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January 18, 1988January 27, 2017 One Man Book Club

Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell

5 out of 5 stars

Another 5th Grade Classic

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A Dad. A Reader. A Blogger. View all posts by One Man Book Club

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#GatesofFire: An Epic Novel of The Battle of Thermopylae By: #StevenPressfield My Rating: Three out of Five Stars Best for: Adults Gulp. Gates of Fire is ancient history...literally. This is a dramatized history of the events leading up to, during, and immediately following the famed Battle of Thermopylae. Led by King Leonidas and his band of 300 Spartan warriors, a vastly outnumbered army of allied Greeks held the narrow pass there for 3 days against the endless forces of the attacking Persian army in 480 BC. They were all killed, though it cost the lives of many tens of thousands of Persian slave-soldiers to break through. The sacrifice of that small band paved the way for an ultimate victory for Greece as they successfully defended their homeland against the greatest military might of that time. The Greeks rebuilt their country, became a center of trade, invented new forms of government, and produced some of history greatest thinkers whose influence is felt today in our modern society. Talk about changing the world. The story is incredible, but the book left me frustrated. The prose is thick and tough to follow...my brain felt tired after reading it. The chronology bounces around without warning. I expected the violence (there was a lot), but I didn't expect the volume of offensive language. This was a hard book to read--and I don't mean the content. I'm a smart guy, but even I had to spend a lot of brain power to comprehend and digest this complex book. Gates of Fire is an incredible true story, and I'm glad I read the book because of that. If you chose to read it, expect dialed-up violence, language, and too much of the kind of (im)mature things you might expect when there are stereotypical manly-men spending a lot of time together. Adults only. Happy reading! #onemanbookclub #bookstagram #readersofinstagram #dadswhoread #booknerd #bookreview

🤣🤣🤣 What else?

Hey Book Club! I'm reading Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield by the pool this weekend. It's a dramatized history about the Spartans and the Battle Of Thermopylae--the source material for the movie 300. What are you reading this weekend?

Story time with dad also inspires art! What are you reading to your kids today?

#Sourdough By: #RobinSloan My Rating: FIVE out of FIVE stars Best for: 14 and up This book made me happy. Have you read Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Book Store? You should. Robin Sloan wrote that book too. I went back to check out my review after I read it back in 2015...guess what I wrote? "Now here is a book for book lovers. Reading it made me so happy!" I'm seeing a trend when I read books by Robin Sloan... Sourdough was awesome, and I didn't expect it to be. I mean, it's a book about bread. Obviously it's going to be boring, right? Wrong. So wrong. Sourdough was perfectly charming and immensely readable! It's a story about Lois, a 20-something computer programmer who gets recruited from her ho-hum job writing code for a car company in Michigan by a flashy, spirit-of-a-start-up tech company in San Francisco. Lois can write code for robots! She can change the world! 4x bump in salary! Sunny California! The big city! The high cost of living...the pressure to deliver...the hours...the un-sustainable life style. Poor Lois, alone in the big city--until she discovers the double spicy. Foreign and mysterious brothers who run a delivery restaurant out of their apartment make her food and change her life with spicy soup and sandwiches on sourdough. Lois is saved! Lois's life isn't terrible! Until the spicy brothers' visas expire and they have to leave the country. But before they leave, they gift Lois with some of their special sourdough starter with a mind of it's own...and Lois's life doesn't just change. Lois's life finally begins. How do I explain the magic? If you've read Mr. Penumbra's, and I say it does with books what Sourdough does with food, you'll understand. It's light and breezy, full of truisms and quotables, and will make you laugh and ponder. There'll be times you say, "huh, I never thought about that, but he's right." And now Robin Sloan is on my authors-to-read-as-soon-as-they-publish-a-new-book list. Sourdough is a perfect summertime read. Easy. Fun. Thoughtful. Happy. Highly recommend! No sex or violence. The Sh-word appears 7 times. 14 and up. Happy Reading! #onemanbookclub #bookstagram #readersofinstagram #dadswhoread #bookreview

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Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell

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