![]() This book is a collection of articles from Vanity Fair. Each piece profiles a prominent woman and was written by a woman, hence the title. Edited by Radhika Jones, the profiles span time and social space, from Grace Kelly to Lena Waithe, Emily Post to Michelle Obama, and Frida Kahlo to Lady Gaga. All of the women are exceptional in their fields but the pieces vary as much as the subjects. This book was a birthday gift from my sister this year. I really enjoyed learning about some of the subjects whom I had not heard of, or simply am intrigued by. The piece on Barbara Bush was a highlight as she is a woman I know peripherally, and I believe the piece portrayed her honestly rather than only spewing praise. Two other similar favorites were the pieces on Meryl Streep and Cher. I like learning about people I like!
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![]() Our Year of War by Daniel P. Bolger is a novel based around two brother’s experience fighting in Vietnam. The brothers, Tom and Chuck Hagel, have contrasting political views on the war in Vietnam. Chuck comes home in support of the war while Tom hated it. Coming from the same infantry unit, the brother’s shared a lot of the same experiences. During their year in Vietnam, the brother’s have many accounts of having to save each other as well as themselves during the Tet Offensive in 1968. The novel describes their experiences in Vietnam as well as how Tom and Chuck form completely different opinions despite having the same experiences. I chose this book expecting it to be just the raw experience of war in Vietnam. The book ended up being much more than I thought as it dove into the emotions and contrasting political views of the two brothers. I found the descriptions of what the geography in Vietnam was like interesting as I never knew how dense the forestry was and how difficult it was to even walk through some of the more remote areas. Being written by Bolger, a war veteran as well (however not from Vietnam), the novel displayed many small details that I believe that others would be able to capture in their writing. Overall, I enjoyed reading Our Year of War despite it not being quite what I expected. I would rate this book a 4 out of 5 as the book was a little bit long and i found it difficult to understand some of the in depth terminology. I overall found it a relatively interesting book. -JL, grade 12 ![]() X by Ilyasah Shabazz is an in-depth look at the popular activist Malcolm X’s life before the reform and the protest. Before going through a religious reform, after seeing his father be murdered and his mother taken away by government officials, Malcolm Little decides there isn’t much left to do in his life, and runs away to a life of dancing, pretty girls, and reefer. Soon he starts a stint of robbing rich families to sell items for cash. After a run-in with the law, facing jail time, Malcolm decides that it’s about time he turns his life around, and finds that reform through religion, and finds religion through another man locked up. I found this book while browsing through a pile of older books I had. I had bought the book a few months before but never had the time to read it, so I figured that would be a good way to get my reading in. I immensely enjoyed the book, because instead of having to read a boring biography, I got to read the story as if it was a flashback, all in the first person and making it almost seem like it was a fictional book. After reading, it was hard to process the fact that that’s what a religious reformer’s life was like before he began his career, but it was still, all in all, a very nice story because now I know all the hardships that Malcolm X had to face before he rose up and became the man we all know him for. -AJ, grade 10 ![]() This autobiographical book from the cofounder of Nike details the birth and rise of the company. Knight begins the story in the 1960s, when he first began importing and selling running shoes out of his bedroom at his parent's house in Oregon. He narrates the events and characters who contributed to Nike in substantive ways all the way through the company's IPO in 1980. Surprisingly, until that IPO, Knight and Nike were operating "on the float," or essentially paycheck to paycheck. Knight writes with eloquent description and apparent honesty, a trademark of his all-around style. It was fun to read about his casual interactions with giants of the sports industry. I did not know anything of Nike's origin beyond its allegiance to Oregon, so this was really fascinating to learn about one of the biggest and most iconic athletic supply companies of our time. Alongside reading the book, I watched the movie Without Limits, which is about Steve Prefontaine and Bill Bowerman (a cofounder of Nike) during their time as athlete and coach at University of Oregon. ![]() This book is one of few comprehensive biographies of Elon Musk. Musk is an impressively intelligent man who has designed and realized plans for electronic cars, digital mapping, and space exploration, among other pursuits. While his vision for the future has great power to influence the world as we know it, Musk is also a husband and father, with his own personal relationships to manage in addition to his intellectual empire. I picked up this book on the recommendation of one of my aunts. I kept reading it because Musk is such an impressive and influential man and I liked learning about him as he is making history. I expect that in thirty years, Musk will be (and in some regards already is) a Bill Gates-esque figure. I quit reading the book because it was so dang long and detailed, and I was probably more ready for a biography half the length of this one. However, the fact I haven't finish it doesn't mean you won't! |
J. HiEBERBibliophile Archives
June 2020
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