Girl Underwater by Claire Kells is a book about 3 members of a swim team who are taking a flight back home to Boston over Thanksgiving Break. During the flight, something goes wrong with the engine and the plane crashes in a lake in the Colorado Rockies.
The story is told in flash backs and present time. We learn struggles that Avery, Colin, and 3 small boys went through after the plan crash. We also learn the struggles that Avery is facing after recovery.
There was nothing that screamed at me that this was an excellent book, but I just found myself very addicted to the story. It's been awhile since I found a book I "couldn't put down", but this was one of them. I read it really fast and liked the writing style. I feel like there could have been more details about the rescue and other areas, but overall I really enjoyed reading it.
Up Next: Did You Ever Have a Family by Bill Clegg
Sunday, November 22, 2015
Friday, November 20, 2015
#37: Uniquely Human
One of the books I picked for a thankful theme was Uniquely Human: A Different Way of Seeing Autism by Barry Prizant. I chose this because I work in the higher needs Special Education room at work and we have several children on the autism spectrum in our room.
As with all non-fiction books, but felt bored at times. This one was really important to me, so it did keep me interested the entire time. There were lots of interesting stories in it and things that reminded me of the students in our room, one boy in particular.
My favorite chapter in the book was called "What it takes to Get it". "Get it" refers to the way people interact with autistic people. It said that some of the best "Get it" people are the 1 on 1's and other in the children's lives, who truly understand how to connect with them. Prizant made it clear that having special licenses and training, does not always make you better qualified to work with these children. This just really hit home as I feel we sometimes have specialists coming in the room who just upset the children even more. I guess it just made me truly thankful to the teacher and other associates in our room who truly "get it" and make the lives of our students more enjoyable.
Overall, I found the book interesting. I don't know if there were any new points brought up that we haven't tried, but it was comforting to know that there are other stories out there of people similar to our students who ended up leading very successful lives.
Up Next: Girl Underwater by Claire Kells
As with all non-fiction books, but felt bored at times. This one was really important to me, so it did keep me interested the entire time. There were lots of interesting stories in it and things that reminded me of the students in our room, one boy in particular.
My favorite chapter in the book was called "What it takes to Get it". "Get it" refers to the way people interact with autistic people. It said that some of the best "Get it" people are the 1 on 1's and other in the children's lives, who truly understand how to connect with them. Prizant made it clear that having special licenses and training, does not always make you better qualified to work with these children. This just really hit home as I feel we sometimes have specialists coming in the room who just upset the children even more. I guess it just made me truly thankful to the teacher and other associates in our room who truly "get it" and make the lives of our students more enjoyable.
Overall, I found the book interesting. I don't know if there were any new points brought up that we haven't tried, but it was comforting to know that there are other stories out there of people similar to our students who ended up leading very successful lives.
Up Next: Girl Underwater by Claire Kells
Thursday, November 19, 2015
#36: The Martian
While traveling to Wisconsin, our family listened to an audiobook version of The Martian by Andy Weir. We went to this movie when it came out and really enjoyed it. Thought it would be a good one to listen to.
It was good, but we should have checked the language first. ;) The first sentence had about 3 "f" words in it. And the rest of the book had it countless times. Luckily the only word Norah picked up on was "shit".
It was still a very good story. Wesley asked why he cusses so much and we said "If you were stuck on Mars, you probably would too".
I loved the story. This is the first time I didn't fall asleep during an audio book. This is really surprising since it had a lot of boring science talk. I think it's probably because I had seen the movie and somewhat knew what was happening. I was also picturing Matt Damon the whole time. :)
Great story. The boys want to read the book again when they are a little older.
It was good, but we should have checked the language first. ;) The first sentence had about 3 "f" words in it. And the rest of the book had it countless times. Luckily the only word Norah picked up on was "shit".
It was still a very good story. Wesley asked why he cusses so much and we said "If you were stuck on Mars, you probably would too".
I loved the story. This is the first time I didn't fall asleep during an audio book. This is really surprising since it had a lot of boring science talk. I think it's probably because I had seen the movie and somewhat knew what was happening. I was also picturing Matt Damon the whole time. :)
Great story. The boys want to read the book again when they are a little older.
Monday, November 2, 2015
#35: What Alice Forgot
I finished What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty last night. I really enjoyed Big Little Lies by her and liked The Husband's Secret as well. I was really hoping for the same type of story in this book.
The book started out interesting. Alice woke up on the floor of the gym with a head injury. She thought she was 29 and pregnant with her first child, but really she is 39 and has 3 children. Her head injury caused her to forget the last 10 yrs of her life. It was interesting to she how Alice had changed as a person over the past 10 yrs. You could tell by people's reaction to her, that she was not the same person she used to be.
There were some clues given to tell us that there were important parts of her memory missing. The biggest were her husband Nick, her sister Elizabeth, and a friend named Gina. I kept waiting for a big twist in the book like in her other 2 books, but I don't feel I got it. I thought the story behind Gina was going to be some huge shock, but it just kind of fell flat. There was no "whoa I didn't see that coming" like in the other books.
The book was an interesting concept, but just wasn't as good as I thought it would be.
Up Next: Uniquely Human by Barry Prizant
The book started out interesting. Alice woke up on the floor of the gym with a head injury. She thought she was 29 and pregnant with her first child, but really she is 39 and has 3 children. Her head injury caused her to forget the last 10 yrs of her life. It was interesting to she how Alice had changed as a person over the past 10 yrs. You could tell by people's reaction to her, that she was not the same person she used to be.
There were some clues given to tell us that there were important parts of her memory missing. The biggest were her husband Nick, her sister Elizabeth, and a friend named Gina. I kept waiting for a big twist in the book like in her other 2 books, but I don't feel I got it. I thought the story behind Gina was going to be some huge shock, but it just kind of fell flat. There was no "whoa I didn't see that coming" like in the other books.
The book was an interesting concept, but just wasn't as good as I thought it would be.
Up Next: Uniquely Human by Barry Prizant
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