Inglorious: a novel by Joanna Kavenna

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was a rather frustrating book. It was well-written and often quite interesting. But, it was completely plotless. I normally don't mind that, but it got to be maddening with this one. It was essentially the internal monologue of Rosa, who left her job and broke up with her boyfriend in the first few pages of the book. The internal monologue doesn't get her anywhere after that. She can't pull it together and her friends are all jerks. It seemed like a realistic picture of someone spinning their wheels during an emotional crisis, but as literature, it was tough to connect to it.

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The Colony by Jillian Weise

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

So great. Anne Hatley was chosen to go to The Colony because of her DNA. The story follows her through her months at The Colony as she develops relationships with her fellow colonists and works with the doctors. Interesting story-telling that bounces around all over the place, but still manages to follow a clear narrative. In other words, weird and quirky, but still very human. Loved it.

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Clouds of Witness by Dorothy L. Sayers

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Not quite as good as the first book, but still a lot of fun. Now I have to track down the next one somewhere...

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Whose Body? by Dorothy L. Sayers

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

So much fun and so many great characters!

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The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It was kind of odd to read this right after Egan's A Visit from the Goon Squad. They use a very similar structure. Each chapter is told from the perspective of a different character and is essentially a short story. However, the characters' lives are much more intertwined in this one -- they all work at the same English-language newspaper in Rome. It was very entertaining, but I was slightly annoyed with the female characters. They were interesting, but generally not very sympathetic.

But, still a great look inside a workplace full of interesting personalities.

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A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Wow. Really fantastic. Each chapter is essentially a short story told from a different character's perspective, but all the characters are connected in some way. The book covers several decades and is a great look how time rolls along for each of the characters. Funny, engaging, creative story-telling. This book has it all!

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The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice are Undermining Education by Diane Ravitch

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I grabbed this book after I saw an interview with Ravitch on The Daily Show last month. She writes about No Child Left Behind and the resulting focus on testing in reading and math. Her argument is that this focus (and all of the educational fads that came along with it) are taking the focus off of creating a full curriculum. The tests are also being used as the only measure of student, teach, and school success when they were only created to evaluate a single student skill. She looks at fascinating cases in San Diego and New York.

A fascinating read and an important one in this time of blaming teachers' unions for all of the problems in education.

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