opinions?
In the US, it is less appealing to be a teacher. Teachers are paid poorly and there is no automatic respect afforded to teachers, particularly those who teach younger grades. In education, it’s all about new ideas and critical thinking. Teachers encourage students to disagree, and often tout (in the humanities at least) there’s no single correct answer. No one wants to be derivative or unoriginal.
Which is better?
What I’m digging
I’m digging a holiday coinciding with a blunder - I lost an AirPod in Taichung a couple of weeks ago, so a replacement moved to the top of my Christmas wishlist.
Barry. Late to the party, but wow.
Having my parents here!
What I’ve saved
Why our school system has to evolve. (Jon Stewart via Paul)
A bunch of articles about AI and school that I can’t bring myself to read…
Until next week (maybe),
Kate
Good to be here! ❤️