This is a very hard review as the author’s story is so very heart-wrenching. Marina Keegan was an extremely bright young woman with a great future in writing ahead of her and her life was cut short. The book is a collection of short stories. It was the Goodreads Choice Award for Nonfiction in 2014 and a Waterstones Book of the year nominee in the same year. The book is good. It is well written. I think Ms. Keegan had a very promising future as an author. I enjoyed all the short stories, but in my humble opinion it was not more than a 3/5 star book.
Who would have thought that a book about a man gone fishing would be so interesting? I found myself completely sucked in with the Hemingway’s writing. Of course, this is what is expected for a writer of his caliber. I mean the guy won the Nobel prize in literature! I knew the name before I had read any of his work and I knew that his writings are considered classics. I flew through this short story with only 132 pages. Now that I have had an introduction to Hemingway’s work, I can’t wait to read more.
Several years ago I was at a conference where Neil deGrasse Tyson presented. I was very impressed with his grasp of the all this science stuff and the way he was able to speak at a high level and not lose all these non-experts in the crowd. The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America’s Favorite Planet is his story of how Pluto lost its title of Planet. He, as you may know, was very involved in that development. The book is well written but goes a little long in some chapters. This book could have been pared down a bit to make it read a bit faster. This could have been a long article in a science publication. That would have been a better fit then trying to stretch it out with a bunch of filler. At 176 pages, it would have been fine with 100 or so.
In 1947 the Salinas Valley native, John Steinbeck wrote The Pearl. This short (97 page) story is written in a time far ago in a little village. Some young people file a very fine pearl and it changes their lives. On the whole, I found the prose wonderfully written. That is after all that I have come to expect from this epic writer. Reviewing this is hard since I like the writing but the story was so sad, it would not be a book that I would want to read again. Since I had recently read The Red Pony which had some sad stories in it too, maybe that is a good comparison. I think I liked the Red Pony overall better. Maybe because it was longer, maybe because it wasn’t as sad. Either way, this book is worth a read if you haven’t read it before. But “mentally prepare” yourself.
Time for my yearly post about all the books I read in 2016. I did not meet my goal of reading 100 books last year. I didn’t even come close. I only read 66 as you can see in the above image. Work got busy and I also enrolled and completed two certificate classes in data science from University California, Irvine.
What you won’t see in the infographic below is that I borrowed 43 books from my local library. If I had bought them on Amazon, I would have paid $561.30. That savings is worth your free library card, and a bunch of hold fees!
I read The Red Pony by John Steinbeck as part of a summer reading program. It was a great quick read. Always a good story to be had with Steinbeck. And this one has four! I’m looking forward to find out what happens to Jody when he grows up and if he and Black Demon are as good buddies and he thought.
Steinbeck has long been one of my favorite writers. In my opinion you can not go wrong choosing to read one of his books.
WASHINGTON, DC – FEBRUARY 2: (AFP OUT) U.S. President Barack Obama holds up a book given to him by author Eric Metaxas, who was the keynote speaker at the National Prayer Breakfast February 2, 2012 in Washington, DC. Obama also spoke, defending his economic policies in an echo of his recent State of the Union address. (Photo by Chris Kleponis-Pool/Getty Images)
I couldn’t resist posting this list of books. The following list appeared in the November Wired magazine. It is a list of books that Obama recommends for future leaders. I love book lists! BTW the book above is Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy
The only book on the list that I have read. My Goodreads review: “Overall, I enjoyed this book however, I thought it was slow and overly technical at times. If you are into the why and how extinction occurs you will enjoy this book. For me the last chapter was the best chapter. The chapter on Wolly Mammoths was also very entertaining.”
The #1 Best Seller on Amazon in the Ecology category
I’ve been at the San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC) for the last three days. I have been lucky, and gotten to go to Comic-Con for the past several years. The last three years, I have concentrated on getting complimentary advanced readers copies (ARC) from publishers at the event. All the big publishers are there: HarperCollins, Disney Publishing, Penguin, Del Rey, etc.
Pictured above are those books which I was able to meet the author and get their books signed. Only one above, Life Debt, was paid for. This is one I have been excited for, so paying was no big deal!
Obtaining books at Comic-Con is not difficult but it takes some research. I plan out my days before hand. Looking to see who will be signing in what booth at what time. But much harder than the planning is getting tickets. Approximately 130,000 people attend Comic-Con and getting tickets to the show is extremely difficult, but tickets are open to everyone.
Unsigned SDCC2016 Books
The photo above are the books that I have gotten from the first three days, Wednesday – Friday. I’m going to go again tomorrow and on Sunday. Today alone I received 15 copies of books, well 14 books and one audiobook. My backpack was VERY heavy!
I’m very happy to have the opportunity to meet the authors and publishers of some of my favorite books. I thank them all for being there! I’m excited for the last two days of the show.
The summer has started and that means that libraries around the country have started their summer reading programs encouraging patrons to check out books and visit their local library branch more often. For my part I visit my local libraries (at least 2) once or twice a week. During the summer and the rest of the year, but summer reading programs are fun!
There are usually freebies attached to the number of books you read. Summer reading programs are not just for kids either. While my kids are enrolled in summer reading programs so am I. Both my nearby libraries have adult reading programs running in parallel with the kids programs. Why would adults want to participate? How about a winning an iPad mini or $150 Target gift card? These are the top prizes that both my local libraries are giving away to participants in the summer reading program.
In July of last year (when the reading program starts) I read 20 books in a single month. That’s a lot for me! I currently have a list for all the books I want to read as part of the program. Next to each title is the call number (book library location) for both of my local libraries. Meaning by reading one book I can claim credit for reading it in both libraries programs.
I’ve finished 4 books MTD this July, so I have a lot to read to keep up with what I did last year. I have about 30 books listed on my summer reading list and more being added all the time. I hope I can get to them all. I’m always looking for more time to sneak in reading. Wish me luck and go check out your local libraries summer reading program.
The Fall of the House Usher by Edgar Allan Poe is a short story, 36 pages, that even though I have not read the Tell Tale Heart I have to believe is super similar. The story starts when the main character is invited to cheer up a childhood friend. The main character visits the house Usher and a verbose amount of description starts about the house and how spooky and depressing it is. Turns out his friend is all bummed because his sister is wasting away.
The sister dies after a long illness that the doctors can’t figure out. They bury her under the main characters bedroom. Weird right? Of course she isn’t dead and comes after her brother. She falls on him and I guess both are dead the main character who is telling us the story runs from the house scared out of his wits.
This story for me demonstrated how a whole great story can be told in only 36 pages. Writing short stories can be hard, but Poe nails this one!
