One of my
greatest enjoyments (besides my family, of course) is the feeling at the end of
a really great book. I, for one, believe
that this feeling is extremely individualized and personal . I always find myself second guessing my book
ratings because they are a purely subjective system. For example, I gave one of my current books 5
stars and earlier this year I gave Anna
Karenina 4 stars. Anna Karenina is a classic, obviously, and
the book I review today probably will not be among the canon (who knows) but I
enjoyed Dear Mr. Knightley so much
that I couldn’t think of starting another book.
I’m not sure everyone would have that same reaction, and I’m not even
sure I would in a year or two, but I still gave it 5 stars because last night I
could stop thinking about the ending.
Currently Reading:
-
The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert
- The Frangipani Hotel by Violet Kupersmith (received through NetGalley)
- Nights in Shanghai by Nicole Mones (received through Goodreads)
On Deck:
-
The Bohemians: Mark Twain and the San Francisco Writers who Reinvented American Literature by Ben Tarnoff
- We Were Liars by e. lockhart (received through the publisher)
- Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
- Colonel Roosevelt by Edmund Morris
- From Souk to Souk: Travels through the Middle East by Robin Ratchford (received through NetGalley)
Recent Reviews:
Dear
Mr. Knightly by
Katherine Reay
5 stars
I cannot even begin to convey how much I
enjoyed this book. Formatted in a series
of letters to a mysterious benefactor, this novel examines how a lonely,
socially awkward bookworm with a tragic life story begins to heal. Sam Moore grew up in the foster care system
and being somewhat of a prodigy learned early to lose herself in books. She often quotes Austen and Dumas in social
situations to distance herself from everyone else. Sam is offered a grant from an organization
headed by a man only known to her as Mr. Knightley in order to attend a prestigious
graduate program in journalism. Slowly,
she begins to learn to trust others and to be honest about her life. I had a pretty good idea about the ending
early in the book but that it no way ruined the experience and I am still
thinking about it a day later.
4 stars
Over ten years ago I was a college
student majoring in Sociology and if the subject matter were relevant at the
time, this would definitely be an assigned book. I say this only because it did at times read
as a textbook and I do think that is its intended purpose. That said, from a parent’s perspective (of
younger children) I did find some extremely useful information and found it
fairly easy to read. Danah Boyd spent
around six years studying teenagers and their habits concerning social
networking. Obviously much changed over
that time but the general approach to social networking is still relevant. One of the most interesting aspects of her
research concerned the common notion that kids using Facebook and other sites
too frequently impede real life socialization.
She found that as kids are more restricted in the face to face
socialization (through safety concerns, over-scheduling and lack of public
venues) than in the past, more kids use online resources in order to have any
sort of private contact with their friends.
She also offers very common sense information regarding internet
addiction, online predators and embarrassing online information. I found the actual excerpts from her
conversations with teenagers fascinating and the most useful for parents while
some of explanatory research was somewhat repetitive. Overall, I think that this information could be
enlightening to parents and educators as it addresses the truths of social networking
as seen by teenagers. I received this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
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