Biblio Reviews

"I just don't get it," was my response to reading my first  Haruki Murakami, his six-story collection,  After the Quake  (2002), set in the aftermath of the Kobe Earthquake of 1995. Prior to reading this book--the result of a work-related book club--all I was aware of was that his novel  1Q84  (2013) was quite the sensation and is still on many's "To Read" pile. As such, my expectations for this author were high. I quickly began to readjust my expectations, however, after reading the first story, "UFO in Kushiro" which left me feeling incomplete and confused. Though the lead-in story, I thought it was the weakest of the collection. After the Quake  is the kind of book I think I'd appreciate more from conversing about it with others. Unfortunately, I didn't make my book group discussion, so my ambivalence about this collection and Murakami's writing style remains. Marie K. who reviewed this book on Amazon wrote that this stor...

One of the strongest arguments made in support of same-sex education relates to the benefits for girls. During the middle school years, pre-teens become more attuned to where they fit in the social order. For many girls, this means that being perceived to be "smart," particularly in math and science, is not an asset. As such, they begin to "dumb down" in math and science to become more desirable to the male sex. It is no wonder, then, that I was thrilled that Hidden Figures (2016) by Margot Lee Shetterly was turned into a feature film. Not only did it feature females in a traditionally male-dominated field, but it also featured black females in ways not previously depicted in Hollywood productions. That this film is based on real-life people was even more appealing. Hidden Figures, Young Readers' Edition (2016), I assume, is the more accessible 8-12 year-olds' version of the biography. Similar to the adult version, it relates the experiences of th...