Book #2 The Magicians

Full disclosure- I read this book a few years back and remember liking it. The book was even better the second time around and I'm really excited to get starting on the second book of the series. 

I was inspired to re-read The Magicians when I noticed the SyFy series was on Netflix. Obviously, before watching the series I wanted to re-read the book, so I grabbed it off of my bookshelf and started reading. Immediately, I was reminded of how much I enjoyed the book the first time. The Magicians was a NYT bestseller a few years back and rightfully so. The book is a real-world fantasy novel- essentially, it takes the Chronicles of Narnia plot and gives it a big dose of realism. The Magicians is sort of a dirty fantasy novel. It's not sparkly, shiny and full of unicorns. Instead, the novel takes Narnia and turns it upside-down. In the best way possible. 

The book tells the story of Quentin Coldwater, a high school student in Brooklyn with a history of being miserable. Quentin has an obsession with the Fillory novels, books about four children who discover a magical land (called Fillory) through their uncle's grandfather clock. After a college interview goes south, Quentin is given the manuscript for a never-published sixth Fillory novel. Wind blows the title page away and while chasing the page of the novel, Quentin walks onto the campus of Brakebills College, a secret university specializing in magical studies. Quentin's five years at Brakebills are not the focus of the book- the important stuff happens after Quentin leaves school. 

After graduating, Quentin moves to the city to begin his post-grad magician life with some old school friends. During this year, Quentin and co. discover Fillory is a very real place and decide to go explore. FIllory turns out to be a much darker place than any anticipated; rather than the sparkly land depicted in the novels, Fillory is filled with dangerous beings, bars, and fallen gods. 

The Magician's describes the transition from college to post-grad life perfectly. Quentin and his friends leave school and feel lost- they're looking for some larger purpose but can't seem to find it. The book confronts the tension between growing up and never wanting to through the manipulation of a familiar tale and leaves readers feeling both uncomfortable and curious. If you're a fan of the Chronicles of Narnia, I'd recommend reading The Magicians. It's a realistic, almost pessimistic, twisted coming-of-age story with a little bit of magic, and it's messages will certainly resonate with anyone who has ever struggled with growing up. 

Book rating- 5/5 stars highly recommend. It's a great read and I can't wait to see what the tv series does with the plot. 

Book #1 Dangerous schools: What we can do about the physical and emotional abuse of our children

I really wanted to like this book. I went in with such high expectations- schools can be dangerous places (both intentionally and unintentionally), emotional abuse is a widely under-recognized problem and we generally don't speak enough about abusive school environments. The book had so much promise. And then I read the first few pages. 

Sadly, instead of moving from the introduction to a detailed, well-researched and well-written discussion on school environments, the book moved to a strange rant of a rather disgruntled ex-school psychologist. Instead of summarizing and applying relevant research on school discipline and negative school experiences, the author strategically name-dropped court cases (particularly those for which he served as an expert witness) involving students and schools. The book transitioned from a potential must-read into a strange, bitter attempt at an expose, reading more like an article in people magazine than a serious piece of research. I could see past the authors' use of "delinquents" and "Jews" as nouns, attributing these infractions to the book's age and colloquial tone. I could not see past the authors' overwhelming failure to cite relevant research and their blatant endorsements of assessments of their own creation. 

The book's skeleton had a lot of promise. Corporal punishment, psychological maltreatment in schools, excessive (and arguably unlawful) searches, disproportionate discipline and the general prison-esque atmosphere of some schools are certainly topics warranting further discussion. The book's emphasis on school personnel and their role in committing these infractions against students is both justified and unique- most research ignores the possible negative influence of teacher and administrator behavior on students, instead focusing on peer-to-peer interactions. Unfortunately, instead of mobilizing existing research on these topics, the authors chose to rely on personal experience and selective case-study selection. I was more than a tad disappointed. 

Overall rating- 1/5 stars. 1 star for effort and for a promising idea, but only 1 for seriously flawed execution.