The James Logan Courier

McClatchy-Tribune News Service (MCT)

Here are the best-sellers for the week that ended Saturday, Sept. 29, compiled from data from independent and chain bookstores, book wholesalers and independent distributors nationwide.

(Reprinted from Publishers Weekly, published by Cahners Publishing Co., a division of Reed Elsevier, USA. (c) 2007 by Reed Elsevier, USA)

HARDCOVER FICTION
1. Playing for Pizza. John Grisham. Doubleday, $26.95
Last Week: -; Weeks on List: 1
2. The Choice. Nicholas Sparks. Grand Central, $24.99
Last Week: -; Weeks on List: 1
3. You've Been Warned. James Patterson & Howard Roughan. Little, Brown, $27.99
Last Week: 1; Weeks on List: 3
4. A Thousand Splendid Suns. Khaled Hosseini. Riverhead, $25.95
Last Week: 2; Weeks on List: 19
5. Shoot Him If He Runs. Stuart Woods. Putnam, $25.95
Last Week: -; Weeks on List: 1
6. The Orc King. R.A. Salvatore. Wizards of the Coast, $27.95
Last Week: -; Weeks on List: 1
7. Bridge of Sighs. Richard Russo. Knopf, $26.95
Last Week: -; Weeks on List: 1
8. Dead Heat. Dick Francis & Felix Francis. Putnam, $25.95
Last Week: 3; Weeks on List: 2
9. Run. Ann Patchett. HarperCollins, $25.95
Last Week: -; Weeks on List: 1
10. The Bone Garden. Tess Gerritsen. Ballantine, $25.95
Last Week: 5; Weeks on List: 2

Note: Each week, The Courier spotlights books newly arrived, or expected to arrive, in the James Logan Media Center.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Reading level: Young Adult
Hardcover: 560 pages
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers (March 14, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0375831002
ISBN-13: 978-0375831003

From the publisher:
It’s just a small story really, about among other things: a girl, some words, an accordionist, some fanatical Germans, a Jewish fist-fighter, and quite a lot of thievery. . . .

LUNCH: Chicken Caesar Wrap,
Milk, Fresh Fruit, Fun Chips

ACTIVITIES:
The 2007 Women’s Track & Field team ended up as the #2 team in the U.S.!!

Interested in track & field? Come to the Track after school for all important information.

Saturday, October 27, will be the Haunted Homecoming Dance in the Pavilion from 8-11 pm. Save the date! More details on the way.

By Debbie Ly, Courier Staff Writer

Algebra teacher Barry Parks has recently returned to James Logan High School after being away in China for three years.

Three years ago, after retiring, Parks had decided to move to China where he was given an opportunity to teach English at a school near Hong Kong. His life hasn't been the same since then. His said outlook on life is certainly different, and he is now able to help struggling Algebra students by teaching through the use of different methods he learned while abroad.

Jasmeen Banwait, Courier Staff Writer

Seniors planning to attend a CSU, UC or private college can apply to colleges beginning now.

CSU applications are available online from October 1 to November 30, and CSU campuses require either the SAT Reasoning Test or the ACT. UC applications are available online from October 1st and can be submitted between November 1 and November 30.

By Najia Qadir, Courier Staff Writer

Note: The Courier received a free review copy of "Anatomy of a Boyfriend" from author Daria Snadowsky, who graciously answered the following questions:

The Courier: The main character of Anatomy of a Boyfriend, Dominique Baylor, relates almost seamlessly with your target audience. Did you draw inspiration for her character through past experiences or is she based on someone you know?

Snadowsky: Although Anatomy of a Boyfriend is fictional, my past certainly informed Dominique’s emotional odyssey through first love. Romantic love is one of those completely irrational, nonsensical states of mind that’s very hard to sympathize with if you haven’t personally succumbed to it, so I don’t think I could have written a word of Anatomy of a Boyfriend without having been there myself.

The Courier: You dedicated this book to Judy Blume, another author of the same genre. Is your book meant to be the next generations upgrade to her novel Are you there God? It’s me, Margaret?

Snadowsky: Are You There God? is one of my favorite books ever, and I appreciate how that book demystifies adolescence. In Anatomy of a Boyfriend, I certainly try to demystify first love and first sex in a similarly candid, accessible way, though my central inspiration was actually Judy Blume’s Forever. Both Forever and Anatomy of a Boyfriend concern couples who fall in love over senior year of high school and plan on dating in college, which is a scenario that affects thousands upon thousands of teens each year. But whereas Forever ends during the summer after high school, Anatomy of a Boyfriend follows the characters through their first year of college in order to illustrate the unavoidable conflict between, on the one hand, being open to all the new and exciting experiences college has to offer, and on the other, attempting desperately to hold on to the past.

By Abhishek Saluja, Courier Book Reviewer

The Three Musketeers, by Alexandre Dumas
Publisher: London: G. Vickers, 1846
Publication Date: 1846
Binding: Hardcover
Edition: 1st Edition

The Three Musketeers, by Alexandre Dumas, is an inspiring and adventurous tale in which pride, honor, and friendship are valued above all else; the main character d’Artagnan comes to Paris in hopes of becoming a Musketeer.

D’Artagnan, on his way to Paris gets into an argument with a gentleman and suffers injuries from the resulting fight. This delay leads to him losing money, time, and the letter of introduction which would have helped him secure a job as a musketeer.


Read The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas, free from Project Gutenberg.

From wikipedia:
Robert Gould Shaw (October 10, 1837 – July 18, 1863) was the colonel in command of the all-black 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, which entered the American Civil War in 1863.

Early life and career
Shaw was born in Boston, Massachusetts, to a prominent abolitionist family. His parents (who lived off the inheritance left by Shaw's merchant grandfather) were Francis George and Sarah Blake Sturgis Shaw, and he had four sisters: Anna, Josephine, Susanna and Ellen. He was a religious liberal and a Unitarian who moved with his family to a large estate in West Roxbury, adjacent to Brook Farm when he was five. In his teens, Shaw spent some years studying and traveling in Switzerland, Italy, Hanover, Norway, and Sweden. His family moved to Staten Island, New York, settling there among a community of literati and abolitionists, while Shaw attended the lower division of St. John's College, the equivalent of high school in the institution that became Fordham University. From 1856 until 1859, Shaw attended Harvard University, but he withdrew before graduating. He then went to the esteemed Kenyon College in Gambier, OH and also went to work at his uncle's business. At Harvard, he was a member of the Porcellian Club.

Read a letter from Robert Gould Shaw to his wife, Annie, about his account of the the Raid at Darien, Georgia during the Civil War.