Books I Read and Other Assorted Oddities

 I finally finished Mistborn era 2! I loved this series so much (though I think I love era 1 the most still). This story was an incredible addition to Scadrial's story. In this final installment, we pick up in Elendel at a time of great uncertainty. The outer cities are threatening war, their tentative alliance with the Malwish is falling apart over the Bands of Mourning, and Wax is still in the middle of all of it. Now serving on the senate, Wax is desperately trying to help the Elendel nobles maintain peace while hunting the Set. Unsuccessful thus far at locating his sister, the leader of the Set, Wax is still trying to uncover her plans. Can Wax, Marasi, and Wayne uncover the Set's plans before the invasion of Trell crushes Scadrial? This was a fitting conclusion for Mistborn's second era. I loved the character development we saw in each of the characters: Marasi, Wax, Wayne, and Steris. I love the involvement of some era 1 characters (one who I am not going to spoil), a...

  A while ago, I read David and Goliath  by Malcolm Gladwell and found it interesting. As my sister was preparing for the AP exam last year, she read this and then recommended it to me. The Tipping Point  by Malcolm Gladwell explores how "epidemics" start and spread. Gladwell's analysis of how people can influence trends follows several different types of people and their roles in epidemics. As with all of Gladwell's work, I like the way he structures his argument and utilizes evidence. He has a very specific structure to his work that I find particularly helpful. His writing is clear, and I feel like I always know what the point of his evidence is. Like I tell my students, he doesn't leave things up to my interpretation as the reader. This structure does bother some readers because it gets a little repetitive by the end, and I also feel that Gladwell's use of that structure fizzles at the end. Sometimes I got lost in the evidence a bit as well. This was an in...

 Several students recommended this book, which was really popular a few years ago. I finally bought it and read it. Kya Clark has been abandoned her whole life. First, by her mother, who walked out on the family, then each sibling drifted off into the marsh and never came back. Kya was left with her abusive father until he, too, never returned. Kya took attachment wherever she could get it, first from Tate, who taught her to read and write, and then from Chase, the star football player from town. When Chase is found dead, it is Kya, the Marsh Girl, who is their primary suspect. Is Kya responsible for Chase's death, and can she hide in the marsh that only she knows? All around, this book is sad. Kya's story is heartbreaking as she is abandoned over and over again throughout the story. I truly felt for her as the story unfolded. Kya's character is a little flat; I feel like she remains the aloof Marsh Girl throughout the story, and she doesn't get past that personality tr...

 This is a book that was recommended to me by several of my coworkers. I read it for my AP class, as several teachers before me used to use it in that class. If you want to truly know and learn about the horrors of the Holocaust, this is the book for you. Elie Wiesel took a ten-year vow of silence before writing about what he experienced at the hands of the Nazis during World War II. Wiesel describes how the Jews in his village in Romania hoped that the war would pass them by, how they knew that something was happening to Jews in other countries, but they hoped that nothing would happen to them. Wiesel then describes being forced into ghettos, then being taken to Auschwitz, where he was separated from his mother and sisters. Wiesel describes his experiences in the camp and the ending of the war as the Jews in the camps were liberated by the Americans and Russians. This book is chilling. There is no other way to describe it. Wiesel writes in vivid detail and describes the deep fear ...