Deb Nance

Can a reader say I liked The Castle? Loved it? If one does, what does that say about the reader?

I think all would agree that The Castle has one of the oddest plots ever written. A man comes to a castle, wants to work there, and has to find ways to get the attention of the people in the castle. He never does much of anything in the story except try to gain entry to the castle and he never successfully does that.

It's the feeling of the book that is so close to the bone; it's a story of the feelings of modern life. Kafka captures the anxiety and the dread and the confusion and the anomie of day-to-day life in the world, and he does it in a way that makes the reader feel all the anxiety and the dread and the confusion and the anomie.

It's brilliant and terrifying. I'm glad I read it. I'm glad I'm done with it.

I finally got around to reading the first five books of the Magic Tree House series, and I have to say that these are perfect for my early chapter book readers. We've got a boy and a girl main character...check. We've got adventure and action...check. We've got readable text...check. What more could I ask for?

There are givers. There are takers.

Who loses? Who wins?

As you might suspect, the givers lose.
But here's a surprise: the givers also win.

Lots and lots here for those who own companies or manage people or just want to know more about human nature.

“You don't know about me, without you have read a book by the name of ‘The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,' but that ain't no matter. That book was made by Mr. Mark Twain, and he told the truth, mainly. There was things which he stretched, but mainly he told the truth.”

And that's the start of our introduction to one of life's most charming main characters, Huck Finn. Huck fakes his own death to escape his abusive dad, and goes through a series of wonderful adventures, meeting oodles of scary characters along the way.

Jamie Zeppa is at loose ends. Almost impulsively, she decides to move to Bhutan and teach.

She almost as quickly regrets her decision. No convenience foods here. Minimal toilet facilities. Great poverty. Friends are all far, far away.

Zeppa wants to go home to Canada.

But she doesn't. And, as time goes on, she gradually comes to regard Bhutan as her home. Its simplicities delight her. The kindnesses of Bhutan's people overwhelm her. And she loves her new life.

A very satisfying moving-and-starting-over tale.