The Glass Castle

Stars: 5/5
Author: Jeannette Walls
Subjects: memoir, alcoholic father, dysfunctional family, poverty, homless people, West Virginia, Arizona, Nevada, California, New York
ISBN: 9781439156964
Copyright Year: 2009
Other Comments:
The Glass Castle is a stunning memoir of a dysfunctional family and astonishing optimism and hope.  Jeannette Walls recounts how her parents were - brilliant but unfit to raise children - and how she and her siblings banded together and raised themselves.  Walls gives details of different moves their mother called "adventures", when the bills piled up too high.  She also writes about the horrible conditions of poverty from rats mistaken for opossums to leaking and buckling roofs to armies of termites and roaches.  She also tells of her parents both loving and selfish gestures toward their children and how - in the end - the children left their parents for a better life in New York.  Even after all this, their parents follow them and choose to be homeless just to be near their kids.  This is a memoir of hard work, heartbreak, and ultimately fulfillment.  I loved it - however it's not for the faintest of heart.

The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains

Stars: 5/5
Author: Nicholas Carr
Subjects: Neuropsychology, Internet--Physiological effect, Internet--Psychological aspects, science
ISBN: 9780393072228
Copyright Year: 2010
Other Comments: Nicholas Carr, in one of the most important books I've ever read, explains the physiological effect of the internet on our brains.  An avid internet user and consumer of digital technology, Nicholas isn't someone who is one-sided.  He did his research - from the effects of inventions of all sorts on society to the newest studies on the intricate workings of the brain, Carr explains how the internet is one huge distraction machine - and how it's training our brains to be unfocused.  I would encourage everyone to read this phenomenal and frightening book.  Especially teachers and professors who use technology in the classroom.

Kaffir Boy

Stars: 3.5/5
Author: Mark Mathabane
Subjects: Africa, apartheid, poverty, South Africa, oppression, tennis, gangs
ISBN: 0684848287
Copyright Year: 1986
Other Comments: Kaffir Boy is the autobiography of Johannes (Mark) Mathabane.  The word "kaffir" is of Arabic origin and means "infidel".  It was used as a degrading term by South African whites and is the equivalent of the word "nigger" commonly used in America (paraphrased from the preface).  This non-fiction work is about Mathabane's childhood years up until the age of 18.  This book paints a vivid portrait of the absolute inhumane conditions of apartheid.  From endless poverty to extremely unsanitary conditions to gang wars to overall oppression - Mathabane explains honestly how the minority of white South African citizens ruled over the majority of black natives with an iron fist.  This book was a haunting and devastating read.  I would recommend this to anyone who does not know what apartheid is or has little knowledge of it.  Also, there appears to be a sequel titled Kaffir Boy in America.

You Remind Me of Me

Stars: 3/5
Author: Dan Chaon
Subjects: identity, psychology, city and town life, fate and fatalism, middle west, psychological fiction
ISBN: 0345441419
Copyright Year: 2004
Other Comments: Dan Chaon's You Remind Me of Me is about two half brothers.  The first one, Troy, is given up for adoption when his mother, Nora, is 15 years old.  The second one, Jonah, comes along approximately five years later and lives with Nora's son until she commits suicide.  Jonah finally finds Troy and tries open a connection between them based on familial ties.  However, Troy is more concerned about his predicament of potentially losing his child and being put on house arrest for selling drugs to pay attention to the lonely Jonah.  Jonah eventually becomes so desperate he does something drastic.  This story is beautifully written, but extremely depressing.  It truly is psychological fiction.  I felt nothing but pity for Jonah and Troy, wishing, hoping they would find ways to better lives.  Although the novel ends fairly happy, I was still left with a sense of grief.  This story wasn't my favorite thing I've read by Dan Chaon.  I actually had the privilege of meeting him at the college I attend and was excited to find out that he currently lives in Ohio.  He is hilarious in person and I actually preferred his short stories.  He also acknowledges that his occupation is a short story writer in the back of this book.

Featured Artists

This doesn't have anything to do with books really, but I would like to feature some artists that I know to promote their work and get their name out there.  Hope you enjoy!

• Chuck Marshall (painter): http://chuckmarshallfineart.com/index.html
• Mark Marshall (photographer): http://markmarshallphotography.zenfolio.com/
• *Laila Nur (singer/songwriter): http://www.facebook.com/givemeapen4ever/posts/202201899825327?ref=notif&notif_t=share_comment#!/pages/Laila-Nur/100869459962620?sk=wall
• Christopher Gallagher (photographer): http://www.flickr.com/photos/griamacegallagher/
• Claudia Susana (photographer): http://claudiasusana.com/
• Christy Peffly (photographer): http://photosbychristypeffly.blogspot.com/

*Facebook Page

The Lost Symbol

Stars: 4/5

Author: Dan Brown

Subjects: History, Symbols, Masonic, Washington DC, Robert Langdon, Thriller, Drama, Family, Religion, Spirituality

ISBN: 9780385504225

Copyright Year: 2009

Other Comments:

Out of the previous two books in the series following the protagonist Robert Langdon, The Lost Symbol, is defiantly the weakest of the three. It follows Langdon, on his quest to save one of his best friends, Peter Solomon’s life. Peter is like a father to Robert. He is a prominent and the highest ranking Mason in the Washington DC area. The only way to save the kidnapped man’s life is for him to be thrown headlong into the secretive Masonic world. Decoding the Mason’s most protected secret will be the only way to ensure Peter’s safety, but will Robert a non mason be able to achieve the feat? Only a wild, Dan Brown styled trip around Washington DC, studying the symbology will tell us now.

Kindred

Stars: 4.5/5
Author: Octavia Butler
Subjects: African American women, slaveholders, time travel, slavery, slaves, Los Angeles, southern states, science fiction
ISBN: 0807083690
Copyright Year: 2003
Other Comments: Kindred is an excellent science fiction novel about a young African American woman named Dana.  We are first introduced to Dana in the late 1970s in Los Angeles.  It isn't long, however, before Dana is sucked into the antebellum south during the 1800s.  She goes back in time to save her white male relative, Rufus, from drowning.  This pattern repeats with Rufus getting older and older and Dana getting sucked back in time to save him, only leaving to return to her own time when her own life is threatened.  Each subsequent return becomes more and more dangerous and finally she is forced to extreme measures to save her own life.  This book portrays slavery in all its horror - from the abusive and murdering tactics of slave drivers; to the abusive relationships white males inflicted on white women and African American women; to the destruction of the white and black family; to the unbearable conditions and suffering of the African American slaves.  Octavia Butler makes it clear that the past cannot escape us and also points out how important it is to learn from it and not repeat the same mistakes.  This book was entertaining, horrifying, thrilling, disturbing, uncomfortable, and important.  I would recommend this book to those who enjoy science fiction novels or who have a hard time reading slave narratives. 

Angels and Demons

Stars:5/5

Author: Dan Brown

Subjects:Illuminati, Rome, Vactican, Pope, Secret Societies, Murder, Drama, Physics, Antimatter, Religion vs Science, novel

ISBN: 9870743493468

Copyright Year: 2000

Other Comments:

This is one of the best books I have read in a very long time. The blend of facts and fiction is seamless. Dan Brown weaves a story aboutfictional characters in fictional situations, all while maintaining historical facts and places. The novel is extremely fast paced and intense. It is a riveting, page turner that one can just not put down. The plot takes the protagonist on a journey across the Atlantic, on a crash course to the contrasting world of cutting-edge science and deep-rooted religion. This will ultimately lead to the finale epic confrontation between the two major powers in the Religion vs. Science battle, the Vatican and the “mythical” Illuminati.

Literary Magazine/Journal Promotion: Vestal Review

• Title: Vestal Review
• Website: http://www.vestalreview.net/
• Editors:
• Mark Budman - Publisher/Editor/Web Master
• Sue O'Neill - co-editor
• MaryAnne McCollister - Senior Associate Editor
• Cheryl Chambers, Antonios Maltezos and Ania Vesenny - associate editors
• Genre(s): flash fiction
• Contributing authors: Steve Almond, Katharine Weber, Mike Resnick, Aimee Bender, Sam Lipsyte, Kirk Nesset, Judith Cofer, Bruce Boston, Robert Boswell, Bruce Holland Rogers, Michelle Richmond, Liz Rosenberg, Stuart Dybek, Robert Olen Butler and Pamela Painter.
• More information: http://vestalreview.net/About.html
• Subscriptions: http://vestalreview.net/Subscribe.html
• Submission Guidelines: http://vestalreview.net/Guidelines.html

The Girls



Stars: 3.5/5
Author: Ladette Randolph
Subjects: dogs, dog sitting, orchid, torture devices, phallic decor
ISBN: 0-299-21510-5 (collection by Ladette Randolph: This is Not the Tropics)
Copyright Year: 2005 (collection)
Other Comments: "The Girls," by Ladette Randolph was first published in Clackamas Literary Review and then again in Randolph's collection of short stories This is Not the Tropics.  The fictional short story is about a young woman named Becca who dogsits for a professor at Pilgrim's College; a certain Professor Blakely.  However, Becca is surprised to find herself surrounded by torture devices and phallic decor.  She ends up also babysitting an orchid.  By the end of everything, she gains an appreciation for Blakely's unique family.  I was irked by all of the phallic symbols and torture devices and got an extremely creepy feeling - especially since it was a young woman dog sitting in an older man's house.  I thought the story was going to go a whole different direction, but Professor Blakely turned out not to be a sexual molester - to my relief.  However, the whole story was odd.  I was especially irked by how accepting Becca was of her surroundings.  Although, in the end, I think what saved this story was the divergence from the expected.  If Professor Blakely had been a sexual molester, I would have hated this story.  Instead, there was a sweet connection between the dogs, Becca, and the orchid.  I read some of the other stories in This is Not the Tropics and I would have to say I enjoyed those more.  Finally, I got the chance to meet Ladette Randolph.  She is a current editor of Ploughshares and has a novel as well as her collection of short stories.  She is such a wonderful and witty woman and I am glad I got the chance to talk with her.