If you’re like me, and don’t often read books intended for juvenile readers, The Ocean at the End of the Lane will surprise you. If you haven’t read any of author Neil Gaiman‘s children’s lit, pick up The Ocean at the End of the Lane and give it a read; it is one of those rare novels that appeals to any reader. Continue reading
According to data gathered in 2014, 42% of college students will not read another book after graduation. Now, graduating from college is terrifying, because it’s like getting pushed out of a nest: you’ve got to fly, but you don’t know how, and you have to make progress to stay afloat. Progress = growth, and one of the easiest ways to make it is to read. Sure, you could watch a TED talk or learn a third language, but think about how many books are out there: books to read, books to reread, books to say you’ve read. Okay, maybe not that last one. Continue reading
I suppose it bears confessing: I’ve never been a huge fan of Robert A. Heinlein‘s work. I attempted Starship Troopers several years ago and – due to a complete lack of connection with either characters or story – was unable to complete it. I thought something must be wrong with me. I’ve always been a sci-fi fan, and Heinlein is well-respected in the genre. But for some reason, I couldn’t bring myself to enjoy Starship Troopers. Continue reading
There are a lot of reasons why some critics panned Lena Dunham‘s Not That Kind of Girl: A Young Woman Tells You What She’s “Learned”, and most of those reasons were prejudiced. Of the negative reviews I have read, 80% – a conservative estimate – have been blatantly sexist and/or ableist; the other 20% were written by people who had similarly negative feelings regarding Dunham’s film and television work. So let me make this perfectly clear: if you do not like Girls, you will not like Not That Kind of Girl. Continue reading
Jackson J. Spielvogel’s Hitler and Nazi Germany A History is an excellent text, covering nearly seventy-five years of German history in approximately three hundred pages. Stretching from Germany’s beginnings as a unified nation in 1871 to its surrender to the Allies on 7 May 1945, the text provides a look at aspects of the country’s history and culture which is shockingly detailed, given its brevity. Take, for example, this passage on Nazi artwork— Continue reading