Reading Contest - June Report
Books finished:
The Trophy Kids Grow Up: How the Millennial Generation is Shaking up the Workplace by Ron Alsop (2 pts) - Yet another book that tries to talk about an entire generation based only on the actions and attitudes of its elite East Coast representatives. The author makes a few good points about that select few, but then reverts to repeating himself. A lot. The first chapter or two would make a good, long magazine article. The rest of the book is unnecessary.
The Foolish Virgin by Kathleen Norris (2 pts) - A tepid romance novel written and set in the mid 1920s. Though interesting from a historical perspective, the story, itself, doesn't offer much.
Monkey Girl: Evolution, Education, Religion, and the Battle for America's Soul by Edward Humes (2 pts) - An excellent and very readable analysis of the history and politics surrounding the Kitzmiller, et al vs. Dover School Board trial of 2005 that legally challenged Intelligent Design's status as a science.
The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner's Semester at America's Holiest University by Kevin Roose (2 pts) - Roose, a typical freshman at Brown University, decides to do a semester "abroad" at Liberty University to try to learn more about the Evangelical Christian Right, a segment of his own culture that he freely admits to knowing nothing about. Well worth reading.
Encyclopedia of The End: Mysterious Death in Fact, Fancy, Folklore, and More by Deborah Noyes (1 pt) - Purported as a children's book, though clearly meant for older (say 10+) children, this is a straight forward encyclopedia on death, dying, and various practices and customs associated with it. Each entry is succinct, clearly written, and tasteful. That such a book is even necessary goes to show just how far we've driven death and dying out of our lives.
Kitty and the Dead Man's Hand by Carrie Vaughn (2 pts) - Kitty goes to Las Vegas to get married and ends up on the bad side of Murphy's Law. The series continues to be enjoyable, though the series is obviously going through a transformation at this point and may be about to embrace a lot more of the fantastical/horror elements than it has previously dealt with.
Total points for the month: 11
Total points for the year: 76
Year end goal: 160
The Trophy Kids Grow Up: How the Millennial Generation is Shaking up the Workplace by Ron Alsop (2 pts) - Yet another book that tries to talk about an entire generation based only on the actions and attitudes of its elite East Coast representatives. The author makes a few good points about that select few, but then reverts to repeating himself. A lot. The first chapter or two would make a good, long magazine article. The rest of the book is unnecessary.
The Foolish Virgin by Kathleen Norris (2 pts) - A tepid romance novel written and set in the mid 1920s. Though interesting from a historical perspective, the story, itself, doesn't offer much.
Monkey Girl: Evolution, Education, Religion, and the Battle for America's Soul by Edward Humes (2 pts) - An excellent and very readable analysis of the history and politics surrounding the Kitzmiller, et al vs. Dover School Board trial of 2005 that legally challenged Intelligent Design's status as a science.
The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner's Semester at America's Holiest University by Kevin Roose (2 pts) - Roose, a typical freshman at Brown University, decides to do a semester "abroad" at Liberty University to try to learn more about the Evangelical Christian Right, a segment of his own culture that he freely admits to knowing nothing about. Well worth reading.
Encyclopedia of The End: Mysterious Death in Fact, Fancy, Folklore, and More by Deborah Noyes (1 pt) - Purported as a children's book, though clearly meant for older (say 10+) children, this is a straight forward encyclopedia on death, dying, and various practices and customs associated with it. Each entry is succinct, clearly written, and tasteful. That such a book is even necessary goes to show just how far we've driven death and dying out of our lives.
Kitty and the Dead Man's Hand by Carrie Vaughn (2 pts) - Kitty goes to Las Vegas to get married and ends up on the bad side of Murphy's Law. The series continues to be enjoyable, though the series is obviously going through a transformation at this point and may be about to embrace a lot more of the fantastical/horror elements than it has previously dealt with.
Total points for the month: 11
Total points for the year: 76
Year end goal: 160