Okay. This book reminded me a lot of the book "I Heard That Song Before," by Mary Higgins Clark. I don't know who has ever read this book but I know that Shazena and Jodiann have read it. The way the authors lay the hints down so subtly, and in my opinion, the styles of writing are similar. I'm not normally into the whole "mystery" genre because I feel that most of them are stereotypical, but this book was actually pretty good. I mean, I don't think it was mind blowing or anything, but it was okay.
The book was about this girl who was strangled to death, and the prime suspect is this guy named Billy, whose father is the Police Chief. Twenty years later, Billy's sister reopens the case, a similar new case opens up. AGAIN, BILLY IS SUSPECT. But is it Billy?!? No one knows, so read the book and find out!
The book was a pretty quick read. It was one of those books that you just read to figure out "who is the suspect? Who committed the crime? will they get caught?" kind of thing. So yeahh....I recommend this book, if you like mystery/crime books!
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Monday, April 28, 2008
Picking a Book (#8)
This week I asked Ms. Faughey if I could read the book "Darkness Peering" by Alice Blanchard/Blanchet (I dont remember which last name it is, but I'll post the right last name in the next post), and she approved the book! YAYY<3
Okay. Well...This book was supposed to be one for book club, but like no one is reading it yet, so I decided to read it for independent reading, because right now, book club is reading "19 Minutes" by Jodi Picoult (who is the AWESOME author who wrote 'My Sister's Keeper' which I HIGHLY recommend!) Well, back to "Darkness Peering," I'm not actually sure what its about, but I know its supposed to be a scary horror crime book. Yeahh.....and it sounds good when you read up about it on amazon.com
The book has 316 pages, and I should take 3 weeks to finish it, but I'll try to finish it sooner =]
Okay. Well...This book was supposed to be one for book club, but like no one is reading it yet, so I decided to read it for independent reading, because right now, book club is reading "19 Minutes" by Jodi Picoult (who is the AWESOME author who wrote 'My Sister's Keeper' which I HIGHLY recommend!) Well, back to "Darkness Peering," I'm not actually sure what its about, but I know its supposed to be a scary horror crime book. Yeahh.....and it sounds good when you read up about it on amazon.com
The book has 316 pages, and I should take 3 weeks to finish it, but I'll try to finish it sooner =]
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Picking a Book (#7)
This week I'm going to read "The Bell Jar" by Slyvia Plath. This is Slyvia Plath's only novel, which was orignially published under the pseudonym "Victoria Lucas." I've heard many people talking about this book, and I've decided to read it this vacation. I have no clue what this book is about, and I'm just going to read it based on recommendations. I don't know if this related to the book or Sylvia Plath's life, but I heard someone mentioning something about how someone wanted to commit suicide, so she put her head in an oven, while the gas was on, and umm.....she died. It sounds pretty creepy. Oh and I think the book is semi-autobiographical, so either way, I think I'll be amused with the book.
This book has 264 pages, and I should finish it in 2 weeks, but it's vacation so I'll finish sooner. =]
This book has 264 pages, and I should finish it in 2 weeks, but it's vacation so I'll finish sooner. =]
Friday, April 18, 2008
Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom
WOW. JUST WOW.
This book was amazing. It was such a sweet&sad story about this guy named Morrie who's dying, and kind of "passes on" his knowledge of life to Mitch. In a way, Morrie has all the answers that Mitch wants, even though Morrie doesn't have a "concrete" answer. I don't know if that made sense, but what made this book so good, was that fact that it was real. I had to remind myself throughout the book, that Morrie was actually a real person, and that his sufferings were real too.
The vast amount of knowledge and life lessons he shares is just...well, so inspirational. I don't know any other way to describe it because it's so powerful, and the thing is it's ALL REAL. It's not fiction. Someone with the name Morris Schwartz actually went through all of this. This person is REAL. I just couldn't grasp that fact. I don't know why. Maybe it's because all of the words that came out of Morrie's mouth were so simple and true about the way we should live our lives, but people in today's society don't live their lives the "right way." Today people's lives are centered around money, improving their status, getting that bigger house, and that promotion that comes with a bigger paycheck. But Morrie says simply that "So many people walk around with a meaningless life. They seem half asleep, even when they are busy doing things they think are important. This is because they're chasing the wrong things. The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning" (Albom, 43). I think everyone kind of knows this already, but it's not until you actually sit down and think to yourself, 'what do I really want?' 'what's my purpose in this world?' or 'Is this all I really want?' until it REALLY hits you, with what you REALLY want to do with your life. Sometimes this realization might not even hit you until it's too late-- when you're on your death bed, thinking of your life, and of all the regrets you have. Isn't that just sad?
After reading this book, I just don't want to be like those people that work day and night, trying to gain materialistic things in this world. I don't want to live my life just working for my next paycheck. In the book, Morrie says "Money is not a substitite for tenderness, and power is not a substitute for tenderness," and that "You can't substitute material things for love or for gentleness or for tenderness, or for a sense of comradship" (Albom, 125). He says that " "The most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love, and to let it come in." When asled what gives him satisfaction, he says "Offering others what you have to give" (Albom, 126). Isn't this just a simple answer to how we should live our lives? So simple, but people think that there is a much more complicated answer. Most people don't TRULY think this way until they think it's too late. But you want to know something else Morrie said? He said it's never too late for anything.
So yeah. This book really touched my heart (I know that sounded soo corny, but it's true!), and it really reminded me of the book "5 People You Meet In Heaven" (but the same author). In both books, it shows how the meaning/purpose of a life is found through death. I don't know if that made sense, but in "Tuesdays With Morrie," you can see how his persepective on life, while dying, is different from many other people's, and in "5 People You Meet In Heaven," you see how the life of this one guy affected so many other people, but only after he dies.
Oh and I have one more thing to say...Well not really what I have to say, but something that Morrie said. He said that "Dying is one thing to be sad about, [but] living unhappily is another thing." And I liked this quote alot, because it's like saying, as long as you lived life to it's fullest, you should be able to live a happy life, and although death will be 'sad,' it won't be unbearable. But if you keep striving for things that don't really matter in the long run, your life will be miserable, and death will be even worse. I'm not sure if that's what Morrie said when he said that, but that's what it meant to me.
So yeahh...that's all I have to say for now.
This book was amazing. It was such a sweet&sad story about this guy named Morrie who's dying, and kind of "passes on" his knowledge of life to Mitch. In a way, Morrie has all the answers that Mitch wants, even though Morrie doesn't have a "concrete" answer. I don't know if that made sense, but what made this book so good, was that fact that it was real. I had to remind myself throughout the book, that Morrie was actually a real person, and that his sufferings were real too.
The vast amount of knowledge and life lessons he shares is just...well, so inspirational. I don't know any other way to describe it because it's so powerful, and the thing is it's ALL REAL. It's not fiction. Someone with the name Morris Schwartz actually went through all of this. This person is REAL. I just couldn't grasp that fact. I don't know why. Maybe it's because all of the words that came out of Morrie's mouth were so simple and true about the way we should live our lives, but people in today's society don't live their lives the "right way." Today people's lives are centered around money, improving their status, getting that bigger house, and that promotion that comes with a bigger paycheck. But Morrie says simply that "So many people walk around with a meaningless life. They seem half asleep, even when they are busy doing things they think are important. This is because they're chasing the wrong things. The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning" (Albom, 43). I think everyone kind of knows this already, but it's not until you actually sit down and think to yourself, 'what do I really want?' 'what's my purpose in this world?' or 'Is this all I really want?' until it REALLY hits you, with what you REALLY want to do with your life. Sometimes this realization might not even hit you until it's too late-- when you're on your death bed, thinking of your life, and of all the regrets you have. Isn't that just sad?
After reading this book, I just don't want to be like those people that work day and night, trying to gain materialistic things in this world. I don't want to live my life just working for my next paycheck. In the book, Morrie says "Money is not a substitite for tenderness, and power is not a substitute for tenderness," and that "You can't substitute material things for love or for gentleness or for tenderness, or for a sense of comradship" (Albom, 125). He says that " "The most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love, and to let it come in." When asled what gives him satisfaction, he says "Offering others what you have to give" (Albom, 126). Isn't this just a simple answer to how we should live our lives? So simple, but people think that there is a much more complicated answer. Most people don't TRULY think this way until they think it's too late. But you want to know something else Morrie said? He said it's never too late for anything.
So yeah. This book really touched my heart (I know that sounded soo corny, but it's true!), and it really reminded me of the book "5 People You Meet In Heaven" (but the same author). In both books, it shows how the meaning/purpose of a life is found through death. I don't know if that made sense, but in "Tuesdays With Morrie," you can see how his persepective on life, while dying, is different from many other people's, and in "5 People You Meet In Heaven," you see how the life of this one guy affected so many other people, but only after he dies.
Oh and I have one more thing to say...Well not really what I have to say, but something that Morrie said. He said that "Dying is one thing to be sad about, [but] living unhappily is another thing." And I liked this quote alot, because it's like saying, as long as you lived life to it's fullest, you should be able to live a happy life, and although death will be 'sad,' it won't be unbearable. But if you keep striving for things that don't really matter in the long run, your life will be miserable, and death will be even worse. I'm not sure if that's what Morrie said when he said that, but that's what it meant to me.
So yeahh...that's all I have to say for now.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Picking a Book (#6)
This week I'm going to read "Tuesdays With Morrie" by Mitch Albom. The genre of this book is nonfiction. It was published in 1997. I wanted to read this book because I read a different book by the same author, "5 People You Meet In Heaven." That book was great, and always kept me reading to figure out what's going to happen next. If "Tuesdays With Morrie" is just as good, then I think that picking this book would be an excellent choice =D
Okay. I asked some people what this story was about without revealing too much, and they said that this book is about the relationship between Morrie Schwartz and Mitch Albom. Morrie Schwartz is dying from ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis AKA Lou Gehrig's Disease), which is the same illness/disease that our school is fundraising for. In the book, Mitch Albom is supposed to be learning life lessons for uhhh....life? So yeahh...
About the Author
Mitch Albom was born on May 23, 1958. He was born in Trenton, New Jersey. He is a novelist (obviously!) and has been a newspaper sports columist, a radio host, and a TV commentator. His first book was called "Bo: Life, Laughs, and the Lessons of a College Football Legend," and it became a New York Times Bestseller. His second book was "Tuesdays With Morrie," which also became a NYT Bestseller. Afterwards, he wrote two more books, "5 People You Meet In Heaven" in 2003, and "For One More Day" in 2006. Both of these books managed to land a spot on the NYT's Bestseller list.
One really interesting fact about Mitch Albom is that he's part of a rock band called, THE ROCK-BOTTOM REMAINDERS, which is a band composed of published writers! Some of the author's names surprised me though. Some of the band members are Amy Tan, Stephen King, James McBride, and Matt Groening!
The Book
This book has 224 pages. It should take me 2 weeks to finish, if I read 100 pages a week, but I think I could finish it by Friday.
Okay. I asked some people what this story was about without revealing too much, and they said that this book is about the relationship between Morrie Schwartz and Mitch Albom. Morrie Schwartz is dying from ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis AKA Lou Gehrig's Disease), which is the same illness/disease that our school is fundraising for. In the book, Mitch Albom is supposed to be learning life lessons for uhhh....life? So yeahh...
About the Author
Mitch Albom was born on May 23, 1958. He was born in Trenton, New Jersey. He is a novelist (obviously!) and has been a newspaper sports columist, a radio host, and a TV commentator. His first book was called "Bo: Life, Laughs, and the Lessons of a College Football Legend," and it became a New York Times Bestseller. His second book was "Tuesdays With Morrie," which also became a NYT Bestseller. Afterwards, he wrote two more books, "5 People You Meet In Heaven" in 2003, and "For One More Day" in 2006. Both of these books managed to land a spot on the NYT's Bestseller list.
One really interesting fact about Mitch Albom is that he's part of a rock band called, THE ROCK-BOTTOM REMAINDERS, which is a band composed of published writers! Some of the author's names surprised me though. Some of the band members are Amy Tan, Stephen King, James McBride, and Matt Groening!
The Book
This book has 224 pages. It should take me 2 weeks to finish, if I read 100 pages a week, but I think I could finish it by Friday.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
"Candy" by Kevin Brooks - Songs That Relate
Okay. I forgot to mention in my last post, that while I was reading this book 2 songs kept popping into my head: "She Will Be Loved" by Maroon 5, and "This Love" by Maroon 5. I'm pretty sure that everyone has heard these songs before, but I'll just post the videos here, just in case.
(Oh and btw, the videos are a bit slow, but I tried to get the clearest versions, I could find, because Youtube's version was kind of blurry, but whatever a video is a video.)
Maroon 5 - She Will Be Loved
Uploaded by Maroon-5
Here are the lyrics:
Beauty queen of only eighteen
She had some trouble with herself
He was always there to help her
She always belonged to someone else
I drove for miles and miles
And wound up at your door
I've had you so many times but somehow
I want more
I don't mind spending everyday
Out on your corner in the pouring rain
Look for the girl with the broken smile
Ask her if she wants to stay awhile
And she will be loved
She will be loved
Tap on my window knock on my door
I want to make you feel beautiful
I know I tend to get insecure
It doesn't matter anymore
It's not always rainbows and butterflies
It's compromise that moves us along
My heart is full and my door's always open
You can come anytime you want
I don't mind spending everyday
Out on your corner in the pouring rain
Look for the girl with the broken smile
Ask her if she wants to stay awhile
And she will be loved
She will be loved
I know where you hide
Alone in your car
Know all of the things that make you who you are
I know that goodbye means nothing at all
Comes back and begs me to catch her every time she falls
Well..yeah. In the first stanza, it says "Beauty queen of only eighteen, She had some trouble with herself, He was always there to help her, She always belonged to someone else." Everything in this stanza directly relates to the book! (except for the fact that I'm prety sure she was 16/17 years old, not 18) But yeah...Candy is a heroin addict, so that's her "trouble," and whenever she needs help getting the heroin, Iggy is always "there to help her," because he was her pimp, so she belonged to him. In the next stanza, it talks about someone who "wound up" at her doorstep, but wanted more. This is exactly what Joe did, he walked around aimlessly trying to find out where she lived, and when he finally found it, he wanted more of Candy. In the 3rd stanza, it says he'll "look for the girl with the broken smile," and guess what? They talk about smiles constantly in this book! Iggy is always saying "You want a smile?" in a threatening way to Joe, and Joe always notices the different smiles that Candy has, especially her fake ones, or the "broken" ones, but even with this, he still loves her, hence "she will be loved." And umm...later in the song when it says "It's not always rainbows and butterflies," that's the way it is with Candy. When she decides to quit heroin, it was easier said than done, and things weren't always "picture perfect." In the last few lines, it talks about how, he'll be there to "catch her when she falls," and it's true. When Candy is withdrawing, he doesn't abandon her. Instead, he's right behind her, and when she goes crazy, he's always there to "catch her when she falls" This song REALLY matched up with the book.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is the second song:
Okay. Well first off, I'd like to say that the music video for "This Love" is the censored version, that has the flowers blowing everywhere when the people are....uh, doing stuff. The real music video, without the flowers, doesn't show much anyways, but I'm just posting this version just in case. But yeah. I'm not gonna bother posting all the lyrics like before, because this blog post is getting too long already, but the song as a whole reminds me of Joe and Candy's relationship in the book. The love Joe has for Candy is putting "a toll on him," but through it all, he still puts up with it, and loves Candy. One part in the song says "I'll fix these broken things, Repair your broken wings, And make sure everything's alright," which is kind of what Joe is trying to do when he tries to get her to withdraw. The first stanza explains a lot of Joe's/Candy's relationship at the end, because no matter what Candy will always be in Joe's heart. awww. how sweet! XD
So yeahh. that's my post for today!
(Oh and btw, the videos are a bit slow, but I tried to get the clearest versions, I could find, because Youtube's version was kind of blurry, but whatever a video is a video.)
Maroon 5 - She Will Be Loved
Uploaded by Maroon-5
Here are the lyrics:
Beauty queen of only eighteen
She had some trouble with herself
He was always there to help her
She always belonged to someone else
I drove for miles and miles
And wound up at your door
I've had you so many times but somehow
I want more
I don't mind spending everyday
Out on your corner in the pouring rain
Look for the girl with the broken smile
Ask her if she wants to stay awhile
And she will be loved
She will be loved
Tap on my window knock on my door
I want to make you feel beautiful
I know I tend to get insecure
It doesn't matter anymore
It's not always rainbows and butterflies
It's compromise that moves us along
My heart is full and my door's always open
You can come anytime you want
I don't mind spending everyday
Out on your corner in the pouring rain
Look for the girl with the broken smile
Ask her if she wants to stay awhile
And she will be loved
She will be loved
I know where you hide
Alone in your car
Know all of the things that make you who you are
I know that goodbye means nothing at all
Comes back and begs me to catch her every time she falls
Well..yeah. In the first stanza, it says "Beauty queen of only eighteen, She had some trouble with herself, He was always there to help her, She always belonged to someone else." Everything in this stanza directly relates to the book! (except for the fact that I'm prety sure she was 16/17 years old, not 18) But yeah...Candy is a heroin addict, so that's her "trouble," and whenever she needs help getting the heroin, Iggy is always "there to help her," because he was her pimp, so she belonged to him. In the next stanza, it talks about someone who "wound up" at her doorstep, but wanted more. This is exactly what Joe did, he walked around aimlessly trying to find out where she lived, and when he finally found it, he wanted more of Candy. In the 3rd stanza, it says he'll "look for the girl with the broken smile," and guess what? They talk about smiles constantly in this book! Iggy is always saying "You want a smile?" in a threatening way to Joe, and Joe always notices the different smiles that Candy has, especially her fake ones, or the "broken" ones, but even with this, he still loves her, hence "she will be loved." And umm...later in the song when it says "It's not always rainbows and butterflies," that's the way it is with Candy. When she decides to quit heroin, it was easier said than done, and things weren't always "picture perfect." In the last few lines, it talks about how, he'll be there to "catch her when she falls," and it's true. When Candy is withdrawing, he doesn't abandon her. Instead, he's right behind her, and when she goes crazy, he's always there to "catch her when she falls" This song REALLY matched up with the book.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is the second song:
Okay. Well first off, I'd like to say that the music video for "This Love" is the censored version, that has the flowers blowing everywhere when the people are....uh, doing stuff. The real music video, without the flowers, doesn't show much anyways, but I'm just posting this version just in case. But yeah. I'm not gonna bother posting all the lyrics like before, because this blog post is getting too long already, but the song as a whole reminds me of Joe and Candy's relationship in the book. The love Joe has for Candy is putting "a toll on him," but through it all, he still puts up with it, and loves Candy. One part in the song says "I'll fix these broken things, Repair your broken wings, And make sure everything's alright," which is kind of what Joe is trying to do when he tries to get her to withdraw. The first stanza explains a lot of Joe's/Candy's relationship at the end, because no matter what Candy will always be in Joe's heart. awww. how sweet! XD
So yeahh. that's my post for today!
"Candy" by Kevin Brooks
YAYY. I finished the book!! This book was great. It kept me on my toes the whole time. I just kept reading just to know what happened next. I mean, there are some parts where you can tell what’s going to happen, but even then, you want to know how it all turns out. I don’t know how to describe it, but I like the book. Now umm….I guess I should start to explain the book. I’ll try not to put any spoilers in or anything.
Basically, there are about 6 characters in the book: Joe Back, Candy (Candice), Iggy (Ignatius), Gina Beck, Mike, and Joes’s dad. Joe Beck is a regular 16-year old kid from London, who loves music, and is even in a band called “The Katies.” When going to see his doctor one day, he met this girl named Candy, who grabbed his attention as soon as he saw her. She was beautiful, and he became infatuated with her after a few moments in her presence, but she soon left him by himself at the train station. About a couple minutes., he saw her at McDonald’s so they ate together. While they eat, this big guy comes over, and starts yelling at Candy about money. He scares Joe away, and Joe is scared for Candy. When emptying out his pockets, he finds a paper that Candy slipped into his pocket with her cell phone number on it. He calls her back later, and they spend the day at the London Zoo. He kind of figures out that she is a prostitute, and that bug guy (Iggy) was her pimp. He also becomes aware with the fact that she is addicted to heroin. Then some stuff happens (I’m not saying what, because that would ruin the book), but this is where the real tension comes in, and Candy tries to stop using heroin. There are some funny parts in the book, where she goes crazy just to get some heroin (because she's going through withdrawal symptoms, so it's not really her fault) like when she knees Joe in the groins, just so she can go back to Iggy, even though he'd probably beat her to dealth, just to get some heroin.
In my opinion, Candy is not the most “well-rounded character,” because she doesn’t really change throughout the book, but Joe does. Joe is changed by his encounters with Candy. The other couple in the book, Mike and Gina, seems much more developed than Joe’s and Candy's, but I guess the author did that on purpose because Mike and Gina are getting married, and have known each other far longer than Joe and Candy have known each other.
But yeahh, the book was great, and so was the ending (to a certain extent). There is only is when I finished reading the book, I was literally begging for more, because the ending was just...I don’t know, maybe a bit abrupt. I wish Kevin Brooks elaborates a bit more as to what happened to the main characters, because I am really interested to know.
Basically, there are about 6 characters in the book: Joe Back, Candy (Candice), Iggy (Ignatius), Gina Beck, Mike, and Joes’s dad. Joe Beck is a regular 16-year old kid from London, who loves music, and is even in a band called “The Katies.” When going to see his doctor one day, he met this girl named Candy, who grabbed his attention as soon as he saw her. She was beautiful, and he became infatuated with her after a few moments in her presence, but she soon left him by himself at the train station. About a couple minutes., he saw her at McDonald’s so they ate together. While they eat, this big guy comes over, and starts yelling at Candy about money. He scares Joe away, and Joe is scared for Candy. When emptying out his pockets, he finds a paper that Candy slipped into his pocket with her cell phone number on it. He calls her back later, and they spend the day at the London Zoo. He kind of figures out that she is a prostitute, and that bug guy (Iggy) was her pimp. He also becomes aware with the fact that she is addicted to heroin. Then some stuff happens (I’m not saying what, because that would ruin the book), but this is where the real tension comes in, and Candy tries to stop using heroin. There are some funny parts in the book, where she goes crazy just to get some heroin (because she's going through withdrawal symptoms, so it's not really her fault) like when she knees Joe in the groins, just so she can go back to Iggy, even though he'd probably beat her to dealth, just to get some heroin.
In my opinion, Candy is not the most “well-rounded character,” because she doesn’t really change throughout the book, but Joe does. Joe is changed by his encounters with Candy. The other couple in the book, Mike and Gina, seems much more developed than Joe’s and Candy's, but I guess the author did that on purpose because Mike and Gina are getting married, and have known each other far longer than Joe and Candy have known each other.
But yeahh, the book was great, and so was the ending (to a certain extent). There is only is when I finished reading the book, I was literally begging for more, because the ending was just...I don’t know, maybe a bit abrupt. I wish Kevin Brooks elaborates a bit more as to what happened to the main characters, because I am really interested to know.
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