I have not contributed much to "Jaydine's Finer Things" because it seems too much like a homework assignment. Writing is hard for me (whine). But I'm going to try to overcome my fear of revealing my poor spelling and grammar to share with you a couple of really good books.
The first is "Stiff: The Curious lives of Human Cadavers", by Mary Roach. I actually read this book a couple of years ago but I'm planning on attending the Bodyworlds exhibit soon and my anticipation of this event reminded me that this book refers to the plastination process that they use to preserve the bodies. So I pulled it out again and reread some of my favorite chapters: A head is a terrible thing to waste, Crimes of anatomy, How to know if you're dead and Out of the fire, and into the compost bin. Entertainment Weekly described this book as "One of the funniest and most unusual books...Gross, educational, and unexpectedly sidesplitting". At this point you are probably wondering at my morbid choice of reading material. But it's not that different from the humorous travel log of presidential assassinations. Despite the irreverent macabre title, Roach somehow pulls off a respectful, (but hilarious), maticulously researched account of what happens to cadavers, past and present.
The second book is an entertaining piece of new fiction entitled The Good Thief, by Hannah Tinti. This book tells the story of Ren, an orphan, abandoned as a baby at St. Anthony's orphanage for boys. He is also missing his left hand. This introduces the mystery. Who is this boy? Where did he come from? What happened to his hand? The characters are vivid and the plot is a non-stop adventure. It reminded me of Huckleberry Finn (yes Donette, I read it) or Oliver Twist. This is a story full of interesting characters; scam artists, grave robbers, a resurrected giant and a dwarf that lives in the chimney. A good spooky October read!
There, I did it and it only took me 2 hours! I was unable to download the picture of The Good Thief book jacket (due to a pesky internal error).
2 comments:
Dang! I spelled Halloween wrong!
I even used the stupid spellcheck.
You must have fixed it because the only misspelling I noticed was mAticulously. [mEticulously]
Despite this, you still receive an A on this homework assignment.
I know what you're thinking: "Who made you the Spelling Czar?"
All Czars on this blog are self appointed. There are still many czar positions available should anyone be interested.
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