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Jawn Lewys, a high school student, has found some disturbing information on the duality on microorganisms. When he triumphantly shows his work to his biology teacher, he is surprised to find that he was not the first person to discover the information. He is further distressed to find that the CRACC(citizen regulation and control commision) has suppressed the information. When Jawn refuses to change the topic of his paper, CRACC cracks down on him and he is forced to become an activist to try to save the world.
This book was written during the cold war and shows a lot of anti-cold war sentiment which is hopefully not so relevant anymore. The political science shown here is very naive and farfetched. Jawn stays alive through an improbable number of coincidences, which do not get explained.
Happy reading.
Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglass Adams
In college Dirk Gently encouraged people to believe that he possessed supernatural powers, which he did not in fact have. However, by chance, a guess of what a certain final would look like, written before the test, proved to be the exact same as the final, to the comma. Dirk Gently was thrown out of college on the grounds of cheating, and he formed his own theories of the interconnectedness of the world, principles on which he founded a detective agency. From the title of the book and my opening sentences, I bet you think Dirk Gently is the main character of this book. He's not. Ha ha. I asssume that he is used for the title because none of the other characters make for such catchy intriguing titles. Except possibly for the electric monk. The electric monk is not the main character, either. His role in this story is a bit more confusing, but he is the one whose fault it is that this story takes place. See, an electric monk is a devise whose purpose it is to believe anything blindly. And so of course, when an idiot sends the monk to check if a part of the space ship is working, the electric monk says that it is, and the space ship blows up. How this ties in to the story would be obvious if only you would read it.
The actual protagonist in our story is a fellow named Richard MacDuff, who went to college with Dirk Gently. Richard has been possessed by some force, and that doesn't make him happy. Dirk Gently has waltzed into his life with his theories, and that doesn't make poor Richard any happier.
This is a hilarious novel. It also contains more than a few interesting theories/creatures. It is not as whimsical as his Hitchhiker series, and so it is able to have more of a plot.
Happy reading
Leslie Stewart(IQ 170) has been dumped by the man of her dreams for the daughter of the most powerful man in the US of A. She vows revenge. To get revenge, she amasses a powerful media network, and sets about ruining the man who has now become the president. Meanwhile, it appears that the president may be responsible for the deaths of three women who OD'd on ecstasy. Read and see whose best laid plans are reduced to shambles.
Sheldon's style is charming, although not terribly realistic. He likes to portray smart women who get ahead by manipulating the idiot men around them, and he likes to have big conspiracies that ultimately fail, and little people who make it. It does bother me that he gives Leslie Stewart here an IQ of 170, because while that is high, it doesn't lead to her behavior. Also, some of the business strategies she uses are illegal, and have been ever since monopolizing strategies brought on the Great Depresion.
Happy reading.
"It's Not a Bug, It's a Feature!"
Computer Wit and Wisdom Compiled by David Lubar
This is a compilation of sayings applicable to computers. Those quoted include George Bush(I assume Sr., but it's not specified), who apparently tried to learn to use a computer, and is quoted several times in this book, saying things like, "What's a mouse?". Characters from books, such as Robinson Crusoe, Hamlet, and Sherlock Holmes, are also quoted. Don Quixote says, "A fine calculation you are making! It is plain you don't know the ins and outs of the printers...". Authors are also quoted outside of books. Daniel Pinkwater, whose Fat Camp Commandos was reviewed here, says, "A brand new computer! Oh joy! New things to learn. New, bewildering instructions to follow. Ordinarily, I'd rather be shot." Other authors quoted include Orson Scott Card, Michael Crichton, Douglass Adams, and Isaac Asimov. Each chapter has a humorous introduction by David Lubar, which is at least as funny as the quotes. The chapters are three to ten pages of two to four quotes each. There are 202 pages in the book.
The copy that I checked out of the library hadn't been circulated for four years, because nobody(ok, I'm stretching it. Don't call me on it.) goes to the computer section looking for humor. This book was published in 1995, so there's not as much about the internet as there could be, but there's still two chapters on the internet. The cover illustration (by Matthw McNitt) is much better than cover illustrations usually are; it shows a man at a computer, the mouse in one hand, and his glasses in the other, with a fly who is a bit larger than him with one mandible on his shoulder, and one pointing at the screen.
LOL reading.
Angela's mother has raised her with the story that she, Angela is the child of a love match. Angela's mother(Dido) says that the reason Angela's father is not around is that he was married with three kids. And according to Dido, Angela is the best thing that has happened to her, the remnant of love. Now that Angela is 18, she wants to find and meet her father.
Tycho Potter is a friend of Angela's. He has a crush on her since kindergarden. Tycho is a brilliant kid who obsesses about his not so great appearance, and his rather short stature. He is worried about what will happen when Angela meets her father. He is right to be worried.
Where this book takes place is a problem that bugged me throughout the book. There are two and three cent coins, so it can't be the U.S., but the space shuttle referred to is one that I thought NASA launched. There are neat trivia facts strewn throughout this book, because Tycho is into fact which to him aren't trivia. Because Tycho is ugly and Angela is pretty, the reader does get to read some interesting thoughts on the importance of beauty.
Happy reading.
A More Perfect Union Why Straight America Must Stand Up For Gay Rights
by Richard D. Mohr
The most interesting word I had to look up while reading this book- quean: 1. a woman regarded as being disreputable, particularly a prostitute. 2.Scots A young woman. The word came as part of a tirade about the insulting words used to describe minority groups, which equates gays with every other minority group around. Mohr paints a scary picture of an American culture which has less than exemplary attitudes towards anyone who is not a straight white male, preferably protestant. The picture is scary mostly because it strikes me as acurate. This book provides a sad and convincing argument that gays in America do not have American rights. It argues for gay equality in the contexts of religion, history, minority rights, the military, and marriage. It provides convincing arguments in all areas except religion, for which only the weak argument that many of the religous are selectively religous. It also includes five pages on what you can do. Although this book was pulished in 1994, with parts having being printed in 1988, it continues to be relevant today.
Thoughtful reading.
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Liam's father has AIDS, a crime that Liam cannot forgive. He is mad at his father for being gay, he is mad that his father committed adultery, he is mad that his parents are lying to him, and he is ashamed because he cannot tell his friends. Over the course of this book, which mostly covers the holidays of thanksgiving and chistmas, Liam tries to understand his father, and the ways in which his mother and aunt choose to deal with his father.
The title and subject of this book link it to the Night Kite by M.E.Kerr. Both are about teenagers dealing with a family members with AIDS, and both use a kite to symbolize the family member. The similarity doesn't go much farther though. This story is told in a pensive manner, and the characters are not known to the reader, that is, we watch them from a distance. Liam does not display much maturity here, but neither do the other characters. This is a sad story; there is no happy ending. It was published 9 years ago, and it is my hope that the world has changed since then, but it has not yet changed enough for the subject here to be less relevant than when it was written.
Pensive reading.
Henry Ford And The Jews
The Mass Production of Hate by Neil Baldwin
My eighth grade teacher included the information that Henry Ford was antisemitic and that he had an antisemeic newspaper called the Dearborn Independant as part of the unit on the Holocaust, but to only know that is to only know the dry bones of an interesting story. For example, Henry Ford retracted his antisemetic tales and closed the Dearborn Independant as a show of good faith, but never actually stopped suporting antisemetism in other ways. And the only book of Hitler's that showed much wear was Henry Ford's The International Jew.
This book is filled with information and interesting stories. The pictures are awesonme, although the captions leave much to be desired. Pictures of newspapers in foreign languages do not have captions telling us what the newpapers say. This book is also frustrating in that a large cast of characters is introduced, and we are expected to remember all of them. The story is not entirely in chronological order, and some dates would have added clarity to the book.
THe book's dedication, "For the librarians", sets a tone to the book. It also acknowledges the friends of all bibliophiles, librarians. A bibliography, notes, permissions, and an index are included at the back of the book. The title of this book, and some of the interest, comes from an out of print book of the same title, by Albert Lee. If anyone has read both this book and that of Albert Lee, I would love to know how they compare.
Philosophical reading.
Buddy's got a girlfriend who's upper-class. His parents, his brother, and even his best friend do not approve. But Buddy is infatuated. He is willing to do lie, steal, whatever it takes, to be with her. To impress her, Buddy brings his girlfriend, Skye Pennnington, to his grandfather's house. Skye and his grandfather hit off well, and Buddy begins to admire his grandfather. When his father gets mad at Buddy for going behind his back with Skye, Buddy moves in with his grandfather. Then, a reporter publishes the story that Buddy's grandfather is a Nazi war criminal, who was called Gentlehands ironically, because he used to taunt his Italian prisoners with Italian opera to make them homesick. Faced with this unpleasant truth, Buddy is forced to confront himself.
I didn't like Buddy himself, which made the book much less enjoyable. Buddy lies and goes against his conscience too much for me to empathize with him. I was also annoyed that the problem of Buddy's grandfather being Gentlehands came out at the very end of the book, after a lot of hinting. Nonetheless, this book raises a number of interesting philosophical questions.
By the way, have you noticed that M.E. Kerr visited this site? If not, I suggest you look at and sign the guestbook now.
Happy reading.
The Library of Congress gives the first topic of this book as 1.Coyote(Legendary Character)-fiction. This seems somewhat bizarre, as Coyote is only a peripheral character in this novel of peripheral characters. Coyote is portrayed here as a foolish guy who thinks he's GOD. (Capitalization not mine). Somebody is telling a story of creation or possibly of something else, and Coyote always interrupts and changes the story a bit. In the real world parts of this story, the storytellers seem to be old indians who have escaped from an insane asylum. Through their stories, it is hinted that they may be something else altogether.
The title is a reference to the treaties between the American Indians and the government, which said that they were valid as long as the grass was green, and water ran. The style of this book is unusual, which matches it's unusual topic and content. According to the back flap,Thomas King is of Cherokee, Greek, and German descent, and those heritages are almost the only heritages NOT mentioned here. This book throws subtle humor into topics which don't usually seem all that funny.
Happy reading.
This book is given a very positive review on booksforabuck.com. I would not give such a positive review, because after reading this book, reading the review on booksforabuck was informative about the actual plot. Science fiction novels often contain their own terminology. Done in moderation, this helps to give the book its own unique setting. With more unique terminology, explanations are needed. When overdone, the books become confusing and are difficult to read. Herter overdoes it, and he explains very few of the many confusing terms used in this book.
Happy reading.
When Someone Dies
In Illinois
All The Legal and Practical Things You Need To Do by Amelia E. Pohl, esq. with Illinois attorney Chester M. Prezybylo
This series has been done on about half of the states so far, and Pohl is planning to do this for all of them, and so if you live in a state other than Illinois, this probably applies to your version as well.
This book puts the legaleese concerning death in readable terms. It talks about how to leave your things to the people you want to leave them to, and how to deal with the things you may inherit. One thing I did not know that I find interesting, is that any will that does not mention the decedent's children is not valid. For example, if my father wrote a will and wanted to estrange me, he would have to say that, and not simply leave me out. And if he wrote a will before I was born, he would have to add an addendum about whether he wanted me to inherit. A glossary is included in the back. Advice for how to deal psychologically is also included.
Meant to be a reference book, this book is for people worried about their own deaths or who think they stand to inherit at someone else's death. I found this an interesting read although I do not fall into that category. I advise this book for people not yet dealing with death because you will not want to have to integrate this knowledge when you are already dealing with a stressful situation, namely death.
Educational reading.
Matt Donaghy(Big Mouth) is accused of planning to blow up his school. He never planned anything like that, but the police and the school accuse him anyways. His friends desert him. But Ugly Girl(Ursula Riggs) heard the conversation that she is sure started the whole scare. And Ugly Girl does not have anything to lose by telling the truth. So she tells it. Matt is cleared of any wrongdoing, but his former friends remain hostile. He resents the school, and becomes depressed. He feels that only his golden retriever is still there for him. He decides to commit suicide. As he is about to let himself fall down the cliff at the local nature preserve, Ugly Girl comes by and saves him. They become friends, and Matt is able to gain from the experience.
This story is told mostly with alternating chapters by Ugly Girl and Matt. Ugly Girl generally refers to herself as Ugly Girl and in the third person, but Matt talks about himself in the first person. Some chapters are told in the third person, generally following our two protagonists.
Although I am somewhat skeptical of the premise that the school would really turn against a kid on so little evidence, and that all of his friends would abandon him, once the premise has been assumed, this is a good story told by unusual and interesting characters.
Your opinion is hereby solicited: in a group of teenage friends, if one is unfairly accused of plotting to blow up the school, and the friends know that this is untrue, will the friends come to the defendant's support? Would you come to the defense of an unjustly accused friend? Would you come to the defense of an unjustly accused stranger? Do the consequences of the action affect your decision?
Happy reading.
Before reading this book, I had never heard of Kay Arthur. According to the library, this is Jewish Fiction, and I read it as such. However, going online, I find that Kay Arthur is in fact a Christian involved in missionary type activities. I find that this does affect my view of the book, and clarifies some views expressed in the book that made me wonder what sort of person might write such a book.
This book follows Jewish suffering from the destruction of the first temple onwards, by following the story of a person called Sarah. Sarah is really a metaphor, and her husband Abraham is meant to be God. She commits adultery, and refuses to return to her husband, and so he leaves Jerusalem and allows it to be captured. Sarah's story is then told through the following 2600 years or so, ending with her husband's return and the messiah.
As a metaphor, I found this story somewhat interesting, but as historical fiction it is seriously lacking. There are anachronisms everywhere(Islam before it existed). The characters are ridiculously similar to one another. Some characters are immortal and some are part of time periods, with no distictions between the two; how these immortal being live is quite unclear.
The intended audience for such a book is also unclear. There are many references to Jewish history that I do not think most people are aware of, and yet Jewish tradition is definitely not being represented. The oral law is dismissed and support for Karaitic views is expressed. But this book does not seem to be aimed at Moslems, who are misrepresented throughout, and the Catholic church is definitely being insulted, so who's left? The only possible purpose for this book that I can think of is to familiarize formerly religious Jews with Christian thought and to convert them.
Do not read.
Kitty LiBBer Cat Cartoons by Women
edited by Rosalind Warren
This book contains a real variety of cat cartoons by women. In general, they lean towards femenist views. Some are funny; some are really more philosophical. Some of the cartoonists are artists; for some you only get teh impression that the cartoonist couldn't haold a pen- but she could still make a point. My favorite is by Annie Lawson. Her handwriting is a little difficult to read, and the figures are stick figures. But the story of how the narrator dealt with feeding the neighbors cats when she loses the key is really funny, the sort of thing I can imagine growing into an urban legend.
LOL reading.
At her naming ceremony, Ella was "blessed" with Obedience. She has to obey any command given to her, no matter what. Ella has a fairly normal childhood anyhow, but then her mother dies. Her father, Sir Peter the trader, comes home for the funeral. Ella does not like him. At the funeral she meets prince Charmant, who is enamored of her. Her father, confronted with having a daughter, decides to send her to finishing school, where she is miserable. She runs away, and has many adventures before meeting back up with her father. His fortunes have changed, and he decides to marry her off for money. But the only suitor to come after her does not have enough money, and so he decides to marry a rich lady himself instead. He marries an awful lady, Dame Olga, with two awful daughters, whom Ella had already known from finishing school. Dame Olga marries Sir Peter for his money and is devastated when she finds out that he does not have any. This wouldn't bother Sir Peter, except that the same fairy who had cursed Ella comes to his wedding and confers the blessing of eternal love upon Sir Peter and Dame Olga. So Sir Peter stays away from home, and Ella is left to the whims of her Stepmother and stepsisters, who make her into a maid and otherwise mistreat her. This is a Cinderella story with meat. Well written, and it even explains why someone on her feet all the time has small feet! People who walk much generally have larger feet; that's why binding find and stopping people from walking will prevent feet from growing. But Ella has fairy blood in her, and so she has small feet.
Happy reading.
On November 25, 1960, three sisters and their driver were murdered in what is now the Dominican Republic after they had just visited their husbands in jail. The sisters and their husbands were political objectors to the regime of the dictator Trujillo. These facts are used for the basis of this novel.
Each of the sisters who died, and their surviving sister, narrates a chapter in turn, talking about their lives, their romances, but mostly their politics. Overall, this book is very well written, but there are a few characters who appear drastically different in different chapters, without any explanation. The names of the children of the sisters are easy to forget. The postscript should have told us a little more about what later happened to Trujillo's regime; I am not the only reader who does not know much about South American reader, and I am not the only reader who was not alive 40 years ago. Commounism is idealized in this book without really being discussed. One of the sisters says that while she thinks people should be good, she doesn't think you can force people to become nice.
Thoughtful reading.
Sabian Blake (the back of the book says that he is Dr.Sabian Blake but this is supported no where in the story) has possesion of a mysterious book called the Nemorensis. He thinks that this is a wonderful, truthful book given to him by divine providence. The Nemorensis has prophesied the coming of a comet called Wormwood which will come and end the world, and then the people will get 21 days to make the world deserving of being destroyed or not. Well, sure enough, the comet does come, and blots out the sun, and begins night and day anew. The animals go berserk, and every dog and horse in all London goes rampaging and tries to kill every human around. Amazingly enough, once the rampage ends, the people forget about it and go back to their business.
Blake, however does not forget. He calls various people together to discuss what he knows about the ending of the world, and begins to get sucked deeper into a bad business. His servant Agetta is sought out by numerous people looking for the Nemorensis. Her father, an innkeeper and petty crook, has a real angel in his attic. Agetta must sort through the characters suddenly befriending her.
My advance copy informs me that a large marketing campaign is planned and that the publishers are hoping that this will be the next Harry Potter, but I don't see that happening. The main characters are adults and children who act like adults, which isn't a great idea in children's literature. The religous nature of the plot is not pulled off well. And to top all this, the ending has absolutely no sense of finality.
Happy reading.
