About the Blog

I’m setting up this blog as a place to talk about books and related topics. I’m doing this mainly for my students, so the posts will be formatted with students in mind. The books I talk about will be either books I am assigning to students or books I am considering for assignments.

My plan is to read/write my way slowly through the books, savoring themes, concepts, and favorite lines chapter-by-chapter. Meanwhile, I will also research and/or explore topics that the books lead me toward. I will probably look at movies, documentaries, articles, and other resources that I can relate to the themes and subjects of the books I’m dissecting.

In part, I will be modeling the type of writing I want my students to do when they read the same books, and in part, I will be providing prompts for writing assignments for them.

That’s the plan right now anyway.

I’m starting with Kindred by Octavia Butler. This is a book my students will be reading in the Spring 2019 semester.

About Me

My name is Sharon Gerald. I teach English at a community college in Mississippi. I have a PhD in English from Oklahoma State University, and in addition to being a “booketarian,” or a person who avidly devours books, I’m an animal lover, a writer, and a consumer of various herbal teas.