Category Archives: Books

The Lover’s Dictionary Review

 

Have you ever read a book so mesmerizing, so spellbinding, that it demanded to be read for a second, third, or even fourth time? For me, that book is the Lover’s Dictionary by David Levithan.

Levithan, an established YA author who frequently sits upon the NY Times bestsellers list, decided to go introspective in his first memoir. The Lover’s Dictionary tells the story of a two and a half year relationship through short stories organized like a dictionary would be. It takes the reader on the journey of their love story, from its tentative beginnings to the inevitable crash and burn. The two main characters, the mild mannered, insecure Levithan and his charming yet never named partner feel like people you would really know. As the story goes on, you begin to feel like you’re a part of this relationship, knowing both of the characters weaknesses and flaws. By the time the book ends, the reader has one big question: did they stay together? We may never know.

There are many standout sections of this quick but powerful read. My personal favorites passages are basis and livid. The former describing the familiar fear of loving only the idea of being in love and the latter being a blistering letter to an unfaithful partner. Some honorable mentions are fluke, catalyst, and voluminous, but every passage is special in its own right, and readers can connect with any one of them. Single, taken, or complicated, this is a book that will simultaneously break and mend your heart over the course of one reading.

~Callie

Surviving the Torture, She called LOVE!

The book “A Child Called It” by Dave Pelzer describes to the reader the torture he endured every day by his mother. Before Dave was tortured daily, he had a relatively happy  normal life. He would play outside with his brothers, eat meals with his family, and was able to just enjoy being a kid.  His mother developed a very bad drinking problem to help her to deal with stress.  She soon became an alcoholic. His mother treated Dave like her personal slave and made him do specific chores the other children did not have to do. He had to complete them in certain time limits or she would torture Dave with different “games” that she thought up. If Dave did not finish the chores in the time limit  she would take away food. His mother starved him for weeks. Daves starvation led to him stealing food from others at school, begging for food from strangers and even stealing from the supermarket! His mother became so upset with him stealing food, that she tortured him. Some of the torture he was forced to endure was being locked in the bathroom with an ammonia and clorox mixture, made to drink ammonia, sleep in the cold garage, put his hands on the stove and burned them, and she even stabbed him!  Dave did everything he could do to please her but nothing worked and she was never satisfied. Going to school for Dave was an escape from all the torture he had at home. When one day when he arrived at school,  Dave was called to the nurses office. She  questioned him on his bruises. He reluctantly told them that his mother  had beat him. Soon a police officer was brought to the school to take him to a safe place so that his mother could no longer get to him. Dave was finally saved from all the torture by some loving and caring adults.

The book made me wonder what it was like being tortured by someone who was supposed to be the person to provide for and love you.  I could only imagine how hard it must have been for him to stay positive through the tough time he was having with his mother and why he didn’t tell anyone that he was being beaten and tortured?  I couldn’t  believe that his mother came up with such torturous “games” to try to make his life as miserable as it was. After reading this book it made me reflect about what the authors message in the story was. I believe that what he was trying to convey is that, you can overcome any obstacles in your life. Even in the worst and darkest days, Dave overcame his mothers “games”. I often still wonder why Dave’s mother allowed her personal stresses of life allow her to  treat her son the way she did by torturing him relentlessly on a daily basis for so many years.

~Bri

The Divergent Trilogy Comes to an End

 

The conclusion to the Divergent trilogy will come out on October 22, 2013. The third book will be Allegiant. There’s a lot of anticipation about it’s release and about how good it will be. We will all find out what happens to the factions and if they survive while following the relationship and adventures of Tris and Tobias. Everyone who has read the two books before, Divergent and Insurgent knows how spectacularly written they are.Veronica Roth didn’t let me down in the second book and she is an awesome writer so I expect the last book to be just as well written.

I hope the last book won’t be as bad as Mockingjay or Reached were. I also hope the book will be just as successful as the first two. I’ve been waiting for the book to come out for a little while now and I expect the book to be terrific and full of action. How do you think the book will be? Do you think it will live up to the expectations of readers? There will be much to talk about when people start to finish reading the last book.

~Sophia

Big-Time Books

I have always been a lover of books, and I still am.  When I was 2 years old, my mom would tell me to take a nap, and when she came back upstairs, I was in the closet with my books, looking at the pictures.  Many of my free choice pieces in school, such as this blog, have been about books that I have read.  In 5th grade, I read over 100 books, some of them twice within the 10 months of school.  I have been asked by both teachers and students, some of which I have never met, if I have any recommendations for them.  I have always been happy to answer, so that’s all this is about.  These are some of my favorite books for teens, and most of them are OK for both boys and girls.

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

I just finished this on 9/29, but it’s really an amazing book.  I flew through all 485 pages in 2 days and started the second book in the series 5 minutes after I finished City of Bones.  It’s about a 15 year old girl named Clary who drags her best friend, Simon, to a club called Pandemonium.  While they’re waiting in line to get in, there’s a boy Clary sees who instantly peaks her interest.  Once they enter, she watches him slip through a door marked “NO ADMITTANCE” with a beautiful girl, trailed by two dark shadows of boys, one of which has a knife.  To find out who these mysterious  characters are, READ THE BOOK!!!!!  (Fantasy)

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling

Of course I have to include Harry Potter, quite credibly the best series ever written.  Most people have read it, but for those poor, book-deprived few who haven’t, I’ll explain it here.  The story begins at number four, Privet Drive.  Vernon and Petunia Dursley live in a house that is the prime example of normal, but not everything is what it seems.  The Dursleys have adopted Petunia’s nephew, Harry Potter, who suddenly starts getting strange letters mailed to him after 10 years of abusement.  To try to escape these terrifying pieces of paper, Vernon drags the entire family to a  dilapidated hovel on a deserted rock in the middle of the sea while a hurricane is whipping the water into a frenzy all around them.  While everyone but Harry is asleep, the now-11-year-old boy is silently celebrating his birthday alone, but there is a loud THUMP coming from the door that interrupts his “festivities”.  Then, with a loud crash, the door is ripped off its hinges, with a huge, hulking shadow blocking the lightning.  Who is this intimidating giant?  You’ll see.  (Fantasy)

Holes by Louis Sachar

       I have read Holes  at least three times, and it’s just that good.  The main character is Stanley Yelnats, whose family is cursed to always be in the wrong place at the wrong time.  That’s why when he was walking home from a bad day at school, a disgusting, smelly pair of sneakers hit him square on the head, as if they fell from the sky.  A few minutes later, a police car rides up and accuses Stanley of stealing the sneakers of the most famous baseball star ever, who also has a bad case of foot fungus.  The case is taken to court, where no one believes Stanley’s story of the shoes falling from the sky.  He and his family are given the choice of sending Stanley to juvie or Camp Green Lake, a camp for juvenile delinquents who need to be taught responsibility and respect.  Want to find out their choice, and the tons of exciting variables it controls?  Read it. (Realistic Fiction)

~Stephanie