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Gone Book Review

Author: Michael Grant

This book was hard for me to read.

At first, it intrigued me because it looked like another Lord of the flies style of novel. A dystopia that my students really enjoyed, except with a more fast-paced narrative style.

However, getting into it required a lot more of my willingness to make it happen. It started off with an intriguing premise: all at once, for no reason, everybody over the age of 14 disappears.

The problem is… I’m a parent.

So immediately I start to think of my own children and how would they survive given this situation. Then I think about other children and infants and… you get it.

Putting aside the fact that this would be a dark reality, I realize the author hooked me in. Even though the scenario was frightening, I really wanted to know where it was going. For that—this book gets top marks.

It really is a fast-paced action novel, full of adventure, intrigue, and mystery. As cliché is that sounds, this book does have it all.

My only contention is that it does get kind of repetitive near the end and there were a few times and I was rolling my eyes that certain situations kept repeating themselves.

In other words, I was predicting a lot what was going to happen.

Given that I blasted this whole thing in one weekend, it still kept me going and I will eventually get to the rest of the series. Overall, great read… but tough at first as a parent to get through the first hundred pages.

Gray Mountain Book Review

Author: John Grisham

Okay, Mr. Grisham, we need to talk. I haven’t read you in twenty years and it was brought to my attention I need to read your latest. Let’s get the obvious out of the way: you’re still writing the same book, just packaged differently.

However, that’s not a bad thing.

Not a bad thing at all because your writing is on an entirely new level. If your name wasn’t on the cover of this one, I wouldn’t have guessed it was you. There’s still your fingerprints all over it, but you’ve turned them into style points for others to emulate.

As for the book itself, it’s a story and information lecture all in one. While many might gripe at this proselytizing, it provides excellent background for those of us who do not understand the issues. Coming from a Theology background, I always appreciate when someone wants to tell me what Religion is about based on the media and their feelings. /sarcasm

The pacing in this is kind of strange, but I can’t put my finger on it. It keeps you coming back to find out what kind of trouble the young, inexperienced lawyer facing the giant coal corporations gets herself into, but it never resolves in a way you would expect. You get these nice plot twists, but never a real resolution and you keep going to get that resolution you want.

It’s aggravating, but addictive.

So Grisham, whatever you’re doing, keep going.

I’ll keep pace with you now.

The Issue With Reading Challenges

For the past four years, I’ve set a goal for how many books to read (between 90-110). This is all done and tracked on Goodreads and the idea behind it is sound; a challenge to encourage more reading.

However, there’s a problem with this particular type of challenge and any sort of read-a-thon that promotes volume as a benchmark: all the effort goes toward fitting that goal at the cost of what books you’re actually reading.

The past few years I found myself purposefully moving away from more challenging and longer books in order to meet my goal for the year. There were many tomes sitting in my “to-read” list that were ignored in lieu of making sure I stayed on track to meet my goal.

This past summer, I got sick of waiting and just plunged ahead, not caring about whether I hit my goal for this year or not (coincidentally, I’m still on track anyway).

I’ve come to a realization setting a goal to read a certain number of books is not as useful as creating a habit of filling your time with reading. The more time you spend reading, the more books you will read. Simple.

Sure, the reading challenge may have been a way to encourage me to spend more time reading, but it wasn’t for the purpose of enjoying the books. It was to merely finish them.

So while the reading challenges may be a good push, it’s not something I will participate in going forward. Instead, I’ll just work on the amount of reading I do in a day. Which is exactly what I do with my students.

I push them hard to find time in their day to read books they enjoy. My number one rule for reading is only read the book if you’re interested in it. If you don’t, abandon it and find another. The right book in the hands of even the most reluctant student will have them reading in all the pockets of time they have.

It could take a student a few months before they find that book (and sometimes longer), but the real challenge is to keep encouraging. That’s why I never push for volume of books in my class, just volume of reading.

If you wanted a real reading challenge, it should be this:

Find the next book that will completely absorb you into its world, keeping you hooked into it with a refusal to put it down.

Once you find enough of those books, you will have achieved the status of voracious reader.

The Name of the Wind Book Review

Author: Patrick Rothfuss

Here’s the thing with fantasy—it was the genre that got me into reading. Fantasy books were my escape in late elementary and high school, my videogames of choice and there was no greater joy than finding a new series to get into.

I would even go as far to say that it was the genre that influenced my passion for magic.

However, fantasy requires attention, time, concentration and a willingness to let go of the world. It requires a great deal of imagination to visualize the scenes happening. These were all things I was dropping as I left my adolescent years. In their place were thick textbooks, non-fiction and adult responsibilities.

Every so often, a fantasy book would tug at me out of curiosity, but my concentration just wasn’t there. I feared that either the genre was getting complicated for the sake of getting complicated, or that I had lost my imagination for it (there was some of both).

This book pulled me right back to my younger years.

It was a complete escape into another world and every page felt like a magic tome, written in just the right way to pull you into its world. There was such a depth to it that pulled you right in and didn’t let you surface for air… even if it was late at night and my wife was kicking me to get some sleep.

It’s a story—about a story—told through a storyteller. In the end, you have seeds of doubt about the credibility of it all, but you just don’t care. You want to know more.

Nothing about the writing is pretentious and nothing about the world is complicated. The writing gently takes your hand and guides you through it all, slowly wading you through the waters until you’re naming areas like people on the west coast can name of the freeways in California.

Rothfuss, you wrote a gateway book that is getting me to jump back into the genre and I thank you.

Rebound Book Review

Author: Kwame Alexander

Kwame Alexander: the author who can get even my most reluctant students to read a book in its entirety. The man who teachers the power of the spoken word still has a prominent place in our society and should be held up by all.

Or to quote my students, “This guy’s got bars!”

Rebound is the prequel (chronologically, but released afterward) to The Crossover. It’s the story of a young person overcoming the challenges of a household after losing a parent. And yes, it’s also about basketball.

This is a wonderfully written narrative where you want to dive into each page. There’s never a point where the story hangs, drags on, or the writing feels forced. It’s proof that Alexander has a tremendous command of language and knows how to use it to speak to the reader.

I’m thankful there are authors like him out there because my students love him, and so do I.

Moxie Book Review

Author: Jennifer Mathieu

Moxie girls fight back!

Small town, Texas. High school football rules and everyone, from the schools to the local businesses, rally behind the team. And this is where the issues arise.

Although Mathieu picked, what I could consider, a stereotypical setting, the atmosphere of this book can relate to almost any place. Swap out football star for hockey captain and you now have a completely Canadian setting.

In this book, all the attention, money and respect, goes to the football players. They get away with sexist remarks, offensive clothing and everything just under murder.

Well, the girls had enough and it’s time to fight back.

This is a fantastic foray into the mindset and perspective of what it feels like to be a in a young woman’s shoes today (and yesterday for that matter). It addresses the serious concerns we still face.

Most important, for the male readers, it gives an emphatic viewpoint that we just don’t get. I’m looking specifically at the, “not all guys are like that,” crowd. As a student, I look back and realize how awful some situations really were and as a teacher, I try to be hyper aware of what’s happening. From someone who grew up with three very tough, and intelligent, sisters, I get why they had to be solid as a rock.

This book really dives into the serious consequences of what are seemingly innocent remarks and what they escalate into. I applaud Mathieu for delivering such a powerful story in a way that is relatable to anyone reading through it.

It was a text that sat dormant in my classroom library for a year now, but will now be at the forefront for my students to explore. My hope is that more will hear the call of Moxie and continue the fight.

The Way of Kings Book Review

Author: Brandon Sanderson

There’s something to be said about a Sanderson book.

Just looking at one can give you the sweats and cause you to lose faith that you can ever be brave enough to read it. After all, he’s one of the very few still writing tomes of epic fantasy with each one weighing enough to hold down the foundation of my house.

Yet, he’s such a great author and I love reading him because his books remind me I still have an imagination. His words create enough imagery in my head without ever causing me to slow down to remember some obscure kingdom name which now has a pivotal role in the plot.

The Way of Kings still made me nervous.

Would I have the patience to endure a true one thousand page epic, which is only book one of many? To top it off, would I have the willingness to finish it when my time was limited to smaller sips instead of the giant gulps fantasy requires?

Well, I went for it and happy that I did.

It does require a bit more patience than his other works as this one follows the perspective of six different characters, with some side tangents on minor ones. You will have to re-acquaint yourself with the world you’re in every time you jump because the story lines are seemingly disconnected.

I found myself attached to two of them while plodding along with the other two, which is why I think I kept at it. I wanted to know what was going to happen to my two favourites (Kaladin and Shallan). Although, if I had to guess, this book was setup to lead you that way anyway.

Then you hit about the three quarters of the book and your patience is rewarded. Up until now, it’s been a slow burn that gently tugs at your interest. Once you get to this point, it skyrockets. You fly to the end and then you get hungry for more.

Now I’m worried because he setup some high hopes for book number two. I haven’t read any reviews or descriptions for it… but I do know the book is the maximum possible size a publisher can print.

What did I get myself into?

Testing Many Waters

In order to see if something is going to work, it’s going to have to be put to the test. The test doesn’t have to be anything formal, or grand, but it needs to be there.

We can engage in thought experiments until we fall unconscious, but none of it will matter unless action is taken.

Sure enough, tests will fail. Many will be unsuccessful or produce the results that were intended. They may need further thought, slight refining or just to be thrown out completely.

My teaching career is built on testing new waters all the time. I test new writing techniques on this site quite frequently.

Eventually things work. Eventually they stick.

But they only get there if you’re willing to give them a chance.

Always Starting, Never Finishing

The hardest part about a project is starting.

The second hardest part is finishing.

The process itself always goes well after the start, but somewhere along the line, motivation falls short. The resolve to push through falters and what’s left is partially created clutter.

Finishing, however, is the difference between those who get and those who wish they got.

What’s important to remember is the project you finish is better than the one in your head.

Keep finishing and you will keep finishing better.

Automation and A Space to Gather

“Let’s meet for coffee very soon. Next week sound good?”
“Sure does.”

Three months later.

I finally get around to meeting up with a good friend—catching up, enjoying company and the like. Our conversation bounced around quite a bit, as any good conversation does, and had a blip about the world of automation.

He runs an insurance company (shameless plug, but he’s a great guy and deserving of it) and I shared my concerns about the future for him and myself. We both have an understanding that technology, mainly driven by automation, will alter or erase our careers. However, I couldn’t help but point out that places like coffee shops and restaurants are booming.

To which he replied, “As technology takes over our lives, humans seek more spaces where they can gather together.”

I’m paraphrasing, but it blew my mind. You’d think as a scholar of Religion, this would’ve been obvious to me.

Nope—and he’s absolutely spot on.

Humanity thrives in community and technology has not become the replacement for it. In a turn of events, it has become the signpost pointing us to places where we can be with each other.

The sudden explosion of coffee shops, board game cafes, gastro pubs, restaurants, sewing weekends and all sorts of events are a showcase to this phenomenon. We can spend less time on menial tasks and more time doing what we love with each other.

It also means we’re going to need to create more spaces to meet.

I suppose this also means my “useless” Religion degree, Religion being a cultural landmark rooted in gathering people together, is going to be quite useful in this new world.