"The Perks of Being a Wallflower" by Stephen Chbosky

Recently, I started reading the book, The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky. This novel is narrated by a teen boy named Charlie and shows parts of his life by writing anonymous letters to a person he doesn't know. This book shows the life of teenagers and human personality theories.

Charlie is a freshman in high school. A few month before school started, his best friend Michael committed suicide and he has no one else to talk to and he feels as if no one else understands him. By the end of the book, he learns that he can go through life because he is a wallflower.

Through his letters, he expresses how it feels like to fall in love, adolescent life, and much more. By the end of the book we see how much Charlie has grown and how he learns how to deal with life.

1984 George Orwell

I was in the library the other day when a book catches my eye. 1984 there stood with big, bold red letters. It made me stop and think, what happened in 1984? I personally love history, so curiously I picked up the book and read the blob.
As far as I understood, a man starts a journal, on his thoughts about "the Party", where he writes his rebellious thoughts against them. If this journal was found, it would result in his execution.
I still am not 100% aware of the story line of the book, but it seems very interesting. I am suggesting it as a class book, or else, I shall get it myself as my next reading book!

The meaning of things

I think that this title "Applying Philosophy to Life" is one that suits this book quite well. This book helps us understand many things about life. This book also gives us definitions such as a definition of the word Betrayal, that there can be no betrayal without pre-existing trust.
This book helps us apply a philosophical point of view to life.
I found this book very helpful and very interesting to read. This book, however, had some very difficult passages to comprehend but if we stick to it long enough, we can grasp the knowledge that A C Grayling is trying to express.This book took me a while to get through and it is still unfinished but that is the beauty of this book, the fact that you do not have to read the little chapters in any order whatsoever, you just have to read what interests you and what you feel like reading.
Overall, if you enjoy reading about philosophy and actually having to think about the content, then this is a very good book.

The Arabian Nights

The Arabian Nights is a book which holds short stories that have been passed on for centuries. I am currently reading the story called "The Talking Bird, the Singing Tree, and the Golden Water." It is a story about jealousy, greed, and nagging dissatisfaction which leads to the death of many people. The main story is about three things; a talking bird, singing tree, and golden water. A girl who hears of these three prizes becomes obsessed with the thought of having them. In order to satisfy her wants, her brothers set out for them. However, they are killed due to black magic. So the girl goes out for herself and finds the talking bird which then leads her to the singing tree and golden water. However, the story continues because the girl does not yet seemed satisfied. I have not yet finished the story, but have read up to where she returns home with her prizes.
The collection of stories in the Arabian Nights are mesmerizing and paint a picture in my mind as I read them. - Beatrice de Vaulx

The Betrayal Update

In my last post I spoke about my current reading book, The Betrayal.
As I mentioned the book is a continuation of the first, The Siege. Now, The Siege takes place during the war, as it comes and goes, and The Betrayal is once the war was over. But still under the rein of Stalin, there are many lies yet to be uncovered.

Andrei is a doctor, he mostly works with children. One day, his colleague tells him about a new patient, a patients whose name, is one of those you don't need to repeat twice. The child is the only one of a very important family. Anna, Andrei's wife, also works at the children's section of the hospital, she is very busy, and she is mad, because their son, Koyla, is out, and seems to have no care in the world, yet she is not really mad at him, but rather at herself. She longs for spending more time with Andrei, and she feels as if she is being pulled in half by the two. She was offered to take another job, but she would have to have extra schooling hours, onto the long working hours. She does not know what way to go yet.
A Ball is approaching, both Andrei and Anna are looking forward, (and so am I!).

The book is simply genius, I love the way it is written, it is very hard to put down at times. I am exited to read on, and find out more about this mysterious patient, and the Ball which is soon to take place.

Tender Is The Night

I have started reading an interesting book called 'Tender Is The Night' by F. Scott Fitzgerald. It is a modern classic set in the 1920s, genred as a fictional autobiographical novel. I have just started and am already enjoying it immensely. So far the main character, Rosmary, a famous actress has taken a trip with her mother to the south of France, Cannes. They are staying at a glamorous hotel and Rosemary is adapting to the place perfectly.
It is beautifully written and I am excited to read on.

"Cosmpolis" by Don Delillo

Cosmopolis by Don Delillo is a book that I would never have imagined myself reading. However, after watching the movie, even though many have criticised it, I found it extremely intelligent and much more complicated then the already superficial and predictable movies in the present day.

After seeing the movie, I discovered that there was a book, and as in many cases the book is much better then the movie due to detail and more dialogue, there is much more depth and understanding of what the main character is going through.

The main character, Eric Packer a twenty-eight multibillionaire man that travels most of his time in his sleek white limo filled with the latest possible technology, all of them fitted to the shape of the limo. It is an entirely spacey car, bullet proof and very carefully cork-lined to keep the outside street sounds outside. The limo is a very important detail throughout the book because Eric Packer spends most of his time inside it.

He is visited by various employees that work for him, to which he discusses about the rise of the yen. He loses incredibly large amounts of money from himself and his clients as he bets against the currency. He has meetings with his wife, and some other women, showing the carefree life the young philanthropist leads. Throughout the book Eric's voyage is obstructed by traffic jams by a visit from the president through the city, as well as a massive anti-capitalist riot, that ends up redesigning his limo in propaganda graffiti art. The last of the traffic jams is the large funeral procession of a sufi rap star. (Presented in the film as K'naan the rapper in present day).

As he loses such large amounts of money, he starts relishing in this loss, and along the way on his final meeting with his wife, he makes sure that he loses part of her fortune as well, so that he makes sure that no one can ever say that his fall was stupid and unpredictable, that it could not have been caused by himself.

Eric is followed and then attacked by two stalkers, one of which is a professional "Pastry assassin" that throws a plate of whipped cream in his face. He is then attacked by a second one, who is a former employee of the business-man and dedicated his life to be the one true assassin of Packer, this being the last meaningful thing in his life. Packer's story ends radically after a very impressive end conversation with the attacker, where he is murdered.

This was a very interesting book, it was not filled with much action, but with engaging and intelligent conversations regarding the economy and the true meaning of present day capitalism. I found the book edgy, yet it showed a different side to present day society. Eric Packer is a peculiar character, an only child that matured far too early after his father's demise, his marriage being set up with another peculiar and insanely rich person. This strange edge created a capturing environment of the book.

Handmaid's Tale

Where I am reading now, Offred is recounting more stories of her past. She speaks of Moira, an old friend who underwent the same fate as she. However, when Offred was with Moira they were under the command of someone called Aunt Lydia. Moira was more rebellious and much more anxious and determined to escape their prison. Because talking and mingling was suspicious, the two friends would have to sneak in the bathroom and speak, but only for minutes. Moira then decided to fake ill by not taking her vitamins and developing Scurvy, she was found out and punished. It is not yet clear, but it sounds as though at some point Moira did leave. Offred remembers her but does not know of her whereabouts or even if she is still alive. - Beatrice de Vaulx

Darren Shan - Dark Calling

Im currently half way through Dark Calling which is the 9th book in its series. Dark Calling is a horror. This is the kind of book for people who are into supernatural, demons and magic. This is book can be utterly unputdownable as somethings constantly happening.There can be very gruesome parts where demons are split apart or eyeball are being eaten by deformed maggots, as Kernel and the disciples travel through the supernatural universe and the Human universe. Their aim is to protect the humans from demons coming and slaughtering everyone. This book can keep you interested throughout the whole time your reading it, and so do all the others in the series. Darren Shan has done a few different series, like the demonata series which is the one i'm currently reading and also the vampire series. Here is the blurb from Dark Calling "I know it's ridiculous. Lights can't whisper. But I swear i heard a voice calling to me. It wounded like static to begin with, but then it came into focus, a single word repeated over and over. Softly, Slyly, seductively, insistently. Come.... The disciples are being manipulated by beings older than time. Only Kernel Fleck knows that something is wrong. But he is in the grip of a creature who cares nothing for the fate of humanity. Voices are calling to him from the darkness and he's powerless to resist. Kernel has already been to hell and back. Now he's about to go further..." This book has a lot of suspense and is very interesting.

peeling back the mask part 2

in the first part of the book it describes why the tragic post election violence happened some people say the corruption of president Mwai Kibaki and others say that prime minister Raila Odinga was to confident to lose. In my opinion i think that Kibaki rigged the elections, because on the day after the votes were finished that is when it was supposed to be released but it took a whole week for them to be released. That is when the tension started building up and when the results were released 2 days after the violence started in my home ground Machakos the violence went into other rural towns and spread through most rural towns. weeks past and the two main partys each went on separate retreats ODM(orange democative movement, Raila) and PNU (Party of national union, Kibaki) to sort everything out but they ended up with nothing. The violence became to much for kenya to handle so then Kofi annan head of the united nations at the time came and sorted everything out and Raila was made the prime minister of kenya

                                                 DUBLINERS BY JAMES JOYCE
The Dubliners is a collection of 15 stories from 20th century irish middle class life by James Joyce. He took his city to the world for the first time when it was first published in 1914. The rich detail of irish life portraying ordinary, often defeated lives with realism. Mainly about social decline, sexual desire, corruption and personal failure.

Book to Read in Class

The Book Thief written by Markus Zusak, is one of my favorite books because of it's unique perspective on WWII and beautiful writing. The story takes place in a poor section of Germany where the inhabitants obey the rule of Hitler, but not out of respect, out of fear. The main character, Liesl, is a young girl who is struggling in this society of hidden truths and fascist rule. She lives with her foster parents; and once her foster father starts teaching her how to read, her life changes. I highly recommend anyone to read this book. It is full of history entwined with emotion and everyone who I know that has read it has loved it. This would be a good book to read in class because not only does it teach more about the Holocaust, Markus Zusak's writing style is breathtaking. He writes the book from the perspective of death and the whole story is written in a very poetic prose. I have read and reread this book a few times and love it every time. - Beatrice de Vaulx

City Of Fallen Angles

I have been advancing in the book 'City Of Fallen Angles' and it has become more interesting and gripping. The book is revealing more about the main characters and their actions. Some are becoming stranger and others are losing control of their well being. In this book, humans are not the only inhabitants on earth; there are shadow hunters as well as vampires. There are many unanswered questions and mysteries  yet to be solved which make it even more exciting to read on and find out.