I read The Red Pyramid, first in The Kane Chronicles, by Rick Riordan. Carter and Sadie are brother and sister even though they were raised apart and hardly know each other. On one particularly exciting visit to the British Museum they discover they are from a family of Egyptian magicians, and they are descended from pharaohs. Their father, releases some gods, which then inhabit the bodies of Carter and Sadie who must learn to control the gods and develop their own magical powers whiles saving the world from Set and other evil forces. A fun introduction to Egyptian mythology. I thought Sadie's "Britishness" was a little bit forced, but still an enjoyable book.
Work on Purpose is by Lara Galinsky of Echoing Green which provides funding to social entrepreneurs. The book is about using your passion and your skills and knowledge to find the work you should do.
How to be an Everyday Philanthropist: 330 Ways to Make a Difference in Your Home, Community, and World - at No Cost! by Nicole Bouchard Bolee. These are just everyday actions and resources available to everyone who wants to make a positive difference in the world. I don't think any of these things really make a difference on a large scale, but sometimes the most important thing is to change yourself and your perspective and attitude. The suggestions in this book help with that.
Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick. I was looking forward to this because Selznick has written and/or illustrated some of my favorite children's books. This is a quick read; even though it's 600 pages long, most of them are illustrations. It alternates between the stories of Brian (in text) and Rose (in illustrations). Both are deaf and living 50 years apart. They both run away in search of a place to belong and end up in the American Museum of Natural History in New York. I didn't find the back and forth between the two stories confusing. The stories were similar and clearly related in some way, and in fact were tied together by the end of the book. I found it to be a little predictable and too simple, maybe (I'm not sure if that is the correct word). I suspect children reading it would not have the same issues that I did. While it's nowhere near as good as The Invention of Hugo Cabret, it was still an enjoyable story and worth reading.
Sunday, December 23, 2012
M T Anderson
I really like M T Anderson. Not because I really like all his books, but because he expects a lot from his readers. He writes for children and teenagers, but he never talks down to them. Recently, I've read several of his books.
Burger Wuss. This is satire, similar in feel to Anderson's Feed, except that this is way more annoying and considerably less creepy. With the backdrop of a rivalry between burger chains, O'Dermott's and Burger Queen, Anthony, a "nice" guy, seeks revenge when he catches his girlfriend making out with another guy. He spends the rest of the novel trying to be an idiot and a jerk like most of the rest of the people in the book. I guess it was written well, because the characters really got on my nerves.
The Norumbegan Quartet
This series begins with The Game of Sunken Places, which I read a few years ago, in which Brian and Gregory are tricked into playing a game to decide a territorial dispute between the Norumbegans and the Thusser Horde. The Thussers are looking to invade earth and feed off the dreams of people.
In book two, The Suburb Beyond the Stars, the Thussers try to assassinate Brian who is constructing the next round of the game. Gregory's cousin has disappeared and when Brian and Gregory go to Vermont to look for her they discover that time has gone crazy and the Thussers have broken the rules of the game.
In book three, The Empire of Gut and Bone, Brian and Gregory escape the invading Thusser Horde and find themselves in the Great Body where the Norumbegans have set up New Norumbega. The boys want the Norumbegans to help defeat the Thusser. This novel is clearly a satire and my favorite of the series. The Norumbegans have become lazy and cruel especially to the mechanical people who used to serve them, but have now deserted.
In book four, The Chamber in the Sky, Brian and Gregory must find a way to call the rules keepers to enforce the rules of the game, avoid being killed by unhelpful Norumbegans and escape from the Thusser.
This is an excellent series, part adventure, part satire, part fantasy. But it's also about growing up and growing apart.
Pals in Peril
This is a middle grade series that is goofy, fun, imaginative and a bit of a spoof. It follows the adventures of Lily Gefelty, just a normal girl, Katie Mulligan, star of the "Horror Hollow" series, and Jasper Dash, boy technonaut, who also had his own series of books decades ago. I read the third and fourth books in the series. These two should be read in order, but you don't need to have read the first two books before these (although they are fun too). The two books are Jasper Dash and the Flame-Pits of Delaware in which our heroes must save the monks of Vbngoom and stolen museum artifacts from the agents of the Awful and Adorable Autarch of Dagsboro. And you thought there were only outlet malls and financial services companies in Delaware. In Agent Q, or the Smell of Danger, the monks are trying to help our heroes escape the Autarch's Ministry of Silence and make it safely to the New Jersey border. These books are a lot of fun with humor both kids and adults will appreciate.
Burger Wuss. This is satire, similar in feel to Anderson's Feed, except that this is way more annoying and considerably less creepy. With the backdrop of a rivalry between burger chains, O'Dermott's and Burger Queen, Anthony, a "nice" guy, seeks revenge when he catches his girlfriend making out with another guy. He spends the rest of the novel trying to be an idiot and a jerk like most of the rest of the people in the book. I guess it was written well, because the characters really got on my nerves.
The Norumbegan Quartet
This series begins with The Game of Sunken Places, which I read a few years ago, in which Brian and Gregory are tricked into playing a game to decide a territorial dispute between the Norumbegans and the Thusser Horde. The Thussers are looking to invade earth and feed off the dreams of people.
In book two, The Suburb Beyond the Stars, the Thussers try to assassinate Brian who is constructing the next round of the game. Gregory's cousin has disappeared and when Brian and Gregory go to Vermont to look for her they discover that time has gone crazy and the Thussers have broken the rules of the game.
In book three, The Empire of Gut and Bone, Brian and Gregory escape the invading Thusser Horde and find themselves in the Great Body where the Norumbegans have set up New Norumbega. The boys want the Norumbegans to help defeat the Thusser. This novel is clearly a satire and my favorite of the series. The Norumbegans have become lazy and cruel especially to the mechanical people who used to serve them, but have now deserted.
In book four, The Chamber in the Sky, Brian and Gregory must find a way to call the rules keepers to enforce the rules of the game, avoid being killed by unhelpful Norumbegans and escape from the Thusser.
This is an excellent series, part adventure, part satire, part fantasy. But it's also about growing up and growing apart.
Pals in Peril
This is a middle grade series that is goofy, fun, imaginative and a bit of a spoof. It follows the adventures of Lily Gefelty, just a normal girl, Katie Mulligan, star of the "Horror Hollow" series, and Jasper Dash, boy technonaut, who also had his own series of books decades ago. I read the third and fourth books in the series. These two should be read in order, but you don't need to have read the first two books before these (although they are fun too). The two books are Jasper Dash and the Flame-Pits of Delaware in which our heroes must save the monks of Vbngoom and stolen museum artifacts from the agents of the Awful and Adorable Autarch of Dagsboro. And you thought there were only outlet malls and financial services companies in Delaware. In Agent Q, or the Smell of Danger, the monks are trying to help our heroes escape the Autarch's Ministry of Silence and make it safely to the New Jersey border. These books are a lot of fun with humor both kids and adults will appreciate.
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
SkyFall!
I saw SkyFall last week and I thought it was really good. It was a little long but Daniel Craig is so attractive so it's definitely worth it! I also thought the villain (Javier Bardem) was very talented. I recommend it!
Monday, December 3, 2012
Big in Japan, Ann Rinaldi books, Jane Austen Ruined My Life
It's been a while since I've posted and I have a lot to catch up on, but I will just do the highlights of my reading and watching.
A few months ago I won the contest we had on this blog and so received a copy of the book Big in Japan by Jennifer Griffith. I read it and loved it! It was well-written and it had me hooked from page one. I didn't know much about sumo wrestling before I read this book and I didn't realize how intense their rules and training are and the push to be the best. It was fascinating. This story is about an obese American boy who goes to Japan with his parents and the Japanese think he's a sumo wrestler (or that he should be if he isn't already). It's the story of this boy as he strives to fit in to the sumo world and keep his honor. I highly recommend this book!
I also have read Or Give Me Death and Wolf by the Ears and A Break with Charity by Ann Rinaldi. Ann Rinaldi is a historical fiction writer for young adults. My roommate recommended these books to me and I really like them! Ann Rinaldi does her research for her books and puts as much fact into them as she can and then makes up the rest. These books are entertaining and a good way to learn about historical events. At the end of each of the books, she tells us which parts of the stories are true. I definitely recommend these books!
I recently finished Jane Austen Ruined My Life by Beth Pattillo and really liked it! It was funny, cute, and clean. I liked it and may or may not have spent my Sunday morning before church reading this book ;)
Some other books I read and enjoyed:
Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale
Burying Our Swords by Kevin Hinckley
How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
That is all for my books.
A few months ago I won the contest we had on this blog and so received a copy of the book Big in Japan by Jennifer Griffith. I read it and loved it! It was well-written and it had me hooked from page one. I didn't know much about sumo wrestling before I read this book and I didn't realize how intense their rules and training are and the push to be the best. It was fascinating. This story is about an obese American boy who goes to Japan with his parents and the Japanese think he's a sumo wrestler (or that he should be if he isn't already). It's the story of this boy as he strives to fit in to the sumo world and keep his honor. I highly recommend this book!
I also have read Or Give Me Death and Wolf by the Ears and A Break with Charity by Ann Rinaldi. Ann Rinaldi is a historical fiction writer for young adults. My roommate recommended these books to me and I really like them! Ann Rinaldi does her research for her books and puts as much fact into them as she can and then makes up the rest. These books are entertaining and a good way to learn about historical events. At the end of each of the books, she tells us which parts of the stories are true. I definitely recommend these books!
I recently finished Jane Austen Ruined My Life by Beth Pattillo and really liked it! It was funny, cute, and clean. I liked it and may or may not have spent my Sunday morning before church reading this book ;)
Some other books I read and enjoyed:
Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale
Burying Our Swords by Kevin Hinckley
How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
That is all for my books.
Saturday, December 1, 2012
The Panama Canal
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| Ships waiting to enter the canal. |
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| Tugs coming out to meet the ship. |
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| Entering Gatun Locks |
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| See the rowboat? |
The second half of the book is on the American effort to build the canal. It features such people as Theodore Roosevelt, George Goethals, William Gorgas, Philippe-Jean Bunau-Varilla who figured in the story almost from the beginning, and many others just as important. In addition, there were thousands of nameless laborers and army men who contributed to the effort. Initially, the Americans planned to build the canal in Nicaragua (According to a tour guide in Costa Rica, Nicaragua is currently attempting to steal land from Costa Rica to build its own canal. Costa Rica has taken Nicaragua to international court.), but through political intrigue and a bloodless coup, the site of the French canal was chosen.
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| Entering Gatun Lake |
The canal itself is amazing. It is almost 50 miles long and takes about 12 hours to cross. We sailed from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The Gatun Locks consist of three chambers that take ships by steps up to the level of Gatun Lake. Ships then sail through the canal, including the narrowest part (and most difficult to construct) the Culebra Cut to Pedro Miguel lock which consists of a single chamber that takes the ship down one step closer to sea level. The last set of locks are at Miraflores and consist of two chambers that bring the ship back to sea level. While sailing through the canal ships pass islands that used to be the tops of mountains which were flooded after the building dams to form the canal and control the river and tides. One of these islands is Barro Colorado which is home to the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. It's possible that I've simplified this to the point of barely being accurate; please read the book (and sail through the canal!) for more details.
Here is a description of the lock chambers from page 550-551 (Nook version):
The walls, one thousand feet long, rose to eighty-one feet, or higher than a six-story building. The impression was of looking down a broad, level street nearly five blocks long with a solid wall of six-story buildings on either side; only here there were no windows or doorways, nothing to give human scale. . . A single lock if stood on end would have been the tallest structure in the world, taller even than the Eiffel Tower. . . The lock chambers all had the same dimensions (110 by 1,000 feet) and they were built in pairs, two chambers running side by side in order to accommodate two lanes of traffic. . . The chambers in each pair shared a center wall that was sixty feet wide from bottom to top.
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| Beautiful scenery |
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| In the Culebra Cut. |
The Panama Canal is an amazing feat of engineering. It cost many lives, made and ruined careers, and ended up costing the Americans less money than estimated in 1907. (page 570) It was a successful partnership of private enterprise and the government without corruption or graft. (page 571) |
| The canal is constantly being dredged. |
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| Water drains from the Pedro Miguel lock. |
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| There was only two feet on either side between the ship and the chamber wall. |
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| The mule and the lines attached to the ship. |
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| Crocodiles aren't charged a toll |
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| Leaving the canal |
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| Panama City |
Jimmy Fincher
I began reading the Jimmy Fincher Saga while on vacation. I think the author, James Dashner, is great, and the books seemed like they could be good cruise reading. There are four books: A Door in the Woods, A Gift of Ice, The Tower of Air, and War of the Black Curtain.
The books follow the adventures of 14-year-old Jimmy and his family and friends as they fight to save the world from the invasion of the Stompers, who are literally our worst nightmares. One summer day in Georgia, Jimmy climbs a tree and witnesses a crime. This leads him through a door in the woods and into a world of magic and crime that his family hoped they'd left behind. With the help of the Givers, Jimmy receives four gifts he will need to defeat the Stompers and save the world. Fortunately for Jimmy, the first gift grants him indestructibility.
I enjoyed these books. Dashner is a good story teller. I liked the ending of the series. I didn't see it coming although it was foreshadowed early in the story. It's not a typical ending for a series of childrens' books. It has echoes of the Atonement. In the end the story is one of coming of age in a fight between good and evil. The stories are filled with magic, monsters, dreams, other worlds, and the Alliance who are willing to sacrifice everything to help Jimmy defeat the Stompers.
The books delve a lot into the nature of sacrifice and what we are willing to give up to meet our goals. These books are worth the read.
The books follow the adventures of 14-year-old Jimmy and his family and friends as they fight to save the world from the invasion of the Stompers, who are literally our worst nightmares. One summer day in Georgia, Jimmy climbs a tree and witnesses a crime. This leads him through a door in the woods and into a world of magic and crime that his family hoped they'd left behind. With the help of the Givers, Jimmy receives four gifts he will need to defeat the Stompers and save the world. Fortunately for Jimmy, the first gift grants him indestructibility.
I enjoyed these books. Dashner is a good story teller. I liked the ending of the series. I didn't see it coming although it was foreshadowed early in the story. It's not a typical ending for a series of childrens' books. It has echoes of the Atonement. In the end the story is one of coming of age in a fight between good and evil. The stories are filled with magic, monsters, dreams, other worlds, and the Alliance who are willing to sacrifice everything to help Jimmy defeat the Stompers.
The books delve a lot into the nature of sacrifice and what we are willing to give up to meet our goals. These books are worth the read.
Monday, November 26, 2012
The Life of Pi
I saw The Life of Pi this past weekend and I loved it!! I thought the story itself was so interesting and it really made me think. It has wonderful graphics and I was captivated the entire time. I highly recommend it! It's such a different story than the usual hero-adventure-lets blow everything up type of plot, and I thought that was really refreshing. I want to read the book now!
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