So...no one has posted here in the year 2011. And in fact, nobody has posted here in more than 6 months. I have still been reading--have you? Life is so busy I guess when you fall out of the habit of writing book reviews you just forget to start again. Tonight, however, I am feeling the need to put finger to keyboard and highly recommend this book. You see, I read it back in July/August (whenever I was in New York...?) but my Book Club finally discussed it tonight. Am I the only person who has a hard time staying in their seat when people are tearing apart a book you LOOOOOVE? I hope not. But if so, just know that its hard for me. As co-facilitator of the club, though, I can't make a scene. Instead, I know that I can come home from Book Club, hop onto this Blog, and tell y'all why this book is so awesome.
The cover of The Power of One labels this as the "Classic Story of South Africa." And I guess it is. Its set in South Africa in the years leading up to World War II. Our protagonist narrator, Peekay, opens the story when he's only about 5 years old and the tale follows him until his early twenties. Its historical fiction so you learn some about Apartheid and the political issues in South Africa and the world. But more than anything you get to know this amazing boy and all the incredible people--from varying walks of life--who impact him. The title could be interpreted to mean the power of one person in your life (and for Peekay, its several "one persons" he encounters), but it could also be about finding the power within yourself to stay strong when life throws a curve ball at you--or several hundred as the case may be. Overall, it is a fascinating and inspiring story. And I love it. I've been recommending it and buying copies for friends since I finished it this summer.
Warnings:
1) Its long. Something like 500 pages or more. But worth it, in my opinion.
2) There's some language. Its there. Deal with it if you're willing. At least its a cultural thing and not the author using profanity because he can.
3) You might fall in love with this book. Prepare yourself now.
Read it. Love it. But please don't go to your book club and get upset that this story is fiction because only if it was a true story could you really like and appreciate it. (Should you do the latter, I'd probably want to slap you. Just sayin'...)
A++
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Twitter Power 2.0 - Joel Comm (4.5 of 5 Twitterpated Writers)
The long hiatus has come to an end. As college fades with the sunset, I'm looking for new projects. What better way to start the summer than by reconnecting with all my semi-digital friends? While I have continued to read over the past few months, I haven't had the time to post the books reviews. I hope you'll join me in The Great Awakening 2.0.
Twitter Power 2.0 is a terrible title; it sparks flashbacks of watching rabid Powder Puff Girls with my cousins. But don't let it throw you. Joel Comm does a great job of outlining the history, functionality, and potential of Twitter. He also shares helpful insights about picking usernames, designing backgrounds, and crafting posts to establish a solid brand. I particularly enjoyed the chapters on third party software and APIs, which give you greater control over your feed and it's interaction with other websites. The book even gives you a 30-day guide to becoming a professional twitterer. What more could you ask for?
I think it is best to crack open this book with a Twitter project already in mind. As I read through the chapters, I got several great ideas about how to spice up my new Twitter campaign. I anticipate posting new book reviews from this website as well as new chapters from another new project of mine (and yours if you choose to accept this invite) http://opensoresfiction.blogspot.com/. I invite you to follow me on Twitter. You can find me at http://twitter.com/uofuwriter.
What is your perception of Twitter? How would you characterize your experiences with it? Who is your favorite tweeter?
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Persuasion - Jane Austen (C+)
Finding myself in need of a soporific, I began reading this book. It worked quite well. For the first quarter of the novel I found myself struggling to become interested, and reading effectively induced sleep. The consequence of that is that it took a while to complete such a short little book.
Once past the chapters that seemed to describe at length how Anne, the main character, was feeling in a particular moment, I found a story somewhere in the narrative, and then it became mildly interesting.
Is it even a spoiler to say that after indecision on both ends of a relationship, the girl ends up with the guy who she liked in the first place? This is Jane Austen after all...
I felt this book was somehow incomplete, as well as formulaic. The characters are a little annoying, and some of the events hard to follow, for example it there is an "accident" which when read seems to say that a girl has died, but then a few pages later she is not dead, and has only sustained a bump on the head. A pedigree is also necessary to understand who is related to whom.
The ending of the book is a "and they all live happily ever after ... except Anne's sister Elizabeth who ends up an old maid ... and the happily part only counts if Anne doesn't get richer than her sister Mary ... if Anne's husband goes to war that would suck too..." It is really quite a downer.
Once past the chapters that seemed to describe at length how Anne, the main character, was feeling in a particular moment, I found a story somewhere in the narrative, and then it became mildly interesting.
Is it even a spoiler to say that after indecision on both ends of a relationship, the girl ends up with the guy who she liked in the first place? This is Jane Austen after all...
I felt this book was somehow incomplete, as well as formulaic. The characters are a little annoying, and some of the events hard to follow, for example it there is an "accident" which when read seems to say that a girl has died, but then a few pages later she is not dead, and has only sustained a bump on the head. A pedigree is also necessary to understand who is related to whom.
The ending of the book is a "and they all live happily ever after ... except Anne's sister Elizabeth who ends up an old maid ... and the happily part only counts if Anne doesn't get richer than her sister Mary ... if Anne's husband goes to war that would suck too..." It is really quite a downer.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
The Codex Alera - Jim Butcher
After reading The Dresden Files books and deciding that Jim Butcher is a pretty amazing author when it comes to urban fantasy, I decided that it was time to read his straight fantasy books which are entitled The Codex Alera.
The Codex Alera consists of six books: The Furies of Calderon, Academ's Fury, Cursor's Fury, Captain's Fury, Princep's Fury and First Lord's Fury. It basically chronicles the ascent of a farm boy to ruler of the human race and unifier of the residents of a planet, which admittedly is one of the more common themes of a fantasy or sci-fi series, but Mr. Butcher does it with style. These books have all of the necessary components of a fantasy world; made up words, names that do not occur in the actual world, monsters, a unique system of "magic", a "big bad" and henchmen, pre-industrial revolution technology, and an underdeveloped character to serve as love interest to the main character whose parents aren't who they seem to be. The evil race trying to conquer the world will also seem awfully familiar to anyone who played Starcraft.
Yep, it is your typical fantasy series and for some reason I could not put these books down. Reader beware, even if you feel like you have read these books/heard this story a hundred and one times, if you pick up a book by Jim Butcher be prepared to forsake sleep, meals, your occupation and other interests and pursuits until you finish reading that book. I don't know how he does it, but for me his books are like crack is to a junkie, Jessica Simpson is to John Mayer, or Lasagna is to Garfield.
Originality: f-
Fun to Readness: A!
The Codex Alera consists of six books: The Furies of Calderon, Academ's Fury, Cursor's Fury, Captain's Fury, Princep's Fury and First Lord's Fury. It basically chronicles the ascent of a farm boy to ruler of the human race and unifier of the residents of a planet, which admittedly is one of the more common themes of a fantasy or sci-fi series, but Mr. Butcher does it with style. These books have all of the necessary components of a fantasy world; made up words, names that do not occur in the actual world, monsters, a unique system of "magic", a "big bad" and henchmen, pre-industrial revolution technology, and an underdeveloped character to serve as love interest to the main character whose parents aren't who they seem to be. The evil race trying to conquer the world will also seem awfully familiar to anyone who played Starcraft.
Yep, it is your typical fantasy series and for some reason I could not put these books down. Reader beware, even if you feel like you have read these books/heard this story a hundred and one times, if you pick up a book by Jim Butcher be prepared to forsake sleep, meals, your occupation and other interests and pursuits until you finish reading that book. I don't know how he does it, but for me his books are like crack is to a junkie, Jessica Simpson is to John Mayer, or Lasagna is to Garfield.
Originality: f-
Fun to Readness: A!
Monday, April 19, 2010
Sarah's Key
I kind of feel like I dominate this space but I've just read some great books lately. Sorry!
Sarah's Key -Tatiana De Rosnay
This was a book that I had passed several times before I actually picked it up to see what it was about. It centers around the Vel'd'Hiv' round up of Jews in Paris on July 16, 1942. Sarah is awoken in the early hours of the morning by the French Police pounding on her apartment door. She is eleven years old. It is just her, her four year old brother and her mother as her father has gone into hiding. The police tell them to pack a bag and to come with them. Her brother hides in a secret cupboard and Sarah locks him in, thinking she'll be back soon to let him out. Her father comes out of hiding to so the family can stay together. With more than 13,000 Jews, Sarah and her family are packed into the Velodrome d'Hiver stadium for several days without food or water. Those that survived were then shipped to Drancy internment camp outside of Paris. There the men were immediately sent to Auschwitz. The mothers and children were later separated - the children left in Drancy to fend for themselves. The children were then shipped to Auschwitz and immediately sent to the gas chambers. Sarah manages to escape from Drancy and is taken in by an elderly couple on a farm in Orleans.
The driving character of the story is Sarah but you actually don't spend much of the narrative specifically on her story but rather how her experience during WWII changes the life of Julie Jarmond, an American Journalist living in Paris sixty years later. Julie has a unique connection to Sarah and her family that she is completely unaware of until she is assigned a story of the anniversary of the Vel' d'Hiv' Roundup. Sarah's story is absolutely tragic as are most Holocaust survivor stories but it's how Sarah's life and the mystery of her life affect Julia and her family that is interesting. Julia is completely changed by what she learns about the round up and Sarah specifically and it sends her life on a completely different trajectory. It's as if de Rosnay is saying that no one who truly understand the horror, despair and tragedy of the Roundup could ever possibly be the same again.
De Rosnay uses the uncertainty and mystery surrounding Sarah as a beautiful and tragic metaphor for the thousands of nameless Jewish children that were rounded up that night, separated from their families and later shipped to Auschwitz and immediately sent to the gas chambers. No one knew who Sarah was - not even her husband or son. She died crippled under the knowledge that her parents were killed in Auschwitz and her younger brother starved to death in Paris. When her son finally discovers the truth about his mother and his heritage, he, just like Julia, is completely changed.
It was wonderfully written and beautiful in it's tragedy.
Sarah's Key -Tatiana De Rosnay
This was a book that I had passed several times before I actually picked it up to see what it was about. It centers around the Vel'd'Hiv' round up of Jews in Paris on July 16, 1942. Sarah is awoken in the early hours of the morning by the French Police pounding on her apartment door. She is eleven years old. It is just her, her four year old brother and her mother as her father has gone into hiding. The police tell them to pack a bag and to come with them. Her brother hides in a secret cupboard and Sarah locks him in, thinking she'll be back soon to let him out. Her father comes out of hiding to so the family can stay together. With more than 13,000 Jews, Sarah and her family are packed into the Velodrome d'Hiver stadium for several days without food or water. Those that survived were then shipped to Drancy internment camp outside of Paris. There the men were immediately sent to Auschwitz. The mothers and children were later separated - the children left in Drancy to fend for themselves. The children were then shipped to Auschwitz and immediately sent to the gas chambers. Sarah manages to escape from Drancy and is taken in by an elderly couple on a farm in Orleans.
The driving character of the story is Sarah but you actually don't spend much of the narrative specifically on her story but rather how her experience during WWII changes the life of Julie Jarmond, an American Journalist living in Paris sixty years later. Julie has a unique connection to Sarah and her family that she is completely unaware of until she is assigned a story of the anniversary of the Vel' d'Hiv' Roundup. Sarah's story is absolutely tragic as are most Holocaust survivor stories but it's how Sarah's life and the mystery of her life affect Julia and her family that is interesting. Julia is completely changed by what she learns about the round up and Sarah specifically and it sends her life on a completely different trajectory. It's as if de Rosnay is saying that no one who truly understand the horror, despair and tragedy of the Roundup could ever possibly be the same again.
De Rosnay uses the uncertainty and mystery surrounding Sarah as a beautiful and tragic metaphor for the thousands of nameless Jewish children that were rounded up that night, separated from their families and later shipped to Auschwitz and immediately sent to the gas chambers. No one knew who Sarah was - not even her husband or son. She died crippled under the knowledge that her parents were killed in Auschwitz and her younger brother starved to death in Paris. When her son finally discovers the truth about his mother and his heritage, he, just like Julia, is completely changed.
It was wonderfully written and beautiful in it's tragedy.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Founding Mothers by Cokie Roberts
Founding Mothers: The Women who raised our nation.
By Cokie Roberts
As you can probably tell this book is about the women behind the men known as the Founding Fathers of our nation. Abigail Adams, Martha Washington, Betsy Ross, Dolley Madison and Mercy Otis Warren just to name a few. Roberts thoroughly explores the maxim - behind every great man is an even greater woman. By using excerpts of letters to each other, family members and their husbands, Roberts is able to paint a portrait of vivacious, intelligent, caring, ardent patriots that made the work of their more famous husbands possible. At one point Roberts states that if it hadn't been for their husbands, history would have forgotten or never known these women. Her point being, they didn't do anything out of the ordinary for their time and yet their lives were extraordinary. In a time when women were not expected to do much of anything by societal norms, these women and hundreds - thousands of women like them - defended their homes from the British, ran business, plantations/farms, supported the Revolution in spirit and physically in the form of donations of money, time, supplies and on more than one occasion by joining in the fighting. My favorite person is by far Abigail Adams. As her husband was off signing the Declaration of Independence, in Paris working on the peace treaty, being Vice President and then President, she kept the home fires burning. She managed their financial matters and often advised her husband on political matters. She often understood the political climate and events better than her husband (the President) and could predict quite reliably what would happen. She wasn't afraid to tell her husband what she thought and let him know she was upset with him. On more than one occasion in letters to anyone who would listen, Washington, Jefferson, Madison, her husband, she advocated the education and equality of women. She was feisty, independent and deeply loved her country and her husband.
If you have any interest at all in women's history or even early American history this book is a must read. Roberts' style of writing is easy to read and entertaining. It's more like talking to a good friend who happens to know quite a bit about early Revolutionary women.
By Cokie Roberts
As you can probably tell this book is about the women behind the men known as the Founding Fathers of our nation. Abigail Adams, Martha Washington, Betsy Ross, Dolley Madison and Mercy Otis Warren just to name a few. Roberts thoroughly explores the maxim - behind every great man is an even greater woman. By using excerpts of letters to each other, family members and their husbands, Roberts is able to paint a portrait of vivacious, intelligent, caring, ardent patriots that made the work of their more famous husbands possible. At one point Roberts states that if it hadn't been for their husbands, history would have forgotten or never known these women. Her point being, they didn't do anything out of the ordinary for their time and yet their lives were extraordinary. In a time when women were not expected to do much of anything by societal norms, these women and hundreds - thousands of women like them - defended their homes from the British, ran business, plantations/farms, supported the Revolution in spirit and physically in the form of donations of money, time, supplies and on more than one occasion by joining in the fighting. My favorite person is by far Abigail Adams. As her husband was off signing the Declaration of Independence, in Paris working on the peace treaty, being Vice President and then President, she kept the home fires burning. She managed their financial matters and often advised her husband on political matters. She often understood the political climate and events better than her husband (the President) and could predict quite reliably what would happen. She wasn't afraid to tell her husband what she thought and let him know she was upset with him. On more than one occasion in letters to anyone who would listen, Washington, Jefferson, Madison, her husband, she advocated the education and equality of women. She was feisty, independent and deeply loved her country and her husband.
If you have any interest at all in women's history or even early American history this book is a must read. Roberts' style of writing is easy to read and entertaining. It's more like talking to a good friend who happens to know quite a bit about early Revolutionary women.
Monday, February 22, 2010
The Big Burn by Timothy Egan
In March, my Social Studies book club will be making selections for the next year's books. And this is my pick. In fact, I intend to lead a full-scale campaign for this one to be chosen because it sort of puts the "A" in Awesome.
Timothy Egan's The Big Burn tells the story of the beginnings of the National Forest Service and the fire that "saved" its very existence. Did you know Teddy Roosevelt, Gifford Pinchot, and John Muir basically started the entire conservation movement in the United States? Did you know a lot of people were against conservation and the National Forest Service? Did you know that in 1910 hundreds of people died or were injured in a crazy giant wildfire that wiped out most of the Lolo National Forest in Idaho? Did you know that Roosevelt's chief forrester, Gifford Pinchot, maintained a spiritual love affair with a dead woman for most of his life? You could learn all this, and more!, if you read Egan's book!!
Egan's writing style is fast and fluid--reminding me a lot of David McCullough's narrative style; he includes a lot of interesting details that add character and life to the story. The historical tale itself is amazing and much of it seems like the stuff of movies--but its all true! And its crazy to me--a history teacher--that I had never even heard of most of this stuff before I picked up the book. And really, you should pick up the book. Fabulous.
A
P.S. What do you think? Will I convince the others to make this one of the book club picks?
Timothy Egan's The Big Burn tells the story of the beginnings of the National Forest Service and the fire that "saved" its very existence. Did you know Teddy Roosevelt, Gifford Pinchot, and John Muir basically started the entire conservation movement in the United States? Did you know a lot of people were against conservation and the National Forest Service? Did you know that in 1910 hundreds of people died or were injured in a crazy giant wildfire that wiped out most of the Lolo National Forest in Idaho? Did you know that Roosevelt's chief forrester, Gifford Pinchot, maintained a spiritual love affair with a dead woman for most of his life? You could learn all this, and more!, if you read Egan's book!!
Egan's writing style is fast and fluid--reminding me a lot of David McCullough's narrative style; he includes a lot of interesting details that add character and life to the story. The historical tale itself is amazing and much of it seems like the stuff of movies--but its all true! And its crazy to me--a history teacher--that I had never even heard of most of this stuff before I picked up the book. And really, you should pick up the book. Fabulous.
A
P.S. What do you think? Will I convince the others to make this one of the book club picks?
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