Jenny's Library Books Mid-December

This month I have two piles of library books.  Since I work in a library, sometimes the books I check out are actually work related.  I'm planning an improv retreat for my group of Outreach librarians and staff in the library, so this pile should not be a surprise!

 

Bossypants by Tina Fey 

Theatre Games and Beyond by Amiel Schotz

Structure and Improvisation in Creative Teaching by Robert Keith Sawyer

The Second City Guide to Improv in the Classroom by Katherine S. McKnight

The Improv Handbook by Tom Salinsky

The Second City Almanac of Improvisation by Anne Libera

Of these books, the most useful were The Improv Handbook and Threatre Games and Beyond. I was looking for practical, hands-on exercises I could use and adapt.  The Almanac was interesting but is really for super-fans of that venue, while The Second City Guide to Improv in the Classroom and the Sawyer text were too specific to K-6 students.  I'm going to be using a bit of the Bossypants audiobook to help kick off the retreat.

The Blue Fox by Sjon
My Struggle: Book One by Karl Ove Knausgard
what the world will look like when all the water leaves us by Laura van den Berg
The Empathy Exams by Leslie Jamison
Insurgent by Veronica Roth (with bonus photo of me in the spine)
Not My Father's Son by Alan Cumming
Hopper by Mark Strand
The Telling Room: A Tale of Love, Betrayal, Revenge, and the World's Greatest Piece of Cheese by Michael Paterniti
Collected Poems by Mark Strand
When Mark Strand passed away, I collected all the books I hadn't yet read from my local libraries.  That only numbered two, but reading the Collected Poems was a nice personal tribute to one of my favorite poets!  If you are not familiar with his work, check out Eating Poetry, probably the only poem with a stamping, weeping librarian.

The Sjon and Paterniti were for book clubs - World's Literature and the in-person one.  I read the van den Berg to discuss on the Reading Envy podcast, based on a previous Reading Envy podcast, so it felt like a meta-experience.  The Jamison and Cumming are to continue reading more non-fiction, although I haven't read either. They are likely candidates for holiday reads, as well as the Knausgard.  I am half way through the Roth but not super into it - my intention was to read it before the movie came out but I might decide to just enjoy the story that way.