Artemis Fowl The Eternity Code by Eoin Colfer

This is the last Artemis Fowl book my son owns, so I may not be reading anymore, although I kind of want to!  I'm considering checking the next one out from the library just to see what happens!  I'm guessing that tells you I enjoyed this book.

In this third installment of the Artemis Fowl series, Artemis has decided to use fairy technology to make one last fortune before he goes straight.  The fairy world is facing its own threat from some of their own in addition to being concerned about Artemis's use of fairy technology.  Some of them feel very adamantly that Artemis should have his memory wiped, so he no longer knows about them.

This is completely clean, although there are situations where a child (albeit a genius criminal mastermind child) is in danger.  Also, a character we know well almost dies.  It's easy to read and worth the time.

Artemis Fowl The Arctic Incident by Eoin Colfer

This is the second in the Artemis Fowl series.  Artemis needs to save his father, but he can't do it without the help of the fairies.  His grand plan isn't so much a criminal one this time, and of course he has good intentions.  It's fun to see him growing up, although I'm sure younger readers don't/won't feel that way when they read it!  I enjoyed the first book more, at least partly because a criminal/hero/child was a fresh concept in a children's book for me.  The second book is after that plot device has already been established, and Artemis Fowl is less of a criminal as well, so those are both drawbacks for me in the entertainment area, even if I'm happier for Artemis Fowl to be less evil!

This is another appropriate book, although there is discussion of violence and harm to Artemis's father.  It is appropriate for all readers.

Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer

This is another selection from the British list "The Big Read."  I knew it was about a boy genius who was a criminal mastermind, but I didn't realize it also involved the fairy realm.

Artemis Fowl needs to recoup his family fortunes.  The dastardly plan he creates is to kidnap a fairy to get fairy gold.  The fairy he kidnaps, unfortunately for him, is a member of the elite fairy police squad.  The best thing about these books for me is the characters.  They are well-developed, especially for a fantasy children's book.  Even every fairy has a unique personality.

This is a super easy read and gets over quickly.  It is also completely clean.  A child is put in a dangerous situation, but since he is a genius and seems mature, he doesn't actually seem like a child.  It is appropriate for young readers.  It is definitely worth the time.

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis

I never read this book as a child because I watched the PBS TV show and hated it.  I was not a fantasy fan.  With the books that are available for pre-teens today, that is almost an impossibility.  My oldest son loves fantasy and The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, so my exposure to the genre has been greatly increased and I no longer dislike it so much.  I still wouldn't have read this book, except it appears on the "Big Read."  It was really quite good, even if fantasy isn't your favorite.  It is also a super easy read.  I am a fast reader, but I finished it in about two hours.

This book tells the story of four siblings who are sent to the country during the London blitz to keep them safe.  They stay in a large house with the Professor.  While exploring the discover a spare room with a large wardrobe.  The youngest hides in the wardrobe and finds it to be the door to a magical land called Narnia.  The older kids eventually come with her, too, and they all have many adventures in Narnia.  There are magical creatures like fauns and centaurs as well as a great many talking animals.  Even the villain is part giantess.  It is definitely fantasy.

This book is safe for all readers.  There is violence, but it isn't gory, and those who are killed are all miraculously brought back to life.  It's very clean and even teaches without being preachy.  It is a quick read and easily worth the time.

Birdsong by Sebastian Faulk

When I started this book, I very quickly considered quitting.  The first "part" has a few descriptive sex scenes.  Since that isn't something I enjoy reading, I skipped them and wondered if I really wanted to finish the book.  I was sure, however, that it was supposed to be a book about World War I.  Since the war hadn't appeared, I persevered.  And I was rewarded when I reached part 2!  There were no more sex scenes in the book, and the war dominated the story.

Stephen Wraysford is a young man who visits France about ten years before the war to inspect factories.  He then returns to France during the war and is involved in a great deal of fighting at the front for many years.  There are also a couple brief parts in the book that deal with his descendant.  I have read war books before, but not very many dealing with the first world war.  I learned interesting things and realized what I knew more fully (like the miners who dug tunnels through the war to blow mines under the enemy and the huge loss of life due to poor information and decisions).  I felt much more of a connection to that time and a greater appreciation for the experience of the men who fought.

This is definitely not a book for young readers.  In addition to the earlier mentioned sex, the war scenes are very violent and gory.  (They are very realistic.)  It can also be a bit disgusting, since the conditions at the front are very unsanitary.  This book is worth the time, in spite of the first part, which I didn't enjoy.  Just man up and get past it, and the rest of the book is very enjoyable!

The Jungle by Upton Sinclair

The Jungle refers to the meat-packing district in Chicago during the late 1800's.  This story follows a family from Lithuania who immigrates in the hope of a better life working in this area.  They are constantly beset by challenges like fraud, injury, overwork, being taken advantage of, jail, death, etc.  Their situation just gets worse and worse.  It is so sad.  When there is a tiny spark of hope that is snuffed out in a second, they struggle even more.

This book was written with a purpose.  Sinclair was trying to promote socialism.  As a reader, I want things to change as well, so the poor and immigrants are treated better and don't struggle as much, but obviously I don't agree with any of his socialist arguments.  That is a very hard political ideology for any American to accept.  Capitalism is pretty much bred into our DNA.  I'm guessing it would be a challenge for any reader to accept now, though, since socialism has failed pretty spectacularly in most places it has been tried. 

Sinclair's goal, however, isn't the change this book accomplished.  What it did bring about was better regulations of the meat market and the first FDA laws.  Obviously to accomplish this the book contains very graphic descriptions of conditions at meat factories and what went into sausage and other products.  It is very gross.  Be prepared to feel a little queasy when reading.

This book is interesting and worth the time.  The socialist speeches get pretty boring, but they only appear at the end of the book and aren't too terribly long.  It is worth the time.

The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles

This book took me a long time to finish because it felt a little dull.  It does pick up the pace and get more interesting, but it soon ends, so you can only enjoy the increased pace for a little while. 

This book is the story of a couple traveling in Africa after the war (presumably WWI).  They have a male friend who is also traveling through the Sahara with them.  It is interesting because it's a foreign land and a different time.  The couple has a strange dynamic in their relationship, and the other man adds to its strangeness.  It has a rather abrupt end that is somewhat ambiguous.

This book has discussion of sexual situations, but they are brief and are not descriptive.  It is just matter of fact statements that it happened.  The sexual behavior of the main characters doesn't fit social norms and is inappropriate in my view.

I wouldn't say this book is worth the time it takes to read.

The Rent Collector by Camron Wright

What a fabulous book!  This was recommended to me by a friend, so I was actually a little disappointed when I first started it.  The writing wasn't great.  It felt disjointed and too choppy.  But don't get discouraged!  That only lasts for the first chapter or two.  Once the story starts going, you wouldn't notice even if it didn't improve!  (But it does.)

The Rent Collector is the story of Sang Ly, a Cambodian woman who lives at the city dump with her family where they make a living picking garbage.  Her infant son suffers from continual diarrhea and its attendant issues.  One day they find a book in the dump.  They bring it home to share with their son.  Sang Ly is very surprised, though, when their rent collector comes and can clearly read the book.  Sang Ly decides she needs to learn to read to give her son a better life and asks the grumpy, drunken rent collector to teach her.  This book tells of her journey to literacy but more it tells of the changes as she develops a relationship with the woman who collects her rent.

It is very interesting to read of a completely different world from my own.  It is even more interesting to see connections to my life in a story of that strange world.

This is a completely clean book.  There are a couple of mild swear words, but nothing too serious.

Definitely worth the time!  You'll love it!

The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera

I was back and forth with how much I enjoyed this book, but it ended on a positive note.  The title refers to the contrast of weighty burdens and things that are "lighter."  It is a different way of thinking for me.  I am a very optimistic person, and this book is much more fatalistic in its view.

The Unbearable Lightness of Being is mostly the story of a man, Thomas, who loves his wife, Tereza, but is also an incurable womanizer.  His wife is tortured by jealousy and suffers from terrible dreams.  Thomas feels compassionate toward her but can't stop his behavior.  We also read quite a bit about one of Thomas's mistresses, Sabina and her naïve lover.  It takes place against the backdrop of Communist Czechoslovakia, which is pretty interesting.

Obviously this book includes mature themes and isn't appropriate for young readers.  It doesn't go into great detail but involves a lot of frank sexual discussion.

This book is well-written and interesting but a little depressing.  I did like the ending, though.  My favorite part of the book was a discussion about the four different ways people want others to look at them.  This book is worth reading but not one of my favorites.

The Awkward Age by Henry James

A forewarning that I am not generally a big Henry James fan, so this review could be considered a bit biased.  That said, The Awkward Age is not even one of my favorite of James' books. 

This book tells the story of a social group and their interactions, which makes it fairly typical of James.  It largely consists of long, drawn-out conversations between various characters.  The thing I disliked most is that quite often the characters say something to the effect of, "you know how she/he is" or "you know what I mean."  The other character agrees they do know, and it is never explained more fully to the reader.  And, at least this particular reader, doesn't actually know what they are talking about!

It is clean and completely appropriate.

It does get a bit long, though, for the actual content.  As usual with James, you just have to enjoy the good writing and language choices.

The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo

This is a second grade level children's book, but it is still definitely worth reading.  I first looked it up because I heard some quotes from it in a Korean drama, My Love from Another Star.  They were such great lines that I decided to look up the book and read it.  I was glad I did.

The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane is the story of a fancy toy rabbit who is very proud.  He loves no one but himself.  He is lost from the little girl who absolutely adores him and ends up travelling around the country for years meeting new owners and hearing their stories.

Since this is a children's book, it is completely appropriate for all readers.  It is a very easy read.  You can zip through it in less than an hour.  It is definitely worth the time.

A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking

This book reminded me that it's been a looong time since I took Physics 105.  It was kind of fun.  This book will definitely make you think, although it is easy enough for a layperson who is willing to take the time.  I especially enjoyed the ending section when Hawking proposes a theory to unify gravitational laws and quantum theory, since those two theories haven't been combined yet.

Obviously this book is 100% clean and appropriate for all readers.  It isn't too long but still takes a bit of time, since you have to think about what you read.  It is worth the time.

Fear by L. Ron Hubbard

This is an interesting book, although it really isn't my style.  It is similar to a horror novel, and I don't like that particular genre.  It isn't scary, though, so don't worry about that particular issue.  There is a great deal of talk about demons and descriptions of strange appearances.  The twist at the end saves the story from being a bit ridiculous, so don't give up before then.

This is a short book and an easy read, so it doesn't take much time.

Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

I am not a big fan of Virginia Woolf, so this is a big I've been putting off.  I prefer an interesting narrative to a focus on language or stream-of-consciousness type writing.  Woolf does use beautiful language and is very creative in her expressions, but it just isn't my style. 

Mrs. Dalloway is a look at the lives of a few people during the 1920's during a brief time period (not even a whole day).  These characters include Mrs. Dalloway and her surrounding characters as well as the unrelated Septimus and his wife and a few others.  Their thoughts compose the majority of the story, and I must say they think differently than I ever do!  My thoughts are more linear and conversational in nature than those of the characters in this book.  Of course, that's what Woolf likes and tries to do.

It is actually a fairly easy book to read in that it isn't very long, although the language is more challenging than a straight narrative style.  It isn't worth the time unless you're a lover of this type of book.

Anne of Windy Poplars by L.M. Montgomery

I liked this fourth book in the Anne of Green Gables series better than the third.  I was a little disappointed with the third and even considered not reading any more of them.  I was glad I tried another one!

Anne of Windy Poplars is almost entirely written as excerpts of letters from Anne to Gilbert.  Anne has accepted the position of principal at a high school for three years.  She finds a nice boarding house with entertaining characters.  The town is also full of eccentrics.  Anne does her usual of rescuing lonely and lost souls, which feels a little unrealistic but is still nice.

This book is of course 100% clean and appropriate for readers of all ages.

It's an easy read and worth the time.

Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett

This is a rather long, involved story of the building of a cathedral in England during the 1100's.  That sounds like it could be boring, but it includes the stories of all the characters surrounding the building and is actually very interesting.  Even though the book is really long, it keeps your interest.

The story largely follows Tom Builder and his family members, including his stepson Jack.  We also see a lot of a monk, Philip, and follow his progress from prior of a small chapter house to a bishop.  Aliena, the resourceful daughter of an earl is also prominent.  Along with the entertaining fiction, it is interesting to see the inclusion of historical events, like the civil war between Stephen and Maud before Henry becomes king and the martyrdom of Thomas Beckett.  It is also fun to learn about the architecture and building methods of the time.

There are definitely some inappropriate parts of this book that need to be skipped.  There are a few descriptive sexual scenes, including a couple cases of rape.  There is also some pretty gory violence.

Although this book takes a lot of time, it is worth it.  I am looking forward to reading the book it is the prequel to.

Possession by A.S. Byatt

This is a very long book.  It took me a while to get into it;  it has a slow start.  There are also long passages of poetry and copies of letters attributed to the literary figures in the book that are very long and boring.  (I actually skipped most of the poems, especially those by the male author.)

This book begins with a researcher discovering never-before-seen notes by an author.  Amongst these notes is the beginnings of a letter to a woman.  With more study he discovers it was written to a female poet from the time.  He connects with an expert on the female poet and they search together to discover the story.  A big positive of the story for me is that she wraps up the story.  She doesn't leave dangling lines or mysteries for the reader, even though the characters in the book may not learn quite everything.

This book is mostly clean, although there are the situations of an extra-marital affair and a child out of wedlock.  These situations aren't explained in detail.  There is discussion, not description, of sex and, so it is probably not an appropriate read for younger readers.

I didn't love it, but it's all right.  I wouldn't say it's worth the time, but I do see where someone else may feel it is. 

Ragtime by E L Doctorow

This is an involved novel of historical fiction.  It is a little depressing but interesting.

There is a white family that have no names and are just called by their family titles, Father, Mother, younger brother, etc.  They take in a black maid and her young son.  The boy's father keeps coming around to woo the mother.  He is involved in a horribly violent incident and struggles to regain his pride.  There is also a Jewish father and daughter in New York that become involved in the story.  An interesting thing to me is that the black and Jewish families have names and more defined identities than the white family.  Another interesting thing is the inclusion of historical figures like Henry Ford who somewhat randomly appear in the narrative.  By the end of the book, all three families are inter-connected in a supposed representation of the American "melting pot."

This book has some serious racially-motivated violence that is inappropriate for younger readers.

Ragtime isn't my favorite book, but it is interesting.  Some of the characters get your attention and keep it.  It is worth the time but isn't a purely entertaining read.

The Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

I really didn't love this book and struggled to finish it.  It is very political and seems completely about race, but not in a straightforward or clear manner.   It has lots of mysticism and cynicism, neither of which are my favorite!  The beginning moved especially slowly, although it picks up the pace toward the second half. 

This is the story of a nameless black man.  He starts at a black university in the deep south and is expelled through no fault of his own.  He goes to New York to find a job and learns he was betrayed by the black college's president.  He gets a job at a paint factory and is involved in a work accident when a boiler explodes.  This is followed by a very bizarre episode when he seems to receive electroshock therapy in the factory hospital as treatment after the accident--a very confusing event that is never explained.  I especially don't like it because it raises the possibility that the character's thoughts and conclusions after this event could be incorrect because of damage to his brain or colored by mental illness if the treatment was actually necessary.  This one seemingly pointless episode can negate the whole book!  After the factory he becomes involved in a political movement, which seems to be communism.  The story culminates in a race riot in Harlem.

I wouldn't suggest this book for young readers.  The way it discusses race is pretty intense.  There is discussion of incest and rape.  There is a little swearing but not much.  The riot is pretty violent and upsetting.  Not a super uplifting book!

This book has some interesting points and can make you think, although it feels like it doesn't completely own its sentiments.  It is challenging and takes a fairly large time commitment so be prepared.  I wouldn't recommend it for sheer entertainment but it is worth a read.