Nothing to lose

By Alex Flinn

Review By Sasha

This well written book is about a teenage boy who runs away from an abusive family. His rich stepfather constantly beats the boys mother. Now his mother is on trial for killing her husband. Micheal (the boy) finds himself back in his hometown and has to decide if he sould come out of hiding to save his mother or to keep running.

I liked this book. It is a bit predictable but it's easy to read and is fairly enjoyable.

Green Angel

Alice Hoffman

Review By Sasha

This book is about a girl who lives near a city that gets practically destroyed. Her family Just happens to be there when it happens. In this book, Green has to learn to live without them and to find herself.

This book is easy to reas. It is very short. I has able to finish it in 1 or two hours one night before i went to sleep. I reccomend this book to those who like quick reads.

Pride and Prejudice

By Jane Austen

Review by Shelby

Once again I am glad for projects because I would NEVER have read this book if I didn't have to. I LOVE THIS BOOK.

This is a just a summary and I tell ALL so yeah. So don't read it all if you don't wanna spoiler.

Have you seen one of those Emma Thompson movies? Where's she's frolicking through a field in a ginormous sundress with her sister and they happen upon Mr. Embersonley or whatever his name may be, and her sister runs off to "pick flowers" or something while she's really listening to Emma and Mr. Pickingderandy have a battle of tongues (no not making out, being playfully witty to each other--flirting). Normally this
flirting outrages the two participants, but this makes them fall in love with each other.

So that's the basic whatsit (premise or whatever) for Pride and Prejudice. Elizabeth Bennet, the best girl main character of all time comes from a middle-class family, with a mother who cares more about the pearls and frills and lace of her daughter's wedding dress than how happy she is standing in it.
And her dad, although he is wonderfully sarcastic and funny, doesn't really care at all, and thinks most of his daugters and his wife are silly. Anyway the gorgeous (and rich) Mr. Darcy comes to the Longerfield or Longaburn or... wherever they live with his friend Mr. Bingley and he is a super snob to everyone. But then Lizzy's sister Jane goes over to Mr. Bingley's house and gets sick along the way. So Lizzy, because she loves her dear sister, walks all the way to the house in her dress and gets all muddy and stuff. She stays there until Janie gets better. Mr. Darcy is of course there, being sophisticated. Elizabeth is quite "civil" with him, and she begins to like him, although he is very proud, and she is very prejudiced against him. Also Miss Bingley, Mr. Bingley's unwed sister, is a complete prat and she throws herself at Mr. Darcy (whose first name is Fitzwilliam and God bless Lizzy for still liking him after that) and tries to make Elizabeth look bad (which is impossible) in a most unnatractive way.

I really could go on forever. I think I will.

Anyway so there's this guy called Wickham, and he comes to their village thing. Elizabeth really likes him (like a good friend, she doesn't quite like him like him, to put it in layman's (4th grade) terms) because he's all "Yeah Darcy's mean and his dad was cool but Darcy took all my inheritance and whatever.

When Elizabeth goes back to Netherfield (i forget why) Mr. Darcy has already fallen in love with her and he proposes but he's all like "I don't care if you're poor and if I'm way out of your league, I still love you and I will stoop to your level so we can be together!" and Lizzy does NOT take that crap. So Mr. Darcy writes her a letter and he's all sorry, and Mr. Wickham is not all he seems.

Elizabeth goes on a summer trip with her aunt and uncle, Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner, who are very nice and mature, unlike her own parents. She goes to Pemberly, Mr. Darcy's property. Did I say he was rich? Sprawling, i think, is the word for his place. "Neither formal nor falsely adorned" is how J.A. describes it, whatever that means. It's huge and gorgeous and whatever. They visit there and the head housekeeper gives them a tour, (even though Mr. Darcy is not home, i don't know how THAT happen, such security in those days. "yeah, the master i'n't in, but let's have a round-about shall we?" Let's give it a go. Have at it." Anyway, Elizabeth is not worried, because she thinks he will not be home for some time, but the next day, Oh Hello Darcy well hello Darcy. And even though they don't get to talk much, he sees how gentlemanly he is, and she begins to really really like him.

Even though she knows about him from Darcy's letter, when Mr. Wickham runs away with her youngest sister (Lydia, 16) she is completely knowledgeable that he is a capital-C Creep. He usually is a gold-digger guy, but he Did run away with the young and silly Lydia. Who knows what base they could've gotten on but tongues would have wagged and the Bennet's reputation would be ruined. SO Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth's tres cool uncle intervene and they make them get married (but they end up poor and unhappy but oh well).

Near the end, Mr. Darcy, comes to longerfield (or whatever) with Mr. Bingley. (And the reader is like, where the bleep is DARCY!?!? IT'S ALMOST THE END THIS BOOK BETTER END HAPPY!) So yeah, he comes. Mr. Bingley has not seen Jane for like a billion years, and they whisper a lot and get married. Then FINALLY. Lizzy and Darcy take a walk in the woods, and oh my it's so cathartic, and THEY finally get married.

OH oh. such a nice book. Sorry I gave it all away.

*(#*$(@#*&$(@*#&$ (#*@&$(#*$&@$# OKAY SPOILER OVER HAHA

In late September this year a movie is going to be released in the USA!!! (after in the UK and others... there were other movies before but WHO CARES this one's knew)

Keira Knightley is playing Elizabeth Bennet!!

KEIRA KNIGHTLEY

omg how perfect! She's ALMOST as pretty as Lizzy is (KK is quite pretty but Lizzy is probably beautiful like a Greek Goddess. And the guy playing Mr. Darcy, although not horrible looking, is nowhere near as handsome as Mr. Darcy really is (Hermes-Handsome; as attractive as Apollo and Ares put together.). And Rosamund Pike or whatever her name is who will play Jane is pretty too.

I can't see anyone else though. who cares who cares!

RIGHT I'M DONE I'M GOING TO DO MY REAL HOMEWORK NOW. CIAO.

The Stranger

The Stranger

By Albert Camus

Review by Shelby

Before you read this, you need to know that Albert Camus was an existentialist. An existentitalist does not care that they got killed in a car (Camus got killed in a car) because they are not aware that life is completely and utterly fabulous and beautiful. We read a packet thing on Albert Camus and his picture in there and I must say, he looked rather dashing and mysterious even though he seemed short.


The Stranger is about this guy named Mersault, who is unaware that his life is fabulous. His mom just died, and he doesn't care, because "everyone dies". He's in this fabulous relationship with Marie (who is obviously pretty because she wants to marry him and Mersault is hot (trust me he is) and that adds to his life being fabulous and it gives a greater disappointment that he doesn't know it). But anyway I think Marie is cool because she's a nice girl but she eventually gives up on Meursault and realizes he won't really love her. Yeah, she visits him and jail and writes him some, but then she's like, You don't even miss me? Well to 'ell with you then.

This guy's DOG runs away/dies and the guy cares more about his dog than Mersault cares about his mom.

Anyway, Mersault was walking on the sunny Algerian coast, probably looking fabulous in whatever bathing suits early-mid-1900s men wore, and because the sun gets in his eyes he shoots this Arab guy. And he's not even sorry, it just happened, it was because of the sun.

The Stranger is a book worth reading because it gives you a not-so-normal point of view. The book is told first-person, through the eyes of Mersault. So you think his life is normal, but really, if the book's narrator was a third-person omniscient one, you would see that it's Drama DORAMA all around. I love Meursault still though. Because he is fabulously nonchalant even though that makes him an unfeeling "monster".

If you ever read this and (God forbid) have to write an essay about it, two symbols in the book are the Sun and heat(DER) and groups of people judging Meursault (His mom's friend at her vigil and the jury). Also the old guy serves as a grief-foil for Meursault or something like that. That wouldn't help you, but the essay questions we actually got came straight off of SparkNotes. The internet is corrupting even the most traditional teachers!

Or Give Me Death

By Ann Rinaldi

Review By Sasha

This is most likely not the first book I have on here written by Rinaldi. This book is one in the Great Episodes series which is a collection of books written by different authors about things that happened in the past. This isnt my favorite book because once I feel sympaty for a character, i hate it when bad thing (or words) happen to them. It's an okay book. More for people who are into Stuff from the past. The book is the story of Patrick Henry's family. The guy that said "Give me liberty, or give me death." I finished the book, but only because I had nothing better to do. Literally i was sitting in class with this book and we had free periods.

Another thing is that i began reading this book before. I remember the first few pages and i stopped reading it. Ha.

The secret Under my skin

by Janet McNaughton

Review By Sasha

This well written book is about a future ere people sleep during the day and work during the night becuse the environment has become so harsh. This book follows an orphan girl Blay as she works in a camp and gets a chance to change her life and discover her past.

This book actually concluded it's self so while you want more at the end of it, you knows that thats all there is and arent upset about it. This is a cant put down book. A must read. If you like future you'll LOVE this.
Buy it!

BRAVE NEW WORLD-Character Anaylysis

BRAVE NEW WORLD

Character Analysis

Review by Shelby

Ha. Since Sasha beat me to it, I'll do a character analysis:


Bernard Marx: At first I liked Bernard because I thought he was going to be the rebel, the guy who changes everything. WRONG. He is, in the first part of the novel, the main character. Bernard is insecure, and he knows he is different and always feels alone. He is a specialist of hypnopaedia, sleep-teaching, so he knows how people are conditioned to think certain things, like their caste pride, and "a gramme is better than a damn" etc. But even though Bernard sees these things, he does not see the big picture. He likes the society and even though he's different, and doesn't really want to be his own person. He wants to blend in, be a somebody. In the end of the novel, Marx proves to be a coward...

Lenina Crowne: Ah! The Impudent Strumpet. Lenina is so funny. She's like... She's the femme fatale of Brave New World... Well maybe... she doesn't die... I guess she's the token hot babe or whatever. In the book they think she's pretty (pneumatic, is the word characters use, but chairs are also described as pneumatic.) So i guess "comfortable" or "pneumatic" is the new "hot" in A.F. whatever year they're in. She's the quintessential Brave New English girl. She takes her contraceptives, has had many of the local guys, and enjoys flying, soma, feelies, and Electromagnetic golf. She is horrified by the 'Savages' when she visits their reservation with Bernard. But, Lenina also has her share of aberrations. Sometimes, she is not promiscuous enough. *rolls eyes* She, according to her friend Fanny, goes out with Henry Foster too much. Also, she pursues both Marx and John a bit zealously. Lenina's Ok i guess. This is a very sad analysis...

Hemholtz Watson: Not as important as other characters, but Hemholtz Watson is a real thinker. He was an Alpha Plus, or Alpha double Plus, or something... People thought he was way too smart. He's a writer, he writes slogans for the society. He teaches his students to write "piercingly". He himself wants to write "piercingly," but he knows that he can't when he's just writing about soma, and new scientific breakthroughs, and crap like that. He doesn't even know what he can write about... When he writes about loneliess there is an uproar. But, even Hemholtz Watson is well-conditioned. When John shows him Romeo and Juliet, Watson laughs at them, not believing that they can feel so strongly. But, even though he disappoints in this respect, Hemholtz proves to be a stand-up guy in the end.

Mustapha Mond: The world controller. He's a great villain. He disputes freedom and... well he's not boring but I don't really wanna write about him.

John (The Savage): AH! My favorite. Even though I was totally pissed at him in the end. Ahhh. John, the disgrace of the society. He's someone's SON. (No one has families in BNW. NO ONE. They're like... a family!!?!??! *shudder*) John grew up with the Native Americans in the reserve, but he was shunned there because he was not Native American. He is like Bernard Marx, He wanted to fit in. John knows about Shakespeare, families, and God. He even knows about love; he falls in love with Lenina (and then he is QUITE disappointed with her... but still can't let her go). Like Lenina, when he is taken out of his niche, he is dismayed by what he finds. He hates the Brave New World, and HE actually tries to change it... tries to start something new.

But even John, for how much I love him, is not flawless. John shows that the Old World, supposedly the opposite of the BNW, is not really the opposite. Just like people are in BNW, John is conditioned. It might not be with hypnopaedia, or shock therapy, but John grew up being taught morals, and what is right, and even by his mother, that the civilisation in London was a great one. John, at the end (Sorry, but a spoiler) is always punishing himself, because he believes he is behaving immorally. He just gives up on the BNW.

BUT! John is very instrumental in the message of Brave New World. Aldous Huxley lived through World War Two, when people were very scared of totalitarian societies, (like Hitler's, Stalin's, and kinda Mussolini's). Brave New World is an anti-utopian novel. Since John doesn't defeat the society (it defeats him) it scares people more away from utopias. The people of "Brave New" London become like animals... it really was scary!

Brave New World

By Aldous Huxley

Review By Sasha


Brave New World by Aldous Huxley is a book about what he believes the future could become. It is about a utopia where no one ever goes hungry, there are no wars, and no one is ever alone. One of the main characters that the book follows is Bernard Marx. He is an exception to the other people in the society. He doesn’t quite agree with everything that goes on in the society. Also, he is more private and look different physically. With Marx, the author is able to show us the good and bad points of the society. It is a very interesting book but you have to keep a very open mind to read it because the people in the books’ society are very different from the people in ours.

This book seems to be aimed at people who like to read about future and science fiction. I think it is a good book to read. People should read this book because it can be related to issues people are having now. Compared to when the book was written and now, we are closer to the “utopia” that Huxley writes about. Brave New World is like a more dramatic form of our actual future, which I think makes it all the more interesting. The book is well written and the characters are realistic. I would recommend this book to people interested in reading about possible futures or simply someone who wants to read about something new. This book is unlike any other.