Book Blog #136: The Glass Castle by Jennette Walls

Title: The Glass Castle
Author: Jeannette Walls
# of Pages: 288 (hardcover)
Genre: Nonfiction, Biography, Memoir
Rating: ★★★★☆
Synopsis: When sober, Jeannette's brilliant and charismatic father captured his children's imagination, teaching them physics, geology, and how to embrace life fearlessly. But when he drank, he was dishonest and destructive. Her mother was a free spirit who abhorred the idea of domesticity and didn't want the responsibility of raising a family.

The Walls children learned to take care of themselves. They fed, clothed, and protected one another, and eventually found their way to New York. Their parents followed them, choosing to be homeless even as their children prospered.
Review: One main thought came to my mind when I was reading this book; this family is crazy.

Now, based on the synopsis, I thought this was going to be a sob story. The cover didn't help as a grudgingly picked up this book. But Walls' approach is fantastic in The Glass Castle. She's not complaining about her life; she's just retelling it the way it was with some of it positive and some of it negative. Just how life is.

The Walls family is so different from my own, I wasn't sure of what to make of it. But I loved it. I didn't realize it, but I didn't know the true way a family like Walls' was like until I read this book. And it shows the reader that you can't label a child based on his or her parents' characteristics, habits, etc.

I urge everyone to read this book!

Book Blog #135: This Star Won't Go Out by Esther Earl with Lori and Wayne Earl

Title: This Star Won't Go Out
Author: Esther Earl with Lori and Wayne Earl
# of Pages: 431 (hardback)
Genre: Non-fiction, YA, Biography
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Synopsis: A collection of the journals, fiction, letters, and sketches of the late Esther Grace Earl, who passed away in 2010 at the age of 16. Photographs and essays by family and friends will help to tell Esther’s story along with an introduction by award-winning author John Green who dedicated his #1 bestselling novel The Fault in Our Stars to her.
Review:

"I don't know what I've been doing...people online are still saying things like, 'thank you, you're an inspiration' 'yr amazing' 'wow you're famous' 'you're so beautiful inside and out.' ...But I'm still Estee and I've done nothing else????" -Esther Earl, This Star Won't Go Out, page 305

This quote is defiantly not the most inspiration or positive quote in Esther Earl's This Star Won't Go Out, but it does a good job of summing up the book.

TSWGO is about of girl who, like Hazel from The Fault in Our Stars, finds herself "quite unextraordinary" (Hazel, The Fault in Our Stars). And to some, she would be if it weren't for her cancer. 

And this may or may not be true. I'm not even sure myself. We won't know if she would have ever made as big of an impact on people if she didn't have cancer because she did. Due to this, I am certain of one thought; she was defiantly not unextraordinary. 

I struggled with my opinion on this book. Judging by the time it took me to read it, I know that it wasn't the ideal read because I did not feel pressured to read it, to find out what happened next in her story. But it was by no means a bad book either. 

The quote at the beginning of this book resonates what I felt I learned from her memoir. Esther was just a regular girl with "normal" (because really, what's normal?) interests who happened to be really, really sick. There's often that barrier between people who have cancer and people who don't. Cancer patients are sometimes thought to be too different from others because they're dying, or because people think they need to be pitied, or because people think they're suddenly idol/celebrity, or for whatever reason people have created this division. But they aren't that different. Aren't all of us dying? Haven't we all at some point been been/wanted to be pitied? Aren't celebrities human too?

Of course, everything I'm saying now could be pointless to some of you reading. I'm sure all of us know somewhere in our mind that cancer patients are indeed just like normal people (especially if we have know the people pre-cancer). And now that I go back over what I've written, I realize I lost track of what I originally wanted to say...

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I wanted to know more about Esther, the girl who was a nerdfighter and loved Harry Potter and a lot less of Esther, the inspirational girl who had cancer and was so brave and strong...

That was what frustrates me the most. The majority of the documents used to create this book mostly told her cancer story. The cancer seems to overshadow HER (although it became part of her). But I could hear about the cancer from so many others. I want to know what made the members of Catitude think she was amazing.

I'm giving this book three stars for being interesting overall, but lacking focus on important aspects of Esther's life.

Book Blog #134: Bomb by Steve Sheinkin

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Title: Bomb: The Race to Build—and Steal—the World's Most Dangerous Weapon
Author: Steve Sheinkin
# of Pages: 266 (paperback)
Genre: YA, Nonfiction, Science
Rating: ★★★★☆
Synopsis: IN DECEMBER OF 1938, a chemist in a German laboratory made a shocking discovery: When placed next to radioactive material, a uranium atom split in two.

That simple discovery, dealing with the tiniest of particles, launched a cut-throat race that would span three continents The plays were the greatest scientists, the most expert spies, hardened military commandos, and some of the most ruthless dictators who ever lived. The prize: military dominance over the entire world.

This is the story of the plotting, the risk-taking, the deceit, and genius that created the world's most formidable weapon. This is the story of the atomic bomb.
Review: A word of advice: try not to read this book in public.

I had been reading this book among a group of people I was only barely acquainted with, and I was receive  many strange glances  when the passed by me. It wasn't until one of the squinted at me and said, "I'm watching you!" did I realize that they were reading the header of the section: How to Build an Atomic Bomb.

Of course, feel free to read this out in public. Most people won't really care. All jokes aside, this was an amazing nonfiction book. The story and the concept of the atomic bomb was very easy to understand while also being entertaining. There are A LOT of different people involved, which means there are a lot of different names. Sheinkin tries to remind the reader ever so often of who's who (and if all else fails, there's an index in the back), but trying to remember everyone involved was a little disruptive of the flow of reading.

If you are looking for a good nonfiction book, give this one a try!

Book Blog #133: Animal Farm by George Orwell

Title: Animal Farm
Author: George Orwell
# of Pages: 140 (paperback)
Genre: Classic, Science Fiction, Fantasy
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Synopsis: As ferociously fresh as it was more than a half century ago, this remarkable allegory of a downtrodden society of overworked, mistreated animals and their quest to create a paradise of progress, justice, and equality is one of the most scathing satires ever published. As readers witness the rise and bloody fall of the revolutionary animals, they begin to recognize the seeds of totalitarianism in the most idealistic organization and in the most charismatic leaders, the souls of the cruelest oppressors.
Review: This is the second time I've read this book.

I don't have much to say other than the fact that I thought it wasn't nearly as interesting the second time through as it was the first. Animal Farm is a very quick read that can be understood by a broad range of people and is appropriate for many ages. However, deeper thinking and understanding the Russian Revolution is required  if you want to completely appreciate this book.

I recommend this book!