"The Beak of the Finch: A Story of Evolution in Our Time" by Jonathan Weiner

Book Information:
Title: The Beak of the Finch: A Story of Evolution in Our Time

Author: Jonathan Weiner

Published: June 1995- Vintage Books

ISBN: 0-679-73337-X

Pages: 332 pages

Genre: Non-fiction - Science - Biology - Evolution

Rating: 5 of 5

Read In: 1 month

My Review:
A very complete and persuasive argument for evolution, Jonathan Weiner accompanies and interviews some of the most respected professionals in the fields of biology- evolutionists, ecologists, ornithologists, botanists, conservationists, geneticists, molecular biologists, and microbiologists, all showing how evolution is occurring, and in some cases physically observed, in their respective fields. Creationists beware, this book may change your mind. The author's primary focus lies with the finches Charles Darwin studied so intensively in the Galapagos Islands in the 1800s, and mirrors his findings and experiences with those of Peter and Rosemary Grant's first eleven years continuing his work, pointing out where his beliefs were wrong and following his hunches to discover habits and relationships they never would have thought to connect. Weiner accompanies the Grants several times throughout their trips to Daphne Major, as well as Genovesa, San Cristobal, and other volcanic islands that make up the Galapagos archipelago, getting a first-hand look at the evolution taking place, himself.

The author provides the facts and figures the finch-watchers collect, proof that these animals are physically changing over the generations to fit best into their particular niche on the island. Beak size or shape, body size, claw usage, they are all changing to get the most out of their environment, and as the environment changes, particularly when under flood or drought, the changes move into the direction that will best fit the new environment. He also clears up the line between what is simply an adaptation in a species, and what changes suggest a whole new species has been created.

Evolution is also shown through experimentation and observation of other birds, insects, bacterium, fish, flowering plants, and molecules from all around the world. The science of this is broken down so thoroughly that one does not need to be familiar with the subject before picking up this book, because everything is well-explained, and Weiner doesn't waste time getting off-topic to explain a theory or scientific process not necessary to understand why and how these changes happen.

Human evolution is also spotlighted, giving a brief history of how we have changed since branching off from the other primates. He also touches on the subject of human consciousness, why we seem to be the only creatures able to develop it, and whether it's possible for other conscious beings to live on another planet- a mystery forever plaguing the evolutionary community.

Well-deserving of its Pulitzer Prize, The Beak of the Finch is a fantastic read for anyone interested in biology or evolution theory. Well-organized, well-written, and stimulating enough not to bore the casual reader. I gave it five out of five stars and admire Jonathan Weiner as an author for traveling all over the world out of commitment to the study of his subject.

"Torn" by Amanda Hocking

Book Details:
Title: Torn (Trylle Trilogy #2)
Author: Amanda Hocking
Published: 2012 - St. Martin's Press
ISBN: 978-1-250-00632-5
Genre: Young Adult- Fantasy
Pages: 324 pages
Rating: 3 of 5
Read In: 5 days

My Review:
In Hocking's first Trylle novel Switched, I fell in love with Finn right along with Wendy (and just about every other female reader!). In this sequel, I became upset at Wendy, Finn, the author, everyone involved, for the events that transpired as I tore through the novel, waiting for the ultimate moment when Finn throws himself at the princess and finally demands they be together forever, no matter the cost! Sadly, I was greatly disappointed. As Finn repeatedly chooses duty over love and slowly fades into the background of Wendy's mind, he is replaced so quickly by the Vittra Markis Loki, and his request to marry her and run away together, completely freeing themselves of troll-kind. Actually, I noticed while reading that Wendy has an awkward relationship with every male character in her age range... She has orders to keep a distance between herself and Rhys after being caught asleep in his bedroom, she is frowned upon by many for her insistence in keeping Matt at the palace, she loves Finn but has to hide it and never be with him while he still works in the Palace, she's been caught kissing Loki, the mortal enemy, who later begs for her love and all the while still finds time to help Elora and Aurora plan her upcoming marriage to the homosexual Tove. I find it hard to sympathize with Wendy with all the romance drama and broken hearts she seems to create. Thankfully, other romances are uncovered and will shock every reader!

The plot follows Wendy on the road to becoming Queen of the Trylle and sheds some light on why the Vittra are so desperate to get their hands on her. I was not as impressed by this novel as I was with Switched and felt constantly conflicted about which male character she would gravitate to next. There is some much-needed development in Wendy's relationships with Elora, Willa, and Tove, as she accepts her responsibilities as the Princess and begins to grow into the role.

While the story line does progress a necessary amount for a trilogy, it lacked the rushes of excitement every reader craves and the passion one expects from a young adult novel. With one book left in the trilogy, Hocking can definitely still redeem herself in my eyes. I still look forward to Ascend, with high hopes and expectations. I gave it three out of five stars because while it was just okay in my eyes, I still absolutely love the series and characters, I just wish they'd make up their minds already!!!

"Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking-Glass" by Lewis Carroll

Book Details:
Title: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass
Author: Lewis Carroll
Published: 2010 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.
ISBN: 978-1-4391-6947-6
Genre: Classic - English - Children's Fantasy
Pages: 315 pages
Rating: 4 of 5
Read In: 10 days

My Review:
Originally written off as unintelligent nonsense, Carroll's "Alice" books have entertained generations of adults and children alike. Starring the young Alice, created based on the young Alice Liddell, a child Carroll met at a picnic in July of 1862, where he began to tell the little girl a story of her following a white rabbit down his rabbit hole and onto this remarkable adventure that he writes down and eventually publishes in 1865, as the insistence of the girl's family. Marketed as a children's book when it was first written, Carroll was able to mock every aspect of Victorian English society in the seemingly innocent dream sequences of a seven-year old girl. Renowned for its eccentric and colorful cast of characters and nonsense conversations, researchers and literary experts are still discovering potential meanings in Carroll's works, revealing the author's true opinions of the social and political world he was born into.

In the novels, the White Rabbit is believed to represent a petty bureaucrat, constantly concerned with his own image and schedule, with little to no concern for the problems of others. The author also uses well-known nursery rhyme characters, Humpty Dumpty for example, to emphasize and tap into the familiar childhood fantasy of all readers familiar with this rhyme. Another character-type he utilizes in this humorous hodge-podge is the brave, noble knight archetype. Putting his own bias into the character, he made him slow, clumsy, and barely able to stay on his horse- a bit of a blow to the idea of the flawless White Knight come to save the day. Among these are the universally well-know Cheshire Cat, "Mad" Hatter, the March Hare, and the outspoken Dormouse.

All in all, it's quite easy to see how the "Alice" books have become classics- the uniqueness and child-like humor camouflaging adult undertones of political and social opinions and mockery would have made a much bigger impact in the late-1800s had readers at the time saw past the silliness and into the heart of the work. Presently, upon further researching and extensive searches for deeper meanings, we can now appreciate Carroll as a respectable writer instead of as the creator of sheer nonsense to entertain the fantasies of children. I gave it four out of five stars.

"The Forest of Hands and Teeth" by Carrie Ryan

Book Details:
Title: The Forest of Hands and Teeth
Author: Carrie Ryan
Published: 2009- Random House, Inc.
ISBN: 978-0-385-73682-4
Genre: Young Adult- Horror
Pages: 310 pages
Rating: 3 of 5
Read In: 13 days


My Review:
The "young adult" label finds its way to the zombie craze in this book series. The Forest of Hands and Teeth is the story of Mary, a teenager displaced and orphaned in a world over run with Unconsecrated. After a sheltered life in a small, fenced-in village being told there is nothing left of the world but the forest and the undead, Mary is eager to find out if her mother's stories of the ocean are true. When the fences are breached and survival depends on escaping the village, Mary, her best friend Cass, the man she loves, Travis, her betrothed, Harry, her brother Jed and his wife, and Jacob, a young boy whose parents were turned by Unconsecrated sneak out through a fenced path and begin their adventure in the Forest. The secret arrival of a girl into the village has Mary convinced she and Travis can find the ocean and figure out how to live happily ever after, despite the death surrounding them seemingly everywhere they go.

As is a staple feature of young adult novels, there is great emphasis on the relationship between Mary and Travis. As the village rule-makers, the Sisterhood, decree, Mary is betrothed to the first guy of age who asks the Sisterhood to be married to her. Her very close friend Harry asks for her, despite her love for his brother Travis, who is betrothed to Cass. Once outside the village and no longer under the Sisterhood's rule, this makes for and interesting, awkward social dynamic, as Cass is openly in love with Harry.

Besides this being the first young adult novel I have seen taking place in a zombie-infested world, very little is unique in this novel from other of the genre. A brave young girl fighting some force much bigger than herself while struggling for the guy she loves. I have read this same scenario repeatedly, and while it does appeal to teens, it's beyond predictable and does get a little old. I gave this novel three of five stars. I did enjoy it, but felt it was nothing spectacular and will probably pass on the rest of the series.

"America's Endangered Wildlife" by George Laycock

Book Details:
Title: America's Endangered Wildlife
Author: George Laycock
Published: 1976- Grosset & Dunlap
ISBN: 0-448-26102-2
Pages: 226 pages
Genre: Non-fiction - Wildlife - Conservation - North America
Rating: 4 of 5
Read In: 4 days


My Review:
America's Endangered Wildlife is a comprehensive wealth of information about individual species disappearing right from our own back yards. The author delves deep into sixteen individual species especially threatened and gives tips for how they can be saved from the brink, and also summarizes the plight of almost a hundred total species. I found this to be an informative and interesting work, but having read it purely for leisure, I found it to be quite unmemorable. Just a day after finishing the book, I found myself combing the pages for inspiration in writing this review.

Laycock is an authority on American wildlife and conservation, having penned several books on the subject. This one in particular is a valuable resource for anyone interested in protecting these animals, most threatened solely by humans invading and destroying their natural habitats.

I gave this book four out of five stars for highlighting such a worthy cause and bringing the issue of threatened and endangered American animal species. I really hope this book finds its way into the hands of more and more people determined to help with this issue for generations to come.

"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" by Stieg Larsson

Book Details:
Title: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Author: Stieg Larsson
Published: 2009- Random House, Inc.
ISBN: 978-0-307-45454-6
Pages: 590 pages
Genre: Fiction- Mystery/Crime
Rating: 5 of 5
Read In: 8 days

My Review:
I always regret when an amazing piece of literature is in publication for years before the masses catch on. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a very successful crime novel hailing from Sweden, by author Stieg Larsson. It finally reached mass popularity in the United States upon the release of its movie adaptation. Suddenly, copies of the novel and its subsequent The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest started appearing in stores all over the country, and they were flying off the shelves.

"The Girl" these novels follow is Lisbeth Salander- the quiet, tattooed, and eccentric freelance investigator for a security company. She joins black-listed journalist Mikael Blomkvist on the job of a lifetime. Mikael is approached by the elderly Henrik Vanger, former-CEO of the Vanger Corporation, and patriarch of the Vanger family. After pleading guilty to a libel charge he did not commit and stepping down as publisher of his own Millennium magazine. Blomkvist is looking at financial ruin and the collapse of his magazine, so he reluctantly accepts the old man's request to relocate to his family's private island for a year and write a chronicle of Henrik, his family, and their lives as majority share holders of a successful multinational corporation. The one catch is that while collecting information for the biography, Blomkvist must also try to solve the 30+ years old disappearance of Henrik's niece Harriet from that very island.

As Mikael seems to be uncovering new clues and information, Henrik's personal lawyer hires Lisbeth Salander to aid Blomkvist in his extensive digging into the events of the day Harriet disappeared. Initially cold, quiet, and difficult to get through to, Mikael and Lisbeth begin to trust and respect each other for their skill in their chosen fields, forming a perfect team to pry into the lives of this rich and respected family and prove that everyone has skeletons needing to stay in the closet.

The character who seems the least to be changed by this year-long adventure is actually the character we see the most throughout the story. Salander remains very cold and distant, virtually uncaring, until well into her partnership with Blomkvist. Toward the end, we see her heart start to thaw a little and her true thoughts and she begins to allow herself to have emotions toward people, even if she never shows them. Having not yet read the next two books, I would believe this social acclimation place a central role throughout the series.

I found The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo to be a very brilliant crime novel with fascinating characters and a very unique crime to solve. I would definitely give it five out of five stars and highly recommend to everyone.

"'Salem's Lot" by Stephen King

Book Details:
Title: 'Salem's Lot: Illustrated Edition
Author: Stephen King
Published: 2005 by Random House, Inc. (originally published in 1975)
ISBN: 0-385-51648-7
Pages: 594 pages
Genre: Horror / Short Stories
Rating: 5 of 5
Read In: 14 days

My Review:
As a die-hard Stephen King fan, I am shocked it took me so long to finally read this, one of his most popular works. To add to the powerful impact the town of Jerusalem's Lot and its residents has on the reader, this special edition includes two short stories King penned about this notorious town, in addition to deleted scenes from the original manuscript. The final little extra included in this particular edition is a collection of black-and-white photos, depicting the mood and emotion King wants his readers to experience during the novel. Of course, nothing can do justice to the vividly horrifying scenes King's words paint in the readers' minds.

The story is set in the minuscule town of Jerusalem's Lot, Maine, an ancient village with more than it's share of secrets. Looming over 'the Lot', just outside of town, is the infamous Marsten House, an abandoned mansion with extreme superstitions surrounding it after centuries of mysterious occupants, homicide, and suicide. It is in this mansion that writer Ben Mears had the most terrifying experience of his childhood, and it is because of this house that he is back in 'Salem's Lot, determined to end the nightmares his visit to Marsten House cause him. Shortly after Ben moves into the local boardinghouse to write his next book, two mysterious men also arrive in town- and they've bought the evil house on the hill. Little is known about Straker and his companion Barlow, and town gossip fills in all the unknowns about the men and their business in 'Salem's Lot. Their arrivals signal the end of the peace in this sleepy town, and the beginning of unexplained deaths and disappearances after the sun goes down. Befriending high school teacher Matt Burke and the young Susan Norton, Ben works to discover the cause of the deaths. Later joined by Dr. Jimmy Cody, the orphaned Mark Petrie, and local priest Father Callahan, the group fights for the good to foil Barlow's plan to create an Undead following of the townspeople. It's a fight of good versus evil, mortality versus the ancient wisdom of the immortals, in a village virtually unknown to the rest of the world.

The short stories included are "Jerusalem's Lot" and "One For the Road." "Jerusalem's Lot" is a collection of letters and journal entries written by two men residing in Marsten House long before the time in which the novel occurs and gives much back story to the evil that looms over the house and nearby town, which lays deserted for reasons unknown. It shows a man's gradual descent into madness at the hands of the supernatural evil inhabiting the town's church, and his companion's horror at the change. "One For the Road" is a more modern tale of the Lot, told shortly after the novel takes place, when the city is once again abandoned, save for the evil undead that stalk in the night. The addition of a past and a future beyond human lifetimes solidifies the immortality of the vampiric force constantly feeding on the life around Marsten House.

Stephen King's vampires are those straight out of Bram Stoker's classic Dracula. They're the vampires who originally haunted the pages of literature at the dawn of the horror genre. They fear holy artifacts, burn in the sunlight, can not enter a home uninvited, and can only be destroyed by a stake to the heart. These evil beings, coupled with the darkness that already looms over the town in Marsten House creates the perfect horror story scene in a very modern world, as if it could actually have happened last week.

It is very easy to see why 'Salem's Lot was such an instant success back in 1975. The heavy darkness that fills every page is exactly what horror fans crave and why Mr. King is the authority in the modern horror genre. An easy five out of five stars.