Feed

Anderson, M.T. Feed. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick Press, 2002.

Audience: Teen/Young Adult

Genre:  Cyber fantasy, Distopian

Topics of Focus: Consumerism, youth culture, human impact on environment

Red Flags: Corperate greed, destroyed environment, political corruption/ inaction.

  

Feed paints an eerie picture of a dystopian future in which the lives of many Americans are completely centered on their “feeds”-- transmitters implanted directly into their brains. The natural environment has become completely inhabitable to humans, forcing them to live in closed-off cities, where everything is artificial. The Internet has evolved into the Feednet, a network that connects the brains of all Feed users, making privacy a thing of the past. People have become nothing more than customers to the mega corporations that control mainstream society. Any semblance of a truly democratic or collective government has been completely undermined by these corporations, and the politicians are no more than puppets who do their best to hide everything that’s going on. 

Annotation by Joe Woods

An Unquiet Mind

Jamison, Kay Redfield. An Unquiet Mind, a Memoir of Moods and Madness. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2006.

 

Audience: Memoir lovers and mood survivors, this book is for the adult crowd.

Genre:  Memoir

Topics of Focus:  Manic depression and moods, their personal effects on the author and her educational life.

Red Flags:  Sexuality, violence and drug use are mentioned lightly throughout this book.

            

An Unquiet Mind was a powerful book full of bitter truth and hope. Kay Redfield Jamison lets us in on her life of moods and the turmoil it can cause not only the victim but everyone around the person it is happening to. The book was a little preachy on government-regulated drugs but didn’t try to hide the fact that most psychiatrists have no idea what they are doing. I found Jamison’s voice strong and permanent throughout. She was clear and precise with what she had to say and didn’t try to color it to hide her mistakes. Jamison never went into great deal about her personal life for it wasn’t a memoir about her, but about her illness.  Manic depression is a serious disease that has been overlooked and treated poorly for too long. I can see why it would be easy to over look it; I mean the victim never really knows she has it. Maybe every once in a blue moon she will notice something is very wrong in her mind, but it’s scary to think your mind is messed up. It’s safer and much easier to pretend like everything is normal, for no one could love a sick person. And no one wants to be alone. 

Annotation by Mary Jane Baxter

Work in Progress

My Reading & Writing Workshop students are currently writing their book annotations for texts read during the second quarter section of the course.   Once editing is complete, those annotations will be posted here.   Please keep checking back here to see what the students think about the books they read.