false 12 151 93 true 5767166 read 6 true 3782591 currently-reading 52 true 3782590 to-read <![CDATA[Ellen is on page 1 of After ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/76955073 Ellen is starting After ]]> <![CDATA[Ellen added 'After']]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/76955073 to: After (Hardcover) by Amy Efaw
bookshelves: currently-reading
This isn't a book I would normally read, but it's one of two the North High School book clubbers chose to discuss next meeting.
The main character is unsympathetic and cold. How could a reader like a teen who gives birth and puts her baby in a garbage can and into a dumpster (the baby lives). Little by little, as Devon recalls the months of her pregnancy and the early morning she gave birth, the reader learns more about her reasoning. In the end, she realizes that she meant for the baby to die, and she asks to plead guilty. That doesn't make her any warmer. ]]> <![CDATA[Ellen added 'Pets’ Playground: Playing Safe in a Dog-and-Cat World']]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/78340558 Pets’ Playground: Playing Safe in a Dog-and-Cat World (Paperback) by Amanda Chin, BVSc
bookshelves: currently-reading
]]> <![CDATA[Ellen added 'Breaking Dawn']]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/78704471 to: Breaking Dawn (Twilight, #4) by Stephenie Meyer
A perfect Bella is a boring Bella. It's also an oxymoron. The books were interesting when they stayed within the confines of the human world, and an eternity of perfection seems both frightening and unexciting. Reading this, I would suggest that no one read any of the books. The ending ruins them. I skimmed it. It was without interest. ]]> <![CDATA[Ellen is on page 541 of Breaking Dawn ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/78704471 Ellen is on page 541 of 754 of Breaking Dawn ]]> <![CDATA[Ellen added 'The Book Thief']]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/74416810 to: The Book Thief (Paperback) by Markus Zusak
Warning: I sobbed through the ending of this book. I've been touched by the great authors, moved, amazed, and rendered speechless, but none of them has ever made me sob.
Every character is perfect, the use of figurative language startles on every page, and every detail of every character's life is perfectly realized.
Do yourself a favor. Order The Book Thief now from amazon. You'll find out what I just said is true.

NOTE: This is my second reading. I'm creating a Book Thief WebQuest. Look it up in about a week.
I picked up on a lot this second reading. I rushed enthralled and involved in the first reading. I didn't sob this time, but I still felt the pain. ]]> <![CDATA[Ellen added 'Eclipse']]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/78591412 to: Eclipse (Twilight, #3) by Stephenie Meyer
excellent. I couldn't put it down. I read it all day. ]]> <![CDATA[Ellen added 'New Moon']]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/78340672 to: New Moon (Twilight, #2) by Stephenie Meyer
They get better and better. ]]> <![CDATA[Ellen added 'The Chocolate War']]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/77803173 to: The Chocolate War (Mass Market Paperback) by Robert Cormier
The Chocolate War reminded me of Lord of the Flies, with Jerry as Simon. The savagery of The Chocolate Wars was unbearable, as Archie and Father Leon prevail. Darkness covers all. Even Jerry gives in during the heartbreaking scene, which I won’t describe, where he tries to tell The Goober the words that end with, “It’s a laugh, Goober, a fake. Don’t disturb the universe, Goober, no matter what the posters say.”

It is a fake, as far as my sixty years have shown me. Chicano activist in Denver in the ‘60’s and ‘70’s worked for the community. They were beaten, bombed, murdered, and misrepresented by the press, and the community forsook them. Do I think if I went to class in Denver with primarily a Latino population and tried to make a difference that I would be allowed to challenge the curriculum or the administration in any way for the good of the students? No, I do not. Will I dare to disturb the universe? No, I will not. I will work within the prescribed boundaries. Will you? We all operate within the boundaries of the school as it is.
]]> <![CDATA[Ellen added 'The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian']]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/77803240 to: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (Hardcover) by Sherman Alexie
Everyone has to read about the wide-ranging, extraordinary talents of Sherman Alexie (http://www.fallsapart.com/biography.html), whose autobiographical first young adult novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, won the National Book Award. I am about to order some of his “adult” works online.
This book is outstanding. Its award’s list takes up more than half a page.

Arnold Junior Spirit is an cartoonist/basketball player/all-around intelligent fourteen year old who leaves his school on the “rez” to attend an all-white school nearby (the names of the towns - Wellpinit and Reardan - and the reservation in the books are those of Alexie’s). He wants a chance to get off the reservation. He loves the beauty of his culture as much as he wants to get away from the poverty, hunger, pain, alcoholism, and death, and an awful lot of all five permeate the book.

I don’t want to give anything away about this outstanding book, but a turning point for me came when Gordy, Junior’s genius friend at Reardon, said “Well, life is a constant struggle between being an individual and being a member of a community.” Junior lists all manner of communities at the end of the book:

I realized that, sure, I was a Spokane Indian. I belonged to that tribe. But I also belonged to the tribe of American immigrants. And to the tribe of basketball players. And to the tribe of bookworms.
And the tribe of cartoonists
And the tribe of chronic masturbators.
And the tribe of teenage boys.
And the tribe of small-town kids.
And the tribe of Pacifi Northwesterners
And the tribe of tortilla chips-and-salsa lovers.
And the tribe of povery.
And the tribe of funeral goers.
And the tribe of beloved sones.
And the tribe of boys who really missed their best friends.
It was a huge realization.

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