Blurb submitted by John B.
American Sniper is nonfiction
Chris Kyle finds it's not always easy to live his life by God, country, and family. He enlists in the armed forces to become a Navy Seal and is eager to fight and defend his country. Four tours in Iraq take a toll on him physically as well as mentally. He's torn between fighting alongside his fellow soldiers in Iraq and wanting to be home with his wife Taya. Dedication to his country and doing his part to protect our freedom and knowing he has a loving wife waiting back home keep him driven. It's his story of trials, triumph, loss, and heartbreak that will keep you intrigued.
Monday, October 16, 2017
Turning of the Tide: How One Game Changed the South by Don Yaeger
Blurb Submitted by Landon H.
Turning of the Tide: How One Game Changed the South is nonfiction.
Turning of the Tide is a great book for any football fan, regardless of if you pull for Alabama or not. The author starts out by explaining how Paul Bear Bryant not only changed football at Alabama but how he changed it in the whole country and how his effects on the sport are still shown today. Paul Bear Bryant was known for his all-white football team, most of the teams in the South were primarily white but may have had 1 or 2 black players. This book goes on to tell about how Alabama would strictly not allow blacks to play, regardless of how much talent they had. Racism was alive and well in college football at this time until USC came to Tuscaloosa.
In 1970, the USC Trojans came to play Alabama in Tuscaloosa. Alabama was known nationwide for being the best team possibly ever. What made this game so big and publicized was that USC was starting all black players in their offensive backfield. Alabama came in highly favored and expecting a blowout. Arguably one of the best and most historic games in history, two former USC players help Yaeger tell the story of what happened before, during, and after the game. It was this game that changed the racial landscape of college football forever.
Using real examples and quotes from people that experienced this game and situation first hand, this book shares knowledge to any football fan. I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to learn more about the sport we love today, college football.
Turning of the Tide: How One Game Changed the South is nonfiction.
Turning of the Tide is a great book for any football fan, regardless of if you pull for Alabama or not. The author starts out by explaining how Paul Bear Bryant not only changed football at Alabama but how he changed it in the whole country and how his effects on the sport are still shown today. Paul Bear Bryant was known for his all-white football team, most of the teams in the South were primarily white but may have had 1 or 2 black players. This book goes on to tell about how Alabama would strictly not allow blacks to play, regardless of how much talent they had. Racism was alive and well in college football at this time until USC came to Tuscaloosa.
In 1970, the USC Trojans came to play Alabama in Tuscaloosa. Alabama was known nationwide for being the best team possibly ever. What made this game so big and publicized was that USC was starting all black players in their offensive backfield. Alabama came in highly favored and expecting a blowout. Arguably one of the best and most historic games in history, two former USC players help Yaeger tell the story of what happened before, during, and after the game. It was this game that changed the racial landscape of college football forever.
Using real examples and quotes from people that experienced this game and situation first hand, this book shares knowledge to any football fan. I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to learn more about the sport we love today, college football.
Unbroken by Laura Hildebrand
Blurb submitted by Logan R.
Unbroken is nonfiction
Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand is about a boy named Loui Zamperini and his life as an Italian immigrant. In his early days, he is discriminated against for being Italian. No one likes him because he steals, drinks, smokes, and is constantly running from the police. He discovered his love and talent for running, and his brother trained him every day to help him better himself in the sport he loves.
He competes in many track events, winning nearly all of them, and finds himself in the Olympics years later. He won the Olympics and soon afterward he was drafted to the war were he flies fighter planes. He gets captured and is put in a Japanese concentration camp. He is rescued years later by the American forces and goes back to his family.
I am the type of reader who finds it hard to find a book you can dig into and actually enjoy. The rich contents and detail of this story drag you into the book and you can not put it down. I rate this book a 9/10 and am extremely satisfied.
Unbroken is nonfiction
Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand is about a boy named Loui Zamperini and his life as an Italian immigrant. In his early days, he is discriminated against for being Italian. No one likes him because he steals, drinks, smokes, and is constantly running from the police. He discovered his love and talent for running, and his brother trained him every day to help him better himself in the sport he loves.
He competes in many track events, winning nearly all of them, and finds himself in the Olympics years later. He won the Olympics and soon afterward he was drafted to the war were he flies fighter planes. He gets captured and is put in a Japanese concentration camp. He is rescued years later by the American forces and goes back to his family.
I am the type of reader who finds it hard to find a book you can dig into and actually enjoy. The rich contents and detail of this story drag you into the book and you can not put it down. I rate this book a 9/10 and am extremely satisfied.
Thursday, September 21, 2017
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
Blurb submitted by Mara C.
The Bell Jar is fiction
Ester Greenwood is an extraordinary talented young woman, always receiving high marks from teachers, and having a hunger for knowledge. She moves from her hometown to pursue a career in journalism, accepted into an internship in New York City. The Ladies Day magazine is a paid internship aimed to encourage young woman to join the workforce, and Ester is seemingly the perfect candidate. Yet in 1953 she finds her self slowly going under, while being pulled in an infinite amount of different directions in her life. One by one she sees the options in her life disappear like figs turning black and dropping dead off the tree, simply because she didn't know which one to pick. Her mental health slowly begins to deteriorate as she finds herself torn apart by who she wants to be and who she thinks the should be.
The Bell Jar is what many believe to be Plath's own chilling story of her deteriorating mental state, starting as a young adult. Plath transports you into Ester's mind and blurs the lines between perception and reality.
The Bell Jar is fiction
Ester Greenwood is an extraordinary talented young woman, always receiving high marks from teachers, and having a hunger for knowledge. She moves from her hometown to pursue a career in journalism, accepted into an internship in New York City. The Ladies Day magazine is a paid internship aimed to encourage young woman to join the workforce, and Ester is seemingly the perfect candidate. Yet in 1953 she finds her self slowly going under, while being pulled in an infinite amount of different directions in her life. One by one she sees the options in her life disappear like figs turning black and dropping dead off the tree, simply because she didn't know which one to pick. Her mental health slowly begins to deteriorate as she finds herself torn apart by who she wants to be and who she thinks the should be.
The Bell Jar is what many believe to be Plath's own chilling story of her deteriorating mental state, starting as a young adult. Plath transports you into Ester's mind and blurs the lines between perception and reality.
Tuesday, April 11, 2017
Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal Newport
Blurb submitted by Coach Fromme
Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World is nonfiction
Deep work as the ability to focus without distraction on an intellectually demanding task. According to Cal Newport, a computer science professor at Georgetown University, this is the type of work that allows us to be our most productive. Unfortunately, our distracting, always-online culture makes accomplishing deep work harder than it has ever been. Instead, we engage in shallow work peppered by distractions like email, instant messaging, social media, and endless meetings.
In the first part of this book, Newport explains the importance of deep work and how it can be used in almost any profession. The second part of the book teaches you how to achieve a state of deep work through a series of rules that will help transform your work routine to prioritize deep work.
Using real-world examples of successful academics and entrepreneurs as proof that deep work has many benefits, this book will serve as a guide to help professionals and students alike achieve success that their more distracted peers will not.
Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World is nonfiction
Deep work as the ability to focus without distraction on an intellectually demanding task. According to Cal Newport, a computer science professor at Georgetown University, this is the type of work that allows us to be our most productive. Unfortunately, our distracting, always-online culture makes accomplishing deep work harder than it has ever been. Instead, we engage in shallow work peppered by distractions like email, instant messaging, social media, and endless meetings.
In the first part of this book, Newport explains the importance of deep work and how it can be used in almost any profession. The second part of the book teaches you how to achieve a state of deep work through a series of rules that will help transform your work routine to prioritize deep work.
Using real-world examples of successful academics and entrepreneurs as proof that deep work has many benefits, this book will serve as a guide to help professionals and students alike achieve success that their more distracted peers will not.
Monday, March 20, 2017
The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois
Blurb submitted by Khalil W.
The Souls of Black Folk is nonfiction
The Souls of Black Folk is an important book within the African-American community. It is considered one of the most important contributions to African-American social history. W.E.B. Du Bois, a Harvard scholar, spent the majority of his life fighting and documenting racial injustice. The book is a collection of essays that give information on black spirituality, great black leaders like Booker T. Washington, poor treatment of darker skinned black people, slavery and freedom, the reconstruction period, the training of black men by slave masters, and the robbing of slave black families of their first-born sons. We are still to this day dealing with racial tension towards black men. I think it is important for everyone to read this book, but I would highly recommend this book to any teenage African-American male who is entering adulthood. The challenges that we face on a day to day basis can’t be compared to any other race. I think the book can help to guide us and is a great start to learning your black history.
The Souls of Black Folk is nonfiction
The Souls of Black Folk is an important book within the African-American community. It is considered one of the most important contributions to African-American social history. W.E.B. Du Bois, a Harvard scholar, spent the majority of his life fighting and documenting racial injustice. The book is a collection of essays that give information on black spirituality, great black leaders like Booker T. Washington, poor treatment of darker skinned black people, slavery and freedom, the reconstruction period, the training of black men by slave masters, and the robbing of slave black families of their first-born sons. We are still to this day dealing with racial tension towards black men. I think it is important for everyone to read this book, but I would highly recommend this book to any teenage African-American male who is entering adulthood. The challenges that we face on a day to day basis can’t be compared to any other race. I think the book can help to guide us and is a great start to learning your black history.
Wednesday, March 15, 2017
Gang Leader for a Day: A Rogue Sociologist Takes to the Streets by Sudhir Venkatesh
Blurb submitted by Kris C.
Gang Leader for a Day: A Rogue Sociologist Takes to the Streets is nonfiction
Have you ever wondered what it would actually be like to be in a gang? If you read Sudhir Venkatesh's story, Gang Leader For a Day, you will find out. In Sudhir's story, you will hear first hand how he went from a college graduate and sociologist to being in a gang. You probably have seen gang members on TV before and heard stories about gangs and wondered what it is like to live like that every single day. Sudhir Venkatesh wondered the same thing, so he decided to go interview gang members to ask them about it. The gang members were not pleased with his curiosity and he actually ended up getting held hostage. That is just where his adventure begins. In Sudhir's book, you will read about crazy stories of what happens on a daily basis, how others in the neighborhood treat you, and what it is like to be the actual leader of a gang. If you want to know what it is like to be in a gang without getting held hostage, go check out Gang Leader For a Day by Sudhir Venkatesh.
Gang Leader for a Day: A Rogue Sociologist Takes to the Streets is nonfiction
Have you ever wondered what it would actually be like to be in a gang? If you read Sudhir Venkatesh's story, Gang Leader For a Day, you will find out. In Sudhir's story, you will hear first hand how he went from a college graduate and sociologist to being in a gang. You probably have seen gang members on TV before and heard stories about gangs and wondered what it is like to live like that every single day. Sudhir Venkatesh wondered the same thing, so he decided to go interview gang members to ask them about it. The gang members were not pleased with his curiosity and he actually ended up getting held hostage. That is just where his adventure begins. In Sudhir's book, you will read about crazy stories of what happens on a daily basis, how others in the neighborhood treat you, and what it is like to be the actual leader of a gang. If you want to know what it is like to be in a gang without getting held hostage, go check out Gang Leader For a Day by Sudhir Venkatesh.
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