Ive been reading this book for a while know and I have to say it one of my favorites.The writing is good and the characters are great there is a real undertone in the book about facing racism and facing what is right and what is wrong. I think everyone should pick up this book if they ever get the chance to at the library I will give it a 9/10.
Month: November 2022
Lord of the Flies (book update)
I have just started reading this novel, yet I can already tell it is going to be good. Aside from it being a classic and well renowned book, the story is very intruding and as long as you can get past the somewhat old writing style, I think it is well worth the read.
In case you are unfamiliar, the book is about the group of English school boys who have just survived a plane crash. This crash leaves them stranded on an island, where they attempt to create a democratic society amongst themselves. This all works out at first, but what happens by the end is a violent and chaotic tale about how laws and rules can come crashing down very quickly without proper morals or intentions.
The Butcher [Reading Update]
I just started reading The Butcher by Laura Kat Young, but it caught my attention right from the beginning. The premise is intriguing and horrifying: a world where people are punished for their crimes by having body parts removed. However, that requires somebody to have the job of removing them—and that duty falls upon the shoulders of the Butcher. I’m not super far through this book just yet, but it’s already become one of my favorites.
The plot does set up a lot of violence, but from what I’ve seen so far, there’s also a lot of psychological elements to it. The world is set up in such a way that it makes the reader and the characters question and discover whether punishing bad acts with more suffering is justifiable. I highly recommend this book for people who like stories that make you think deeply about both the fictional world that’s written and the world we live in.
The Loop Reading Update #3
The Loop, by Ben Oliver, takes place in the future where one man and the government control everything about people’s lives. The book follows a 16 year-old named Luka Kane who’s been wrongly imprisoned in a nightmarish prison, called the loop, where the prisoners are tested on horrible experiments, brutally tortured, and in solitude everyday until they die. But shortly after being in the loop for two years, things begin to change, and the daily routine of the prisoners begin to change.
Where I’m at in the book right now, one of Luka’s friends, Wren, who is a security guard, goes crazy while trying to set him, plus a bunch of other cellmates, free. Trying to kill them for no reason at all. Luka manages to contain her in a cell and escapes from the prison into the city. But, life in the city isn’t any better, it’s actually worse. Almost everyone in the city has gone crazy, as well, with the same thing that Wren has mysteriously gotten. So, Luka goes back to the Loop to form a team in order to find out what’s happening to everyone.
The story is definitely starting to amp up the action. I would highly recommend reading this book.
I Know What You Did Last Summer-Characters and Conflicts
I Know What You Did Last Summer by Lois Duncan is a young-adult suspense/mystery novel about four teenagers who did something last summer, and now are facing the consequences. While this book personally does not induce much fear, it does have great characters and a page-turning mystery to it that never seems to stop going.
The most successful part of this book is certainly the characters, as well as the internal conflicts that they each have. Obviously there is the main conflict of the story, but there are also individual conflicts that are unique to each character, who are all dynamic and round in their own unique ways. One example of these conflicts is with Ray Bronson, a nonathletic, non-popular guy who had big expectations in his life. He moved out of town after the incident, thinking he could get away from it, but it never escaped him and he returned grizzled yet determined to find a way to rid himself of the guilt. Another good example of a rounded character with internal conflicts is Julie James, the first protagonist we meet, who feels the most guilt about the incident, and also is the most impacted by it. She has a weak relationship with a new guy she met, went through a total change of personality after the incident, and has parent issues. All of the characters are very well designed and believable, even if they do fit into certain stereotypes, such as Barry being the Dumb Jock, or Helen being the Pretty Blond Girl. The book is able to make them seem believable and realistic too, not conforming too much into their typical characteristics too much. Overall, the book has great characterization, and every person that we meet feels real and alive. Even if the mystery may seem a bit slow at first, the characters and their own internal conflicts will be able to hook readers right from the beginning.
When Dimple met Rishi (Book Review)
When reading When Dimple met Rishi, the reader needs a little more patience. It is a romance book but it doesn’t start off as one. There is an incident where you might be intrigued but apart from that a reader must wait to see more. Since the book is romance, anyone who reads this could wish they were in that position and hope for that level of affection for themselves, so that immerses you into a new world. I know that I certainly want that type of romance in the future. In addition, Dimple is the most complex character in the book, she is set on the fact that she doesn’t want to follow anything her parents tell her to do. She wants to live her own life, find her own partner, and be a rebel. She feels strong emotions about this because she is 18 and doesn’t have to experience harsh things in life yet. She does experience some change in her personality, there are times when she is selfless and other times where she puts herself first. In some moments you are drawn in by how lovely the scene is but then the character gets a thought that just ruins it all, most of the time it’s Dimple. A sentence I feel describes this book is “Opposites attract.” There are a lot of cute scenes between the main characters so if a reader enjoys those I think they would love this book.
Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock by Matthew Quick Book Review
As with any intense and interesting story, it was a real challenge to put this book down. Matthew Quick did a really nice job of starting off strong, by giving a short but sweet first chapter that outlined the rest of the book. As the story progresses, it highlights real-time action, while also indulging in flashbacks every few chapters. The book follows 17-year-old Leonard Peacock, living in Philadelphia, who is struggling immensely with his mental health. His parents, a one-hit-wonder rockstar and a ludicrously vain fashion designer, refuse to help him or even give him attention. However, he has made a few friends at his school, which is what the story is centered around. In the very first chapter, Quick tells the reader how the book is going to end: Leonard will, with his grandfather’s Nazi P-38 pistol, kill his former best friend and commit suicide. But before that, he will give gifts to each of his 4 friends he made along the way, all on his 18th birthday. The novel shifts from giving backstories of characters to them receiving the gifts in real time, and eventually concludes with the final gift being given, and of course, Leonard’s plan to “go out with a bang”. Overall, this was a really interesting book with a lot of cool characters, and I would definitely recommend it to someone who is looking for something good to read.
Ready Player One Review
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline is the ultimate page turner book filled with unexpected occurrences throughout the story as well as a twist or cliff hanger at the end of each chapter. This book immerses you into a digital world in which anything is possible. The characters have diverse opinions and ever changing emotions. As the book continues and the characters are even more immersed in their digital paradise where the hunt for the creator of the world’s fortune is on, you become a spectator in these shocking turn of events. This was one of the best books that I have ever read and I highly recommend it to people who like futuristic and science fiction books.
Monster : Final Book Review
Monster (Walter Dean Myers) is a suspense, mystery novel. where Steve Harmon, along with James king, and Richard “Bobo” Evans, are put on trial for the murder of a convenience store owner in Harlem NY. Steve claims to never have even been there. and the novel follows the events of the trial, and also some interior monologue with Steve. The reader needs patience when reading because only after the first few pages does the story get interesting. The book is in the format of a screenplay because the protagonist Steve, wants to be a screen writer. The book brings the reader into the setting of the story. you can perfectly picture the courtroom, thanks to imagery, you can be in a jail cell with our protagonist. It’s a great book that helps the reader travel to the story. It’s a great book and I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys a mystery novel.
Reading Update: Go Ask Alice
Go Ask Alice (anonymous author) follows the story of 15 year old girl named Alice who struggles with reoccurring drug abuse. This book shows her normal day to day life in the form of a diary entry which later describes how she copes with drug addiction and it illuminates the hard times that she faces. In the beginning of the book she talks about her body insecurities and her struggles that she experiences throughout her teen years. I think that Alice is a very complex character because in some chapters/days she wrote in her diary, she would talk about how good life is and how she is extremely happy to be alive. Then she also sometimes talks about how she hates her life and talks about how she is struggling with her mental health. So far, I would definitely recommend this book because it gives a new perspective no one has ever seen before, her life.
Rebound Book Update
Rebound by Kwame Walker is a book that develops through Charlie Bell. Charlie Bell is the main character who travels upstate New York to visit his grandparents. We see many different sides to Charlie. We see how Charlie goes from having a lot of built-up anger due to the loss of his dad but lets off a little of that steam when he talks to his mom for the first time about the loss. We also see his opinion on spending the summer with his grandparents. Charlie is fighting the internal conflict of losing his dad and not being on the best terms with his mom. Charlie was sent to live with his grandparents in the first place because he and his mother needed to spend less time together. There was a lot of heat between him and his mother and kept on developing so Charlie’s mother had no other option but to send him with his grandparents. Charlie and his mother are now on better terms and we see how Charlie changes over time from being a one side-seeing person to calming down and seeing both sides.
Family of Liars
The book Family of Liars by E. Lockhart is a prequel to We were liars. Both books are amazing but reading We were liars first would make more sense but the books could go in either order. This book follows a privileged family with 3 daughters who spend every summer at their private island. The summer this story follows is different because a group of boys comes to island as well. This book is a mystery it uncovers more and more secrets after every chapter. Exposing the Sinclair family for what it is. The family is constantly putting up a facade and painting a perfect picture from their family. Under all of that there are a lot of secrets and problems especially with Carrie who is the narrator and the oldest daughter. In the story she is dealing with the loss of the youngest sister which no one seems to acknowledge. This cause lots of problems between Carrie and the family especially her sisters. This is a story of betrayal, secrets, and lies. I would recommend this book to someone who likes mystery’s and drama. It is a great books with lots of levels and plot twists and gets better and better every chapter you read.
Lavinia by Ursula K. Le Guin
In this book by Ursula K. Le Guin, Lavinia, a side character from the Aeneid, is given a whole plot. She becomes a person with emotions and thoughts and a role to play, instead of just Aeneas’ wife. This book showcases the world even before Rome was built, and goes deep into culture and the inner workings of a city during times of trouble. Overall, the story manages to take many characters and make every single one of them fleshed-out and alive. Definitely worth a read.
The Summer I Turned Pretty Book Review
Jenny Han’s, “The Summer I Turned Pretty” was a great read. The book hooks you in from the beginning by introducing the reader to complex characters in a short amount of time, all of which are really easy to fall in love with. The tension between Belly and the boys is prominent from the beginning, which helps make almost all of the characters complex and dynamic, all coming with their own personal backstory.
The plot of the story thickens as Belly has her best-friend Taylor come for a visit, forcing tension with Taylor and Jeremiah, and Belly and Conrad.
Belly is left with the choice between Cam, Conrad, and Jeremiah, which she struggles to pick throughout the book
Towards the end of the summer, when the teens find out about Susannah’s sickness, readers are left on a cliffhanger about what Susannah is going to do to either combat her illness, or accept her fate.
Overall, I recommend this read to anyone who likes an easy read, multiple perspectives, a beachy setting, and a lot of romance.
The Leavers
The Leavers (by Lisa Ko) starts off by telling us about Deming, who’s the main character. The book starts ten years before his mom died, and shows a moment where he and his mom were on a walk. They were just talking about stuff and laughing about things. Deming explains his relationship with his mom. He explains how he really enjoys spending time with her and how he would always try to make her laugh. It’s nice to see their relationship before she passed away. Even after that, it’s nice to see how she stuck with him .
The Shining Book Review
The Shining is a book written by renowned horror author, Steven King. The book is about a man named Jack Torrence, a complicated man who is a retired alcoholic. He is looking after the Overlook Hotel as his last chance for a good job. He brings with him his wife Wendy and his son Danny. Jack has had a rough past with abuse, with him being abused by his father when he was a child and assaulting his son while he was drunk. He was also fired from his last job for assaulting another child by popping holes in Jack’s car. While Danny is at the hotel, he envisions many horrible things, even one entity strangling him. After a few months in the hotel, Jack starts having strange envisions as well, and starts to go insane. As he descends into madness, he is told by the hotel to kill his family, and eventually attempts to. Unfortunately for Jack, Danny is able to use a special ability called shine to call a man named Dick Halloran to save him and his mother. With Dick arriving, he is able to save Danny and Wendy while Jack is left in the hotel, accidentally causing it to burn down because the boiler exploded.
After finishing the book and the film, I can say both pieces are great horror. They both have an off-putting feel to them, making the viewer always on the edge of their seat. The characters are exceptionally written, making me care even for Jack during the story. Story-wise, I think that the novel is superior to the film because it is able to develop these characters, although the film is much more enjoyable to ingest. Overall, The Shining by Steven King is a fantastic horror read and I highly recommend it.
Everywhere to Look, Nothing to Find
In Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl, on the anniversary of the flawless Dunne couple, Amy Dunne goes missing. The entire town searches for the poor woman and as her disappearance does not leave a logical trace, all eyes turn to Nick Dunne, the husband, who has been acting strangely throughout the process of the disappearance of his wife. The novel is formatted in an unconventional manner. The narrative is told by Nick’s perspective, and also through Amy’s old diary entries, both revealing different aspects of the crumbling dynamic of their relationship. Although Nick appears suspicious, the reader is unsure on whether to trust his words or not, as he is the main narrator.
I find Nick quite unlikeable. I prefer to read Amy’s entries, but I do recognize he offers an insightful take on the situation. I usually don’t enjoy reading thrillers, but I am enjoying this one. What I particularly like about Gone Girl is its wit. The observations are very sharp. The language is shocking, raw, and brutally honest, which makes it an enjoyable read. Additionally, I really like that this thriller also focuses on the characters and not simply on its plot.
I am not very far in the story, but I am intrigued to discover what is to come. I am very hopeful about this and looking forward to the “Cool Girl Monologue” that this book is famous for.
Book Review- One of Us Is Lying
Overall, I really liked and recommend One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus. It keeps you interested throughout the whole story, although there are some parts you have to be patient with, especially because the mystery isn’t solved until the end. The sudden, mysterious death of Simon happens at the beginning of the story, and the characters present for it are drawn into the mess that unfolds the rest of the story. Throughout it you learn secrets that contribute to the complexity of the mystery, especially the ones about Simon and the truth behind the sudden death and who was really involved. Almost if not all of the characters featured are dynamic because it really thoroughly describes each individual character’s thoughts along the way. The chapters are set up to rotate through each character’s perspective which also keeps the story very interesting during the entirety of it.
Book Update: Some Marvel comics including a Moon Knight comic
Since the Marvel comic format leaves a lot to be desired from character development and insightful narrative I can’t exactly review them properly, though I’ll gladly review them my way.
I’ve always liked the Marvel comics that play a darker twist on things. Like the comic with Spider Man and a bunch of his clones, where somebody cloned spider man a bunch and then they cloned his dad and gave him the memories of Spider man’s dad, only for Spider Man to find out that all these people coming back to life are just clones, and it really just seems messed up. I also read a Moon Knight comic since the show seemed to be pretty popular, and his whole schtick is that he’s insane, and honestly it was pretty cool, the whole insanity thing I feel allowed for the writers to come up with whatever wacky thing they wanted, because Captain America wouldn’t strap a rocket on his arm and punch a dude, pretty cool comic.
Book Update The Electric Kingdom
The book The Electric Kingdom is a really good book it uses different perspectives for each chapter and that really lets the reader know what is going on and what they are thinking. I am at page 220 and it has gotten really interesting with the characters meeting new people and more action going on. I am really invested and I can’t wait to see what happens next.
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