The Eighty-Dollar Champion: A Book Review

The Eighty-Dollar Champion: Snowman, the Horse That Inspired a Nation by Elizabeth Letts
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I've made another compromise on rating: 4 stars for the story, 2 stars for how it was written here = 3 stars. The tale of how a down-and-out duo rise to become the cream of the crop in show jumping is both amazing and inspirational; however, I was expecting more story. The tale was embellished with the history of the era-- Cold War--, the class differences still evident in the show jumping arena and the history of show jumping. Some of that embellishment was necessary to help place the story in a solid setting. But, there were often whole chapters filled with the above that did not advance the plot of the story at all. Also, I found that the author relied on the same phrases over and over. There was one place that an entire paragraph or two was repeated again with only minor changes to the wording in the same chapter. If you can't fill up a whole book with the story, then maybe you don't have a story? Just a thought. Wish the above mentioned topics were better intermingled with the story. The tale itself was fantastic! Who doesn't love a rags-to-riches story. Overall: meh.


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The Fellowship of the Ring (Lord of the Rings): A Book Review

The Fellowship of the Ring (The Lord of the Rings, #1) by J.R.R. Tolkien
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I was so glad this read differently than the Hobbit. The author's smooth voice in the Hobbit put me to sleep every time I picked it up, leaving me reading the book in fits and starts of about 8-10 pages at a time. Now, the Fellowship of the Ring was much different. There are plenty of places that I could see a slow reader getting bogged down in all the description of the countryside. (Not nearly as bad as Dickens, but still tedious at times.) However, the descriptions were beautiful and made the whole scene come alive, not just the action or literal plodding taking place. I loved getting to go to the Lothlórien, the enchanted forest home of the elves. It was so beautiful in my mind's eye. After reading it, I can see where Paolini got a lot of his elf lore and and the seed for Du Weldenvarden. And I also understand why so many accuse him of "stealing" from Tolkien. Like my husband has said, "Every good fantasy has at least a little Tolkien in it." I finally was able to sit through all the Lord of the Rings movie extended editions not too long ago. (I had been attempting for years and always fell asleep!) The books are way more entertaining, as always. Even though I've only recently begun to delve into the fantasy genre, I find myself quite at home!


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My Story: A Book Review

My Story by Elizabeth  Smart
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I picked this book up to read after seeing a special on the Elizabeth Smart story last weekend on tv. I almost feel bad that I had judged this book literally within the first 5 pages. First, there were two almost identical sentence structures back to back. That probably seems trivial, but come on, pull it together editorial staff! I know Elizabeth isn't an award winning author, but that's why she has editors and Chris Stewart, right? Then my other complaint is that many of the chapters were very short... 3-5 pages. To me, it's not a good chapter unless it's at least 8 pages long-- the recommended daily reading quota for general health. The story was also rather monotonous-- the same stuff occurred all day everyday of her abduction. She also seemed to have an obsession with the word "sliver." EVERYTHING was a "sliver" of pie, a "sliver" of cloud, etc. All the above aside, it was entertaining enough. I think it was definitely written toward the media devouring crowd that probably followed the story from the comfort of their couch, but doesn't really ever read on said couch. I surmised this from the short chapters, monotonous repetition (if Mr. TV Couch Potato puts it down for a few days and comes back, he won't have missed too much and can get back into the story easily) and the very simple language. However, such an incredible story can't help but be a good read, no matter the quality of writing.


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Gone Girl: A Book Review

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I both loved and hated this book. I love the literary daring of the author, but hate the content. I rated it four stars as a compromise. Loved the twists. Loved how the author took psychosis that so many have and then maxed it times a million to make it into crazy people. Loved how the author was brave enough to let the bad guy win and not have a "happily ever after." Hate how the author used the stereotypical "women are crazy." Hate how she attacked marriage. (Isn't marriage under fire enough already? Lame.) Hated how this book made me feel just a miserable as the characters and so I had to speed read through it just to get it away from me. Loved that is was so powerfully written that it did have that amount of effect on me. Hated all the characters.  Loved that the author made me dislike all the characters in some way or another; who does that?! Hated the overuse of swear words. If your writer characters can't come up with more colorful swears, you're writing your characters incorrectly. What we have here is a literary love/hate relationship both between myself and this book and between the two main characters. Twisted.


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The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks: A Book Review

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book is about scientific research. It's about education. It's about technology. It's about race. It's about bioethics. It's about history. But above all it's about a woman named Henrietta Lacks who died of cervical cancer in the 1950s and the human and cellular family she left behind. I found this interesting as I had never heard of this woman, nor her cells. I purposefully wasn't a biology major in college just so I wouldn't have to take cell biology. I hate cell biology. It's hard. However, the bits of cell bio which are brought into this book are handled fairly well by the author. I did take away one star because there were two times the author was speaking on a particular scientific topic that I didn't really understand. If she couldn't get me-- the doctor in a medical field-- to understand what she was talking about, Joe Schmo Public sure didn't get it either. I do feel like Skloot made a good balance of the science-y parts and the human interest story of Henrietta and her family parts. I didn't ever get bored with either story within the story. Overall what I gained from this book is that we medical personnel need to stop and remember that our patients are human beings. Those human beings-- no matter their education, or lack there of-- can be made to understand their treatments and treatment options. As professionals, it is our responsibility to at least make the effort to get our patients to understand what is going on with themselves. And if we ourselves can't make the leap from our jargon-stuffed minds, ask another colleague to assist. Patient education is important to bedside manner, even if we can't bill for it half the time.


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