This was much better this time around… I “got” a lot of references that eluded me as a 22-year-old airman with very little experience with academe. It’s hilarious! And very sad and scary. And prophetic.

I had to return this book to the library, so now I need to wait until I get back to check it out again. I liked what I read, though.

I read this one about 10 years ago, when it first came out. I might even have a paperback of it lying around in the basement. However, I saw this at the local self-conscious third-space eatery and had to read it again. I hope to return it next week.

This book was good enough, I suppose, but it took forever to get going. I wouldn’t recommend this to someone who had never read a Harry Potter book—they wouldn’t get why the series is so popular.

PS. I don’t think that character is really dead. And I don’t think the bad guy is really bad.

This book is well worth the read!

I was checking this book’s MARC record at the library where I work when I decided to improve the summary. I read the last couple chapters of the book and fixed the summary, but now I’m hooked and want to read the rest of it!

Eh. I never finished this. It’s just not as good as Heir Apparent, and it’s the same story.

I gave up. This book made me angry.

I’m less than halfway through this book and I’m not sure I want to finish. It’s pretty clear Strasser believes guns are to blame for school violence. Sure, he pays lip service to the idea that perhaps kids who shoot up the school are victims of relentless bullying, but essentially, I get the impression that it would all be okay if there were just no guns. Banning guns won’t address the real problems behind school violence, and guns are an easy scapegoat that allow people to ignore the real problems in some high school environments. I say this as someone who does not like guns. I’m not happy with this book and I’m very disappointed in Strasser.

This is a heartbreaking look at how Marya Hornbacher nearly destroyed her life with anorexia and bulemia. There’s not the slightest bit of glamour some anorexia memoirs suffer from. This is both a cautionary tale and a cultural criticism.