this month i read these two books at the same time - one night, a couple chapters of one…the next night, a couple chapters of the other. somehow it worked out like that…maybe because some nights the idea of reading columbine was too sad, while other nights i pored over it and didn't mind that i occasionally got teary-eyed.
all creatures great and small, by james herriot (though my parents own all of james herriot's books [this is what happens when you grow up on a farm], i had only read occasional stories, and it was so fun to pick up this book from the library and read it front to back. he is an amazing storyteller, and having miss ruby around made me appreciate some of these stories more than i might have otherwise. sprinkled throughout the book is the story of meeting his wife, which was so sweet and so funny. i had thought of herriot as a writer of animal stories, but this book is really a memoir of his first years of being a vet - much more than a collection of stories. i would highly recommend this book! short chapters, too - perfect reading while you're traveling.)
columbine, by dave cullen (i cannot recommend this book highly enough…i found it FASCINATING. it's the story of the shooting at columbine high school, and it's not the story you remember from watching the news. the story i remember: two misfit boys who played first-person violent video games and wore black trench coats all the time decided to kill the popular kids at their high school. that's what the media reported…and most of that is not true. the reality is a lot more complex. cullen also tells the story of how the police and FBI responded, and they made some crucial mistakes; post-columbine, "active shooter" protocols have been developed in response to the critique that the police didn't move in fast enough, costing some people their lives. fact: the shooters killed themselves 20 minutes after entering the school. the police didn't enter for 4 more hours. woah. read this book.)
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