Welcome to the Bomber Book Blog!
September 23rd, 2007 by khslibRead any good books lately? Well, if you have, we want to know! Tell us about them. What did you like about the book? What kind of ranking on a scale of 0-5 would you give the book? Let us know.
Keep watching the Bomber Book Blog. Read the blogs that others have written and if you have read the same book, make comments by replying to their post. Keep on reading and come back to blog!
Students from Ms. Hepp’s Strategic Reading class will be adding blogs soon. Read and make comments!
Posted in Uncategorized |
September 24th, 2007 at 8:12 pm
This is a test.
October 9th, 2007 at 11:39 am
Strategic Reading students,
I’m looking forward to reading all of your book reviews. Remember, they are due by the beginning of class on Tues., Oct. 16. Keep reading!
Ms. Hepp
October 11th, 2007 at 2:05 pm
Can you imagine leaving your home one morning on an errand and returning a few hours later to find that your entire village has been murdered since you left? In We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families, millions of genocide victims in Rwanda experienced this on a daily basis. Gourevitch retells in great detail the stories of numerous survivors and reflects on the meaning of the genocide and its effect on the world; he makes a strong argument for his belief on why the Rwandan genocide should not be disregarded as another tribal quarrel. Although some parts of Gourevitch’s novel drag on with the facts of Rwanda’s past, his unbiased account of what really happened in Rwanda is both potent and touching.
Gourevitch’s novel gives a comprehensive account of his visit to Rwanda after the genocide ended, during which he interviewed numerous survivors and gathered information regarding the genocide. His inquisitive, sympathetic, and compassionate tone really helps to stimulate the reader’s interest and truly touches the conscience of the reader. Gourevitch’s words are both shocking and thought-provoking; he addresses the issue raised in his novel with anger, regret, and significant knowledge of political affairs. The novel effectively balances the history of Rwanda and personal accounts of the genocide.
On a scale of one to ten, We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families deserves an eight. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in Rwanda or genocide, especially its political aspects. Someone interested in the outcome of genocide and its effects on the world would also enjoy this novel; however, the reader must be tolerant of history and details of the past.
October 14th, 2007 at 8:37 pm
Friendship, love, struggles and mail. All these words perfectly describe the book The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, by Ann Brashares. This fictional story is about four teenage girls and their adventures of their summer. Four best friends that have never been separated before, even since birth. They are all going to completely different places for the entire summer and will only be reunited at the end.
Lena, Bridget, Carmen and Tibby are the four girls in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. Lena is going to Greece to live with her grandparents and little sister. Bridget is a soccer star so naturally she is going to Baja, California to participate in a soccer summer league only fit for the best. Carmen is going to go to North California to visit her dad whom she only sees 2ce every year and has spent no more than a couple days with each time. Lastly, Tibby will be staying home for the summer while all of her friends are all away. She will remain working at her job at Wallman’s.
Each girl has a completely different personality. Lena is the quiet, shy girl that is completely gorgeous but has never liked any boy for the purpose of not wanting to get hurt. Bridget is the outgoing athlete who takes risks and never stops moving. Sometimes her risks lead her into dangerous situations, but other times work out for the better. Carmen is the thicker Puerto Rican who makes irrational decisions without thinking them through clearly. Tibby is the punk of the group. She doesn’t like a lot of things besides her friends and making movies. She keeps her emotions inside of her usually, but is not afraid of speaking her mind when needed.
Any teenage girl can relate to one of these characters if not they have a little of each inside of them. The writing style of this book was a little immature because the girls are a little younger than what I thought they would be, so they haven’t experienced a lot. In the book they make it seem like small things are a big deal when in reality they are not at all.
This book was hard at some points to get through and easy at others. It was repetitive in some areas and I could not wait to get through it. Towards the end of the book I couldn’t wait to be done reading it, but overall it didn’t take me that long to get through. I would give this book 8 out of 10. I probably wouldn’t have kept on reading if I didn’t have to take it for this course, and do this assignment. I am glad I read The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants but I wouldn’t recommend it to upper level readers.
October 15th, 2007 at 3:05 pm
Flower for Algernon is a very moving book. The main character of the book is named Charlie Gordon; he is a grown man with a very low IQ. He is in his thirties when a couple of scientists named Nemur, Strauss, and Burt wanted to use him for an experiment to raise his IQ. The operation was performed on a mouse named Algernon. Nothing had gone wrong with Algernon’s surgery so they assumed it was fine to test it on a human being. The operation was successful, although he did not start to get smart until a few weeks after the operation. As Charlie became smarter he read everything he could and started to realize people made fun of him a lot at work. When he read he started to memorize everything. He got to the point where he was smarter then the scientists who performed the operation on him. After a few months Algernon started to act very funny. He started to get frustrated and refused to solve puzzles that the scientist had him solve. Then Algernon started forget many things and slowly went back to his methods of trial and error to solve problems.
The book is written in the point of view of Charlie. It is written in Journal entries that Charlie makes through out the story. You can tell just by reading that he gets smarter and smarter. At first he spells a lot of words wrong and doesn’t have a very large vocabulary, and then he gradually had less misspelled words and better grammar until he got to the point that he was a genius. As the story goes on he has many flash backs on how he was treated as a child and starts to remember his family, since he hasn’t seen them in fifteen years.
I would recommend this book to anyone who has a high enough reading level to understand it. It was a very good book and I liked it a lot. I would give Flowers for Algernon a 10 out of 10. The book keeps the readers interest the whole time and never lets go.
October 15th, 2007 at 3:21 pm
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is about the life of a young boy by the name of Huckleberry Finn, Huck, for short. At the start of the book, Huck is living with a widow because his dad has run off. Huck has acquired a very large amount of money and his dad hears about it and comes back to claim it as his own. When Pap learns that Huck has been schooled, he takes Huck away to a cabin out in the woods. Here Pap locks Huck up and doesn’t allow him to leave. One day, Huck finds a saw and saws his way out of the cabin leaving a mess behind so it looks like he was murdered.
Once out of the cabin, Huck floats down the Mississippi on a canoe that he found. He decides to live on an island just outside the town he was running away from. While on this island, he runs into Jim, a slave that ran away from the widow’s house. The two live on the island until they hear that men will be coming to look for people on the island. So the two take off down the Mississippi in search of freedom; for Huck, it’s from his dad, and for Jim, it’s from slavery. The rest of the book goes through the adventures the two have while floating down the river, from getting run over by a steamboat to running into two men who claim to be a duke and a king.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has a very unique style. Twain doesn’t use proper English. Since the novel is narrated by Huck, it’s very improper and has a southern dialect. When Twain uses dialogue he spells the words his characters are saying as they would sound not as they are supposed to be spelled. This makes the dialogue slower to read at times because the reader has to sound the words out in their head and try and figure out what is being said. The style takes a little while to get used to, but once the reader gets a used it, the book becomes easier to read. I really liked the style because it was very different from everything else I’ve read recently.
I thought this book was extremely well written. It was very suspenseful and didn’t have too many boring parts. Twain did a good job with keeping the reader interested because there was always something crazy happening to Huck as he was floating down the Mississippi. Twain also used a good amount of detail. He didn’t use too much or too little, and it was very easy to get a good picture for what he was trying to say.
I thought this was an excellent book, and I would give it a nine out of ten because some parts did get a little boring, but overall, it was very interesting. I would recommend this book to anyone in high school. I think a wide variety of people would like this novel because it would be appropriate for everyone from ninth grade to adult. Also I don’t think there is one gender in particular that would enjoy it more. I wouldn’t recommend it to younger kids or people that don’t really like to read about the wilderness. Overall, I really enjoyed this book and I think that everyone should read it.
October 15th, 2007 at 3:45 pm
The Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold, is narrated by dath. Susie Samon is hurassed and killed and then tells the story from up in heaven. Susie watches over her family and how they deal with their grief. Susie learns that heaven is what you have always wanted it to be and that she can overlook the people on Earth. A large portion of the book also discuess Susie’s family, her sister LIndsay escpecially. Lindsay carries a very hard burden because whenever people look at her, they automatically think of Susie. Susie’s death also greatly affects Susie’s parents. Susie’s mother cheats on her husband and moves away to California, abandoning her two younger children. Susie’s father, on the other hand, stays to himself and obsesses over who Susie’s murderer is.
The style of this novel was in first-person point of view, which was Susie’s. It was interesting having her be the narrator bebcause it told us how she felt about everything, and the guilt that she had for ruining her family. Surprisingly, Susie is not bitter and depressed. She is hopeful for her family and curious about how her life might have been. At first, she wants nothing more then to be able to live, but after a while, she accepts the fact that she is dead and tries to make the best out of it.
I would recommend this book to someone that can handle serious subjects, like hurassment and death. I would also recommend this to someone who has recently dealt with death or someone that has lost a child. It could help them accept it and try to understand it. I would also specify that to girls because it is mainly about a girl and her experiences on earth and in heaven. This book is pretty mature, and I wouldn’t suggest it to someone in middle school. Overall, I thought that this was a pretty good book. However, I wish that it had been more about solving the mystery, then just about the family. I think that because we knew who the killer is from the first page, we were all hoping that he was caught and punished for the terrible thing that he did. In the end, though, he gets what he deserves.
October 15th, 2007 at 3:59 pm
The Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold, is narrated by death. Susie Samon is harassed and killed and then tells the story from up in heaven. Susie watches over her family and how they deal with their grief. Susie learns that heaven is what you have always wanted it to be and that she can overlook the people on Earth. A large portion of the book also discuses Susie’s family, Her sister Lindsay especially. Lindsay carries a very hard burden because whenever people look at her, they automatically think of Susie. Susie’s death also greatly affects Susie’s parents. Susie’s mother cheats on her husband and moves away to California, abandoning her two younger children. Susie’s father, on the other hand, stays to himself and obsesses over who Susie’s murderer is.
The style of this novel was in first-person point of view, which was Susie’s. It was interesting having her be the narrator because it told us how she felt about everything, and the guilt that she had for ruining her family. Surprisingly, Susie is not bitter and depressed. She is hopeful for her family and curious about how her life might have been. At first, she wants nothing more then to be able to live, but after a while, she accepts the fact that she is dead and tries to make the best out of it.
I would recommend this book to someone that can handle serious subjects, like harassment and death. I would also recommend this to someone who has recently dealt with death or someone that has lost a child. It could help them accept it and try to understand it. I would also specify that to girls because it is mainly about a girl and her experiences on earth and in heaven. This book is pretty mature, and I wouldn’t suggest it to someone in middle school. Overall, I thought that this was a pretty good book. However, I wish that it had been more about solving the mystery, then just about the family. I think that because we knew who the killer is from the first page, we were all hoping that he was caught and punished for the terrible thing that he did. In the end, though, he gets what he deserves.
October 15th, 2007 at 5:25 pm
A mysterious picture threatens the lives of what seems like an average family. In the book Just One Look by Harlan Coben, the lives of the Lawson family are in danger.
Jack Lawson is a loving, caring husband, and a father of two young children. His wife, Grace Lawson, has found a mysterious photograph in a package of pictures that she had just gotten developed. The photograph is dated back 20 years ago and there are five people in it. Grace swears that one of them looks just is her husband. When she asks her husband about the photograph, Jack claims that he has never seen the picture before. But later that night, he leaves the house and takes the picture without telling Grace.
Just One Look is excellent. It was hard to put down. It is full of unexpected twists and turns, and there is good suspense and action. The book had a lot of dialogue, so it made the reading go by faster. The style wasn’t very different from most books. It was mostly dialogue. But the author did go into too much detail when he talked about some of the graphic events. There are very different events in the book that all tie together at the end. When the book is almost over, the truth comes out too quickly at one time. It’s hard to take in that much information at once.
I would recommend this book to any high school student or adult who likes mysteries. Even if a student or adult doesn’t like mysteries, this book is a book that could possibly make them change their minds because it leaves the reader in suspense after every chapter. Some of the parts in the book are a little bit graphic, so some people might not like to read it. But overall, most people would enjoy this book.
October 15th, 2007 at 6:53 pm
Have you ever forgotten a person or friend, that was very close to you in your past , but you lost touch with over the years? In the book Tuesdays With Morrie, Mitch Albom shares a written memoir that spans a six month period, detailing several visits with a friend such as this. Morrie wasn’t only a friend to Mitch, but also his professor in college, and an instructor of life and it’s value, as reflected in these memoirs.
When Mitch learns that his old pal Morrie has been struck with the debilitating illness ALS , he decides to be reacquainted with his dear friend. The shared memoirs will open your eyes to many important lessons about life. Insight is given to the value of friendship, the preciousness of life, the passage of time, and the hard reality of death.
I would recommend this captivating story to people of all ages. It has a powerful message for anyone who has every had a meaningful friendship or relationship. While the book has a sad ending, it will definitely change your outlook on life and death. It is a very easy book to read and get through quickly, but the message it portrays is deeper.
October 15th, 2007 at 7:27 pm
If you died and went to heaven, and met five people who had the most influence in your live, who would they be? You don’t know who it will be until you move on from one person to another. In the book The Five People You Meet in Heaven, Mitch Albom tells us the story of Eddie and his journey through heaven.
Eddie was an older man who worked at an amusement park called Ruby Pierre. It was a dead-end job that he tried several times to escape from, but he failed every time. Eddie’s father worked at Ruby Pierre for his whole life. Eddie got the job as a kid, while his father worked there in the maintenance department. Eddie told himself that he wouldn’t be there for his whole life like his father. He was wrong.
Eddie’s place of employment would eventually be the sight of his death. There was a new ride at Ruby Pierre called Freddy’s Freefall. This is the ride that killed Eddie. There was a malfunction of some sort with the ride and it fell without stopping and crushed Eddie.
The book is about the afterlife of Eddie. While in heaven, he met five different people, who were all in different places and all had different stories. They all told him how they influenced his life, and they all taught him a lesson.
This is a fantastic book. Mitch Albom did a wonderful job writing it. It was a very easy read. I would recommend this book to anyone; old people and young people, those who love reading and those who hate it. I would say that the youngest who could read this would be high school aged kids. Although it is an easy read, I don’t think that middle schoolers would be able to grasp the story and the message that it is sending.
I gave this book 10 out of 10. I think that it is flawless. It is a great story, and a quick read that is easy for people to understand. There aren’t really any confusing parts and the plot is in depth, yet understandable. I really enjoyed this book and I think that everyone should read it.
October 15th, 2007 at 8:28 pm
Nicholas Sparks Claudia Lemieux
AT First Sight
Fiction
Published 2005
“Do you think you can fall in love at first sight twice in your life”
This book is about Jeremy Marsh learning to adapt to his new life in North Carolina with his fiancée Lexie and that she’s pregnant. The trouble is they only know each other for about three weeks and that Lexie and Jeremy can’t trust each other throughout this lying to each other and to themselves. Throughout this book, Jeremy learns how life can be gone in an instant. When he finds out that Lexie is pregnant, he changes his whole life to help her and he finds out that he fell in love with her at first sight, through his life down in North Carolina that the town and family is very important. He goes through grief and how to coupe with that grief after his life changes when his daughter is born.
At First Sight is a great book. Nicholas Sparks wrote another that will make you think about what you have in life. There a passage that best describes who Jeremy learns that life is short: “After leading Claire to the spot where he and Lexie had first seen the lights he sat down and pulled his daughter onto his lap. Jeremy remembered the story Lexie had told about her parents and nightmares she’d as a child and Claire, sensing something special was about to happen barely moved.”
I gave this book 10 out of 10. It was outstanding book and I would read it again. I would recommend this book to a girl who likes love stories because this is one that you will love.
October 15th, 2007 at 8:32 pm
The Audacity of Hope
The heat of the 2008 presidential election is rising with primary season approaching, and it’s leaving constituents curious about the numerous amounts of candidates. Barack Obama has been a front-runner for the Democrats since his declaration to run last year, and his most recent book, The Audacity of Hope, has topped the New York Times Bestseller list. In this book he touches on controversial issues such as race, faith, family, values, and our constitution. He gives his insight on these topics based on experience, personal knowledge, and statistics and facts. Obama explains his opinions and plans for the future of our country domestically and abroad. He utilizes his experience as a state legislator and U.S. Senator to draw conclusions on important policies and issues in the next election.
Obama’s style of writing exposes a new side to politics usually hidden by strategically–written speeches. A side that displays honesty and vulnerability and a possibility to relate to him. His syntax and diction allow for an easy read yet still challenges your personal opinions and thoughts. The content is truthful and sincere, backed with supporting facts. Obama’s book makes for a very enjoyable read and is one of my favorite books.
This book would be a great read for anyone interested in learning more about Barack Obama and his stand on policies and current affairs. His style of writing and contents makes this book (truly one of my favorites). Before reading, you definitely need to have an awareness of current issues and policies to understand much of what he speaks about; however, you don’t need to be an expert. I would recommend this book for anyone looking to learn more about our country’s political system and about the ideas one candidate has for it.
October 15th, 2007 at 8:51 pm
Frodo Baggins, the single heir of the hobbit Bilbo Baggins, inherits Bag End, the most envied home in the Shire, when Bilbo decides to go on a second and final journey to bringan end to his book, but with the luxurious home came a most terrible evil. Frodo unknowingly inherits the One Ring. Created by Sauron, the dark wizard of Mordor, the One Ring represents and controls everything that is evil in Middle Earth. No one, no elf, man, dwark nor wizard, can withstand its evil power… except Frodo.
The most unlikely of heroes, a Halfling from the isolation of the Shire, must go on the greatest journey ever taken by a Hobbit on which he will encounter unparalleled evils. Escaping the horrific ring wraiths, the most deadly servants of Sauron, traveling blindly through the orc-ridden Mines of Moria, and avoiding the all seeing eye of Sauron become every day events when one carries the most sought after object in the world. The Fellowship of the Ring begins with a bang and never slows down.
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring is the first book of J.R.R. Tolkien’s epic trilogy. Many people have experienced the film edition directed by Peter Jackson that was truly magnificent, but no matter how well he made the movies, nothing could compare to the books themselves. The story is as close to perfect as you can find. It keeps your attention from start to finish with riveting chase scenes, elegant poetry, and a terrifying evil that never sleeps. Tolkien’s graceful writing is pleasing to read and wonderfully poetic. It is impossible to read this book and not immediately start the next.
Anyone who has seen the movies and not read these books has to read the books, in fact, they should feel obligated. It is practically a sin to watch the film without having read the books. Some one who is just looking for a really entertaining, long lasting novel, the Lord of the Rings is the way to go.
October 15th, 2007 at 9:30 pm
Reflect on a time that your parents forced you to share something unwillingly with a sibling. Chances are you probably did not take pleasure in giving a toy or food away just to please your parents. Well, what if you were forced to share some blood, or a kidney? Would you give it up to please your parents and make your sibling feel better? In My Sister’s Keeper, Anna has had no choice since birth but to share everything from her toys to her blood in order to keep her sister, Kate, alive.
Jodi Picoult enchants her readers with a moving cry out loud novel following the journey of a struggling family. Kate has APL (Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia), and she has been burdened with it since she was a little girl. In order for her to continue on with life, her “designer baby” sister Anna, genetically produced to be a perfect match for Kate, has to willingly or unwillingly provide her sister with whatever she needs to survive. This seems to be working sufficiently until Anna decides to fight back. She sues her parents at age thirteen for the right to her own body and to stop being a supplier, even if it means death for Kate.
This novel tracks the incredible journey of the family from the time that Kate was born, to the actual hardships of the trial in a way that will give the reader an inside perspective. This novel is written in first person so that the reader can perceive what each character is thinking. The chapters are broken down to the minds of Anna, her mother and father, her brother, Jesse, Campbell Alexander, the lawyer, the court appointed guardian, Julia, and Kate. The way the book is written gives the reader a chance to view every circumstance separately in each character. This way of writing was actually a sufficient way to read the novel. Instead of wondering how long it would take to finish a chapter, I read the book so fast that there wasn’t any time to answer this question. It is a whole lot easier to read character by character that the reader has no sense of how many “chapters” there actually are.
My personal opinion on the book; I though it was excellent, one of the finest written novels I’ve ever come across. I’ve always found it quite simple to feel sad or happy for a character in other novels, but I actually was in authentic tears while reading My Sister’s Keeper. The read was quick and kept me interested the entire time. If I had to rate this book on a scale of one to ten, there’s no doubt in my mind I’d give it a ten and maybe even higher! It makes the reader think of how lucky he or she is to be alive and healthy, and it gives a whole new significance to the words family and dedication. I would recommend it to basically anyone at the high-school level. It is an easy read, so you don’t have to be a senior or junior to read it, but the topic is very mature, so you have to be mature enough to understand the whole concept. This book has been very inspirational, and with no uncertainty will it continue to affect those of you who decide to pick it up and give it a chance.
October 15th, 2007 at 10:00 pm
The stock market has crashed, and unfortunately you are a stockbroker, but it’s not yet the worst day of your life. Your boyfriend’s born-again, jewel thief, monkey has run away and he’s going on a business trip so you’re stuck finding it, but it’s still not the worst day of your life. Your best friend has completely disappeared off the face of the planet and you’re stuck trying to track her down with a man who is the complete opposite of you. Now it is the worst day of your life.
In the book, Half Asleep In Frog Pajamas, you the reader, are the main character. For four days, your name is Gwendolyn and you live, more or less, a boring life. At work, it seems that fewer and fewer people enjoy your company. Your love life is also suffering because the only thing that keeps you interested in your boyfriend is the fact he owns a criminal monkey that he took off the hands of the French police. Although, you and the monkey have never gotten along.
Every normal aspect of your life comes crashing down as the stock market falls and breaks its back. While sulking at your favorite bar, you meet a man named Larry Diamond who you find utterly repulsive. Unfortunately, it seems that he is everywhere you are and before you know it, he is a part of your life.
This is a book I have recently added to my list of favorites. Not only does its witty context keep me amused, but also the story in general could not have been any better. At first glance, this book seemed interesting but nothing more. I was pleasantly surprised when I continued to investigate by reading further. The sheer unpredictability amazed me time and time again.
The writing style was a new one for me. In the beginning, second person seemed irrational, but I grew to love it. I knew exactly what the main character was thinking because it was being presented in a way so that I could almost feel Gwendolyn’s emotions in myself. Tom Robbins humorous writing and description was pleasant and always kept my attention. I couldn’t even begin to describe it without sharing a few quotes.
“…and the red-faced, white-haired detective, who looks like an Irish priest who has banged his nose a few too many times against the grille of the confession booth, listens politely, even interestedly, to Belford’s tale.”
“Since you are in the vicinity, you go to the ladies’ room and urinate as hard as you can, forcing a stream against the porcelain that would knock a small animal off it’s feet or put out the eye of a Cyclops.”
I would recommend this book to anyone and everyone who just likes to laugh. Truthfully, I had a few moments of laughing out loud, something I’ve never done while reading a book before. But because the main character is a woman, it could be a little awkward for a boy to read because of some of the content. I would also suggest this to an older audience because there are some adult situations and it is a slightly harder read.
October 15th, 2007 at 10:22 pm
What is in your heart? What will you reflect on your outside? What is a secret? And what is a mystery? The Green Mantle, by Charles de Lint, is amazing. It teaches you about life, about how without our mysteries and secrets, life wouldn’t be. We need to keep those secrets and relish in those mysteries. It can often appear simple, but it’s best to take a second look. That is precisely this book.
The Green Mantle intertwines a modern day danger with an age-old one. It starts out with a man, Tony Valenti, betrayed by his mob family and forced into hiding; a mother and daughter, Frankie and Ali Treasure, winning the lottery and moving to Frankie’s childhood home; a dangerous ex, Earl Shaw, tracking down Frankie for the money; and a peaceful village with a mystery that is slowly beginning to fade. In the county of Lanark, where all this is taking place, there is a strange music that everyone hears but not always to the same degree. Some are driven by lust, some by hate, and others by love. Ali will meet Tony, both hearing the loving peace; and Tony will meet Frankie who hears the calm. All of them are seeking new lives, and leaving the past behind, it catches up. Earl comes and attacks Ali, Tony saves her, Earl calls the mob, and Frankie is attacked by a strange man. People everywhere are dying and everyone is on alert. Somehow though, Ali and Tony still go and investigate the music they hear. They find the village, the wild girl, and the Great Stag. Filled with a sense of danger all its own, this story is a brand-new adventure. If I say any more, this book will be far too predictable, and there’s no fun in that. It kept me on my toes and you should be too.
This book is written in the first-person, but not always the same person. It shows the character’s perspective on a certain scene that they are a major part of and then switches with the next scene. A lot of time it doubles back on itself with a different character as the narrator of a recent past event, or it will briefly give an explanation as if the character were thinking about it. I really enjoyed de Lint’s style of writing because it was so complete in its explanations; you weren’t left wondering anything about it.
Another reason I liked this book was the information about the mob and Pagan culture. They use a lot of Italian words and gang terminology. However, there is always an in-text translation, so you won’t be confused. As for the Pagan culture, it ties with the village. It goes back to ancestral ways of belief. Worshiping the earth and ancient gods. It’s really interesting.
Hopefully, this book will take you on a journey like it did for me, one where I felt very akin to the problems we as people face in our everyday lives. It is about finding whom you really are, and not what is expected of you to be. At some points, it gets really complex and sometimes the meaning won’t be clear, but it becomes clear, leaving you deep in thought about things that really matter.
I’d recommend this book to people in high school and older. The mob might be inappropriate for elementary kids because they wouldn’t understand what a “piece” was, or why the characters faced the conflicts they did. It might be okay for a middle school student, but it would depend on the person. Lastly, if you like adventure, mystery, magic, and intrigue, you’ll like the Green Mantle; as those are some basic genres it might be sorted into. If you’re only half interested as I originally was, you should give it a try. I doubt it will disappoint you.
October 16th, 2007 at 7:16 am
The Book 1916, by Morgan Lywelyn, is about Ned Hollarand and his connection to the Irish Easter Rising, and the events that lead to it. The book starts with the death Ned’s parents on the Titanic. This one event changes his life and eventually leads to his roll in the Easter Rising of 1916. The author of this book, Morgan Lywelyn, does an excellent job of mixing fictional characters, like Ned, with actual people, like James Connolly and Pádraig Pearse.
While the book was a historical fiction, it also has a love story in it between Ned and his future wife. The book also does a good job of showing many thrilling action scenes, the are also so very tedious parts that explained the history of Ireland and the politics of the time.
While the book has a few boring parts, it holds your attention and keeps your interest all the way through the climax of the book. In my opinion, it is one of the best stories of the Irish struggle I have ever read. And while begging of the book can go a little slow the wait for the end is well worth it.
October 16th, 2007 at 9:51 am
Have you ever read a book that was told by a girl already in heaven? If not, you should read The Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold. This book was very interesting and also sad, at times. The main character, Susie Salmon, was raped and killed at the age of fourteen. Her spirit is telling the story while she is watching life continuing after her death. Throughout the book Susie watches her family try to fight the pain from the loss of Susie and stay strong to work together to try to find her murderer.
As i was reading the book, i really enjoyed how Alice Sebold wrote it. The content of the book was so interesting and something new to me, i never wanted to put the book down. I got so into the book i just couldn’t wait to finish it. Alice’s style of writing was very interesting how she had a spirit telling the story made it very different and fun to read.
I would recommend this book to anyone who likes fiction and a good read. I think females would enjoy this more because it was a little emotional and in my opinion i couldn’t really see males getting upset about the story. I would give this book an 8 out of 10. It was very good and i loved reading her style of writing. Hopefully you will have the opportunity to read it and lerarn about her death and her watching her family deal with a loss and trying to continue on with life.
October 16th, 2007 at 10:41 am
If you had one more day to go back and change something, would you take that chance? In the book For One More Day by Mitch Albom. He talks about a guy named Chick Benetto,wishing he had one more day to go back and change events in his llife. He is a divorced,alcoholic, and has-been baseball player. Chick has now come to an ultimate slap in the face and his daughter does not invite him to her wedding. After being shut out of the biggest day in his only child’s life,he sees no point in continuing his misberable life and attempts suicide. I think this is a well written book and goes into great detail. it catches your attention right when you start reading the first paragraph. When readers reads this book,they learn all about the time chick’s mom has stood up for him and he lets her down. For One More Day is not all about sad sob stories and chick’s miserable life,but it also teaches lessons.Chick learns that when someone is in your hear,he or she is never truly gone and they can come back to you. I would recomment this book to people who have lost a parent or someone close to them in their life. they can relate this story, and they have a better understanding of what is going on, than a person who has not experienced this. Overall, i think a sentimental reader will find this an enjoyable and uplifting story. It takes a reflective trip back to a childhood that never lets go.Even when you so wrecked, it’s hard to believe you were ever a child.it’s a sad book ,but it also teaches life long lessons.
October 16th, 2007 at 5:17 pm
This controversial, critically acclaimed novel is the first from film writer Stephen Chbosky. It’s the story of what its like to grow up in high school and not know your place. Written in letters from a teenage boy named Charlie, the reader comes to share the life he lives. But details aren’t necessarily important to the plot in The Perks of Being A Wallflower. The reader never learns where Charlie lives, to whom he is writing, and why he feels the need to tell his story. Instead, the reader follows him through the journey of friendships, first dates, drugs, and family issues, all while Charlie is trying to figure out what happened to him in the past. He reminds us all of the thrills and challenges that come with growing up in this coming of age tale.
Charlie is constantly struggling to figure out the world and how everything works. He stands on the sidelines and watches people, wondering about their lives, instead of his own. Until one day when his English teacher, Bill, the only person he had truly met in high school tells him to try and participate more. Charlie takes his advice and introduces himself to Sam and Patrick, two seniors that take him under their wings and fit him into their lives. Charlie instantly becomes part of their group and begins to experiment with sex, drugs, and rock and roll. And with those come a rollercoaster of emotions that very often bring Charlie and the reader to tears.
Chbosky does an excellent job of capturing adolescent angst, confusion, and joy as Charlie reveals his innermost thoughts and feelings. His language is just plain enough that we know it’s really a freshman in high school writing the letters and wise enough that the reader stays intrigued. This endearing book does a perfect job of telling a story while allowing the reader to reminisce on his or her own experiences and discoveries. Changing from a wallflower to a man of action is not an easy task, but Charlie’s honesty could engage a reader of any age.
In The Perks of Being A Wallflower, Stephen Chbosky creates an inspirational coming-of-age novel that is most often compared with The Catcher in the Rye. It is beautifully written, and the message within is inspirational to adults and children alike. Anyone who appreciates a story they can relate to will enjoy this young adult novel. Although it can be extreme at times, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, is a must read for high school students all around the country.
October 17th, 2007 at 3:32 am
Book Review – Cell
People are making weird guttural noises. Mega accidents are happening on the road. Explosions are going off in the distance. People are attacking other people. What would you do if everything around you was becoming chaotic? Most people’s first impulse would be to grab their cell phone and call the police, call a friend to tell them what was happening, or call someone they thought knew what was going on. In the book Cell by Stephen King, that is exactly what the people who sent out the rogue telephone signal would want you to do.
The ‘pulse’ is what survivors of the signal call it. For reasons unknown, on October 1st at 3:03 pm EST, the pulse started. In its initial burst, people who tried to use their cell phones were converted into raging psychopaths called phone crazies. These phone crazies, at first, didn’t care who they hurt or what they did, and they raged about town killing whenever they got the chance.
This is where the story begins, in Boston, a little before October first at 3:03 pm EST. The main character, Clay Riddell, is buying ice cream as he prepares for his trip home from Boston. When the pulse goes out, Clay is immune to its affects because he doesn’t own a cell phone, and neither does his soon-to-be companion, Tom. As they try to escape the crazy city, they meet up with a young girl named Alice, whose own mother turned on her when the pulse went out.
The group decides to help Clay see if his son is still alive, and they set out for Maine. As the story progresses, the phone crazies become smarter and everyone starts to call them Phoners. These Phoners wander the land by day but sleep in giant groups at night; they also are psychically linked and have other psychic abilities. During the trio’s long journey, people are killed, mass executions take place, survivors of the pulse don’t trust each other, and the world plunges into chaos.
King gives us a preview to this chaos in his opening preface: “On October 1, God was in His heaven, the stock market stood at 10,140, and most of the planes were on time (except for those landing and taking off in Chicago, and that was to be expected). Two weeks later the skies belonged to the birds again and the stock market was a memory. By Halloween, every major city from New York to Moscow stank to the empty heavens and the world as it had been was a memory.”
Overall, the book Cell was an interesting and fun read. The characters in the book are well developed and are easy to relate to. I rate this book a 9 out of 10 and suggest it to anyone who wants to read a disturbing type of horror story, one that stems from one of our most frequent used, every day devices.