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He's Just Not That Into You: The No-Excuses Truth to Understanding Guys.
I ordered this book after a recommendation by a friend, thinking it would be a great read for our middle school girls.
What I realized is that the book (written by the writers of the HBO Series Sex in the City) is really meant for young
single women (above the age of 18) who are currently in the dating world. It is not appropriate for the young girls in our
school. But if you are a woman newly entering or re-entering the dating scene, this book may be the "bible of dating"
you are looking for. It tells us gals just exactly what the tell-tale signs of men who are "not that into us" look like.
I think most of us know these red flags on an instinctual level, but we often tend to (in our overly hopeful optimism) to
ignore them. If you are a staffer interested in reading this book, stop by and I'll loan you my copy.
Three years ago Wicked by Gregory McGuire was all the rage. Sort of like Twilight, I kept seeing people
walking around with it, and I thought, "now why would anyone want to read a book about the Wizard of Oz for crying out
loud? Good movie and all but I was like, seven, the last time I saw it--I can think of better books
to read." Well, during Ike, when I ran out of books to read rather quickly, I stumbled upon Wicked and figured
since fifty-blue million people asked me if I'd read it, it was about time I did. I am very glad I took
their advice. BUT, I will warn you that the novel Wicked is well...really very wicked. And so I recommend
it with reservations. I'd say it's a social, religious, and political commentary using Oz as an allegory. I would never recommend
this to our middle schoolers, because it's riddled with sex, violence and cynicism. And while I enjoyed the read--found
it stimulating and thought-provoking--I think you'd have to be pretty open-minded and mature to choose it. It's certainly
not what I would call "light" reading.
If you have ever read Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson then you know Smallpox is one wicked virus.
Thankfully they eradicated it in 1976. It no longer exists. Or does it? Did you know that top-secret labs around
the world have frozen smallpox virus stored away and are studying it? Well, that's okay, right? I mean, what if
they find a cure? That's all fine and good, but why do they need one? There hasn't been a case of Smallpox since 1976,
and if that frozen virus were to get loose, or if some crazy moron were to use it as a bioweapon (a terrorist perhaps), then
we would all be toast. Not toast actually, but a lump of festering flesh. Read this true story about the crazy things
scientists are doing with this virus, and the risks that governments around the world are taking...if you dare.
I thought this was going to be a eclectic collection of short stories that would require more of my brain than I was
willing to use. Boy, was I mistaken! This is perhaps one of the most fascinating mysteries I have ever
read. Margaret Lea is commissioned by the famous author Vida Winter to pen her biography--a biography that she has never
before shared with another person. Through daily interviews Vida shares the somewhat disturbing tale of her youth, and Margaret
begins to discover a secret that was buried a half a century earlier. In the bargain, Margaret also begins to heal a part
of herself that she hadn't even known was broken. This novel is a page turner. If you can figure out the twist before
the end, you are a lot more intelligent than I am. The Thirteenth Tale, by Diane Setterfield, is one of the
best novels I have read in a very long time.
Enger’s first novel pays homage to Shakespeare’s Hamlet. The parallels might seem heavy-handed to some; yet from the
setting to the characters, Enger’s prose is elegant while remaining humble. Jesse
Matson, the protagonist, weaves his narrative as an adult looking back on the years following his father’s death. Harold Matson, mayor of the Matson’s small Minnesota town and the owner of the
medieval-styled restaurant Valhalla, is found dead on a hunting trip with his son—gunshot to the head. Like Prince Hamlet, Jesse does not accept his father’s suicide, and suspects Clay, his uncle, (the
parallel to Hamlet’s Claudius) as the murderer. His suspicions grow when
his father’s ghost appears to him demanding retribution. The themes of the novel mirror Hamlet as well. Is revenge just? What constitutes incest? Does vengeance destroy? And while every character from
Shakespeare’s work appears in some form in this novel these comparisons are not tiresome.
Women will relate to this story even if they are not Chinese through Lily, the main character in the story, who
is reflecting back on her life and her friendship with Snowflower. When young girls were matched with a family for marriage
in China not so long ago, they also were matched with a laotong, a female companion who became their best friend
and whom they were bound to for life. Their survival in marriage to a stranger often depended on the support from their
laotong, and such women even shared a secret language called nu shu unknown to men. Like many women
with best friends, Lily and Snowflower are very close, but also have tribulations that challenge and destroy their relationship
but not their love. What I found most fascinating about the novel were the historial events that are incorporated into
the story (political upheavals that lead to starvation) and the practice of footbinding which literally killed about 20% of
the girls who were bound due to gangrene. Anyone who wants a wonderful story about friendship and who wants to learn about
China at the same time, should read this book!
Pillars of the Earth is actually the first in Ken Follet's Kingsbridge series. As I said in my earlier review,
I actually read this book after reading the second novel in the series, and I'm sort of glad I did so. Pillars
is fantastic, but it's slightly slower at the beginning than World Without End. It does, however,
still have tight action, tons of intrigue, and the trademark justice that Follett doles out to his characters. The action
in this novel starts in the early 12th century and runs for about 40 years chronicling the lives of Tom Builder and his lover,
Ellen, and their progeny Alfred and Jack. Aliena is a young noblewoman who slights the villian William Hamleigh
and whose life is never the same. Again, you will learn a great deal about medieval England, and more specifically wool
making, medieval civial wars and architecture. Again, conservative readers may be offended by some content in the story.
I read World Without End by Ken Follet before I read the first book in this series, but honestly, I don't
think it made a lot of difference. I immediately went back and read Pillars of the Earth. Incidentally, this is the
first time I have ever read any books by Ken Follet and I loved the experience. From the first page I was sucked into the
action, meeting most of the main characters in the story as children in the year 1327 as they witness a very important
and treacherous situation. Caris and Merthin are the key players in the story, and my favorite characters. Ralph and Brother
Godwyn are the consumate villians, and Gwenda is sort of a Cinderella-type. The story takes place in Kingsbridge, England
and follows these characters through the year 1361. Not only does the action keep you engaged, but you learn so much
about the medieval period and the Black Death that you'll be getting a basic history class in the process. Caution...for more
conservative readers, you may want to skip this one. There are many sexual scenes and/or uses of profanity.
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