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RE: Book Reviews - 2/14/2007 1:19:58 PM
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Auben
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From: Where pines tower and cranberries float
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That sounds interesting.
I'm sorting through gardening books. The latest are Square Food Gardening and Ruth Stout's No Work Garden. Both are interesting in their own way. Square Foot Gardening being the pet of a retired engineer trying to bring efficiency to gardening. His most novel idea being that the row way of raising crops is a waste of space and water. He finds that planting 4 1" blocks in a square saves space and keeps the ground from being compacted by the row method. He's very thorough and I really recommend the book for new or analytical gardners. He has lots of charts and tables for germination, when to plant, best grow temperatures...all kinds of things and he summarizes them. Ruth Stout's book is funnier and easier to read. Imagine a very opinionated and talkative great aunt or grandmother. The fascinating thing about her book is her reliance on mulch (specifically spoiled hay from farmers) to eliminate weeding, fertilizing, and watering. The constant break down of compost into the garden feeds the soil and makes it very rich. Stout is sometimes repetitive but has a nice conversational style. If you are an anayltical person, don't look for proof or charts here, Stout relies only on her own experience (30 years of gardening).
Both of these books are 20-40 years old and I'd recommend them to gardeners..although I won't put a grade on them.
I'm heading over to Lasagna Gardening (an adaptation of Stout's method) next and something on companion planting (what combinations of plants help each other grow and protect each other).
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Tamara
~Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time~
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RE: Book Reviews - 2/14/2007 5:29:45 PM
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rnershigh
Posts: 1226
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Auben
That sounds interesting.
It is. My fave genre is sci-fi and fantasy. I'm also reading another 2 other books at the same time. 
Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson
This book is about an expedition of 100 scientists from all over the world sent to colonize/terraform Mars for a permament human colony in the year 2026. These scientists left everything behind on Earth (they'll never go back), and they are chosen (after extensive pyschological testing) to go to Mars.
I am still reading it, but it doesn't have much action in the story yet. It is more a look at human behavior and actions, a plausible scenario of what could happen when you get a group of people together to colonize Mars. How they adapt and change to their new surroundings, the realization that things aren't the same as on Earth.
There is a lot of human drama and political/power moves within the group. Everyone has a different idea of how to go about colonizing Mars. Some, the geologists, want to keep Mars pure and don't terraform or disturb the planet. When it comes to society, some want to start fresh and leave all the human baggage behind on Earth.
The book is slow moving, and was a bit boring at times but it is an interesting look at human interactions within a group. This book is part of a trilogy. Green Mars and Blue Mars are books that come after this one.
If you have always been fascinated by Mars colonization stories, this is the story for you.
A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge
This story takes place in the future where humans have spread throughout the Milky Way galaxy. They have encountered other alien species. The universe is divided into Zones, and depending on what zone of space one is on, whether one has the ability of faster-than-light travel and high-tech electronic devices that work.
There is the Transcend, at the outer edges of the spiral arms, which is the ultimate goal of many intelligent alien races, where lifeforms have powers like gods and are able to grasp and comprehend thoughts that beings in the lower zones can't even fathom. They are called Powers and usually keep to themselves in the Transcend because as you go farther down the lower zones you lose the abilities you gain in the Transcend. To operate in the Beyond, the Powers use Emissary Devices to do their bidding.
There is the Beyond, a zone of space where faster-than-light ships travel and many automation and high-tech gadgets make life more luxurious and easy. There is the Slow Zone where faster-than-light travel is not possible, and this is where Earth is located. Lastly, there are the Unthinking Depths (toward the core of the Milky Way galaxy) and space travel is virtually a no-go here. Ships and electronic computers fail here after a time.
These are the boundaries in space and it is possible but difficult to reach the Beyond from the Slow Zone.
The worlds in the Beyond are connected through a type of Net, a type of library, with archives that store vast amounts of information. There are archives that are millions of years old, first created by alien races either extinct or evolved into a Power.
The story begins with a human colony Straumli Lab in High Beyond space, at the edge of the Transcend. They are tinkering with an ancient archive and unknowingly let lose an old, malevolent Power that the rest of the Beyond soon calls the Perversion or the Blight. It begins to devour and take down local nets in the High Beyond, with no hope of stopping it. Hope may rest on a Stramuli ship crashlanded on a planet in the Low Beyond with primitive aliens, the Tines, that resemble dogs and have a group mind centered around packs.
This is a highly engrossing read and I recommend it for those that enjoy space opera and adventures and other alien races.
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O Grave! where is thy Victory?
O Death! where is thy Sting?
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RE: Book Reviews - 2/15/2007 10:09:59 PM
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Nocturnalux
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The History of Atheism by Georges Minois, translated into Portuguese by Serafim Ferreira
Georges Minois is an historian, a strong adept of what came to be known as the École des Annalles , an historical approach that focuses primarily on the genesis, development and mutations of certain concepts, ideals or intellectual achievements. In this particular volume the author turns his attention to the phenonemon of unbelief and tries to determine just what are the positive principles of Atheism. Traditionally perceived as a negative doctrine (in that it denies the existence of God without necessarily proving a replacement in terms of theoretical thinking) Minois argues that Atheism has existed in all periods of history and involves a wide spectrum of ideas and attitudes.
This is an in-depth study that covers human history all the way to our days, the quotations are immense and too many to mention here. Once again, Minois staggers me with his erudtion and commitment to research.
The conclusion came as a surprise of sorts. Minois is by no means a believer, although he is certaintly not hostile to faith, his interpretation hinges on the disputable fact that both believers and atheists have something in common that sets them apart from the confusion of pseudo beliefs that abound: they both have an interpretative frame that applies to reality as a whole, grounded on a firm rational and intellectually solid approach.
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I am an agnostic but I mean no harm.
*Lux et Veritas*
Light, where art thou.
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RE: Book Reviews - 2/17/2007 4:34:41 PM
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rnershigh
Posts: 1226
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From: somewhere over the rainbow
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Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
This is a story about a 32 year old mentally retarded man named Charlie Gordon. He has been selected for an experimental surgical procedure designed to increase intelligence by two professors. Up until Charlie, the surgery has only been performed once before and it was performed on a lab rat named Algernon. Finding success with the rat, the professors decide to try this surgery on a human being.
Charlie undergoes the surgery and slowly, and through his diary entries you see him change. He becomes aware of himself and those around him. Ideas and thoughts and insights click in his mind. Things and events that before he didn't understand, he understands wholly now as a "normal" person. He learns more about the human condition that he was ignorant of before. He grapples with this sudden change in himself (and those around him in reaction).
This book is told from first-person point of view in the form of a diary kept by Charlie. He is told by the professors to keep a journal from the start, through the procedure and until the very end. I really like how it's told from this diary perspective as you, the reader, get to see from Charlie's eyes. From the mentally retarded Charlie, the sweet, child-like, and kind man with the low IQ (with misspellings and all), to the genius Charlie later on who isn't so innocent anymore. With this surgery, his eyes have been opened to the world in its entirety.
As he becomes smarter and smarter than everyone else, he starts to feel more isolated. He has gone from one extreme to the other. From mental retardedness to a genius. The problem, he is aware of this isolation when he never was before when he had a low IQ. He begins to research into this experimental procedure and comes to the realization that it is only temporary. His mind will detoriate and he will lose all that he has gained. As high and fast as his intelligence grows, the crash down will be just as chaotic and fast once begun.
It makes the reader wonder, was it better for Charlie to stay as he was before (ignorant of all he's learned), or is it better with this new Charlie? Was it even fair to Charlie to let him glimpse something he'll end up forgetting and losing? Was he normal before? Does it take super intelligence to be normal? What is normal?
_____________________________
O Grave! where is thy Victory?
O Death! where is thy Sting?
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RE: Book Reviews - 2/24/2007 5:16:20 PM
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rnershigh
Posts: 1226
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Auben
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See
A novel about friendship, foot binding, and women's secret writing. This novel takes place in China and follows the lives of two best friends (or laotongs) as one betters her life and the other sinks into poverty.
Interesting, in a New York bestseller kind of way. I admit being curious about footbinding and women's issues in China since reading The Good Earth and Pearl S Buck's autobiography. This did tell me a lot of women's lives without making the characters react like modern liberated women. Very well balanced in that way.
There is one scene where the girls seem like they could be experimenting with intimacy but it doesn't go anywhere. It still could be uncomfortable for some.
Grade: 8
Interesting book.
My grandmother knew a woman that had her foot bound. This was during the 1950s in SF, California. The woman had to be carried up the stairs because she couldn't walk up them herself by her husband. My grandmother told me her feet were very tiny, the size of an infant. I'm not sure when the practice of footbinding ended, but I was suprised to know that even into the 20th century there were still women that had bound feet! I think the woman was at least middle-aged at this time.
_____________________________
O Grave! where is thy Victory?
O Death! where is thy Sting?
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RE: Book Reviews - 2/24/2007 11:21:44 PM
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Auben
Posts: 1608
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From: Where pines tower and cranberries float
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The author traveled to rural China and she talked with a woman who had her feet bound right before WWII. In the cities the practice ended around the beginning of the 20th century, but in very rural China there were even some done until the Communists had total control in the 50s.
One of the most fascinating parts of the book was detailing how they bound them to come out 3 inches long. It was pretty gruesome. It made me wonder how they came to be considered so attractive.
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Tamara
~Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time~
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RE: Book Reviews - 2/28/2007 12:21:42 PM
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rnershigh
Posts: 1226
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Earth by David Brin
Set in the not-too-distant future of 2038. This is a type of future apocalpytic story. The Earth has undergone some radical changes caused by the global warming. The ozone layer has started breaking down to the point where people only go outside if they are wearing hats and skin cream or special sunglasses to protect their skin and eyes from UV damage. Animals and fish are also affected by this UV damage with many becoming blind or worse, extinct. Entire rainforests and forests have been wiped out. Desparate to save what animal and plant life are hanging on, people have built hundreds of Life Arks, contained ecosystems stacked on top of the other housing the animal and plant life that has survived.
Resources that were once abundant are now gone (such as petroleum) or severely rationed. Deserts have begun enroaching into Europe. Recycling is the norm and is mandatory. Socially, society is vastly different as well. Privacy and secrecy is obsolete, with tru-vu eyeware able to spy and snoop on anyone. The Net has made it possible to have information at your fingertips. It's a new world, with a new cause (or religion if you want to call it that) called the Gaians that many have adopted to help combat the dying Earth.
But that is not what will end the world (hard as that is to believe as you read through the story!). That is just the backdrop. What will end the world is a tiny singularity, a black hole, engulfing the core of the Earth. How did it get there? What crazy person (or government) created it? And more importantly, how will it be destroyed to save the Earth?
I found Earth to be a well-told story. The author has a background in the sciences, astrophysics, and so some of the descriptions of the theory behind this singularity can get kind of confusing. But there are little diagrams in the book that help you visualize what the characters are talking about.
If you have a problem with evolution then you may not like this story. Before the start of each section the author has a little blurb about Earth's orgins and uses evolution as the cause in describing it. (you know, soupy start to single-cell organism to multicelled, etc). So you can deduce that the author probably believes in evolution. If you can suspend your disbelief ("it would never happen like that!") and just remember this is a fictional story then you'll enjoy the book.
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O Grave! where is thy Victory?
O Death! where is thy Sting?
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RE: Book Reviews - 3/5/2007 10:35:56 AM
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rnershigh
Posts: 1226
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Wuthering Heights by Emma Bronte
Okay, everyone has heard of this book so I probably don't need to give a review. Some have seen the movie adaptations of this book as well so some already know the storyline and what this book is about. I just finished this book yesterday and pondered what I read and decided to give my thoughts on what I just read.
I absolutely loved this book. I couldn't stop reading until I reached the very end. I had seen both the 1939 and 1992 movie adaptations of this book so I already knew what happened, but the movies don't capture the essence and emotion of the story as well as the book can.
Heathcliff is the gothic romance hero that I think many romance writers base a part of their character on: brooding, mysterious, darkly handsome, and harsh. (for those of you who've read many romance novels of today can attest to the fact that many authors use a typical alpha male hero who, though may not be as cruelly harsh as Heathcliff, share some traits in common). Cathy is gay-hearted and a wild beauty, but also selfish and manipulative in her behavior and actions. Both characters are so realistic in their human emotions and failings that you can't help but empathize with them and hope for that happily-ever-after you know will not occur (as the story is told in flashback so you already know their love was doomed).
I found myself going through the "what-ifs" scenarios: What if Cathy hadn't spurned Heathcliff for the more wealthy and civilized Edgar? What if Heathcliff hadn't left to make his fortune to win Cathy? What if Heathcliff hadn't decided to seek vengenance and revenge on those who prevented their union?
What made this book so tragic to me was the fact Cathy knew instinctly what she was doing (by accepting and marrying Edgar for position and wealth) was so wrong! She was going against herself by rejecting the fact that they were indeed soulmates and meant for each other. One half of a whole:
"In my soul and in my heart, I'm convinced I'm wrong!"
"I love him; and not that, not because he's handsome, Nelly, but because he's more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same; and Linton's is as different as a moonbeam from lightning, or frost from fire"
"My love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath--a source of little visible delight, but necessary. Nelly, I am Heathcliff! He's always, always in my mind--not as a pleasure, but as my own being"
Despite her confessions of the heart, she goes through with her folly and dooms herself and Heathcliff and all those they encounter. It sets in motion an obssession and madness in Heathcliff that continues long after Cathy dies. Though he becomes so cruel and unlikeable in the second half of the book, I couldn't really hate him, knowing what he went through in the first half of the book. Although what he went through doesn't excuse his behavior and actions, you still understand. You can hear the pain and anguish in his soul when he asks Cathy why she did what she did:
"Why did you betray your own heart, Cathy?"
"Because misery, and degradation, and death, and nothing that God or Satan could inflict would have parted us, you, of your own will, did it. I have not broken your heart--you have broken it; and in breaking it, you have broken mine.
All in all, this book is dark, despairing, emotionally wrenching and passionate. Be warned, this book will make you cry.
_____________________________
O Grave! where is thy Victory?
O Death! where is thy Sting?
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RE: Book Reviews - 3/27/2007 1:31:14 PM
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Auben
Posts: 1608
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From: Where pines tower and cranberries float
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I made the mistake of buying about 20 books off the dollar rack at Half Price book store so I'm in the middle of 4-5 right now, but I did look over a few cookbooks.
Rachel Ray's All Hours cookbooks and her holiday/party cooking one. I didn't like either one of them. I can't imagine eating most of the foods or having 1/4 of the ingredients in my home.
The Minimalist at Home by Mark Bitten (NY Times writer) is wonderful! I love the way he not only talks about the why, but gives you easy options for additions and changes. This was a great cookbook and I'm going to check out his other cookbooks and pick something up for my shelf.
I also loved Gaia's Garden: at Home Permaculture. Great organic gardening book which goes into a lot of why plants like certain organic practices and how to get the best out of your plants by understanding their needs.
Hopefully I'll finish one of my novels soon and update some more.
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Tamara
~Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time~
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RE: Book Reviews - 4/1/2007 9:08:39 PM
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Auben
Posts: 1608
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From: Where pines tower and cranberries float
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I've made two trips to half price books so I'm over-extended right now, but I did finish one and The Rule of Four should be done soon (last hundred pages).
Never Have Your Dog Stuffed by Alan Alda
Autobiography by the actor who played Hawkeye on MASH. Interesting because of his portrayal of himself as a curious creator/player/learner, someone always on the look out for something new to learn or build. Writer and actor, son of a Hollywood star (who got his start in burlesque), husband to a musician, father to 3 daughters, son of a woman with schizophrenia. An interesting life.
I like that he doesn't take himself to seriously, but somehow I thought it would be funnier.
grade: 7.5
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Tamara
~Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time~
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RE: Book Reviews - 4/2/2007 2:22:37 AM
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uponeagleswings
Posts: 1765
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I read Never Have your Dog Stuffed, and I thought it would be funnier too. For someone with such a personality and wit, the book seemed awfully dry to me. There was some ironic humor, but still.
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Stacy The Story "A violet is not an impaired daisy."
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RE: Book Reviews - 4/2/2007 10:32:01 AM
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Auben
Posts: 1608
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From: Where pines tower and cranberries float
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I enjoyed that he seems like a moderate person. It wasn't one long vent of his childhood or his mother's disease and he never portrayed himself as a perfect person. But yeah, the comedy reminded me of his burlesque roots, only gentler.
The Rule of Four by Ian Caldwell and someone else (sorry book is not by me)
Pretty good thriller, a lot like The Historian in its love of books and history. This ones only 400ish pages though. Two childhood friends wrote it together. One of them graduated from Princeton with a History degree and the other from Harvard (I think with a degree in English or writing but it was hard to tell from the flap). The plot follows 4 roommates at Princeton as one of them unravels the mystery to a Renaissance book known as The Hypnoerotimachia. What follows are murders, chases, the history of Florence, linguistic codes and riddles, and escapes through underground tunnels.
Nice and fast paced. Good characterization. Imaginative. They only downside is that I felt the finale was too rushed. The build was so strong that 20 pages should not be able to contain the big action sequence.
grade: 8.5 a good solid thriller
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Tamara
~Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time~
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RE: Book Reviews - 4/2/2007 4:37:10 PM
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stateofgrace
Posts: 1993
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Auben
The Rule of Four by Ian Caldwell and someone else (sorry book is not by me)
Pretty good thriller, a lot like The Historian in its love of books and history. This ones only 400ish pages though
LOL, the mention of similarity to The Historian is the kiss of death (no pun intended) as far as I'm concerned. That was by far the most boring vampire book I've ever read. And I'm of the opinion that it's pretty difficult to actually make vampires boring.
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America Needs Revival. Will you commit to pray for it?
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RE: Book Reviews - 4/2/2007 4:59:38 PM
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gratefulforgrace
Posts: 252
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From: Near Spokane Washington
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I loved The Rule of Four. It came out amid all the The Davinci Code hoopla and really capitalized on that. I thought it was much better though. I loved The Historian too!
I really recommend The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield. I read it about a month ago and still can't stop talking about it. It's the story of an author who has kept her true identity a secret and finally decides to reveal all to an amateur biographer with an interest in sibling relationships. It is set in all my favorite locations: libraries, archives, bookshops and has a number of interesting references to Victorian novels like Jane Eyre, The Woman in White, etc. It was so, so good...really, one of the best books I've read in a long time.
I'm currently reading Chaim Potok's The Book of Lights which is good but definitely not as good at The Chosen/The Promise/My Name is Asher Lev.
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Proud Follower of Christ
Wife of Chris
Mother of Helen and #2 due March 23!
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RE: Book Reviews - 4/3/2007 6:27:47 AM
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babbred
Posts: 567
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quote:
ORIGINAL: stateofgrace
LOL, the mention of similarity to The Historian is the kiss of death (no pun intended) as far as I'm concerned. That was by far the most boring vampire book I've ever read. And I'm of the opinion that it's pretty difficult to actually make vampires boring.
I bought that book several months ago because of all the hype. I never got past the first couple of chapters. It's still gathering dust on my bookshelf. Maybe someday I'll go back and try to finish it.
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There's nothing better than a good friend, unless it's a good friend with chocolate.
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RE: Book Reviews - 4/16/2007 11:13:47 AM
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Auben
Posts: 1608
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From: Where pines tower and cranberries float
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The Sailor Who Fell From Grace with the Sea by Yokio Mishima
Japanese classic about a boy, his widowed mother, her lover, and the sea (as it symbolizes vastness, uncertainty, death, and the greatness men assume is inside them). A psychological novel which lives in it's characters heads...often bringing out the most unpleasant parts of humanity. In many ways it reminded me of the Iris Murdoch novel I read a few months ago (A Severed Head). It switches between the 13 year old boy and the nihilist gang he's a part of, the mother and her expectations, the lover and his change from idealistic drifter to settled family man.
Masterfully and deceptively simple, nothing extraneous. If you enjoyed Goldman's Lord of the Flies you may like this one. If you like happy books you probably won't like this one.
Grade: 8.75
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Tamara
~Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time~
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RE: Book Reviews - 4/19/2007 10:15:16 AM
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Auben
Posts: 1608
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From: Where pines tower and cranberries float
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Population 485: Meeting Your Neighbors One Siren at a Time by Michael Perry
this is more of a regional book of essays from a volunteer firefighter and EMT in a small town in NW Wisconsin. Sometimes funny and poetic, Perry has a good grasp of the regional character. Expect a lot of stories about firefighting, ambulances, and people's quirks in the best of the essays. At the worst point he jumps from subject to subject to keep your attention and you feel like his topic has been done before and probably better.
Promising. I probably will read his Truck: a Love Story. His more linear stories were great, engaging and full of local small town color and I believe Truck is the story of one summer. I think he'll shine better in that.
Grade: 7
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Tamara
~Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time~
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RE: Book Reviews - 4/21/2007 10:27:46 PM
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Auben
Posts: 1608
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From: Where pines tower and cranberries float
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Amsterdam by Ian McEwan
Booker prize-winning novel about two ageing friends. It begins at a funeral for a woman they both loved and moves back and forth between the two of them, one is a composer writing a symphony for the millenium. The other is the editor of a intellectual magazine on its way down. You get a feel for each man in his life, his fears, his loves, his talents, and his pettiness. Through the novel the two characters mirror each other and cross each other until they pull the novel down to the finish.
McEwan is a lovely writer. One of the things I love about him is that the people are so real and so flawed. The other thing I love about him is that it's never completely clear until the end where he is heading with his characters. It's very difficult to track him because he doesn't follow the standard patterns.
I loved this book until the end, and then like Atonement I felt disappointed at the final twist (actually Atonements twist was a bit better then this but the feeling was the same). I got the feeling that McEwan may be a lovely writer but he still feels the need to end on a bang, a certain hard finality, even if it seems silly to the reader or characters.
Grade: 8 (put together better but this is my gut answer 3 days after finishing)
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Tamara
~Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time~
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RE: Book Reviews - 4/26/2007 4:59:44 PM
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Auben
Posts: 1608
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From: Where pines tower and cranberries float
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Garlic and Sapphires by Ruth Reichl
A culinary memoir of the New York Times restaurant critic. Reichl has gone through 2 memoirs in food before now (Tender at the Bone and Comfort Me with Apples) to examine her formative years and her early married years in California (during the microbiotic revolution). This one covers her years with the Times and her disguises and food adventures in New York's top restaurants.
I enjoyed it. It definitely had more of a pattern of newspaper stories then her first book (Tender at the Bone), but the stories were simple and funny and I enjoyed reading about her food and friends. The title comes from a poem by TS Eliot that her husband quotes her when her spy-like life starts getting a little out of control.
grade: 7.5 Fun for cookes (recipes at the end of every section) and people interested in fine food or light adventures
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Tamara
~Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time~
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RE: Book Reviews - 5/4/2007 6:20:11 PM
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Auben
Posts: 1608
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From: Where pines tower and cranberries float
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The Postman by David Brin
Post-apolcalyptic fiction about a man making his way westward in search of a home after the world has been destroyed by nuclear holocaust, plague, and mayhem. On the way he meets bandits, a dead mailman, Holn survivalists, a supercomputer, the last of the feminists, and some army experiments.
Intriguing in it's way, as speculative fiction, but I it was hard for me to overlook the major character deviance that happened in the first third of the book. After all the time he spent making his main character normal, fearful, and consciencious it was hard to believe one of his decisions. Later changes I could believe because Brin spent the time, but the early important one did not ring true. Plus some of his reasoning seemed a bit off. But he made up for it with an exciting and expected finish.
Much better than the movie of the same name.
Grade: 7.5
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Tamara
~Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time~
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RE: Book Reviews - 5/9/2007 4:41:03 PM
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Auben
Posts: 1608
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From: Where pines tower and cranberries float
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The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
For lovers of romantic or gothic fiction, this has it all; a mansion with a topiary garden, a fire, isolation, madness, twins, an abandoned baby, a ghost, a governess, and some dark secrets. A bookish girl is hired by a mysterious dying author to write her biography, but is what she's telling her really the truth?
If you enjoyed Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, The Woman in White, or The Turn of the Screw you would probably like this. Setterfield keeps all the conventions and almost winks at you when she has the governess critique Henry James (his story concerns an isolated governess and a ghost) and other conventions of gothic writing.
I enjoyed this very much, especially when the author is telling the tale of Angelfield. Sometimes the narrator's own life can get a bit much (dh commented on the multiple paragraphs dedicated to sharpening pencils), especially since her own secret is stretched so thin over the story. Expect coincidences  but that's all a part of story.
Grade: 9
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Tamara
~Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time~
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RE: Book Reviews - 5/14/2007 12:27:59 PM
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Auben
Posts: 1608
Joined: 4/13/2005
From: Where pines tower and cranberries float
Status: offline
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The Forest People by Colin Turnbull
Anthropological narrative (not really a text, more like a story of his experience) of Turnbull's life with the Pygmies (African Congo) during the 1950s. Very compassionate, he obviously loved these people very much and it shows. Rich in detail and human impulse. You really feel like you are there.
Easy to read. Well laid out.
Score: 9
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Tamara
~Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time~
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