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The House on Mango Street
Sandra Cisneros
Vintage, 1991
Poverty, Cultural Isolation
The House on Mango Street / 0-679-73477-5
The House on Mango Street is a touching collection of short vignettes centering around the author's childhood and childhood home. The vignettes take a long, hard look at the lives of these children and young women who find ...
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Invisible Man
Ralph Ellison
Vintage, 1995
Quiet Rage Turned into High Art
This novel, a model of creative writing, describes what it is like to land in a big city and then be sucked up into the black hole of urban life in America. It is a story told by a black man coming of age in the mid-1940s, and thus is about black anonymity in a white ...
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Suite Francaise
Irene Nemirovsky
Vintage, 2007
War and Armistice: Exodus interruptus & Occupation/Collaboration
Another brillant piece of writing by a Russian emigrant in a second language. The book remained tragically incomplete; in its current shape it has 2 of the 5 intended parts. The 3rd one was supposed to be called Captivity and was intended to cover the resistance, ...
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Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation
Joseph J. Ellis
Vintage, 2002
I learned something new about a familiar subject
Even though I'd seen and heard multiple items about the founding generation, I was pleasantly surprised that I learned something new from this work...namely that the discussion of the location of the new capital was seriously sidetracked by an abolitionist delegation's ...
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The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream (Vintage)
Barack Obama
Vintage, 2008
Reclaiming America
I first feel the need to note that many of the negative reviews of this book are people that have not actually read the book and never had any intention of voting for Barack Obama. Hence the reason for disliking the book and the ideology presented in the book. In the ...
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What Is the What (Vintage)
Dave Eggers
Vintage, 2007
So good it hurts
This book is magnificent. I don't think I've ever enjoyed or appreciated a book more. Through the narrative of Valentino Achek Deng, Eggers manages to tell an important contemporary story about Sudan and Africa while also providing moving insight about America and ...
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The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Mark Haddon
Vintage, 2004
Fantastic
This book is a book that all teachers should read! Really lets you look into the mind of an autistic child. I could see some of my previous students and now understand better why they were the way they were.
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The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America
Erik Larson
Vintage, 2004
An exciting while informative read!
The Devil in the White City is an exciting book. Thank heavens, since it is non-fiction, I knew that it ended well, otherwise I would have died from the suspense. I got such a rich perspective on what it takes to pull off an event like a World's Fair, or The Olympics ...
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An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness
Kay Redfield Jamison
Vintage, 1996
Unquiet mind
Brilliant mind and character candidly exposes memoirs; richly sensitive, the unquiet mind brings clarity and treats a difficult subject with competence and affection.
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The Road (Oprah's Book Club)
Cormac McCarthy
Vintage Books, 2007
"Run, he whispered. Run."
This is the first book that I have read by McCarthy. I don't really know why, I just had this idea that I wasn't going to like his work very much. Something that I heard once about All the Pretty Horses struck me the wrong way. I am not sure what it was that I thought ...
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No Country for Old Men (Vintage International)
Cormac McCarthy
Vintage, 2007
Oh how the world has changed
Riveting story and amazing writing. If you are looking for a happily ever after, this is NOT the book for you. The "man on the run" storyline hooks you and keeps you going. But what makes this book truly amazing is how McCarthy subtly shows how in 30 years (from the ...
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Darkly Dreaming Dexter
Jeff Lindsay
Vintage, 2006
The TV Show is Better
If you are looking to read this book because you are hooked on the tv show, then you may be surprised. The book Dexter is a bit more cold and crazy, though still funny at times. What surprised me most is that the tv show was actually better than the book. I can't ...
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Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life
Martin E. Seligman
Vintage, 2006
Excellent Start
I thought this book gave one a great understanding to where we have been and where we could go. Here the author explained how through our experiences and relationships we are pessimistic. He reinforces that most people are negative in their thoughts and teaches us to ...
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A Raisin in the Sun
Lorraine Hansberry
Vintage, 2004
What Happens To A Dream Deferred?
Produced in 1959, A RAISIN IN THE SUN was the first Broadway play written by a black woman: Lorraine Hansberry (1930-1965), a memorable author who based the central story on an incident that occurred in her own family and which eventually evolved into a landmark ...
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In Cold Blood
Truman Capote
Vintage, 1994
The reputation is well-deserved...
Truman Capote may have been a dwarfish freak-show with a ridiculous voice...but the guy knew how to write. This is an excellent book. Not what I'd call a "masterpiece" along the lines of Lolita, but certainly right up there with Tom Wolfe's best.
It's a book which ...
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