Adolescents with Down Syndrome

I started this book with the hope that I would learn a few things. At first I thought it was alright. Lots of big words. Then the further I got into it the more bogged down I got by the lack of narrative. I found myself letting words just kind of melt together without any comprehension whatsoever. Don’t get me wrong. This book seems like it would be extremely helpful for parents and caregivers of adolescents with Down Syndrome. It would also be useful for medical professionals working in pediatrics.

But it’s certainly not for me. I was going to give it a 1, but I can at least see the value of it...for someone else.

Rating - 2

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Adobe: Homes and Interiors of Taos, Santa Fe, and The Southwest

Ugh, this book was painful to read. I thought it was ALL going to be about adobe, but it wasn't. They could have just left that part off the title and I wouldn't have had to read it till....years from now. haha

This book is mostly photos, dark black and white photos = not enjoyable. It tries to have chapters, but it's impossible to tell what is part of the chapter and what is just photo captions. Some of the photos don't fit in the "chapters" they're in, and there's a whole section with detailed instructions on how to build adobe fireplaces. Nothing wrong with that, but it doesn't really go with the feel of the rest of the book. I got absolutely nothing out of this.

Rating = 1

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Admissions conclusion

I really liked this book. Yes, one of the main characters did end up having an affair, not as bad as it could have been and she ended things quickly. 350 pages in two days isn't bad. I feel like the author wrote assuming the reader had a certain level of intelligence. Too many times I feel patronized. This was a breath of fresh air.

Rating - 4

Admissions pt. 1

After my third book, I haven’t yet gotten tired of this subject. Admissions is a novel by Nancy Lieberman about the private school admissions process for New York City children. One of our heroins, once again, is an admissions officer, what is beginning to seem a largely female career. As much as I want to punch some of the people in the book, I’m still enjoying it.

This may not be a book for purely casual readers though. The first chapter is 74 pages long. Engaging, but not a quick read. The story follows two plot lines. Helen, mother of 8th grader Zoe, is trying to get her daughter admitted into a good high school, a process which is extremely stressful. Sara, is the admissions officer for The School, the K-8 institution which Zoe currently attends.

Something dark and devious is happening with The School's headmistress Pamela, but I'm not sure what that is yet. There are questions of missing funds and her relationship with one of the teachers, and no one is quite sure of the details of her past. Helen is having inappropriate thoughts about one of the single fathers she's recently met, and I'm hoping that doesn't get out of hand.

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Admissions Confidential conclusion

I spent a semester in college as a volunteer recruiter. As much as I loved being at U of I, this book is making me wish I made more of an effort in my college applications. I’m even finding myself envying the author’s job. It sounds exactly like something I would enjoy doing. Then again, I was never the type of student that these universities are hoping to admit, so I'm sure I'd never qualify for it. How odd would it be if there were a degree in admissions!

My favorite quote from this book: Texas, we all know, is not part of the United States. I would recommend this book to most anyone, especially high school students.

Rating - 4

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Admissions Confidential pt. 1

I accidentally started reading the wrong book, but I'm too far into it to care. Glad I'm not a slave to my sense of order. *bites nails*

This book, by former Duke University admissions officer, Rachel Toor gives, as it's described "an insider's account of the elite college selection process." If I ignore the fact that I'm a complete Duke hater, the book is pretty good so far. I'm no longer in the world of academia, but my fiancé will be applying for graduate schools soon, so I'm hoping this will give me some tools to help him know what schools REALLY look for in the application process.

The title kind of sounds boring, but so far, it's a quick, fun read.

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Admission

Really well written...smut. *sigh* At least it didn't take that long this time. I was getting into the plot, but I'm not heart broken.

Rating - 0

Admission conclusion

I'm having a difficult time knowing how to rate this book. One the one hand, I really enjoyed the plot and the suspense kept me engaged the whole time. But, this is supposed to be a Christian book, and the only parts that discuss God seemed really banal and out of place.

Each chapter swaps between Jake's college days and the present. In both time lines, Thrasher only gives away enough information for the reader to be hungry for more. He does this through the convenient mechanism of character drunkenness. If Jake doesn't remember anything, and he's the narrator, how are we to know until he finds out himself. I'm actually kind of surprised Moody published this. There's a lot of sex, violence, and drinking...in no particular order.

I would definitely recommend this book. It has its weaknesses, but it's a quick entertaining read, and sometimes that's all we need.

Rating - 3

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Admission pt. 1

Despite the author's last name being Thrasher and despite the fact that the plot line holds a vague similarity to the I Know What You Did Last Summer franchise, this book is not bad so far. The writer has fallen into the trap of revealing important information through dialogue that wouldn't actually take place. "Remember when So-and-so did that overly detailed thing that resulted in such-and-such?" "Why yes, that's why he's now this-and-that."

But I'm still a sucker for a good story, and this one is pretty interesting. It's Christian fiction from Moody Publishers, but I'm certainly not getting any "feel good" vibe yet. It's pretty edgy for a Christian novel and there have only been a couple vague references to chapel thus far. I don't want to give away too much of what's happening, but The main character is being paid to investigate the whereabouts of one of his old college buddies. In the process, he's forced to remember (and in some cases, relive) some of the most shameful and tragic experiences of his life. I don't know what sort of success he'll have yet, but someone is out to get him and is threatening him with the knowledge of some mysterious event that no one seems to fully remember, but they all regret.

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Admiral Richard Byrd: Alone In the Antarctic

Books praising historical figures generally make me skeptical, especially when it’s a situation like this where a whole team of people are put in a hazardous situation, and it just so happens that the team leader is THE one who was brave and wise and got everyone (who survived) through.

I’m even more skeptical since I’m reading this right after The Admirable Crichton, where upon coming back to England, the official reports are doctored to make it look like the noblemen were great and everyone else was inconsequential.

I have nothing against Admiral Byrd. I just felt the need to admit my bias. The book didn't really get interesting until the last 60 pages, where Paul Rink describes Byrd's spending 5 month in solitary and attempting to survive. The rest of the book is poorly written.

Rating - 1

The Admirable Crichton

The Admirable Crichton is a comedic play by J. M. Barrie, who you may remember from Peter Pan. Although I've never really considered Peter Pan to be a children's play, I must say that this one is even less so. That's not to say that there is anything inappropriate in it, but the themes would be quite difficult for a child to grasp.

The show begins in the home of a peer of the realm. After forcing experiments in "equality" with the servants, the master, his three daughters, a handful of servants and a couple guests take a yachting trip which ends in their being stranded on an island. On the island, Nature is in charge. After two years and no hope of rescue, class roles are cast aside and new hierarchies have arisen, placing the butler, Crichton as the new master and the former upper class family as servants. When a rescue ship finally comes and they return to England, they are all forced to cope with the changes that took place on the island and decide which persona to maintain when back in "civilization".

There are a lot of script notes that are worth reading and would be missed if the only exposure to the play were a production thereof. While posting this blog, I've discovered that a movie version was made in 1957 under the title Paradise Lagoon. Well...technically it's been filmed twice. The original version was in 1918 and was obviously silent.

I would watch this play if it were being performed, but I don't think I'd bother reading the script twice.

Rating - 3

Adland conclusion

Ok. The ending got pretty boring. Advertising is creative and fun most of the time, but the book fell short of my expectations. I made it through and it didn't hurt, but it's easily forgettable.

Rating - 2

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Adland pt. 2

The fact that Othmer has been successful in both advertising and writing, makes this book more enjoyable to read. There are bits of this book that are quite hilarious. His story-telling skills are very good, but I'm still having a hard time catching his purpose behind this book. The anecdotes are clever, but it seems to lack cohesion. Pressing on...

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Adland pt. 1

I thought that this book was going to be about advertisement, which it is in a small sense. But at first glance, it’s just another cleverly disguised memoir. I don’t know who this guy is. Why do I care? I’m not sure if anyone in the advertising world would read it because, well they’re all busy trying to pitch ideas and the book doesn’t exactly offer a formula for success.

Like I said...at first glance. Now that I've read quite a bit of it, it's actually entertaining. I still don't really know who James Othmer's intended audience is, but that's ok. I'll give it my best read before dropping too much judgment.

Best quote so far: “Sometimes the brain does the conscience a favor and builds a wall around moments that can potentially destroy the soul.”

The Adirondack Cabin

I'm not sure if this book is trying to advertise the Adirondack mountains or serve as a guide to architects who want to build Adirondack cabins. It's mostly photos with a sprinkling of info on how the cabins are designed. It doesn't really serve as a photo book and I doubt people would consult it if they're designing homes. I feel nothing.

Rating - 2

Adlai Stevenson conclusion

All in all, this was a good book. Much longer than I would have liked, but it's hard to summarize someone's life, especially if you knew them well. No book about Adlai Stevenson would be complete without his most famous speech given at the UN during the Cuban Missile Crisis, calling out the Soviet Union to answer "yes" or "no" to whether they had sent missiles to Cuba.

If you're interested in US or world history, check it out.

Rating - 3

Adlai Stevenson pt.2

Just over halfway done with the book now. I've had no internet the last few days, so no posting for me.

So MUCH has happened in the book. I don't even know where to begin. I've read through his term as governor of Illinois, during which his wife divorced him. It was discovered later that she was suffering from mental illness. I'm curious how this compares to the mental illness his own mother went through.

I forgot to mention in my previous post that he accidentally shot and killed a girl when he was younger. Despite that fact, it didn't seem to come up during his presidential campaign in 1952. Stevenson was one of 3 people (including Lincoln) to have ever been drafted into running for president. He had refused the nomination to Truman and many others before the convention, but it happened anyway, so he put as much energy into those 100 days as possible. During most of the campaign, he had no problems with his opponent, Eisenhower, but loathed his running-mate Richard Nixon.

After losing the election, he went on to a world tour, beginning in Asia. When asked by a group of Japanese Marxist students, "Just what is democracy, anyway?" he responded,

Democracy, is honest disagreement. It is the right to hold the opinion you believe in, and to fight for it with self-respect and determination. The virtue of democracy is not cold order. It is the heat of men’s minds rubbing against each other, sending out sparks. It is liberty with responsibility. It is a struggle that never ends and is always worth the fight...The trouble with intellectuals is that they see so much they do not always see things very clearly and, as a result, the intellectual is apt to be wobbly.

LOVE IT!

And here's a bit of trivia for you. Adlai Stevenson is the original recipient of the term "egghead". It was used by a journalist during his presidential campaign, and went on to refer to all his supporters as well. To be honest, his head DID look a bit like an egg.

Adlai Stevenson

What a great day to stay inside and read! And what a book I have! 500+ pages of biography about none other than Adlai Stevenson, as written by his friend Porter McKeever. Biographical books are some of my least favorite because they tend to read like a chronological chart. Birth-schooling-marriage-children-career-more career-still more career-death. My motivation to read alphabetically, does help me stay on track, though and this is turning out to be an ok book.

So far, I've only made it through a hundred pages, but Adlai is well into his political career already. Having made it as a journalist and a lawyer, his attentions are now fully turned toward politics. He's served in the forming of the U.N., ran for governor of Illinois (although he really preferred to be a senator). Most importantly, he really seems to be the kind of guy even his enemies can trust to be fair.

And hopefully, I'll learn more U.S. history by osmosis!!

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