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Post by Lauren Sheffield on Jul 10, 2013 14:27:02 GMT -5
For my second book, I finally got time to read the third book of the Hunger Games, Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins. Even though I have been complaining about having to read this many books over the summer, I actually secretly enjoy it. I get to read books I actually enjoy, and don’t have to answer boring questions about the book I will never remember later for. Anyways I finished the Hunger Games series last night, and I have to say it was amazing! Collins keeps surprising me over and over again. Katniss makes it out of the quarter quell along with a few other tributes, because of the rebels against the capital. It has been the plan all along, but Katniss and Peeta were left out of the loop once again, because Katniss thought that it was going to be her this time so that Peeta can survive the Games and go back home, only to find that District 12 was destroyed along with many of its population. However Gale and his family along with Katniss’ family and a few others escape to District 13, a district that was supposedly dead, but is living underground waiting for the chance to over throw the capital. Katniss has supplied the spark, and now they have a shot of winning. However Katniss is upset at being a pawn in the rebel’s games and is more upset that Peeta was left at the capital to be tortured for information that he doesn’t have. The rebel’s need Katniss to be a fake leader of the rebellion by being the mockingjay, to help motivate the people of the other districts. Katniss finally agrees to be the mockingjay, however she realizes that with every motivational video, Peeta is getting beaten for it. So the rebels go to get Peeta and the rest of the tributes that were left so that Katniss can continue to help the cause. Once Peeta gets back, they realize that Peeta has been poisoned by the capital to think that Katniss is going to kill him, there for Peeta becomes another problem. There is way more to this plot and I don’t want to ruin it for anyone else, I would strongly recommend this book for anyone who has seen the movie, because this series is tons better, and for anyone who is in need of a good book.
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Post by Jenifer Lopez on Jul 21, 2013 22:06:05 GMT -5
The second book that I chose to read was The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks. This novel is about a girl's struggle to find herself and realize what she really wants in life. The story consists of the main character, Ronnie, and her little brother, Jonah, leaving their home in New York and going to their father's home in North Carolina to visit him for the summer and for the first time since he walked out on their family years ago. Ronnie is not looking forward to it at all and goes into it standoffish and without an open mind. She immediately gets involved with a bad group of kids, similar to the people she is friends with back home. Not only did she meet those people, but she also met a boy her age named Will. They first encounter with each other did not go well, but they both soon realized that there was something more between them. They end up dating despite the fact that Will's friends and family do not approve of Ronnie.
Toward the end of their summer together, Ronnie and Jonah discover devastating news about their father, Steve. They find this out soon after Ronnie and her father's relationship is finally getting better. Will also informs Ronnie about sad news that could possible jeopardize their relationship. Her whole world seems to be crashing down and there was nothing she could do about it.
The ending of this book is definitely heartbreaking, but there are also other events that occur that almost make up for it.
This book will make you laugh, cry, and feel many emotions- good and bad. I genuinely enjoyed this book because I just so happen to love love and that's what this book is all about. I chose to read this book because I enjoy love stories.
I would recommend this book to anyone who doesn't mind crying a little and "aww"-ing every now and then at the adorable parts. The ending of this book will make you sad, but it will also make you fall in love with Ronnie's love interest Will. If you start to doubt love, this would be the novel to read. The movie does not do it justice whatsoever.
This book was amazing and I plan on reading it again and again and again.
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Post by Jenifer Lopez on Jul 21, 2013 22:07:31 GMT -5
The second book that I chose to read was The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks. This novel is about a girl's struggle to find herself and realize what she really wants in life. The story consists of the main character, Ronnie, and her little brother, Jonah, leaving their home in New York and going to their father's home in North Carolina to visit him for the summer and for the first time since he walked out on their family years ago. Ronnie is not looking forward to it at all and goes into it standoffish and without an open mind. She immediately gets involved with a bad group of kids, similar to the people she is friends with back home. Not only did she meet those people, but she also met a boy her age named Will. They first encounter with each other did not go well, but they both soon realized that there was something more between them. They end up dating despite the fact that Will's friends and family do not approve of Ronnie.
Toward the end of their summer together, Ronnie and Jonah discover devastating news about their father, Steve. They find this out soon after Ronnie and her father's relationship is finally getting better. Will also informs Ronnie about sad news that could possible jeopardize their relationship. Her whole world seems to be crashing down and there was nothing she could do about it.
The ending of this book is definitely heartbreaking, but there are also other events that occur that almost make up for it.
This book will make you laugh, cry, and feel many emotions- good and bad. I genuinely enjoyed this book because I just so happen to love love and that's what this book is all about. I chose to read this book because I enjoy love stories.
I would recommend this book to anyone who doesn't mind crying a little and "aww"-ing every now and then at the adorable parts. The ending of this book will make you sad, but it will also make you fall in love with Ronnie's love interest Will. If you start to doubt love, this would be the novel to read. The movie does not do it justice whatsoever.
This book was amazing and I plan on reading it again and again and again.
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Post by Jimmy Turner on Jul 30, 2013 21:31:10 GMT -5
I choose the book That First Season by John Eisenberg. The book is about Vince Lombardi and how he took the worst team in the NFL and turned them into winners and soon champions. Scooter McLean was the packers head coach in 1958 when they went 1-10-1 and were embarrassed against the Colts 56 to 0. In 1959, the Packers brought in Lombardi, he took over hoping to win three or four games at most in the upcoming season but breakout stars like Jim Taylor and Bart Starr (who didn't start since week seven) managed the first winning season in a decade by going 7 and 5.
The reason I read this book was because The Green Bay Packers are my favorite football team and Vince Lombardi is arguable one of the greatest head coaches of all time. And I wanted to learn more on how he coached and turned the team around. I really enjoyed the book, it is really well written and gave a lot of details on the players and the organization. I think that if your a fan of the Packers or even of the history of the NFL, and what its like back then, then you should read this book.
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Post by Christian Curling on Jul 31, 2013 21:09:16 GMT -5
I recently read "The Year of Dreaming Dangerously" by popular neo-Marxist Slovenian philosopher and social critic Slavoj Zizek.
His 135 page review of the dominating philosophies and fads of 2011 are striking- from the so-called "Arab Spring", Occupy Wall Street, and terrorist actions of racist populists to the advent of new false realities such as the electronic cigarette and new alternate realities in the ever-increasing video game market. A critique of the so-called democracy of the Occupy and Arab Spring movements shows the futile nature of the present system- it will not withstand in the modern world. It is crumbling in front of us- some would call it the end times, others would call it the demise of the empire of neo-liberalism and free markets. There is a Utopian future in front of us, waiting to arise, Zizek wants us to believe- but will we take advantage of it?
I am not a Marxist- I am an intellectual follower of the likes of Kropotkin and Tolstoy rather than the militaristic nihilism of postmodern statists. But the philosophy of Zizek, although rather dense, is a valid one. The failures of the contemporary European and US democratic captialism are rampant, and we are entering into a new age where the old notions of poverty and wealth, of success and failure, are much different than the age before. Now we are mindless, watching our technology, meaning being slowly sucked from our existence and family by bad influences and technology. It is the new opiate of the masses. Zizek concludes this as a confirmation of existential meaninglessness and the need for a more autocratic state, that can truly change society by means of force. I challenge this notion- instead of succumbing to the meaninglessness we are surrounded by, why not rebel against our situation, create a new society within the old? Zizek, although he deems himself "progressive" and wants to "rebuild" society- wants to revert to an older worker's state, an autocratic vanguard, which is an idea that has been tried and failed. It is true, we are degenerating and changing, but there one cannot fight meaninglessness with meaninglessness.
I enjoyed it, yes. There is nothing I love more than to challenge my own ideas with other notions. Anyone who considers themselves lay-philosophers or lay political scientists should read Zizek- he is largely influential in our age's philosophy. He makes valid points and is concise, but his conclusions, in my opinion, are in the wrong place.
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Post by Austin Harkey on Aug 7, 2013 11:35:32 GMT -5
The third and final book I read was "Mission Black List #1" which was written by Eric Maddox, a native of Oklahoma. Mr. Maddox was awarded the DIA Director's Award, the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star, and the National Intelligence Medal of Achievement for his role in the take down of Saddam Hussien. The book is based around what happened to Maddox and his team of CIA Intelligence Agents. He went around Iraq integrating people who knew his friends, then to his friends, then to his family. He worked so hard to find Saddam and he went all over the country of Iraq and he interrogated so many different people. He was shot at, he was threatened, some of his friends even died to find Saddam. The trail went cold and so they sent him back to the United States. He then remembered something about the home he was tipped off about but didnt ever visit the place. He told the Commander at the Base he was at on his way back to the United States. The commander radioed the ground commander in Iraq and he got a team together. He flew Mr. Maddox back into Iraq and Maddox informed the the team of how to enter the house and how to get Saddam. The team went to the house and they found Saddam in a manhole outside the house.
I choose this book because my dad is an avid reader and he recommenced this book to me. I also wanted to learn how they took down the number one terrorist at the time in the whole world. I loved this book because I love American History and because I love Military History so to put both of those subjects into one book is a fantastic combination for me. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes history and who likes action packed books.
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Post by parkerbales on Aug 8, 2013 8:26:34 GMT -5
My first book is The Great Gatsby and the author is F. Fitzgerald.
The book is told by a man named Nick Carraway. Nick is a man who live next door to a man named Gatsby. Who was a rich man who inherited his money from his parent. Nick went to his cousins Daisy for lunch one day and figured out that she used to be in love with Gatsby before he went war and came back and she was married to a man named Buchanan and that Gatsby would throw big party's to try and see if Daisy would wonder in. One day nick got invited to one of Gatsby's party's personally. He met Gatsby's at the party and figured out many things about him. Later Nick finds out that Gatsby wants to have a surprise tee party with Daisy. A couple days later Nick, Gatsby, mr. Buchanan and Daisy and her friend go to the city to a room and Mr. Buchanan figure out that Gatsby and Daisy dated a while ago and got into a fight and then Daisy and Gatsby left and on the way back Daisy was speeding and hit a women. The ladies husband herd that Gatsby was driving it from Buchanan so the husband went to Gatsby's house and shot him in the back whole I'm the pool. The reason I chose this book is i liked the movie. I think that this book is great an it tells a great love story. I would recommend a book to someone who likes a good love story that's in the past.
My second book was Calico joe written by Josh Grisham.
The story is told by his son who was really never close to his father. His son talks about how his dad was never there for him and his mom when he was a kid which was mostly cause he was away for baseball games. The story's are pretty much flashback of his childhood but the present his dad has cancer and does not have time to live and when he visits his father wanting him to do one thing make things wright with Castle the reason is when his father Calico joe was pitching one game he got furious with with Castle cause he made a jester at his first at bat in a game so it made Calico Joe mad so next time up bat he hits him in the head and gets nocked out and injured him and made it where he never played baseball again. The reason I chose this book is I heard it was really good and that I love baseball. I think that this is an amazing book and the way it's told is great as well. The person that would like this book is someone who likes baseball.
My third book was Lord of the flies and the Author of the book was William Golding. The book is about a couple of kids who get stranded from a plane crash and are stuck on a island and have to work together to survive. They figure put what they have to do to survive out in the wild and figure out how they can make signals to be rescued. After a while of them being together an trying to work together they start breaking apart. After a while of that they split into two different groups. After a while they figure out they need each others skills and start to think they need each other. The reason I chose this book is I like story of people being stranded and having to find out how to work together. I think is book is great and the story is perfect. The kind of person that would like this book is someone who likes good story of people being stranded and how they work together.
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Post by Noah Boeckman on Aug 12, 2013 13:50:12 GMT -5
The book I read is called "Tuesdays with Morrie". It's a memoir written by Mitch Albom. The story is written from the perspective of Mitch but he is by no means the main character. The star of the show is Morrie Schwartz. Morrie is Mitch's favorite professor in college. He takes extra classes just so he can be in his class. Once he graduates he goes on with his life and doesn't keep in touch with his professor like he said he would. 16 years later he is watching television, flipping through the channels and he catches a glimpse of "Nightline" and hears his professor's name. He watches the "Nightline" episode and discovers that his beloved professor is now terminally ill with a disease called ALS or Lou Gehrig's Disease. Morrie is going to die. Mitch decides to travel to Massachusetts to visit him on a Tuesday. He is inspired and moved by his professor's words. Mitch comes back every Tuesday as Morrie's health declines. Morrie gives Mitch advice on a lot of different topics in life such as death, family, emotions, etc. Mitch keeps coming back until his passing. Morrie's words change Mitch so he writes this book to try to change others lives as well. I chose this book because i have seen the movie so I thought it would be appropriate to read the book as well. Also my mother recommended it to me. I enjoyed this book because it gave me a different perspective on life. It's not all about money and fame. Helping others is much more satisfying and you will have something that is eternal rather than material things. He said in the book, "Death ends a life, not a relationship". Everyone should read this book. It is just a wonderful book about life and how to live it, even when you are dying, as Morrie was.
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Post by Jerry Luttrell on Aug 12, 2013 16:33:55 GMT -5
For my third book i read American Sniper by Chris Kyle. This book is about a Navy SEAL named Chris Kyle. He tells his whole story about being in war and in training. He tells you about all of his challenges mentally and physically in war and home. His wife even writes in the book about what it is like being a military wife and what she has to go through. I chose this book because it was a very controversial book because the navy SEALs and not suppose to talk about what they did over seas. I also chose this book because i wanted to read it but i never sat down and decided to read it. I really liked this book it shows you what it is like over seas and what they go through. I think a lot of people would enjoy this book unless you not want to read about war.
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Post by Archiebald Browne on Aug 15, 2013 6:28:49 GMT -5
The book I read was "Too Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee. This story takes place in a small town in Alabama, where Scout and Jem Finch, being raised by their father, Aticus, who is a lawyer that is having to defend a black man that was charged with raping a white girl. In the beginning of the story it started out really slow, almost making me not want to read it anymore. But as i got on with the book it started to get more and more interesting. Even the the actual plot of the story didn't come in until the middle of the book, there were some random events that happened. it made me think that this is what the book was gonna be about, but it was just a minor event, but the people involved always had something to do with them during the actual plot of the book. I really enjoyed this book and I highly recommend this book for people who will keep reading a story that starts out with a boring beginning.
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Post by katiemaupin on Aug 15, 2013 19:58:52 GMT -5
The last book I read this summer was titled Houdini and written by Clinton Cox. It is a biography about Harry Houdini, telling his rags-to-riches tale. Me and my family took a trip to Hawaii this summer, and stayed in a house on the island of Oahu. Shortly after arriving there, I was super excited to find a book shelf full of stuff I wanted to read. I randomly picked one, which happened to be "Houdini", and after I picked it up, I couldn't put it down.
When I first started the book I was surprised to find out that Harry Houdini hadn't always been Harry Houdini. He grew up with the name Ehrich Weiss, and changed it to Houdini after his favorite magician, Robert Houdin. Adding the i to the end, as he was told but his friend Jacob Hyman, changed the word to make it mean "like", making Houdini mean "like Houdin". Aside from his name, he was different in one other big way before becoming famous. Growing up, Houdini was very poor. Often times his family struggled to even survive. I believe this may have been what motivated him to become the most famous escape artist the world has ever known. While his bank account grew, however, so did his ego. If you've ever seen Iron Man you know that Tony Stark isn't the most humble man in the world; and Houdini reminds me very much of him.
Houdini was a man of many interests. Aside from being a world famous escape artist, he was also the first man to ever fly an airplane in Australia (this is debatable); and he wrote and stared in three movies. This was one of my favorite books I have ever read, and now I know perhaps a bit too much about Harry Houdini. I would highly recommend it to anyone who doesn't mind reading nonfiction.
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Post by Ty Brown-Field on Aug 15, 2013 21:47:06 GMT -5
I chose to read The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. Sandra tells of her childhood in a group of short stories. These stories varied from descriptions of neighbors to her life as the only girl in her family of seven. She grew up in a Puerto Rican neighborhood in Chicago during the late 1950's. Sandra has a main goal throughout the story which is to escape her neighborhood and live in a house on her own. Towards the end of the novel Esperanza's or Sandra's writing changes from her narrating the story to her writing it. While actually writing the story and expressing how much she wants to leave and how she is on Mango Street by mistake forces her to realize that she truly does belong on Mango Street. I chose this book because I thought it would be interesting to read a coming of age story but especially because of the unique style of writing. I did enjoy this book; however I didn't find it much of a page turner and it was difficult to read. I would only recommend this book to someone who is willing to read the book more than once and take the time to see the alternate meanings within the simple text. I had trouble with this. Over all, I enjoyed the book but would not necessarily recommend it to the casual reader.
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Post by madisonp on Aug 16, 2013 1:21:47 GMT -5
I chose the book, Seabiscuit by Lauren Hillenbrand. This book is an amazing story of a race horse who brought hope into the lives of Americans during the Great Depression. When Seabiscuit was born, he was doubted of his ability because of his knees. Every horse owner that came to take a look at him turned him down because they thought his knees would eventually break and give away. Well one particular horse trainer, Tom Smith, looked at him and still recalls to this very day that Seabiscuit looked back at him and winked, and that's when Tom knew he was the horse. Tom bought the horse and brought him to the great billionaire Charles Howard to be his loving owner and take care of him in his stables as long as Seabiscuit was taught by Smith. Later in Seabiscuits life when he gets older he ends up getting famous world wide for his stunning ability to race. Seabiscuit ended up breaking almost every record at the time, and destroyed his competition, War admiral. In the end, Seabiscuit was a true inspiration to Americans that even in the darkest and deepest depths of life, happiness and hope can still emerge at any moment. I chose this book particularly because I loved the inspiration that goes a long with it and the author, Lauren Hillenbrand, does a fantastic job of making this story really come back to life. My opinion about this book is absolutely breath taking. I love this book, and it is on my Top 3 Greatest Books I've ever read. I recommend this book to everyone because everyone should read it and get to enjoy this wonderful piece, as I did.
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Post by Melissa Hernandez on Dec 17, 2013 21:28:08 GMT -5
The first book that I chose to read this summer was "The It Girl". The It Girl is a young adult novel written by Cecily von Ziegeesar. Jenny Humphrey's was the main character in the book. She went to a boarding school in New York called Waverly Academy. Jenny had a bad reputation of doing scandalous with members from her brothers band. Although most rumors that went on at her boarding school were not true, it led Jenny to moving schools and exploring uptown of New York. As she was in New York away from the terrible things, she found herself and lastly, loved her imperfections. I chose this book because it is your typical girl book but it also teaches you to not let anything or anybody bring you down. My opinion for The It Girl was that it was a great book with good morals. Mostly teenage girls would prefer to read The It Girl.
The second book that I chose to read this summer was "Always Something There to Remind Me". Always Something There to Remind Me was written by Beth Harbison. This was the type of book that I could not put down. It was very interesting and intense, it was definitely a nail biter. This was also one of my favorite books that I read over the summer. Always Something There to Remind Me was about a teenage couple who was in love with each other, their names were Erin who was the girl and Nate who was the guy. Erin and Nate were head over heals in love for one another. They spent the entire summer together, they were inseparable. One night, Nate's friend goes over to Erin's house but little does Nate know that Erin knew nothing about it. But as Nate's friend was over Erin's house, right when Nate pulled up to Erin's house, Nate's friend forced a kiss on Erin's lips. Since then Nate broke up with Erin and she was miserable! As time passed, and they became adults, somehow Erin's new boyfriend purposed to her and all she could think of was Nate. She was desperate to see him, so once she did, they lived happily ever after. I chose this book because I am very interested in love stories and I've heard good reviews about it. This book was wonderful and I finished it very soon because of how good it was. Once again, mostly teenage girls would enjoy reading Always Something There to Remind Me.
The third book that I chose to read was called "Searching for David's Heart". Searching for David's Heart is a Christmas story that was written by Cherie Bennet. My mother actually recommended me to read this book and once I did, I couldn't thank her enough for telling me about it. Searching for David's Heart is about a brother and sister who loved each other and protected each other very much. David was older than Darcy, but they were inseparable. Once David got a girlfriend, Darcy was extremely jealous and disliked her. While they were at dinner, Darcy got a wrong impression on David's girlfriend and bashed her out. Suddenly, David left dinner angry and sped off in his car. Unknowingly, he missed the stop sign and instantly died in a car crash. Darcy could never forgive herself until she found out that David's heart was donated to a young boy. Darcy ran away from home to search for the young boy. Once she found him, she felt David's presence and finally forgave herself. My opinion of this book is that it is a must read. It had me smiling, laughing, yet crying. It was a great book! This is a good book to read for both girls and boys, especially if you have a loved one that is close to you but you don't show it much. This book had a good moral that was well seen and understood.
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