the top 5 books dori read over winter break

Summary:

A holocaust survivor tells his tale of suffering in concentration camps and how he could make meaning out of it. The introduction states: “Frankl saw three possible sources for meaning: in work (doing something significant), in love (caring for another person) and in courage during difficult times.”

Review:  5/5 stars

Audience:  Adult, Young Adult

I loved this book! 

Part one is very moving, and the introduction gives some important context and framing for the book. I would not recommend reading the second part unless you are very interested in psychology’s origins. 

Summary:

A math book that goes over complex and simple mathematics in an easy-to-understand way. Includes simple and complex geometry, algebra, computer science, the fourth dimension, and infinity. 

Review:  5/5 stars

Audience:  Any!

The concepts were really complex but the writer wrote in a way that was easy to understand and the author has a good sense of humour. I’d recommend trying the book, even if you only understand the first few chapters. 

Summary:

12-year-old Jason decides to create a new religion where he and his friends worship a water tower.

Review:  5/5 stars

Audience:  Tween

I was laughing all the way to the end of this book. The book points out the problems with blindly believing in religion, and also the sense of meaning that religion can give a person.

Summary:

Lark is born to a horrible mother named Marianne and takes care of her younger sister, Robin. The book follows the two sisters through their journey growing apart, together, apart, and together again. In the end, Robin helps Lark have a baby and Lark takes care of her kid while Robin lives in a cabin in the woods with the wolves.

Review:  5/5 stars

Audience:  Adults

The characters are surprisingly relatable; I can connect to Lark’s desire to create a movie, even though she has many doubts. Lark’s love for her sister is also a very powerful theme. 

Summary:

This book is about a ship run by an AI who turned human, but doesn’t think she is human. She meets Sevardeen and Sevardeen takes One Esk, also known as Breq, (the AI) to the Radch. Breq’s goal is to eliminate Anaander Mianaai, the Lord of the Radch, because Anaander Mianaai forced One Esk to kill the captain of her ship, Lieutenant Awn. 

Review:  4/ 5 stars

Audience:  Young Adult

This book was hard to understand at first, but after the first ten or so chapters I began to get used to the protagonist’s inability to understand gender (the protagonist is an artificial intelligence who refers to Sevardeen with he and she pronouns in different places and with different people) and also the strange names and attitudes of the multiple alien species. I liked the way the book thought of complex topics like identity — who is One Esk without her ship? — and how Anaander Mianaai split from herself to fight herself.