gameshowhost’s blog

Quite simply: I LOVED THIS BOOK!

I was so into this book that it changed my whole demeanor.  The day I started it I suddenly became so happy.  Anything with a premise of taking a pill to teach someone how to be cool can't be bad.

The pill is a super computer called a squip and once you take it you'll learn how to be cool.  The computer tells Jeremy to buy cooler clothes and do push ups instead of eating Oreos.  Of course it helps Jeremy in dating.  The "conversations" that Jeremy and the squip have are hilarious, especially when it tells him never to do that jump where you kick your heels in the air if he wants to be cool. 

What I wonder: if any of Jeremy's experiences are based on the author's when he attened the top public high school in NYC.

This is Mr. T Experience's Frank Portman's first young adult novel.  I can't help but wonder how much of it is autobiographical since the main character spends most of his time thinking up band names and eventually forming a real band.

Most any sort of outsider could identify with the main character, "Chi Mo," however the novel takes a turn for the unbelievable during the last third.  It was highly unbelievable that the main characters band performance could unturn a major child pornography ring.

I picked up the novel because I recognized the cover art based on the paperback copy of Catcher in the Rye.  The main character spends a lot of time complaining about having to read that novel each year in school.  His humor about some of the Catcher Cult type of people was funny, but since I was a part of that cult as a kid I grew tired of it after a while.  Come on, can you really hate a book that much?  I'm not still complaining about Geek Love (which at least moved me in one way enough to hate it). I wanted to like King Dork, I really did, but the rushed ending and highly ridiculousness of it kept me from doing so.  What kept me reading was the mystery because I was so anxious to have it solved and figure out what the hell was going on.

It won the NH Flume award which is an award choosen by NH teens.

how starbucks changed my life by michael gates gill.

This is a nonfiction book written by a 64 year old man of privilege.  He takes a job at starbucks and it changes his life. At starbucks he works in a supportive environment which is much in contrast to his former career in the cut-throat advertising biz. He works with younger people of different racial and economic backgrounds.  He changes some of his views on life and considers some of his prejudiced behaviors of the past. 

Not mindblowing or anything, but it's nice to see Mike consider new and different things.

What I learned:  Starbucks is an amazing company to work for.

Hack : how I stopped worrying about what to do with my life and started driving a yellow cab is based on the author, Melissa Plaut's blog.  I'd been reading the blog for a while and definitely enjoyed it.  When I heard Plaut was publishing a book I was very excited.  When the chain bookstore clerk couldn't find the book in his company's database I was annoyed and told him I could go home and google it [and buy it on their online competitor].

The book is a quick read and possibly enjoyed more by people who have lived in New York.  The author's stories all sounded familiar to me, probably because most had been written on the blog.  She writes about what it's like to be a female cab driver in New York City.

What I learned:

1. Cops don't like cab drivers.

2. A lot about the taxi industry in NY.

3. It's hard to take bathroom breaks while driving a cab.

4. I am 2 degress of separation from the author.

5. I miss NY.

This book is really good even while very sad at some points.  The main character, Eric "Moby" has a friend in a psychiatric hospital who suddenly stopped speaking and responding at school one day.  Eric tells this story with some memories thrown in about their past to give the reader a clearer picture of their history.

This is a book that deals with friendship, outcasts, abuse, and other real issues that face teens.

This book starts out in a voice very similar to Sandra Cisneros.  After a few chapters it finally gets its own voice and I was able to give it more of a chance.  The main character deals with some prejudice and decides to study hard to work to be the best in her school.  In high school she is given the opportunity for a scholarship to a very expensive private school.

The story is about growing up in a Mexican American family.  Bits of the language and culture are mixed in the story and at the forefront of the character's experience at a mostly white, upper class private school. The main character does grow up to find herself and her comadres. 

What I wonder:  just how much of this story is autobiographical.

I'd heard many good things about this book, but never seemed to get to read it.  Well, I finally read it and it's so good!  The description of the world Jonas lives in come slowly.  You know he's in a different society, but the differences sneak up on you in a very clever way.  The ending is left ambigious on purpose and I can't decide what I really believe happened.

What I wonder:  what the other rules for the jobs said.  Were others allowed to lie too?  It seems like the Nurturer's would.

Wide Awake by David Levithan.  Knopf, 2006. ISBN 0375834664

Levithan creates a nice high school utopia where it's ok to be gay like in his book Boy Meets Boy.  However, in this title it's the future and society is more accepting of everything and the first Jewish and gay president has been elected.  There are opponents of this who try to take the election away.  Duncan and his friends go to Kansas to peacefully protest for the rightfully elected president.

What I learned:  I should finally read What's the Matter with Kansas because the author mentions it in his introduction.

Listening to the audiobook.  Just as good as the original, perhaps because of Jon Stewart and other Daily Show actors reading it.  The only thing that's missing is the pictures--well worth at least flipping through the print version.  Naked Supreme Court Justices, anyone?

Biggest thing learned: 

This book's hook is acknowledging that messy isn't always less than.  I liked it, but it's really hard to grasp the concept that mess is ok and you're not a bad person for being messy since this is against everything I've ever heard from society.  The book cites numerous businesses where messy = creative and rigid, strict office environments can stiffle some of that creativity.

I did skip around a bit towards the end of the book since I felt it a tad repetitive and not as interesting after a while.  But I would recommend it and it's an interesting concept, perhaps even a good discussion topic.

Biggest thing learned:  penicillan wouldn't have been discovered without the help of a mess. (And yes, it is ok that I can't get a handle on my paperwork mess.)