What's the name of these books?

[GatorDeb]

In one book, there's this island of children with this mean man who keeps them hostage. The story is told by one of the children who always describes himself as being made of stone. He gets into a fight with one of the other boys and their master plays off of it. The main character has a sidekick who is very timid and quiet. For some reason the word "Falcon" keeps popping up in my mind, as well as the word "Stone."

The second book is about this guy who's going to Harvard Medical school and the chunk I read is about his first year. Charley's his name, I believe (true biographical account). He buys a new bicycle, rides it once, it gets too cold, it stays in the closet where he looks at it, then rides it one more time to the Texaco sign and it gets stolen. At the end of the excerpt I read he describes the first year graduation party and the professor's heads bopping up and down ridiculously. He states in the book that it's not about learning but just memorizing and a friend fails a certain class and has to retake it in the vacation time. He asks her after vacation if she learned it and she responds 'Charley stop messing with me you know med school is not about learning.'

This other book is a genetics book that has a LOT of illustrations - it's written comic-book style, but it's a serious introductory college-level genetics book.

How about books about people who turned their lives around in the later years of their lives? Who built empires and businesses and wrote books in the 50's, 60's, 70's?

Thanks! :)

[12thmonkey]

Originally posted by GatorDeb

How about books about people who turned their lives around in the later years of their lives? Who built empires and businesses and wrote books in the 50's, 60's, 70's?



Maybe not exactly what you're looking for, but very close:

What Should I Do with My Life? -- by Po Bronson

or

Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do - by Studs Terkel


Both solid reads about working and life choices...

[GatorDeb]

I wrote that the protagonist was Charley, and he was writing about the first year of medical school. It described how Charley asked a classmate if she had finally learned something because she passed a class and she berated him that they were not there to learn but rather to pass a test. It also described a party with their heads bobbing up and down (and now that I have it I'm remembering more like a shunt and the bike getting stolen and the red Texaco sign).

I read an excerpt (stapled pieces of paper) back in 2000, and wanted to read the whole thing.

Well I had the idea to go to the professor's website, and he STILL uses that book! (I didn't want to email him) So I read a current syllabus and got the name of the book: GENTLE VENGEANCE by CHARLES LEBARON.

It came in from the library. I was sitting in my car, opened it, and I literally got chills up my spine. It was (and is) all I could/can do to keep from reading it since I work tonight and have hours and hours to read there. I got chills :D