Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


Cheese the day.

Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

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Flowers for Algernon tells the story of Charlie, a man born with intellectual limitations (he reportedly has an IQ under 70), who spends his days trying to learn how to read and write, while working in a bakery. During his studies, he’s identified as having a particular drive to learn which qualifies him to participate in a research experiment. The experiment is not explained in detail, but the reader is led to understand that the experiment will help increase Charlie’s mental capacities. The experiment is […]

Thank God for books and music and things I can think about.

Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

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I always hated this movie, and I think I liked the play when I was younger. But I am mixed again on the book itself. Like the Simpsons episode that parodies it, this book is about Charley, a young man with a significant cognitive disability who begins undergoing a series of experimental treatments to repair and bypass the damage of his disability. As this takes hold he is more able to understand his world, the people in it, and the world of academic knowledge, complex […]

“There are so many doors to open. I am impatient to begin.”

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I remember reading this back in middle school, but I don’t remember it being quite so long, so maybe we didn’t read a different version? I liked it at the time though, and it definitely holds up well (especially considering it was written in 1959 — you’d probably never guess). “How strange it is that people of honest feelings and sensibilty, who would not take advantage of a man born without arms or legs or eyes—how such people think nothing of abusing a man with […]

Would this book become a classic if it were published today?

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Quickie summary: “In this classic story that inspired the hit movie by the same name, Charlie Gordon, a mentally disabled adult who cleans floors and toilets, becomes a genius through an experimental operation.” I never read this in school, as I believe many did, so though I came to understand popular references to the book or film, I still felt like I was lacking in some collective education. One thought that continually ran through my mind as I was reading the story was the question […]



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