reviews

On the Face of Things Author: R. J. Palacio Did you ever wonder what it would be like to be different from everyone else?  Everyone wants to be unique, of course, especially in their formative years, yet no one wants to be so different as to really stand out in any negative way.  But what if you had no choice?  What if your face itself were so vastly different from those of your peers that you could never hide, never fit in, never be “normal”?  That’s the world in which August Pullman lives in the YA book Wonder. Auggie was [...]

Deeply Thoughtful... Author:  Jack Handey It’s been a couple decades, but TV fans of a certain age may still fondly recall a special comedian by the name of Jack Handey.   Although he never appeared on the show, for several years in the 1990s Handey’s Deep Thoughts were a frequent highlight on Saturday Night Live.  Erroneously assumed by many to be an SNL fabrication or pseudonym, the man has made a career out of his brief, bizarre, ironic and often hilarious commentary.  Although it may seem hard to believe, Handey has recently become a novelist with the publication of The Stench [...]

Born to Run, Flip or Smash? Author:  David Epstein Why is your favorite sports hero – be it Aaron Rogers, Gabby Douglas, Ronaldinho, Michael Phelps or Lance Armstrong – so successful?  Is he blessed with superior genes?  Does he simply work harder than everyone else?     Was she fortunate to have had the finest coaches?  Does he inject the best regimen of performance enhancing hormones and chemicals?  Or is it some combination of all of the above?  While it’s clear that there’s no simple answer, there are plenty of clever scientists who are trying to figure it out.  David Epstein, a [...]