The Bookworm

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Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor

 

15/50: When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris Yet another gem by the phenomenal David Sedaris. His sense of humor is so wry and completely devoid of social norms, that you kind of can’t help but fall in love with the eccentricity of it all. He describes the most absurd situations with a mundane tone that is hilarious all in it’s own He’s clever, self-deprecating and oddly observant. When You’re Engulfed in Flames isn’t nearly as laugh-out-loud funny as some of his other works, but it doesn’t try to be. It’s a little more serious, a little more heartfelt. Definitely a good read. 4/5

15/50: When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris


Yet another gem by the phenomenal David Sedaris. His sense of humor is so wry and completely devoid of social norms, that you kind of can’t help but fall in love with the eccentricity of it all. He describes the most absurd situations with a mundane tone that is hilarious all in it’s own

He’s clever, self-deprecating and oddly observant. When You’re Engulfed in Flames isn’t nearly as laugh-out-loud funny as some of his other works, but it doesn’t try to be. It’s a little more serious, a little more heartfelt. Definitely a good read.

4/5


14/50: The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest by Steig Larsson The final installment in the Millennium series provided a very satisfactory ending for the characters, especially considering how Larsson had originally intended for there to be more novels before he died.  The story picks up where Book 2 left off. It kept it’s pace up through out, which is important considering how long the book is.  The best part of the whole book takes place in the last fifty pages or so. I wold read this book for trial scene alone. Pure genius. 4/5

14/50: The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest by Steig Larsson

The final installment in the Millennium series provided a very satisfactory ending for the characters, especially considering how Larsson had originally intended for there to be more novels before he died. 

The story picks up where Book 2 left off. It kept it’s pace up through out, which is important considering how long the book is.  The best part of the whole book takes place in the last fifty pages or so. I wold read this book for trial scene alone. Pure genius.

4/5

11 & 12/ 50: Maus I and II by Art Spiegelman I am not one for graphic novels. Not because I find comics silly or childish or anything, but because I genuinely prefer prose. I love prose and also I’m a writer with zero artistic capabilities so I never viewed graphic novels/comics as within my realm of possibilies so I just generally ignored them. Until now.  Spiegelman caused a great deal of controversy when he published this book, his father’s story of the Holocaust, told by depicting the Jews as Mice, the Nazi’s as Cats and the Polish as Pigs. For me, the animal characters really helps show just how gruesome and horrible things were in comic form without stepping the line into brutal, gratuitous violence for the sake of entertainment. Also the use of animals in the illustrations removes and visual familiarity the reader might have and enables us to see this story again, as if for the first time and really feel the full implications of it. Maus, explores the idea that it wasn’t just the survivors of the Holocaust that suffered but also the survivors of the survivors and how difficult life with one could be. Art explores the strained relationship with his father as well as his father and mother’s incredible survival story.  I was incredibly impressed and moved by this piece. I highly recommend this. 5/5

11 & 12/ 50: Maus I and II by Art Spiegelman

I am not one for graphic novels. Not because I find comics silly or childish or anything, but because I genuinely prefer prose. I love prose and also I’m a writer with zero artistic capabilities so I never viewed graphic novels/comics as within my realm of possibilies so I just generally ignored them.

Until now.

 Spiegelman caused a great deal of controversy when he published this book, his father’s story of the Holocaust, told by depicting the Jews as Mice, the Nazi’s as Cats and the Polish as Pigs. For me, the animal characters really helps show just how gruesome and horrible things were in comic form without stepping the line into brutal, gratuitous violence for the sake of entertainment. Also the use of animals in the illustrations removes and visual familiarity the reader might have and enables us to see this story again, as if for the first time and really feel the full implications of it.

Maus, explores the idea that it wasn’t just the survivors of the Holocaust that suffered but also the survivors of the survivors and how difficult life with one could be. Art explores the strained relationship with his father as well as his father and mother’s incredible survival story. 

I was incredibly impressed and moved by this piece. I highly recommend this.

5/5

11/50 One Foot in Eden by Ron Rash This book wasn’t what I was expecting it to be at all, and I was pleasantly surprised. I feel like I say that a lot. Maybe I should stop being so judgmental! haha anyway, this book told a very compelling story from five different perspectives, The High Sheriff, The Wife, The Husband, The Son, and The Deputy.  The story starts out as a murder mystery, but delves in deeper to really get at the heart of life in the South at the turn of the century. Well written, engaging, and readable. I finished in two sittings. 4/5

11/50 One Foot in Eden by Ron Rash

This book wasn’t what I was expecting it to be at all, and I was pleasantly surprised. I feel like I say that a lot. Maybe I should stop being so judgmental! haha anyway, this book told a very compelling story from five different perspectives, The High Sheriff, The Wife, The Husband, The Son, and The Deputy. 

The story starts out as a murder mystery, but delves in deeper to really get at the heart of life in the South at the turn of the century. Well written, engaging, and readable. I finished in two sittings.

4/5

10/50: Because I am Furniture by Thalia Chaltas Anke is a freshman in high school who’s father is abusive to her brother and sister but not her. This makes her feel like furniture and it makes her feel worthless.  Against her father’s wishes, she joins the volleyball team and finds her voice and eventually learns to speak up and be seen. This book was so much better than I was expecting. It was told entirely in verse, so even though it was 351 pages, I read it in a few hours. It was beautiful, and disturbing. At one point I felt myself feeling incredibly ill, and I was nearly brought to tears. I thought it was a vivid, devastating and ultimately inspiring story. 5/5

10/50: Because I am Furniture by Thalia Chaltas

Anke is a freshman in high school who’s father is abusive to her brother and sister but not her. This makes her feel like furniture and it makes her feel worthless.  Against her father’s wishes, she joins the volleyball team and finds her voice and eventually learns to speak up and be seen.

This book was so much better than I was expecting. It was told entirely in verse, so even though it was 351 pages, I read it in a few hours. It was beautiful, and disturbing. At one point I felt myself feeling incredibly ill, and I was nearly brought to tears. I thought it was a vivid, devastating and ultimately inspiring story.

5/5

9/50: Jasmine by Bharati Mukherjee  I had to read this book for my Contemporary American Literature class.  I was supposed to read Jazz by Toni Morrison last week but I just couldn’t get into it and I opted out of it. I was worried the same thing would happen with this book but I was pleasantly surprised. I was legitimately moved by Jasmine’s journey. Surprising, interesting and tragic things happen to her and I laughed and grieved with her as they happened.  She changes names with every chapter of her life, taking on a new identity to help her surivive. It’s beautiful and tragic and very interesting.  4/5

9/50: Jasmine by Bharati Mukherjee 

I had to read this book for my Contemporary American Literature class.  I was supposed to read Jazz by Toni Morrison last week but I just couldn’t get into it and I opted out of it. I was worried the same thing would happen with this book but I was pleasantly surprised.

I was legitimately moved by Jasmine’s journey. Surprising, interesting and tragic things happen to her and I laughed and grieved with her as they happened. 

She changes names with every chapter of her life, taking on a new identity to help her surivive. It’s beautiful and tragic and very interesting. 

4/5

8/50: Writing Fiction: A Guid to Narrative Craft  by Janet Burroway, Elizabeth Stuckey-French, Ned Stuckey-French.  This is the only textbook I’ve ever read for fun/ read more than I was supposed to. I still didn’t read every single word on every single page, but I read the majority of every chapter and short story examples.  It was a very easy to read, easy to understand introduction to fiction writing. The author knows how to address her young, hip readers who truly want to know how to better their craft without getting bogged down in technicalities.  The book has a ton of examples in the text, so every idea is usually paired with a little excerpt from a well known work to illustrate the point. 4/5 for being very informative but its still a textbook so…

8/50: Writing Fiction: A Guid to Narrative Craft  by Janet Burroway, Elizabeth Stuckey-French, Ned Stuckey-French. 

This is the only textbook I’ve ever read for fun/ read more than I was supposed to. I still didn’t read every single word on every single page, but I read the majority of every chapter and short story examples. 

It was a very easy to read, easy to understand introduction to fiction writing. The author knows how to address her young, hip readers who truly want to know how to better their craft without getting bogged down in technicalities. 

The book has a ton of examples in the text, so every idea is usually paired with a little excerpt from a well known work to illustrate the point.

4/5 for being very informative but its still a textbook so…

6/50: The Help by Kathryn Stockett This book was full of rich, and visual characters, however at times it wasn’t quite enough.  For characters such as Hilly, there were no redeeming qualities about her and it seemed unlikely that someone like Skeeter Phelan would ever want to be friends with her.  That being said, it was an easy and interesting read. I usually dislike when authors try to voice races outside of their own, especially white authors because it risks coming across as racist or stereotypical. Whether or not Stockett actually does this is entirely controversial. I for one, enjoyed the book and found it to portray an interesting perspective, now whether or not that perspective is appropriate is for someone else to decided. I fell in love with the characters and their stories and I think that makes for a good story. 3/5

6/50: The Help by Kathryn Stockett

This book was full of rich, and visual characters, however at times it wasn’t quite enough.  For characters such as Hilly, there were no redeeming qualities about her and it seemed unlikely that someone like Skeeter Phelan would ever want to be friends with her. 

That being said, it was an easy and interesting read. I usually dislike when authors try to voice races outside of their own, especially white authors because it risks coming across as racist or stereotypical. Whether or not Stockett actually does this is entirely controversial. I for one, enjoyed the book and found it to portray an interesting perspective, now whether or not that perspective is appropriate is for someone else to decided.

I fell in love with the characters and their stories and I think that makes for a good story.

3/5

5/50: The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie This is a collection of related short stories about life on an Indian reservation. I had to read it for my Contemporary American Literature class, so this isn’t something I decided to read for my enjoyment. However, I was pleasantly surprised. Alexie writes so beautifully he can make even the most drunken, hopeless situations seem poetic. I really enjoyed his prose, his characters and his stories.   3/5

5/50: The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie

This is a collection of related short stories about life on an Indian reservation. I had to read it for my Contemporary American Literature class, so this isn’t something I decided to read for my enjoyment. However, I was pleasantly surprised.

Alexie writes so beautifully he can make even the most drunken, hopeless situations seem poetic. I really enjoyed his prose, his characters and his stories.  

3/5

4/50: The Fault In Our Stars by John Green This is undoubtedly the best book I’ve read this year, possibly in two years. John Green brilliantly captures the voice of Hazel, a teenage girl with terminal cancer as she deals with her impending death, falling in love and just being a teenager. I sobbed hysterically for the last 52 pages.  His prose is beautiful, his characters are memorable and touching and when I finished this book, all of twenty minutes ago, I felt like I was forever changed. I knew the characters, and I was changed by them and if you only read one book this year, you need to read this one. I give this book a 5/5 for flawlessness

4/50: The Fault In Our Stars by John Green


This is undoubtedly the best book I’ve read this year, possibly in two years. John Green brilliantly captures the voice of Hazel, a teenage girl with terminal cancer as she deals with her impending death, falling in love and just being a teenager. I sobbed hysterically for the last 52 pages. 

His prose is beautiful, his characters are memorable and touching and when I finished this book, all of twenty minutes ago, I felt like I was forever changed. I knew the characters, and I was changed by them and if you only read one book this year, you need to read this one.

I give this book a 5/5 for flawlessness