Review from 2015:
High School History Text Book. A look at American history starting with a brief overview of how people came to the Americas and Native American culture (seriously, 16 pages on all of this), and then n it starts in on the colonization by the Spanish and moves on from there. It does do a better job than my high school history books in that it looks at more than colonization, the Civil War, and WWII but it still tends to be glossed over certain areas and the writing is drab and not very engaging. This one only goes through 2003 with a special 2004 election update so it will be the last time I use this edition and I'm curious how the Iraq war and Bush's presidency will be portrayed in the next edition I get.
So I thought that would be the last time that I would use that edition but the new updated course from my preferred high school curriculum has switched over to a new format where it is not tied to a book but wants you to do research based on the questions in the syllabus. While I like that style of learning for things like science, I think it's problematic for something like history for a variety of reasons. First being that when you are searching for answers like that in terms of history, it's very easy to miss a lot of the nuances and surrounding issues that affected things. Second, in this day and age of the internet it is very easy to be sucked down into holes of things that are factually incorrect but are doing a very good job of looking like authentic trustworthy sites. So I prefer a textbook when it comes to history and so I stuck with this edition and will see what happens when I circle back around to this course for the last time in about 5 years.
Page count: 1138p/5,184p ytd/297,205p lifetime
Saturday, May 26, 2018
Friday, May 25, 2018
22:100 History of US Vol 10: All the People by Joy Hakim
Review from 2013:
Middle School US History covering 1945-2009. I learned a lot from this one. I've heard about the Vietnam War and Korean War but never had any inkling as to what they were really about. It's nice to at least have a basic understanding of them now and to have a better grasp on who the presidents were between Roosevelt and Kennedy and then Carter who is the first president I remember. It was even more interesting reading her take on the times of my childhood and now my adulthood. I thought that while fairly simplistic, she did a decent job of trying to present a rounded perspective. It's definitely been opening some dialog in my house and that is never a bad thing.
Yeah, it was a good refresher on those subjects. Made even more interesting because I was also reading high school American History this year and of course, this is really where they finally intercept and this one is much more in depth in a lot of ways.
Page count: 297p/4,046p ytd/296,067p lifetime
Middle School US History covering 1945-2009. I learned a lot from this one. I've heard about the Vietnam War and Korean War but never had any inkling as to what they were really about. It's nice to at least have a basic understanding of them now and to have a better grasp on who the presidents were between Roosevelt and Kennedy and then Carter who is the first president I remember. It was even more interesting reading her take on the times of my childhood and now my adulthood. I thought that while fairly simplistic, she did a decent job of trying to present a rounded perspective. It's definitely been opening some dialog in my house and that is never a bad thing.
Yeah, it was a good refresher on those subjects. Made even more interesting because I was also reading high school American History this year and of course, this is really where they finally intercept and this one is much more in depth in a lot of ways.
Page count: 297p/4,046p ytd/296,067p lifetime
Tuesday, May 22, 2018
21:100 Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
Janie was born to a young girl who was not ready to be a mother and so was raised by her Nanny (grandmother) but Nanny is aging and has been a slave to men and seen what her daughter went through and wants a better life for Janie so arranges for her to marry a wealthy man who can keep her in comfort. Janie has thoughts of her own about this but does as Nanny wants and it's ok for a little while. There is no passion and it's a dull life but Janie thinks that these things will grow but instead the longer she is married to her first husband, the more he starts demanding of her and demeaning her. This leads her to runaway with Joe who promised her passion and vitality and that he was going to make something of himself in a big way. And he did become a successful businessman and mayor of a small town but he was also controlling and demeaning of her and she was still miserable until he died. After that, Janie was not sure she wanted another husband who would control her every move. She was finally enjoying her freedom but then Teacake came along and taught her to play chess and shoot a gun and all sorts of things that are generally thought to be for men only and he made her laugh and she fell in love. They were married and Teacake treated her more like an equal and partner than anyone else ever had and she loved it and him. They were good together and she grew into a whole person and more sure of herself. Unfortunately, nothing that good can last.
I had never even heard of this book or author until this year's new literature course. I read reviews talking about how the dialect made it difficult to understand and I can see that. I found that I definitely had to slow down when reading it to make sure I was understanding it properly but it was the right fit for this story. The imagery in the prose was masterfully done and the characters were well fleshed out and realistic. I'm very glad to have read it.
Page count: 219p/3,749p ytd/295,770p lifetime
I had never even heard of this book or author until this year's new literature course. I read reviews talking about how the dialect made it difficult to understand and I can see that. I found that I definitely had to slow down when reading it to make sure I was understanding it properly but it was the right fit for this story. The imagery in the prose was masterfully done and the characters were well fleshed out and realistic. I'm very glad to have read it.
Page count: 219p/3,749p ytd/295,770p lifetime
20:100 The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis
My second (maybe third time) reading this. This is what I had to say last time:
An interesting end to the series. Not totally unexpected and certainly in line with most tales of that sort tho still not quite what I had thought was going to happen. It's hard to put my finger on but this one didn't feel quite right to me. I think perhaps it was the total lack of depth in some of the "main" characters this time around. Even the ones we knew from previous books weren't as "alive" as they were previously. Still, all in all, a very good series, very enjoyable with wonderful descriptive writing.
And you know, I'm going to stick with that. It just really wasn't very fleshed out in the manner of the other stories and was a bit of a letdown at the end. When asked, my 12yr old stated that The Silver Chair or The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe were his favorites (with The Magician's Nephew very close to making that list) and it's easy to see why. It's not a lack of action but more a lack of adventure of the self that this book is lacking.
And this time I think I was finally able to really put my finger on what bothered me so much about this book and that is just how racist and anti-anything other white European Christian this book is. Growing up I didn't read the whole series and hadn't put together the religious aspects of it but now, it's not only impossible to miss for me but in this book the way it's handled is absolutely abhorrent.
Page count: 211p/3,530p ytd/295,551p lifetime
An interesting end to the series. Not totally unexpected and certainly in line with most tales of that sort tho still not quite what I had thought was going to happen. It's hard to put my finger on but this one didn't feel quite right to me. I think perhaps it was the total lack of depth in some of the "main" characters this time around. Even the ones we knew from previous books weren't as "alive" as they were previously. Still, all in all, a very good series, very enjoyable with wonderful descriptive writing.
And you know, I'm going to stick with that. It just really wasn't very fleshed out in the manner of the other stories and was a bit of a letdown at the end. When asked, my 12yr old stated that The Silver Chair or The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe were his favorites (with The Magician's Nephew very close to making that list) and it's easy to see why. It's not a lack of action but more a lack of adventure of the self that this book is lacking.
And this time I think I was finally able to really put my finger on what bothered me so much about this book and that is just how racist and anti-anything other white European Christian this book is. Growing up I didn't read the whole series and hadn't put together the religious aspects of it but now, it's not only impossible to miss for me but in this book the way it's handled is absolutely abhorrent.
Page count: 211p/3,530p ytd/295,551p lifetime
Tuesday, May 8, 2018
19:100 Burn Bright by Patricia Briggs
The 5th book in the Alpha & Omega series. The Marrok is out of town when an SOS comes in from one of the wildlings on the outskirts of the Pack's lands. The wildlings are mostly werewolves (with a Fae or two thrown in) that are not stable enough to be brought within the Pack nor are they stable enough to be let loose with the human population so the Marrock has them close by for their protection and the protection of everyone else. Now though, Charles must go in and see what has them so spooked that they would call for help and Anna goes with him in the hopes that she may be able to keep things peaceful enough that Charles will not need to act as the Pack enforcer. What they find though, is a group of highly skilled and well-armed military type people trying to kidnap one of the wildlings when no one should even know about them. This points to a traitor in their midst so now Charles and Anna must work to warn the other wildlings and figure out who is betraying the Pack and make them stop by any means necessary. What they find though is something out of the darkest magic of the witchborn and not easy to stop at all.
I so love Ms. Briggs books in general and this world in specific. It's taken longer for the Alpha & Omega characters to really grow on me but they have and while I still eagerly await the next Mercy book, these are definitely a fun way to pass the time.
Page count: 308p/3,319p ytd/295,340p lifetime
I so love Ms. Briggs books in general and this world in specific. It's taken longer for the Alpha & Omega characters to really grow on me but they have and while I still eagerly await the next Mercy book, these are definitely a fun way to pass the time.
Page count: 308p/3,319p ytd/295,340p lifetime
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