Category Archives: Uncategorized

Zero to One by Peter Thiel (review by Anika B. ’18)

March 21, 2017 mspelmanlibrarian Leave a comment

Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future by Peter Thiel
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

In Zero to One, Peter Theil, the founder of Paypal, takes the reader through the steps of building a successful startup. A notable aspect of revolutionary companies is that they go from 0 to 1, as opposed to going from 1 to n. In other words, Microsoft went from 0 to 1 by creating new technology. However, the next Bill Gates will not build an operating system. I read this book on the plane, and only opened it because I couldn’t use my phone during takeoff. I had planned on watching a bunch of movies, but the book was so amazing that I did not put it down until I finished it. The book was very easy to read, and the text was accompanied by comprehensive visuals. The brilliant metaphors further helped the reader internalize the content. However, the best part of the book was the content itself. The book preaches the opposite of what is taught in the typical economic class, allowing the reader to consider the world from a different point of view. I recommend this book to everyone, and I believe that all Harker students should read it. – Anika B. ’18

View all my reviews

Uncategorized

A Jury of Her Peers: American Women Writers from Anne Bradstreet to Annie Proulx by Elaine Showalter (review by Andrew R. ’17)

March 6, 2017 mspelmanlibrarian Leave a comment

A Jury of Her Peers: American Women Writers from Anne Bradstreet to Annie Proulx by Elaine Showalter
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Ours is a young nation, and its literature is a young literature. But in A Jury of Her Peers: American Women’s Writing from Anne Bradstreet to Annie Proulx, feminist scholar Elaine Showalter profiles the enormous amount of progressive, boundary-pushing material that’s come out of America since the days of the Pilgrims. The writers featured in this encyclopedic book—more of a literary reference guide than a readable chronological account, although a few chapters are marked exceptions—tend to weigh toward the nineteenth century, with novelists like Harriet Beecher Stowe getting far more individual attention than the more modern women writers whose names come to mind when we think back on American literature. Civil War–era authors like Catherine Sedgwick may be in more dire need of recognition than better-known writers, but, with familiar names like Dorothy Parker and Flannery O’Connor on their way a few chapters later, it’s hard for the reader to stay invested in the dustier, more distant history of these early chapters. The core of the book is a long, engaging, and appealingly written dual portrait of Wharton and Cather. If Showalter had adopted this storytelling mode for the rest of the book, A Jury of Her Peers would have been not just informative but enjoyable, too. – Andrew R. ’17

View all my reviews

Uncategorized

The Diabolic by S.J. Kinkaid (review by Anya W. ’20)

February 8, 2017 mspelmanlibrarian Leave a comment

The Diabolic by S.J. Kincaid
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Kill in order to protect the person you’ve been created for. That is the duty of a Diabolic. To love their master for the entirety of their lives and be willing to do anything to protect them. In a time when a ruthless emperor reigns, that sacrifice can even extend to taking her place. If Nemesis is discovered, she’s dead, and Sidonia is in danger… Be it taking on a ruthless tyrant or allying with a mad prince, Nemesis will do whatever it takes to protect her master. The Diabolic is beautifully written and definitely falls into the YA category. The world building for this novel is absolutely brilliant, and personally, I’m a sucker for good world building. From the beginning, this novel is gripping, and although the quality of the story decreases somewhat near the end, this novel ends quite nicely. Speaking as someone who has been slightly phasing out of YA novels as of late, The Diabolic definitely deserves a read. – Anya W. ’20

View all my reviews

Uncategorized

We Have Always Lived Here by Shirley Jackson (review by Andrew R. ’17)

November 22, 2016 mspelmanlibrarian Leave a comment

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

There’s a malicious presence in the Blackwood estate, the imposing structure on the outskirts of town inhabited by the only surviving members of a reclusive aristocratic family. It might be wheelchair-bound Uncle Julian, who constantly relives the day most of his family dropped dead of arsenic poisoning. It might be Constance, who hasn’t left the estate in six years and is fanatically devoted to the rules of etiquette. It might even be Merricat, the younger sister, who surrounds the estate with wards and totems to keep the rest of the world at bay. Jackson is best-known today for “The Lottery,” her horrifying story of small-town insularity gone wrong, but of all her notoriously creepy works this one deserves the most attention. Its suspense works in two directions: the reader discovers unsettling details about the past even as the narrative creeps toward a chilling climax, leaving the present moment doubly uncertain and doubly tense. The question of who sprinkled arsenic in the sugar bowl is pretty easily answered, but don’t be fooled—that apparent mystery is just a diversionary tactic to let more frightening revelations approach unnoticed. Even if horror isn’t your genre of choice, as Halloween approaches, Shirley Jackson’s novels are worth a try. – Andrew R. ’17

View all my reviews

Uncategorized

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo (review by Amelia H. ’19)

October 21, 2016 mspelmanlibrarian Leave a comment

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Six of Crows is a fantasy heist story, with a cast of characters who practically spring off the page into real life and a world fleshed out to the tiniest detail. Bardugo’s gift for writing scenes and characters leaves readers feeling as if they themselves have followed the characters on their journeys step by step. Although the author spent considerable time setting up the main plot initially, after finishing the book, I could think of no unnecessary scenes or chapters. Everything came together in the final chapters of the book, which offered just enough closure to satisfy the reader but left enough unsolved that the reader has continue on to the sequel. If you like to immerse yourself in richly detailed fantasy worlds and carefully planned heists, this book is for you. Perfect for fans of The Lies of Locke Lamora. – Amelia H. ’19

View all my reviews

Uncategorized

The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill (review by Anya W. ’20)

October 14, 2016 mspelmanlibrarian Leave a comment

The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

There’s a witch in the woods. Her name is Xan. Every year, in the same spot just outside of that town soaked in sorrow, a mother abandons her baby. The witch doesn’t know why, but every year she takes that baby across the bog to the Free cities where a loving family adopts it. Except one year, when instead of milk from starlight, Xan accidentally feeds the baby girl with stars in her eyes the moon, enmagiking her. Enmagicked children are a bit hard for normal humans to raise so, she decides to keep her and name her Luna.

There’s a madwoman in the tower. Many years ago during the day of sacrifice, she did something no one else has ever done-she tried to keep her baby with the starry eyes, the one chosen for sacrifice on that terrible day, when the townspeople do what they must to keep the Witch away. The woman has never been the same since.

Caught up in the story are also Antain, the nephew of the village’s Grand Elder, Fyrian, a pocket sized Simply Enormous Dragon, and the creature that is “the Bog, the Poet, and the World,” Glerk. And let’s not forget the (slightly trouble making) tween girl with stars in her eyes. The Girl Who Drank the Moon is a poignant story of magic, madness, good intentions, friendship and sorrow–with an ancient witch or two sprinkled in. Barnhill weaves an alluring, complex tale that is well worth a read. – Anya W. ’20

View all my reviews

Uncategorized

The Beginning of Everything by Robyn Schneider (review by Arushee B. ’19)

October 3, 2016 mspelmanlibrarian Leave a comment

The Beginning of Everything by Robyn Schneider
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This beautifully-crafted, gripping novel follows the tragic life of a high school boy, Ezra, after an accident cripples him. Suddenly thrown out of his social circle and unable to fit in with anyone anymore, he returns to his unpopular childhood best friend to whom he had not spoken in years. He joins the debate team and joins a table of misfits to eat lunch with. He falls in love with one of these misfits, a girl on the debate team who is beautiful, but not in the expected way. Throughout the novel, Ezra discovers and learns to embrace this new version of himself. I really enjoyed reading this book and I would recommend it to anyone who loves high-paced, realistic fiction.

View all my reviews

Uncategorized

Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok (review by Anya W. ’20)

September 26, 2016 mspelmanlibrarian Leave a comment

Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When eleven-year-old Kimberly Chang moves to New York straight from China with her newly widowed mother, severely lacking English skills and with little help from her uncaring aunt and uncle, hope seems dim. Indeed for her first few years in America the young genius struggles in a rat and cockroach-infested apartment, working every day after school in a Chinatown sweatshop. But gradually, as her English improves and she pushes herself onward–even getting accepted into her dream schools–she begins to create a beautiful future for herself. Until, that is, the day she realizes she must choose between love and the future she wants for herself and her family. In this touching coming-of-age novel about hard work, social inequality, friendship, first love, and infatuation, Kwok paints a beautifully realistic portrait of a teenager struggling and succeeding to take control of her own destiny.

View all my reviews

Uncategorized

Dawn by Olivia Butler (review by Catherine H. ’17)

September 20, 2016 mspelmanlibrarian Leave a comment

Dawn by Octavia E. Butler
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Sometime in the future, Lilith Iyapo dies after humans make the Earth inhospitable in a nuclear war. Centuries later, Lilith is Awakened by aliens known as the Oankali who are trying to save the human species–taking them aboard their ship to be Awakened and teaching them how to live on Earth again. The Oankali have redeveloped the Earth and hope to use human genetic material to merge with their own and evolve as a species. Chosen to act as a leader and teacher for humans meant to be sent back to Earth, Lilith must learn to live among the Oankali and accept that the human race will be changed forever. She must learn to accept the Oankali, who as a species, have three sexes: male, female, and Ooloi. The Ooloi are the humans’ only chance at reproduction, as they can mix the genetic material of both species to create new children.

I thought Butler’s perspective on the Ooloi was very interesting, and appreciated that the Ooloi were referred to with neutral pronouns. Though this book was written in 1987, I still find the ideas regarding gender in this novel are something we can learn from today.

View all my reviews

Uncategorized

Spontaneous by Aaron Starmer (review by Amelia H. ’19)

September 15, 2016 mspelmanlibrarian Leave a comment

Spontaneous by Aaron Starmer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Myra Carlyle’s senior year of high school is going perfectly normally until her classmates start spontaneously exploding. Starmer’s witty narration and snarky protagonist take a tragic story and give it a comedic twist, following Myra through her senior year as everyone tries to both solve the mystery of the senior class and move on from it.

I enjoyed reading the narration, which was unexpectedly humorous, and Myra’s own growth as a result of her struggling is fascinating to read. Some might find the ending unfulfilling, but I liked how the story closed and would recommend it to anybody looking for a highly unusual coming of age story.

View all my reviews