Naomi
Easily one of my favorite books ever, Han Nolan always writes a book that makes me go through in one sitting. Her first book, “If I should Die Before I Wake” centers around Hilary, a Nazi German girl who truly hates all Jews. When she got into a motorcycle accident with her boyfriend, she is in critical condition in the hospital, but suddenly lives her life as a Jewish girl named Chana, who is trying to make a living in the desolate areas of the ghettos. During her unconsciousness, Hilary is taken into a new world where she sees the lives of the people she always looked down to, ate, breathed and lived like them and cried the same tears as them when fear struck their hearts.
Holocaust novels always seem to interest me, but this one was one of the most interesting because it made people literally “walk in the shoes of another person”. We lived in this vivid “dream” that Hilary escaped to and learned more than than she could ever do if she never got into that accident.
I can understand why Nolan receives multiple awards for her novels because she takes it to the heart and gives away something that an audience yearns for when taken into a novel, and that is the idea to show and not tell. Her description is vivid and it makes it worth turning the pages to.
This book was quite confusing, well maybe because Shakespeare wrote it. Literally, anything that he writes takes twice as long to read before you can comprehend something as simple as “I love you”. Well the merchant of venice was not the best of the best either. from the blurb, i expected it to have more drama, more excitement. Especially for an AP book, I was dissatisfied with the level of boredom I've accumulated. I wouldn;t recommend it, but for anyone taking AP next year, expect to read it. I can honestly say though that it does tackle very interesting ideas and morals of society. THE END. LOL.
This book is probably the worst book I have ever read [ the odyssey and gilgamesh and considered great compared to this one]. Her story is flat, redundant,and a drag.I re-started the book 5 times because my mind was always elsewhere.The only good thing about this book was her giving her audience an awareness of the silent holocaust that existed for 36 years. And no she does not deserve the nobel prize...
This is probably one of the best books I have ever read. At first I was skeptical about reading S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders (written in 1967). But when I saw Copolla's movie adaptation starring Matt Dillon, Rob Lowe, C. Thomas Howell etc. I was amazed at how good the movie was. It was so real because you were able to connect with the characters since they grew up in tough neighborhoods trying to fit in society. So I decided tot read the book in order to find out if the movie actually is worse than the book ( since sometimes watching the movie before the book gets hopes up for nothing). But in actuality, both the movie and book are equally great because not many directors are able to capture the depth of a novel and visually interpret it the exact way that the audience wanted their ideas to be visualized. It is like West Side Story with a twist [ and no secret love affair], the Greasers and The Socs [socials, pronounced Soash] and each of the characters in the greasers gang (Ponyboy, Sodapop and Darrel ‘Darry' Curtis, Dallas ‘Dally' Winston,Steve,Two-Bit and Johnny) each have personalities that make you sympathize with them and love them so much more than their society does (being poor, dirty JD's and hoodlums). All the actors did a great job portraying those characters and I recommend it to anyone who wants to read/ watch a great movie.
The reason why I chose to read this book other than because my name is in the title;but because Rachel Cohn wrote some hilarious exciting books like Cupcake, Shrimp and Gingerbread. Written by Cohn and David Levithan, this book is about two best friends, Naomi and Ely who are practically soulmates and do absolutely everything together. But Naomi secretly loves Ely and wants to have a future with him, even though she knows he's gay. Their friendship is up to a test when Ely kisses Naomi's boyfriend Bruce the second. Both go through hard times trying to aviod each other and still live the same lives even though the presence of each other was never felt again. But friends as close as these two could never stay enemies forever; and this book proves that no matter what happens, the one true friend you have will always be there for you. Reading this book will be a very fun experiend and if you want to know more about the hilarious and sad events not mentioned here, you all should read this book!
The first book (prequel to Begging for Change) is Sharon G. Flake's amazing book called Money Hungry. We are able to begin the journey of Raspberry Hill, a 13 year old living in a poor neighborhood and consumed in the ideology that money is everything. Any dollar coming her way brings a glow to her face because she deeply believes that it will cure the hardships that passes by her life. Her mother and father are separated as he fell into an addiction of drugs and alcohol; lost his job, which evidently led to the period of homelessness for Raspberry and her mother. The obstacles that Raspberry has to overcome can relate to anyone at any age. I think that Sharon G. Flake does a great job of bringing reality to her audience straightforward without having to look for it. Her stories are amazing and everyone should read them!
Doubt is one of the many movies from 2008 that I am dying to see,with an all star cast including Meryl Streep and Phillip Seymour Hoffman. But before I see that movie, I had to read the book first. My high expectations were not shunned at all. This is one of the best plays I have ever read. The only complaint that I have is that it is too short! The plot got more interesting as the book progressed, and the ending was one of those endings that just suprised you, and you have the utmost respect for the protagonist- in this case would be Sister Aloysius. It is 1964 in the Bronx, New York, in a catholic school run by Sister Aloysius and her group of nuns. Father Flynn, the priest and teacher at the school is accused by Sister Aloysius of having a sexual relationship with the sole negro student, Donald Muller (aged 12). The entire play takes place in the school. The creative and thrilling monologues performed by Mrs. Muller and Father Flynn create the foundation in this novel, alongside the moralistic conversations between Sister Aloysius and Sister James. It's a great play and everyone should read it!
Whimsical. Magical. An equally adoring love story and captivating individual storylines for the main characters.
By far my favorite Shakespearean play alongside Othello and A Midsummers Night Dream. Finally something that didn't make me want to throw the book against a wall or directly at Shakespeare's face, cursing him for writing hot garbage in difficult language (like the Merchant of Venice). Hamlet is the hero that everyone wants to believe in. He is the epitome of the lost and confused souls, the psychologically tortured and the prime example of society's loss of youth. Through this book, we learn more about what types of responsibilities are right for certain types of people. We learn what betrayal does to people and how revenge is contemplated in all aspects of the individuals society. Hamlet can relate to so many different characters, which makes him more likable and more eager to try to understand. I now understand why this book is something that all teachers eventually teach their students, because of such complexities that paved ways for other authors and protagonists /antagonists to follow.
Disclaimer: read the 2020 edition. I am excited I learned about this author a couple months ago. Heavy was my favorite book of 2021, so I'm happy to start off 2022 with this collection of essays from Laymon.
The Crucible is the second play that I have read from Arthur Miller. Although Death of a Salesmen was a good play (after I understood it), The Crucible by far, was so much better. The setting is in Salem, Massachussetts in 1692. We all know that time specific time in history is most well known for the witchcraft accusations and burnings that have rose in the city. The story starts out as the Reverend Parris's daughter takes ill right after he sees her and a group of women including his niece Abigail dancing “naked” in the woods, in what seemed like a ritual with Lucifer. Then the entire catastrophe unravels itself as more and more people are getting accused by others either out of spite, or to save their own skin. The book really shows the importance of religion at this time; especially since this was early before America even became an official country, and english were leaving their country because of religious persecution. We are able to see the ways that they lived and how theocracy truly governed their state. Miller did a great job with character development and capturing his audience with a very interesting moment in history.
Ralph Ellison's only successful novel Invisible Man was an instant classic in its initial release in 1952. The nameless narrator gives us his story on how he came to be an “invisible man”. Living in an abandoned basement, this African-American recaps about his struggles in the south which expanded as he migrated north. And the search for self- identity was at stakes as he made bad choices of who to associate with. With all the social and political conflicts from the book and the time period in which it was written, Ellison did a great job of getting into this ambiguous characters mind and speak to the audience, which creates a two- way communication in literature. With all the African- American history incorporated in it,its better that we read it in class, in order to get the full concept of the novel. I give it 4 stars, and anyone who wants to read about individuals in search for their identity in a clashing society, then this is a great book for you.
3.5 stars
Would have been 4 if I felt as satisfied with the ending as opposed to the beautiful writing that immediately pulled me in.
This is the 4th novel that I have read from Nicholas Sparks [the other 3 being the notebook, a walk to remember and nights in rodanthe] and once again, he doesn't fail to bring you the nice romantic stories about how true love can conquer all.
Jeremy Marsh has been married and divorced, is an awesome freelancer for the Scientific American magazine and lives int he city of all opportunities. When he meets a woman named Lexie Darnell in North Carolina, their automatic love for each other will shape the rest of his life. But first, he has to go through lies and betrayal before he can finally live happily ever after with his wife-to-be. Whe he finds out that Lexie is pregnant, he is overjoyed for the simple fact that he has been told that he could never produce children. And from there, it becomes an upside down roller coaster of high and low events that evidently leads to a shocking ending. I recommend it to anyone who loves the notebook or a walk to remember, and its a pretty quick read if you get into it fast.
Another book by Nicholas Sparks, The Notebook was such a beautiful love story about two people named Noah Calhoun and Allie Nelson who shows the reader that true love does exist somehow and nothing can ever keep them apart for long. If you guys have seen the movie with Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling, you will understand how touching this story can be. But when you read the novel, there are much more details that make this couple's story as spetacular as we imagine it to be. I recommend it to anyone who likes romance novels or whoever has seen the movie.
By reading A walk to remember and then The Notebook, i decided to check out another Nicholas Sparks novel called Nights in Rodanthe [plus i heard it was going to be a movie, so this time I wanted to read the book before I see the movie.] Once again, Sparks knows how to write a sweet love story about two middle aged [late 40's early 50's] people named Adrienne Willis and Paul Flanner who fall in love when they thought that love would never come their way again. Paul, who is a successful surgeon is on his way to try to patch out his estranged relationship with his son Mark, meets Adrienne at an Inn in Rodanthe as she watches over the inn for her good friend. During those short days they had with each other, they experience a deeper love than they both had in each of their long-term marriages. Adrienne tells the story to her daughter Amanda in hopes to pull her spirits up from a terrible loss that she recently experienced.
Richard Wright wrote a very good novel about racial discrimination and the hardships for colored people during segregation times etc. Written in 1940, Wright (a black author)decided to express his feelings towards the world whether they would accept it or not, and became very controversial because a black man actually wrote whats happening in real life, and making the white people aware of their faults. Bigger Thomas is the protagonist of the story and is sentenced to the death penalty because he was accused of raping and killing a white woman. When you are reading the book, you will have new perspectives about this cruel situation and with Wright's great writing, you will feel as if you are right there with Bigger the entire journey until his death.
Oh Edward Albee, what a dramatic piece of fiction you've created for the 20th century audience. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf illuminates the lives of two different couples, Martha and George as well as Nick and Honey in a New England town either in the 50's or the 60's. The troubles that surround both couples are released in the early morning following the party that Martha's father hosted at the New Carthage college campus. Nick, the new biology teacher at the school is invited to Martha and George's home alongside Honey, a small, and not-so-bright woman who comes from a well-to-do background. Immediately the audience is introduced to the love-hate relationship that George and Martha have been building up from their 23 year marriage. The openess that Albee has towards this tumultuous relationship shows society of the many failures that we keep behind closed doors. Negative attributes of everyone will fall into the open and true colors are shown. What made this book so weird in my opinion was the constant arguing between Martha and George. It was awkward for them to feel so comfortable doing it around company, so abnormal especially in a time frame such as the 50's/60's.
You can tell there were dissatisfaction's with all four characters; Martha for being too abrasive and yearning for attention, George for being considered a failure in his job at the History department of the college, and not mounting up to the “man” that Martha's father wished he was. Nick for being the “gorgeous genius” whose not as open to the world of deception until he meets the unhappy older couple, and Honey because her alcohol abuse and limited intelligence gets shunned by most because of her wealthy status.
This book took about four hours to read. I think it was the loudness of the characters that drew me in to read more and although I had questions about alot of moves being made by the characters, by the end, it was just so different to read a play that took America into a new direction about the stereotypical family and what it should include.
This is definitely one of the greatest novels ever written. A page turner from the 1st page to the last, its the story of Francie Nolan's American lifestyle and the way she grows up in poverty with a dreamer for a father, and a mother who sees life far different from her husband. Betty Smith is a genius, and hopefully you all agree. Her other book “[b:Joy in the Morning 14889 Joy in the Morning (Perennial Classics) Betty Smith http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166668598s/14889.jpg 3155]” is also really good, but of course ATGIB tops them all.
I think this book was one of the most boring books ever written and if it was not school mandated, I would never choose to read this book...ever.It was hundreds of pages and I was completely confused until the end.
This book is extremely good, I never put it down for a second. It is the prequel to one of my favorite books ever, Roll of thunder, Hear my Cry by Mildred D. Taylor. The story focuses on Paul-Edward Logan, a mulatto slave born who now lives as a free colored person on his father's land with his mother,sister and three white brothers. His father and mother knew the consequences that follwed them when his father decided to raise Paul and Cassie as if they were fully white. They laerned to read,write, and do many things that colored people could not dream of back in the 1800's. After an awakening of reality from a betrayal from his closest brother Robert, he escapes with his best friend Mitchell and encounter a world that didn't accept Paul's “kind”; because it was either you were too white to be considereed colored, or your too black to be white. He had to live a life of mainly isolation and not trusting anyone but mitchell. Not wanting to give everything away, If anyone has read any of the Logan series, this is a perfect book to read to be able to learn about their families history and how they came to be. And if you never read it before, than its even beter, to be able to start with Paul's story and continue 3 generations later with the same pride and struggles that the Logans face in the South.