Book 87: The Time Machine: An Invention

I just finished this book this morning in the hallway outside of the lecture hall. It was a mistake. I don't know about you but I get very emotional about my books and I'm sure my great heartbreak was written all over my face this morning when I was reading the last 20 pages.

I know some of you may think that this is outside my normal path of books and in all honesty it probably is but there are good reasons behind me picking it up. On Monday we had a research paper assigned in FYP and I decided I wanted to write on Schopenhauer and time. When I got home I told my dad and he told me that the model of time that I had just described sounded a lot like the model of time that Wells describes in chapter one and that I should read the book. Because I trust my father's judgement so much I went out and bought it that night and read the first chapter and thought it was brilliant. When my dad got home from jam I told him that I bought it and found out that he had only read the first chapter when recommending the book to me. Funny.

Anyways, I have no regrets on spending money that I should be saving on this wonderful piece of literature. Although I found the ending heart wrenching and I had the most misfortune of reading it in public I adore this book. Because I adore it so much on the first read I am giving it 10 matches out of 10.  It's a really good book.

Book 86: Death in Venice

I'm currently attempting to write an essay on this book (I wrote this review on Friday) so my opinion of it is quite bad at the moment.

I enjoyed the story. It was a good book. I have writers block.

I give this book 8 out of 10. It is very passive. It was also only 3 dollars. Good times.

I've been told that this is the best/most accurate edition/translation.

Book 85: More Money Than Brains: Why School Sucks, College is Crap & Idiots Think They're Right

Laura Penny is one of the profs for foundation year and that was one of my motivations behind buying and reading this book. She has written two books so far and I thought that More Money Than Brains was more applicable to my life than Your call is Important To Us: The Truth About Bullshit.

I really enjoyed reading her book. I found that a lot of the comments that she made on politics, the way our school system works, societies attitude to people who are smart, and the way my fellow students act were all very accurate to my world experiences.

Most books that I read, I read the reviews for on Goodreads until I can't take it anymore. More Money than Brain reviews, like many others, were, for the most part, similar to mine but there is a staggering amount of negative reviews as well. I found that those people who didn't like her book mostly didn't like it because they either didn't like what she was saying, didn't agree with what she was saying, or didn't see what she was saying happening in our society. Like the other books that I've read reviews for on Goodreads I found all of these to be very unfair towards the book. Dr. Penny speaks at length about the anti-intellectual culture we're brewing and although people may not like her writing style I believe that giving up on such a wonderful social commentary halfway through the second chapter may help to prove her point.

I give this book an 8 out of 10. It truly is a fantastic read but it's not for everyone. It has come to my attention recently that people only want to see the world in their own way and when something threatens this view they want to throw it away and never look at it again. Dr. Penny is abrasive and very forward about her opinions. I do recommend this book for everyone because I believe that it is talking about some very serious issues but if you do choose to read it keep in mind that even if you do not agree with all of her ideas they're all important and that shouldn't be a reason to stop reading.

Book 84: Quidditch Through the Ages

I wasn't as thrilled with this book. After reading Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them I expected more funny bits instead of just serious facts about this history of Quidditch and flying.

In this book there was no commentary from any of the characters and the only slightly humorous part was at the beginning when in Professor Dumbledore's open remarks he told about Madam Pince's reservations about giving him the book and her description of how often the book was read.

Although I was disappointed by the book it was still an enjoyable read. I give it 7 out of 10. It's not as good as Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them but I would still recommend it to any Harry Potter fan.

Book 83: Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find them

I read this book quite a while ago and I guess that I missed doing the review. This week is a super catch up week.

When I read this I expected it to be a little more funny with more of the running commentaries from Ron, Harry and Hermione. That being said, it was still a very informative book.

I enjoyed learning more about the creatures that Rowling uses in her books and the whole controversy over thinking beings (I know that's not the right terminology but it's been a while since I've read it so please bare with me).

Because of this I give this book 8 our of 10. I defiantly recommend it to any Harry Potter fan.

Book 82: The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure

I don't have words for how wonderful this book is. I can't even begin to comprehend my love for it.

When I was younger I came out of my room on an average Saturday afternoon (this was before I lived in the basement) and my Dad was watching The Princess Bride. It was the part where Fezzik was climbing the cliffs of Insanity with Inigo, Buttercup and Vizzini on his back and the man in black's ship was just pulling up. Instantly captivated by the promise of sword fights and high adventures that my father made I sat down and watched it with him. Instant love.

Two months later when we had finished eating my dad told me to go look on the cd shelf and look to see if there's something there that I liked. Obviously I was very confused and spent about 5 minutes looking at the shelf bewildered. Then he told me and I found The Princess Bride on dvd. We watched it.

To this day I still watch it whenever it comes on tv and when I'm feeling under the weather because it never fails to cheer me up.

Grade 8 was the first time I read the book. Looking back on it I don't know if I really read that much of it but at the time I classified it as finished and was beyond happy that the movie to book translation was nearly perfect. This time was even better.

William Goldman's commentary is hilarious and very informative and all the character are so wonderful. I give this book 10 cough drops out of 10. I will read this book to my children and my children's children. I will always love this book. It will always be one of my favourites.