Poll #1: Summer Reading

I've been in the summer spirit lately, so I decided to make a summer reading poll. This is the first poll on The Bookshelf, and hopefully many more will come. The poll question is Do you plan to read this summer? Following the question are four answer options.

Please vote. The poll is located on the right side of the blog, under the "about me" section. The poll closes June 5th, so enter your vote soon! I would very much like to hear the responses of my readers.

Summer isn't far away, and neither is summer reading!

Read All Over

It's official: I am very excited. A new used bookstore has recently opened up in Downtown Fredericksburg. This store, called Read All Over, is a quiet, little book nook. It has a red awning (and other red things) to display its name, and is filled with great books. Like many other used bookstores, I found Read All Over very original. There were books displayed in unique fashions, novels that could not be found anywhere else, and peaceful music playing in the background.

One section that caught my attention, was an area of the store that had classic books. Included in this section were, Pride and Prejudice, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Peter Pan, Anna Karenina, Jane Eyre, and all the Shakespeare plays. They were all reprinted in paperback, with nice, new cover illustrations. They were the originals, not adapted forms.

I have decided that it will be a goal for me this summer to read some of these classic works of literature, and review them on this blog. I would very much like to read and love these books that shaped modern literature. Who knows, I may even venture out, and read the long War and Peace by Tolstoy. :)

What I'm Reading (05/18/10)

Happy Tuesday!



I'm currently reading a book called Incarceron by Catherine Fisher. It's a young adult, alternate future, dystopia book. I have been very interested in these genres lately, and I hope I will like this book. Here's a synopsis from the publisher:

Incarceron is a prison so vast that it contains not only cells, but also metal forests, dilapidated cities, and vast wilderness. Finn, a seventeen-year-old prisoner, has no memory of his childhood and is sure that he came from Outside Incarceron. Very few prisoners believe that there is an Outside, however, which makes escape seems impossible.
And then Finn finds a crystal key that allows him to communicate with a girl named Claudia. She claims to live Outside- she is the daughter of the Warden of Incarceron, and doomed to an arranged marriage. Finn is determined to escape the prison, and Claudia believes she can help him. But they don't realize that there is more to Incarceron than meets the eye. Escape will take their greatest courage and cost more than they know.

I will write a review of Incarceron when I am finished.

Silent Spring: A Book That Changed America

I recently had to read a book, Silent Spring by Rachel Carson, for my Science class. When my teacher first gave me the book, I was unsure whether I was going to enjoy it. I was afraid that it would be too boring, because it is a nonfiction book about an insecticide, DDT. And don’t forget it was published in 1962-almost fifty years ago! What I didn’t know was that this book would change my thoughts of nature completely. What I didn’t know was that this book inspired the U.S. government to outlaw the use of DDT, a dangerous insecticide. What I didn’t know was that I would truly enjoy this book.

Silent Spring talks about every organism that was affected by DDT. It talks about the fish in the rivers, bleeding to death, about the birds in the sky, their wings paralyzed leaving them flightless. It talks about cattle, geese, honeybees, dogs, pigs, and the worst, humans. Yes, DDT, an insecticide that’s meant to kill only insects, affects humans, too. DDT had left thousands of humans with nerve damage, blood clots, blurred vision, and kidney and liver failure.

Ten years following the release of Silent Spring, the U.S. Congress banned the use of DDT. Without Rachel Carson’s writing and extensive research, DDT would probably still be used today. Since finishing this book, I have a great respect for Rachel Carson, and a new way of looking at insecticides.

"To a large extent, the physical form and the habits of the earth's vegetation and its animal life have been molded by the environment. Considering the whole span of earthly time, the opposite effect, in which life actually modifies its surroundings, has been relatively slight. Only within the moment of time represented by the present century has one species-man-acquired significant power to alter the nature of his world."

- Rachel Carson, Silent Spring

Rating: 4.2 out of 5 stars

ALA's 100 Most Banned/Challenged Books

A few weeks ago the American Library Association released a list of the 100 most banned and challenged books of the past decade (2000-2009). Topping this list is the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling. It's interesting to see the reasons why these books were put on the list. Harry Potter was put on this list due to complaints about Satanism, violence, religious viewpoints, and anti-family. What I think is that those people who are complaining are being too picky. I mean anti-family? Really? But that's just my opinion.

Also on the list: His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman, To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson, and Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor.

I noticed that almost every book on that list has been or is a popular, bestselling book. Many of the books are also some of the most loved books of all time. Maybe the more popular a book gets, the more unpopular it gets, too. And maybe not every book is meant for everyone.

I do agree that some of the books on this list are "eyebrow raisers", but whether they should be banned? That's up to you.