Thursday, February 4, 2010

Wading Through My Wishlist

 

 Recent additions to the Great Monstrosity that is my wishlist....

God vs. Darwin deftly answers complex questions: Why is there such intense antagonism to the teaching of evolution in the United States? What have the courts said about the various attempts to oppose it? Sprinkled with interesting tidbits about Charles Darwin and the major players of the evolution vs. creationism debate, readers will find that God vs. Darwin is charming in its embrace of the strong passions aroused from the topic of teaching evolution in schools.


As she begins a very tough last semester of high school, Holland finds herself puzzled about her future and intrigued by a transfer student who wants to start a lesbigay club at school. I found Keeping You A Secret via Amanda at The Zen Leaf. Here is an excerpt from her fabulous review:

Holland has never really thought about her sexuality before. She lives in an area with small-town mentality and she knows no one who's gay - until Cece shows up at school for Holland's last semester of her senior year. Cece is out and proud, which sets off ripples at school, ripples that range from harassment to vandalism. But worse are the ripples set off in Holland, who finds herself falling desperately in love with this girl.

In an era that witnessed the rise of celebrity outlaws like Baby Face Nelson, Pretty Boy Floyd, and Bonnie and Clyde, John Dillinger was the most famous and flamboyant of them all. Reports on the man and his misdeeds--spiced with accounts of his swashbuckling bravado and cool daring--provided an America worn down by the Great Depression with a story of sex and violence that proved irresistible. In Dillinger's Wild Ride, Elliott J. Gorn provides a riveting account of the year between 1933 and 1934, when the Dillinger gang pulled over a dozen bank jobs, and stole hundreds of thousands of dollars. A dozen men--police, FBI agents, gangsters, and civilians--lost their lives in the rampage, and American newspapers breathlessly followed every shooting and jail-break. As Dillinger's wild year unfolded, the tale grew larger and larger in newspapers and newsreels.


What do you say, readers? Sound good/bad? Have you read any of these?

9 comments:

Ann Elle Altman said...

I think they all look good and because they are of all different genres, it's difficult to choose. I like Dillinger's Wild Ride but all off them would interest me.

ann

Melissa (i swim for oceans) said...

Those all look brilliant. I approve of them all being added...I couldn't choose just one haha

Zibilee said...

They all sound very, very good! I think all three should be added, and I know what you mean about the out of control wish list. There are so many books on mine that it's hard to even choose anything out of it! I will be interested in reading your reviews of these books if you do buy them!

A Bookshelf Monstrosity said...

Yeah, my wishlist is extremely out of control...I think I might have to freeze my additions to the wishlist for awhile. yeah, right. Like that's gonna happen.

Ash said...

I am horrible with my wishlist. I am always buying and it gets crazy. I've been doing pretty well the past four weeks though, I've only bought two books and both of them are more or less coffee table books. So in short I think these all look great and am of no help to you... you should ask a non book lover.

A Bookshelf Monstrosity said...

Only two book in four weeks purchased- that is an accomplishment, indeed!

Lisa said...

It is amazing that there is still so much trouble about teaching evolution. Particularly in light of the fact that we're supposed to be keeping church and state separated. I'm going to have to pick up the Darwin book; my middle son, in particular, would find it fascinating.

A Bookshelf Monstrosity said...

I also find the controversy of this subject pretty astounding. Another book to pick up on the subject is Monkey Town by Ronald Kidd. It's a fictional treatment of the Scopes Monkey Trial.

Lisa said...

I have an award for you at:
http://litandlife.blogspot.com/2010/02/thanks-ladies.html

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