book-review

Basically, because getting new books is exciting for me, and Still A Dreamer is about sharing things that I find worthwhile and valuable. Books – and reading – hold a place of importance in my life, and I just went to a huge book sale!

Maybe because I hope to inspire you, and you are ready for some great suggestions. (in my opinion, of course.)

In the top photo, are 6 books I found and purchased from my carefully curated list of 34 books. Celeste Ng’s book is not the original from my list, but a worthwhile swap.

In the photo above are some extras I found – 3 by authors I know and like, a fictional biography enthusiastically recommended to me by a young woman at the sale, and one for a friend.

The total haul? $22.00. You can’t beat that if you’re a reader.

The love of reading was engendered in me from a very, very young age, around 1 or 2 years old, for which I am deeply grateful. I quickly found that books were magic – they took you places you’d never imagined, taught you all your little mind could grasp with joy. Books laid down the path for a lifetime of curiosity, enjoyment, learning, and inspiration in so many ways.

See anything you like? I hope I’ve offered some interesting possibilities. BTW, if you have kids, and they see you reading, you’re already an inspiration for them to develop a lifelong habit of doing the same .

If you are not currently an active reader, or feel it’s too late to learn, find the book that will get your mind lit up and jump in. It’s never too late.

p.s. The day after the book sale, not having found the few “must-haves” on my list, I decided to buy 6 more on Thrift Books. I think I’m set for quite a while now! Stay tuned ….

Nineteen minutes is how long it took for high school junior Peter Houghton to enter Sterling High and kill ten people and wound another nineteen. However, it took his whole life from when he was first bullied at five years old to that point, having endured years of emotional and physical abuse from his classmates, to now, when he’d finally had enough.

Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult is a complex, challenging, and astonishing read which covers many issues beyond the central focus of the school shooting. Bullying is the thread weaving the entire story together. The novel focuses primarily on one character, Peter, who could never seem to fit in. His non-stop torment began his first day on the bus to kindergarten when bigger kids threw his cherished Superman lunchbox out the window. Peter was five, and had dreamed of his first day of school. Josie, like Peter, and a good friend when they were young, had also always felt out of place until high school, when she became the girlfriend of a popular boy. Being bullied and treated abusively by him was the price Josie paid for her popularity.

Nineteen Minutes is about the many ways a child can be failed, even if unintentionally, by family, friends, and school. It asks what it means to be different in today’s society, and who has the right to judge another. It talks about how easily entire lives can be destroyed; how the truth comes out in the end; and how justice may be served.

Nineteen Minutes is also about individuals and families who are truly doing the best they can in trying to understand the young people in their lives. Ultimately, the book is about love, friendship, judgment, pain, redemption, and death, played out in the lead-up and aftermath of just nineteen minutes of violence.

Ms. Picoult has scrupulously researched every detail and aspect of school shootings and the myriad fields related to them, including forensics, court proceedings, the psychology of school shooters, and more. Her novel is also a consistently banned book, but it might also be the book that teens, their parents, and teachers most need to read.

Nineteen Minutes, published in 2007, is totally relevant today. It is incredibly impressive throughout, and packs an unexpected double punch at the end. It has left me thinking for days, wondering how, as such a supposedly advanced society, we are not doing better. Highly recommended.

This was a long post. If you’re still here, thanks for reading through to the end.

p.s. Last night, I continued to edit this piece, planning to post it today. When I opened my online news this morning, I found that there had been a school shooting in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., Canada. Nine total were killed, including the shooter who took their own life, and twenty-seven wounded. That this was transpiring while I wrote about school shootings confirmed that I needed to post this.

Photo credits: Hallway by Yash Patel/Unsplash; Bullying from WeStockProductions/Shutterstock