Can you edit this for me? PLEASE? I will love you forever!!!?

OK, here's my first run through of how I would do it. I think the major flaw in your piece is your criticism of the basketball book - you like a certain type of novel and this was a textbook on a subject that you're not interested in. I don't think this came out clearly enough, leaving me wondering, at first read-through, whether it was actually a novel that was classified as a textbook. But trying to make more of your material presented a problem - there is very little apart from the very basic. What are the author's credentials - was he a well known player? If he was, his opinions would have value. What else (if anything) has he written? Is the book a best seller in its league? A bit of internet research would answer all that. Does the book contain pictures? tables? interesting anecdotes? All this would give your commentary more substance to balance against your review of the novel. Failing that, I would advise against trying to pad out meagre information - it detracts from the good stuff and loses your focus and clarity.

Your commentary on House Rules was great, though I wonder whether you might have mentioned the main plot point that the book revolves around someone with Asberger's syndrome being suspected of murder. However, I have tried to keep your main points intact without adding to them.

------My edit of your review starts here------

From the summer reading assignment I have chosen Rachel's recommendation, House Rules by Jodi Picoult as a novel that I most want to buy and The Book of Basketball, recommended by Sam and written by Bill Simmons as the book that I least want to own.

House Rules has a well-known and likeable author, mysterious elements, enthralling action scenes and twists and a storyline that would entertain me. Basketball simply revolves around aspects of a sport that I have no interest in by an author I am unfamiliar with. It does not portray a chronicle or plot, just views on, and a history of, the sport of basketball.

From the moment Rachel mentioned that Jodi Picoult wrote House Rules, I became intrigued. I have thoroughly enjoyed other literature of hers including My Sister’s Keeper, Harvesting the Heart, 19 Minutes and Keeping Faith. I am currently reading Songs of the Humpback Whale.

I've noticed that one of Jodi Picoult's recurring writing styles is to create separate chapters and sections with dissimilar points of view, adding perspective and insight to her characters. She also includes environments that should be familiar to her readers, adding to their involvement in the story even when the situations she describes are outside their personal experiences. House Rules includes these elements to the full.

Little recognition came to mind when my classmate, Sam, referenced Bill Simmons, so I could not anticipate whether I would appreciate his composition technique. The sole information I gathered was his use of humor and his references to pop culture, neither of which are necessities for my reading experience.

Not only did I appreciate Picoult and fail to identify Simmons well, but the underlying themes of House Rules are attention-grabbing as opposed to The Book of Basketball which is a subject in which I have no interest. Picoult’s novel essentially presents itself as a murder mystery, with [occasionally] helpful hints, and extreme twists that leave the reader in shock. The enigmatic features suggested are, to say the least, very appealing. Rachel also mentioned that a chase scene amplified the book’s charm, which sparked my curiosity. The story provides a thick plotline and fits within the fictional genre. I tend to adore novels that keep me confused and dying to learn more and House Rules does that in spades. The Book of Basketball, being a textbook, obviously does not do that. It is heavily opinionated and so, I believe, forfeits any claim to be an authoritative book on the subject. Even at the level of a repository of information I found it to be very dull reading. My imagination was simply not fired by random facts about what is, to me, a boring subject.

In summary, I have read a number of Jodi Picoult’s absolute masterpieces, and have loved each of them uniquely. Without a doubt, House Rules would be no exception. It includes aspects such as plot twists, mystery, and switching perspectives that I have grown to truly welcome as I’ve explored various genres. The Book of Basketball by Bill Simmons is a textbook on a subject I have no interest in, and it does not redeem itself by its writing style, content or any of the many other things that could have been employed to make the book interesting to a non-enthusiast. I will be heading to a bookstore in the near future, but only for the novel.