"UNFINISHED TALES OF NUMENOR AND MIDDLE-EARTH"

Author: J.R.R Tolkien (Revised by Christopher Tolkien)
# of Pages: (Reading what I am interested in)

Hello dear blog readers! I decided to take a brief pause from the world of non-fiction, and so I have stepped into the world of Middle-Earth. As a incredible author, he has charmed me, and so I picked up a book about unfinished tales of Middle-Earth, to find out more about his amazing world. Many things are now clearer to me, and I think this was a great choice.

The main idea of the book is simple, to provide the reader with a more thorough knowledge of Middle-Earth. As the title of this book even suggests, it is about unfinished or un-clear tales of Middle-Earth. Their are a few separate stories, and each of them talk about a seperate time in the history of Middle-Earth. In order to fully understand this book, you would need to watch or read at least one of Tolkien's works. Some of them include: "The LOTR series", "The Hobbit" and "The Silmarillion". What the book aims to do is to answer as many unfinished questions that the reader has about any of these stories. The great thing about this book is that it goes into very big detail, improving the readers knowledge even more.

So far I have read what has interested me. As you might know, their were four ages of history in the fictional Middle-Earth. Since I know a lot about the Third age and "The Hobbit", along with "The LOTR series", I have been reading some more earlier history of Middle-Earth. I do this because I am not very informed about this age, so I would like to learn as much as possible. I have been reading about the island of Numenor, The  ancient realm of Arnor, and others. More specifically, I have so far read about the downfall of Numenor, and the fall of the Ancient realm of Arnor.

So far, my impressions are great. I can honestly recommend this book to anybody who has read one of Tolkien;s many works. I think that it is incredible how a man can think of such a world, with such detail, which is amazing. If you look at it more closely, the history and the characters of Tolkiens works represent us, humans, and how we came to be, and what we are doing. It is safe to say that a great amount of thinking was put into his works, and this piece adds to the magic. If you are wondering, Christopher Tolkien is the authors son, and he had been gathering many notes from his father. After gathering them all, he made this book, so it is something like a dictionary, but written in a story format. In general, I am very happy with the book so far, and I would recommend it to anyone who has read any of his works. NL

The One That Got Away (1)

I am reading The One That Got Away  by Chris Ryan. I really like the book so far. Chris Ryan was once a soldier which worked at SAS and he had 7 friends with him during a mission but unfortunately one escaped which was Chris Ryan and today he is writing books about agencts and soldiers. He is known as the SAS Hero or the one that got away. So far what I understood from the 48 pages out of the 320 pages, was that Chris Ryan served in an patrol called SAS and was in a mission with 7 of his friends. They all were in a mission during the gulf war in 1991 and they all got held captive by the enemy. I chose to read this book because I do not have too many non-fiction books that are too interesting and this one was the most interesting one to read out of all of them.The most interesting points of the story was when Chris Ryan got held captive.

Leven Thumps by Obert Skye

          Hello everyone! The book that I am reading now is a book called Leven Thumps by Obert Skye. This is a five book series that is about two kids running around two different worlds, and they are trying to save both of them. Currently I am on book three and it is as intense as ever! 
    <book 3<     This book is 393 pages and I am on page 113 and it is amazing. Even though I am three books in, to read all of them it has probably taken me a year in a half. I've tried to read fast and it doesn't really work for me. So a year and a half ago I had nothing to read, and as always my brother did. I asked him what I should read and he said that I should read this book. The covers on these books look very interesting and magical, and I know even though I shouldn't, I judge books by covers. So I decided to give it a try and it turned out to be a really good book.
          The two main characters in the books are a kid named Leven Thumps and a girl named Winter Frore, they are trying to fight off this evil spirit named Sabine. Leven has a sycophant (which is pretty much a small cat that looks like a mouse that has no hair on his knees or elbows). Since I'm on book three I can't really remember the first book that well, but Leven came from a horrible foster family and Winter's mom was very bad. Winter has powers and so does Leven, and they are figuring out how to use them.
             

         I hope that you guys will want to read this book and that you like my blog. This is  very good and interesting book. I think that this is one of my favorite book series that I have read and I think that my favorite character is Clover (the sycophant) because he is really funny and cute. 
          Well thank's!!! :) 

Paper towns

Hi guys,
I have read all 305 pages of Paper Towns by John Green. Here is a picture of the book:

I wanted to read this book ages ago but I never got round to it bu after Shelly's essay on the book i decided that i should read it so i took it out from the library. 

      The book is about a boy (Quentin) that is in love with a girl and the girl runs away but she leaves him clues so that he could come and find her. He gets his friends to help him, they look through her bedroom and they enter all sorts of places trying to find her. They towards the middle of the book decide that they need help from one of Margo's (that is the name of the girl that ran away) friend, the friend is called Lacey. So after a couple of weeks they think that they found were Margo is located. So they miss their graduation and instead they drive in the boys car with his friends and Lacy for eight hours. When they finally get to the destination they find Margo but she is not willing to come back and home and she says that she likes Quentin and she wants Quentin to stay with her and so that they both travel together and never come back home and never start university. However he declines the offer and says that he loves her but he wants to get a job and have a normal life. At the end she flings herself in his arms and that is the end. 
And unfortunately it does not say if she goes back with him or carrys on wondering around.  
AG

Covenant

I am currently reading Covenant, by Dean Crawford, a novel in which a very important human belief is challenged and ultimately proven wrong. The belief that we are "The only intelligent species of life in the universe" as stated on the back of the novel by Crawford. I made the decision to read this book, after buying it at the ISB book sale of this year, due to its enrapturing summary. Even though I have read only 155 pages out of the total 662, I am still sure that this novel will be one that I will enjoy greatly.


Archeologist Lucy Morgan uncovers a seven-thousand-year-old tomb that hold remains unknown to human kind. Immediately after her discovery she is still fully aware that it is something with the potential to completely rewrite history. Although before she could retrieve any of the remains she was abducted.

Lucy Morgan's discovery, of the seven-thousand-year-old tomb and her abduction are the main events of what I have read so far, in these 155 pages, but am certain that there are still numerous events in to look forward to in this story.

Maniac Magee

The book I am reading is Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli. It is one of my favorite books of all time, for a few odd reasons.

Maniac Magee doesn't exactly have a plot. It's about a sleepy town, in a 1960's-ish era, so the town is divided into East End and West End. Why doesn't it have a plot? Maniac Magee is just about, well, life. It's a set of stories, all threaded together to create this book. It makes you feel at home, as if you've lived in the town all your years. It's topics can go from the blatant racism in 1960's America to a simple family dinner. I chose to read Maniac Magee  for two reasons--the first reason is that I haven't read it for quite a while and the second reason is that it's one of my favorite books (as stated before).  Maniac Magee is 184 pages long, and I have finished it.

City Of Ashes by Cassandra Clare

I am currently on page 150 out of 411 of the City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare. It is the second of six in the series: The Mortal Instruments. I have read the first in the series, the City of Bones (which is actually now a movie) and was really excited to read the second. I was actually recommended this book by Gemma and am extremely glad she did so.

I started the book today, in fact and am already absolutely loving it. It is about wherewolves, demons, vampires and awesome stuff like that. The first book introduces the main character, Clary. She lives a somewhat normal life with her single mother and her friend/boyfriend, Luke. Her best friend is Simon. One day, her mother mysteriously disappears and when Clary goes back home she is face to face with a demon, a Ravener ( a type of demon ). Somehow she survives , and in a very confused state is taken somewhere, by a very handsome blond guy. She finds out that her mother was/is in fact a shadowhunter, someone who kills demons. She is introduced to a whole world that her mother had kept hidden from her all her life. Towards the end of the book she finds out that the blonde-haired boy who she is falling in love with is in fact her brother (much to her great despair) and her father is a mass - murderer.

So far in the second book, Valentine, her father, has been trying to get the sword (one of the mortal instruments ) and kill downworlder children to create a huge army of demons. Clary, Simon, Jace (her brother), Isabelle and Alec are trying to stop him from doing so by trying to get the faerie court on their side.

I would really recommend this book and this whole series. YOU HAVE TO READ IT.

Hi guys, I will be talking about a comic book called "Lucky Luke, Dalton City" written by (I am not sure if I'm spelling this right) Gochini. I read the whole comic, 45 pages. Lucky Luke is the protagonist in all the series of Lucky Luke (Dalton City is just one of the series). All the series are about a cowboy called Lucky Luke and they are all set in the Wild West bout a hundred years ago. So basically there are bad guys who try to smuggle drinks or make a city and rob people or do stuff that are illegal and Luke always stops them. Luke is a perfect marksman and he also has the fastest and the smartest horse in all the west. 
In this specific series, Dalton City, four brothers called Daltons, escape from prison and make their city. Their intentions were to attract rich criminals to their city and then rob them in their casinos. Lucky Luke arrests them and puts them back to prison. There isn't much more to tell because it's a short comic. Thanks for reading.
Maksim    

La Belle Amarante

Hello!
The book I'm reading at this moment is a french book translated into polish, "La Belle Amarante" by Yvon Mauffret. I'm almost done with this book and I find it really interesting. The reason I'm reading this book is... I'm not really sure why. My dad just gave me this book and said that I should read it. The setting of the book is in the early 60's in a little village in Brittany, France. The story is about a girl named Alex, her family and three french students trying to find the lost treasure. Alex always dreamed of diving and finding treasures in the sea. That summer her dreams were about to come true. A long time ago a ship with some treasure got lost close to the place they live. When the three students found out about that, they decided to find the sunk ship. With a little help of Alex, Pascal (Alex's brother), Katharine (Alex's older sister), and the rest of Alex's family they go on a adventure and maybe find the treasure. I'm still not done with this book but the cover of the french edition of the book I found on the internet probably just spoiled the book for me.

Angus, thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging...

Louise Rennison

97/247

Yes... I know that the title is weird and unexpected but the book is actually really good. Its about this
girl who thinks she is absolutely very ugly and thinks she will never get a life. She has a cat, Angus. A sister which is very annoying and a "best friend" which only ever talks about her boyfriend. I chose this book because it seemed funny when i read the back:

There are

SIX THINGS

very wrong with my life:

(1)

I have one of those under-the-skin spots that will never come to a head in a red way for the next two years.

(2)

It is on my nose.

(3)

I have a three-year-old sister who may have peed somewhere in my room.

(4) 

In fourteen days the summer hols will be over and then it will be back to Stalag 14 and Oberfuhrer Frau Simpson and her bunch of sadistic teachers.

(5) 

I am very ugly and need to go to an ugly home.

(6)

I went to a party dressed as a stuffed olive.

The stuffed olive i figured was most funny. That was why i chose to read the book. But that's not the most funniest thing in the book. It has gotten better. 

So far the girl has gotten one boyfriend. Her life has been ruined and her sister is still annoying. She likes her sister though. She likes it when her sister goes in her room at night when she is scared. 

This book is a diary. It makes you feel like she is talking to you. I really do like this book. And i still haven't gotten to the best part.  

HN

The Hive Detectives by Loree Griffin Burns

Honeycomb with workers

I am reading a non-fiction book which is called The Hives Detectives "Chronicle of  Honey Bee Catastrophy". This book explains everything about bees and bee keeping. I have read 12 pages/66 total.

I have chosen this book beacuse I like to learn about these fascinating animals called bees. My plan for the future is to have a farm where I need to have bees and a hive in order to have good products and have my garden and orchard fertile and nice. I also intend to make my own medicinal bee products for humans and animals.

Beehives

This book first shows how the bee hive looks and works. The entrance of the hive must always be free not to restict the bees their way to and from the hive. Each hive has a honey store full of honey. The honey combs are created in wooden frames. The cells in henycombs are filled either with honey or larvas or capped brood. The book gives an explanation of apiculture terms as propolis, queen, worker, drones, nectar, pollen and royal jelly.

I finished reading when there is a huge mystery on the bee farm of Dave Hackenberg Apiaris. He owns and manages the three thousand bee hives in Forida. Now it is a time where he needs to move his hives to another location because tha owner of the propety needs hi land. Dave and his son plus one more emplyee have arrived to the lot. They dressed in bee suits and took the smokers to move the hives. to their bad surprise they have discovered that two thousands bees have vanished and dissapeared. The strange thing was that the hives were full of food, larvas and there were no dead bees around. The hives looked very healthy. So what happened..?

allegiant

Allegiant

By Veronica Roth

Hey guys, for this blog post I decided to post the third sequel of Divergent since I wrote about it in my previous blog post. Allegiant is the final for the story Divergent and that is mainly why I decided to read this book. So, this novel is a 526 pages book and it mainly narrate about how Beatrice Prior, the main character, together with  Tobias, her boyfriend and other of her friends decided to escape from their city and find out what and who there is after the wall. In this story, the author wanted to reveal all the mystery and all the questions that someone would come up with in the first novel, Divergent. If you read Divergent and you want to know what is outside the wall and why is there you should definitely read this book.

Furthermore in this story it is the end of the fraction, when Evelyn, the mother of Tobias she destroyed them because her ideas was that with these you don’t have a choice without thinking that her new rules you don’t have choices ether.

So, this is a great book and I really recommend for anyone.

What Am I Reading?

Hello Everyone,
Unfortunately I haven't started reading any book yet, but I did read a lot of articles about global warming since I needed it for science. While reading so many articles, two really caught my attention.The two articles were very different. There was one that states the facts that prove that global warming is real, and the other one stating that global warming is nothing but a lie. Through the process of reading, I also learned something new. I learned that global warming, also known as climate change, is an increase of temperature of the earth's atmosphere followed by the greenhouse effect, and is caused by increased levels of carbon dioxide and air pollution. I also learned that many people have different opinions and claim they have proof of existence of global warming, but then there are also people who claim they have proof for non existence of global warming. Here's an example: In the article that states global warming is real there is an information about melting ice and glaciers disappearing almost everywhere around the world, but then on the other hand: In the article which states global warming is nothing but a lie, there's an information about glaciers not melting away at all, in fact it says they're increasing in size. It is also mentioned that there isn't any extreme events like acid rainfalls happening, unlike in the other article which states the complete opposite.The article with proofs of non existence also states that the carbon dioxide levels have been overstated, and that not ever there has been a man made global warming in the past and there shouldn't be any fear for it to happen in the future. According to the article, there is no proof of existence of global warming that is actually true...but then how do we know that the proof of non existence of global warming is true? This is a really complicated issue that has been discussed and debated many times, over and over, but people still claim different things and that's completely okay. The thing is, we still don't know if there is global warming right now or not. I personally think that global warming might be happening, but it also just may be a temporary change that will not last much longer. Due to my not-so-great knowledge about this, I'm not the one who should judge either of these opinions. The question is, what do you believe in? Is global warming real, or is it fake? This was such an interesting topic to read about! I'm glad I know more about this now, and I look forward to read more about it in the future...maybe even a book about global warming for the new book report assignment (since it's non fiction). Thank you for reading! :)

Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare | What I read this weekend

Hi everyone! 

Okay this weekend I started a book that I checked out on friday from the library, Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare. I was also reading another book, Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell, this week, which I am enjoying immensely. Anyway, I chose to write about this book because it is the last book of the prequel of my favorite book series  (probably, there are quite a few close favorites - such as Divergent and the Hunger Games), called the Mortal Instruments. This book is the third in the series called the Infernal Devices. I am currently on page 115/576. 

It is a story set in Victorian London, and it is the story of a band of 'Shadowhunters' - a close nit community of beings who possess certain powers, and are responsible or ridding the Earth of 'demons', who are basically evil creatures who travel around, wreaking havoc around London, or other places in the world. They don't bother the humans because of this race of shadowhunters is keeping all of these demons away from the people and basically saving the world. This may seem like it might be the main conflict in a story, but it isn't really the main problem for any of the characters. Most of the conflict has actually built up from the previous books. In this book, the characters have a whole slew of problems. First of all there is a man, Mortmain, who is the main antagonist in the book, who is going to cause many problems. He has an army of clockwork machines, called 'automatons' or 'the infernal devices', and he is trying to use them to get to one of the main characters, Tessa. She is needed by Mortmain, as she posses special powers - she can shapeshift. Mortmain wants her so that he can harness her power to use it against the Shadowhunters, and so he can eventually take over the world. There are also some other problems - Tessa's fiance, Jem (James Carstairs) is dying. He is dependent on a drug, ying fey, which keeps him alive after he was tortured by a demon, and almost killed. The demon injected its blood into his veins, so ultimately, he will die. This ying fey drug keeps him alive, for now, and as well as he could possibly be in his condition. The problem is, there is no more ying fey left. Mortmain has cut off all of the ying fey resources which are imported into London. Jem is dying. Tessa, and Will, another one of the protagonists, have to try and find some of this drug to keep their friend alive. Without it, he can hardly last another week. 
This is quite a terrifying prospect, and they have to find a way to save him... and without being killed or kidnapped by mortmain....
I am LOVING this book so far, as it is really entertaining and I kind of am obsessed. I would reccomend this series definitely, but first read the Mortal Instrument series, also by Cassandra Clare. It is amazing!!

"The Fault in Our Stars" By John Green

The Fault in Our Stars

John Green

55/313 # of pages

Hey!
So currently I am reading a book called "The Fault in Our Stars" By John Green which I am sure some of you already read. So I chose this book because I watched the movie this summer and I really enjoyed it. I also already read a little of it about a year ago and I thought why not start over and read the whole thing. I also heard many good comments about it from my classmates.

So far, the book's main point or the book is about this girl named Hazel Grace Lancaster who has thyroid cancer which is in her lungs and she carries this oxygen tank to help her breath. Her mother decided that she is being very antisocial and that she needs to do something. Hazel is depressed and also keeps on telling herself that depression is a side effect to death and that she wants to die but she knows her parents will be really sad after that and that the only thing worse than having cancer is having a child that gets cancer.

Hazel's parents tell her to go to this cancer support group which is run by a middle aged cancer survivor named Patrick. In that support group she meets a boy named Augustus Water who stares at her and flirts. He invites her to watch a movie at his place which made her feel very special. Hazel seems to have fallen in love with him and she thinks about him very frequently. Augustus also had cancer once and he feels her pain. They borrow each other's books and the last page I read was about Hazel just about to come to Augustus's house. I really hope that everything goes well for them!


Pic link: http://blog.book-fair.com/files/2012/09/398973_260020820785944_2015410169_n-200x300.jpg


Pic link: http://img1.fantasticfiction.co.uk/images/n78/n390558.jpg

Shelly

Campfire Ghost Stories

This week I am reading a book called Campfire Ghost Stories by Jo-Anne Christensen. 
I have read (I just started) 60/233 pages.

This book is a collection of ghost stories told from around the word.
The story that I am reading is called The Scratching. A boy and a girl are going to a party, but the boy said that they were going to a club, or something. They take a shortcut through the woods, but the guy stops the car and says that he has to go to the bathroom. He goes out of the car, (it's dark), leaves the girl alone, and goes into the forest. When he doesn't come back after a couple minutes, she threatens that she's going to start the car and leave without him. When he doesn't reply, she starts the car and starts to move, but the mud was too deep and she couldn't move. She breaks down and screams out the window form him to come back. That's when she starts hearing the scratching. (Read for more details)

I chose this book because it looked intriguing, I loved ghost stories, and it was in the middle of Kristina's desk.

~Omayma~

*aggressively shoves into queue*

The Frog Princess

This week, I am reading "The Frog Princess." The story is about a girl named Princess Emeralda, who is supposed to get married to a snobby prince by the end of the week, but meets a frog (claiming to be a prince) and he asks her to kiss him. He asks this because a princess's kiss should turn him into a prince. Or at least, the witch who turned him into a frog said that. Instead, Emeralda turns into a frog as well, and they go on a journey to find the witch. They get to a forest, meet the wrong witch, and get trapped in her house. She wants their tongues and toes for a potion she is making. There are also other animals, and together, they escape with a few spells. Now, since Emeralda's great aunt is a witch, the animals are going to Emeralda's castle to find her. They get inside, and wait for her.

That is as far as I got. I will soon read more and next weekend, let you know. 

Until then,

Kristina 

Alex Ferguson by Sir Alex Ferguson

     Hello people! Today's post will be about the book that I'm reading right now. The book is called "Alex Ferguson" by Sir Alex Ferguson. This book is Sir Alex's autobiography. I read 136 pages out of 350. Before I start summarizing the book I would like to tell you some things about this amazing person named Alex Ferguson.
     Alex Ferguson was born on 31st of December 1941 in Govan, Scotland. He was playing as a center -forward. He entered management in 1974 serving East Stirlingshire and St Mirren before guiding Aberdeen to victory in the 1982-83 Cup Winners' Cup. He arrived at Manchester United in 1986. He won 38 trophies in 26 years of managing Man. United. His overall haul of 49 trophies made him the most successful British manager of all time. He was knighted in 1999. He retired in 2013.
     Now about the book. In those 136 pages that I read till now Sir Alex is speaking about some different subjects. He wrote a little bit about his Glasgow roots and how he started playing football (soccer) and how owning a bar helped him understand and learn some things. He also mentioned that he thinking to retire earlier than 2013. The first thoughts about retirement came to his mind in December 2001 but his family motivate him to continue and to continue because they knew he can do more and he did a lot. He also wrote about some really great  players like Beckham, Rio Ferdinard, Cristiano Ronaldo, Roy Keane and many more. He wrote about the different behaviors of those players and why they were unique and great and things like that.
     This is what I read about till now. I really encourage you to read this book because it's a great one. Even though you don't like football (soccer) this book is also somehow about human beings and differences of characters and stuff like that. Hope you enjoyed the post!

Oliver Twist - Cosmo

Halla people!
So right now, in the present I am reading my lines for the ISB middle school production Oliver Twist, a tale by Charles Dickens and summarized into a vivid musical by Mary Donnelly & George L.O. Strid. It is a fun and collaborative after school activity and I love to be there on time, so I memorize my lines a lot. I didn't really have a choice either, because the director, Mrs. Brink assigned us two different roles for two different casts, and because the play is performed on the end of November, we have to move quickly. But it is fun, I enjoy having my part, although it requires time to do. I am not really on a page number, because I keep on rereading the book  in order to memorize, but the current, like the actual PRESENT time I am on page 56.

In case of interest, the two roles that I play is in the first cast, Mr. Brownlow, a kind old man who helps Oliver throughout the story and fights for Olivers security & safety. In the other cast, I am Bill Sikes, a hardened criminal and the meanest possible man alive. The one thing he dislikes the most is when people mention his name in public, he will "rip your throat completely off your neck" (Donnelly 39).

The play and Oliver Twist in general is about an Orphan boy in London, who escaped from a workhouse, and is taken in by criminals, but is retrieved by other characters. It is basically a summary of life in the 1800s, in the point of view of a little kid. Some major findings in my lines, some that I found interesting, in my lines were that Sikes spoke with great violence and self confidence, if we can say it that way, and Mr. Brownlow spoke with a kind and gentle manner, probably it is regular for their character to be like that.

There aren't really main points, but I'll state some major lines:
"You're not going anywhere, Bill Sikes!" - Mr. Brownlow (58)
"I knew, I knew it! That boy is nothing but trouble! - Fagin " (32)
"Please, Sir, may I have some more?" - Oliver Twist (8)
"Back to my house, your new home. A place where you'll never again have to be afraid to ask for more" - Mr. Brownlow (58)

So, that was it folks, thank you for your attention, hope you enjoyed!
Cosmo :D

Insurgent

Hi everyone, 

Currently I am reading "Insurgent", the second book in the "Divergent series by Veronica Roth. Before I tell you a little bit about the book, I would just like to mention that I have read "Divergent"the first book in the series as most of you probably know yesterday, and  would just like to recommend it to everyone who has not read it for some odd and unknown reason because, for me, it is very interesting with descriptive characters and a plot line that will make you want to read it all day without stopping. However, let's get back to the novel of which I have read 16 pg. Beatrice Prior, the protagonist of the novels, because of choices she made in the previous book she now has to suffer the consequences. As said in the book "One choice can transform you"and that's exactly what it's doing. Also it can destroy her, after the big war between the Erudite( the intelligent faction) and Abnegation ( the selfless faction) "balance"is ruined. Nothing is what it once was. In the first book we are introduced with the idea of people in  Dystopian Chicago  being divided into different factions according to their aptitude tests, but now she does not know what she is and where she belongs to. At least before, she was Divergent, meaning she could belong in any of the three factions, Abnegation, Erudite and Dauntless, and now she is "Factionless" and will probably never be peaceful again. The reason I started reading the series is because I got many recommendations from many of my peers, and also I saw how popular it is, with movies coming out and a small 3 part trilogy told from the perspective of Tobias Eaton, another one of very exceptional characters. Finally, I look forward to reading this wonderful novel and to hopefully be posting some more blog posts about it.

Long Walk to Freedom

Author: Nelson Mandela
#of pages:13 /625

Currently, I have just started reading the book Long Walk To Freedom by Nelson Mandela. I actually found this book on a weekly library trip trying find two to three interesting books for the week and weekend. I felt that I've been reading a lot of fiction and fantasy lately so I decided to read an interesting autobiography on one of my heroes. So far I haven't read much but already I know that this book is about Nelson Mandela's life, his struggles, and achievements. From what I've read he explains about his family background and his childhood. He was born on July 18th, 1918 in Mvezo, a tiny village on the banks of the Mbashe River. His real name given by his father was Rolihlahla, which means typically, trouble maker. This book shows an insight to Nelson Mandela's early childhood in Africa and the way he lived, understood the "whites" and his stubbornness and determination that was passed down from his father. All that in the first thirteen pages. Wow. As I've only read thirteen pages, there is not much yet to discuss of this already fascinating book. Hope you enjoyed, or not.  

NORTH KOREA UNDERCOVER BY: JOHN SWEENEY

Author: John Sweeney
# Pages: 82/367

Hello dear blog readers! I have been reading a non-fiction book called "North Korea Undercover", by John Sweeney. The book is basically talking about North Korea, and the nation in general. The author visited the nation a couple of months ago, so this is a new book, and he is expressing his feelings and thoughts of the place. Most of the time he is focusing on the nations capital, Pyongyang, but he tends to talk about other places.

I chose this book by looking at the topic. I have always wondered how North Korea actually looks like, and is this so called "terrible" regime as terrible as people interpret it? As well, it is always interesting to look at a country with such a dynamic history, and study that. The best way to receive the information is by actually being their, and so since Sweeney was their, I thought this would be a good read, and so far I am not wrong. After all, North Korea is the only actual communist state that stayed from the cold war age, and so I think that this is a unique turn of events, and how North Korea came to be what it is today. Nonetheless, here is a summary:

Sweeney first comes to to Pyongyang from Beijing in China. Since their are no other flights, he went this way. When he arrives to Pyongyang, he describes how it seems to be a ghost town, and how their is nobody to be seen. First, he goes to a water bottling company, which is supposed to be the pride of North Korea. Their he sees nobody. At night he goes to the outskirts of town, and sees a small city next to the capital behind a barbed-wire fence, and he sees the "true" North Korea.After he describes what he sees and he goes to the Kumsusan Palace, a place were the North Korean regime honors the whole Kim family, the family that ruled and still does, for around 50 years so far. He is shocked by this museum. So far, that is were I have left off.

My general impressions are very good thus far. The major thing I liked was the topic, as I previously mentioned. He uses very descriptive language, too. The only thing I do not like is his as he calls it "neutral" perspective. Evidently, he is very west oriented, and so he thinks some things that have not been proven, such as the existing of "Gulags", or basically concentration camps in the country. This I do not like, but I respect what he has to say, but at some stages I disagree. I would recommend this book to anybody, because it really offers a first-hand view point at one of the worlds most closed and interesting economies. NL

The Naturals

There are two themes to this book:

1. Don't trust too easily

2. Expect the unexpected

I think that these are the themes because the character is very trusting, and ends up trusting the enemy. Although the enemy seemed to be trustable, since she one of the FBI trainers of the confidential program, this was probably a bad decision, because Cassie (the main character) trusted her way too much at the beginning.

The second theme seems to be true because she doesn't think of the possibilities of who the killer wants to kill, or who she can trust, or what she can do to arrest the killer, or anything else. The main character does not often think about the future, and only the past, when her mother was murdered.

Thanks for reading this, everyone!

Kristina

Escape From Mr. Lemonchello's Library: Theme

Recently I have finished reading "Escape from Mr. Lemonchello's Library" by Chris Grabenstein. For me this novel was very relaxing, but I felt as if it wasn't dealing with such a serious topic. I would say that this is also a  very interesting and somewhat original novel, because it is a mystery, although there is no murder involved. Another plus to this book is the way the clues are introduced and made. They grab the reader's attention sort of like a thesis statement, and make him/her think.  

However, it had a good theme which is working together or as a team and that doing so, brings better results than if we are only concerned about ourselves and winning. 

The protagonist of my novel is Kyle Keleey, and all throughout the book he was very persistent, and therefore also a great leader. From the first clue to the last one he kept his teammates together. When they would fight about who would get the clue or what the clue was actually trying to tell them, he was the one that solved all of their problems. There could only be one winner, and even with this in mind, he kept on working as a teammate and never as an individual, which in this case was very good and payed off at the end.