Goodnight iPad- a Parody for the next generation

Stars: 3/5

Author: Ann Droyd, aka David Milgrim

Subjects: Parody, Technology, bedtime, children, humor, electronics, plugged in, Goodnight Moon

ISBN: 978-0-399-15856-8

Copyright Year: 2011

Other Comments: This child's book is a bedtime story, that is a parody of Margret Wise Brown's "Goodnight Moon". Although it is a cute story for children with rhyming lines and adorable illustrations, it drives home a moral that's important for adults to hear as well. In the story, much to the mother's dismay her family becomes so "plugged in" to their devices, they can no longer get to sleep. So, the mother eradicates her house of the distractions and her family can miraculously sleep once again. We should all take note from this story. I love my gadgets as much as the next person but we should realize that we do need to unplug every once in a while and try not to get so caught up in the gadgets and gizmos; that we lose sight of the important things in our lives. Disconnect and don't get so caught up in the digital world, that we lose sight of the present.

Flash and Bones

Stars:5/5

Author: Kathy Reichs

Subjects: Murder, mystery, NASCAR, Charlotte, Anthropology, Bones, Forensics, Police, FBI, Right-Wing Extremists, cover up, conspiracy, bio hazards, suspense, science, Temperance Brennan, novel

ISBN: 978-1-4391-0241-1

Copyright Year: 2011

Other Comments: Kathy Reichs does it once again! This was an outstanding novel, complete with plot twists and turns that keeps the reader guessing until the very end. We meet up again with the protagonist, forensic anthropologist, Dr. Temperance Brennan, in her hometown of Charlotte, NC just as race week is about to begin. Just as fans are filing in for the NASCAR event a body in unearthed in the landfill adjacent to the speedway. Sure enough, Tempe is called in to complete the autopsy. The discovery then leads to a complex investigation involving multiple bodies, the FBI, a disgraced ex-cop, extremists, and bio hazard scares that all keep the pages turning.

House of Mist

Stars: 1/5
Author: María Louisa Bombal

Subjects: pre-magical realism, mystery, South America, Latin American women, Latin American men, Chile
ISBN: 0374531366
Copyright Year: 2008 (first edition by Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
Other Comments:  I rated this book so low because I felt like this mystery had plot holes and the characters seemed really flat.  They didn't seem to change in any extremely significant way.  Also, the ending didn't seem to fit.  This book deconstructs the romantic fairy tale through Helga and her marriage.  This novel is a precursor to magical realism, so it's interesting in that respect.  I did think the deconstruction of the romantic fairy tale worked as well.

Love, Anger, Madness

Stars: 3/5
Author: Marie Vieux-Chauvet
Subjects: Haiti, military rule, class wars, psychological terror
ISBN: 9780812976922
Copyright Year: 2009
Other Comments: To be completely fair, I only read Anger.  This was a book assigned to me in my global literature class.  I have the translation into English by Rose-Myriam Réjouis and Val Vinokur.  I found this novel truly disturbing but very powerful.  I only rated it a 3 because I was upset with all the unnecessary martyrdom.  Although I understood that anger caused the deaths in the end, I still desperately wanted to save the grandfather, the invalid, and Rose.  Third person omniscient narration gets pretty confusing in the beginning and when the narration switches between characters quickly.  The plot is about a family who suddenly has their land stripped from them by the ruling military regime.  The family each have their own motives for wanting their land back.  Eventually the manipulations of the characters lead to a tragic ending.  This is not a tale for the faint of heart.  There is a great deal of violence.  I did enjoy reading it, however and would recommend it to others.

Animal Farm: A Fairy Story

Stars: 3.5/5

Author: George Orwell

Subjects: Humanity, Power Struggle, Good vs Evil, Corruption of Society, Social Status, Russian Communism allegory, Class conflicts, Socialism, Dystopia, satire, revolution

ISBN: 978-0-547-37022-4

Copyright Year: 1945

Other Comments: The fairytale is a dystopian satire that allegorizes the take over of Russia by the communists Joesph Stalin and Leon Trotsky. The novella follows the rebellion of farm animals against the tyrants called man and their life until everything turns full circle and the pigs become man. The work accurately describes in full dystopian style, the problems in our society corruption and the need for power. The society rids themselves of one dictator, only to fall back in line with another. This work should remind us all that: History tends to repeat it's self. I would recommend the novella, so that we are all aware of the dangers of repeating our past and that we all need to be well aware of the world around us.

The Help

Stars: 4.5/5
Author: Kathryn Stockett
Subjects: domestic help, racial tensions, Jim Crow Laws, African American Women, white women, gender roles, writing, publishing, small town, civil rights
ISBN: 978-0425245132
Copyright Year: 2011
Other Comments: The Help was a fantastic book.  I would have given it a perfect 5/5 stars had it not been for some situations that seemed slightly unbelievable.  The Help is about three women, two of which are black women who work as domestic maids and nannies.  The other young lady is a white woman writer.  Eventually all of them come together to do something no one has done before - write about what its like to serve as the help for white families.  During the civil rights movements and the Jim Crow Laws, this was a dangerous idea for all of them.  However, against all odds, they manage to write the book and publish it.  They then begin to watch as the town around them starts to change.  The Help is widely popular right now and a movie has just been produced based on the book.  I would suggest reading the book first and then seeing the movie.  Both are excellent works!

Flabbergasted

Stars: 2.5/5

Author: Ray Blackston

Subjects: Jesus, God, Presbyterians, Church, Singles, Romance, Amazon Basin, Missionary, South Carolina, Ecuador

ISBN: 080073453X

Copyright Year: 2010

Other Comments: I enjoyed Blackston's humor in his novel, Flabbergasted.  I found this perspective on Presbyterian Christians altogether funny, friendly, and quirky.  I am NOT a romance novel fan, but I was happily surprised to figure out this book is indeed contemporary romance.  There was a lot of genuinely good humor.  However, I did find the ending slightly disappointing but I did get the point.  I was not impressed with the subtle inclusion of stereotypes for women and minorities, however.  If it weren't for these blaring realities, I would have rated this book a lot higher.

The Canopy

Stars: 3.5/5

Author: Angela Hunt

Subjects: Amazon, jungle, God, Jesus, prion diseases, FFI, biology, atheism

ISBN: 0849943450

Copyright Year: 2003

Other Comments: This was my first brush with Christian fiction and I was pleasantly surprised.  I was debating on the score of this book - between a 4 or 3.5 out of 5 stars - but I chose 3.5 because it took me a while to really get into the story.  Once I finally did though, I had a hard time putting it down until I was finished.  The story is about a young woman named Alex who has FFI and is searching for the cure with a group of researchers in the Amazon jungle.  She is an atheist with a genius daughter (who is also on the trip) and an ex-husband who could care less about them.  Then there is Michael, a Christian pediatrician practicing at a free clinic in the Amazon.  When a strange patient is carted in for surgery from a spear wound, Michael finds his brain riddled with prions - and yet he seems to suffer none of the effects of the disease.  He then takes this information to Alex and they seek his village for the cure.  This book was full of battles - spiritual, physical, emotional, verbal, etc.  After reading it, I decided I liked the Christian fiction genre and would continue to read more of it.

The Case For Christ

Stars: 5/5
Author: Lee Strobel
Subjects: Christ/Jesus/Messiah, Scholars, Evidence, Resurrection, Court Case, God, Christianity, Atheism, Debate, Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, Acts, Corinthians, the Bible

ISBN: 0-310-22655-4

Copyright Year: 1998

Other Comments: This book is fantastic.  But as a Christian, of course I would love it... right?  Consider this.  It is written by a journalist who used to be an atheist.  He turned to Christ after researching the evidence for Christ.  Lee Strobel has a Master of Studies in Law degree from Yale Law School and was an award-winning journalist at the Chicago Tribune.  He does extensive research - all of his sources are listed in the back of the book for the curious to do their own investigations.  All of my questions about Jesus, including the varying genealogies of Jesus and the selection of the certain books of the bible, were answered.  I encourage anyone and everyone to review this case for Christ and make their own decisions.  And - as always - do your research!

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life

Stars: 4.5/5
Author: Barbara Kingsolver with Steven L. Hopp and Camille Kingsolver
Subjects: vegetables, farmers, local food, gardening, cooking, farmers' markets, the industrialized food market
ISBN: 0060852569 or 978-0060852566
Copyright Year: 2008
Other Comments: I would have given this book five stars if it weren't for a few comments about Christians that struck me as offensive.  Other than that, it is a plethora of information about food.  I learned a great deal about the industrialized food industry and also about the sufficient advantages of buying from local farmers and growing your own food.  This book reminds me of some of the claims Kevin Trudeau mentioned in his book Natural Cures "They" Don't Want You to Know About.  This book inspired me to visit my local farmers market and I was pleasantly surprised by my findings.  I would recommend this book to anyone.  It does include personal liberal views including themes of evolution.  However, these personal views didn't really take away from the information in the book.  And there was a lot of information!  Barbra also adds personal humor , which enhances the memoirs of her family's one year adventure to grow or buy local food.  Her husband and daughter also contribute their personal essays, which greatly contribute to the work.  I also loved the argument about eating meat, with which I generally agree.  In conclusion this work was well put together, informative, and a entertaining read.