Kidd, Sue Monk. The Secret Life of Bees. New York: Penguin Books, 2005.
After reading Ellie's review on The Secret Life of Bees, I thought it would be a good novel to add to my reading collection. I agree with the point Ellie makes about how the author does a great job of creating a lot of small plots that all connect to one large plot. My favorite thing about this book would have to be the interaction between the characters. I loved August and Lily's relationship, and I always enjoyed reading about August's overemotional sister May. Although the book is an easy read the author depicts many heavy topics like physical and mental abuse, racism, and suicide. Overall, I think that if anyone is in the mood for a simple read and a terrific story, I would highly recommend The Secret Life of Bees.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
S. Melfi - The Last Coyote
Connelly, Michael. The Last Coyote. Grand Central Publishing, 1995.
I read the same book that Jesper Sandsjoe read last quarter, The Last Coyote by Michael Connelly. When I read his review on the book I knew it would be an exciting book that I would really get into.
The book follows a man by the name of Detective Harry Bosch whose life as it seems to be falling apart right in front of him. His house was recently condemned due to earthquake damage, his girlfriend had just left him and he began drinking heavily. On top of all that, he had just put his commanding officer through a glass window and faces an indefinite suspension. While serving his suspension he begins to think of his childhood and how his mother was murdered and no one was ever convicted of the crime. He begins going through old pieces of evidence to try and figure out who killed his mother. I agree with Jesper on the fact that you do get more in touch with Connelly’s personal feelings throughout the novel. It is also a very intense book. The whole time I was reading it was on the edge of my seat. This was a very, very good book and I would highly recommend to anyone that’s into this genre of writing to read it.
I read the same book that Jesper Sandsjoe read last quarter, The Last Coyote by Michael Connelly. When I read his review on the book I knew it would be an exciting book that I would really get into.
The book follows a man by the name of Detective Harry Bosch whose life as it seems to be falling apart right in front of him. His house was recently condemned due to earthquake damage, his girlfriend had just left him and he began drinking heavily. On top of all that, he had just put his commanding officer through a glass window and faces an indefinite suspension. While serving his suspension he begins to think of his childhood and how his mother was murdered and no one was ever convicted of the crime. He begins going through old pieces of evidence to try and figure out who killed his mother. I agree with Jesper on the fact that you do get more in touch with Connelly’s personal feelings throughout the novel. It is also a very intense book. The whole time I was reading it was on the edge of my seat. This was a very, very good book and I would highly recommend to anyone that’s into this genre of writing to read it.
Brendan Gallagher, Raiders Night
Lipsyte, Robert.Raiders Night. New York: HarperTempest, 2006.
Nick DePompei Inspired me to read this book. After I read his blog about this book I knew that this was one for me to read. Anything with me and football goes like peanut butter and jelly. I agree with Nick's review he did a really good job summing up the story and persuading others to read it.
If anyone knows how crazy the city of Massilon is about their high school football this book reminds me a lot of that. I liked how the entire town was crazy about football in this book. Every baby boy that was born in the town is given a football with their teams logo on it from the mayor. This book was very unpredictable. The author did a great job of leading you on that the boys weren't going to get caught taking illegal steroids to enhance their performance, but in the end a lot of senior players got in trouble. All in all I feel like this book didn't have any weaknesses.
Nick DePompei Inspired me to read this book. After I read his blog about this book I knew that this was one for me to read. Anything with me and football goes like peanut butter and jelly. I agree with Nick's review he did a really good job summing up the story and persuading others to read it.
If anyone knows how crazy the city of Massilon is about their high school football this book reminds me a lot of that. I liked how the entire town was crazy about football in this book. Every baby boy that was born in the town is given a football with their teams logo on it from the mayor. This book was very unpredictable. The author did a great job of leading you on that the boys weren't going to get caught taking illegal steroids to enhance their performance, but in the end a lot of senior players got in trouble. All in all I feel like this book didn't have any weaknesses.
Nick DePompei, Beach Road
Nick DePompei
8th Period
Mrs. Brown
18 March 2009
Patterson, James, and Peter De Jonge. Beach Road. London: Headline Book Publishing, 2002.
Dee Brizzolara inspired me to read "Beach Road", and it was as good as he said. He told me that it was going to be a suspenseful, but easy read, and I definitely thought the same thing. I really liked the basketball part of the novel, because I am a big sports fan, so that helped me focus on the reading. Dee did a great job with his blog about the novel, because his assessment was 100% accurate.
I enjoyed most of the book, but the one thing that I did not enjoy was the ending. The outcome of the case was so unpredictable and outrageous that it really let me down. The book was totally believable until the outcome of the courtcase, where NBA prospect Dante Halleyville is acquited of murdering 4 other players. I enjoyed every aspect of the book until the very end, which was very dissapointing
8th Period
Mrs. Brown
18 March 2009
Patterson, James, and Peter De Jonge. Beach Road. London: Headline Book Publishing, 2002.
Dee Brizzolara inspired me to read "Beach Road", and it was as good as he said. He told me that it was going to be a suspenseful, but easy read, and I definitely thought the same thing. I really liked the basketball part of the novel, because I am a big sports fan, so that helped me focus on the reading. Dee did a great job with his blog about the novel, because his assessment was 100% accurate.
I enjoyed most of the book, but the one thing that I did not enjoy was the ending. The outcome of the case was so unpredictable and outrageous that it really let me down. The book was totally believable until the outcome of the courtcase, where NBA prospect Dante Halleyville is acquited of murdering 4 other players. I enjoyed every aspect of the book until the very end, which was very dissapointing
Chris Yanda 3rd quarter, Mrs. Brown 8th peroid
Book: D.A. Stern, The Punisher
Border’s: $6.99
320 pages
I was inspired to read this book by Larry Stevens post about it, so i decided to check it out. His post made the book seem like something i would enjoy and keep me interested rather then get bored and stop reading it mid way threw the book.
I agree for the most part with Larry's review of the book, but there are a few things i disagree on. I agree that the book is more in depth then the movie and that it does fill in some gaps that are sorta skipped over in the movie, like his life before his family was murdered. I did have a little trouble getting into the book at first but maybe that's just me since i have trouble getting into most any book i read.
like Larry said the book is more in depth then the movie and i like that about the book but i also dislike in in some ways because some times i find my self caught up in the details, but this book is fast moving enough to avoid much trouble with that. I also like the imagery used in the book that allowed me add onto characters and scenes I already had an image in my head of because of the movie. It almost makes me wish i had read the book before i saw the movie.
A lil something to make reading a million of these a little better
New Post
J Ticer
3/18/09
Mrs. Brown
8th Period
Twilight was a very interesting book. I agree with the review by Jordan. The plot line in the book developed extremely well. I liked the speed of the book as well. The book was definitely geared more towards girls. I would recommend the book to girls. There was a lot of action towards the end of the book, if you can get past all of the romantic parts of the book. It is not your typical scary vampire book. I hope you enjoy the book as well.
3/18/09
Mrs. Brown
8th Period
Twilight was a very interesting book. I agree with the review by Jordan. The plot line in the book developed extremely well. I liked the speed of the book as well. The book was definitely geared more towards girls. I would recommend the book to girls. There was a lot of action towards the end of the book, if you can get past all of the romantic parts of the book. It is not your typical scary vampire book. I hope you enjoy the book as well.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
E Dankelson. Mrs. Brown. Twilight
Ellie Dankelson
8th Period
Mrs. Brown
3/18/09
Similar to many other people, I decided to read Twilight. At first I was skeptical about a love story between a girl and a vampire but Meyer does an amazing job of pulling the reader in with the story of Edward and Bella. Carlie’s blog was able to sway me to final read it when she described the constant suspense between Edward and Bella because of his thirst for her blood. The suspense helped me overlook the oddness of the story and kept me reading until I was completely absorbed. Carlie was also correct about the importance of setting in the book. The forests play a crucial role in the story and help keep the reader turning pages. Twilight is more a love story than anything and it helps readers relate because we’ve all had that one love interest that doesn’t fit in with our friends, Meyer just takes it to the extreme and pulls it off beautifully in Twilight.
8th Period
Mrs. Brown
3/18/09
Similar to many other people, I decided to read Twilight. At first I was skeptical about a love story between a girl and a vampire but Meyer does an amazing job of pulling the reader in with the story of Edward and Bella. Carlie’s blog was able to sway me to final read it when she described the constant suspense between Edward and Bella because of his thirst for her blood. The suspense helped me overlook the oddness of the story and kept me reading until I was completely absorbed. Carlie was also correct about the importance of setting in the book. The forests play a crucial role in the story and help keep the reader turning pages. Twilight is more a love story than anything and it helps readers relate because we’ve all had that one love interest that doesn’t fit in with our friends, Meyer just takes it to the extreme and pulls it off beautifully in Twilight.
S. McElroy. The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Chbosky, Stephen
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
MTV Books: 1999
Heart
Borders $11.20
Fiction
213 pages
The post that inspired me to read this book was by Kim Brasher. I have heard about this book before from other friends also, so thought that this was a perfect time to read it. I agree with Kim in that this is a pretty good book. She talks about how the book was written and I agree that writing it as letters was the perfect layout for this book. The letters make it like a diary, so you almost feel like the character is telling you about his life, not another character. I also think that the author did an awesome job by making to story easy for teenagers to relate to, in order to make the book easier to read. Some of the issues Charlie faces are similar to ones readers might, so you feel invited into the story so you can relate your problems.
It is a very easy story to read, and I like how the author focuses the book on the events. The location is anonymous and the people are renamed because Charlie, the main character, does not want anyone finding out who he really is. There are many events throughout the book, so the reader is never bored. However i believe that the ending of the book was just OK. The ending was not predictable, so I was happy about that; however, the whole point of the book is discovered within a page or two. I'm not exactly sure how the author could have changed it to make is better, or more shocking. The result of the main story is shocking, however i feel it should have been shown more. Overall, I thought it was a very good book and i plan on reading it a second time.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
MTV Books: 1999
Heart
Borders $11.20
Fiction
213 pages
The post that inspired me to read this book was by Kim Brasher. I have heard about this book before from other friends also, so thought that this was a perfect time to read it. I agree with Kim in that this is a pretty good book. She talks about how the book was written and I agree that writing it as letters was the perfect layout for this book. The letters make it like a diary, so you almost feel like the character is telling you about his life, not another character. I also think that the author did an awesome job by making to story easy for teenagers to relate to, in order to make the book easier to read. Some of the issues Charlie faces are similar to ones readers might, so you feel invited into the story so you can relate your problems.
It is a very easy story to read, and I like how the author focuses the book on the events. The location is anonymous and the people are renamed because Charlie, the main character, does not want anyone finding out who he really is. There are many events throughout the book, so the reader is never bored. However i believe that the ending of the book was just OK. The ending was not predictable, so I was happy about that; however, the whole point of the book is discovered within a page or two. I'm not exactly sure how the author could have changed it to make is better, or more shocking. The result of the main story is shocking, however i feel it should have been shown more. Overall, I thought it was a very good book and i plan on reading it a second time.
Monday, March 16, 2009
J. Sandsjoe, Mrs. Brown, Brother Odd
I read same book as David Walker in 5th period, Brother Odd by Dean Koontz. Since I haven’t read any of the books about Odd Thomas before I had kind of a hard time getting in to the book, so I recommend people to read the previous ones first. Anyway, in this third book about Odd Thomas, he is staying as a guest at a monastery and most of the book is about how he and his friend is trying to stop a terrible event using Odd Thomas’s psychic skill. The skill is to be able to talk to spirits using the medium of children that first died and then were revived. If Odd Thomas can’t prevent this horrible thing from occurring many people will die.
I agree with Walker on most of his thoughts about the book. I think that throughout the story, you were never bored because it was pretty intense, and I like the way the author uses humor in the book, it makes the reading a lot more fun. I also like the details in the book a lot; it makes the story more real. Overall, I’m not a huge fan of the psychic stuff, but I think it was a decent book and it might be something you should consider reading if you like supernatural plots.
J.Mervin Songs of the Humpback Whale
Jaime Mervin
8th
Mrs.Brown
Picoult, Jodi. Songs of the Humpback Whale. New York:Washington Square Press, 1992.
I also read the book Songs of the Humpback Whale by Jodi Picoult, and I enjoyed it very much. It is very touching like most of her books(I have read about 6 now) and definitely is a heart breaker. In the novel, Jane and Rebecca have to make a choice to be with the one they love or who they are already tied too. I really like this book because it can easily be related to anyone's life. A journey to find yourself can often produce changes and this is prevalent in this book. Romance and passion are found in this novel, it is a love story. I believe that the review of the novel is accurate. I love reading these types of books because there is always a tough decision to be made, and they always keep me turning the page. I literally could not put this book down; I finished it in 3 days. Jodi Picoult is one of my favorite authors and behind My Sister's Keeper, this is my favorite novel.
Raiders Night Too
Zach Flowers
8th period
Mrs. Brown
3-16-2009
I also read the book Raiders Night by Robert Lipsyte, and I Agree with Nick that it was an intense novel that shows the darker side of high school sports. I thought that the author did an excellent job using imagery to describe his scenes. Descriptions like how Matt was so nervous while he was first taking steroids that it felt like it took hours for each bead of sweat to run down his neck. I also thought that it was important to give the players overbearing parents because I know from experience that parents always think that their child is the best player on the field and expect nothing less from their kids. All in all the book Raiders Night was a good read because I could somewhat relate to it. I've never used steroid but I've been involved with high school sports my entire career and I know the pressures that go into playing, and this book displayed them well.
8th period
Mrs. Brown
3-16-2009
I also read the book Raiders Night by Robert Lipsyte, and I Agree with Nick that it was an intense novel that shows the darker side of high school sports. I thought that the author did an excellent job using imagery to describe his scenes. Descriptions like how Matt was so nervous while he was first taking steroids that it felt like it took hours for each bead of sweat to run down his neck. I also thought that it was important to give the players overbearing parents because I know from experience that parents always think that their child is the best player on the field and expect nothing less from their kids. All in all the book Raiders Night was a good read because I could somewhat relate to it. I've never used steroid but I've been involved with high school sports my entire career and I know the pressures that go into playing, and this book displayed them well.
NEW POST A. Oliver Mrs. Brown Twilight
Meyer, Stephanie. Twilight. New York: Little Brown and Company, 2005.
In response to Carlie Schmidt’s blog on Twilight by Stephanie Meyer I believe she wrote an accurate review on this novel. I was skeptical upon reading the review that Edward a main character is a vampire. I do not usually read fantasy or Science fiction books but I found this story to be a page turner and at many points in the novel you forget your reading about a vampire. I found that this story of love, desire and risk applies to all people and interests many. The fact that the love is similar in a way to Romeo and Juliet’s because their love is not written in the stars as well as they are not from the same type of family; other parallels are also seen though both texts. I found that the reader stays engaged throughout the whole novel which makes this an enjoyable read. I felt the audience could really connect with the characters; there is a little bit of Edward and Bella in all of us.
In response to Carlie Schmidt’s blog on Twilight by Stephanie Meyer I believe she wrote an accurate review on this novel. I was skeptical upon reading the review that Edward a main character is a vampire. I do not usually read fantasy or Science fiction books but I found this story to be a page turner and at many points in the novel you forget your reading about a vampire. I found that this story of love, desire and risk applies to all people and interests many. The fact that the love is similar in a way to Romeo and Juliet’s because their love is not written in the stars as well as they are not from the same type of family; other parallels are also seen though both texts. I found that the reader stays engaged throughout the whole novel which makes this an enjoyable read. I felt the audience could really connect with the characters; there is a little bit of Edward and Bella in all of us.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
SECOND BLOG POST J. Curtis, Mrs. Brown, Twilight
Stephenie Meyer. Twilight. Little, Brown and Company: United States, 2005.
After reading Brandy Dahlgren's post for the book Twilight by Stephenie Meyer I immediately knew that i wanted to read that book. I'm usually not one to read fantasy, but this book was amazing. This book truly kept you reading, until there were no more pages. Meyer's reveals the profoundness of love, and illustrates what love makes people do. Her captivating story line, and intense details allows to reader to actually become involved with the novel. One moment Bella Swan passionately falls in love and the next her hushed affection morphs into a terrifying race to stay alive. It is all so exciting. I agree with Brandy's post, her description of the book provides the viewer with just enough information without giving away any important details. What I like most about the book, is the way Edward describes his feelings toward Bella. Since he has been a vampire from the end of World War I, everything he does for her is how they acted back then; he is a true gentlemen. Also, this book leaves you wanting to know more, she really does grab the readers attention. I am now reading book 4 of the series, it is that good, i can't put it down.
After reading Brandy Dahlgren's post for the book Twilight by Stephenie Meyer I immediately knew that i wanted to read that book. I'm usually not one to read fantasy, but this book was amazing. This book truly kept you reading, until there were no more pages. Meyer's reveals the profoundness of love, and illustrates what love makes people do. Her captivating story line, and intense details allows to reader to actually become involved with the novel. One moment Bella Swan passionately falls in love and the next her hushed affection morphs into a terrifying race to stay alive. It is all so exciting. I agree with Brandy's post, her description of the book provides the viewer with just enough information without giving away any important details. What I like most about the book, is the way Edward describes his feelings toward Bella. Since he has been a vampire from the end of World War I, everything he does for her is how they acted back then; he is a true gentlemen. Also, this book leaves you wanting to know more, she really does grab the readers attention. I am now reading book 4 of the series, it is that good, i can't put it down.
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