This past week Pat and I were in Michigan visiting his family at their lake cottage and with that comes hours upon hours of free time to read! My grand total from Sunday to Saturday was 5 books. Here are the summaries and my take on each book.
Sunrise over Fallujah
Robin's parents aspire for him to go to college, but following September 11, he feels compelled to join the Army instead. By early 2003, Robin has completed Basic Training and is deployed to Iraq where he becomes part of a Civil Affairs Unit charged with building the trust of the Iraqi people to minimize fighting. Civil Affairs soldiers are often put into deadly situations to test the waters, and Robin finds that the people in his unit, who nickname him "Birdy," are the only ones he can trust. Robin quickly learns that the situation in Iraq will not be resolved easily and that much of what is happening there will never make the news. Facing the horrors of war, Robin tries to remain hopeful and comforting in his letters to his family, never showing his fear or the danger he actually faces. The story of teenagers going to war today is an important one, and it is not told often enough. Myers writes an important book to have in any collection to recognize that many teens will choose to join the military instead of, or before, going on to college. Robin is only eighteen, and it is difficult to watch his innocence erased as war leaves its mark on him, but it is the reality for many young men and women. This fine book could be included with a unit on current events and is a good choice for boys.
My Take
This was a pretty good book. I picked this one up at the Scholastic Book Fair and the reason I decided to get it was I felt like it was a "boy" book. I tend to only get books for my classroom that the girls will like so I was trying to find some new ones. The beginning was a little slow for me but I think it was because I didn't let myself get excited about it.
Shattering Glass
Fat, clumsy Simon Glass is a textbook geek, and all three of Rob's posse hates him, each for his own reasons. But Rob is driven by the need to prove his power, and so he decrees that they will take on the seemingly impossible task of making Simon popular. They take him shopping for a better look, get his hair styled, teach him how to behave. Rob extracts painful sacrifices and uneasy moral compromises to achieve the goal, but each of his followers has a hidden empty place and a related secret that holds them in bondage to his manipulations. Soon Simon is on his reluctant way to becoming Class Favorite, but then he begins to show a dark, cruel side, and an ability to do what the others can't--defy Rob.
My Take
AMAZING! This book was recommended to me by our Jr. High librarian and it was wonderful. I couldn't put it down once I started. It was interesting for me as well because since I work in a high school the students reminded me of my kids as well. At the beginning of each chapter their is a little excerpt that gives away a little of the ending and I found myself turning the pages back and forth to put all the pieces together.
Jeannie out of the Bottle
Over the past four decades, the landmark NBC hit television series I Dream of Jeannie has delighted generations of audiences and inspired untold numbers of teenage crushes on its beautiful blond star, Barbara Eden. Part pristine Hollywood princess and part classic bombshell, with innocence, strength, and comedic talent to spare, Barbara finally lets Jeannie out of her bottle to tell her whole story.
Jeannie Out of the Bottle takes us behind the scenes of I Dream of Jeannie as well as Barbara’s dozens of other stage, movie, television, and live concert performances. We follow her from the hungry years when she was a struggling studio contract player at 20th Century Fox through difficult weeks trying to survive as a chorus girl at Ciro’s Sunset Strip supper club, from a stint as Johnny Carson’s sidekick on live TV to tangling on-screen and off with some of Hollywood’s most desirable leading men, including Elvis Presley, Clint Eastwood, Paul Newman, and Warren Beatty. From the ups and downs of her relationship with her Jeannie co-star Larry Hagman to a touching meeting with an exquisite and vulnerable Marilyn Monroe at the twilight of her career, readers join Barbara on a thrilling journey through her five decades in Hollywood.
But Barbara’s story is also an intimate and honest memoir of personal tragedy: a stillborn child with her first husband, Michael Ansara; a verbally abusive, drug-addicted second husband; the loss of her beloved mother; and the accidental heroin-induced death of her adult son, just months before his wedding. With candor and poignancy, Barbara reflects on the challenges she has faced, as well as the joys she has experienced and how she has maintained her humor, optimism, and inimitable Jeannie magic throughout the roller-coaster ride of a truly memorable life.
My Take
Not a big fan. I used to watch
I Dream of Jeannie
but not as much as some of the other shows on Nick at Night. The whole reason I got the book was because Barbara Eden was on
The Talk
promoting her book and I thought it sounded interesting. I felt like it was just her talking about how pure she was and how everyone else in Hollywood was evil or trying to get with her. It was neat to read about her life but I wish she would have talked more about the show that made her famous.
If I Stay
The last normal moment that Mia, a talented cellist, can remember is being in the car with her family. Then she is standing outside her body beside their mangled Buick and her parents' corpses, watching herself and her little brother being tended by paramedics. As she ponders her state (Am I dead? I actually have to ask myself this), Mia is whisked away to a hospital, where, her body in a coma, she reflects on the past and tries to decide whether to fight to live. Via Mia's thoughts and flashbacks, Forman (Sisters in Sanity) expertly explores the teenager's life, her passion for classical music and her strong relationships with her family, friends and boyfriend, Adam. Mia's singular perspective (which will recall Alice Sebold's adult novel, The Lovely Bones) also allows for powerful portraits of her friends and family as they cope: Please don't die. If you die, there's going to be one of those cheesy Princess Diana memorials at school, prays Mia's friend Kim. I know you'd hate that kind of thing. Intensely moving, the novel will force readers to take stock of their lives and the people and things that make them worth living.
My Take
Another pretty good one. This is one for my girls though, not so much the guys. It was an ok book not really one that grabbed me, I was just interested to see what she would decide. It was a quick read though, I read it on the way home from the lake.
The Summer I Turned Pretty
Belly measures her life in summers. Everything good, everything magical happens between the months of June and August. Winters are simply a time to count the weeks until the next summer, a place away from the beach house, away from Susannah, and most importantly, away from Jeremiah and Conrad. They are the boys that Belly has known since her very first summer -- they have been her brother figures, her crushes, and everything in between. But one summer, one wonderful and terrible summer, the more everything changes, the more it all ends up just the way it should have been all along.
My Take
Another chick lit book. I was interested in finishing the book just to see who she would end up with. The story was anti-climatic though.
I am now onto
Catcher in the Rye
I am trying to read some of the "classics" that I have never read but it seems like everyone else has!
