The Wednesday Wars

Title: The Wednesday Wars

Author: Gary D. Schmidt

Pages: 264

Genre: Fiction

Grade: B+

Synopsis: Holling Hoodhood is a seventh grader at Camillo Junior High School. On Wednesdays, all of the students except Holling have religious instruction. Holling stays back at the school with Mrs. Baker. Holling is certain that Mrs. Baker hates him, else why would she require him to read Shakespeare during their Wednesday classes?

My Review: This was a fun, young adult fiction book. The author does a great job of capturing the thoughts, emotions and actions of a seventh grader. The book brought back a lot of memories of being that age myself, although I don't recall having to read Shakespeare.

Marley & Me

Title: Marley & Me

Author: John Grogan

Pages: 6 discs

Genre: Memoir

Grade: B+

Synopsis: Marley is arguably the world's worst dog. He is an excitable yellow lab with some crazy tendencies like destroying things, jumping on people and eating anything he can get his jaws on. The book is full of stories about Marley's antics and how his owner's family grows to love him, flaws and all.

My Review: I've never had a dog and I'll probably never have a dog so I found this book to be eye-opening into the lives of dog owners. The book does a very nice job of portraying how a family can fall in love with a pet that destroys rooms during thunderstorms, eats jewelry and embarrasses them whenever they have him out in public. I listened to this book on cd in my car and especially enjoyed the author reading the book. I found myself feeling much more compassionate to owner's of crazy dogs, but you still better clean up after your dog when they crap on my lawn ;).

The Judas Strain

Title: The Judas Strain

Author: James Rollins

Pages: 12 discs

Genre: Thriller

Grade: B

Synopsis: The United States' special ops Sigma Force is battling a mysterious plague in the East Indian Ocean. The antidote to the plague appears to come from some ancient writings of Marco Polo. One team is following the historical trail while another is tracking the scientific trail of the disease.

My Review: The book was an enjoyable read, but it seemed to be somewhat of a cookie-cutter type thriller. I enjoyed the historical references to Marco Polo and others and the geographical descriptions of the different locations where the story takes place although portions of the story (as is typical) were somewhat unbelievable.