Reviews and Comments

A memoir of just over one year of teaching in the late 60s, this book has humor, wisdom, and rebellion. Descriptions of kids and places are vivid and lively. It would be wonderful to see just where they all ended up.

My favorite part was the use of music in the classroom. This story was later made into a movie starring Jon Voight. It is the first book I've read by Pat Conroy, a leading figure in Southern literature. It felt quite short, and I read the electronic version in a total of four hours, spread over a week. The book contains a few pictures as well. I understand the audio version of this book is quite good.

I added this to my "to read" shelf in January of 2016; the author died a few months later. Not sure who or where the recommendation came from, but glad to have had it. This was a pretty good read.

First off, if you haven't read this, go add it to your reading list now. This short tale is every bit as good as To Kill a Mockingbird or Huckleberry Finn. If you are into audio books, this one is read by Pulitzer prize winning author Donna Tartt, who absolutely nails it.

This book has excellent descriptive language, snappy dialogue and also quite a bit of wry humor. The main action takes place in the late 1870s, and as a portrayal of that time period, I believe this is very well done. Language, location, and characters (with comical names like LaBoeuf - pronounced La Beef - and Lawyer Daggett) are all excellent.

No, I haven't seen the new movie, and have only seen portions of the original on afternoon westerns as a kid. I understand both are pretty good in their own ways, but I am (as always) glad I read the book first. The reprint contains an essay (by Donna Tartt) describing her view of the novel, along with its impact on multiple generations. Critics call it the great American novel. Highly recommended!

Unreliable narrator (and Dean of the church) drives all around him to build a spire on the cathedral which has no foundations. As the plot unfolds, we catch glimpses of the actual story, and symbolism gives us clues also. It was easy to get lost in the various threads.

Golding taught within sight of Salisbury Cathedral, which similarly has no foundations but is built on a "raft of stones". The story of its spire, leaning pillars and braces all add to this novel, his fifth. Of all the symbolism I did see, perhaps the most interesting was the conflict between his faith (the vision of the spire and "God will provide") and the secular wisdom of the master builder. Both representatives had their own failings, showing neither to be complete. They also don't complement each other in this case, leading both to ruin.

There is a lot more symbolism, and probably much I didn't catch. These various threads and ideas were tangled (partly due to the narrator) and dense, and I did get lost at times. The guidance of a teacher or re-reading this may help. My initial impression is that [b:Lord of the Flies|7624|Lord of the Flies|William Golding|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1327869409s/7624.jpg|2766512] was a better book.

A very thorough book about the 1920 season and one fatal incident, along with its impact on several lives. The level of baseball detail may be too high for the casual reader. Unlike many baseball books, the umpires perspective is also utilized.

A key highlight of the book (and the season) is the marvelous play of rookie Joe Sewell in eventually replacing Chappie at shortstop. This was a time of gambling, rough play, and the rise of Babe Ruth, and each of these is well represented in the story. An extensive bibliography lists the many books and articles used to research this book.

I read the Lyons Press paperback reissue of this book, and the quality of that was subpar. Errors in the text and a newspaper style typeface were annoying, and the binding was coming unglued. This book looks far more worn than it should be for it's mere year in the library with likely low circulation. Overall rating - 4 stars, but seek out an earlier edition.

Vivid descriptions of locations and classic banter define this complex crime mystery within a mystery. I read the annotated version, which pointed out not just common definitions of the day, but also where Chandler borrowed from his earlier pulp stories to create this masterpiece.

The annotation also touched on both movie adaptations and the unsolved mysteries, such as who killed the chauffeur? Original story is on the left hand page, annotations, location photos and maps on the right hand page - this is essentially two books in one. The introduction also contains full detail on the author and his history, along with comparisons with Hammett and others.

I haven't read many hardboiled crime novels, and hadn't read this before now. While I've seen portions of Bogart's movie version, I haven't seen Mitchum's version at all, and look forward to seeing both soon. This book was a great way to end the old year and kick off the new - recommended!

"People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people."

A government leader, obsessed with power, turning to fascism and white male power. Where have I seen that recently?

This is the description given of Adam Sutler, leader of England at the beginning of this tale. "He's completely single-minded, and has no regard for the political process. The more power he attains, the more obvious his zealotry, and the more aggressive his supporters become."

I greatly enjoyed this story, which I did not read when it first came out. In this color version, it is still quite difficult to tell some government flunkies apart. I also have not seen the movie, which many report to be even better than the book.

In conclusion, Alan Moore said it best in 2006. "I didn't want to tell people what to think, I just wanted to tell people to think."

A good book and a quick read (3.3 total hours) which interestingly hits some of the same points as [b:Forever Peace|21618|Forever Peace (The Forever War, #2)|Joe Haldeman|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1267317517s/21618.jpg|94590] - but with considerably more finesse. Not completely without flaws, but I really enjoyed this book, and look forward to reading more from this Canadian author.

Messages from space have been arriving for a while at the start of the story, and while the first few have been decoded, the rest are a mystery. One of the two main characters (a psychologist) works on that mystery, the other (her husband) works on quantum computing and artificial intelligence, and his favorite artwork involves a tesseract. Great subject matter for SF abounds! One of their daughters committed suicide, and the other has her own issues, and this subplot is quite important in the long run.

When the messages stop, an idea occurs for decoding them, and soon the Interocitor is built - only this is more of a mirror to the human overmind than a travel device. Driven to investigate her daughter's claims, our main character unwraps this and other mysteries, and ultimately the alien goals as well.

This is a book which leads you to think, and some of the subplots are clumsily handled. For me, these were minor drawbacks, and I fell headfirst into this thought experiment - surfacing only a day (and 3.3 total reading hours) later. If you don't need to have action in all your science fiction, this is highly recommended.

Not related to The Forever War, this is a lesser book in every respect. Author Haldeman connects world conflict and pacifism to economic instability and dubious science, then to an unconvincing technothriller that somehow won the Hugo, Nebula and Campbell awards. I remain unconvinced.

The story starts with a McGuffin that allows soldiers to connect to their machines and each other. This leads to comparisons (bloodthirsty and pacifistic soldiers) and injuries (strokes and damage to human operators when the machine is destroyed) and worse (damage to squad mates when a connected soldier is killed). Suicide, depression and racism are also factored in.

This war is between haves and have-nots, or quite clearly northern vs southern hemisphere. A second thread involves an extremely large particle collider (the Jupiter Project) which might lead to the end of the universe. These arguments were used against the LHC, which began construction the same year.

Then the story takes a left turn. It seems that this connectedness also leads to perfect compassion and then complete pacifism. Two factions - one for and one against this outcome - result in a Dan Brown type thriller, with the collider providing the ticking clock.

The book ended in a rush with some simple hand waving. That and the frequent plot holes draw the rating way down - especially when compared to The Forever War, a considerably better book. 1½ stars.