You know, it seems like practically any book that’s a best seller is starting to be required reading in schools. One such book is Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief. I remember back in September of last year my nephew had to read this book for class. Hell, this one book shop owner told me every school in Brooklyn was reading it. So after almost a year I […]
I’m not one to read books that read like a Lifetime original movie. In fact, the only reason I would is if I was forced to in school or I thought the book was going to be something else. Of course, there is one exception to the rule. That exception is Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. I came about this book from an Impishidea.com thread (I don’t remember where. In […]
Vampires have been a part of human literature for centuries. from the normal vampire bat to the Chinese jiangshi you’ll see vampires everywhere. of course, some modern vampire stories range from classic (The Strain) to oh my god, kill it with fire (Twilight. Don’t worry, I’ll get to that later.) Today We’ll look at one series that takes a different spin on vampires while managing to create a worthwhile story. […]
Low budget, poorly acted, poorly written, bad direction. These are just some of the things that describe horrible movies, TV shows, books you name. Of course, there are those that have these qualities and people love them. This is called so bad it’s good or shlock. There is plenty of shlock around. TVtropes.org has an entire section on this. There’s more crap in there than a barn. Of course, there […]
Today I realized it’s been two weeks since I posted anything. Had other writing to do. So, here’s my review of Out of my Mind by Sharon M. Draper. Eleven-year-old Melody was born without the ability to speak or move 90% of her body. She also has a photographic memory and is extremely intelligent. However, since she can’t speak or move people think she has low intelligence and needs to […]
So after me taking a ten day (give or take) hiatus I am finally reviewing the conclusion to The Giver. So without further ado, here’s Son. Claire is a birthmother (remember those from The Giver?) who, after “creating to her first product” (giving birth) and having major problems with it, she is resigned as a worker at the hatchery. During this time she does spend some (illegal) time with her […]
So, my nephew brought to my attention that Lois Lowry wrote a third sequel to The Giver called Son. I got it from the library on Friday and I’ll write up my opinions on it the second I’m done. For now, here’s book three, Messenger. Matty has living in Village (that’s what they call it, Village) for the past six years with a blind man named Seer. Matty has two […]
How many of you know that Lois Lowry made not just one but TWO sequels for The Giver? The only people who’d really know about these books are Lowry fans. The only reason I heard about them was because one of my college English professors mentioned them when we did The Giver (FYI: the class was called Literature for Young People.) So the next two posts will be about these […]
Pop quiz: What’s one book every American school kid reads that’s not Shakespeare or written in the 19th century? If you said Of Mice and Men, well, you’re right. I was, however, thinking of The Giver by Lois Lowry. Don’t judge me. You remember reading this sometime in your school years, right? If you don’t, you had a terrible school. If you did, isn’t it awesome? No? Well, as the […]
Neil Gaiman is considered to be one of the greatest writers of our day. Not just a great fantasy writer, no. He is a writer that many people believe transcends literature altogether. His most recent book, Fortunately, the Milk, proves just why he’s something else. The story goes one day a boy and a girl wake up one morning to find that there is no more milk in the fridge. […]
