Fiction
Nonfiction
This book tells the story of Kalayaan, a young Philippine eagle and his experiences in the forest of Tambala. Throughout Kalayaan’s journey, we learn about conservation and the impact that people can have on animals and the environment. Kalayaan’s story reminds us that we are all neighbors in the world and that caring for our neighbors and our home is important. This is a great pick for young readers who want to learn more about eagles and the environment.
Gender Game was about two seperate realms, Patrus and Matrus, where one is ruled by males and the other ruled by females. It was interesting to compare the polar opposites and the different extremes of these places. In Patrus, males are dominant and females live in fear, while it's vice versa in Matrus. One character, Violet, a repeat offender in a juvenile delinquent system, is offered a chance to save herself and her stolen brother by acquiring a stolen object for Matrus. See, Patrus stole an egg like object of some importance (what it's purpose is isn't known). Violet agrees, and is forced to assume a false identity and marry a Patrus man to blend in. They develop an ornate plan to steal back the 'egg', and plan to falsely frame Viggo, a coworker of Violet's new husband. But what happens when Violet falls in love with Viggo? The plan goes to pieces and she is left regretting what she did. It ends in a cliffhanger (which I despise). The story line was pretty good, but not incredible. It's a good read for a trip, you can finish it easily and you can read it without thinking/wondering about what you're reading. It's light and fluffy, in other words.
Kind of a letdown. I have a tendency to hold sequels to their predecessor's excellence, which almost always results in disappointment (Yeah I know, the first book is always better, but I still have my hopes). The previous books written by this author were all amazing, I heartily recommend them. But Beartown is Backman's newest release, and not as good as the others. Still pretty good, but but excellent like the others. Essentially it's about a dying, small town hidden deep in isolated and cold mountains. But it thrives on hockey, so the town boys are constantly pushed to do better, be better. It follows the intertwined stories of multiple characters. Some of the hockey players, from the heavily privileged to those who have to do everything themselves. Some of the parents and coaches, who are struggling to keep it alive and thriving, but at the same time not break the boys. All in all, it was interesting and I don't regret reading it, but I don't think I'll reread it anytime soon.
To be honest, I only really bought this book because it came heavily recommended from the manager of the bookstore I was at. He claimed it was a book you could read over and over again, and get a new message from every time. But about a quarter of the way through, I admitted to myself it was an average book. It didn't have spectacular or eye-opening writing, and the plot was okay I guess. Essentially, it's about a young shepherd who meets a 'king' in a marketplace in Spain. The king convinces him that there is a Personal Legend everyone has in this world, and the universe conspires to help you achieve it. All throughout this book, Santiago (the shepherd) follows omens, prophecies, and recurring dreams in the hopes of finding a treasure by the Egyptian pyramids. On the way, he helps a crystal merchant, meets an English man who aspires to be an alchemist, the love of his life, and eventually the alchemist himself. In the end, he finds himself, the woman he loves, the treasure of a forgotten pirate (cliche! Boo!), and he accomplishes his Personal Legend. It was okay, but really generic writing and not a very interesting plot. Who knows? Maybe the message will change when I read it again. But I rather doubt it.
I really enjoyed reading this book! It was very a very fun and exiting read, keeping you on your toes! The characters were very very interesting to get to know and never got boring. Also a great book from a series to continue the fun adventure!
After watching the critically acclaimed movie I could not help but read Kathryn Stocket’s book, The Help. Watching the movie before reading the book is something I rarely do, and I knew the book would be better in this case, but I underestimated just how good the book would be.
The Help takes place in the 1960s and is a about a girl named Skeeter who wants to write a book about the African Americans who help in white households. However, different chapters are narrated by different characters so each character has somewhat their own story within the story.
This may be a bold statement, but The Help is my favorite book I have ever read. As an avid reader, I loved how long the book was. The book did not seem to end and the characters were so interesting, I didn’t want it to. Stocket’s writing abilities are phenomenal and the fact that each character was so distinctly different from one another was very impressive. I enjoyed the different chapters being narrated by different characters so much since I got to see what each character was thinking and feeling. I also loved the descriptions in the book. It wasn’t so descriptive that it got boring but
it also wasn’t so little that you couldn’t picture the situation. It was the perfect amount and it added to the reality of the story so well.
Overall I would highly recommend this book, especially for long summer reading. The only thing that I can think of that wasn’t great about the book were two specific chapters. They weren’t awful, I just felt that the book could have easily done without them. But obviously they didn’t really take away from the story and I still adore this book.
Putting up her baby for adoption after getting pregnant at 16 left Grace sad and something missing in her life, something that her adoptive parents could never fill. Grace's longing to find her own birth mother increased, but she was unreachable, and Grace was heartbroken, bullied, and alone. Then, Grace discovered she had siblings. Maya, a 15 year old spunky and bold brown haired daughter in a family of redheads, was adopted by rich parents who only months later had their biological daughter, Lauren. Joaquin, a 17 year old bounced around in the foster care system for all his life, with many failed foster parents and one failed adoption. When his current foster parents express their interest in adopting him, Joaquin is scared of having a rebound of his younger days. With a longing for someone else to call family, Grace reaches out to her biological siblings. They bond quickly, sharing interests in odd food combinations and growing closer due to their shared genes. However, each sibling still keeps their own secrets among the laughter the share. Maya hides from telling about her mother's alcohol addiction, Joaquin won't tell his siblings about his previous failed adoption, and Grace is scared about telling her siblings about her pregnancy and baby.
Grace expresses her interest in finding their birth mother to secretly attempt to fill the hole her baby made in her heart, but neither Maya or Joaquin want to participate after the betrayal they experienced. Meanwhile, Lauren, Maya's sister, is scared about Maya not wanting to be with her anymore when Maya gets closer to her "real" siblings. In this heartbreaking, bittersweet, and empowering book, Robin Benway perfectly captures what is really means to be family.
Ghost Hawk is about a native American boy named Little hawk returning to his village after a 3 month ceremony were boys survive in the woods alone and come back a man after three months, when he returns to his village he finds that most of every one is dead, except his grandmother named Suncatcher. Suncatcher tells Little Hawk that the white mans plague came in and killed most of the village. Then leaping Turtle returns, a friend of Little Hawk. So Little hawk, Suncatcher, and Leaping Turtle go out to find the other survivors. After the reunion Little Hawk meets John, a white 10 year settler from England, these two become friends but when John's father gets stuck under a fallen tree, Little Hawk tries to help but the English soldiers mistake it for an attack. Read the book to find out was happens next.
The Hunger Games has a futuristic setting were there are 12 districts in Panem, the only civilization left in the world. The Hunger Games was a punishment for the districts who rebelled against the Capital, in the Hunger Games people 12-18 are chosen to fight to the death is a arena literally big enough for a whole natural habitat. Our main character Katniss Everdeen is a 16 year old girl who lives in district 12. Her sister was chosen to participate in the Hunger Games, but Katniss took her place as a tribute. How will she survive against other people chosen to partake in the Hunger Games, an a few mutants every hear and there.
I had to read this book as an all school read and notice how I said had. I don't want to be rude but this book was hard to read, not because reading level, but simply because of how overall boring it was. Many of my classmates have agreed with me that this book isn't the best. You had to get half way through the book to get to the plot, if you could make it that far. The idea of the book was good, just some choices in writing it could have been better. Not much imagery and overall not worth your time.
AWESOME! This book is the type you can not set down until you've reached the author's note! It is really inventive, relatable and written in a whole new perspective of things you would have never thought about. Takes you through a roller coaster ride of emotions and very great book overall.
This book was very very enlightening and I am very glad that I read it. It is for a more mature audience, just because of some sexual content. For someone who doesn't know much or maybe nothing at all about what it means to be intersex this book is very educational, maybe not about all the facts but definitely about the emotional aspect and knowing thoughts that may go through someone's head as an intersex. Gregorio is also very aware of the overall high school setting and how it may feel to be in that kind of situation. Overall a very educational and exiting read and recommendation.
Siddhartha is a tale of a young man who lives many different lives, from a Brahmin's son to an ascetic to a wealthy merchant. He does this all to find inner peace, or nirvana. I liked this book because of its style of narration. I have learned about Buddhism before from textbooks, but this style of information is so much more interesting. Siddhartha has many character flaws, but he eventually manages to wash them away in the cycle of time. Reading this book is a very introspective experience that everyone should have.
I read this book because I had heard a lot about the show, but I wanted to read the book rather than watch it. I was a little disappointed. It was a quick read, but it seemed to lack strong characterization. I especially did not like the narrator, Clay Jensen, just because he does not have much depth of character. The writing style is intriguing and mysterious, but it did not make up for the two-dimensional characters. This book was not bad, and it presented many meaningful issues, but the way it was written made it drab and even repetitive. However, I would still recommend this book to those who are interested in the show.
This is one of the best books that I have read all year, it was awesome! As Bella, Alice, and Edward leave Italy on the promise the they will change Bella, Victoria grows ever more vigilant. Edward now knows better than to leave Bella anymore, so he stays. Something has begun in Seattle, mass murder that the police have no way of explaining. Bella and the Cullen's come up with idea after idea, and they finely find out who is behind it and why, newly changed vampires are raiding the city, stalking the citizens, and mass murdering. Only one person wants to kill Bella and the Cullen's that much, Victoria. As the fight begins what will it take to stay alive? how far will Victoria get?
The Great Gatsby is a classic set in the Roaring Twenties. It exposes the flaws in the very ideals that built America--wealth, beauty, and the American Dream. The tone of this book is despondent, and every character is tragic in one way or another. Indeed, this is a book of many emotions, some even gut-wrenching. My favorite aspect of this book is how Fitzgerald uses fiction to talk about very real issues. I strongly recommend this book.
Into the Wild is a nonfiction narrative of the life of Christopher McCandless, a man who ventured into the wilderness of Alaska to live a self-sustained life. At first, I thought this book was awfully dry, but I soon warmed up to Krakauer's writing style. In fact, Into the Wild ended up being so thrilling and intriguing that I couldn't put it down. The best part of this book is the inspiration it provides. It talks about McCandless's reasons for leaving civilization behind, and it also mentions many transcendentalist authors. I now love nonfiction adventure. Everyone should read this book.
I enjoyed listening to this book. The narrator was fantastic. I found I had to look up plot summaries to really get what was going on (thank you, wikipedia). The nicknames alone were confusing. I suppose that's to be expected with a novel this complicated. It seemed like every character in the book save Alyosha were selfish, immoral, and in a few instances downright depraved. This made it somewhat of a chore to listen to in some parts of the book as I couldn't root for anyone. But I enjoyed the epilogue, which ended on a positive note.
Interpreter of Maladies is a collection of short stories that reveal the immense cultural differences between America and India. Jhumpa Lahiri writes with such elegance that each individual story evokes a wide variety of emotions. My favorite part of this book is that all the stories come together to form a well-developed image of life in India compared to life in America. I also like that it does not portray one lifestyle as better than the other; rather, it just highlights the differences. Even in short stories, Jhumpa Lahiri has the ability of putting the reader in another person's shoes and immersing them in different cultures. Because of the beautiful writing, I would recommend this book to anyone interested in different cultures.
Harvey Penick was a renowned golf pro at the Austin Country Club who began his as a caddie. He also coached golf at the University of Texas of thirty years and worked with the likes of Tom Kite, Ben Crenshaw, and Betsy Rawls. Harvey Pencil's Little Red Book started as notes and observations from Harvey's lifetime in golf that only his family was allowed to read. However, Harvey decided to share his wealth of golf knowledge with the world and had this book published. This book is full of amazing tips and tricks that all players can adapt to their game. It also gives many exercises that can improve your game. Finally, Harvey gives many phrases and sayings that are easy to understand and help you to have the right mentality for playing golf and for life. Even though Harvey passed away in 1995, his teachings are still very useful today. I highly recommend this book for all players, caddies, coaches and golf pros.