not quite as good as the first for a couple of reasons. first, too much romance for my taste and second, the ending has to be explained by a monologue which always makes me feel like the story either got away from the author or they reached the publisher’s desired word count and just wanted to wrap it up…

from the author: slowly i raise my eyes and take in the water spreading out in every direction. i can only form one clear thought. this is no place for a girl on fire.

it has been forever since i read a book for entertainment purposes only, so it makes sense that i would select something from teen fiction…

from the author: the rules of the hunger games are simple. in punishment for the uprising, each of the twelve districts must provide one girl and one boy, called tributes, to participate. the twenty-four tributes will be imprisoned in a vast outdoor arena that could hold anything from a burning desert to a frozen wasteland. over a period of several weeks, the competitors must fight to the death. the last tribute standing wins.

for me, this was a random selection off our bookshelf. i really liked the book for two reasons. first, it does a great job of capturing the novelty and uncertainly associated with being a teenager. second, because i took it on a business trip i was able to read it in essentially a single sitting. i haven’t read a book like that in a long time and it was a nice treat.

from the author: it’s like he would take a photograph of sam, and the photograph would be beautiful. and he would think that the reason the photograph was beautiful was because of how he took it. if i took it, i would know that the only reason it’s beautiful is because of sam.

i came to this title from the reading list of a course my friend teaches at university. of all the titles on the syllabus i picked this one first because i tend to believe that technology is misapplied to many aspects of our daily lives and suspected that was going to be the thesis here. not only does the author present that case much better than i could, i think the book could have been alternatively titled “a guide to critical thinking” – another skill that seems to be in short supply and little demand in our society.

from the author – an example of the problem: typically, pollsters ask questions that will elicit yes or no answers. is it necessary to point out that such answers do not give a robust meaning t the phrase “public opinion”? were you , for example, to answer “no” to the question “do you think the drug problem can be reduced by government programs?” one would hardly know much of interest or value about your opinion. but allowing you to speak or write at length on the matter would, of course, rule out using statistics. the point is that the use of statistics in polling changes the meaning of “public opinion” as dramatically as television changes the meaning of “political debate”. in the american technopoly, public opinion is a yes or no answer to an unexamined question.

and my favorite indication from the author that one is a “resistance fighter” to technopoly: [people] who take seriously the meaning of family loyalty and honor, and who, when they “reach out and touch someone,” expect that person to be in the same room

the author is obviously not vying for a public relations gig with the local islamic center. i had hoped to learn more about islam, but instead feel like i got a lecture on the evils of booze from a recovering alcoholic.

from the author: when the multiculturalists use the word diversity they assume that immigrants will somehow maintain their traditional culture within the western way of life and the western value system, like an exotic exhibit of primitive carving in a smart new museum.

an enlightening book on many levels. i can only do its review justice by suggesting you read it as well; point you towards kevin tillman’s address to congress; and link the pat tillman foundation.

it doesn’t seem to be an unreasonable premise that war stories should take place in the distant past. however u.s. is currently involved in two wars and just today former bosnian serb leader radovan karadzic made his first appearance at trial to argue for more time to prepare his defense against charges of genocide, the genocide that serves as the setting for this story. it doesn’t seem to be an unreasonable premise that war stories should take place in the distant past, its just unrealistic.

from the author: “has your life been so kind,” she asked her daughter, “that you thought nazis were only in the movies? like godzilla and the terminator?”

i wrapped up reading this series so i could catch up with the movies, but with this story i needn’t bothered. i’m completely certain, without even having seen the fifth and six movie that this one will suck beyond all the others. its too bad too, because this story was pretty good given how long we’ve known it would be the last in the series.

from the author: of course it is happening inside your head, harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?”

everything you’ve come to expect in harry potter, plus hormones.

from the author: “there isn’t anyone i want to invite,” mumbled harry, who was still trying not to think about ginny any more than he could help despite the fact that she kept cropping up in his dreams in ways that made him devoutly thankful that ron could not perform legilimency.

well i’m not going to start posting every book i’ve read to my children, but here is a second book i’m going to write about because it contained two paragraphs i though were well worth sharing.

thanks ratakim for the easter present.

from the author:
the only things the mermaid was afraid of were big sharks and killer whales. “they kill us if they can catch us,” she told him. but she was afraid of them in a matter-of-fact, indifferent way, and said that none of her people really thought about them or hated them. “why should we?” she said. “they eat us the way we eat fish. the fish don’t hate us. they swim next to us when they know we’re not hungry, and when we are hungry they get away from us if they can. everything lives on everything.”

the boy was happy, and yet he did not know he was happy, exactly: he couldn’t remember having been unhappy. if one day as he played at the edge of the forest some talking bird had flown down and asked him: “do you like your life?” he would have not known what to say, but would have asked the bird: “can you not like it?”

now i’m only one book away from catching up with the movie franchise. i didn’t give this more stars than the last story, but i will say they are much more engaging to read in rapid succession than years apart.

from the author:
“it’s all right,” said a dreamy voice from beside harry as ron vanished into the coach’s dark interior. “you’re not going mad or anything. i can see them too.”

“oh yes,” said luna, “i’ve been able to see them ever since my first day here.”