"Women In Love" by D. H. Lawrence

The book which grasped my attention this term is "Women In Love. This novel by D. H. Lawrence, first published in 1920, speaks about the destructive human passion, reflecting on the impact of Lawrence of World War I. The story takes place in the Midlands of England in the 1910s and the reader is introduced two main characters, Ursula who is a teacher and Gudrun who is an artist. The major themes portrayed in this novel are marriage, the triangle of desire, life and art. Ursula and Gudrun are portrayed as independent women who, although are not from the upper class, meet two men of who are of social superiority, and who pursue them into marriage and defy their social norms. 

I enjoyed reading this book due to D. H. Lawrence's style of writing and unique way of interpreting each and every character.

"The Fault in Our Stars" - John Green

The Fault in Our Stars is a beautiful book, with a heart-breaking story that dives you through hundreds of emotions at a time. The main character of the book is called Hazel-Grace Lancaster, she has cancer, and from the beginning of the book, we can see that she has accepted the fact that her cancer is terminal, and forever is not an option.

Her mother forced her to go to a Cancer Support group, which was supposed to make her feel like she was not alone. But Hazel hated them, because she knew that secretly all the kids at the peer meetings were competing with each other, and she hated the idea that they all had to make these sad stories so that they feel like they have it worse than the rest of them. Hazel's only friend there is a guy called Isaac that loses his eyesight later on to cancer.

Through Isaac, Hazel meets Augustus, one of Isaac's best friend's that had cancer, yet he got rid of it.

Unfortunately I cannot tell you many things about the book because there would be far too many spoilers. I recommend the book to everyone that has wants an eye-opening experience alongside the characters.

Green yet again writes a compelling story, creating a character that seems strongly researched and thought of, planned through and created step-by-step. He displays a cancer patient's pains through a different, care-free perfection, despite all the problems, he shows that cancer patients are not really depressed truly, they try to make the best of life no matter whatever they have, and this book displays it strongly.

Looking For Alaska - John Green

Looking For Alaska by John Green is a book that portrays teenage life in depth, it passes through the emotional processes of a teenager, the adventures, the common problems and how many teenagers feel while they are going through the high school experience.


We dive into the book by being introduced to Miles Halter, a teenage boy that did not really have a wonderful middle school experience and cannot wait to go to Culver Creek Highschool; a boarding school that his father previously went to. Miles has an interesting 'hobby' so to say, he loves reading biographies and knowing people's last words before death, he has memorised hundreds of last words. I believe that Miles has a sort of fascination with the reality of death, and how people truly show who they are in the end.
His parents wanted to organise a goodbye party for him as he was preparing to leave Florida, however, only two people showed up, making the even awkward, hence, making his parents wonder if Miles was leaving due to social anxiety, or depression.
After the two people departed, his parents asked him why he wanted to leave, Miles returned with a book by Joe Meno, where he hi lighted that the character was in search for his great perhaps. That was what Miles was looking for, his own Great Perhaps, and that was why Miles Halter was moving from Florida to Culver Creek, Alabama, he wanted to escape his terrible, lonely life in Florida, and have a new beginning.

As Miles sets up his room, he meets his roommate Chip Martin, nicknamed the Colonel; he is an arrogant, very intelligent, yet stocky teenager that is a naturally born leader, always ready to stand up for his friends. The Colonel drags along Miles to buy cigarettes from Alaska, a beautiful, curvy-bodied girl, that loves books, smokes, drinks and enjoys being a rebel. Takumi, their friend is another person that Miles begins to get along with. Miles begins to enjoy the presence of his new friends. However, one night, while Miles was sleeping in his boxers, a group of boys came and took Miles to the pond, taped him, and then taped his mouth.
This was meant to be the initiation, a new kid simply had to be thrown in the pond, but this was a sort of revenge against the Colonel, which the "Weekday Warriors" (or the rich children of the school) blamed the Colonel for two of their friends being kicked out. One of them being Alaska's roommate.

Miles is a very skinny guy, however, the Colonel devises a nickname that is the complete opposite of how he looks; Pudge.

Now, the story continues with Miles discovering the different lives of teenagers, starts seeing the differences between all the students, the deep and interesting notions of Religion Studies, and soon enough he begins falling in love with Alaska. Of course, he thinks that he's the only one, yet Alaska is such a bubbly character, that believes in strong meanings and reading, a massive chain smoker that enjoys her wine.

Out of all the characters, you fall in love with Alaska, because she seems to understand everyone, in a way that everyone wanted to be understood, and they loved it. She has an uncanny knack of doing pranks with the Colonel and Takumi, and Miles soon joins in on them. However, despite all the things that most people would consider negative, she is a really smart girl, that 'tutored' people in McDonalds on how to pass their Calculus tests, and they always did.

The book is the one that started off John Green's fame, of course, these are not all books for guys, however, most people I know that have read his books have found themselves in one of the characters no matter what. It's impossible not to fall in love with Green's intelligent, complex and detailed writing that displays well studied and well thought-of characters. I love his books even if i was never a fan of cheesy little romances, but Green manages to create and destroy romances fast enough for you to feel the pain of the separation yourself. (Spoiler Sorry)

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

During the Christmas vacation, I re-read one of my all-time favourite books. This book, was Ender's Game. I re-read this book after having seen the movie, which in my opinion, did not stick to the book at all. I felt that I had to put the story straight in my mind, I couldn't let it get jumbled by the movie.

This book is the first of a series of five different books, of which I also read Speaker for the Dead.

I loved this book because, at the time when I first read it, it seemed as this far-off future, or invented land where there were extra-terrestrials who needed to be wiped out, that planet earth would soon be under the attack of the Buggers for the second time (or so the people thought).
However, what struck me the most, when I was re-reading this book, was the way that the author put so much importance on the children, how they are seen to be the only ones that can defend the earth from the oncoming onslaught. I really enjoyed the way that the author acknowledges the fact that children are very smart beings, that education can help us, but that it is not everything. The educated adults are dependent on the children, to save them.

Books...

"A book is the proof that humans are capable of working magic" - Carl Sagan

I have had quite the adventures over the past few weeks, I've lived through angry old poets, 16 year old mass murderers, human cockroaches and possibly life's biggest questions.

"The Pleasures Of The Damned" by Charles Bukowski - is a huge collection of poems he wrote from 1951 to 1993. It was definitely something different, very vulgar and graphic and most of them probably not age appropriate. He seems to me very much like a drunken old man, angry at himself just for the sake of being something and lived with the mind of a boy. He often made me very mad, some of the poetry which he writes seems only to be understood by him, at times I wonder if even he understands. However while I was lost in my occasional anger due to his vagueness I suddenly realized, if that was the reaction he was striving for, for if it was, he definitely succeeded. There where however a sufficient amount of poems, which were truly beautiful and alive.

"We Need To Talk About Kevin" by Lionel Shriver - was absolutely epic. The whole story is told through letters that Eva sends to her husband Franklin. I found it a little hard to get into at first as this 'Eva' started to annoy me, however once I get about 100 pages into it, it was so absorbing I could not put it down. Eva writes about Kevin's upbringing, and his peculiar behavior as a child and teenager. She continuously refers to thursday, the reader already knows that something along the lines of murder is going to happen, and when it does, it is funnily enough put in such a blunt way. It is a very powerful plot, and even though I have not had a child that murdered half of his English class and his teacher (don't worry I won't kill you), I found the story very easy to relate with, on some weird level. I seriously recommend this books, however I am not sure if I want to read anything else by this author, for in a way I found that the plot of the story was more powerful than her writing.

After reading giraffe, and figured I should give Kafka a go, and so I did. I read a compilation of short stories by Kafka, and of course, Metamorphosis. I much say it was extremely likable, and very funny indeed. I found the story line very interesting, first thing you know a man wakes up, and then out of the blue, plot twist the mas is actually a cockroach! Hilarious and slightly pathetic! I look forward to read more of his works in the near future.

"The Stranger" by Albert Camus - a short, yet vastly compelling story. I loved the weirdness of the plot, and the concept of reacting differently to what society would think. The main character seemed a rather empty soul, even emotionless at times. Camus explores, the meaninglessness and worthlessness of human life. This book is really something special.

Another, very philosophical book, which I happened to read during the break was "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" By Milan Kundera. This was, a slap in the face really. The first thing that really struck me was the german proverb "Einmal ist Keinmal", meaning what happened only once may not have happened at all. By these words one of the main characters Tomas, wondered; if I only live once, then why live at all. Kundera explores the philosophy of lightness and weight throughout the book. He refers to lightness being the acceptance of the lack of meaningfulness in life, and living in the momentary beauty, the two characters, Tomas and Sabrina are characters of lightness. However Tereza, is defied by weight, for she cannot cope with the unbearable lightness of being. And Franz, defies all events in his life as heavy, therefore leading him to a quick and unnecessary death. This books, I must characterize as heavy, it was felt heavy in my hands and heavy to heart. I don't know whether I regret reading it or whether I appreciate it. I feel this was probably the wrong time to read it, as often what I read affect my mood and trail of thought (not that I am going to go all Kevin on my English class or anything). Maybe I'll read it again, when I'm a little wiser.

"The Diamond As Big As The Ritz" by F. Scott Fitzgerald

"The Diamond As Big As The Ritz" is a short story by novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald. Revolving around themes such as wealth, visions of America, youth and religion, it is a gripping novel about a sixteen-year-old boy, John T. Unger, who discovers that his father is one of the wealthiest individuals in the world. The title of the novel refers to his father.

"Death Of A Salesman" by Arthur Miller

A dispirited yet interesting novel is the of Arthur Miller called "Death Of A Salesman". This book concentrates on the way of life according to the American Dream. Themes such as betrayal and abandonment are beautifully portrayed in this novel. After various events, we learn more about the  protagonist, Willst Loman, who is an old salesman and his family background including financial problems, suicide attempts and the unhappiness which revolves around the family.

I recommend this book to only a certain number of book due to it being very dismaying.

"The Catcher In The Rye" by J. D. Salinger

"The Catcher In The Rye", a novel by J. D. Salinger caught my attention because of the interesting themes represented throughout the book. One of them was growing up and the painfulness of it. The novel revolves around a young man, Holden Caulfield, and as we emerge ourselves further into the novel, we learn how the young character grows and matures. The protagonists main goal is to resist the process of being more mature as he fears change and complexity.

I recommend this novel to anyone who is interested in the darker motifs and themes in a book such as loneliness, deception, intimacy or even just relationships between individuals.