Books I Read and Other Assorted Oddities

I was frustrated with the ending of The Handmaid's Tale  and saw that there was a sequel, so I wondered if it would answer some of the questions that I had. The Testaments , book two in Margaret Attwood's series covers a time period after Offred (from The Handmaid's Tale ) left Gilead. It follows the story of two girls: one that lives in Gilead, and the other that lives in Canada. The girl that lives in Gilead was from a wealthy family. She ends up deciding to become an Aunt - the teachers of the girls in Gilead, and the defining body of women's roles and expectations of society. They make the rules for the girls and keep the records of who people really are. They also send missionaries to Canada. The other girl is from Canada. She lives with a couple who own a second-hand store. They are killed one day in an explosion that sparks the whole action of her story. She is eventually sent to Gilead to join the Aunts as well (with the Gilead missionaries), and the two stories

I've heard about this book, and it's been highly recommended and popular, so I thought I would give it a try. It's also been made into a T.V. series, and I was curious about what the hype was about. The Handmaid's Tale  by Margaret Attwood analyzes what would happen if society was ruled by religious zealots. Offred is a handmaid in Gilead: meaning that she is a birth mother for children she will never be able to keep. She has strict rules that she must follow, in a life that is completely different from the one she used to lead. Birthrates are declining, so as a handmaid, she is supposed to bear children for the commander she is assigned to, the source of her only value to society. She can only leave the house once a day to go to the market to buy groceries for the household. Offred struggles to reconcile the life she used to have with her husband and daughter, with the extreme oppression and fear in her new life. I have mixed feelings about this one. On one hand, the s

I've made a goal to read every book in my classroom library and write reviews for my students (partially why I resurrected this previously-dead blog). Alphabetically, Alcott was the first one in my library. This book took me F   O   R   E   V   E   R to read because I really struggled to get into it. Little Women  by Louisa May Alcott follows the four March sisters from early adolescence (for the older girls) through adulthood, until all of them are married. Set right around the American Civil War, these four girls grow up and gradually leave the nest. Their mother takes special care to teach them important lessons at each stage of their lives, carefully instructing them on how to be good wives, daughters, and women. Generally, this book was OK. Here are some things I enjoyed: I loved the girls' stories once they reached adulthood. I loved their distinct personalities and how they all ended up with the right person in the end. I loved the way Alcott was able to show us the grow

After reading The Fountains of Silence , I thought I would tackle another Sepetys novel. Most of my colleagues had said that they liked Salt to the Sea  better than Fountains of Silence , so I thought I'd give it a try. Salt to the Sea  by Ruta Sepetys follows several characters fleeing territories conquered by Nazi Germany and trying to get back to Germany itself at the very end of WWII. These characters all end up together and heading toward a ship, the Wilhelm Gustloff, that will take them across the Baltic Sea. The Gustloff is sunk by Allied forces, dropping thousands of people into the frozen water. Who will survive? Who won't make it? I didn't enjoy this book as much as The Fountains of Silence , which I felt was a little unfortunate. After the high reviews that I'd read and the personal reviews of my friends, I was underwhelmed when I read it. Here are some things I did like about the book:  I did enjoy the history. I had never heard of this ship, even though it&

This book is relatively new and came highly recommended by all of the reviews I had read of it. I initially bought it for my sister-in-law, then our department book exchange for Christmas last year, but I hadn't read it myself. I decided that I would and purchased it on Audible. The Last Voyage of Poe Blythe  by Allie Condie is about a girl named Poe who is set for revenge against the people that killed her boyfriend while on their first voyage out of the settlement. Poe creates weapons against the savages that inhabit the forests outside of her city, meant to protect the mining ship as it treks up the river harvesting gold. The city is sending out its last ship, and Poe is chosen as captain. She must confront the dangerous reasons why she was sent on this mission, deal with a mutiny on board, and figure out where her loyalties truly lie. In all, I really enjoyed this book. Ally Condie did a great job keeping readers engaged with giving just enough information to keep you reading w

This is a book that I've wanted to read for years, but I've always been a little daunted by its size. If you haven't seen The Way of Kings  it's about 1,000 pages. I usually love Sanderson (he's probably my all-time favorite fantasy author), but I just didn't feel like I had the time to dedicate to reading this book. That changed when I started driving more than an hour a day and decided to take the plunge into Audible. I bought this book with one of my first credits even though I owned the paper copy. At 33 hours, I figured I could complete the book in about a month, especially since I upped the speed. In all, I did really enjoy it. The Way of Kings  follows three main characters: Shallan, Kaladin, and Dalinar. Shallan is a girl from a destitute noble house. She tracks down Jasnah Kholin, the princess, in an attempt to become her student and steal her magical device. Kaladin is a slave who was once a soldier. He is transported to the Shattered Plains, the sig

This post is a book that I've read a couple of times because I read it with my seniors. It's one of my favorites, but I'll get into that more later. Code Name Verity  by Elizabeth Wein is about a British spy, code-named Verity who crash-landed in Nazi-occupied France during World War II. She is arrested soon after her landing while attempting to carry out her mission. While in prison, the Gestapo show her pictures of the plane wreck, leading her to believe that her best friend, Maddie Brodatt, the pilot, is dead. Ultimately, Verity begins working with the Gestapo and giving them sets of wireless code which would allow the Gestapo to intercept Allied communications. They also ask her to write her confession: a document with as much information as she knows about Allied plans, bases, and planes. However, knowing that she's going to die no matter what she tells them, Verity takes her time with her tale, instead telling the story of how she met Maddie and how she ended up

I love historical fiction, so when my book club (of English teachers) picked this one, I was really excited to read it. The Fountains of Silence  by Ruta Sepetys is about a boy named Daniel Matheson who travels to Spain in the 1950s. The leader of Spain, Franco, is ruthless and has an iron hold on his people. Daniel's father is an oil tycoon who wants his son to take over the business, while his mother is from Spain. Daniel doesn't want to join his father's business. He wants to become a photographer. His goal while in Spain is to take pictures worthy enough of a contest that he's working on. While there, Daniel meets Ana, a maid at the Hilton Hotel he's staying at. Ana is assigned to Daniel's family and attends to their every need. Ana's family is poor and this is an incredible job opportunity for her. Ana's family needs this job. Ana and Daniel become friends and start to fall in love with each other, something Ana seems hesitant about and Daniel kno