All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

Slower paced and beautifully written, All the Light We Cannot See is set during World War II in Germany and France. The stories of a blind Parisian girl, Marie-Laure, and an orphaned German boy, Werner, are told in a parallel narrative. Family, friendship, compassion/empathy and, of course, survival, all feature in this novel.  We see the characters grow and change and their lives become intertwined as they struggle with questions of good and evil.

Since I was reading digitally, I honestly had no idea that All the Light We Cannot See was 544 pages which is definitely long, but I found myself (like other reviewers) slowing down near the end because I did not want this story and the exquisite writing to be over. This novel is definitely one to savor.

Doerr’s website says that he spent ten years in the writing of All the Light We Cannot See. So well done, expect to see it in movie theaters. In addition, I was happy to note that award-winning Anthony Doerr is an American author since that is one of our requirements for Junior Theme. I will encourage stronger readers who can handle the book’s length to consider this title and I know that our faculty and book group members will also be interested.  I found Doerr’s writing to be so moving that I will also be ordering two collections of his short stories, Memory Wall and The Shell Collector, for use with our English classes.

The Boom by Russell Gold

Did you know that U.S. energy companies are drilling and fracking about 100 wells every day across much of the country? That statistic came from an award winning Pulitzer-Prize nominated reporter, Russell Gold. I often read his columns in The Wall Street Journal and found his new book, The Boom: How Fracking Ignited the American Energy Revolution and Changed the World, to be a fascinating read as well. 

Gold lays out the facts, teaching his readers about the pros and cons of this controversial technology. To what extent is water contaminated? What waste is happening and where (with Gold's parents' farm and North Dakota as examples)? What steps (fixing leaks and adding infrastructure) can be taken to improve the situation? What factors (like more energy independence, increased revenues and more jobs) seem to counteract pressures for stricter regulations and environmental safeguards?  Read Russell Gold’s book and learn more in this extensive (over an hour) interview conducted at Columbia University in early April 2014:

 

At New Trier, additional materials on “fracking” are available through diverse sources such as CQ Researcher database; DVD titles Gasland; a new book, Frackers, by another Wall Street Journal reporter (Gregory Zuckerman); plus numerous online industry resources. Many of our students have chosen non-fiction books for Junior Theme this year and I think that The Boom is an ideal candidate.  Not only is the high interest topic presented in a very engaging, readable way, Gold is a fantastic role model for our budding researchers. The Boom has 30+ pages of sources and a 15+ page index – all of which will give our students plenty to explore as they consider the future of energy production and consumption.

Mistakes I made at Work by Jessica Bacal

Just released Mistakes I made at Work is already winning praise: it was named by Fast Company as a "Top 10 Book You Need to Read This Year" and a “Top 10 Business Book for Spring 2014” by Publisher’s Weekly.  This new book is a series of essays from 25 successful women about their toughest work moments and what they’ve learned. Interviewees include best-selling authors like Ruth Ozeki (Tale for the Time Being), Cheryl Strayed (Wild), and Ruth Reichl (Delicious!); plus a Director Emeritus from McKinsey, Joanna Barsch, and current Stanford Professor, Carol Dweck (author of Mindset), who will be speaking in Evanston on May 9th.

Somehow, we often struggle to gain perspective so as to learn from our own mistakes; how refreshing to be able to sit down with this book and readily learn from the interviews gathered by Jessica Bacal, director of the Wurtele Center for Work and Life at Smith College. Written in a mostly conversational tone, Mistakes I made at Work is filled with tips and stories that will surprise you. In fact, PsychCentral has already published a review called “3 Lessons from Making Mistakes at Work.”

Perfect for soon-to-be-graduates, Bacal's collection of essays is divided into four main sections:

• Learning to Take Charge of Your Own Narrative
• Learning to Ask
• Learning to Say No
• Learning Resilience

Overall, I found that Mistakes I made at Work dovetailed nicely with another new book on my shelf titled Thanks for the Feedback by Douglas Stone and Sheila Heen (both of whom spoke locally for Family Action Network in early March). That, in turn, complimented suggestions from Carole Robin, a Stanford lecturer, on Feedback as a Gift. In fact, I see many ways to use these resources with classes.  Each year our business students choose some independent reading titles and I will be purchasing Bacal’s Mistakes I made at Work and recommending it.  English classes, especially Senior Writers’ Seminar, will also likely use some of the essays for class discussion. A former teacher herself, Jessica Bacal has provided a wonderful way to offer mentorship to young women.

The Blessings by Elise Juska

It is Easter Sunday and I am reflecting on family gatherings and memories of special foods, Easter baskets and fancy hats. For me, it was the perfect day to read a soon-to be published (5/6/14) book called The Blessings by Elise Juska.  Set in Northeast Philadelphia, the novel tells the stories of an Irish-Catholic family over the past 20 or 25 years. Each chapter (almost like inter-connected short stories) is told from a different Blessing family member’s perspective – rebellions teens, newly marrieds, a middle-age man and a Grandmother included.

I loved how the author captures each character’s feelings and the way she explores the idea of being part of a close extended family and how that shapes us; how those closest to us sometimes fail to see us clearly as separate individuals. I especially liked the several sections on going to college, becoming a young adult, and seeing your family from a distance (maybe for the first time).  In addition to love and support, Juska deftly handles universal feelings of fear, sadness and anger in families – whether it has to do with death at a young age, an eating disorder, divorce or growing old. Fans of the TV show Parenthood will enjoy this novel as it has a similar vignette-type feel. I truly cared about members of the Blessing family, felt connected and enjoyed sharing their traditions and memories as they looked back in later chapters.

For our students’ Junior research projects, there has been a shift towards looking at questions of American identity.  Students often focus on the relevance of a chosen book both in terms of the time when it was written or its setting and today.  I honestly cannot wait to add The Blessings by Elise Juska to my booktalk with others like The Joy Luck Club (Amy Tan) and The Namesake (Jhumpa Lahiri) – there will be much for our students to explore and to comment upon with this cultural group, too.
 

She is Not Invisible by Marcus Sedgwick

What teen hasn’t felt invisible at times? In his new novel, Marcus Sedgwick has created a character who fights for acknowledgment – Laureth wants her voice to be heard so badly that she takes her 7 year old brother, Benjamin, and travels from the UK to the US without her parents’ consent.    

Are you asking why take a 7 year-old with you? Well, Laureth actually needs him to help her navigate the world … the opening scene in the airport cleverly describes Laureth’s disability and her reliance on Benjamin.  From there, Laureth describes the feelings, sounds and smells of air travel and New York as we are swept along into the adventures and sometimes naïve choices of these likeable siblings. I found She is Not Invisible to be a very quick read and readers who prefer mystery and suspense, especially with strong female characters, will enjoy it.  We all see a book differently and this novel can be read and re-read at several levels. Those with a bent towards psychology may find the discussions of coincidence and synchronicity in Dad’s notebook to be intriguing whereas others may find they need to suspend belief at certain points.   

She is Not Invisible will be available in the US on April 22^nd and has already earned starred reviews from Kirkus, Booklist and others I will recommend She is Not Invisible in future booktalks, especially for Sophomores. For other titles by Marcus Sedgwick, a Printz Award winner, please look for Revolver and Midwinterblood.

Word Exchange by Alena Graedon

The Word Exchange is an extremely ambitious book and there are portions of it which are so clever – it’s set in the near future at a time when the printed word is disappearing and everyone seems to be catching “word flu” and struggling to communicate without the aid of handheld devices. I really love the way the author weaves in newly created words and how the chapters are ordered alphabetically, each with a word and definition which applies to its content.  Alena Graedon succeeded, too, in making me think about my own reliance on devices and technology. I even improved my vocabulary as I read this as an eBook and used the dictionary feature to review actual, but somewhat less commonly used words.

On the other hand, I have really struggled to stay with this book and to finish it. It does not hold my interest, especially when Bart (character who is working on a new dictionary) is speaking/writing to us. I have suggested the title to several English teachers because I think that they will be intrigued by the story and its literary allusions, but I wish it was shorter so that more of our students would read and discuss this dystopian situation and some of the important ideas which it explores.

See what you think – we have a copy of Word Exchange available for checkout. Other “read-alikes” might include The Circle by Eggers or The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester.