The Book Thief by Zusak
This is a fascinating piece of young adult World War II fiction. Although written for a young audience, as an adult I found the story just as riveting. I thoroughly enjoyed Zusak’s use of literary devices as he describes the life of a young German girl in Nazi Germany as she learns to read and write, adjusts to a new family and neighborhood, and grows into an adult – all under the reign of Hitler. The Book Thief addresses the topic of humanity, love, and death and dying in a whole new way with Death as a narrator and a Jew in Nazi Germany hiding in the basement. I would definitely utilize as a supplement to a 12 year old’s World War II studies and I think it is also a great book for Books-on-Books collectors like myself!
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Ramses: The Son of Light by Christian Jacq
This is a great kick start to the life of Ramses the Great. We are introduced to his throne hungry brother Shaanar, his father Seti, mother Tuya, obnoxious sister Dolora, and his two wives Iset the Fair and Nefartari. Moses is also introduced, which is slightly irksome because the book is written off the old school of thought that Moses was during the time of Ramses the Great due to the mention of the city of Ramses in the scriptures. I believe its highly likely that the name of the city mentioned in the bible was updated by an eager scribe and that the proper date of Moses’ lifespan would place him during the 15th century/18th dynasty about 200 years before Ramses. Generally, I enjoyed the book although I feel much is lost in the translation from the French (Jacq’s writing seems too simplistic and listy), but I am still excited about reading the four remaining books in the series to see how it all plays out from Jacq’s perspective.
A fabulous article on Moses and his placement in history: http://www.biblearchaeology.org/post/2009/02/27/Moses-and-Hatshepsut.aspx
The Angel’s Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Ruiz revisits the world of the Cemetery of Forgotten Books first introduced in Shadow of the Wind and presents us with a strangely philosophical mystery of life, death, love, and literature. Uniquely captivating from start to finish, the story unravels in such a way that in the end, like the narrator, I was still wondering who exactly had died and who had survived. I highly recommend The Angel’s Game (and The Shadow of the Wind) to any book lover.
Unexpected Gem
The Reader by Bernhard Schlink
The Reader is a touching coming of age novel that reads like a memoir. Reminiscent of McEwan’s Atonement in its themes of shame and intense raw humanity, Schlink constantly begs the question from his characters and his readers: “What would you have done?” The humility of illiteracy, ignorance, and confinement brought tears to my eyes. I found The Reader to be an unexpected gem.
Unclean Spirits by M.L.N. Hanover
Book One of the Black Sun’s Daughter Series
Unclean Spirits is a fun adventure filled fantasy to veg out with your favorite snack and a comfy pillow. Hanover did a good job of taking an overused theme (vampires and metaphysical ghosties verses the good guys fighting evil) and turning it into something fresh and fun and not too plot heavy with romance. Jayne Heller makes for a great escape fiction heroine and I’ll be interested to see how the rest of the trilogy turns out.
Have You Read Goodell’s Zenith Rising?
As most people know, I am a shelfari.com addict. It makes sense, as shelfari is a book site for book people and I am quite certainly a book person. In my shelfari hunting and pecking for great reads and cool recommendations, I ran across an author named Michael Goodell who has since been a fun shelfari friend to engage in the banter of book talk. One day, a group of us decided to read his book Zenith Rising (available for purchase on amazon) and discovered quite a treat.
I found Zenith Rising to be an interesting read and great first novel for Goodell. It was slightly reminiscent of an old classic with a mix of John Grisham’s The Rainmaker, but unique and very much an original piece full of life and art and the raw thoughts of humanity. I also believe that its a good shelf companion to Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead.
Goodell has said about his work,
[…] one message I want people to walk away with after reading Zenith Rising, it would be the transformative effect that the pride of accomplishment and the sense of ownership can have on people who have never accomplished anything, (nor been told that they could or should), and never owned anything that wasn’t given to them. On that last point, when I was working with a nonprofit housing group, I was struck by the similarities between the lives of trust fund babies, and those of welfare babies. They both are born into lives with no demands and no expectations, and both engage in self-destructive behaviors, often culminating in wasted lives. I tried to point out that connection through some of the characters and their antics.
I think Goodell has succeeded in his goal, as most people I have talked to about the book feel a twinge of nostalgia towards the work as a whole. I cried like a baby through chapter nine, the way I cried in Wall-E. People should read this book before finishing school, high school or college, I don’t think it really matters which, just before they go out into the world. Inspire them to not let money go to their head, and not let their cities become pieces of crap. We’re always taught about the problems in other countries. Growing up, I always heard the glories of mission trips. Did we ever do activities in our own cities that were helpful? Not really. The closest we came was a yearly trip to Dallas four hours away. We got a lot done and it was amazing, but anything that can be done in Dallas could have certainly been done in Houston.
I truly believe that Goodell’s book has a bit of simple brilliance about it and cannot wait to read his second book which will also be set in the city of Zenith.
An excerpt from the book (pg.82-83):
One of the men stood with back to the viewer, in the lower center of the painting, where the mountain sloped down to a ridge, gazing out across a valley or vast plain stretching to the horizon. Often painted at dusk, with mist rising from the ground, or the sunset colors reflecting in the myriad streams snaking their way across the valley floor, the paintings gave the attorney an aching desire to step into that long lost world. He stood beside the adventurer at the edge of a precipice. The world unfolded at his feet, waiting for a man courageous enough to carve a life from its untamed wilds.
Information from the Zenith Rising Website:
From its stunning opening scene of a police raid gone tragically awry, to its heart-breaking conclusion, “Zenith Rising” tells the story of a dying city. Yet once that city was a world leader in manufacturing and technological innovation.
Once Zenith’s future was limited only by the size of its dreams.
Though the years stripped away its promise, the people of Zenith didn’t share equally in its decline. For some, the wealth garnered during the glory years insulated them from the city’s struggles. Others sought to suck the last bit of life, and profit, from the dying city, while a few, a lonely few, saw things as they were and vowed to change them.
Michael Goodell has given us a compelling tale ripped from today’s headlines. By means of a riveting plot and vivid characters, he presents a challenge every American must confront.
You can learn more about itat http://www.zenithrising.webs.com
The list price is $24.95.
The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx
“The Communist Manifesto
For that reason, I think everyone should read this book and grasp a greater understanding of the world around them. At the risk of ‘igniting violent debate’ I’ll let it be known that I disagree with the concept. I am especially opposed to the idea of the abolition of a right to inheritance, as I would love to pass my library down to the future generations of my family. Perhaps some things should be a little more equal, but I like the individuality we have in being able to select what we purchase and accumulate. I enjoy the right to educate our own children, having the privilege to opt out of public education in order to give our children more – more knowledge, more quality time, more love.
The Ghost and Mrs. McClure by Alice Kimberly
The first of the Haunted Bookshop Mystery Series is adorable. I want to shop Buy the Book (a small bookstore that reminds me of Houston’s Murder By the Book), hug Penelope McClure, and exchange witty dialogue with her resident ghost P.I. Jack Shepard. Like her Coffee House Mystery Series (written under the name Cleo Coyle), Alice Kimberly’s bookshop murders are fun, endearing, and most importantly, cozy.
The Piano Tuner by Daniel Mason
The Piano Tuner
“‘It doesn’t matter. It is just a story, I suppose.’ ‘Yes, Mr. Drake […] They are all just stories.'”
Anakalian Whims 
Conspicuous Consumption by Thorstein Veblen – Lost in “Education”
June 27, 2010 at 5:52 pm (In So Many Words, Reviews, The Whim) (books, capitalism, conspicuous consumption, economics, education, essays, great ideas, historical document, marxism, reviews, social commentary, sociologist, source documents, veblen)
Why did we never read this for school? The relevancy is uncanny. The way the times haven’t changed is disturbing. I am definitely adding this to my required reading list for when I home school my child.
This book in reality is a 100 page essay or so, not long in the slightest and should take the reader a mere hour or two to digest and properly process (depending on the reader). What I plan to have my child address when I require this to be read are the following questions (and I’d like to know what you guys think too, if you’ve read this):
How do Veblen’s ideas tie into Darwin’s evolutionary theories?
How do they interact with Marxism and Capitalism?
How are his ideas relevant today?
How are the leisure class and ownership related, according to Veblen? What are the roots of conventional ownership and of marriage? Consider contemporary phrases like “trophy wife.” (How does this affect gender roles?)
Veblen sees “emulation” as a key feature of social life in “predatory societies.” How do the patterns of emulation change as predatory societies change?
What fundamental criticism does Veblen make of standard economics?
I actually have quite a few more that I have borrowed from other sites, essay questions and discussions to be had are all noted in a journal I am keeping of projects and assignments to remember. My point in posting the blog today, however, is this:
How did something so famous, so moving and so relevant – something Penguin even published in their Great Ideas series – get neglected in my own education? Not just high school with basic history, social studies, and economics, but also in college when half my life was filled with economic theory and consumer behavior as I earned a Marketing degree? I am realizing more and more the importance of not just reading about movements and theories, not just getting summaries from textbooks, but reading the original documents! How can your education be complete without going back to what started the ideas in the first place? How can you presume to know anything about anything if all your information comes from a summary in a textbook and you’ve never even heard of the essay that initiated the need for that summary?
Buy Here: http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=anakawhims-20&o=1&p=8&l=as4&m=amazon&f=ifr&ref=ss_til&asins=0143037595
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