Review: Night

I know that I have posted a lot of book reviews lately. There will be more to follow. But bare with me. This is how I operate. I am on a "book bender". I do this all the time. I get insomnia. So I will, most likely, read 10 novels in two weeks. Then it will die off. On top of that, I am trying to catch up with my goal. Just hang in there, I promise that all my posts will not be about books.

Night - A

Elie Wiesel

synopsis:

Night, is the autobiography of Eli Wiesel, who as a Jew during WWII - only fifteen years old - was sent to Auschwitz and then Buchenwald concentration camps. It is his personal story of what happened during this time.

This book, by far, had the biggest emotional impact on me than any book I have ever read. It was only 122 pages. But it is 122 pages that I will remember for the rest of my life. I told Brian, that he has to read this book. He replied, "I don't read." Okay, that may be true. But this is the book for non - readers. There are no flowery descriptions. This book is short and to the point.

It is history. This happened. It is not made up fairy tale, it is real. For that reason, I think that everyone should be required to read it. We need to know what we, as humans, are capable of. On both ends.

This is a MUST read. But reader beware... prepare yourself. There are no graphic descriptions. But sometimes it is worse when people state horrible things as a fact, without a hint of emotion, because... well, that is just the way things were.

I hope - I pray - that I will never have to live through, or witness, something similar to this. I am left shocked at the horrible things humans are capable of. And the horrible circumstances that people can live through.

This book is on the top 1001 books to read before you die, and the best 100 of the century, as well as the Oprah book club. Elie Wiesel won the Nobel Peace Prize for this book.

If you read nothing else your entire life, read this book.

Review: Franny and Zooey

Franny and Zooey - A
J.D. Salinger

Franny and Zooey is actually two stories surrounding the same circumstance. The first, much shorter, part of the book begins with Franny Glass and the events that lead up to her nervous breakdown. The second part of the book is told through the eyes of, Zooey Glass. Franny has moved back home, and Zooey continues with the story of her breakdown through his eyes.

J.D. Salinger has four published books and wrote several short stories for the New Yorker. Most of his work is about the Glass family. Franny and Zooey make several references to Seymour, the oldest child in the Glass family. He committed suicide several years before the book takes place. The story of Seymour's suicide is in another story called, A Perfect Day for Bananafish, found in J.D. Salinger's book, Nine Stories (a collection of short stories). I would recommend reading, A Perfect Day for Bananafish (16 pages) before reading Franny and Zooey. But it is not absolutely necessary.

If you loved The Catcher in the Rye, you will love Franny and Zooey. It has very much the same style of writing, and same type of colorful characters. I love pretty much all of J.D. Salinger's work. It has a really good story, but still had me laughing my head off in a couple of places.

Franny and Zooey is on the top 1001 books to read before you die, and the top 100 of century list.

Review: Never Let Me Go

Never Let Me Go - A
Kazuo Ishiguro

Synopsis:
(From Amazon.com)
"All children should believe that they are special. But the students at Hailsham, an elite school in the English countryside, are so special that visitors shun them, and only by rumor and the ocassional fleeting remark by a teacher do they discover their unconventional origins and strange destiny."

This book was very easy to read, moved at a steady pace, and was well written. I read the whole thing (288 pages) in one day. It is one of those books, that is frustrating because you have to wait until the very end for everything to tie together. It's very hard to critique without ruining it for those who have not read it.
It bothered me at first that the main character didn't show more emotion about her situation. But after thinking about it, I realized that her emotionless narration was very purposeful. I think that the author wanted to portray her as resigned to the facts of the matter.
For me, the book brings up some interesting questions, like: "What is the definition of a human life?" and "At what cost do you save a human life?".
Never Let Me Go, is at the top of the 1001 books to read before you die list and on the Best 100 of the century list. I think, that is enough of a reason to read the book.

If anyone has read, or does read this book in the future. Let me know what you think!

Books!

At the first of the year, I set a goal of reading 24 books this year - 2 a month (I got the idea from Rhonda Sherratt). I haven't kept up with my goal, and I also starting losing track of what I have read. So I am posting it here so that I can keep track and catch up!

Also, I don't like wasting my time or money on bad books, so I research what I want to read next pretty extensively. Recommendations are welcome! Here are a couple of websites that I like to use when looking for books (in case anyone is interested):

Time Magazine All Time 100 Novels
http://www.time.com/time/2005/100books/the_complete_list.html

1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die
http://www.listology.com/list/1001-books-you-must-read-you-die

ALA Most Frequently Challenged Books
http://www.ala.org/

Interestingly enough, many of the books on the ALA website are also on the Top 100 and 1001 Books website.

Books I've Read in 2009
(I've rated each one these with a grade A, B, C, or D)

1. The Host - Stephenie Meyer - C
2. The Stand (uncut version) - Stephen King (although I think this should count as three books since it is almost 1200 pages long!) - A
3. Harris and Me (reread) - Gary Paulsen - A
4. About a Boy - Nick Hornby - B
5. To Kill a Mocking Bird (reread) - Harper Lee - A
6. Interview with the Vampire - Anne Rice - C
7. Stolen Innocence - Elissa Wall - B
8. Angels and Demons - Dan Brown - B
9. Oryx and Crake - Margaret Atwood - B
10. My Sister's Keeper - Jodi Picoult - B
11. Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro - A
12. Franny and Zooey - J.D. Salinger - A
13. Night - Elie Wiesel - A
14. Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov - A
15. Wintergirls - Laurie Halse Anderson - B

Books I Want To Read

The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins
The Satanic Verses - Salman Rushdie (currently reading)
A Long Way Down - Nick Hornby
Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: an Introduction - J.D. Salinger
Girl Interrupted - Susanna Kaysen
Just One Wish - Janette Rallison
When the Whistle Blows - Fran Cannon Slayton
If I Stay - Gayle Forman
Playing with the Enemy - Gary W. Moore
The Knitting Circle - Ann Hood

Some of my Favorites

The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger
To Kill a Mocking Bird - Harper Lee
Harris and Me - Gary Paulsen
The Bridge to Teribithia - Katherine Patterson
The Outsiders - S.E. Hinton
Because of Winn Dixie - Kate DiCamillo
Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury

wedding mishaps

I forgot to mention in my earlier post, that my three girls and my niece, Mireya, were flower girls at Maren's wedding. They were so excited! Then about three days before we had a couple of mishaps...

Brylee did this to her head by running into the wall. She didn't trip and fall into the wall, or even get pushed into the wall. She ran into it, head on, while playing tag with the neighbor. She had blood everywhere and a huge goose egg. Luckily, all that was left by the wedding was a little scab.

Brylee got this black eye the same day she ran into the wall. She was taking a nap on the couch and rolled off in her sleep. I was sure that the black eye would last until the wedding - but luckily it didn't.

We had one final mishap the day of the wedding. I made the girls wait until we were walking out the door to leave to put their dresses on. I didn't want them to mess them up. Well, about five minutes before the wedding. Brylee ripped her dress. Then Alysa and Mireya ripped theirs. Thank goodness for super glue!!!

A week with Sarah Carter!

As I mentioned in my last post, my friend Sarah flew in from Minnesota, July 5th. She stayed with KayLyn for a few days, and then I got her for an entire week!!! We had lots of fun. We hung around the house and watched movies, swam in the pool, and spent time just catching up! It was also a good opportunity for me to get out and go see downtown Vegas - it doesn't happen very often.

We spent one night walking around on the strip - Sarah had never been there at night.

Another night, we went down to Freemont Street. Right now, Freemont street has a "Summer of '69" theme playing. I LOVE it! It's nice to walk around listening to all my favorite oldies playing, and the light show on the ceiling is themed to my favorite oldies. We watched, The Zombies, Time of the Season show and Don McLean's American Pie show. It was awesome! We also got to stop and watch a few of the vendor artists work. They had one guy doing clay molds of peoples faces, and another guy who was painting AMAZING pieces - with spray paint! It was awesome!

We had alot of fun, and I was really sad to see her go home! I am already looking forward to her next visit, in the spring!

4th of July weekend!

The week of the 4th of July was pretty crazy this year! We ended up staying home and not doing a whole lot for the actual holiday. It was to hot to go to parades. That night we lit a few fireworks and sparklers in the front yard. Then we sat back and watched about four or five different huge firework displays (put on by local neighborhoods, and area casinos) all from our front yard! It was nice. The kids were happy that they got to see alot of fireworks - and we were happy that we didn't have to fight traffic and crowds!

The Next morning we got up bright and early to pick up my friend Sarah from the airport. We had decided a couple of days before, that we were going to have everything packed and ready to go so that we could all load up in the van and head to Utah for Maren's wedding straight from the airport.
On the way, we dropped Sarah off in Cedar City to stay with our friend KayLyn for a couple of days while we hung out in G-town. It was nice to be able and sit and visit for a while in Cedar City before getting back on the road for the second half of the journey. It is such a long drive! Really, it is only 6 hours. But we have driven it so many times, that it now just seems to take FOREVER!

Tuesday, was Brylee's Birthday. It also happened to be the same day as Maren's wedding. So, we told Brylee that her birthday was Monday (she was turning 4, so she wouldn't know the difference) so that she could celebrate and have her own day. She was really excited to celebrate her birthday in Gunnison with her grandparents and cousins. All she wanted for her birthday was a "Baby Alive" stroller, and "Baby Alive" clothes for the "Baby Alive" that she got for Christmas. She was really happy when she all those things, and a Littlest Petshop House. She was so cute, she let out an excited scream after each present that she opened.



Tuesday, was Maren's big day. She looked so beautiful in her wedding dress! Everything turned out perfectly! I didn't even cry as much as I thought I would. Just a few tears during the ceremony and the toast I gave. I am so happy for Maren and Matt! They seem sooo happy, and perfect for each other!

Tuesday, after we helped clean up from the wedding, we headed back to Vegas. We picked Sarah up in Cedar around 9:30 PM and made it back to Vegas around 12:30 AM. It was a VERY hectic few days!!!!

Maren's Vegas Weekend

In the middle of June, Maren, Erika, and Ashley came and stayed with us for four or five days. It was two weeks before Maren's wedding, so she wanted to have one last "girls weekend" before tying the knot and moving to Kansas!

We spent alot of time just hanging out at the house. But we did some fun stuff around town too.

The day after they arrived, we all went to a little nail place near my house and got a pedicure and a manicure. Very relaxing! Then we went shopping and out to lunch.

Ashley, Maren and Erika getting Pedicures

The night before they left, we all went down to Freemont street. Earlier that day, Ashley had bought Maren a white Marilyn Monroe dress from 'Party City'. Maren wore it down to Freemont Street. She took a Black Sharpie marker with her, and had alot of random people sign her dress. By the end of the night the dress was full of signatures. It was alot of fun!

It was a really sad to see Maren leave, knowing that it was the last time she would be visiting us in Vegas for a long time. The girls cried and cried... especially Ady. But no worries... I have already been looking up flights to Kansas! :)