Monday!

Monday Recommendation List

Random list of 10 books Monday! I have read and enjoyed each of these enough to flag for a potential personal library purchase.

Be bold and just choose randomly, stick to your normal genre...or step outside of your normal reading zone and try something you usually wouldn’t. You can look up the descriptions at Amazon.com, or search my blog for old posts by entering the title in the little search box in the top left-hand corner and clicking the magnifying glass.

This week-- 10 recommendations (in no particular order):

1. The New York Times Guide to Essential Knowledge by John Leonard
2. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
3. Sail by James Patterson
4. Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls
5. The Informant by James Grippando
6. Genesis by Bernard Beckett
7. Columbine by Dave Cullen
8. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
9. Just One of the Guys by Kristan Higgins
10. In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson

Monday Recommendation List

Monday Recommendation List

Random list of 10 books Monday! I have read and enjoyed each of these enough to flag for a potential personal library purchase.

Be bold and just choose randomly, stick to your normal genre...or step outside of your normal reading zone and try something you usually wouldn’t. You can look up the descriptions at Amazon.com, or search my blog for old posts by entering the title in the little search box in the top left-hand corner and clicking the magnifying glass.

This week-- 10 recommendations (in no particular order):

1. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
2. Spirited by Rebecca Rosen
3. The Book of Joe by Jonathan Tropper
4. Genesis  by Bernard Beckett
5. Say You’re One of Them  by Uwem Akpan
6. Twilight by Stephanie Meyer
7. Raising Freethinkers by Dale McGowan
8. Freakanomics by Steven Levitt
9. A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
10. Schindler’s List  by Thomas Keneally

Monday Recommendations

Monday Recommendation List

Random list of 10 books Monday! I have read and enjoyed each of these enough to flag for a potential personal library purchase.

Be bold and just choose randomly, stick to your normal genre...or step outside of your normal reading zone and try something you usually wouldn’t. You can look up the descriptions at Amazon.com, or search my blog for old posts by entering the title in the little search box in the top left-hand corner and clicking the magnifying glass.

This weeks 10 recommendations (in no particular order):

1. Passionate about history?: Voices: A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn
2. Sweet Romance: What I Did For Love by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
3. Creepy Classics: The Complete Poems and Stories of Edgar Allan Poe
4. Scary!: The Hot Zone by Richard Preston
5. Thought Provoking: On Beauty by Zadie Smith
6. Hilarious: Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang by Chelsea Handler
7. Unique: Stitches by David Small
8. Dystopian: Genesis by Bernard Beckett
9. True Crime: Columbine by Dave Cullen
10. Suspense: Look Again by Lisa Scottoline

Genesis

Genesis by Bernard Beckett

Description from Amazon:

“What does it mean to be human?” The answer lies within the mystery of Genesis. Set in a postapocalyptic future, the novel takes the form of an examination undergone by young Anaximander as she prepares to enter an enigmatic institution known simply as The Academy. For her subject she has chosen the life of the philosopher-soldier Adam Forde, her long-dead hero. It is through Anax’s presentation and her answers to persistent questioning by her examiners that we learn the history of her island Republic, along with the rules and beliefs of their society. At the completion of the examination, when everything has been laid bare, Anax must confront the Republic’s last great secret, her own surprising link to Adam Forde, and the horrifying truth about her world. Like the great writers Isaac Asimov and Philip K. Dick, Bernard Beckett explores the relationship between humans and technology in a brilliantly rendered novel that will keep readers guessing until the final page."

 

What I thought:

While I am usually not enthralled by either YA novels, or futuristic ones, "Genesis" was superb. Beckett's style moves quickly, hooking the reader from beginning to end. This is a short read, one I finished in one sitting. I found the prose to be rare in it's originality and descriptiveness. The philosophic nature of this book is what kept me intrigued. Beckett inserts thought provoking issues about the nature of the world and humans. I don't want to give away too much, but this is a book I would recommend to almost any reader.