 | Tweet |
| Tell friends about this blog entry | |
Archive for the ‘Culture’ Category
Book review: The Thief Lord
Saturday, May 13th, 2006Book review: The Carpet Makers
Saturday, April 15th, 2006 | Tweet |
| Tell friends about this blog entry | |
| Author: | Andreas Eschbach |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Sophisticated readers |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 12 and up |
| Genre: | Science Fiction |
| Year of publication: | 2005 |
One of the most seriously weird science fiction books of all time. And it's a pretty interesting one too. About a society whose culture and economy are based solely on the life-consuming creation of carpets made from hair. | |
Slowly, very very slowly (in the very best sense of the word slowly), this set of seemingly peripherally-related short stories becomes an examination of the evils of absolute rulers. Given some of the recent political writings of Orson Scott Card, it surprised me that he championed publication of this book in English. | |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Carpet Makers, The | |
Book review: The Soul of a New Machine
Saturday, April 15th, 2006 | Tweet |
| Tell friends about this blog entry | |
| Author: | Tracy Kidder |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Children 12 and up |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 12 and up |
| Genre: | Non-fiction |
| Year of publication: | 1981 |
Kidder is a great non-fiction writer. This is a true story about how a company manipulated its most talented employees into creating a great computer, without regard to what the work environment would do to them or their families. | |
| Similar books | |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Soul of a New Machine | |
Book review: Linnea in Monet’s Garden
Monday, April 3rd, 2006 | Tweet |
| Tell friends about this blog entry | |
| Author: | Cristina Bjork |
| Illustrator: | Lena Anderson |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Children 8 and up |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 8 and up |
| Genre: | fiction, historical/art |
| Year of publication: | 1987 |
Young girl visits the places Monet lived and learns about how he translated his life into his paintings. | |
(This is technically fiction, but the fiction provides lots of information about Monet and about how an artist lives and works.) | |
| Similar books | |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Linnea in Monet's Garden | |
Book review: Jane Eyre
Saturday, April 1st, 2006 | Tweet |
| Tell friends about this blog entry | |
| Author: | Charlotte Bronte |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Sophisticated readers |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Sophisticated readers |
| Genre: | fiction, historical |
| Year of publication: | 1847 |
A difficult book; much, much sadder than I had remembered from when I'd read it to myself a very long time ago. It's about temptation and the definition of bigamy. | |
My daughter was really shocked by the way children (Jane Eyre and her classmates) were treated in the beginning of the book. She was horrified by the sacrifices that Jane felt required to make in order to resist temptation and preserve her good name. I'm pretty sure that, although the book is fiction, the conditions it describes are ones that affected many women at the time depicted in the novel. See also The Cider House Rules. | |
| Similar books | |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Jane Eyre | |
Book review: Forsyte Saga
Saturday, April 1st, 2006 | Tweet |
| Tell friends about this blog entry | |
| Author: | John Galsworthy |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Sophisticated readers |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Sophisticated readers |
| Genre: | fiction, historical |
| Year of publication: | 1918 |
Makes the case for either marriage for love or marriage for convenience, but that it's necessary to decide up front which it's going to be. Still relevant after all these years. | |
| Similar books | |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Forsyte Saga | |
Book review: Till We Have Faces – A Myth Retold
Saturday, April 1st, 2006 | Tweet |
| Tell friends about this blog entry | |
| Author: | C. S. Lewis |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Sophisticated readers |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Sophisticated readers |
| Genre: | fiction, myths |
| Year of publication: | 1956 |
The legend of Cupid and Psyche is revisited in this beautiful but extremely sad consideration of the necessarily stressful interactions between humanity and its deities. | |
| Similar books | |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Till We Have Faces : A Myth Retold | |
Book review: City of Light
Saturday, April 1st, 2006 | Tweet |
| Tell friends about this blog entry | |
| Author: | Lauren Belfer |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Sophisticated readers |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Sophisticated readers |
| Genre: | fiction, historical |
| Year of publication: | 1999 |
Kind of a Handmaid's Tale (without the explicit sex) that takes place in Buffalo, NY at the dawn of the 20th century. | |
| Similar books | |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: City of Light | |
Book review: Girl in Hyacinth Blue
Saturday, April 1st, 2006 | Tweet |
| Tell friends about this blog entry | |
| Author: | Susan Vreeland |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Sophisticated readers |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Sophisticated readers |
| Genre: | fiction, historical |
| Year of publication: | 1999 |
Collection of short stories about a fictional Vermeer painting. | |
| Similar books | |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Girl in Hyacinth Blue | |
Book review: Life of Pi
Saturday, April 1st, 2006 | Tweet |
| Tell friends about this blog entry | |