Posts Tagged ‘book review’
Monday, June 14th, 2010
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| Author: | Charles de Lint |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Sophisticated readers |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 12 and up |
| Genre: | fiction |
This is a book that can be placed under the category of "Urban Fantasy" : fairies and other fantasy creatures running around modern day cities...
Picked this up as a quick read. Not gripping per say, but interesting.
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It's about a girl who befriends a ghost and then becomes tangled up in the inner workings of the hidden fantasy world. I thought that this was a stand alone book, and have not read the 14 previous books, which I just learned existed, so it is definitely a fun fast read for those who enjoy fantasy.
--Fizzy |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Blue Girl, The |
Tags:book review
Posted in Conceptual: highly sophisticated, Dragons and/or mythological beasts, Fairy tales, Female protagonist, Fiction, Reading level: age 12 and up | Comments Closed
Monday, June 14th, 2010
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| Author: | Joe Haldeman |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | For grown-ups
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| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | For grown-ups
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| Genre: | fiction |
| Year of publication: | 2009 |
Very sci-fi. Interesting take on the future.
In this setting the future seems just like now, except for updated space travel and things like that. It doesn't get toooo into details on the world, because almost all of it takes place in space. Anyways. The story follows Carmen, who is the first to discover inhabitants on mars. I like her as a character because she is very questioning of the rules and is just an interesting perspective to view the book through. Within the book there is also a romantic strand, so I'd more recommend this for women then men.
This definitely contains adult content.
-- Fizzy |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Marsbound |
Tags:book review
Posted in Conceptual: for grown ups, Female protagonist, Fiction, Gifted, Reading level: Sophisticated reader, Science Fiction | Comments Closed
Monday, May 10th, 2010
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Tags:book review, bullying, circus, elephant
Posted in Animals, Conceptual: for grown ups, Culture, Dealing with bullies, Death is a central theme, Fiction, Gifted, Reading level: Grown up | Comments Closed
Monday, April 26th, 2010
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| Author: | Muriel Barbery |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Sophisticated readers |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 12 and up |
| Genre: | fiction |
This book is remarkable, in that with every page I read, I was more captivated. For one thing, the author tells the story in a very interesting way: The story is narrated by two very different, but also very similar, characters. One is a 12 year old genius and the other is a 50-something year old concierge in the fancy hotel she lives in. So that's cool, but the writing style is what really got to me. Barbery gets very deep into some philosophical questions, that at many points I found confusing at first, but once I got into my "elegance of the hedgehog mood", I really enjoyed it. |
The way she uses language is just so PRETTY that I easily got sucked in. My only warning is that the ending is super surprising, although very satisfying nonetheless. I had to wait awhile to write my review because a) I didn't know what to say, and b) The ending got me pretty emotional, because the characters were so believable (I was almost crying on the bus when I finished it).
-- Fizzy |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Elegance of the Hedgehog |
Tags:book review, Parenting gifted children, suicide
Posted in Child-raising, Conceptual: highly sophisticated, Culture, Death is a central theme, Fairy tales, Female protagonist, Fiction, Gifted, Parenting gifted children, Reading level: age 12 and up | Comments Closed
Thursday, February 4th, 2010
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| Author: | A.S. Byatt |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | For grown-ups
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| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | For grown-ups
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| Genre: | fiction |
| Year of publication: | 2009 |
There are so many intertwining, involving stories in The Children's Book that it was sometimes hard to slow down and remember that great novels are not entirely about what they are about.
Set in the time leading up to World War I and before women's sufferage, the plot tells of a group of families and their associates and friends. There is a destitute young boy who is nurtured to become the artist he deserves to be. There are the young women who, lacking the vote and receiving conflicting messages about how to behave socially and politically, pay terrible prices. The subplots about how various characters resolve their needs to express themselves politically, even when expressing their opinions may adversely affect those they love should be required reading for anyone thinking of a career in politics. |
This is not an easy book to read, but it is also not an easy book to put down.
It's as if Byatt is leading us through a magical party. She continually blows up the most beautiful balloons and then, once you've become entranced by one, she wanders back to burst it.
-- Emily |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Children's Book, The |
Tags:book review, bullies, bullying, feminism, Parenting gifted children, suffering in war, war, world war I
Posted in Child-raising, Conceptual: for grown ups, Culture, Dealing with bullies, Female protagonist, Fiction, Gifted, History, Parenting gifted children, Reading level: Grown up | Comments Closed
Sunday, January 10th, 2010
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| Author: | M.T. Anderson |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Sophisticated readers |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 12 and up |
| Genre: | fiction-dystopian |
This review seems like a spoiler, but it really gives nothing away, at all...
This book really got me worried about how horrible human beings are and what we're going to do to the world... It gave me a very depressing feeling while and after reading. It is set in the (near??) future, and most people are basically controlled by their "feeds" implanted directly in their brains, which are used mostly as an excuse to constantly show them thousands of advertisements. I guess the ending is supposed to be a little hopeful, in that the main character is considering fighting the feed, when he sees its awful power over humanity, but... I think hopeful is not a word that anyone can truthfully apply to this book. |
The writing style was very distracting at first, because it is VERY informal. I will explain with a quote: "I was like trying to sleep for the last few minutes of the flight, because... when we're goin hard i get real sleepy real easy, and I didn't want to be null for the unettes on the moon, at the hotel, if any of them were youch."
SO: Interesting. Very cool. Spooky. Makes you think. But definitely not cheerful. At all.
--Fizzy |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Feed |
Tags:book review, dystopia
Posted in Conceptual: highly sophisticated, Death is a central theme, Fiction, Reading level: age 12 and up, Science Fiction | Comments Closed
Saturday, January 2nd, 2010
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| Author: | An Na |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Sophisticated readers |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 12 and up |
| Genre: | fiction |
| Year of publication: | 2003 |
I'm not sure how to rate this book, because the narration ranges from a five-year-old's perspective to that of an 18-year-old one. This is really interesting, but leaves most of the book as a very easy, lower-level read. However, this story about abuse and immigration is intense and scary. |
Yung and her family emigrated from Korea when she was five to find a better life. But her dad ended up drinking and life got very hard trying to keep their heritage while living in America...
--Fizzy |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Step From Heaven, A |
Tags:alcoholism, book review, immigration
Posted in Child-raising, Conceptual: highly sophisticated, Culture, Dealing with bullies, Death is a central theme, Female protagonist, Fiction, History, Reading level: age 12 and up, School | Comments Closed
Saturday, December 19th, 2009
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| Author: | Oliver Sacks |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Sophisticated readers |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Sophisticated readers |
| Genre: | Non-fiction: Science |
| Year of publication: | 1998 |
My daughter and I listened to Dr. Sacks' narration of this book on audio tape. Listening to his quirky voice and sophisticated vocabulary requires intense concentration, but is well worth it.
My daughter was engrossed by the topics discussed, and inspired by the author himself. At one point, Sacks riffs on the wonders of the Paleozoic cycad forests, and my daughter, with love and admiration, exclaimed, "My but aren't WE a nerd?" (Acknowledging in the intonation of that sentence that she is one too.)
Here is her rather informally written review: |
The title of this book is a little misleading, because it doesn't only discuss colorblindness. The book is really a collection of three adventures that Oliver Sacks has had.
It is pretty cool, to me at least, because he discusses different islands that have not yet been modernized and upon which plants have been allowed to keep evolving at their own pace.
Sacks uses many science-y words, and I think I would have been a little bit overwhelmed by them all if I hadn't been listening to his stories as an audiobook, but the big words aren't really the point...
Anyways, super cool, with descriptions of really enchanting, science-y, yet mysterious places.
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If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Island of the Colorblind, The |
Tags:book review, history of science, medicine
Posted in Conceptual: highly sophisticated, Gifted, Reading level: Sophisticated reader, Science | Comments Closed
Thursday, November 12th, 2009
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| Author: | Suzanne Collins |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Sophisticated readers |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 12 and up |
| Genre: | fiction |
| Year of publication: | 2008 |
This sounds kinda negative, and I did enjoy it, but I do have a bit of a sour aftertaste after reading this:
I'm not sure how to rate this book. It was very disturbing: The whole point is that 24 teenagers all fight to the death. Yay. But it was also very gripping and exciting, and talked about the price of freedom. It definitely kept me up with vivid images in my head...
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My biggest problem, though was the cliff-hanger ending. I ordered the second book before I had finished the first one because you can't just stop the story where the author does. A word of advice: the third one is not out yet, and the second one DOES NOT have a satisfying ending. If you like excitement, a bit of gore, and a little bit of mushy romance, this book is great.
-- Fizzy |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Hunger Games, The |
Tags:book review
Posted in Conceptual: highly sophisticated, Culture, Female protagonist, Fiction, Reading level: age 12 and up, Science Fiction, Sports | Comments Closed
Sunday, October 18th, 2009
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| Author: | Robert Louis Stevenson |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Children 12 and up |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 8 and up |
| Genre: | Fiction |
| Year of publication: | 1886 |
Okay, this is a BIT of a spoiler, but I knew this when I read the book, and it was just as exciting:
This book is about a man who discovers how to switch from his evil self to his good one, purposefully. It is Gothic (creepy and mysterious), and very exciting.
It is only about 100 pages long, and so the suspense is kept up through the entire book until the end. Stevenson's language is very chilling. This quote gives you a great sense of the style that the whole story is written in: [they heard a] "dismal screech, as of mere animal terror." |
I give this book a thumbs up because it is an interesting mystery, just creepy enough. Stevenson knows how to keep us on our toes, and make the story continue to be interesting with different perspectives on the topic of what defines good vs. evil, as well as just adding some good old action.
--Fizzy, age 14 |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde |
Tags:book review, horror
Posted in Conceptual: age 12 and up, Fiction, Reading level: age 8 and up, Science Fiction | Comments Closed
