Wednesday, May 13, 2009

A Niche of Time To Read

It's been a while since I've posted here, mainly because I haven't been reading anything substantial. I got a new job in January and poof, my free time to read disappeared. But I have finished one book in the past 2 days due to having to teach it to a couple of 6th grade students:

Holes by Louis Sachar is a great read! It reminded me of a more reader-friendly Lord of the Flies, except there's adults involved and upheld rules. The reason why it reminds me of Lord of the Flies is because it's about a group of boys removed from civilization. There's many books out there that examine a microcosm of the greater world, removing people from civilization and watching what they do. It certainly makes it an easier book to write! The 6th grade class that read it seemed to enjoy it, except for a few students. Well, you can't please everyone!

I'll give it a 9/10. I'm deducting a point because the whole great-great-great grandfather and great-great grandfather and all the lineage was too hard for me to follow. I couldn't figure out who was who without having to flip back and so, of course, the ending for me required even more research. Which Stanley Yelnats does the suitcase belong to? How is he related to the little boy, also named Stanley Yelnats?

My current read, a book I can only read at home, is The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins. Dawkins is articulate, bold, and reasonable in his arguments against a supernatural god. I was not impressed with his beginning chapter on Einstein's religious beliefs. Okay, so people misconstrued Einstein's religious beliefs - who cares? Perhaps that chapter is more for the religious scientist reader. For someone like me, it's out of place. One of my favorite sections so far is "Undeserved Respect."

Unfortunately, I have some things I need to get done so I'll have to write about it later.

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