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Thursday, June 21, 2012

Book Reviews from Emma


Ever wondered where creativity comes from? Is it a spark or a slow burn? The product of a special type of mind or something that everyone can access? In his book, Creativity: How Creativity Works, New York Times bestselling author, Jonah Lehrer, attempts to answer these questions. He examines the lives of poets and artists, inventors and bartenders as he explains where creativity comes from and how it works, showing scientifically how we can make ourselves, our companies, our cities and even our culture more creative. If you enjoyed popular science books such as Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, then this could be a good book choice for you.

Many writers have mined the rich seam of exclusive school settings and experience as the backdrop to their novels, and The Year of the Gadfly by Jennifer Miller is no exception. The novel follows the lives of a new-to-town budding teen journalist who is dealing with a traumatic past experience and her enigmatic science teacher whose past is as equally murky. Both their lives are changed forever when they infiltrate a secret society that is threatening the stability of the school. Fans of The Secret History by Donna Tartt and The Lake of Secret Languages by Carol Goodman will like this book.

Not for the faint-hearted, Let’s Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson will provide plenty of belly-laughs, if your stomach is strong enough. Famous for her blog, thebloggess.com, Lawson takes us through some of the events of her life which I guarantee will be unlike anything else you will read this year. Between a taxidermist father who has a penchant for bloody hand puppets, an anxiety disorder that makes her claim she was attacked by a serial killer at parties, and her long-suffering husband, Victor, this memoir has you laughing at things that you know you really shouldn’t be laughing at.

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