Heller, Joseph, and Brice Matthieussent. Catch 22. Paris: Grasset, 2006. Print.Catch-22 is a novel uproariously satirical of the American army's tragically illogical functioning. Yossarian, a bombardier, is cornered into a position in which it is mandatory of him to continue flying dangerous missions, missions that could effortlessly rob Yossarian of his life, and every time he nears the last of his missions, Colonel Cathcart ups the number of required missions. Yossarian pleads to be removed from the assigned missions, begging that he must be because he is crazy. But the army's Catch-22, the ultimate representation of all of it's enormous, blundering illogicy, declares that for one to stop flying missions, one must be crazy and must apply to be removed; however, by applying to be removed, one's sanity is proven and they thus have no reason to be removed and must continue to fly.
Sykes, Charles J. Dumbing Down Our Kids: Why America's Children Feel Good About Themselves But Can't Read, Write, or Add. New York: St. Martin's, 1995. Print. Sykes' nonfiction Dumbing Down Our Kids is a masterpiece when it comes to revealing the truth behind education for elementary and high school kids in the nineties as well as the origin of their faulty, to put it most modestly, "education". As it turns out, the curriculum enforced as a reform in the nineties is merely a repetition, or a re-packaging of, educational reforms in the earlier 1900s, beginning before the 20s, which revolved around aiming to increase the child's self-esteem at the expense of teaching them actual knowledge. The new plague of the nineties, labeled "Outcome Based Education", focuses literally and only on the "outcomes". This should not suggest that the outcomes will be knowledge of reading, writing or mathematics, because that is not at all the true intention, but rather the intention is to burden children with our country's unsolveable problems of sexism, racism, child sex abuse, etc. and at the same time to put the teachers' greatest efforts into raising the students' self esteem. Why the morph of schools from places of intellectualism to places of inappropriate therapy administered by teachers untrained in such a field? The answer is the monopoly of the beauracracy, its greed, and its inability to exclude objectives in the curriculum proposed by various lobbyist groups who really don't know a thing about education. Sykes does not shield us from the harsh truth.
Rice, Anne. Vittorio the Vampire: New Tales of the Vampires. New York: Random House Large Print, 1999. Print. Vittorio The Vampire is a historical fiction novel that tells in enchanting detail the story of how Vittorio was transormed into a demonic vampire. While his wealthy, well-known family and all of the other residents in his area are brutally maimed and murdered by a group of the demons, Vittorio is spared by the wishes of one vampire, Ursula, who cannot bare to let die who she seems to fall in love with at first sight. Yet Vittorio feels not enough mercy to be forgiving, and wishes to kill every vampire there is. After one failed attempt, he returns by day with the aid this time of guardian angels and slaughters all but Ursula, who he finds he truly cannot kill. Ironically, she awakens only to turn Vittorio into a vampire, yet their love prevails.
Ruiz, Miguel. The Mastery of Love: A Practical Guide to The Art of Relationship. San Rafael, CA: Amber-Allen Pub., 1999. Print. This incredible self-help book teaches the huge importance of putting self-love first as well as why most relationships fail to reach their potential or fail altogether. The book explains the reasons for the wars of control that develop in our relationships, and why suffering in these wars is unnesecary. Emotional suffering is a choice the victim makes. However, if this choice is so simple, why is it that we humans are all so infected with wounds and in turn harmful fears? It is because we have been taught to cling to our wounds, rather than heal them. The Mastery of Love unviels the magnificent truth behind human emotional suffering.
