The Gangster We Are All Looking For by Lê Thi Diem Thúy


My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This book was beautifully and poignantly written. The language was simple, yet compelling and visual. The book is clearly somewhat autobiographical, and while there are undercurrents of sadness, there is also enough joy and happiness to make the corners of one’s heart turn up, because we have all been there, too, we just didn’t say it as well.

For example, the chapter titled palm is about both palm trees and the palm of the narrator’s hand. The opening paragraph says, “The trees in the neighborhood were palms and eucalyptus. Along the sides of many of the houses were bushes of white jasmine that bloomed in the evening. Young girls picked the flowers and, with a thread and needle, strung the blooms into garlands. They made themselves crowns and necklaces and bracelets. If allowed to, they would wear the flowers to bed. By morning, the garlands lay crushed and spent, the white having aged to yellow, but the fragrance remained across every throat and wrist and crown that had worn them.”

The story is of an immigrant family from Vietnam, who are dealing with the dual challenges of moving to the United States and of making peace with the Vietnam War.

Somehow, in my history classes, we never quite discussed the Vietnam War. We never made it that far along. I’m not sure if it was intentional, as we were the children of the generation who fought that war, and it is possible that our parents would have strong and mixed reactions about what we should learn, or if my teachers weren’t quite as good as time management as they should have been and simply didn’t get that far in the textbooks. Either way, this book provided a glimpse of the repercussions of that war from a new point of view.

All in all the book is masterfully written, and a joy to read.






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The Web Files by Margie Palatini

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a children's book that was recommended to me by my mother ages ago. I really enjoy reading children's books because I think they're more challenging to write than most people think. First, you have to tell a complete story in less than 40 pages. The story has to be entertaining enough for adults to want to (or be willing to) read it a gazillion times, but it has to be age appropriate.

What I like about Palatini is that she uses a lot of puns, and she incorporates other children's stories into her works. For example, in "The Web Files," Ducktective Web is working the barnyard shift, and he has to interview some suspects for a robbery. One of the suspects is little boy blue. Upon determining that he is innocent, Ducktective says, "we put the kid out to pasture."
These silly quips, combined with colorful illustrations, makes this a book kids will enjoy, and parents will find amusing.

Captain America had a rough day at work the day I brought this book home from the library.  Of course I read it to him as a bedtime story (what's the point of children's books if not for bedtime stories?).  He was not nearly as amused by this book as I was, but then again he is rarely as amused by children's books as I am.  However, this one starred ducks, and he's a duck, and I had my duck slippers on, so all in all, he didn't mind too much.


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The Last Camel Died at Noon by Elizabeth Peters

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I think Elizabeth Peters really hit her stride in "The Last Camel Died at Noon." The story was the most engaging in the series so far, Emerson finally became a bit comical, quipping such remarks as, "I seem to have ruined another shirt...not my fault this time, Peabody," and we finally meet a character who keeps Ramses quiet.



One thing I really like about the series is how Peters illustrates Peabody and Emerson's relationship. Peabody states that they are frequently of one mind, but it is illustrated by Emerson saying such things as "Peabody, do you think you could manage..." to which she replies, "Quite," and then, rather than tell us what Emerson is plotting, the book breaks into the action of Emerson and Peabody following through with their plans.



I am actually really excited to read the rest of the series!



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Possession by A.S. Byatt


My rating: 1 of 5 stars


This book was a struggle to get through, even after I saw the movie. Basically, there are two love stories going on in this book...the modern-day romance of two literary researchers who discover a hitherto unknown love affair between two poets.




I will say this, the author worked very hard on this book...she used different voices for the different characters, and even for the different writings of the poets. She put a lot of effort into this book.




But the book was so long, the modern day love story was frustrating, because you were sort of like, get it together already! And I suppose there was supposed to be an air of mystery, because the researchers are working to prove that the two poets knew each other, but, and maybe it's because I'm not an academic, I was sort of like, who cares? I mean, I just have a hard time understanding why someone would spend so much time researching stuff that was already written (then again, I've never liked research...if YOU want to know something, YOU look it up; don't bother me with it).




Thinking maybe I was missing something crucial, since this book came so highly recommended from a trustworthy source, I did some of my own research (see, when I want to know something, I will go ahead and look it up myself!). Basically, what I found is that people either LOVED or HATED this book. People either found the story line beautiful, the poetry moving, and the imagery fabulous, or they were like me and just wanted to get on with it. I didn't find anyone who felt the book was "pretty good."




So, my advice is, if you like research, or poetry or reading journals from the 1860s, you might enjoy this book, but if you don't, or if you are frustrated by would-be lovers who can't figure it out, then you'll probably not enjoy this book.






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The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky


My rating: 4 of 5 stars


First, I need to thank my cousin for recommending this book to me. I literally read it in one day. It's a YA book, which helps explain that, and it's going to be a movie starring Hermione Granger (okay, I know she has a real name, but whatever). The reviews compare it to Catcher in the Rye and A Separate Peace, but I felt more like Catcher in the Rye and The Pigman.




I'm trying to find the right adjective to describe this book, and clever and compelling are both close but not quite it. I liked that this is a coming of age story that took place in the 1990s, when I was in middle school and high school, so that made it very relatable. Also, it was written as a series of letters, and I found the voice to be very accurate. There were the run on sentences similar to the way I thought in high school, and there were some grammatical errors, just as would have happened had someone been writing letters that they hadn't bothered to proofread.




If I hadn't known better I would have guessed that Charlie was a girl, because he thought many of the same things I thought in high school, but maybe teenage boys think that way, too, and just don't tell teenage girls. I have never claimed to understand the inner workings of the teenage boy mind.




You never find out who it is that Charlie is writing the letters to, which is a little frustrating. Sometimes I felt like it was Sam, and other times Bill, and sometimes even his Aunt Helen, or maybe that we were the ones receiving the letters and we had never met Charlie.




My mother is very good at guessing the ending of books and movies. I shouldn't say guessing; she frequently just knows. I rarely just know, and while I wouldn't say that the ending of the book was a surprise, once I reached the end, little details throughout made sense.




The book is divided into four parts and an epilogue. I didn't find any value in the way the book was divided up, so that editorial choice is probably my one main criticism of the book.




All in all, I thought it was a great read, with relatable, interesting characters. It's not a new story, as coming-of-age stories rarely are, but it was still captivating.






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Waiting for SUPERMAN: A Participant Media Guide by Participant Media


My rating: 1 of 5 stars


Don't bother reading this. It's not so much that it's a bad book; it's just that it's nothing I didn't already know. The book talks about, basically, that money is not the solution to education; good teachers are the solution. It also talks about how kids that are from disadvantaged areas need a longer school day to catch up, but, as an educator friend of mine pointed out, the book didn't discuss how the teachers were paid, etc. for the extra time this required of them.




I don't know any teachers who don't work hard and who don't want their students to learn, but at the same time, I don't think it's an altruistic field. Teachers need to be rewarded for their work, and I really have to ask of the schools in the book that are open Saturdays, etc., what's in it for the teachers? I've had to work Saturdays, and I don't get paid any extra for it, and it's no fun at all, and I'm not even dealing with 30 children.




The book is presented as almost a series of editorials, and one states that in low-income communities, once you get the kids learning and showing results, then the parents get on board. That makes no sense to me. I don't understand, and never have understood, why low-income neighborhoods don't have a culture of learning. I don't understand why it's uncool. When I was in high school, my friends and I never said to each other, come hang out on the streets instead of doing your homework. That wouldn’t have even crossed our minds. Homework was something to be done. It wasn't always fun, and it wasn't always what we wanted to do, but we know, even in our "advantaged" neighborhood that not graduating from high school, and not going to college was not going to get us closer to a life in which we could do what we wanted.




And maybe kids in low income neighborhoods don't even know what choices are out there, or what they could do if they had the opportunities. And I understand that parents in these situations might be more worried about feeding their kids than whether or not they know algebra, and that many times the parents also don't know what options are available to them.




Also, nowhere in the book is an actual teacher included. Many of the writers had been teachers, and moved on to administration, or had other experiences with school systems, but perhaps asking an actual teacher what their struggles were might have provided a balanced perspective.




The book also talks a lot about the need for good teachers, how to improve middle-of-the-road teachers, and how to remove poor teachers. Many writers in the book suggest that there are ways to make education more equal and comparable across the country, but I'm not so sure that's really possible. I think the country is so vast, with so many different cultural attitudes, that making education the same everywhere is not likely possible.




I'm not trying to sound dismal about the state of education in the country, but I think that there's not just one problem and not just one solution. I think there's too much of a blame game going on, and maybe rather than spending so much time analyzing what's not working, it's time to just try something, anything, new and see if that helps. If it doesn't something else can always be tried, or we can just go back to the old way of doing things. I still plan on watching the movie, because I'm curious, but I think that if you want to change education, you're better off spending your time doing something than reading this book.






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Loving Edith by Mary Tannen


My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This was a completely enjoyable read. The story line was easy to follow, but the characters were interesting enough that it didn't matter that the plot was fairly straight forward. The story was set in the early '90s, but it didn't really feel like the '90s as I remember them, although that did not detract from the book at all. Also, when I finished the book, it struck me as something that could have easily been written as a play. All in all, if you're looking for something on the lighter side that isn't brainless, this is an excellent choice.




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