August 30, 2014

The Neverending Story

The Neverending StoryThe Neverending Story by Michael Ende
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is one of the more creative and fascinating stories I've read in a while, and one of the best children's or middle years stories I've ever read. The story is actually two stories in one, or, as the title says, is about The Neverending Story. The story line and characters are rich and imaginative, and leaves the reader with many philosophical concepts to ponder, without beating the reader over the head with them as some other stories do. As i completed the book, i was left with warmness in my heart and a feeling of awe and wonder. It is not often that a story can nestle itself within your heart, but this one certainly did for me. I loved it, and am so thankful for my daughter's persistence in getting me to read it. Thanks sweetie :)

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August 23, 2014

The Giver - part 2

The Giver (The Giver, #1)The Giver by Lois Lowry
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

As i mentioned in my last note,  I had just re-read "The Giver" because a movie is being released based upon the book. I just came across the trailer for the movie in another blog that i follow. In watching the trailer, I had a really weird, unexpected experience - I recognized almost NOTHING from the book in the trailer! I guess this should not come as a surprise, given the disconnect between so many movies and the books on which they are based. But still, perhaps because i had JUST read the book, the differences felt significant. I'll have to see the movie now to give it a fair shot, but my expectations have been tempered by the trailer.

The trailer:



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August 18, 2014

The Giver

The Giver (The Giver, #1)The Giver by Lois Lowry
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The Giver is a great story about society, the status quo, and shaking things up to make a difference. I had read it with one of my kids when they read it in school, and wanted to re-read it because a movie is being released based upon this story. Great story.

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August 16, 2014

The Soul of a New Machine

The Soul of a New MachineThe Soul of a New Machine by Tracy Kidder
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The Soul of a New Machine is an extremely interesting story to someone like me who has been working with computers for over 30 years. Presented within it is much detail regarding the people and processes that make up the engineering and design process involved in the Data General Eclipse MV/8000. Much of it felt familiar as i recall my 15 years spent in IC Engineering, followed by 15 years in IT in support of Engineering processes. Even having lived though some of this story myself, i found the account fascinating and affirming in that my experience was representative of the engineering process in general. This narrative does not flow as smoothly and seamlessly as i expected, but i'm not going to argue with the Pulitzer Prize committee :) It is a great story and I'm thankful to Mr. Kidder for telling it. It had to have been a significant task to capture and report this story.

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