Readings
Readings:
YA : Charlie Bone - Children of the Red King series (8) by Jenny Nimmo. Pretty awful Harry Potter clone. Terrible, evil headmaster and son unbelievably kill and abduct students and it's up to the good kid to save everybody, his horrible, evil relatives notwithstanding. Hey, I was down to the dregs of a YA lit collection.
Between the Lines by Jodi Picoult and daughter, Samantha Van Leer. (How cool it must be to write a book with your teenaged daughter!) Teen romance with a twist. The idea that the prince in a Princess- Bride- type tale might have unguessed-at depth and interest in something other than an "as you wish" type relationship and might look for ways of escaping the written story is pleasant. And while the teenaged girl reading the book is falling in love with him and trying to free him, her mother thinks she's on drugs. Cute.
(nonfiction) Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson. Wow. Interesting life. Invented nothing but amalgamated so much. I guess it takes an asshole ("Apphole" as it quotes in the book) high on his own sense of style to herd cats scientists. I gotta ask my dad if he thinks a company should only focus on 5 products/ developments...
(nonfiction) Unorthodox by Deborah Feldman. Beautifully written story of a woman who breaks free of her stifling religious upbringing. Satmar Hasidic Judaism is one fucked up cult whose post-Holocaust origin was rooted in the goal to help Jews feel in control. Their brilliant leader told them their own transgressions against Jewish law were responsible for bringing about the Holocaust and if they didn't do them again, they had nothing to fear. So women wouldn't be allowed to read anything. No one in the cult was allowed to speak English. They could not flaunt their education or wealth before gentiles. Education of anything other than Jewish scripture was to be shunned. (Atypical judaism indeed.) Sex was not a blessing or a mitzvah (again, atypical judaism), but rather procreative, and even that secondary to whether the woman was "clean"-- there was an obsession around the "impurity" of menstruating. But these people are still people, still smart, still loving... Still spiritual even. You can see it all unfold from this girl sneaking to buy the latest Harry Potter book to lying to her arranged husband to sneak off to classes on poetry at Sarah Lawrence. Interesting resurrection of a soul, here. I wonder what she will write next.
(nonfiction) Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption by Lauren Hillebrand. I always suspect that the quiet older guy in the corner has one helluva life story, and in Louis Zamperini's case it is certainly true. This guy raced in the 1936 Olympics--did so well, Hitler shook his hand-- then flew as a bombardier in WWII til he had an airplane accident, then survived on a tiny raft for 43 days as he floated adrift into Japanese waters, then survived 4 years as a POW under the most brutal Japanese camp warden ever. I didn't dig too much that he got God in the end, but then you don't hear people whine about that in Crime and Punishment (though I did, ha).
(nonfiction-- *cough cough cough*)Heaven is for Real by Burpo. An almost 4 year old almost dies, sees Jesus, freaks his Pastor-dad out by telling him about Heaven being for real. Supposedly not written for laughs, though at one point Pastor's congregation is praying that the little boy farts. I wonder what they'd think of:
Bringing up Bebe: One American Mother Discovers the Wisdom of French Parenting by Pamela Druckerman. Basically, hovering and giving kids too much attention doesn't allow them to develop self-respect or the parents to have a life. Not deep.
Bosypants by Tina Fey. She is one funny chick. Lotsa laughs.
Bittersweet NK Jemisin Short scifi story that makes quite an impact. Must read more of this person.
How to Train Your Dragon series by Cressida Crowell Very fun kids books. Reading these, not CS Lewis or any other famous writer, made K so rabid to hear more, she asked me to read all day long.
Fifty Shades of Horrible by E.L. James. I read them for free. Two pathologically jealous people fall for each other and bore readers all over the world.
YA : Charlie Bone - Children of the Red King series (8) by Jenny Nimmo. Pretty awful Harry Potter clone. Terrible, evil headmaster and son unbelievably kill and abduct students and it's up to the good kid to save everybody, his horrible, evil relatives notwithstanding. Hey, I was down to the dregs of a YA lit collection.
Between the Lines by Jodi Picoult and daughter, Samantha Van Leer. (How cool it must be to write a book with your teenaged daughter!) Teen romance with a twist. The idea that the prince in a Princess- Bride- type tale might have unguessed-at depth and interest in something other than an "as you wish" type relationship and might look for ways of escaping the written story is pleasant. And while the teenaged girl reading the book is falling in love with him and trying to free him, her mother thinks she's on drugs. Cute.
(nonfiction) Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson. Wow. Interesting life. Invented nothing but amalgamated so much. I guess it takes an asshole ("Apphole" as it quotes in the book) high on his own sense of style to herd cats scientists. I gotta ask my dad if he thinks a company should only focus on 5 products/ developments...
(nonfiction) Unorthodox by Deborah Feldman. Beautifully written story of a woman who breaks free of her stifling religious upbringing. Satmar Hasidic Judaism is one fucked up cult whose post-Holocaust origin was rooted in the goal to help Jews feel in control. Their brilliant leader told them their own transgressions against Jewish law were responsible for bringing about the Holocaust and if they didn't do them again, they had nothing to fear. So women wouldn't be allowed to read anything. No one in the cult was allowed to speak English. They could not flaunt their education or wealth before gentiles. Education of anything other than Jewish scripture was to be shunned. (Atypical judaism indeed.) Sex was not a blessing or a mitzvah (again, atypical judaism), but rather procreative, and even that secondary to whether the woman was "clean"-- there was an obsession around the "impurity" of menstruating. But these people are still people, still smart, still loving... Still spiritual even. You can see it all unfold from this girl sneaking to buy the latest Harry Potter book to lying to her arranged husband to sneak off to classes on poetry at Sarah Lawrence. Interesting resurrection of a soul, here. I wonder what she will write next.
(nonfiction) Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption by Lauren Hillebrand. I always suspect that the quiet older guy in the corner has one helluva life story, and in Louis Zamperini's case it is certainly true. This guy raced in the 1936 Olympics--did so well, Hitler shook his hand-- then flew as a bombardier in WWII til he had an airplane accident, then survived on a tiny raft for 43 days as he floated adrift into Japanese waters, then survived 4 years as a POW under the most brutal Japanese camp warden ever. I didn't dig too much that he got God in the end, but then you don't hear people whine about that in Crime and Punishment (though I did, ha).
(nonfiction-- *cough cough cough*)Heaven is for Real by Burpo. An almost 4 year old almost dies, sees Jesus, freaks his Pastor-dad out by telling him about Heaven being for real. Supposedly not written for laughs, though at one point Pastor's congregation is praying that the little boy farts. I wonder what they'd think of:
Bringing up Bebe: One American Mother Discovers the Wisdom of French Parenting by Pamela Druckerman. Basically, hovering and giving kids too much attention doesn't allow them to develop self-respect or the parents to have a life. Not deep.
Bosypants by Tina Fey. She is one funny chick. Lotsa laughs.
Bittersweet NK Jemisin Short scifi story that makes quite an impact. Must read more of this person.
How to Train Your Dragon series by Cressida Crowell Very fun kids books. Reading these, not CS Lewis or any other famous writer, made K so rabid to hear more, she asked me to read all day long.
Fifty Shades of Horrible by E.L. James. I read them for free. Two pathologically jealous people fall for each other and bore readers all over the world.