I enjoyed the artwork and narrative style of this story. The blend of Classic European and Asian fairy-tale narratives mixed into the story of Tein, aI enjoyed the artwork and narrative style of this story. The blend of Classic European and Asian fairy-tale narratives mixed into the story of Tein, a 14-year old Vietnamese American boy who is struggling to find the words to come out to his mum. At the same time Tien is dealing with his sexuality and being different to his friends due to being a first generation new American - bridging the old world and the new and the gaps between his parents' views and his own are the fairy-tales he reads with his mum to help them both improve their English. I loved the clarity of the artwork and the two different colours used to differentiate between the fairy-tales and the main story....more
Melbourne in early 2020, there is talk of a virus on the news but Grace and Crux don't really think it's going to impact them. Grace is the youngest dMelbourne in early 2020, there is talk of a virus on the news but Grace and Crux don't really think it's going to impact them. Grace is the youngest daughter in a family of high achievers. She is in year 10, loves to play her violin and dreams of being a professional like her grandmother. Her parents are happy to pay for lessons. but are certain that music is not a paying career. Grace's mother already has plans for all of her daughters and academics and university are the only path she will encourage. Crux wants to be a street artist. Not some loser tagging and destroying property, but a proper artist spraying art and working commissions. His dad supports him completely but has one rule: no spraying on the streets until he is 18. Until then the garage wall and canvases will have to do. When a video of Grace playing the violin goes viral Crux is inspired, and when a street artist friend invites him to contribute to a commissioned piece Crux knows exactly who he is going to paint.
As the pandemic rolls over Victoria and lives are disrupted the new pressures on Grace, Crux, and their families bring old tensions to a head. This is a story about coming of age, following your dreams, and of a moment in time: A pandemic, lock-downs and negotiating a new reality. I absolutely loved this book and finished it in a single day and will be strongly recommending it for YA readers 12+. This is an absolute gem!...more
You may be familiar with Celeste's art or her Instagram handle Filthyratbag, but even if you are not her new book "What The Fuck Is This" is sure to You may be familiar with Celeste's art or her Instagram handle Filthyratbag, but even if you are not her new book "What The Fuck Is This" is sure to catch your eye! Bold colours and emotive illustrations bring this exploration of coming of age, sex, trauma, addiction and feminism to life.
From being a teen acting older than she was, to dealing with the world at large, there are moments in this work that will hit a nerve for a lot of young women.
This is not for younger readers but highly recommended to 15+. Fans of Rupi Kaur or Clementine Ford will love this one!...more
I can see why this has become a bit of a coming of age classic. The clueless Adrian Mole has a busy year - parental strife, first love, and various diI can see why this has become a bit of a coming of age classic. The clueless Adrian Mole has a busy year - parental strife, first love, and various disasters - all recorded in his diary along with his ambition to be an "intellectual". Most of the humour derives from Adrian's total inability to see what is directly in front of his face - not unlike many teenagers I know in real life. Stephan Mangan voices this audio edition perfectly. ...more
This has been on my radar for ages and I finally got around to it. Art-wise it is decent, but basic with only black and white illustrations, however tThis has been on my radar for ages and I finally got around to it. Art-wise it is decent, but basic with only black and white illustrations, however the artwork is clear and I found it easy to differentiate between characters (I sometimes struggle with telling different people apart in some graphic novels and that results in confusion with the story - this might just be my issue?). What was a standout for me is the history of Iran. The highly personal view of a child living through a giant sociological upheaval makes this very interesting and gives an outsider like myself a simplified view that really does show the everyday ramifications of living in Iran at the time. I will definitely be reading the second half of Satrapi's story and highly recommend for teen readers wanting to know a bit of world history. As an adult I would have loved more depth but this is a great starting point and highly readable....more
Another great graphic novel from Telgemeier. Mental heath, anxiety, phobias, disordered eating, therapy, friendships, puberty all come together in thiAnother great graphic novel from Telgemeier. Mental heath, anxiety, phobias, disordered eating, therapy, friendships, puberty all come together in this highly readable story based on Telgemeier's experiences in her early teens. What starts out as a little stomach bug spirals out of Riana's control as her anxiety starts to control her behaviour at home and in school. Guts manages to be funny and completely relatable - even if you aren't having as many worries as Raina was. Normalising worries, tummy issues, and therapy is always a good idea and this book is perfect for opening those discussions with 8 -12 year olds. ...more
In the tradition of "Looking for Alibrandi" this new YA novel is about first loves, best friends and working out who you want to be. Set in that uncerIn the tradition of "Looking for Alibrandi" this new YA novel is about first loves, best friends and working out who you want to be. Set in that uncertain time between finishing year 12 exams and getting Uni offers, Natalie is expecting one last summer of hanging with her best friends Zach and Lucy, and chilling at home with her parents - right up until they drop a bombshell on her: they are getting divorced.
18- year old Natalie struggles with self-confidence, she has always been shy and severe cycstic acne for years as a teenager didn't help her self esteem. With the anouncement of her parent's split her foundations are rocked. Suddenly, Natalie has to confront the realisation that her parents seemingly happy marriage is over and what that means in her expectations of relationships. Zach and Lucy have started dating and while Lucy loves them she doesn't want to be a continual third-wheel. Then Alex, Zach's brother, is suddenly interested in her - older and cooler what can he see in Natalie? And what is going on with his ex?
Natalie knew things would change after high school she just isn't quite ready for it to be this dramatic.
Natalie and her friends capture that uncomfortable feeling of expectation meeting reality and teenage social awkwardness. There is no schedule for working out who you are, what your comfortable with, and how life can throw some really random things at you - both good and bad.
This is a great, funny, Australian coming-of-age story about learning to love yourself while dealing with the ups and downs that are a fact of teenageThis is a great, funny, Australian coming-of-age story about learning to love yourself while dealing with the ups and downs that are a fact of teenage life. Masie has long since given up on matching up to her "perfect" big sister - let alone entering the summer padgent held every year in the coastal town where Masie and her family holiday but things are going to change wether Masie is ready or not...
Maisie Martin is a bit annoyed at having to keep a "discovery" journal in her last ever school holidays but as the summer progresses her Discovery Journal becomes a way for Masie to sort through the changes happening in her life - her best friend is becoming a stranger, the boy she has crushed on for ages likes her best friend, The boy who annoys the heck out of her is suddenly looking pretty cute and there's a chance she might be learning to like herself...even though she isn't the dress size she wishes she was. This story is about much more than body-positivity: teen relationships, friendships, and family are important topics and Jenna Guillaume's years of writing for teen magazines shows she is very much in touch with issues teen girls face. ...more
A wonderful story of hope, perseverance and love suitable for 10+ children and adults. Michaela's early life was marred by death, violence and abuse, A wonderful story of hope, perseverance and love suitable for 10+ children and adults. Michaela's early life was marred by death, violence and abuse, but now a talented ballerina, making her mark on the professional international stage, she is sharing her story.
Micheala was born in the 1990's to loving but poor parents in Sierra Leone. Her father worked long, hard hours in a diamond mine and both her parents wanted their only child to have an education - in spite of the fact she was a girl and had a skin condition called vitiligo (areas of skin lose pigment creating white spots - a harmless condition that can cause superstition and shunning in Africa and elsewhere). Sierra Leone in the 90's was a place overrun with violence and it soon came to Micheala's village. Every man in the mine was shot, causing Michaela and her mother to move into her uncle's house. Only men deserve respect in her uncle's eyes and both Michaela and her mother were beaten and starved. Eventually the treatment resulted in her mother's death and at the tender age of 4 Michaela was dumped at an orphanage by her uncle. Treated little better there than at her uncle's house at least for the first time Michaela had friends and the promise that an American family wanted to adopt them. One day a magazine was blown against the orphanage fence - it had a picture of a dancer, tall, elegant and standing en pointe - not that Michaela knew what en pointe was or even the word "ballet" but she wanted to be that girl more than anything.
It was not long before fighting reached the orphanage and, after Michaela witnessed the brutal murder of their teacher, the orphans and their guardians were turned out of their building, allowed only to take their personal documents. They walked all the way to the border, passing village after village that had been massacred. Finally getting to Ghana, adoptions were arranged and Michaela and her best friend Mia were adopted together by their new American family and began a new life at the age of 5.
It was fortunate for Michaela and Mia that their new parents were both kind and experienced. They had already raised 5 boys - two of whom had passed away due to being born with hemophilia and contracting AIDS via blood transfusions - and would go on to adopt 4 more girls after Michaela and Mia. Understandably, Mia and Michaela were extremely traumatised as well as having to learn a whole new way of life. They learned form their new family, started school, and soon they started dance lessons.
Michaela's early life was brutal and traumatising, but the love her birth parents had for her was never forgotten, and the care and dedication of her adoptive parents to ALL of their children made Michaela's dreams possible. Michaela's own dedication, hard work, and passion for ballet have taken her far but she wrote this book along with Elaine, her adoptive mother, to be an inspiration to all girls to pursue their dreams.
I didn't hate this, but I also didn't love it. There was a lot more humour in it than I was expecting - most of that came through as word play in the I didn't hate this, but I also didn't love it. There was a lot more humour in it than I was expecting - most of that came through as word play in the narration which might be why I have felt the movie / television adaptions I have caught bits of over the years (I've never managed to sit through the whole thing at a go) seemed to be pretty bleak and dramatic - neither of which incline me to pay attention. I think Dickens loses a lot when taken off the page.
I have to admit the first half of this book was not so much a struggle to read, but a struggle to get enthused about. I just didn't want to pick it up - once I did the reading was fine. The second half as the narrative picks up pace was much more intriguing.
The thing that bothers me most about this story (and many others of the era) is the number of coincidences between the characters; CAUTION Spoilers Ahead
Jaggers isn't just the lawyer who distributes the trust, he the one who places Estella, defended both Magwich and her mother (separately) and is Havisham's Lawyer. It's like he's the only lawyer in all of London. The one that doesn't fit is him being Havisham's lawyer - why would a gently-raised woman from the country have a criminal defence lawyer to see to her affairs? Maybe lawyers were less specialised then, but still I can't see anyone of any consequence associating with someone who had a rep for defending convicts at the old bailey. Magwich isn't just the prisoner who demands Pip's help, but later his benefactor (OK, so that is related) but also Estella's father, AND sometime companion / partner to the man who swindled Havisham. It's like there was a tax on characters so every author had to make every character do double or triple duty.
Essentially this is a coming-of-age story. We watch Pip go from young, carefree child, to snobbish and entitled young man, to an adult with knowledge of his own weaknesses, faults, and responsibilities. Along the way we get to know various colourful characters (my favourites were Joe and Wemmick) and descriptions of life in London. I have to admit I liked Pip a lot better at the end of the book than I did in the middle. ...more
URK. After reading this one it amazes me that this book continues to sell the way it does. I admit this is yet another challenge book that was just noURK. After reading this one it amazes me that this book continues to sell the way it does. I admit this is yet another challenge book that was just not my thing at all! The overall message isn't bad: be true to yourself, don't let life stop you from discovering your destiny, god (what ever sort you choose to believe in) want you to succeed. The book has both Christian and Muslim characters and all are treated with respect so that's good but overall I just don't give a crap about any religion so.... It reads like a fable, with a whole heap of preachiness thrown in, some new age self-realisation, and some really long-winded christian moralising and all that jazz. If you are a believer than you'll probably love it. If you are not you will be bored out of your brain. The story itself is simple to the point of childishness but technically well told. I have read some of Coelho's other work and I found those very readable and interesting so I feel it is the constant in your face with both fatalism and god are what really put me off this one. That and the story, for all it isn't even 200 pages, moves a quite a slow pace - action is glossed over while the character's internal debates go on and on and on... At the core of the story is a shepherd named Santiago, who decides to persue a dream (literaly something he dreamed about while asleep) and attempt to find treasure near the pyramids of Egypt. To do so he has to sell his sheep and travel to Africa and then across it. Along the way he meets various "mystic" archetypes who each tell him that he needs to persue his "personal legend", learn to listen to "the language of the world" and if he doesn't he will never be completely happy - because anyone who gives up on their personal legend is at heart utterly miserable even if they are rich / successful / happily married on the outside. There are bits of this that read like Rhonda Bryne's "The Secret" - Santiago is constantly told that as long as he is living his "personal legend" the world will conspire to make things happen so he can achieve it. Of course, this only applies if you are a man apparently - the only female character, Fatima, Santiago's love interest, apparently achieves her personal legend when she meets Santiago (because that as high as any woman could possibly aspire??). Even elements have more interesting legends - lead wants to turn into gold - poor Fatima.
I found this book trite, preachy, sexist and just plain boring - if you are into spiritualism then it might appeal but frankly I'm certain that there are much better books out there. ...more
This is the second book Felice Arena has done in a more historical bend away his usual sports focused stories and I like it. Frederic is the 12 year oThis is the second book Felice Arena has done in a more historical bend away his usual sports focused stories and I like it. Frederic is the 12 year old son of working class parents living in Paris in 1910. His father dreams of Frederic having a career as a boxer, but Frederic's heart isn't in it. When his father's job as a museum guard leads him to tragedy, Frederic has to finish school and find a job in order help his mother pay the bills. Working with horses is great but when the river starts to rise Frederic is going to need his boxing skills, his brains and all the things he has learnt in his 12 years in order to keep himself and his new friends safe. Along the way Frederic learns that relying on yourself is fine but being able to rely on your friends takes more bravery and reaps even bigger rewards. This is a little book (just on 150 pages) but manages to pack in a fast paced story, a few history lessons, some French phrases, and still manages to have characters kids will relate to easily. I highly recommend for ages 8+ how like adventure, action, mystery and history. It would also make a great classroom reader....more
This is a funny and sweet book about friends, being funny, and dealing with your mum having cancer best for 9-15 age group.
Philip wants to be a comediThis is a funny and sweet book about friends, being funny, and dealing with your mum having cancer best for 9-15 age group.
Philip wants to be a comedian but lately things are just going wrong - his mum even cried when he told her a joke! His unrequited love is suddenly friendly with his bully, his English teacher thinks he is a poet (and wants to see his poems!), his best friend is acting strangely, and his hero, comic Harry Hill, hasn't answered a single one of his letters! But when things are looking their bleakest everyone knows laughter is the best medicine and that means it is Philip's time to shine.
I have to admit I did snort-laugh a couple of times reading this one and I got a tiny bit teary too. Hamill manages to strike the perfect balance between emotional depth and humor, making this a very funny book about a very serious topic - Philip's mum has breast cancer.
This is a book I'm going to be recommending for schools (both Primary and Secondary) because not only is it about a topic that may well effect kids, or give them insight into what other kids are going through if a family member has cancer, but it is also a fun and heartwarming read. ...more
Book 10 of 50 in my 2018 reading challenge and this is the second one I have done with book club. It certainly made for an interesting discussion as sBook 10 of 50 in my 2018 reading challenge and this is the second one I have done with book club. It certainly made for an interesting discussion as some readers found the graphic sex a bit of a challenge (not necessarily the guy on guy action but the very physical descriptions) I have to admit there was way more than I was expecting - but then the person who recommended it to me called it "a lovely romance". Having read it this is not the description I'd use. Romance? Kinda... Romantic? No. It's too graphic for that. Conigrave's work is almost brutalist in it's plainness but I found I respected him for it. And Lovely isn't really a word I'd apply at all - More like a Shakespearean tragedy!
This book was a landmark in publishing in 1995 and it is still very relevant today. Conigrave's story of growing up gay in 1970's-80's Melbourne and Sydney (Australia), social change, HIV/AIDS still has so many relevant points - sexual education, gay rights, social acceptance and awareness of STDs and HIV in particular. It is a book I feel everyone should read - particularly teens - for all of the above reasons but also because HIV has slipped from the public consciousness over the last few years as people forget what a devastating disease it is. Conigrave does not pull any punches with the many medical interventions both he and John go through. The other reason I feel it should be read is Tim's honesty about awkward teen sex and sexuality. Whether gay or straight everyone can relate to that.
Tim himself doesn't always come across as a great person - he cheats on John a lot - and seems to be a bit of a jerk. I sometimes had to remind myself that he wrote it, as he is so harsh. But then again he wrote this between John's death and his own - maybe it was in some ways an act of confession. Or maybe, knowing he had nothing left to lose he didn't feel obligated to 'make nice'. Apparently the manuscript was completed 10 days before he died.
Some of the (very 80's Aussie) slang used might confuse non-Australian readers (or younger readers). Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go perve on some spunks down by the tuck shop....more
Young Hugo is an orphan taken in by his uncle, a drunk and a clock repairer at a big train station in central Paris. When his uncle disappears Hugo coYoung Hugo is an orphan taken in by his uncle, a drunk and a clock repairer at a big train station in central Paris. When his uncle disappears Hugo continues to take care of the clocks and hopes that no-one realises that his uncle is gone. Missing his father, and terribly lonely, Hugo discovers and repairs and old automaton - a clockwork man - that his father had been working on when he was killed. Hugo steals the parts he needs from a toy shop in the station, until the day the toy-maker catches him and takes his father's note book. Suddenly life gets a lot more complicated for Hugo as he makes new friends, solves an old mystery and finally gets the Automaton working.
Hugo is a chunky book with more than 500 pages and weighing in at over a kilogram. It would be a brilliant one to get young readers (9+) over a reluctance to read large books, because in spite of it's size, it is extremely easy to read. Some chapters are almost entirely illustrated while others are almost entirely print. It is also great to read an illustrated Young Adult book that isn't in the comic book / graphic novel style format.
This year I'm really enjoying discovering books that are 'told' differently - in this case part of the narrative is told entirely through the illustrations and that is what makes this book magic. It is an indication of the quality of the imagery that the book won the 2008 Caldecott Medal, the first novel to do so, as the Caldecott Medal is for picture story books. The gray-scale illustrations give the story a sense of time and place that the narrative alone does not. The imagery lifted from early films add a touch of eeriness without being creepy. I learned a lot about early film making and the life of the book's primary inspiration; turn-of-the-century French pioneer filmmaker Georges Méliès reading Hugo cabret. At the end of his life, Méliès was destitute, and he sold toys from a booth in a Paris railway station, which provides the setting of the story. While Hugo and the events in the story are fictional, the films mentioned are all real, as are their creators.
The mysteries that surround Hugo pull you into the story until you cannot wait to see where it goes and I can only recommend this book for both kids and adults alike. I am very happy it ended up on my reading challenge for 2018. ...more
I was intrigued by the format of this unusual biography - it is not often that a personal memoir aimed at an adult audience is made as a graphic novelI was intrigued by the format of this unusual biography - it is not often that a personal memoir aimed at an adult audience is made as a graphic novel (not just made into one but conceived and written as a graphic novel from the outset). Bechdel's drawings are stark black and white, but filled with so much detail colour becomes unnecessary.
Bechdel's father died when she was in college, just a few months after Bechdel had come out to her parents as lesbian, and shortly after her mother had revealed that her father had multiple affairs with men throughout their marriage. Looking back on her childhood Bechdel seeks answers to her father's life, death and their strained relationship.
This is a fast book to read but I feel more was packed in than I was expecting: childhood memories move seamlessly into adult life as Bechdel describes the good and bad of her life. Helping with the restoration of the family home or helping out in the family's funeral home (the Fun Home of the title) was all overshadowed by her father's occasionally explosive personality. Looking back, Beshdel can see the parallels between her father's repressed sexuality and her own - he strove for the feminine while she wanted to be masculine. He was obsessive about furnishings and architecture while Bechdel herself developed OCD. Their shared love of literature, music and theatre gave them moments of closeness. Reconciling the man she knew and the person she discovered him to have been made her analyse her own life and personality.
A fascinating read and very different sort of memoir....more
Book 4 of my 2018 reading challenge this one was suggested to me by a regular customer at the store. It turns out I wrongly placed it on my list (not Book 4 of my 2018 reading challenge this one was suggested to me by a regular customer at the store. It turns out I wrongly placed it on my list (not that it really matters) as contemporary fiction, it should have been listed as Young Adult: I'd suggest an age range of 9+ for kids that like Goosebumps / Five Nights at Freddy's or similar. Several times while reading it reminded me of Terry Pratchett's Johnny Maxwell series, particularly Johnny and the dead, which I loved as a kid (I admit it has been at least 20 years since I've read them though so I might just be jumping to that conclusion from the graveyard setting). Typical of Gaiman this is just the right blend of horror, intriguing characters, action and humour.
An entire family is murdered, well almost... A little boy toddles away and ends up at a graveyard, disturbing the ghosts there. Now usually ghosts don't interfere with matters of the living but when the ghosts of the boy's parents beg the other ghosts to keep him safe from the man who murdered them, a man who was, even now, climbing the fence, well, what could they do? So the little boy became Nobody Owens (he looks like nobody but himself), adopted by Mister and Mistress Owens who had always wanted a child, and granted the Freedom of the Graveyard. Between the numerous ghosts and his more corporeal guardian Silas, who was not dead but not alive either, Bod grows and is educated in all the things that matter; letters, history, fading, ghoul gates, the hounds of God, you know, the usual. But little boys grow up and if Bod is every to live beyond the wall of the graveyard the men who killed his family have to be stopped: Every man Jack of them.
In spite of the murderous beginnings this book is never gory or overly horrifying - its one I will happily recommend to young readers - if they have read Harry Potter or Ranger's Apprentice they would be well able to handle it. Ultimately this is a coming -of-age story. Bod learns and grows in the safety of the graveyard but there comes a time when he has to fight for his life and freedom. As any child does he has miss-steps along the way but he has a whole graveyard full of unique people who want to help, all he has to do is ask. There are lots of layers to the themes of this book which I don't intend to get into here (I'm sure others can do it better) but the overall message is that life is short and precious and you should live it to the fullest while you can. ...more
UGH! so glad i'm through this one. It's not that it was a horrible concept or badly written, it was just WAAAYYY too slow to get moving (most of the aUGH! so glad i'm through this one. It's not that it was a horrible concept or badly written, it was just WAAAYYY too slow to get moving (most of the action is in the last 50 pages) and by 3/4 of the way through I wanted to slap the main character for terminal stupidity - there are so many things wrong in this kingdom and she's just trotting around with her head up her arse. Part of the problem is the pacing of the plot - we get an almost day by day account of Camellia's life and it feels like we have experienced months rather than the few days / weeks that it actually has been - so to the reader it feels like she it TAKING FOREVER to realised that something is rotten in Denmark, while in the book's timeline she goes against everything she has been taught in a matter of a few months - not actually bad for a 16 year old character. On the plus side there is a strong female lead who is a person of colour. There are great talking points over the idea of "beauty" and how far one should go to get it. The world Clayton has created is complex and well worth visiting. I like the ideas here and they are ones I think will resonate with a teen audience but I don't recommend for more mature readers. The plot points are massively predictable and the character development dull. If you have read more than 3 YA series in the last couple of years you will know what I mean. Maybe I'm jaded. I'm reading an awful lot of YA at the moment and I am getting increasingly frustrated by the predictableness of it all.... ...more
Kim is an orphan, his mother died when he was a baby and his father was a drunk, so he pretty much raised himself on the streets. Curious, brave and iKim is an orphan, his mother died when he was a baby and his father was a drunk, so he pretty much raised himself on the streets. Curious, brave and impudent, Kim runs errands, begs or cons his way through life with wit and humour.
Kim's life is changed forever when he meets a travelling Tibetan Lama - The old man is seeking out a fabled river which will free him from sin and the wheel of death and re-birth - the promise of new horizons appeals to Kim and he becomes the monk's "Chela" - a helper and apprentice. At the same time Kim falls into a bit of intrigue when an old friend, horse trader Mahbub Ali, asks Kim to deliver a mysterious letter to a soldier. Letter delivered, Kim continues on his way and we are treated to descriptions of the landscapes and peoples of India, the many castes and tribes, religions and superstitions that make India such a melting pot. When Kim's parentage is realised after an encounter with his father's old battalion, Kim is sent to school - though it is through the actions of the Lama that this is private school not a military one. Due to Kim's quick thinking he is also trained as a spy to take his place in "the great game" between Russia and England for the control of India. After 3 years of school Kim and his trainers feel he is more than ready to enter the game but Kim's first duty is always to the Lama and his search for the sacred river.
This is a coming of age story mixed with spy adventure and travelogue of India. While Kim's adventures drive the plot forward, the many descriptions of the land and peoples are what made this book most interesting for me. India comes to life in all it's chaotic, impoverished, beautiful glory. It is clear that this is a land that Kipling loved.
It is a book that is a reflection of the time - it was written at the height of English imperialism. (First published 1901 but set in the late 19th century). I was expecting it to be a bit racist (as most English written stories of the time are) but if anything the white characters Kim encounters tend to be rude, ignorant and boorish compared to the Indian. The 'native' characters tend to be easy-going, accepting and friendly. While the Europeans for the most part are portrayed as helpless, unbending and arrogant. This is a complex book. There are layers to this book that I KNOW went over my head - the time and culture are just too far removed from my own to grasp it all. But it is one that I think I will read again at some later point because I know that every time I read this book I will find something new in it. ...more