As I prepared to write my blog this month, I thought that I
hadn’t read much this month due to a bunch of really busy last weeks of school.
I was surprised to find that I had read eight; not exactly sure how I found the
time, but here they are!
Next month should be a heavy reading month; with my upcoming
trip to Europe, I think I’m just as excited about having 13 hours to read on
the plane as I am to taste Italian gelato!
(38) The Messenger
by Lois Lowry
With the 4th book in the Giver series coming out in the fall (a timely publish date only 19
years after the 1st book), I continued to read this series despite
major disappointment with the 2nd installment. The Messenger continues the story of the characters in the 2nd
book, Gathering Blue, and is a much
more satisfying story, albeit still pales in comparison to the first book.
Content Rating: For Older Children
Length: 179 Pages
Format Read: Kindle Library Book
Genre: Children’s Dystopia
(39) Your Inner Fish:
A Journey into the 3.5 Billion-Year History of the Human Body by Neil
Shubin
Shubin, the discoverer of the famous fossil, Tiktaalik, uses this book as a vehicle
to explain how our own body parts, cell structure and genes demonstrate our
evolution from fish to our current physiology. Although he is a scientist and
not a writer by trade, the writing in his short book is very good. Some might
take issue with me there: to be a good scientist requires the skill in being
very precise in your language (in graduate school I tortured my advisor with unintentional
non-sequiturs; that type of writing takes a totally different skill set than
story telling). I’m talking about writing that flows, and additionally, the
ability to explain complex ideas to a wide audience. I look forward to finding
more books like this to refresh my scientific memory; hopefully I’ll get my
hands on a copy of the Blind Watchmaker
soon (oddly, there isn’t a single copy in my local library system—thank
goodness my dad has a copy).
Content Rating: Adult Level Reading
Length: 240 Pages
Format Read: Kindle Library Book
Genre: Non-fiction/Evolutionary Biology
(40) A Million Suns
by Beth Revis
If you like science fiction or dystopian novels,
read this series. I have already reviewed the first book in the series in last
month’s blog entry, so I will just reiterate here what I have already said
before: I love these books because they are edgy, atmospheric and imaginative
young adult novels. My only warning to you is that the third novel is not due
out until January 2013, so you are in for a wait for the final book if you read
these soon.
Content Rating: Appropriate for Older Teens
Length: 386 Pages
Format Read: Library Book
Genre: Science Fiction/Dystopia Young Adult
(41) Eats, Shoots and
Leaves by Lynne Truss
Thanks a lot Ms. Truss for making me paranoid that I’m
making obvious and embarrassing punctuation mistakes; even as I’m writing my
blog, I have become hyper aware of my punctuation and whether it is sending out
the message: “I’m an idiot.” Truss’s witty little book can be summed up with
this quote that made me want to stand up and cheer like those spectators did in the
stands at the end of the film Babe:
“If you still persist in writing, ‘Good food at it’s best’,
you deserve to be struck by lightening, hacked up on the spot and buried in an
unmarked grave.”
Hope I punctuated that quote correctly.
I thought this was a great refresher course in proper usage
of punctuation, and there were even some rules about commas and semi-colons
that were news to me. It is a short and fun book that will make you feel just a
little bit better than anyone who uses apostrophes incorrectly in their facebook
status updates.
Content Rating: Maybe there was some language?
Length: 240 Pages
Format Read: Library Book
Genre: Non-fiction/Grammar
(42) Dexter in the
Dark by Jeff Lindsay
I will agree with other reviews that this is the weakest of the
six books in the Dexter series. Dexter “misplaces” his dark passenger and is
left without direction. This novel had more of a supernatural component to it than
the previous two books or any story in the television series. I don’t think I’m
going to ever write a negative review about a Dexter book, so I’ll just say
that while I felt that the pacing of this story was a bit off and I didn’t like
the handicapped version of Dexter the serial killer, I still look forward to
reading the remaining three novels in the series.
Content Rating: Adult for language and violence
Length: 320 Pages
Format Read: Kindle Library Book
Genre: Fiction
(43) My Brother Sam
is Dead by James Lincoln Collier & Christopher Collier
I’m teaching social studies next year in addition to my
science classes, so I need to bulk up on my knowledge of the American
Revolution and World War II. My sister read this when she was in middle school,
and recommended it as a starting point in my studies to learn not only the
vital dates, people and places, but
also understanding the motivations of the people involved in the conflict. This
novel, meant for older children, characterizes the typical citizen living in the
colonies, but does little to teach about the actual war itself. Most of this
short book takes place within the village the protagonist lives in while he
experiences the conflicts between his father, a loyalist and his brother, a
patriot soldier. I felt the story was underdeveloped, and unfortunately didn’t
feel like I understood the war much better than before I started it.
Content Rating: For older children; violent descriptions of
war (I read that it had been banned in some libraries! That’s ludicrous.)
Length: 240 Pages
Format Read: Library Book
Genre: Historical Fiction
(44) Keturah and Lord
Death by Martine Leavitt
Keturah and Lord
Death is a beautiful fairy tale about a young girl who strikes a love deal
with Lord Death after getting lost in the forest for three days. A superb
page-turner with excellent romance, humor and an interesting cast of
characters; this was a welcome breath of fresh air from most of the young adult
books I’ve read this past year. Although the story is about a young girl in a
medieval land, it isn’t an unrealistic story about how she defies tradition to
force her backwards father to let her marry the young cutie that works in the
stables rather than the old, hairy duke who paid for the honor. This is
just an honest book about love, and lacks that fury of girl power that many
historical fiction books are chalked full of. This isn’t historical fiction,
though: this is a fairy tale. For that reason, I adored the story because she is
allowed to love for the sake of love, and not to serve a feministic motif forced
by the author. This book can be easily devoured in one sitting so make sure you
start it when you have time to read the entirety of it.
If you like this book, please check out my friend’s endeavor
to make this magical story into a movie: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1912874073/keturah-and-lord-death-the-movie
Content Rating: Appropriate for Young Teens
Length: 216 Pages
Format Read: Library Book
Genre: Fantasy
(45) The Pact by
Jodi Picoult
What happens to best friends when tragedy strikes each
simultaneously in different ways? This was an extreme page-turner and I read it
in nearly one sitting, stopping just for dinner, and staying up past midnight
for the final conclusion. I don’t want to give away too much of the plot in my
review, so let me just list some of the issues dealt with in this story: the
examination of fragile teenage love, the complexity of marriage relationships,
the unimaginable pain a mother experiences when tragedy takes away a child, the
horrors of prison life, and the lack of truth within our judicial system. I
describe her writing as Wally Lamb crossed with Nicholas Sparks; it’s not quite
literature, but is riveting, emotional and entertaining. I think the area that
is weakest in her writing is her character development—in this story she has seven
major characters, so perhaps there are just too many personalities to
sufficiently develop each one. When I finished the story, I was left confused
about one of the character’s motivations for the dramatic choice she made. I’m
not sure if that was the intention of the writer or an omission due to being
too close to her own material.
Content: Sexuality and some language
Length: 416 Pages
Format Read: Library Kindle Book
Genre: Fiction
