Book of the Week 1/20/14

1. The Fellowship of the Ring by JRR Tolkien

2. Eve & Adam by Michael Grant and Katherine Applegate

Alright, first of all, I'm apologizing for not liking Lord of the Rings. I'm sure it was good in your world. Unfortunately, I must regretfully announce that my world has an excess of homework and a lack of time, so therefore Lord of the Rings does not exist where I live. I'll try again during the summer. Second of all, holy-shit-that-book-is-good! I just finished Eve and Adam and, despite the god-awful cliche-sounding name, it's not actually that bad. Also, to add to the not-cliche-ness, the characters Adam and Eve don't end up as a couple. Thank god. The story actually has a really cool plot that's rather less non-romantic and more awesome sci-fi. 

So, the book follows our protagonist Eve Spiker, the daughter of infamous millionaire scientist Terra Spiker. Right at the beginning, when Eve is hit by a car, she is completely smashed up and all but loses a leg. However, once in the hospital, she is rushed to Spiker Biopharms, the giant lab building where her mother works.

There, she meets the rebellious boxer Solo, saves her best friend's boyfriend from being beaten up by drug dealers, and sets out on a project to "play God" by creating a simulated human via incredible science and technology. In the midst of this, she inadvertently stumbles upon secrets about her criminal mother that disturb and dumbfound even her. 

Read it; it's cool. There's some cussing and a lot of sexual references, but nothing horrible. Also, there's some really nasty descriptions of deformed animals, but I think you all can handle it.

Book of the Week 1/13/14

Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring by JRR Tolkien (Oh, come on, I know you all knew that)

Yes, I finally got around to reading Lord of the Rings. And let me tell you: it is really, really long. Then again, so is Narnia, Harry Potter, and a bunch of other good stories, so who cares. It's just a little - more than a little - daunting in one volume. Yeah, I have the Lord of the Rings series in one book, which is pretty cool and I like to brag about it. Fun fact: the Lord of the Rings series was actually one 'novel' with many parts, but when it was being published, they decided it would be cheaper to publish it in three volumes. Cool, huh? However, the point of this isn't for me to ramble on and be boring, so on to the book! 
 The Fellowship starts out with a long prologue explaining everything ever (or almost everything) but it's worth reading. Also, it's helpful to have read The Hobbit, which, in case you don't know, takes place about fifty -no, sixty years before.
I'd call it fantasy or adventure fiction with an engaging, clearly well-developed writing style. It's fairly easy to read, but Tolkien uses interesting words. I'm not really sure what the target audience or age group would be, but I certainly think anyone would enjoy it.
However, this is kind of silly because my guess is most of you have already read Lord of the Rings.

Book of the Week - Break (Dec 19 - Jan 5)

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (If you just want info about the reading level, genre, etc, scroll to the bottom paragraph)
 
Sooo... I planned on reading the entire Lord of the Rings series over break - I have the entire story in one book - but as it turned out, I did a lot of sleeping, watching movies, and sitting in front of my laptop instead.
I did, however, get around to reading Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. I bought it at Barnes & Noble after getting my ears pierced, and started it that night. By three in the morning, I was halfway through. Needless to say, the plot moves pretty quickly.
We start out with Wade Watts, the main character, wedged between a clothes washer and a wall in his Aunt Alice's trailer in the stacks - meaning a trailer park with several trailers stacked on top of each other to save space. Yeah. That's how awful the future is. Oh, did I mention it's the future?
In this awful new future, reality is pretty horrible, so people prefer to spend a lot of their time in the OASIS, an incredibly realistic video game world created by James Halliday and his friend Ogden Morrow. When Halliday died, he sent out a video announcing the start of the Easter Egg Hunt, where all OASIS users, or avatars, could search for the three keys to the three gates. The first avatar to make it through the third gate would inherit Halliday's enormous fortune.
Now it's all set up: a race to find the first key, get through the first gate, find the second key, go through the second gate, then find the third and final key and make it through the last gate to inherit Halliday's wealth.
I'd say the reading level wasn't incredibly hard, but it is interesting and easy to understand. WARNING: For those of you that care, there's a few fairly mature scenes and a moderate level of cussing. Overall, the plot moves pretty fast, and the story is interesting and engaging. I think it's Sci-fi/Fantasy, but even if you're not into Sci-Fi/Fantasy, the story is very enjoyable. I certainly liked it a lot.

The cover!

The other cover!

Wade, climbing down from his aunt's trailer in the stacks.

Book of the Week 11/18/13

Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

Algernon

WARNING: MAJOR SPOILER ALERT

It should be obvious, but it a spoiler alert is necessary.

What struck me the most about Flowers for Algernon is the fact that everyone else was completely in denial about the ending. We all knew it was coming. Algernon was clearly going to die; with "Flowers for Algernon" as the title, what else could possibly happen? Algernon dies. Obviously. And everything that happens to Algernon happens to Charlie. I think - no, I know Charlie is a dead man. Dead. The question is, what would have happened if he hadn't had the mental decline?

Book of the Week 11/11/13

Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

This might just be fan-art or a banner or something, but I like it.

I think Flowers for Algernon includes an incredible amount of symbolism in Algernon, mainly because even to the scientists, he represents the experiment, and therefore Charlie. What happens to Algernon happens to Charlie, which isn't a good sign when Algernon starts "deteriorating." Even though Charlie notices this, he acts unafraid as if he's trying to ignore it or like he doesn't even care about his own life anymore. Maybe he wants to go back to being the old Charlie?
By the way, I think you all have been in denial since the beginning. The book is titled, "Flowers for Algernon." And what kind of person do you give flowers to? Either a lover or a dead person. And considering that Algernon isn't exactly in a relationship with Charlie, but the two are certainly linked, this doesn't bode well for Charlie. Flowers for Algernon - dead Algernon. Dead Algernon = dead Charlie. If you weren't expecting this, you're kidding yourself.
Don't get me wrong - Charlie may be doomed, but that doesn't mean it's a bad book. An author willing to kill the main character shows bravery.



And that brings me to you, my dear Veronica Roth. Oh boy.

Book of the Week 11/4/13

Vampire Kisses: Dance with a Vampire by Ellen Schreiber

Dance with a Vampire is the fourth book in the Vampire Kisses series. I've always really liked the main character's personality throughout the whole series and her attitude is funny and spunky. Most of the series, she faces more serious, large-scale problems, so it's fun to focus on her own life a bit. I guess it's another dumb vampire love story, but it has interesting characters and it's fun to read.
It's fantasy or semi-realistic fiction. I liked it, but I doubt any of you guys will. *lol*
Here's a pic:

Pretty!

WARNING: Don't Read It              lol

Book of the Week 10/28/13

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
"You can't stop the future. You can't rewind the past. The only way to learn the secret is to press play."

 Thirteen Reasons Why is a really powerful book. Hannah Baker is much more than just a girl who commits suicide. She comes alive in her stories, and a lot of the story takes place before she died, even though her death occurred before the book begins. I didn't really like the last scene, but the rest of the book is really good. Hannah makes you think about life and what people do when they're giving up.