|
July 05
|
|
Hank
gave
 
to:
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules (Hardcover)
by Jeff Kinney
|
my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
|
| |
read in July, 2008
Hank said:
"As good as the first, but getting a little more cynical of the world. Kinney really does have a good idea of how much trouble lurks for kids to get into and what corners are ripe for cutting when it means more time to play video games. Well, some k...more
As good as the first, but getting a little more cynical of the world. Kinney really does have a good idea of how much trouble lurks for kids to get into and what corners are ripe for cutting when it means more time to play video games. Well, some kids anyway. The brilliance of making Greg the middle child comes more to bear in this one. ...less
"
|
|
Hank
gave
to:
Feathers (Hardcover)
by Jacqueline Woodson
|
my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
|
| |
read in July, 2008
Hank said:
"Sometimes, I think the moments that craft us the most are the unsupervised ones. That's why the playground before school, at recess and after school are the setting for amazing scenes in stories, and it's why if I am ever a teacher I will try really...more
Sometimes, I think the moments that craft us the most are the unsupervised ones. That's why the playground before school, at recess and after school are the setting for amazing scenes in stories, and it's why if I am ever a teacher I will try really hard not to get in the way of kids growing up....less
"
|
|
June 25
|
|
Hank
gave
to:
All of the Above (Hardcover)
by Shelley Pearsall
|
my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
|
| |
read in June, 2008
Hank said:
"Inner city teaching deserves respect because it is hard, and it's hard partially because the life of the children who are coming to school can also be very hard. What I love about this book is the way that no one saves anyone (except in one very mov...more
Inner city teaching deserves respect because it is hard, and it's hard partially because the life of the children who are coming to school can also be very hard. What I love about this book is the way that no one saves anyone (except in one very moving case), but for reasons personal to each character, they mature and change themselves. It's a book not about miracle solutions or easy ways out - it's about the mystery of the small opportunities and decisions in our life that create a personality and outlook. And I like all the math....less
"
|
|
Hank
gave
to:
The Glass Castle: A Memoir (Paperback)
by Jeannette Walls
|
my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
|
| |
read in June, 2008
Hank said:
"This book really made me pause and think about the way I do things. I like to be creative and adventurous about difficult situations and think positively about how what doesn't kill me is a good way to learn something new. Up to a point. Where that...more
This book really made me pause and think about the way I do things. I like to be creative and adventurous about difficult situations and think positively about how what doesn't kill me is a good way to learn something new. Up to a point. Where that point is exactly ends up being very hard to reach for the autobiographer Jeannette Walls. Growing up in the southwest, her artist mother and rootin' tootin' math and science lovin' father would take her and her siblings on odysseys around the desert and 'do the skedaddle' whenever the 'gestapo' got to close. All fine and good when the magic of childhood is sustaining and you never think you're missing out on anything that other kids have. And when you get a little older and have to dig through trashcans for lunch, it gets harder to feel excited about the adventure. The story is fun, terrifying, sickening and motivating, and the way the author descirbes her all-capable, charismatic alcoholic father with love, dissapointment but never resentment is amazing. Read this book....less
"
|
|
Hank
gave
to:
Diary of a Wimpy Kid (Hardcover)
by Jeff Kinney
|
my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
|
| |
read in June, 2008
Hank said:
"This book is a must read. It will only take an hour or two, but the humor is so slapstick for a book that it makes this really stand out. IMHO, this could be David Sedaris in middle school.
"
|
|
Hank
gave
to:
Found (Hardcover)
by Margaret Peterson Haddix
|
my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
|
| |
read in June, 2008
Hank said:
"Not a bad set up for a new series from Haddix. I was looking for some government/espionage/action kind of story and that went out the window pretty quickly when the prologue described a plane appearing out of nowhere that, to the flabbergastation of...more
Not a bad set up for a new series from Haddix. I was looking for some government/espionage/action kind of story and that went out the window pretty quickly when the prologue described a plane appearing out of nowhere that, to the flabbergastation of the poor flight attendant who went to investigate, was full of...babies.
I'm not sure who the right reading level for this book is because the story and vocabulary is right about 4th grade, but there is a scene with a taser in it. I think it's laudable to try to avoid cliche setups with guns but Haddix only gets halfway there by removing only the lethality and not working harder to build suspense that doesn't rely on threatening weapons. I'm sure I'll read the next one when it comes out....less
"
|
|
June 14
|
|
Hank
gave
to:
The Outsiders (Mass Market Paperback)
by S.E. Hinton
|
my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
|
| |
read in June, 2008
Hank said:
"synopsis- In the 1950s, a group or more or less overlooked kids band together in a gang called the greasers. Ponyboy, his two older brothers, and the rest are constantly at odds with the socs, the rival gang from the upper crust with the mustangs an...more
synopsis- In the 1950s, a group or more or less overlooked kids band together in a gang called the greasers. Ponyboy, his two older brothers, and the rest are constantly at odds with the socs, the rival gang from the upper crust with the mustangs and checkered shirts. Ponyboy has to come to resolve his feelings of loyalty to his brothers and his gang with a growing sense of dissatisfaction resulting from punching one's way through life. This becomes especially clear when Ponyboy and another gang member have to run away from a murder in self defense.
When I started reading this book, it kind of reminded me of the way I felt when I watch The Sopranos, a sort of shameful but compulsive adulation for the do-what-you-gotta-do embattled underclass. Reading on though I felt more and more pity for the characters and their situation. Maybe because they were only teenagers and their existence seemed meaner, closer to the edge and more volatile than the mobsters who were well enough to do but who were also trapped by the psychosis of their environment and friends. But at least some of the greasers were young-young enough to not be irreparably hardened into self-loathing and all the apathy that results. Among all that, Ms. Hinton managed to also tell the story of the orphans Ponyboy and his older brothers, one of whom he gets along with, and the oldest one who won't stop yelling at him....less
"
|
|
Hank
gave
to:
The Queen's Gambit: A Leonardo da Vinci Mystery (Hardcover)
by Diane A. S. Stuckart
bookshelves:
unfinished
|
my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
|
| |
read in May, 2008
Hank said:
"Welcome to the Founder of my new bookshelf - the unfinished. In the last week I've had two conversations about how not finishing a book is fine, even good when there is SO much to read and enjoy. Sure there's something to be said for perseverance a...more
Welcome to the Founder of my new bookshelf - the unfinished. In the last week I've had two conversations about how not finishing a book is fine, even good when there is SO much to read and enjoy. Sure there's something to be said for perseverance and finishing what you start and so on, but I think this applies more fitfully to ham sandwiched than books. I think there's a difference between toughing it out through a book you really want to read and putting down a book you don't like, too. So that's how The Queen's Gambit will be the spearhead into the unfinished bookshelf - readable, but just not for me....less
"
|
|
May 26
|
|
Hank
marked as to-read:
Out of the Wild (Hardcover)
by Sarah Beth Durst (Goodreads author!)
bookshelves:
to-read
|
my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
|
| |
|
