The Alchemist

Title: The Alchemist

Author: Paulo Coelho

Pages: 167

Genre: Fiction, Fable

Grade: B

Synopsis: The Alchemist is a fable written by the Brazilian author Paulo Coelho about following your dreams. It has been published in more than 56 languages and sold more than 56 million copies. The story is about the shepherd, Santiago, who lives in Andalusia. He dreams that a treasure awaits him near the pyramids in Egypt. He seeks help in understanding his dream before setting off on the adventure of a lifetime.

My Review: While an enjoyable read, it was also a little strange. I liked that the book got me thinking and that Melchezidek, King of Salem, appeared to the boy to tithe him 10% and also gave him a gift of a Urim and Thummim that he took from a golden breastplate. The book has the chance to be a powerful motivator for those afraid to chase after their dreams or Personal Legends. It wasn't life-changing but it was a quick, easy read.

From the Book: "(p. 30) Take these," said the old man, holding out a white stone and a black stone that had been embedded at the center of the breastplate. "They are called Urim and Thummim. The black signifies 'yes,' and the white 'no.' When you are unable to read the omens, they will help you to do so. Always ask an objective question."

"(p. 92) At that moment, it seemed to him that time stood still, and the Soul of the World surged within him. When he looked into her dark eyes, and saw that her lips were poised between a laugh and silence, he learned the most important part of the language that all the world spoke--the language that everyone on earth was capable of understanding in their heart. It was love. Something older than humanity, more ancient than the desert. Something that exerted the same force whenever two pairs of eyes met, as had their here at the well. She smiled, and that was certainly an omen--the omen he had been awaiting, without even knowing he was, for all his life. The omen he had sought to find with his sheep and in his books, in the crystals and in the silence of the desert."

Just One Look

Title: Just One Look

Author: Harlan Coben

Pages: 370

Genre: Thriller

Grade: A-

Synopsis: Grace Lawson leaves the local Photomat with her newly developed pictures. When she finally gets a chance to look at them, she finds a photograph that causes her life to unravel. When she shows the picture to her husband, he denies knowing anybody in the picture and then disappears later that same evening. Somebody is trying very hard to keep that photograph from ever surfacing while Grace is just trying to find her husband.

My Review: It's books like this one that made it impossible for me to read while I was in school. Action-packed thrillers such as this one are so hard for me to put down and I end up ignoring everything else going on in my life. Pretty much, I'm a sucker for the genre. This one had a plot that was all over the place, but the ending was more satisfying than most books of this type. It was engaging, interesting and always kept you guessing.

The Pushcart War

Title: The Pushcart War

Author: Jean Merrill

Pages: 223

Genre: Children's Fiction

Grade: B+

Synopsis: The pushcarts have declared war on the rude truck drivers of New York City. The streets are clogged, the trucks are smashing their carts and the public is starting to blame the pushcarts for the traffic jams. All of the pushcart people in the city band together to form an army and attack the truck tires with peashooters. The war against the three company owners and the corrupt mayor has begun.

My Review: This was an enjoyable read (and a quick one, I easily finished it in a day). It's most certainly a children's book and aside from a few things that just border on believability, it was hard to determine whether or not this was a work of fiction or a historical account of a "real" city war. It's a very funny book, and I can't help but smile even while writing this and thinking about some of the stories.

From the Book: "(p. 59) Carlos was known to the pushcart peddlers as the most skillful carton-flattener in the Lower East Side section of New York City. Carlos' business was to go around to small stores that had clean cardboard cartons which they wished to be rid of. With two or three deft motions, Carlos would flatten the cartons and carefully stack them on his pushcart. Carlos was the only flattener in the business who could stack to a height of twelve feet without the cartons slipping off."

the curious incident of the dog in the night-time

Title: the curious incident of the dog in the night-time

Author: Mark Haddon

Pages: 226

Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Grade: A- (It would have been an A if the language had been better)

Synopsis: Christopher John Francis Boone is an autistic kid that sees and hears everything very literally. He is detached from his emotions which makes it difficult for him to relate to people and understand their intentions. He is very analytical and mathematical and in my opinion a genius. This is a book that he writes about the neighbors dog that is murdered in the middle of the night with a pitchfork.

My Review: I really, really liked this book. It was difficult to put down and I really felt that I was seeing things from Christopher's autistic perspective. You are able to foresee things before Christopher realizes just what is going on and it is saddening to see how difficult it is for him to grasp reality. Almost everything to him comes down to numbers or a mathematical problem. In fact, most of life can be explained by one mathematical relation or another. This book is funny, sad and enlightening of the plight of the autistic and how they are treated.

Disclaimer: This book was chosen for the inaugural Salt Lake City Reads city-wide book club a couple of years ago. There was a firestorm of anger towards Rocky Anderson because the book was said to be "suitable for all ages" (which is true if you don't mind your child reading the f-word around a dozen times). This book takes place in England which helps to explain the type of profanity that is found in the book. I wouldn't call it vulgar or lewd, but I would call it profane.

From the Book: "(Back cover, quote by Arthur Golden, author of Memoirs of a Geisha) I have never read anything quite like Mark Haddon's funny and agonizingly honest book, or encountered a narrator more vivid and memorable. I advise you to buy two copies; you won't want to lend yours out."

"(p. 7) He was asking too many questions and he was asking them too quickly. They were stacking up in my head like loaves in the factory where Uncle Terry works. The factory is a bakery and he operates the slicing machines. And sometimes a slicer is not working fast enough but the bread keeps coming and there is a blockage. I sometimes think of my mind as a machine, but not always as a bread-slicing machine. It makes it easier to explain to other people what is going on inside it."

things I learned about my dad (in therapy)

Title: things I learned about my dad (in therapy)

Author: Heather B. Armstrong

Pages: 230

Genre: Essays, Parenting

Grade: B+

Synopsis: This is a compilation of 17 essays edited by Heather B. Armstrong (the writer of one of my favorite blogs, dooce.com). The other essayists include her husband and a slew of other bloggers from the infamous worldwide web. While I haven't read much by any of the other authors, I ended up really enjoying most of the essays. They all have to do with being a father, what they learned from their own fathers or just fatherhood in general.

Why I Chose This Book: I've been a big fan of dooce for a long time. Alison knew this and had Heather B. Armstrong sign my book (by sending it in) and gave it to me for Father's Day. She was having a book signing at a bookstore near our apartment but we got there just a few minutes after it had closed. We were bummed that we didn't get to meet her. As fate would have it, the last Saturday that we lived in the village I met her, her husband Jon and their daughter Leta at Dan's on Foothill Boulevard.

My Review: I really like the essays by Heather B. Armstrong and a few of the other bloggers. Unfortunately there were a couple essays that just seemed disjointed and unrelated. I laughed while reading most essays and got a bit teary-eyed during a couple of others. It really was quite interesting to get so many different viewpoints in one little book.

Disclaimer: These essays range anywhere from G-rated to a strong PG-13. Be forewarned.

From the Book: "(p. 23 from "Sam I Am" by Matthew Baldwin) The other contribution I made to the pregnancy was accompanying my wife to childbirth classes. As we live in progressive Seattle, nearly all the women in attendance were accompanied by the fathers, even though we didn't really do much beyond gawp in horror at the delivery videos and exclaim, "Holy smokes! That's going to totally suck for you, honey."

"(p. 36 from "A Girl Named Spike" by Matthew D. Laplante) She was one of those sadly conspicuous, middle-aged Mormon closet lesbians, so common in our fair city, who for reasons of either devout piety or deep self-loathing, wind up spending a lifetime like Eleanor Rigby, living vicariously through the mundane lives of others rather than succumbing to the sinful charms of another woman."

"(p. 108 from "Peas and Domestic Tranquilty" by Greg Knauss) One thing that I used to believe that has stuck with me is, of course, that farts are funny. Burps, too. Sneezes, even. Pretty much the whole gamut of bodily noises is a treasure trove of ready-made comedy. You gather a handful of small boys together and let them entertain themselves and there will be more sharp honks than an angry L.A. freeway. But there's a time and place for such fun, and every second of every day, no matter the location or company, turns out not to be the appropriate venue for a gastrointestinal symphony."

eclipse

Title: eclipse

Author: Stephenie Meyer

Pages: 629

Genre: Fantasy, Romance

Grade: B+

Synopsis: Bella Swan is preparing for graduation and immortality with her lover, vampire Edward Cullen. This book follows her last few months as a mortal and her preparations for becoming a vampire herself. The Cullen's are forced to fight for Bella's life, protecting her from other vampires. To Edward's dismay, she still spends as much time as she can on the Indian reservation with her good friend Jacob and realizes that she is madly in love with him as well.

My Review: While I feel that these books border on ridiculousness, I quite enjoyed this one. It spends a little more time delving into the stories behind the vampires and werewolves - which I find quite interesting. As for Bella's love struggles - like I said, I think she's being ridiculous. Although this book only covers a time period of a couple of months, I felt that it moved along well and didn't drag too much. Aside from being a little on the long side, it was a good read.

From the Book: "(p. 206) I was slowly realizing that vampires were much bigger participants in this world than I'd once thought. How many times did the average human cross paths with them, completely unaware? How many deaths, obliviously reported as crimes and accidents, were really due to their thirst? How crowded would this new world be when I joined it?"

"(p. 527) He was too strong to recognize that my hands, trying to yank his hair out by the roots , meant to cause him pain. Instead of anger, he imagined passion. He thought I was finally responding to him."

Memoirs of a Geisha

Title: Memoirs of a Geisha

Author: Arthur Golden

Pages: 428

Genre: Historical Fiction

Grade: A-

Synopsis: Young Chiyo-Chan is taken from her house in a small fishing village and sold to an okiyo in the Gion geisha district of Kyoto. Contrary to popular belief, geisha are not prostitutes, but are artisans or entertainers. Chiyo's early life is extremely difficult from the suffering caused by her own mistakes and the head geisha in her okiya, Hatsumomo. The turning point in her life is when she is noticed by the Chairman as a little girl. Everything Chiyo does from here on out is only to bring her and the Chairman closer together. Chiyo is eventually adopted and trained by another geisha, Mameha, one of the most successful in Gion. One of the most important moments of Chiyo's life (who has now changed her name to the geisha name Sayuri), is when her mizuage (virginity) is sold to the highest bidder. From then after Sayuri is one of the most successful geisha in Gion.

My Review: I both liked and hated this book. After reading this book, I hardly believed that it was a work of fiction and not a true memoir. The stories and descriptions are simply astonishing and incredibly believable. Near the end of the book, Sayuri made me so angry, although the ending remained satisfying. This was a bit of a slow read but it's one of those books that really draws you in and gets you thinking - even while not reading. That is what I really liked about the book. For better or worse, I found my emotions and feelings throughout the day tied to what was happening in the story. Another interesting thing from the book is that it takes place during the Great Depression and World War II from the viewpoint of the Japanese.

Disclaimer: While this book obviously deals with the business of selling sex, it was never an uncomfortable read. I probably wouldn't read it to my kids though.

From the Book: "(p. 67) Whatever any of us may have thought about Hatsumomo, she was like an empress in our okiya since she earned the income by which we all lived. And being an empress she would have been very displeased, upon returning late at night, to find her palace dark and all the servants asleep. That is to say, when she came home too drunk to unbutton her socks, someone had to unbutton them for her; and if she felt hungry, she certainly wasn't going to stroll into the kitchen and prepare something by herself--such as an umeboshi ochazuke, which was a favorite snack of hers, made with leftover rice and pickled sour plums, soaked in hot tea. Actually our okiya wasn't at all unusual in this respect. The job of waiting up to bow and welcome the geisha home almost always fell to the most junior of the "cocoons"--as the young geisha-in-training were often called. And from the moment I began taking lessons at the school, the most junior cocoon in our okiya was me. Long before midnight, Pumpkin and the two elderly maids were sound asleep on their futons only a meter or so away on the wood floor of the entrance hall; but I had to go on kneeling there, struggling to stay awake until sometimes as late as two o'clock in the morning. Granny's room was nearby and she slept with her light on and her door opened a crack. The bar of light that fell across my empty futon made me think of a day, not long before Satsu [Chiyo's sister] and I were taken away from our village, when I'd peered into the back room of our house to see my mother asleep there. My father had draped fishing nets across the paper screens to darken the room, but it looked so gloomy I decided to open one of the windows; and when I did, a strip of bright sunlight fell across my mother's futon and showed her hand so pale and bony. To see the yellow lights streaming from Granny's room onto my futon...I had to wonder if my mother was still alive. We were so much alike, I felt sure I would have known if she'd died; but of course, I'd had no sign one way or the other."

Their Eyes Were Watching God

Title: Their Eyes Were Watching God

Author: Zora Neale Hurston

Pages: 184

Genre: Classic

Grade: B

Synopsis: This book describes the life of Janie Crawford in the small town of Eaton, Florida in the 1930's. Janie had been married to three men, was tried for the murder of one of the men and was often scorned by the town's inhabitants. Janie didn't really care what other people thought about her because she made sure to always do what's best for her and not what other people expected her to do under the circumstances.

My Review: This was a bit of a tough read. It shouldn't have taken me nearly as long as it did to read but it was one of those books that it almost felt like a chore to read. There were parts of the book that I really liked and there were other parts that required a bit of trudging. The book is well-regarded for its historical context and is chock-full of symbolism (most of which I'm sure I missed). This book does get you thinking and made me grateful for the time in which I live.

From the Book: "(p. 79) So Janie began to think of Death. Death, that strange being with the huge square toes who lived way in the West. The great one who lived in the straight house like a platform without sides to it, and without a roof. What need has Death for a cover, and what winds can blow against him? He stands in his high house that overlooks the world. Stands watchful and motionless all day with his sword drawn back, waiting for the messenger to bid him come. Been standing there before there was a where or a when or a then. She was liable to find a feather from his wings lying in her yard any day now. She was sad and afraid too. Poor Jody! He ought not to have to wrassle in there by himself. She sen Sam in to suggest a cisit, but Jody said No. These medical doctors wuz all right with the Godly sick, but they didn't know a thing about a case like his. He'd be all right just as soon as the two-headed man found what had been buried against him. He wasn't going to die at all. That was what he thought. But Sam told her different, so she knew. And then if he hadn't the next morning she was bound to know, for people began to gather in the big yard under the palm and china-berry trees. People who would not have dared to foot the place before crept in and did not come to the house. Just squatted under the trees and waited. Rumor, that wingless bird, had shadowed over the town."

"(p. 133) Mrs. Turner was a milky sort of a woman that belonged to child-bed. Her shoulders rounded a little, and she must have been conscious of her pelvis because she kept it stuck out in front of her so she could always see it. Tea Cake made a lot of fun about Mrs. Turners shape behind her back. He claimed that she had been shaped up by a cow kicking her from behind. She was an ironing board with things throwed at it. Then that same cow took and stepped in her mouth when she was a baby and left it wide and flat with her chin and nose almost meeting."

new moon

Title: New Moon

Author: Stephenie Meyer

Pages: 563

Genre: Fantasy, Romance

Grade: B

Synopsis: Bella Swan has recovered from her close call with a vampire and things are going well for her in Forks. She is going with Edward to a birthday party thrown for her by the Cullens that is cut short when she trips and falls, getting cut on a piece of glass. Chaos ensues, Edward leaves and Bella begins to fall in love with her childhood friend Jake from the Indian reservation.

My Review: This was an interesting book for me. I liked most of the beginning and middle of the book more than twilight (I think I do anyway. I can't really remember that well that far back). The book after the middle was really anticlimactic though. I left the book on my shelf for 5 days when I only had 3 chapters left to read. If this had been a true thriller there's no way that I would have been able to go that long without finishing it. For the record, I like Jake. I like him at least as much as Edward and possibly more. Bella and Jake's relationship is so much more natural while her relationship with Edward just seems awkward. A classic love triangle has formed for eclipse which should keep it interesting.

From the Book: "(p. 74) Not tonight. Tonight the sky was utterly black. Perhaps there was no moon tonight--a lunar eclipse, a new moon.
"A new moon. I shivered, though I wasn't cold."

"(p. 200) 'Bears don't want to eat people. We don't taste that good.' He grinned at me in the dark cab. 'Of course, you might be an exception. I bet you'd taste good.'
'Thanks so much,' I said, looking away. He wasn't the first person to tell me that."

The Glass Castle

Title: The Glass Castle

Author: Jeanette Walls

Pages: 288

Genre: Memoir

Grade: A

Synopsis: Jeanette Walls grew up in a very dysfunctional family. The family was always on the move throughout the west and living and sleeping in their car and small shacks when they would find them. Her father was a raging alcoholic and her mother had no backbone or drive. Jeanette and her siblings grew up exposed to things that no children should have to see or endure. They often had to rummage and dig through trash to find food while their mother would eat candy bars under her bedspread and their father would waste what little money they did have on booze and gambling. Children in gunfights, the father pimping his daughter at the bar, being groped by an uncle (and the parents not caring about it), using markers to color her legs so the holes in her jeans wouldn't show so much and many other incredible stories are all a part of this memoir.

My Review: It is amazing that the author writing this memoir has made so much of herself. Faced with so many unique challenges growing up, Jeanette rose above them and has related her stories in a such a way that the book is extremely difficult to put down. Jeanette never makes excuses for herself or her parents but simply tries to tell it how it is. You can't help but be sickened by what she and her siblings have had to endure. From People magazine: "Walls has joined the company of writers such as Mary Karr and Frank McCourt who have been able to transform their sad memories into fine art."

From the Book: "(p.1, first paragraph) I was sitting in a taxi, wondering if I had overdressed for the evening, when I looked out the window and saw Mom rooting through a Dumpster. It was just after dark. A blustery March wind whipped the steam coming out of the manholes, and people hurried along the sidewalks with their collars turned up. I was stuck in traffic two blocks from the party where I was heading."

"(p. 11) Every couple of days, the nurses changed the bandages. They would put the used bandage off to the side, wadded and covered with smears of blood and yellow stuff and little pieces of burned skin. Then they'd apply another bandage, a big gauzy cloth, to the burns. At night I would run my left hand over the rough scabby surface of the skin that wasn't covered by the bandage . Sometimes I'd peel off scabs. The nurses had told me not to, but I couldn't resist pulling on them real slow to see how big a scab I could get loose. Once I had a couple of them free, I'd pretend the were talking to each other in cheeping voices."

"(p. 34) I wondered if the fire had been out to get me. I wondered if all fire was related, like Dad said all humans were related, if the fire that had burned me that day while I cooked hot dogs was somehow connected to the fire I had flushed down the toilet and the fire burning at the hotel. I didn't have the answers to those questions, but what I did know was that I lived in a world that at any moment could erupt into fire. It was the sort of knowledge that kept you on your toes."

These is my Words

Title: These is my Words

Author: Nancy E. Turner

Pages: 384

Genre: Historical Fiction, Western

Grade: A

Synopsis: This book is based upon the diaries of the author's great-grandmother, Sarah Agnes Prine. The story starts with her family in a wagon train crossing from Texas to Arizona. They end up settling near Tucson, Arizona and begin tending to gardens, orchards, horses and cattle. Her accuracy with a rifle and fearless demeanor allow her to help save her family from Indian attacks and outlaws. This documents the trials and tribulations suffered by Sarah and her family.

Recommended By: Alison, Jenn

My Review: This is one of those rare books that you could simply read forever. The book is ordered by diary entries and when there is a long break between entries you wonder what had been happening during the break. It's disappointing when the book finally ends because it feels like you could simply keep going. The strength that Sarah displayed and her unwavering efforts to become a better person were inspiring.

From the Book: "(p. 162 - May 4, 1885) It is an awful thing to look on such sad circumstance and not be able to shed a tear. It is not because I do not feel for these folks, but maybe I feel too much. Part of me is glad, in a low down, mean way, that it is not Albert's or Mama's graves we are digging. Glad that it is some soldiers I don't know and neighbors and friends but not family. Lord, I must be the cussedest woman there is to think that. Finally, I felt so guilty for thinking those things that I cried. Then I began to feel the heartaches of our friends and neighbors and I cried for them, too, as we said prayers over each and every grave."

"(p. 164 - May 15, 1885) I must think about something else for a while. But then I remember his warn arms and his big strong legs touching mine and how hard and wide his chest was and how hot his kiss was, and I go outside and feed the chickens. They are getting mighty fat."

Life Expectancy

Title: Life Expectancy

Author: Dean Koontz

Pages: 401

Genre: Thriller

Grade: B

Synopsis: In the same minute and in the same hospital where Jimmy Tock is born his grandfather dies and makes a few predictions about the baby. On his deathbed he correctly predicts the baby's length, weight and time of birth. He also says that there will be 5 difficult and dark days in his grandson's life. This story describes how Jimmy Tock and is family prepare for and endure these 5 terrible days.

Why I Chose this Book: Alison read this book a little while back and seemed to enjoy it. I've wanted to read something by Dean Koontz because he's a pretty popular author and I've never been exposed to him.

My Review: This is a strange book. Things that you wouldn't ever expect happen almost every page. The book is a lot like Forrest Gump where many of the things that happen are simply too unbelievable. The difference is that while they are happening you are thinking that this couldn't ever happen but a few pages later you begin to believe that maybe these things could happen. Everything just seems to have its own explanation. The book is very funny and is an easy quick read. I'm still chuckling as I sit here remembering some of the funny parts.

From the Book: "(p.1) On the night that I was born, my paternal grandfather, Josef Tock, made ten predictions that shaped my life. Then he died in the very minute that my mother gave birth to me."

"(p. 351) There are days when it seems to me that in literature the most convincing depiction of the world in which we live is to be found in the phantasmagorical kingdom through which Lewis Carroll took Alice on a tour."

Digital Fortress

Title: Digital Fortress

Author: Dan Brown

Pages: 372

Genre: Thriller

Grade: B+

Synopsis: The National Security Agency has a relative new top-secret supercomputer which allows them to break any code and any encryption standard known to man. A former employee claims to have a new encryption algorithm which is unbreakable by the equipment the NSA has. The head cryptographer and her boyfriend are pulled into a thrilling race against the clock to prevent this encryption scheme from crippling U.S. intelligence.

Why I Chose This Book: I love Dan Brown novels and was in the mood for a thriller.

My Review: This was an easy quick read. I started the book late Friday night and finished it Saturday evening (which is the exact reason why I don't usually read during the semester - I can't put books down). While the book was not nearly as good as Angels and Demons or the Da Vinci Code it was still a great read. Like his other novels, there are things that are simply unbelievable while most of the book just borders on believability. With my background in computers and engineering it was very easy to follow along in the book. I'm not sure how easy (or even how interesting) it would be for somebody not interested in this type of technology. This book was especially interesting because of the Patriot Act and all of the issues with government snooping private people right now (the book was published in 1998, before the Patriot Act was signed). The biggest downside of the book were the 20-30 pages preceding the climax. With my background in nuclear engineering I knew what they were looking for long before they found it. This caused me to really speed read what should have been the most exciting part of the book.

Disclaimer: This book definitely needs a disclaimer. There was a bit of foul language and a non-graphic love scene. In this it was nothing like Brown's other novels.

From the Book: "(p. 14) Founded by President Truman at 12:01 A.M. on November 4, 1952, the NSA had been the most clandestine intelligence agency in the world for almost fifty years. The NSA's seven-page inception doctrine laid out a very concise agenda: to protect U.S. government communications and to intercept the communications of foreign powers.
"The roof of the NSA's main operations building was littered with over five hundred antennas, including two large radomes that looked like enormous golf balls. The building itself was mammoth--over two million square feet, twice the size of CIA headquarters. Inside were eight million feet of telephone wire and eighty thousand square feet of permanently sealed windows."

"(p. 174) Jabba resembled a giant tadpole, like the cinematic creature for whom he was nicknamed, the man was a hairless spheroid. As resident guardian angel of all NSA computer systems, Jabba marched from department to department, tweaking, soldering, and reaffirming his credo that prevention was the best medicine. No NSA computer had ever been infected under Jabba's reign; he intended to keep it that way."

The Read-Aloud Handbook

Title: The Read~Aloud Handbook

Author: Jim Trelease

Pages: 366 (including including 115 pages of a "giant treasury of great read-aloud books)

Genre: Self-Help

Grade: A+ (The first A+ I've ever given!)

Synopsis: This book covers topics from why it is important to read aloud to our children to the best ways to read aloud, important lessons from Oprah and Harry Potter and to how the internet and today's technology can be used beneficially for learning. Using support from many research studies Trelease points out that there is a huge correlation between the number of words a child hear specifically spoken to them and their ability to succeed in school and later on in life. He gives many examples of age-appropriate books and explains the stages of reading aloud.

Why I Chose This Book: I've heard that this book is an essential read for every parent.

My Review: I know that this review may seem a little over the top but, this is the first time that I have ever finished reading a library book and then ordered it on amazon.com within minutes of finishing it. Alison and I will read this one together once we receive it. This is one of the most interesting motivating and inspiring books that I have ever read and I agree with many of the reviews on the book that I have read which state that no household with children should ever be without a copy of this book. Anyone who ventures onto a book review blog (thanks for coming by the way) already knows and values the importance of reading. What this book does is explain why reading (both silently and aloud) are so important and how it can literally change lives. My favorite part of the book is all of the letters and personal stories that are shared. Even more impressive is that many of the tips and tricks that are shared in the book can be applied to public speaking or presentations. This is a book that I expect will become well worn in the Squire household.

From the Book: (Both quotes come from the introduction, which is almost just a long abstract or summary) "(p. xiii) Not that parents are alone in their extreme behavior. That have more than enough company among school boards and high-ranking politicians who think if you "fix the schools, they'll fix the kids." So, in Gadsden, Alabama, school officials eliminated kindergarten nap time in 2003 so the children would have more test-prep time. Two hours away in Atlanta, school officials figured that if you eliminated recess, the kids will study more. And just in case those shifty teachers try to sneak it in, Atlanta started building schools without playgrounds. "We are intent on improving academic performance," said the superintendent. "You don't do that by having kids hanging on the monkey bars." Meanwhile, Georgia's governor wanted the state to give Mozart CDs to newborns because research showed Mozart improved babies' IQs (which later proved to be mythical research). Right behind him is Lincoln, Rhode Island, where they canceled the district spelling bee because only one child would win, leaving all others behind, thus violating the intent of No Child Left Behind--or, as they might say in Lincoln, no child gets ahead.

"(p. xviii) This is not a book about teaching a child how to read; it's about teaching a child to want to read. There's an education adage that goes, "What we teach children to love and desire will always outweigh what we make them learn." The fact is that some children learn to read sooner than others, while some learn better than others. There is a difference. For the parent who thinks that sooner is better, who has an eighteen-month-old child barking at flash cards, my response is: sooner is not better. Are the dinner guests who arrive an hour early better guests than those who arrive on time? Of course not."

Fahrenheit 451

Title: Fahrenheit 451

Author: Ray Bradbury

Pages: 190

Genre: Classic, Science Fiction

Grade: B+

Synopsis: This book, written 55 years ago, takes a frightening look at the future. In the futuristic society, firemen don't fight fires, they start them in order to burn books. The main character, Guy Montag, is a fireman that goes through a personal crisis after meeting Clarisse, a girl that posses qualities of life that Montag has never seen. Montag's wife and everybody in the society is constantly enraptured by the walls of television screens that they each have in their house and with always going somewhere as quickly as possible, never stopping to look around or think.

Why I Chose This Book: Alison asked me to get it from the library for her, I thought I'd sneak it in before I give it to her.

My Review: I thought that I had read this book before, but after reading it I'm fairly certain that I never have. I gained the most from this book by reading the Afterword and Coda where Bradbury explains many of the things going on in the book. I especially enjoyed this book because it gets you thinking and trying to determine whether or not there are any parallels between the society that he has explained in his book and the one in which we currently live. Either way, when government or minority groups of people start censoring things then it can be very hard to turn back the tide.

From the Book: "(p. 83, Faber speaking) Number one: Do you know why books such as this are so important? Because they have quality. And what does the word quality mean? To me it means texture. This book has pores. It has features. This book can go under the microscope. You'd find life under the glass, streaming past in infinite profusion. The more pores, the more truthfully recorded details of life per square inch you can get on a sheet of paper, the more 'literary' you are. That's my definition, anyway. Telling detail. Fresh detail. The good writers touch life often. The mediocre ones run a quick hand over her. The bad ones rape her and leave her for the flies."

"(p. 177, from the Coda) Shut the door, they're coming through the window, shut the window, they're coming through the door," are the words to an old song. They fit my lifestyle with newly arriving butcher/censors every month. Only six weeks ago, I discovered that, over the years, some cubby-hole editors at Ballantine Books, fearful of contaminating the young, had, bit by bit, censored some 75 separate sections from the novel. Students, reading the novel which, after all, deals with censorship and book-burning in the future, write to tell me of this exquisite irony..."

"(p. 178) For it is a mad world and it will get madder if we allow the minorities, be they dwarf or giant, orangutan or dolphin, nuclear-head or water conservationalist, pro-computerologist or Neo-Luddite, simpleton or sage, to interfere with aesthetics. The real world is the playing ground for each and every group, to make or unmake laws. But the tip of the nose of my book or stories or poems is where their rights end and my territorial imperatives begin, run and rule. If Mormons do not like my plays, let them write their own. If the Irish hate my Dublin stories, let them rent typewriters. If teachers and grammar school editors find my jawbreaker sentences shatter their mushmilk teeth, let them eat stale cake dunked in weak tea of their own ungodly manufacture. If the Chicano intellectuals which to re-cut my "Wonderful Ice Cream Suit" so it shapes "Zoot," may the belt unravel and the pants fall."