Blog #70 – What have you been reading?
Usually once a year, I check in to see what you guys and gals are reading for fun – outside of class / school. My hope is that you are finding something to read, whether it be YA fiction, non fiction, manga, biographies, or other stuff. Here’s a couple of things that I’ve read recently:
1. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel – This is a post-apocalyptic story that doesn’t really focus on the future, it focuses on the characters before the epidemic flu event that wipes out 99% of the population. The book starts on a night in Toronto before the flu hit when a famous actor playing King Lear dies of a heart attack on stage in the fourth act. The story follows one of the young actresses, Kirsten, who survives the flu. Twenty years after the flu, she is part of a traveling symphony / actors’ guild that tours what’s left of Michigan along the coasts of Lakes Michigan and Huron. But the story also follows the famous actor and how he started out as a fledgling actor doing commercials then moving up to small roles in films. It’s a really good story that is more of a grown up dystopian novel that doesn’t have a teenaged girl as its main protagonist (Hunger Games, Divergent). There are several well-rounded characters who you end up caring about after the novel is done.
2. The Secret History of Wonder Woman by Jill Lepore. This is a strange story about the creator of WW, an experimental psychologist who also happened to be a huge feminist in the 1920s, 30s, and 40s. William Marston met and married his high school sweetheart and both studied psychology in college. His wife, Sadie, was a liberated woman of the time period who wanted everything, a career, family, and a husband, but didn’t want to sacrifice work in order to have children. So, William and Sadie bring another woman into their marriage, Olive, who will raise their children but also be married to William too. Between Sadie and Olive, William is the father of four kids and lives with two wives. Out of this interesting mix, Marston goes on to create Wonder Woman who is a reflection of his two wives and also a reflection of suffrage literature. The early WW, along with Batman and Superman, were the most popular comics in the 1930s and 40s until the backlash came out against comics in the 1950s. Wonder Woman has been used as a feminist symbol since the late 1960s, especially when she appeared on the cover of the first issue of Ms. Magazine in 1972. 
Until this book was put together by Lepore, the whole story of WW’s origins and her creator has never been completely told, especially because the Marston family had been uncomfortable with the arrangement of Sadie and Olive as wives of Dr. Marston.
Your job for this blog is discuss one book that you have read within the past year that you really enjoyed. If you’d like, you can pick a book that you want to read and tell us why you want to read it. Whatever option you choose, tell us how you first heard about the book, and why you liked it (or want to read it). I’d prefer that you not use something that you’ve read for school, because I’m trying to promote outside school reading.
In the past year I have read many books, but one in particular stands vividly in my memory. This book was called Ask the Passengers, by A.S. King. My best friend is named Eliana and she goes to IA so I don’t get to see her or talk to her that often. But when we were little we used to meet at the library and pick out the same book and race to see who could read it the fastest. Now that we are older, and don’t really care who can read faster, we still enjoy reading books together and talking about them. It’s kind of corny, but it’s a little way that we can stay connected when we don’t see each other. Eliana recommended this book to me and so obviously I went to the library and started reading it. I read the entire book in about 2 hours sitting in a chair at the library. The book follows the life of Astrid Jones. Astrid is in high school, and she lives a pretty lonely life. Astrid grew up in New York, which I am insanely jealous of, but her mom suddenly decided to move to a tiny farm town to ‘find her family roots’. Astrid misses her ‘home’ as she keeps repeating, and doesn’t like her current condition. Astrid goes to school and has little friends because she is very opinionated and has a strong personality. Astrid’s family life is lonely because her mother has a close relationship with Astrid’s sister and completely ignores her, while her dad is barely ever around. Astrid finds comfort in sitting out in the backyard and sending messages to the passengers in the planes above her, as kind of a game. She asks them questions and sends ‘love’ to their lives, as she puts it. Through the book Astrid is faced with more and more problems and conflicts that she has to deal with and she copes with this through the planes. The concept is a little weird, but the coolest thing about is the format. The book is written as one chapter from Astrid’s point of view and then the chapter ends with a question. The next chapter is from the point of view of one of the passengers on the plane, and as the book progresses the passengers start to answer the previous question with their own life stories and memories. The book is written so at the beginning the passenger seems distant and their stories don’t really have anything to do with Astrid’s issues, but as the book progresses the passenger becomes closer and closer to Astrid’s life. The book offers lots of advice and guidance for someone around my age to make the most of their life even with the problems it may hold. Overall I thought the book was great, and a really quick read. I really enjoyed it and I think many other people would enjoy it too, if you’re into that feel good girly stuff.
Over the past year I have read the novel Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. I heard about it from my dad and recommended me to read it. The book is about the story of Wade Watts in the year 2044-after the world was left in a really bad state from polution and neglect. Wade Watts logs in to the virtual reality world OASIS nearly everyone preoccupies themselves with, and spends his days attending school through there and hunting for the creator of the simulator(Halliday)’s hidden treasures. Whoever can manage to posses all of the treasures gets all of Halliday’s fortunes (he didn’t have a successor, so he decided to entrust his fortune with one who knew most about him, his treasures required vast knowledge of him and his likes to obtain). I love the book due to the vast amount of genres it presents like action, adventure and mystery for starters, the wealth of clever writing and the humor is well presented, and its many references to other media. The book constantly references 80’s and 90’s stuff, usually video games. The writing is well done and makes you feel like you are also supposed to find out the mystery as well.
The best book I have read this year, and arguably my favorite book of all time is called Firefly Lane, by Kristin Hannah. I found this book, a realistic fiction novel, on a whim in the library and thought it looked interesting, having not heard of it before at the time. It is so well written that it to this day remains the only book written so powerfully that it made me cry. The story follows two girls from 1974, where they are 14. Both are fighting their own battles: Tully’s against her negligent mother and Kate’s against her own shy loneliness. When the two become friends the course of their lives change and their friendship becomes the anchor in their world, holding them together. The story travels through the seventies, to the eighties, then the nineties and finishes in the mid 2000s. The author paints a picture of the characters and keeps adding and changing and developing who the girls are as people as they age, mature and grow into adults, influenced in many ways by the decade in which they reside. Standing side by side through college, heartbreak, marriage, careers and children, Tully and Kate evolve whilst still staying true to the girls at the beginning of the story. It was incredibly well written, and had gripping dialogue that seemed remarkably realistic. As the story grew darker or sadder, the tendency to turn melodramatic was avoided in the book, and that made it all the more enjoyable to read. I found myself laughing and crying along with Tully and Kate and this was new for me, because normally books don’t evoke such strong emotion from me. I thoroughly adored this book and I look forward to finding more by the same author.
The most recent book that I have finished is Lone Survivor by Marcus Luttrell. The story is a about the Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10. I thought the beginning of the book where the only survivor and author of the book, Marcus Luttrell, talked about his childhood and his preparation for getting ready to become a Navy SEAL was boring but interesting. It was neat seeing how hard he was pushed by his trainer Billy Shelton and how some of compared to my life with football.
After his training with Billy, he had to do even more training to pass the test to become a SEAL. After becoming a SEAL he starts talking about his new posting in an area of Afghanistan called the Hindu Kush Mountains. On the way there he talks about his three other team mates and their lives out of the Navy SEALS. Eventually he gets to the point where he starts to talk about the mission. Their mission was to watch a village and capture/kill a leading Taliban member thought to be allied with Osama bin Laden.
When they were scoping out the village three local goat herders stumbled across the team so they had to capture the goat herders because they didn’t know if they were part of the Taliban or not. This was a big part of the book because it could mean life or death. They couldn’t keep them tied up forever because their friends or family might notice they were gone. Protocol said to kill them but the SEAL team didn’t listen and let them go. Later that afternoon, after they had been released for a while, a huge group of Taliban are on top of a hill above the Navy SEAL team. This stars the really long battle. Marcus watches his other team mates go one by one and eventually he is the only one left. There is a lot of falling down mountains and getting shot at but he finally makes it to safety in the arms of a local villager who shelters him and does his best to protect him. Finally he gets out of Afghanistan and back home to his family. All of America thought that he and his team were all goners including his own parents, so when he arrived home his parents were thrilled. This was a really good book in my opinion it was just slow at the beginning. I recommend it to anyone who likes a lot of action in their books.
This past year I have read one of the best books i have ever had the pleasure of picking up. The book is titled The Plot Against America By Phillip Roth. The theme of this book is an alternative history book where FDR is defeated in the 1940 election by Aviator Charles Lindbergh. The novel follows the presidency of Lindbergh, which is marked by anti semitism and an “agreement” between Adolf Hitler, and Lindbergh. The agreement states that the U.S. is to not interfere with German expansion in Europe. There is also an agreement signed with imperial Japan stating the US can’t interfere with Japanese expansion into Asia. Throughout the book a new government program is started which rounds up all of the Jewish boys and sends them to camps in order to “Americanize” them. I will save you the ending and middle of the book to read yourself. I first heard about this book when i got it as a gift for my birthday. I could not be more happy with this book, it has a lot of action and suspense throughout the entire book. Finally, I would very highly recommend this book that is in for a great adventure novel with a touch of history.
I’ve read quite a few books this past year that I could rave about, but there is one that has earned itself a special place in my heart. This book was “Lord of Snow and Shadows” by Sarah Ash. It is the first book in the Tears of Artamon series. The first thing that I need to say is that I found this book out of nowhere. I had gone to the Baldwin Public Library to look for a particular Isaac Asimov book, I could also write in great depth about this but that’s beside the point, in the science fiction section of the library. As I looked to see if it was there I noticed some interesting cover art on a book. I picked it up and took a look at it. It had a snow owl in the foreground and an intimidating castle looming behind it. While I know not to judge a book by its cover, it certainly had gotten me interested, the summary sounded intriguing, and the reviews were extremely positive. I was unable to find the book that I was looking for, so I decided to read the book, which turned out to be more fantasy than science fiction, while I waited to get a copy. This was to be one of the best decisions that I would make all year. I have to admit that I was underwhelmed at the first few chapters. The prologue detailed the death of a warrior and the release of a mysterious spirit, so that was an ok opening. However the initial action gave way to what seemed to be a horribly rushed and artificial romance plot which took not even the first three chapters for both parties to be head-over-heels for the other. Needless to say, I wasn’t really enjoying it that much. But then the prologue story caught up with the present day. It was a welcome change of pace from what I had read so far, but I still couldn’t shake that odd feeling about the romance and how forced it felt. Within due time, I was introduced to a diverse world and met many unique characters. I was shown a collection of nations all existing within a power struggle to unite all of them under one flag. There was mystery and action but never too much of either to spoil their effect when they were used. Several subplots developed including; the story of a mother’s journey to find her lost son, a family grieving over the death of its oldest son, a boy trying to fill the role his father left for him, and many more. There was some new romance that came into play and it was finely crafted. As the story progressed, it seemed to get better at every turn, but still it kept coming back to the painfully artificial romance sub-plot from the start of the book. I thought that it was horrendous how the perfectly good story that was being unfolded before my eyes was being tainted by such an awfully crafted romance. But then it happened. Sarah Ash was able to seamlessly explain why that specific romance was so artificial and awkward within the narrative. This served not only as a redeeming factor for the book, but it also raised the book to a new standard of excellence for me. It was about at that point in the novel that I began to realize the true brilliance behind the book. The romance was not a sub-plot to the story of Gavril; instead the romance and Gavril’s “story” as a whole were merely events that were occurring in the great overarching story of the land of Rossiya. The story that is achieved within the book is an amazing spectacle to behold. Every action, no matter how small, has consequences down the road. Every character, no matter how seemingly insignificant can change the fate of the world by their actions. Sarah Ash also makes it clear that the events of set in motion by the people living in Rossiya will occur, regardless if a character is alive to see the actions through. Yes, this is a book in which both major and minor characters can die in a page turn and the story still goes on. I do not have words to describe how perfect this book is. Greater still is my praise for the series, which goes further in exploring the people of Rossiya, as well as some other non-Rossiyan characters, and the events that transpire in their midst. The book does a wonderful job at conveying passion, both with the purest and most sinister of intentions. This is a book that belongs in a class of its own and is one of those special kinds of books that will alter your perspective about the world after you’ve finished it. Reading this book is an experience that I cannot translate into writing and sadly I am not able to convey either the tone or passion that I would like to speak with mere words on a screen in regards to the utter genius of this book. There is a reason that this book is so special to me when compared to the other two in the series. This reason is that the book came to me from literally nowhere and proceeded to engulf me so much within the story and the world that it created that I put off reading the book that I had originally intended to read until I had gotten to the very last page of the very last novel. I know that I have spoken to several people about reading this series before and I hope that if you have taken the time to go through and try to get a better grasp of what makes this book a masterpiece you will be willing to give this book a try. To everyone I say that if you enjoy; a mystery, an adventure, fantasy, political intrigue, corrupt love, true and pure love, a cast of one-of-a-kind characters, magic, mad science, gun-play, a rich world filled with lore, an unparalleled story, life-changing experiences, personal struggles, personal growth, battles of good and evil, blurring the lines between good and evil, supernatural occurrences, tales of hope, understanding what makes you unique, coming of age stories, and basically anything good on God’s green Earth, I can wholeheartedly recommend this book to you. Seriously though, read this book.
Within the past year, the most recent book that I have read was Looking for Alaska by John Green. Originally, I was going to read this book for the summer reading book, but I ended up choosing a different book so I thought that I should read it and see why it had gotten such good reviews from others. So I did. I liked this book in a lot of ways including that the plot and adventures in the book got you really involved and interested. This book is about a boy name Miles who starts at a new boarding school, where he knows nobody. On his first day however, Miles meets this beautiful girl named Alaska. Not after too long he becomes really close to his new friend Alaska and his roommate. The three friends do all sorts of things from playing pranks on the many people they don’t like to breaking in to offices and stealing report cards. When a tragedy strikes, Miles and his roommate must put all the pieces together to solve this mystery. Without their help, the whole thing may have remained a mystery, forever. I thought that this book was a really good book and that it lived up to his other books reputations.
This past year I have read many books, but the one I favor above all others is one I recently got called How to Fall in Love by Cecilia Ahern. I came across this book in a small, secluded book shop in London that one of my friends who lives in the city was telling me about. I didn’t really have that much time to look through books, so I just went to the young adult section and picked a random book and this one happened to be it. It is about a girl called Christine who lives in Ireland and one night stumbles upon a man, Adam, that is about to commit suicide via jumping off a bridge. Christine then makes a crazy deal with him. His 35th birthday is looming and she bets him she can show him that life is worth living before then. They go on many wild adventures and romantic escapades throughout this book, but I won’t spoil too much for you. I’m not completely finished with it yet, I still have a few more pages, but it’s been nothing but great thus far and I hope to read more books from this author as it seems that she has written about 10+ others. Even if you are not particularly into mushy lovey-dovey kinds of novels, I still suggest this one because it also gives you a great deal of adventurous parts and talks about life in general, giving you advice on being happy and ultimately living life to the fullest.
Apocalypse. Martians. Romance. Cults. Omnipotent, Interstellar Beings. These are all elements of Spin by Robert Charles Wilson, one of my favorite books. I began to dig into this novel after a teacher recommended it to me. I could not put this book down. I read Spin while getting my braces off, in the car, and between classes. Spin has suspense, action, with a hint of romance. In this book, characters use real science and mathematics to solve problems. In the beginning of Spin, satellites no longer function, thusly eliminating cellular communications. To adapt to this setback, enterprising businessmen create a service that uses long-term weather balloons as a replacement. Another reason I venerate Spin is because the characters demonstrate friendship as well as determination and ambition; three values that I cherish and hope to emulate.
The engaging sci-fi novel follows the life of Tyler Dupree and his friends Jason and Diane Lawton. These three southerners were only children when the nighttime sky went dark. There were no stars and no moon. The next day, an artificial sun appeared in an artificially blue sky. As the three main characters grow up, they discover what happened that fateful night. Jason becomes the lead scientist at an organization, Perihelion, devoted to ascertaining the truth, Tyler becomes the doctor and health advisor for Perihelion, and Diane joins a religious cult. Life proceeds as normal as it can until Jason finally realizes what happened. A membrane had been placed around the Earth, which now spins at a way faster rate than normal- speeding up the relative time on Earth in comparison to the rest of the solar system. This comes with unexpected questions. Who placed the spin membranes? Why? And what happens when the sun expands and envelopes the Earth in only a few decades? Read Spin by Robert Charles Wilson to find out.
Other books that I would recommend: What if? By Randall Munroe, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou, and Texts from Jane Eyre by Mallory Ortberg.
One of my favorite books that I have read in the past year is The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. I had heard about it from lots of other people before, but forgot about it until the movie came out and then decided to read it. It’s about an orphaned girl, Liesel, who moves in with a new foster family. The book shows Liesel’s coming of age story as she grows up in Nazi Germany. As soon as Liesel get comfortable in her new surroundings, her “papa” teaches her how to read. Soon, that’s all Liesel ever wants to do. Her papa buys her some books but is too poor to buy her very many. Liesel ends up befriending one of the neighborhood boys, Rudy, and he helps her steal books from the mayor’s house so she can read more often. All of this goes on while her family hides a Jewish man in their house. Her family works to keep him healthy and safe, hidden in their basement. Throughout the book, Liesel faces poverty, hunger, fear, sadness, loneliness but also excitement and love. She gets a family who adores her and even falls in love. It’s definitely not a light read but I would highly recommend The Book Thief.
Over the past year I’ve read some great books, but above all, the best was “Gone Girl” by Gillian Flynn. The novel is told from two perspectives, a husband (Nick) and his wife (Amy). Nick’s perspective is told in the present, while Amy’s perspective is told in past tense through a diary. It’s Nick and Amy’s wedding anniversary and they had a fight the night before, causing Nick to leave the house quickly in the morning. Nick returns to his house later in the morning to find Amy missing, lots of blood found in the house and signs of a struggle, leading all the people in town to believe Nick murdered his wife. Amy’s diary expresses that she was scared of her husband which makes him the primary suspect in the case. As the novel continued, the story becomes more and more twisted as you learn about the pasts of the characters. You are compelled to continue reading as the story to find out what really happened to the Amy and what is true about Nick. Your view of the characters is completely opposite than your original thoughts by the second half of the novel. I highly recommend this book if you like mystery, suspense and there is also a movie which was released in the fall.
Over the Summer I read a book entitled “Looking for Alaska” by John Green. I chose to talk about this book because it was recently announced that the movie is going to be made and, frankly, this is the book I remember the most about. Though it’s wasn’t one of my favorite books, it was funny and I like John Green’s writing style. The book is written on two parts, Before and After and through the book the reader tries to figure what happens, before what? After what? In the novel the main character, Miles Halter, is sent off to a bordering school in search of “The Great Perhaps”. At the school he makes friends and has quite an…experience. He becomes friends with his trouble making roommate and he introduces Miles to Alaska, Miles’s dream girl. Though Alaska is screwed up like about everyone else in this story, Miles and almost everyone else can’t get enough of her and her crazy mood swings. Miles and his new friends do many things at the boarding school that are new to Miles, including pranks, alcohol and smoking cigarettes. As the reader watches Miles grow and the relationship between Alaska and Miles progress. As they do they silently hope Miles will get the girl and live happily every after. But because this is a John Green novel, that does not happen. So what does happen? Why is the book written the way it is? Does Miles find his “Great Perhaps”? Read Looking for Alaska by John Green to find out.
Over the past year, I read a book called tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom. The book follows a man named Mitch, and his reconciliation with his old college professor, Morrie Schwartz. Mitch lost contact with Morrie after he graduated, breaking his promise to his beloved professor to keep in touch. Mitch discovers that Morrie was diagnosed and dying of ALS,a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord.The progressive degeneration of the motor neurons in ALS eventually leads to death. Knowing that Morrie was dying, Mitch visited Morrie in his study every Tuesday, just as they used to back in college. Their rekindled relationship turned into one final “class”, lessons on how to live. Mitch and Morrie talk about everything; life, death, fear, aging, greed, marriage, family, forgiveness, and how to live a meaningful life. I heard about the book from my friend Jacqueline who had read it a while before me, she enjoyed it and recommended it. I liked the book because it made you think about a lot of things like your relationships with your friends and family, how fortunate you are to have everything that you had, and how you should live life to the fullest because you only have so long. The book also opened up my eyes to the world of ALS, which I had only had a little knowledge about thanks to the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge over the summer.
Too much of the time, I find myself really disliking reading. I do not know what it is, but I can hardly ever get myself to finish a book and if I do it takes months to finish. This book, who my friend practically forced me to read, finally made me enjoy reading suprisingly. The book was called Two Way Street by Lauren Barnholdt and I do not know what exactly made the book all that interesting, since it was the typical “teenage girl” book, but something about the story kept me reading until the end. The story is about a girl named Courtney and a boy named Jordan who were once dating, but then broke up. The problem was that they planned a cross-country trip to the college they are both going to and it is too late to cancel. Both of them end up going on the trip together only for secrets to come out as to why they broke up in the first place. This book was written in a very cool way. Each chapter was written from either Courtney or Jordan’s perspective. For the first few chapters the format made it a bit confusing, but as I got used to the way it was written, I thoroughly enjoyed the book. This book was one of the few books that I enjoyed reading outside of school.Too much of the time, I find myself really disliking reading. I do not know what it is, but I can hardly ever get myself to finish a book and if I do it takes months to finish. This book, who my friend practically forced me to read, finally made me enjoy reading suprisingly. The book was called Two Way Street by Lauren Barnholdt and I do not know what exactly made the book all that interesting, since it was the typical “teenage girl” book, but something about the story kept me reading until the end. The story is about a girl named Courtney and a boy named Jordan who were once dating, but then broke up. The problem was that they planned a cross-country trip to the college they are both going to and it is too late to cancel. Both of them end up going on the trip together only for secrets to come out as to why they broke up in the first place. This book was written in a very cool way. Each chapter was written from either Courtney or Jordan’s perspective. For the first few chapters the format made it a bit confusing, but as I got used to the way it was written, I thoroughly enjoyed the book. This book was one of the few books that I enjoyed reading outside of school.Too much of the time, I find myself really disliking reading. I do not know what it is, but I can hardly ever get myself to finish a book and if I do it takes months to finish. This book, who my friend practically forced me to read, finally made me enjoy reading suprisingly. The book was called Two Way Street by Lauren Barnholdt and I do not know what exactly made the book all that interesting, since it was the typical “teenage girl” book, but something about the story kept me reading until the end. The story is about a girl named Courtney and a boy named Jordan who were once dating, but then broke up. The problem was that they planned a cross-country trip to the college they are both going to and it is too late to cancel. Both of them end up going on the trip together only for secrets to come out as to why they broke up in the first place. This book was written in a very cool way. Each chapter was written from either Courtney or Jordan’s perspective. For the first few chapters the format made it a bit confusing, but as I got used to the way it was written, I thoroughly enjoyed the book. This book was one of the few books that I enjoyed reading outside of school.Too much of the time, I find myself really disliking reading. I do not know what it is, but I can hardly ever get myself to finish a book and if I do it takes months to finish. This book, who my friend practically forced me to read, finally made me enjoy reading surprisingly. The book was called Two Way Street by Lauren Barnholdt and I do not know what exactly made the book all that interesting, since it was the typical “teenage girl” book, but something about the story kept me reading until the end. The story is about a girl named Courtney and a boy named Jordan who were once dating, but then broke up. The problem was that they planned a cross-country trip to the college they are both going to and it is too late to cancel. Both of them end up going on the trip together only for secrets to come out as to why they broke up in the first place. This book was written in a very cool way. Each chapter was written from either Courtney or Jordan’s perspective. For the first few chapters the format made it a bit confusing, but as I got used to the way it was written, I thoroughly enjoyed the book. This book was one of the few books that I enjoyed reading outside of school.
This past summer I read the book, “The Glass Castle” by Jeannette Walls. It’s an autobiography/memoir and its one of my favorite books. Its fascinating because it is about her crazy childhood and even crazier parents. It’s interesting to see how her feelings toward her parents change throughout the story. I found this book on the recommended reading list because we had to read a book by an american author over the summer. I read “If I Stay” as my assigned book, but I didn’t like it very much. I never ended up actually doing an assignment with that book anyways, but even if I had, I read “Glass Castle just for fun”. I really like reading for fun, but I never seem to have time. when I do have spare time all I want to do is relax and do mindless things because of how much I do on a regular basis. I did find time to read one other memoir, however, inspired by an in class assignment but not an actual assignment. The book is called “Girl, Interrupted” by Susanna Katsen. Its about a girl with a personality disorder who was put into a mental house for two years (it was supposed to be a few weeks). I liked both of these books because some of the content is more mature and serious and I feel like I’ve been shielded and protected from real world occurrences until just recently. The books about tragedy and unfortunate situations are a lot more meaningful than all the cheesy love stories that are so easy to find today.
Over the past year the book that I have wanted to read is “Unbroken” by Laura Hillenbrand. I recently saw this movie in the theaters and it was one of the best movies I’ve ever seen, especially war movies next to “Black Hawk Down” and ‘Lone Survivor”. The book takes place at the time of World War 2 and the main character is Louis Zamperini an olympic US runner who is put into the war in the air force. Louis and his crew go on a rescue mission only to find out that two of the plane’s engines are blown out. The plane crashes into the ocean and only three men survive, including Louis. Louis and his two crew mates spent 47 days on the sea. One of the men died after the plane crash. On the 48th day of being at sea the two men were discovered by a Japanese ship. The men were transported to an unknown prison camp in the middle of a jungle. After a couple months of being captivity the two men were shipped to two different camps away from each other. Louis was no living in a POW camp in some rural area of Japan. After numerous torturing and camp switching the war was finally over and Olympic runner Louis Zamperini returned back to his home town to see his family. I found out about this movie/book from my mom. My mom told me to see this movie because she knew I loved war movies.
I literally have an entire bookcase of books waiting to be read. Did I finally select one from the crowded shelves? Nope! I bought yet another one and enjoyed it immensely. The book is the first in George R.R. Martin’s series “A Song of Ice and Fire, A Game of Thrones.” Before reading the book, I heard very little about it; all I had known was that it was a popular new TV show. I had put it in my mental list of books to read. Then over the summer, while on a history tour with my dad, we were in a book store in Savannah, GA and I happened to see this book.
I promptly sat down on the floor and started reading. I read the summary on the back and the first few pages of the prologue before I asked my dad to buy it for me (along with a few others) as a souvenir. This book provided wonderful entertainment on the boat ride to and from my visit to Fort Sumter in Charleston, SC. Game of Thrones is set in medieval time in a land where magic and mythological creatures roam the Seven Kingdoms. In the beginning of the story, the hand of the king, Lord Arryn, dies a sudden and suspicious death. Lord Eddard or Ned Stark, a good friend of the king, becomes the new hand of the king because he is well trusted. While in that position, Ned pursues the cause of his predecessor’s mysterious death. While this drama and intrigue is going on, there is a looming threat of war and it grows nearer and nearer by every chapter. The book has multiple subplots going on as well, told through the point of view of Lord Stark, many of his children, his wife, and a few more.
As you read along, each subplot seems to be going in many different directions, but at the end, they are all tied together masterfully. I highly recommend this book, particularly if you’re into violence and fantasy.
The most recent book I’ve read (that I’ve liked) was called Between, written by Jessica Warman. Its about a super popular, super pretty, super oblivious high school student who drowns on the night of her eighteenth birthday. But its more than that. Its written from an odd point of view, because the books opens up with Liz, the birthday girl, waking up after hearing a constant thudding sound of something outside the boat that she had her party on. What she learns in the first couple of pages is that the sound if her body, floating lifeless in the water, tapping against the hull. The book goes on like this, written from the point of view of her “ghost”. She can see everything that’s happening, and things that happened in the past, but no can see her. Except for Alex. Alex is another “ghost” who died young. Though it sounds cheesy and fake, the two go back to their past memories and learn about each others lives. Alex thought of Liz as a petty ‘witch with a capital b’, but eventually sees why she is the way she is. She doesn’t eat because her mother died of anorexia. She runs constantly because she feels guilty for something she did. In the end, Liz puts together all the pieces that were missing from her memory, and remembers that she was the one who killed Alex in a car accident, and that it was her sister who drowned her. This book was filled with so many plot twists and complicated inner-stories and surprise endings- but it was amazing.
A really eye opening book I recently read was The Soloist by Steve Lopez. This book is a true story about a writer who befriends a homeless man on the street. What makes this story so interesting is that the man once went to Julliard for playing the cello and was classmates with Yo Yo Ma. While the man, Nathaniel, was in college he developed paranoid schizophrenia, and dropped out. He is now homeless. He was this super talented guy with such a bright future and now he’s living on the streets pushing a shopping cart around with all of his possessions. Although at some points the book could get a little boring overall it was definitely worth the read. This book definitely hits close to home, and I think that’s why my grandma suggested that I read it. I’m very glad she did because it was extremely sad, but also very uplifting, because Nathaniel the main character was finally getting the help he needed. Although, Nathaniel didn’t always want the help he was never forced to do anything ever. I would say this book was worth the read, because it did an incredible job accurately describing someone with mental health issues, specifically schizophrenia and it was overall an uplifting story.
I have recently read and enjoyed Glory Road, which is the first team to have African American players in college basketball. The book follows the story of the improbable run of a team that incorporated African Americans for the first time a few seasons ago. It ties in very well with showing the racism and since the team was in Texas and toured the south you could the hatred for the African American race in general. People would constantly heckle the coach and players and they received loads of hate mail before and after they won the national championship. If you look at college and professional teams now they are primarily African American and to see the change in thinking and it leading to such a drastic change made the book very interesting. I would like to read more books that are similar to this one that involve a big transformation in the sports world. I find true stories that have drastic effects or seem unrealistic very intriguing and keep my attention much better than more boring autobiographies and non-fiction novels. The last book I read before that which wasn’t through school was in sixth grade. I haven’t found enough time to read and I would like to start more.
In the past year, I ‘ve only actually read one book for pleasure, that book was 12 years a slave, by Solomon Northup, and is a memoir on the author’s experience as a slave. I first heard about it when the film adaptation of it came out in theatres and I heard that it was based on a real book and decided to read it because it seemed interesting. And I was right, it was very, very, interesting. By far definitely going to be my favorite book I’ve read in my teenage years. As opposed to other books, it kept awake instead of making me want to fall asleep. I liked this book mainly because of the vivid descriptions from his perspective. The fact that this was all stuff that one human being could witness was mind blowing to me! Also I thought it was very hard to predict what would happen next in the book which made it more fun to read. This is something that in my opinion, separated this book from all the other ones that I’ve read. Lastly, I am a lover of history and this book is real history so that is why I like it. This is a thrilling tale and whether you have or have not seen the movie adaptation or not, I can guarantee that this book is just as good if not better than the movie.
Over the past year I’ve read some terrific books, but my most favorite would have to be Paper Towns, by John Green. I found out about John Green through watching his very entertaining, yet educational crash course YouTube videos in school. I didn’t think much of them until summer came along and in a strange way I missed the learning aspect of school. I started watching his videos again and learned he was an author. The next time he popped up was when I was given a lift of possible summer reading books I saw his name and had already grew fond of him, consequently Paper Towns was my first choice. As I started reading I realized how similar the environment in the story was to mine. Paper Towns is set in a very suburban part of Orlando Florida. The novel emphasizes the elements of adventure and desire to leave what the protagonist thought was her insignificant, boring, suburban life behind. OI connected to this book because of my experience with moving to different countries and different states in those countries, but now that all the moving is gone I feel tied down to this one insignificant town, after experiencing adventure I have a desire for more however that desire cannot be fore-filled because moving is out of my hands. I was thrilled with the book, which is unusual because I’m not a big reader of any sorts. What’s different is that I actually connected with this book because it wasn’t some flimsy-flamsy fantasy novel; it was a real story with real characters.
I recently read Tuesdays with Morrie, by Mitch Albom. I heard about it when Sophie did a book talk on it in English last trimester. She made it sound very intriguing and I’m very happy I read it. The book was about a man named Morrie Shwartz, a former professor of Mitch, who was dying from ALS. ALS is also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease which targets the nerves in the brain and spinal cord, so people with ALS eventually lose all muscle control. It is a slow and painful disease, and I can only imagine what it must feel like to be a loved one of a person going through this horrible disease. One of the reasons I enjoyed this book so much was because of the ALS ice bucket challenge that went around this summer. Many people participated or at least heard of the challenge of dumping ice water on your head, but not as many people actually knew what ALS was. This book gives you a firsthand experience of what it’s like to witness someone suffering from this awful disease, and it taught me what ALS actually was. Another reason I loved this book so much, was because of all the great lessons that came out of it. In every chapter you would learn a new lesson about life and death. Mitch did a wonderful job of making you feel as if you actually knew Morrie personally, and could sympathize with Mitch’s feelings. Tuesdays with Morrie left me speechless, I didn’t know whether to cry because it was sad or smile because of all the great lessons I learned, and those types of books are the ones that stick with me for a very long time.
Blog 70 book I have read
Jacob Bejune
There has been a rise in the popularity of incredibly theoretical topics. Youtube channels like Vsauce explore what would happen if the earth was perfectly flat or the military costs of call of duty (~$1,362,068,060 an hour). My book, What If, explores similar ideas. Randal Munroe started out by posting his stories online in a web comic like form. After making many posts, Mr. Munroe realized that his stories would be very good in a book. Each “comic” describes a different extreme situation. One of my favorite situations is the idea of building a machinegun jetpack. An ideal gun for flying produces more pounds of thrust than the weight of the gun. An AK-47 is a fine choice for this contraption due to its trust to weight ration being around 2. Now to produce meaningful flight over a moderate time, you will need 25-300 AK-47’s, each with 250 round magazines. All of these will need to be contained and framed with a relative light material, duct tape. At peak performance you could go up to 100 meters per second and nearly half a kilometer in the air. Now, if you want to be serious you would use Gryazev-Shipunov GSh-6-30. This gun would produce has a thrust to weight ratio of ~40. The trust would produce 40 g’s of acceleration while flying. This would allow you to leap buildings in a single bound. What If, is one of the cleverest, funniest, and most intellectual books you will ever read.
I book I have read recently that I incredibly enjoyed was Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton. My brother suggested that I read it. Even though I had seen the movie before I still decided to read it to see the differences between the stories. To my surprise some of the differences between the movie and the book were drastic. I would love to share all of these incredible changes but that would ruin the book for anyone who plans on reading it. Out of the many books I have read Jurassic park was by far one of my favorite books, almost always putting you on the edge of your seat with the intensity of many scenes. Character development was one of the many great things in the book. Crichton was very descriptive in helping you meet the characters, visualizing what the look like and what kind of personalities they have. I enjoyed reading about the different personalities that people had compared to the movie, I would have never thought that John Hammond(The park owner) would be a person who yelled at everybody for every little thing, compared to being calm in the movie. Jurassic Park is my favorite book and I would suggest it to anybody who enjoys the sci-fi genre.
I have read many books throughout my life but there’s one I remember more than others. This book that has appeared more vividly in my mind is called Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson. This book was about a young girl who was bullied at a high school. The reason everyone bullied was the fact that she ruined the best party at the high school last school year. She called the cops, but everyone didn’t know why she called the cops. When she went back to school the following year and everyone was bullying her, she had a hard time with her grades, her social life, and just being a worse person than what she usually is. In the middle of the book she remembers and finally tells the audience why she called the cops. She was r*ped by a senior high school student but she did not want the rest of the school to know. In the ending of the book she finally realizes that she must tell what happened that night. When everyone finds out who tried to r*pe her at the big party, the students start acting much nicer and realize that it wasn’t her fault, it was the senior’s fault. At the very end the same senior tries to r*pe the young girl again but she fights back and stabs him with a piece of glass and she runs and tells the principle what just happened. The senior had to face the consequences of what he had done and the young woman was better off. This book was a very dramatic and lesson-learning novel. I would recommend this book to anyone.
This past year I have not been quite an avid reader but when I think about reading one book, which also is my favorite books, stands out. The Giver written by Lois Lowry is the most memorable and the best book I have ever read. The first time I read through the pages was the summer going into sixth grade. I was at camp that summer and didn’t really give the book a thought, but when I saw my friend reading his own book I decided to give it a shot. After I picked it up I couldn’t put it down. I finished the books in two days and then proceeded to re-read it when I got home from camp. In the next five years I read the book 3 more times and it never got less interesting. The story of a perfect society but one person knowing the horrors of the world is fascinating. Jonas, an 11 year old, is granted the job, Receiver of Memories. The Receiver of Memories is exactly what it sounds like; he receives all memories of the world. Good memories, bad memories, horrific memories and painful memories. No one in his community has a job like this and it is up to Jonas to have these memories to keep the community safe. Later in the book, Jonas’ family a baby named Gabriel who he becomes attached to quickly, but when he finds out that Gabriel is going to be “released” he has to find a way to try and prevent that. To this day, The Giver is still my most favorite book, and the most interesting book I have ever read, on an entertainment, and psychological level.
During the summer I read Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. Why? Well I had to read it for honors American literature, but that was actually my third time reading the novel. What keeps me coming back is the ending. The book only holds approximately 107 pages but it packs such a big punch that tears threaten to burst out of at any moment on the last page. The book takes place south of Soledad, California during the Great Depression. The two main characters are Lennie Small and George Milton. Lennie’s last name is kind of ironic because his character is described as a tall and too strong for his own good, the kicker is that he’s too dumb for his own good too. His friend, George, is a fairly short compared to Lennie and he’s sharp in the mind. You may be asking yourself, “why is he hanging out with Lennie?” They’ve known each other since they were kids and Lennie is basically his cousin. All they have is each other.They’re migrant ranch workers looking for a job that pays good money to blow off at the end of the month. It doesn’t take long for them to find a job and get to work. Lennie and George decided they were going to save up their money to buy their own land to work on. This was a dream of theirs that they held close to their hearts. They didn’t want to be the “other guys on the ranch” that worked until they reached their coffins. The money won’t be a problem though, it’s Lennie. He’s too innocent in the cruel world that is he’s placed in and it’ll be too late for George to save him. What happens next is…I’ll let you figure it out. Read Of Mice and Men so you’ll know why its such a tear jerker.
Out of all the books I have read throughout the past year, I think the most memorable and enjoyable book I encountered was Crank by Ellen Hopkins. I remember the day I started reading it, I hadn’t even planned on checking out a book from the Baldwin Library, but I did. I went there with my best friend Lilli, she wanted to return some books and exchange them for some new ones. I remember boredly stumbling around the room, looking at cheesy tween cyber books about falling in love that were clearly taken place in 2004. Yuck, but anyways, I remember the book being misplaced and put in the manga section that also was submerged with Twilight and True Blood series. Previously to that day I remember Lilli and another friend of mine, Genni, talking about how unique and beautiful Hopkins’ poetry and how interesting her writing is. So I took the book to the lounge section of the “Teen Room” and began reading. I read the book from morning to dawn, completely finishing the story within hours. I couldn’t put the book down, and nor did I want to. The book is based around Hopkin’s daughter’s addiction with Crystal Meth, and how badly her life changed after deciding to stay with her deadbeat dad over the summer, him being careless of the decisions she’s making. I’ve never read a book that had put me through so much emotion in such little time, it’s astounding. Long story short, everyone should read it, especially to those dealing with drug abuse; this will put you in an entirely different perspective.
A book that I want to read is The Perks of Being a Wallflower. The first time I heard about it was when its movie version was being advertised. I didn’t find it that alluring, but most of my friends went to see it and really liked it (thus the male obsession with Emma Watson had begun). Right after that, everyone wanted to read the book (if they hadn’t already). Still, I had no idea and/or interest about the books plot. Just a few months ago in Mrs. Zimmerman’s class, we watched The Perks of Being a Wallflower at the end of the tri. Once it started, all of my previous assumptions about it faded, and I was completely drawn in my the characters and the storyline. My favorite character was Sam (Emma Watson). The aura she gives off is one of just pure freedom and happiness. She doesn’t care about what people are thinking, which makes the decisions she makes seem effortless. This trait/way of thinking is deeply desired not just amongst young people, but people of all ages. Plus, she’s easy to relate to since she’s a teenager herself. Once we finished the movie, I decided I was definitely going to read the book. My friends that have read it say it’s way better than the movie, so I intend on getting it soon and seeing for myself.
Recently, I have read a book series called A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin. It has become quite famous and is well known for the title of its first book, Game of Thrones. A Song of Ice and Fire is set in a dark and realistic fantasy medieval world which is rich with lore and real-life connections. One of the things that makes this story inherently unique is how the author has killed off main characters without foreshadowing and how he doesn’t use the deaths as plot devices to keep the story going. It also has a huge cast of characters, some that make you like them, and some that make you loathe them. Each of the characters in the series is amazingly fleshed out with well-thought out back stories, and no character is overpowered or perfect. I bring up this novel for discussion because it is very similar to real history in the sense that good doesn’t always win, and it realistically displays medieval society. This series is considered an epic because of the length of each novel, so an alternative to reading the novels would be watching the amazingly cast and directed show on HBO. Careful, though, because this book’s main audience is adults, so there is a lot of graphic content. Viewer discretion is advised.
During Thanksgiving break, I read a book that I came across from a pile of books that I had purchased months earlier. I was in the mood for trying out different genres of books at the time and just relied on the description of the book on the back. The novel was fictional and was a New York Times Bestseller. Different from other books I had read before, I found myself enjoying this book very much. Even though it had constant dragging, it was a novel that I couldn’t put down without knowing what the next chapter was about. Written by Michelle Richmond, the title of the novel is “The Year of Fog”. This author was very good at writing cliffhangers and descriptions of characters. It had a mysterious feel throughout and was depressing but relieving. One moment you find the main character being very gloomy but the next moment you find the character with lots of hope. The ending was not so much to my liking but it was a more realistic way to wrap up a struggling relationship between individuals. I liked how the author didn’t bore the reader and had kept adding new characters along the way. It was captivating and moving from the beginning to end. The strong determination and dedication of the main character was what made this book one of the most memorable. It wasn’t the most cheerful kind of book but I still liked it a lot.
Over Winter Vacation, I read the book Animal Farm, by George Orwell. I found the book while looking for things to do on a plane ride. It is a short book addressing communism. Animal Farm tells the story of a group of farm animals tired of being abused by humans, who stage an insurrection and overthrow their farmer. The animals then decide to never again take orders from a human, and that every animal is considered equal. The pigs are named the leaders of the animals, being the smartest on the farm, but soon the pigs grow mad with power and become worse than the old human masters were. I liked the book because it was an easy to digest western view on communism that made sense and kept me engaged. The book shows a fair representation of what Orwell believed about communism as a construct and was fairly educational and entertaining. While the book is probably biased and not entirely accurate, it does hold a fair amount of truth to it and does a good job of getting Orwell’s point across without being too boring and stay interesting enough without getting too far from the truth. All in all, Animal Farm is entertaining with a hint of educational, and a good read.
Everyone wants to fit in and be accept in the “crowd”. Most people will do all that they can to be accept and to fit in, but not Jodee Blanco. I was introduced to this book in 7th grade. Now, usually I wouldn’t read nonfiction just for the heck of it, but this book was calling me. Please Stop Laughing at Me by Jodee Blano is an auto-biography about bullying. It started in 5th grade when she started helping kids out with special needs. Her best friend Jo Ellen tells her to stop hanging out with the so-called “retards” and of course this causes mayhem between her and Jo Ellen. Then middle school happened and Jodee was put into a situation that she found uncomfortable. The decision she made, made her the laughing stock of the school and a victum of bullying. High school isn’t any better until she gets a phone call from her dad. She travels to Santorini, Athens where she is instantly embraced with kindness and love which she lacks in her hometown. Then years later there is a high school reunion and Jodee debates on whether to go or not. This story is really inspirational and I really enjoyed it because it’s interesting knowing this has happened to people and is still going on to others today. I would recommend others to read this inspirational story by Jodee Blanco, even if you don’t like to read nonfiction.
A book I have read in the past year is The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. I read this book because I wanted to see the movie but I wanted to know what was going to happen before I saw it. I also wanted to read it because it’s not that long and I didn’t have a lot of free time to read. I heard about the book when I saw trailers for the movie on TV and my sister suggested that I read it. I liked this book because it wasn’t hard to read and I thought that it was a good story. I also liked it because since I read it quickly and didn’t get bored with the book. Another reason I enjoyed this book is because it stayed interesting the whole time I was reading it and I never got tired of it. I liked this book because what I thought was going to happen didn’t and actually the opposite happened so that made the book more enjoyable to read. I would recommend that other people read this book because it is a good story and when you read it you don’t want to put it down.
I have just recently finished a great trilogy set in the star wars universe. The only reason I started to read these types of books is because my older brother used to often read these and after he was done, he would give the books to me. The trilogy is called Darth Bane written by Drew Karpyshyn. Unlike many stories set in this particular universe, This book portrays the evil guy as the protagonist. The main character, Des, was a poor miner that fell victim to a debt trap set up by a faceless corporation. He eventually accidentally murders three people and needs to leave the planet in order to escape an execution. He joins the Sith (the villains) military and quickly rose through the ranks until he had command of his own squadron. One day he was given orders to attack in brad daylight. Knowing that he was given suicide orders, he knocked out the commanding officer and attacked the outpost just as night fell. After his successful mission, he was issued a court martial and thrown in prison only to be discovered by a Sith lord who believed that Des could become a powerful Dark lord of the Sith and changes his name to a childhood insult thrown at him, Bane. That is where the real book begins as he then proceed to slaughter every single Sith lord and Jedi alike whilst forging a new philosophy about the Dark side and taking on an apprentice. I really enjoyed this series because it is the first book I have ever read that follow the villain, and has the villain accomplish all of his goals. Every other book is about how to positively win the day by promoting the lighter side that always and inevitably wins. This book adds a touch of realism and states that sometimes, violence is not always a bad thing if you use it correctly.
It’s a depressing truth, but I admittedly do not read for pleasure as much as I used to. However, every now and then I manage to find the time to read a book for fun. I managed to find such time over this past Winter Break. I read considerably more over the break than I do on an average day, and one of the books that I picked up was Mitch Albom’s The Five People You Meet in Heaven. I actually happened upon this novel randomly (although, if one adheres to the ideas that the book expresses, nothing occurs randomly): Throughout my home, there are various small baskets filled with miscellaneous small (size-wise) books. Periodically, when I’m bored, I search through whichever basket I happen to be closest to in an attempt to find something to read (this is actually how I discovered The Last Lecture by the late Randy Pausch, which is another excellent read). On my most recent visit to one of these miniscule libraries, I discovered The Five People You Meet in Heaven. Being a self-proclaimed atheist, the title piqued my interest, so I read the summary on the inside flaps of the book cover. I thought the concept that the book dealt with was very intriguing, so I began to read it. And I ended up reading the entire novel in one sitting (that’s not saying much, the book is only 208 pages long). I’m not going to lie and say that the book changed my life; as those who interact with me on a daily basis can attest, my behaviors are no different after Winter Break as they were before. However, the book truly did change the way in which I view the world, as well as the way I view the people in the world. I won’t spoil the plot, in case anyone wants to read it; however, essentially, it presents the idea that, when a person dies, they go to heaven. Except heaven isn’t some utopian world where everyone can find divine enjoyment; instead, an individual meets five different people, one at a time, whose lives were somehow linked to theirs. Each of these people teaches the individual a different lesson about life. And in the end the individual is supposed to have made peace with all of their demons. The book is incredibly well-written and very thought-provoking, and I would recommend it to anyone who finds a degree of enjoyment in such reads.
The book I read most recently was October Sky by Homer Hickam. This book was one I chose for English class last trimester, even though we were not supposed to choose a book we read for a school class. However, I chose this book out of many on a bookcase and I’m glad I picked this one. I found out the main story line from the movie that came out in 1999, I enjoyed the movie and wanted to learn more about Homer Hickam’s story. The story is a true story of the author’s life. Homer Hickham is a high school boy, living in a small coal-mining town in West Virginia. The book is set in the 1950’s and 1960’s. His Father is the Coalmines superintendent he does not have a strong relationship with Homer because he was always away at the mine. Homer gets interested in Rocket building after the Soviet Union launched their first rocket Sputnik 1 and it flies over Homers town in1957. Filled with awe and a belief that this may be his chance to get out of Coalwood, Homer sets out to build rockets with a few of his best friends. The boys learn how to take scrapes of metal and turn them into sophisticated rockets. This book deals with many issues. Including the bittersweet experience of a boy growing up. It shows you even in a dying town kids are still allowed to dream, and they are helped to make those dreams become a reality.
Last summer, I read “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” by Stephen Chbosky. It is probably one of the best books I have ever read. It’s a coming of age story about a teenage boy named Charlie who is forced to make new friends and start high school the year after his best friend had committed suicide. He suffers from mental illness after being abused by his aunt as a child, and his successful siblings have all left home. He meets Sam and Patrick, with whom he becomes really good friends with. They teach him about the party scene, the dating scene, and how to live your teenage years to the fullest. Charlie is an introvert, which just makes all of these things harder for him. What is interesting about this book is that it is completely told though the letters that Charlie writes to a random stranger. I like that it’s written in the first person because it lets the reader know what he’s thinking or feeling at any has given moment. I first heard about “The Perks of being a Wallflower” when the movie came out. I read the book first, thankfully, because I thought the movie was well done but could have been better. What I really like about this book is that I can relate to the characters, because they’re my age, and they’re going through the same hardships of high school that I’m going through. There are a lot of teen novels out there with a powerful protagonist that exists in a society that doesn’t exist, like Harry Potter, Divergent, or The Hunger Games. Those books aren’t as relatable, because we as teenagers have never been in their position before. “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” is the best book I have ever read, and I highly recommend it to any teenager for something to relate to.
Over the past year, I have read a lot of John Green books. One that I really liked was Looking for Alaska. This book is about a Boy who they call Pudge he goes to a boarding school is father went to when he was Pudges age. While he is at this school he makes long lasting friends. Including a girl named Alaska, Alaska is different from other girls and thats what makes Pudge fall head over heals for her. The only issue with Pudge liking Alaska is that she has a boyfriend. Something tragic happens leaving Pudge and his friends looking for answers. While I was at camp this summer we all bring some books and we share them and this was one of the books that my friend brought. I really didn’t think I was going to like it at first especially after another girl who read it ruined it for me. But in the end I really liked Looking for Alaska it is one of my favorite books. John Green is really big and known for The fault in our stars, so reading something else he wrote was fun. I also realized that I really liked his writing style and any book I read by him I generally really like.
Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom. I came across this modern day, touchingly sad story of Morrie when I was looking for an independent reading book for my English class. My dad gave me The Five People You Meet in Heaven, another amazing book by Albom. I fell in love with his writing and had to read more. Tuesdays With Morrie tells the story of Mitch and his professor Morrie. Morrie has inspired Mitch in so many different ways and when Mitch learns that Morrie was diagnosed with ALS he reaches out and they rebuild their relationship. Every Tuesday Mitch would fly in to Morrie’s town and visit him. Morrie teaches Mitch his final lessons that he has to teach. I really loved this book for two reasons. The first is the writing style. Along with Albom being able to draw the reader in, he has a specific switching method that he uses in a lot of his work. The chapters flipped back and forth from their present relationship and stories of their past. Every other chapter would flash back to another one of Morrie’s birthdays. The majority of them take place in college with Morrie when he was his professor and the lessons he taught him. The second reason I love this book is the emotion that the words create. I was in tears by the end. Albom did an amazing job at telling the story with just enough meaning without dragging on. It is also a very short read, but the amount of emotion and detail included in it is incredible. I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for something small to make them smile, laugh, cry, and sob. Tuesdays with Morrie has definitely become my favorite book.
This year, I have read many books, aside from 1776 and Undaunted Courage. I have read Anthem by Ann Rand, which is a book about a person who discovers individualism in a world where everyone has serial numbers instead of names. It is a fantastic book that I recommend to everyone to read. I also read the Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, which is about how a predetermined background that every person has determines if a person will be a success or not. He connects plane crashes, birth dates, hours of practice, linguistic advantages, IQ scores, economic position, and cultural legacies in a way that make him a brilliant author. I have also read One Nation and America the Beautiful by Ben Carson. (I would like any suggestions to liberal policies if anyone has any). I read The World is Flat, which is about the three stages of globalization that made the world a level playing field, starting at the age of exploration, going to the industrial revolution and finishing at personal computers and the Internet. I am currently reading a book called Incognito, the secret lives of the brain, which explores the brain in a way different from its actual chemical makeup and about the illusions it leads us to believe. It states that instead of your consciousness being the head coach of the brain, it is a benchwarmer that only takes credit for what happens in the brain itself.
One book that I’ve recently read an thoroughly enjoyed was The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd. It was set in South Carolina in 1965. This book tells the story of an adventurous and independent 14 year old white girl named Lily Melissa Owens. Lily as a small box of her mothers belongings and one fuzzy memory about her mother is of the day she died. She’s lived her life being told by her abusive father that her mothers death was her fault. After the last straw with her father, Lily decides to run away with her black maid Rosaleen, the destination was Tiburon, SC, the location on the back of an image of the Virgin Mary as a black women from her mother’s things. Lily eventually finds these three sisters that live on and own a bee farm and their label has a black Virgin Mary. Lily ends up staying with the sisters for a very long time, working and trying to stay in hideout from her father. While Lily is staying there, she learns a lot about herself, the sister, and how they are connected to her and her mother. This book is written very well and always kept me interested, I highly recommend, plus its remotely close to the time-frame we’re learning about.
Even though I haven’t been reading for pleasure as much as I use to, I still try to read books when I have time. One book I read over the summer that impacted me was “Looking For Alaska” by John Green. I first heard about the book on the Boston trip for orchestra during spring break of 2014. I had already read “The Fault in Our Stars” and was interested in the author’s work. I picked up the book and showed to one of my friends and decided that I should get it. My friends were urging me to read the book because they said they had enjoyed it. So, on a car ride back home from Niagara Falls I read the whole entire book. I liked it because it taught me about how guys think and made me think about my own ethics and morality. I also liked it because of the romance and I love romance novels. When Alaska posed the question, “How will I ever get out of this labyrinth?” , it made me think for a second about what the labyrinth is. I came to a conclusion later in the book that the labyrinth is your life and the effects it has on you as a person. The religious studies course made me think about the 3 different religions and see how and why they answered the question and if it was something I believed in. After Alaska (spoiler alert), Pudge talked a lot about morality and the afterlife. It was very interesting to see how a person can cope with that emotion and how their own ethics can be changed with that event. I liked how Pudge was always seeking a “Great Perhaps” . To put it in a simpler term, life will get better. You will eventually find something that will impact your life forever and make you think differently. It will also lead you out of your comfort zone and make you make decisions that might lead to bigger and better things. You just have to put yourself out in the world and do it so you might find that “Great Perhaps”.
Over the past year I have honestly I haven’t read many books because the only time I tend to read is on vacations, so the most recent book I have read (not for school) is called “Everyday” by David Levitan. This book is about a kid named A who changes bodies every day and lives some other kid’s (some days it is a boy, others it is a girl) life for one day. A goes through life making sure not to make attachments with the people because A knows A will never see them again. He does this until he falls in love with the girlfriend of the boy whose body he is in. After A falls for this girl A makes every possible effort to see her every day and make her fall in love with him as well. When I first picked up this book I was hesitant because it didn’t sound like something I would normally read, but I hadn’t brought enough books for the trip we were currently on so I needed a book. After reading just the first chapters I was glad I had finished my other books because I was hooked, and now I think of it as one of my favorite books.
To be completely honest I have no clue what the last book I’ve read for fun was. Typically, I don’t have any time whatsoever for anything over than schoolwork and basketball. On the other work, the last book I read that wasn’t a textbook and was generally fun for me was “The Fault in Our Stars” by John Green. Even then, being completely honest one again, I read that the first week of summer last year for summer reading. Obviously it’s been a rough year for reading and I. But, I must say, after hearing so many people talk about the book, it was my first choice and I probably would’ve read it even if it was assigned. I heard about TFIOS from about every teenage girl I am friends with. Plus, the movie was getting a lot of publicity. I was also very interested because my sister talked about it nonstop and even while I was reading it she managed to ruin some very dramatic parts to the story. I liked TFIOS because it seemed real. It wasn’t your average princess love story. It was a story of an illness that is frequent in today’s world, cancer. It was a story above love, adventure and death. But not in a cheesy way. That is why it was so good; it was very real and very relatable which, in the end, is why I liked it.
Blog #70
The last time I read a book outside of school was probably in the sixth grade. My dad made us listen to books on audio tape when we drove to school or to home. The book that I will talk about Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. We previously read all the books before this one and I was very excited to read this. The whole series was probably some of the bets books I have read in my life. All of them lead up to this one final book which was great but sad that is was almost over.
The book itself was one of my favorite books of all time. I love the fact of how J.K. Rowling incorporates every mythical character she can possibly find. The tension of who was finally going to win Harry Potter or Lord Voldemort is incomparable to anything else. There are so many twists and turns that throw you. Some of them make you happy and others make you so sad. If you haven’t read any of the other books you need to read those before this one or else anything won’t make sense. The other books are good, but they don’t start becoming very good until The Goblet of Fire. Overall this is a great book and a great series that everyone should read.
First, let me just say this, get comfortable, this is going to be a long one. If you couldn’t already tell, I am a bookworm. I read a lot and love to read a lot. And over this year I’ve discovered my top faves. But one book (series) stands out above the rest, The Archived by Victoria Schwab. I found out about this book from some of my favorite booktubers (they make videos on YouTube about books). The name was coming up more often in videos, at first I wasn’t sure. The covers intrigued me since I thought it was a waterfall, but it’s actually a girl’s face. And to be honest, I really like old keys. So once my friend Lindsey recommended that I read it, I finally did. Best decision ever. Everything about the plot, story, world, characters, everything is amazing. The story follows Mackenzie Bishop, and she’s a keeper for the Archive. The Archive is a place where the dead (Histories) rest on shelves like books. But not everything is that perfect (shocker). Sometimes the Histories wake up and escape to the Narrows, which is basically a series of hallways between the Archive and the real world. Mackenzie’s job is to hunt down Histories that escape into the Narrows. Her life is anything but normal or easy. The only people who know about her secret, are Da her grandfather (which you get 2nd person past tense conversations throughout) and Wesley Ayers. Wesley is also a keeper and teaches her things that Da never taught, like how to float instead of drown in other people’s noise, or by reading to her over the summer. Now that you have the background of the first book, I can talk about the second book which is ever so slightly my favorite of the two. The second book is The Unbound. I like the second book better because you see the personalities of the characters more. All of the characters are cute, quirky, and so much fun to read about. Wesley, my apologies in advance, I might go all fangirl on you. Wesley tends to be my favorite character often throughout the series, mainly because of his humor. I mean, what do you expect from someone with spikey black hair, guyliner, and sounds like a heavy metal rock band. Wesley will always make you laugh, no matter what, and he’s fictional! My favorite line of all time, which Jayde can attest to is, “You broke into a crime scene without me?” Inserts laughter here, sigh, classic. All the characters have little elements like that, plus many layers that add to their character which makes them real. So, it just goes to show that every body has a story.
I used to be that kid that when you saw me I’d never be without a book. Now, unfortunately, I’ve taken to being less of an avid reader, mostly because I cannot seem to find the time with all the things I have to do with academics and athletics. A book series I never fail to find the latest release in is Rick Riordan’s Greek Mythology books. My mom and I had always been the biggest readers in my family, so for my birthday she would buy me the newest book in that series. This one is called “The Heroes of Olympus”, the final book in the series. The plot of this book in particular is difficult to explain as it is all set up by the four books that preceded it. Essentially, the seven demigods need to make the difficult journey to Athens, which has been sabotaged by their enemies attempting to wake Gaea, and then prevent her waking. There is also a major subplot where two other demigods and a stayer move a statue from Greece to New York, the site of the camp where the demigods live, intended to be a peace offering to prevent war among the demigods. As a whole this was a solid book, but I finished it back in about three days, showing me that it was well below my reading level and, while it was entertaining, I want something more challenging. What this blog has really shown me is that I need to browse the GoodReads lists and find a book that interests me, and go start reading it, because I really do miss reading for fun.
Over this past year i haven’t read many books, however the ones i have read i have enjoyed. The book Mrs. Peregrines Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs was one of the few books i have read. I was, more or less, forced into reading the book but in the end i liked the book. The way the author utilizes two vastly different time periods as major settings for the book really makes it an interesting read. Adding on to the two settings, the author frequently switches between both settings and intertwines both time periods. At the point where the combination of time periods is most frequent, the main character (whos name escapes me) is traveling back and forth between time periods through a portal on a remote welsh island. This is because he has begun a long trek after his grandfathers untimely death to find out who his grandfather really was, which somehow leads him into void where the same day repeats itself on end. He travels through this portal in order to interact with the members living inside of the void, who become vital in his understanding of his grandfather. With the constant changing and rapid plot development of this novel, along with other characteristics used by the author, such as strange images that tie into the story, this book has a very unorthodox style which is why i recommend it. Also, in 2016, there re plans to construct this book into a movie. It will be interesting to see how true the movie stays to the novel. Read it for yourself to see how well it ties together, i highly recommend it.