An Experiment.... Science Friday

I am an avid reader, but I have a problem.  I don't venture out very far in my reading.  I like literary novels, classics, spiritual books that feed my soul, I love juvenile lit, and I love books on psychology, nutrition and environmentalism.  I have been trying to challenge myself to read outside of my norm.  Shortly, after challenging myself I was listening to to NPR's Science Friday (which I love) and realized that they have a book club.  I had to get in on it.  Thus, I have read the two book club reads of 2013.  The first was Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton and the second was Gorillas in the Mist by Dian Fossey.

Andromeda Strain is not something I would generally pick up and read.  When I was in college, I really enjoyed science fiction, but since then I haven't read much in the way of science fiction.  I really enjoyed reading this book, it wasn't my favorite, but I enjoyed it.  I may of mostly relished in the fact that I was holding this book than the story.  There were moments when I was totally engaged in the story, but then it ends.  Its one of those stories that doesn't glide into the ending or let you down gently, nope, it just ends.  I left it a little bit unsatisfied, but it was fun to read a science fiction book that imagined a future in which we now live.

Gorillas in the Mist  was definitely my favorite of the two, but that might have something to do with the fact that it was closer to a book I would normally choose to read.  It is part autobiography and part textbook on gorillas.  I happened to be reading it at the same time as we were reading The One and Only Ivan as a family.  I started to fall in love with these giant animals found in the mountains of Africa.  I loved the parts of this book where she tells how she started this journey and how she studied the gorillas.  I had a harder time with the parts of the book where she was personalizing the gorillas.  That got to be a little weird to me.  But I tend to not personalize animals, others of you might love this part of it.  I had to remind myself that when she was talking about them and using names that those were names that she had given them.  I started to think about them as humans and they aren't.  It makes me wonder at her research, can one objectively research something if they are that personally involved.

Needless to say, my mind has been opened and stretched.  I have learned things I never would have thought I would have learned.  Can't wait to see what they choose for the next selections!

Much to "Wonder" about

One thing that is true about most middle schoolers is that at some point they are awkward.  There are those rare kids that are never awkward, that enter into middle school cute and leave beautiful.  But even those pass through a time of awkwardness... maybe not on the outside but most definitely on the inside.  There is some literature that is written for this age group seems to express this transition so well and when you read a book that touches your heart like this one, you want to tell the world.  We just finished a book that touched our hearts, Wonder by R.J. Palacio. My kids would say, you should read this book.  At the end of the book, Benji said, "I wish good books went on and on and never stopped."  I agree, it was hard to tell these characters goodbye, I even shed a tear or two or three.  I think its books like this that teach us compassion, empathy and beg us, as adults, to give our kids a vision, to share with them the hope for a future.

I really want to tell you everything about this book, but I can't, because you have to experience it for yourself.  You must jump in and laugh and cry and remember what it was to be in fifth grade, what it was to attempt the impossible task of trying to fit in.  But most of all you must meet Auggie, this young man that you will cheer for from beginning to end.  You will want to acquaint yourself to his mom and understand her hopes and dreams, her fears and worries.  You will love his friends and hate his friends and realize that at times the friendship you offer people has strings attached, your love is sometimes conditional.  I couldn't help asking myself, can a book like this help us to love others better, to understand their deepest needs and meet them better.  I don't know, but its worth a shot.

I must give a shout out to Ms. Palacio, way to hit it out of the park on your first book.  Thanks, for engaging our hearts and giving us much to talk about in our everyday life.