blog post

The great Gatsby: F Scott Fitzgerald 180 Pages Star Rating: ☆☆☆☆ Why This Book has Value: I gave this book three stars because it would had gone into more details at certain points durring the book.

The book was overwhelmingly suspense full. The constant battle for what they want things going the wrong way and things working out. It is full of 1920’s terms like; “try again old sport.” and many more. Has almost every type of genre so that every person like some part of the book.

City of bones-- Makaila Chadwick

Title of Book:City of Bones Author:Cassandra Clare  # of Pages: 485  Why This Book has Value:

     A book that i have recently read (and thoroughly enjoyed) is The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones  by Cassandra Clare. She is the author of the Mortal Instruments series, Infernal Devices trilogy, and coauthor of the Bane Chronicles with Sarah Rees Brennan and Maureen Johnson. Clare also wrote The Shadowhunter's Codex with her husband Joshua Lewis. Clare and Lewis live together in western Massachusetts.

     This fictional book brings together the history of angels and demons, and the ancient myths of vampires werewolves, and shadow hunters to modern day New York. The main character of this book is Clary Fray, who lives in downtown Brooklyn with her mother, Jocelyn, in an apartment. Everything was normal until Clary started drawing a strange symbol over and over again, everywhere. When the demons that Jocelyn has been trying to escape from finds her, Clary is at a coffee shop with her best friend Simon. She meets a Shadowhunter named Jayce who follows her to her house after she receives a phone call from her mother.

'"Don't come home! Do you understand me, Clary? Don't you dare come home. Go to Simon's house and stay there until i can-" A noise in the background interrupted her: the sound of something falling, shattering, something heave striking the floor-

"Mom!" Clary shouted into the the phone. "Mom are you all right?"

A loud buzzing noise came from the phone. Clary's mother's voice cut through the static: "Just promise me you wont come home. Go to Simon's and call Luke- tell him that he's found me-"' (pg. 45)

     After this, Clary steals Jayce's sensor and runs home as fast as she possibly can. Upon entry she is attacked by a demon. Jayce and sees that Clary killed the demon, but not before it could bite her. He took her to the Shadowhunter's Institute so she could be healed as the demons carry deadly venom. Clary goes from an ordinary teenager to a ruthless Shadowhunter, willing to do anything to save her mom. 

      This book was important to me because I love books about fictional characters, and settings in an alternate reality where these characters can exist. Clare tells the story in such a way that makes you feel like you are in the story, and you can easily visualize everything that is happening with descriptions like: "They had the same jet black hair, the same slender eyebrows winging up at the corners, the same pale, high-colored skin." (pg. 68) and "His eyes when he looked at Clary were bright with dislike." (pg. 69)

     To me, the theme of this book is religion. There are references to Christianity very frequently in this book. In a world full of angels and demons, settings in some churches, and allusions to the Bible. Shadowhunters do not follow any one single religion, so all religions support them when they go to battle. Near every church's altar, under the Nephilim rune, Shadowhunters will find weapons. This can be transferred to real life in the way that religion is factored in everyone's life, whether you are Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Atheist, Agnostic, or anything else, you have your own beliefs, and you interact with people of different beliefs every single day. This shows people of all different beliefs working together without bias for the common good, which is extremely relevant to societal issues. It is important because there is so much conflict with religion currently, that could all go away if we would just look past the fact that not everyone believes in the same thing, and that's okay.  

     

A Midsummer Night's Dream ---- Rebecca Couture

Title of Book: A Midsummer Night's Dream
Author: William Shakespeare
# of Pages: 192
Star Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆
 Why This Book has Value:

A Midsummer Night’s Dream can be taken in a variety of ways. Some find it amusing and some may even find it a little offensive. Either way, this play affects the reader which is what makes it so valuable. This play is different from other works of Shakespeare, which is most of it’s charm. It is not tragic and doesn’t pose any life-altering questions, the story is very easy going and keeps the reader intrigued with it’s utter lack of order. The play focuses on three different stories which all weave together; coinciding. There are the Athenian lovers (Hermia, Lysander, Demetrius, and Helena), the glorious faeries (Oberon, Titania, and Puck), and the clueless Athenian civilians (Bottom, Theseus, Egeus, and performers).

The play starts out with a heartbroken Hermia arguing with her heartless father, Egeus. Egeus is insistent of Hermia marrying Demetrius, but Hermia loves Lysander and refuses to obey her father’s commands. This is when Egeus involves Theseus, a man of great power in Athens, he demands Hermia marry Demetrius or she be punished by death, Theseus gives her a day to make her decision. Hermia and Lysander are understandably hurt and decide to flee and marry at Lysander’s aunt’s where Athenian law can no longer reach them. In turn an angry Demetrius follows them to the woods after hearing of their plans from Helena. Helena of course, follows Demetrius as well, because she loves him so very much. They have no idea what awaits them in the woods.

This is when the great faeries come into the story. King Oberon is plotting against Queen Titania for her indian boy. He sends Robin Goodfellow a.k.a. Puck, for the flower touched by cupid’s arrow in order to trick Titania. Oberon also witnesses Demetrius’s cruelty towards Helena in the woods and tells Puck to use the flower’s extract on his eyes as well. Now, this amazing flower’s extract makes the person, whose eyelids it is on, fall in love with the first creature he/she sees when they first wake up. This becomes very troublesome as mistakes are made. With no spoilers, long story short, everything works itself out in the end... after a few do-overs.

One of the reasons I find this book to be valuable is definitely the character development. Throughout the play there really wasn't always a hero or villain. There was Puck, the infamous trickster, Egeus and Demetrius, both started out as a villain against Hermia and Lysander, and also Oberon, who revealed himself as both a hero and villain. Oberon seemed villainous for his actions towards Titania, but heroic in realizing Puck's mistake and fixing the lovers' quarrel. You also see him transition to compassionate after seeing Titania tricked into loving a man she would never love--normally. Demetrius also transitions quite profoundly during the play. He goes from loving Hermia and hating Helena, only supporting his own marriage to Hermia; a villainous character. To loving Helena in every way and forgetting completely of Hermia and Lysander. He says, “The object and pleasure of mine eye,/ is only Helena.” (IV. i.157-158) when in the beginning he refers to Helena as some pest he can’t get rid of. Demetrius’s change of heart turns him into a more loved character because his refusal to wed Hermia brings Egeus to a loss.

I also found this piece of writing valuable because of the way it exposed Shakespeare himself. The play was more of a comedy than tragedy, which is what I'd previously known Shakespeare for. In the play, Shakespeare focused on metaphorically making fun of love-- or rather the idea and actions people take for it. This play really helped me understand Shakespeare's type of writing and his feelings that fuel his other writing. Not to mention the play brought quite a bit of comic relief to my life. Especially when Bottom was given the head of a donkey.

I felt what made this piece of writing valuable was also its theme. In the play I think Shakespeare tries to indirectly explain that love is stupid. There are so many unknowns and faults that come from the idea of love and he really establishes just how silly it is. This I can see even in my own life which is occurring hundreds of years later. He demonstrates this in a conversation between Helena and Demetrius, “And even for that do I love you the more./ I am your spaniel. and, Demetrius/ The more you beat me, I will fawn on you.” (II.i. 187-190) I mean how ridiculous does she seem that she compares herself to a dog. She just said that she is Demetrius’s dog! I could never imagine someone saying this to their beloved in the twenty-first century, but just because it’s not said aloud doesn’t mean it’s not true.

Lastly, another thing I noticed about the book which also kept me drawn in was the very unique language it's written in. You are really able to see the similarities and differences between Modern English (what we speak) and Early Modern English (Shakespeare). You realize just how close our language is linked throughout time. These are only a few reasons why I believe this play is valuable.

The Shadow of the Wind Review - Justin Yu

Title of Book: The Shadow of the Wind

Author: Carlos Ruiz Zafon

# of Pages: 565

Star Rating: ☆☆☆☆

Why This Book has Value:

Daniel, the protagonist of Carlos Ruiz Zafón’s novel The Shadow of the Wind, is an energetic and driven teenage boy. The authors choice of words and Daniel’s cirumstances in his own life show his character, by the end of the book, to be honorable, intelligent, and very driven to his purpose.The story begins with him at age 10 and ends when he is 18, meaning that over the course of these 8 years Daniel had an incredible amount of character development. Beyond the simple process of going from pre-teen to adulthood, which is a journey in the most ordinary of circumstances, Daniel is put through trials and situations beyond what most children go through and was changed for it.

Carlos Ruiz Zafón’s writing style changes as Daniel grows older, which shows Daniel’s personality and level of maturity through his language, thoughts and his actions in the world around him. When Daniel’s father first showed him The Cemetery of Forgotten

books(Zafón, 3), Daniel was interested in books, but the passion did not come from his heart, it came from his father’s. Over the next few years after Daniel reads The Shadow of the Wind, Daniel develops his own passion and love for books and reading books. When Daniel learns that Julian Carax’s(The author of The Shadow of the Wind) books are systematically disappearing, Daniel sets out on a quest to find and protect these books. Although Daniel’s quest to protect these books and to find the identity of the man responsible for the disappearing books leads him into many troubles and is wrought with hardship, Daniel persists and overcomes these obstacles. His determination and unwavering devotion to the protection of these books is a strong representation of his character and how both driven and honourable Daniel is as a character. His passion and great understanding of books, as well as how artfully and skillfully Daniel searched and discovered the mystery of The Shadow of the Wind, show how intelligent and clever Daniel is.

Daniel’s character is very strong, clear and consistent throughout the whole of the book, and his development and the lessons he learns is shown through both dialogue and writing style. His growth from 10 year old to 18 year old is represented and is changed through the view of the world around him. Daniel is a clear protagonist, and Carlos Ruiz Zafón did a beautiful job of portraying him as such.

Fahrenheit 451 Review - Justin Ferrer

Title: Fahrenheit 451

Author: Ray Bradbury

Number of pages: 159

Star Rating: ☆☆☆☆

Why does this book have value:

Fahrenheit 451 takes place in future America. Where the government has taken full control, and has basically brain washed all the citizens. The most important note is, no one reads. People do look at comics, and watch large amounts of completely useless TV. The speed limits are set to big heights, fast enough that people's vision blur. The story begins with Guy Montag, The main Character, who is a fireman. His job is to burn, more specifically, books. When people are caught with books, their homes with everything in it, and the books, are burned. The owners are then taken by the police. Just an average day walking home, when his life changes forever.

He meets a girl. But not just any girl, a girl with imagination. What he realized is that she was looking around, seeing details, looking at nature, and enjoying life. Something that he, and his wife Mildred have never done.

The value of this book comes from its realism. People in 1953 when this book was first published, to today, say that this book has a remarkable amount of how true about a lot of the things that happen in the book, to real life. People are more hooked to technology, Kids are killing each other, the government is taking more and more power, it is a work of art.

I call this book amazing and clear, but doesn’t leave the action behind. With mysteries at every corner and a world turn upside down, it is sure to be an enjoyable read.

Title of Book:  A Thousand Splendid Suns
Author:  Khaled Hossein
# of Pages:  432
Star Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆ 

 Why This Book has Value:

What Khalid Hosseini unveils for Western readers cognizant of Afghan affairs is a dramatic portrayal of life behind a woman’s veil.  The powerful, intergenerational story A Thousand Splendid Suns tells of the intertwined lives of two Afghan women separated by years yet bound by love.  At the start, fifteen-year-old Mariam, an illegitimate harami rejected by her father and abandoned after her mother’s suicide,  is forced to marry Rasheed, a man three times her age with the sole job of bearing him a son. When many years pass with only a series of heartbreaking miscarriages,  Rasheed subsequently manipulates a second marriage to the innocent teenage Laila, who has lost family to a devastating war and whose love for her now-deceased friend  Tariq has left her with her own illegitimate pregnancy, masked by a hasty marriage to Rasheed.  Thus, two women are thrown together through marriage to the same harsh and wildly unpredictable man whose bursts of temper bring turbulence to the home that parallels the violent fighting among Afghan factions and later the harsh, repressive rule of the Taliban in Kabul, Afghanistan.

The setting alone makes A Thousand Splendid Suns a must-read for Westerners, for through reading we can “visit cultures impossible for us to experience ourselves…to understand what it must have been like to live in a particular time, under certain conditions, in different parts of the world” (Law).  In this book, the political turmoil of the forty-five years from the 1960s to the post-9-11 world brings home the Afghan experience of “one invasion after another...Macedonians. Saddanians. Arabs. Mongols. Now the Soviets” (Hosseini) and later the Taliban dictatorship and the invasion by American and NATO forces.  As the reader sees the Taliban’s restrictions for women through the eyes of the fictional Mariam and Laila, one better understands how the dreaded burqas, restrictions on travel, and lack of access to education even in the capital city so severely limit women’s options.  In the story, the reader sees how Laila and Mariam must bury their television to avoid torturous Taliban sanction and experiences Laila’s brutal pain when she enters a segregated hospital for women that, because of women’s low value, is inadequately supplied.  In this context, the Western reader has greater context for recent American involvement in the region and the significance of young women like Malala Yousafzai, whose defiance of the nearby Pakistani Taliban nearly cost her life.  To understand the relevance of this central Asian region in 2015 requires a look at the experiences of Afghans in recent decades, which, according to the author, is a “tortured recent past [that] became more than mere backdrop…. Afghanistan itself… specifically, Kabul—became a character in this novel” (“Q&A”).

The setting of the novel is inextricably connected to the importance of the subject matter:  the lives of women.  While even Chinese leader Mao Zedong noted that “women hold up half the sky,” relatively few books have offered female protagonists and explored their suffering of life that, like Mariam’s own, “had been unkind to her” (Hosseini).  Certainly some Western novels – The Scarlet Letter, The Red Tent, Anne of Green Gables -- have portrayed women in conflict with their societies, but the Western reader has relatively little exposure to women half a world away who "don't look or talk or act just like ourselves” (Masten qtd in Eldeib) but a world where “each snowflake was a sigh heaved by an aggrieved woman somewhere in the world … [who] like us suffer” (Hosseini).

Both the setting and the subject matter provide for abundant contrasts and subtle ironies in A Thousand Splendid Suns.  The same raging war that decimates Laila’s liberal, loving, and educated family eventually brings to power men who enforce strict Islamic law.  The passion and enduring commitment to her young love Tariq starkly contrasts the cruel torture she endures while married to Rasheed, a man old enough to be her grandfather.  Likewise, the abusive cruelty of Rasheed in stuffing Mariam’s mouth with rocks because she poorly prepared a rice dinner is counterbalanced by the humanity Laila shows later when she refuses to abort a child conceived with her monstrous husband because she cannot countenance another killing in a city that has known nothing but death for decades.  Moreover, the most motherly act of love is from a harami deemed infertile.  Hosseini recognizes this “perpetual balancing act in writing about the…inner lives of the characters…and … the external world that exerts pressure on the characters and forces their fate” (Hosseini).  These poignant and passionate contrasts grip the reader’s attention.   

These intensely moving contrasts, born of a distinct setting and subject matter, inevitably make an important statement on a universal human idea:  the power of love, whether romantic, motherly, familial, or sisterly love.   Laila, for instance, cannot forget Tariq, and her enduring love for Tariq emboldens her against real threats to her physical safety. Similarly, though Mariam once concludes that “love was a damaging mistake, and its accomplice, hope, a treacherous illusion,” it is ultimately  Mariam’s love for Laila that motivates Mariam’s courageous sacrifice as she finally becomes a mother and “a person of consequence at last” in defending and protecting the latter.  Despite the nearly intolerable degree of suffering in this text, the reader is constantly reminded of Hosseini’s explicit statement that “love can move people to act in unexpected ways and move them to overcome the most daunting obstacles with startling heroism.” This inspirational testament to the power of love speaks profoundly to the soul-weary reader.

In short, A Thousand Splendid Suns is a riveting journey to an unfamiliar place half a world away to discover a life-impacting message about the universality of love’s power that inspires us at home. This enthralling page-turner should be required reading for any educated reader who knows what it means to live and love.

Eldeib, Duaa. "High School Reading: Classics or Contemporary?" Tribunedigital-chicagotribune. Chicago Tribune, 07 Mar. 2014. Web. 13 May 2015.

Hosseini, Khaled. A Thousand Splendid Suns. New York: Riverhead, 2007. Print.

Law, Sally. "Classic Works of Literature Still Have a Place in Today's Classrooms." Teacher Network. The Guardian, 11 Dec. 2012. Web. 13 May 2015.

"Q & A." Khaled Hosseini. Khaled Hosseini, n.d. Web. 13 May 2015. <http://khaledhosseini.com/books/a-thousand-splendid-suns/q-a/>.