Shelf Life

Leo Tolstoy’s epic novel, War and Peace, is, despite its length, a very good book. The whole plot is centered on Russia around the time of Napoleon’s conquest of Europe. The novel follows both the war and the social lines that were affected by the war with great emphasis on details, some of which are the personal lives of Count Pierre Bezukhov and the military lifestyles of Dolokhov, Nikolai, and Prince Andrei Bolkonsky, respectively.
The unabridged version contains four books, which are each separated by two parts and then into chapters. But even with 1455 pages, making this book the largest I’ve even laid eyes on, reading it doesn’t seem like much of a chore to me, what with all of the plot’s twists and turns… but seriously! Read this book for yourself, ‘cause it’s really a great book!

By Arlen Guillen

LHS students and staff are invited to contribute to this blog. As an incentive we are having a book review contest. Write a review of any book you have read this school year and submit it to the Reading Blog. The best review will win a $20 Barnes and Noble gift card. There will be a student winner and a staff winner.

To enter, first read some of the reviews on this blog to get a feel for the format and content of a review. Second, type your review using a word processor with a spell checker (Word, Star Writer, etc.). Third, copy and paste it to the submission form and hit the submit button. It will automatically be e-mailed to me and I will post it for you. For security reasons it will not appear automatically on the blog so don’t send it more than once.

All submissions will be judged by a panel of librarians from around the U.S. and from other countries. All entries must be received by me by 3:30 on Friday, April 7th. See me for more information.

Mr. Doyle

(by the author of Cut)
This book is a little slow at the start but by the end I was having trouble putting it down. High school freshman Toby Malone is a baseball fanatic and avid card collector. His older brother Jake was MVP of the school’s championship team last year. But life for the Malone family is spiraling toward disaster. Dad has abandoned the family, ostensibly to find work in California and get back on his feet. Mom is overwhelmed with the task of supporting her 3 sons on a hairdresser’s salary, financial problems, and depression. And Jake is taking drugs and giving up baseball.

Toby takes on the responsibility of holding his family together. He makes excuses for Jake and cleans up after him and his druggie friends. He hides bills from his mom so she won’t worry as much. And he looks after little brother Eli who is confused by everything that is going on around him. All of this on top of the usual pressures faced by a freshman.

Of course Toby’s attempts to solve his family’s problems are unsuccessful and finally everyone has to face up to reality. This title will appeal to anyone who has had to face parental abandonment, depression, or drug abuse.

Coming soon to LHS

Mr. Doyle