"The Book Thief" by Markus Zusak

The Book Thief takes place in Nazi Germany during the rise of the Second World War. I find the book extremely interesting because it was narrated by a character or by third person, but it is narrated by death itself. The main character is Liesel, she is a foster girl who has an obsession with books. She steals books and her foster father teaches her how to read. She falls in love with her neighbor, Rudy. He is anti-Nazi, bony skinny, and lives in a house along with six other children.

This story shows the hard times of the pre WWII along with a girl and her passion -- books. At the end of the book, a tragic even happens.

The Host by Stephenie Meyer

The Host, by Stephenie Meyer is a story that talks about how the earth has become invaded by extra-terrestrials that insert themselves into the back of the human's brain and take possession of the body and all of the memories of that person.

The book starts with Wanderer, a soul that has been on a record number of planets. Usually, the souls visit one or two planets before settling down but not Wanderer. She has been inserted into the brain of Melanie Stryder. The problem is that Melanie refuses to vanish. Wanderer almost becomes controlled by Melanie but after a long struggle, they start to trust each other. Melanie gives Wanderer bits of information, just enough to find each check point for the quest that they have embarked on, they must find a human hideout where her uncle, her younger brother and friends are hiding out. Also, the man that Melanie loves is hiding there. Since Wanderer and Melanie's thoughts and emotions are intertwined, Wanderer finds herself falling for a man that she has never met.

Once they reach the hideout, they are immediately held captive because she is "one of them". Melanie and Wanda (as she is now called) slowly earn their trust. Jared is the most reluctant to believe Wanda's story about how Melanie is still alive but slowly comes to realize that she is speaking the truth.

The problems start when there is a large love triangle with only two bodies. Ian falls for Wanda and viceversa and Melanie and Jared are more in love than ever. Wanda decided to take her life so that Melanie can have her body, her life back.

However, the doctor saves her and puts her into a young girl's body with very little memories. They then focus their time on saving the humans that have been taken over.

I liked this book because it talks about what it means to be human, what it meas to be individual.

Three for One by Anastasia Catsiapis

Three for One by Anastasia review

            This story is a mystery story full of suspense. I like the way that she created mystery by using very descriptive adjectives and short sentences to create suspense. Also, further along the story when the detective is hesitating. I like how she formatted the dialogue and also how she had a scene where he talked to himself before going to the bridge. She used rhetorical questions to make the scene seem more realistic.

            Additionally, the way she used coincidence made the story more intriguing. As the story continued, I began to lose interest. All the “mysteries” were becoming so predictable. Also, the story began to lose significance. Additionally, I believe that the story begins to go a bit off track. She loses sight that the story was based on finding the thing that the villain wants. I think that she gets a little too caught up in the adventures.

            I like how she concentrated on the romance too. It reminded me of a Bond scenario. Lastly, the ending seemed so rushed and forced. It would be better if she took the time to go through it and think about a stronger, more dynamic ending to the story.  

The final dramatic conclusion to Darren Shan's international phenomena, The Demonata. Expect the unexpected..."The girl gazes up at me. She's even younger than I thought, clutching a small teddy bear in one hand. 'Are you the bogey man?' she whispers, eyes round. 'Yes,' I croak, then take hold of her head with my huge, scarred, blood-soaked hands and crush..." Beranabus and Dervish are gone. Bec has formed an unholy alliance with Lord Loss. Kernel is blind, held on Earth against his will. Grubbs is mad with grief and spinning out of control. The demons are crossing. The Disciples are falling. The Shadow is waiting. Welcome to the end.
This is the final book in the series, Hells Heroes by Darren Shan. Darren Shan writes multiple series about a new world. This book would be considered as a horror/thriller. The book is always exciting and always full of suspense. Always building up to major fight between the humans and the demons in the fight to save humanity. The discples formed of multiple people that are born magically enhanced, allowing them to travel between universes. These people are the ones defending the earth against the demons which cross over in large numbers and kill as many people as they can before fleeing back to their own universe. The problem now is that there are large armies being built by several demons which are very powerful and they intend on crossing to Earth and wiping everything out. The disciples are slowly being taken out one by one as they try to fight against the demons. The main demon, the shadow, had killed many disciples and is the reason for the demons grouping together and forming large armies. They attempt to kill the shadow but everytime disciples are being injured or killed such as the Beranabus, who was the oldest living disciple in the world, he had lived up to 1000 years. This was because the time in the Demon world was either faster or slower than Earths. You could be gone away for 3 days but on Earth that could 8 years. This is the final countdown on whether the disciples can save the world or be wiped out by the large armies of the demonata. My favorite characters in this book are Grubbs, who is a person who can change in between a werewold and a human, then my second favorite character in the book would be Kernel who can create portals in between the universes.

The Heart of the Matter, Animal Farm, Grand Central Winter

At the moment, I am rather close to finishing multiple books, including;
The Heart of the Matter by Graham Greene
Animal Farm by George Orwell
Grand Central Winter,
and I have also just recently started to read Charles Dickinson's The Tale of Two Cities. 

I am super excited to finish off these books as I feel that they will give me something substantial, which I will be able to add to my gallery of Knowledge. 
These books are classics and I can see why! 

I love that these books exist, they are a true work of art. The authors are Graham Greene and George Orwell are definitely some of my favorite! I love the tension of their stories, and the ideas behind the ideas. 
Without books, I can clearly say I would be lost. 

Awakening By Charlotte Squier

Charlottes novella, named Awakening, is a story about a girl who died by mysterious causes. She is caught in-between life and death, so she resembles something similar to a ghost. The girl blames herself for the grief that her family carries in their hearts. 

The story is very detailed and I am very fond of the idea of being caught in this world where it is pretty much impossible to get out of. 

I found the story really worth reading and somehow wish it was longer! It gave me something to really think about! Also her style of writing is very pleasant! 

10 more Steps

10 more steps by Max Gurney. The book is about the life of a jew during world war 2. The book is very interesting and factual, as the book really shows the harsh condition the jewish people had to live in.   The book starts of with a casual dinner with the family. They were talking about people invading when, bombs dropped and the Nazis came in. The father and son had to watch the mother get killed and the two were sent off to different camps. At the camps he had a friend who helped him on surviving at these camps. They had to work long hours with short breaks in between, complaining could get you killed as well. The Nazis showed what would happen to people that attempted to escape, making the book gruesome. Towards the end when the Death March occurred. The soviets intervened with the Nazis, and then the Nazis tried to clear all the evidence. Just before the main character, Avram, was going to be killed the soviet soldiers killed them and the jews were free.

Darkness by Alexandra El-Galaly

Darkness by Alexandra El-Galaly
This is the Novella that Alexandra spent eight weeks writing for our English class.

This story is more of a description than an action-packed story. It talks about how the human race is simply greedy and that it wants everything for its self, that they will demolish anything for their personal benefit and that they simply live to die, that there is no purpose to their life. This story describes in immense detail the meaning of depression, about how no one can measure depression because everyone is different. She describes it as being like a river that changes with the seasons and over time.
She describes the pain that the person feels as they look upon unfortunate people because they feel ashamed of what is going on in their mind.
I love the way that Alexandra portrayed the fact that we always expect the worse because it is highly improbable so when it does not happen, we feel relieved. We do this because we enjoy the feeling of relief. This story ends with an extremely beautiful passage about death and how easy and how excruciatingly beautiful it is to die, to feel the pain of a knife slicing into the skin.

I enjoyed reading this short story very much. Alexandra's style of writing is extremely embellished and overall a very gripping story.

Exposed

"Exposed" by Susan Vaught is a book that most girls should read, especially the ones that have been taught by their parents the dangers of the internet and have not been following them. Either that, or they are simply curious, so curious that they forget the golden rules and the dark dangers of the internet. After this book and the movie "Trust" it has really made me understand in a different perspective the dangers of public chatrooms, the internet and simple social networks.

With main character Chan Shealy, which is an extraordinary student, with straight A's and working her way to her shot at the regional majorette (cheerleader) championships in the art of baton twirling. 

Her entire perfect image of the sweet, hard-working girl comes tumbling down to peaces after one of the football team's quarterback spreads a rumour, (which is a complete lie) and the people in her school begin to reject her, and find her repulsive. 

Chan then begins believing that the only place anyone will love her is the internet. She begins to search for a boyfriend online. Chan respects each and every rule that her parents set out for her. Yet, even as she does follow these rules she falls pray to trusting herself and ignoring her gut that had been warning her all along.

Personally I found that Chan was a very annoying character, one character that you very violently wanted to shake every time she made a stupid decision, (and that happened quite often). Chan was portrayed perfectly by the author as the typical teenager that wishes to explore things, and probe past the boundaries set by her parents. Of course, she makes certain decisions, which are realistic, and of course she makes other decisions that she does not really think through.

Chan falls prey to Paul, a pedophile with different interests. Paul made her do things that most girls are generally very uncomfortable with. Chan believes that she can full trust him, and that since they talked so much, he really is a trustworthy person. 

The one thing that is amazing about the book is that it has a very good moral, and that it teaches many girls that have very uptight parents like Chan's to make sure that they actually follow what their parents say, because all they want is for you to be safe. The message is given throughout the entire book and its descriptions even if it was not an engaging read.

The Truth About Forever

'The Truth About Forever" by Sarah Dessen, is a novel I've read before the beginning of this term during the vacation. It is a story that is generally aimed for the female readers, generally from the age of fourteen to twenty.

The main character, Macy-Queen is sixteen. The story begins with the departure of her boyfriend, and the beginning of summer vacation. Her life took a tragic turn as her father passed away unexpectedly and very recently to the beginning of the story. Throughout her free time Macy-Queen and her mother are constantly grieving his passing. Throughout the beginning of the story she is rallying from working at the library, or studying for her SATs. As thought of, the beginning of the story is quite monotone and  is not quite as engaging as believed. This monotone and grieving creates a very 'grey' aspect to the story. As her boyfriend left to Brain Camp, Macy-Queen does not seem as happy as she would usually be.

The story soon has a twist when Macy helps her mother at one of her mother's open house events. At the event she meets the Wish Catering crew, which she later on joins. Macy enjoys working there and she loves the people that work there as well.

But, of course, there is also something - or someone that keeps Macy's eyes see life in a new way. Wes. Wes is an artistic, and very understanding person, "he is the kind of boy who could turn any girl's world upside down

Throughout her summer, not only is the Wish Catering crew something that she enjoys so much, but also her sister's decision to renovate the now neglected beach house. The renovations brought back memories to her.

I loved this book. Even if its not the type of genre that i generally read. The book actually caught the few things in a girl's life that not many authors capture. Most authors overdo it, and exaggerate the way that girls think or speak. Not everything is a cheesy romance to all girls, and not many girls live with their head in fairytales. Macy-Queen is the typical teenage girl that suffered tragedy, yet lives life to the fullest, questioning herself every step through the way.