Biblio Files: talking about books

I Am a Soldier, Too * The Jessica Lynch Story by Rick Bragg If you are in the U.S. and you pay even perfunctory attention to the media, you know who Jessica Lynch is. This is the story of her capture, how it affected her life, and how it has affected the rest of us. In telling this story, Bragg takes the chance to oppose the war in Iraq. Doing so seems somewhat inappropriate in light of the story. However, Bragg does tell a powerful story, although I'm not sure what it's a story of. Pictures are included in the book. Strangely, Bragg describes a picture that was taken that he thinks captures the spirit of the story, but that picture is not included.
Happy reading.

Seabiscuit: An American Legend by Luara Hillenbrand
Seabiscuit is a book about a horse, his owner, his trainer, and his jockeys. Consequently, it is also a book about horse racing in general. Through Seabiscuit, the reader is shown the world of horse racing in the 1930s. Seabiscuit was a winning horse who was beloved by the American people. He was loved not just for the magnificence of his speed and form, but because he was the underdog who managed to come out on top. Through his jockeys, we are introduced to the strange world of jockeys, where men will do anything to lose wait to ride horses (which might not be such a strange world to women who will do anything to lose weight). Seabiscuit's story is one of a losing horse, two losing jockeys, an old trainer, a man looking for a way to overcome the death of his son, and a very winning team. Seabiscuit unexpectedly topped bestseller charts. It was unexpected, because it is on the surface, a story of horse. Its a bestseller, because underneath, its a story of the greatness concealed in unexpected places.
Happy reading.

The GOD Project by Stan Lee
Halliday is the newly elected president of the United States, and all of Washington seems to be keeping secrets from him. He and his secretary, Malcolm Keyes (who happens to have a perfect memory), try to find out what is being kept from them. At the center of the secrets is something called the GOD project. The man who holds the secret to the GOD project is missing, and the CIA is trying to find him. The CIA has to prime suspects-Malcolm Keyes, and John Burns. John Burns is a preacher for the twenty fifth of December Pentecostal Church, and he preaches against the pentagon, nuclear weapons, and capitalism. As Keyes and Halliday try to find out about the GOD project, Keyes is given a lesson in how politics work, and he becomes more and more disillusioned with politics.
When it was written,this book was meant to be a political expose, and a sort of warning about what might happen in the near future. Viewed fifteen years later, most of the concerns seem out dated and impractical, although the attack on capitalism still works. The cold war and the arms race are very large looming issues in this book, and that gives the book a sort of fantasy/ sci-fi feeling to me, because I'm a teenager, and I don't remember a time when commie was the ultimate jab, or a label that liberals had to be careful to avoid.
Searching for links relevant to this book, I found that Chris Carter and John Saul both wrote books called The God Project. Stan Lee has to be a pseudonym. No parents would be that inconsiderate(Stan Lee sounds too much like Stanley). Stan Lee apparently does not want to stand out.
Happy reading.

The Wish List by Eoin Colfer
Meg Finn and her partner Belch break into the home of Lowrie McCall to steal. When McCall catches the intruders, Belch sets his dog onto him, and Meg forces Belch, at gunpoint, to call off his dog. Belch gets the gun, and Meg runs. She is standing in front of a gas tank when Belch tries to shoot a warning shot over her head. The gas tank explodes and Belch and Meg and the dog die. Belch goes straight to the underworld, but Meg is not that bad. She is given another chance; she must help Lowrie McCall if she wants a chance to go to heaven. Belch is assigned to prevent her from doing so.
This book is better written than the Artemis Fowl series. The spiritual world portrayed is a strange mix of Christian thought, and Colfer's own inventions. Strangely enough, even though we meet St.Peter, Beelzebub, and Lucifer, God himself does not seem to be in the picture. If the theological aspects are overlooked, this book makes more sense. This book gives an overall impression that good triumphs over evil in the big picture, but the sloppy way that the heavens are run gives a lost feeling to the book.
Happy reading.

Shattering Glass by Gail Giles
Young's charismatic best friend Rob decides to extend his power by turning the high school scapegoat, Simon Glass, into Joe Cool. Rob's only agenda is his own power, but only Glass sees that, as Rob extends his control as far as it will go. Young is conflicted in his devotion to his best friend, and his decency as a human being, as he watches his best friend's influence damage the lives of everyone around him. Rob decides to get Glass elected as Most Popular in a school contest, but Glass doctors the results so that Rob wins instead. Rob kills Glass with a baseball bat in a fit of rage. This story is told by Young, with the chapters beginning with other characters' perspectives looking back, so that the reader knows the from the beginning that Glass is going to be killed. There is an uneasy aura in the whole book, waiting for Glass to die. This is a scary warning of what charisma and power can do in the wrong hands. Happy reading.

Mind Riot a comix anthology edited by Karen D. Hirsch. Forward by Peter Bagge
CONTENTS:
Charlie Chopper by Ida Marx Blue Spruce
This is a story of coping in high school.
Skateboard Mayhem by Glenn Head
There's more to being tough than the outside.
With Arthur by David Greenburger, illustrated by Dean Rohrer
A boy is better able to cope with his granddfather's aging than the adults around him.
From Jawbreaker to Lawbreaker by Diane Noomin
This is a true autobiographical story of a reformed thief.
The Girl From A Different World by Phoebe Gloeckner
Walter's girlfriend seems perfect, until he finds out that her stepfather is raping her.
My Body by Vicky Rabinowitz
A girl thinks her body is perfect, until she sees that society seems to expect something different.
Painted Friends by Carol Swain
A new girl is shown th spookiest place in town.
Animal Urges by Peter Kuper
Society sends mixed messages about sexuality, and one boy is confused. All of the characters in this story are shown as rabbits.
Weird Girl by Roberta Gregory
One girl knows its ok to stand out.
The Paladins of Destruction by Colin Upton
When one boy finds out that his new friends are responsible for a heinous crime, he turns to his old friends to figure out what to do.
When Dreams Come True by Caryn Leschen
When a girl meets her idol, she finds out that he's not all he's made out to be.
Out At The Movies by Maurice Vellekoop
When he meets a lesbian, Gary is able to reveal his own sexual identity. My favorite.
A Tale of Three Sisters by Ann Decker
Three sisters try compete for the attention of men, with bad results.
Blood Fiend by Kevin Quigley
Pro and his friends enlist Pro's brother Allie's help to make a movie, and Pro learns a bit about his brother.
Happy reading.

Strangewood by Christopher Golden
TJ Randall is the author of a series of books about a fantasy land called Strangewood. He is also a divorced father of a five year old boy, named Nathan. He used to have seizures, when he was a boy. He used to dream that he was in Strangewood. He doesn't believe in Strangewood, anymore. But then Strangewood comes to his world. Because Strangewood needs its creator. They need Our Boy to come back, to revive Strangewood. So they take bait; his son. And now Thomas must return to Strangewood, for a true battle between good and bad, where the line between reality and fantasy is all but non-existent. Happy reading.

Thief of Time by Terry Pratchett
In this novel of discworld, the auditors(bad guys out to destroy anything that thinks) have a new plan to destroy the world. They will stop time, by getting a clockmaker(who happens to be the son of Time) to make a clock that will perfectly measure every small bit of time. The end of the world is coming. A hilarious read. Steal the time to read it. Happy reading

Elvis Live At Five by John Paxson
Imagine that computers can generate realistic portraits of people, dead and alive, and manipulate them to say whatever the programmer wants. Imagine such a program in the hands of a power hungry television manager. That's Elvis Live At Five, in a nutshell. This book is told from the point of view of one of the people at that TV station. The book is told both at the time of the story, and looking back, which ensures that we the readers do not miss any subtlety. This is a competent piece warning against the evils of media, from a media man. This is not the sort of book you should read as a bedtime story. It will make you think. It might even scare you. Happy reading.

The Two Princesses of Bamarre byGail Carson Levine
In this fantasy, the Princess Addie must overcome her own cowardice to save her sister. In the kingdom of Bamarre, there is a plague called the gray death, which is always fatal, and princess Meryl has it. The king is too much of a fool to effectually search for a cure, and since there are no heros available to save her sister, Princess Addie goes to find the cure. On her way, she is captured by a dragon, who tells her the cure. She escapes the dragon, and goes to the castle. Unfortunately, she is not quick enough. However, because Princess Addie has found courage, the fairies return to Bamarre, and the gray death is eliminated. Princess Meryl cannot be saved and so the fairies turn her into a fairy. This is a story of how the most timid can be courageous. Happy reading.

Phule's Company by .Robert Aspirin
Captain Jester, the youngest trillionare in the galaxy, hs been assigned to a misfit ragtag company, and he is determined to turn it around. He succeeds. The plot line is not very complex, and is often predicable, but there is always a laugh waiting on the next page. To make the book a little more ridiculous, the book is supposedly the log of Captian Jester's butler, Beeker. Happy reading.

harley, like a person by Cat A Bauer
Harley is the oldest of three in a turbulent family. Her father, who she suspects
is not her real father, is an alcoholic. The boy she has a crush on keeps going back to his nasty girlfriend. Her best friend doesn't seem to like her. The only thing that helps her is her art. I'm not giving away the ending to this one, sorry. Read it yourself. Harley is the story of a teenager. Happy reading.

Scarlett by Alexandra Ripley
Sequel to Margaret Michell's Gone With The Wind
This sequel opens at the funeral of Melanie Wilkes. At the funeral, Ashley tries to throw himself into Melanie's grave. When Scarlett restrains him, society decides that Scarlett really was having an affair with him while Melanie was alive, and he becomes a social pariah. When Scarlett goes to Tara after the funeral, she finds Mammy dying. She stays with Mammy for the time that it takes for Mammy to die. While Mammy is dying, she asks for Rhett, who comes and comforts her. Scarlett declares her love for him and is rebuffed. The book goes downhill for the next 700 pages during which Scarlett goes to Charleston to see Rhett's mother, and becomes somewhat accepted by Charlestonian society. Rhett comes to Charleston, is angry to see her, etc. She and Rhett are in a boat that capsizes during a storm, after which they make love and Scarlett once again declares her love, and Rhett, again, rebuffs it. Scarlett becomes ill. After she recovers, she goes to Savannah, to see her grandfather. While she is there, she meets her father's relatives, the O'Haras. They are poor, but much happier than the people Scarlett knows in society. She goes to Ireland, and buys a large amount of land called Ballyhara. There she starts a town her cousin Colum, a revolutionary, turns the town into Fenian headquarters. Scarlett finds out that she is pregnant. She decides to go back to America to tell Rhett, but as she is about to leave, she finds out that Rhett has divorced her, and has remarried. She stays in Ireland and has a daughter Cat, born on Holloween. The townspeople, being a superstitous lot, view Cat as a changling. Scarlett goes into Irish society. She is a hit. Eventually, the townspeople turn against her for going into high society. Rhett's wife dies in childbirth. The child dies too. Rhett goes to Ireland, and finds Scarlett. They get back together again. During their reunion the townspeople blow up the town. Colum dies. Rhett meets his daughter. They go off to live happily ever after. The end.
While this is an enjoyable book, the plot does not seem realistic. It seems strange that Rhett's wife dies so conveniently at the right time. Scarlett seems old (in her late thirties) to be the belle of society. Many parts of the book should have been shortened. The story, although good, is not worth 884 pages.
The heirs to Margaret Mitchells's estate wanted the sequel written, but I dont think that Mitchell herself would have wanted a sequel writtten. The dramatic end to Gone With The Wind is meant to be an end. It is not supposed to have a happy ending. In Scarlett, Scarlett is shown maturing, but Mitchell intended the end of Gone With The Wind to show Scarlett at the hight of her wisdom.
Happy reading

Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt
This book is about the civil war, told from the viewpoint of Jethro, a young boy. The passage of time is often hard too follow; as the title implies, it covers five Aprils. Jethro lives on a farm in Egypt(southern Illinois). He is the youngest of twelve children, so we get to hear about the war from the many ways that his brothers, brother-in-law, and future brother-in-law experience it. Jethro's favorite brother Bill joins the confederate army; his other relatives join the union army. His family gets a lot of flak from having a member in the confederate army.
One brother deserts from the union army. Right after a federal official comes asking about the brother, Jethro sees him hiding out. His brother is weak, and needs Jethro to help him. Jethro is confused, so he writes to President Lincoln, who tells him that he has passed a law saying that a deserter can rejoin the army without any penalty, and so Jethro's brother rejoins the army. Jethro's sister Jenny is in love with Shadrach, who has joined the union army. When Shadrach is injured, Jenny joins him and marries him. Another one of Jethro's brother's, Tom, dies. The book ends with the war. This book is geared towards youger readers, although they may have trouble with the dialect used.

Profiles In Courage by John F(itzgerald) Kennedy
Forward by Allan Nevins
While the authorship of this Pulitzer prize winning book is sometimes contested, this is a great book regardless. It does have a number of rare words, so you may want to have your dictionary out. This book covers John Quincy Adams, who lived by his ideals, Daniel Webster who was a spoke for the preservation of the union, Sam Houston who believed that it was in the best interests of Texas to stay in the union, Edmund G Ross, who would not vote Andrew Johnson out of office, Robert Taft who spoke against the Nuremburg trials, and many others. All of the chapters about individuals are about Senators, although there is a chapter about other courageous people who were not senators. Although you may disagree with the effectiveness, the purpose, or even the motives of the men discussed here, you cannot help but be captivated by the artful storytelling and fascinating causes described inside the covers of this book. There are a few pictures in the middle of the book. Happy reading.

The Points of My Compass:Letters from the East, the West, the North, the South by E.B. White
This book is a collection of correspondence that E. B. White sent to the New Yorker in the late 40s and early 50s. All of his writings were sent from his home, but because its correspondence, he pretends that he is in exotic places. His letters are funny, astute, and educational, but a bit outdated. You might want to brush up on your knowledge of politics from that time, but even if you don't, this is a great read.

Intro; this is going to be my spot to talk about the books i read. im a teenager on the north side of chicago. if u ever want to advise me of a good book or give me feedback, im at twerpchicago@hotmail.com i intend to updated this at least once per week.