Life of Pi

Life of pi, Written by Yann Martel is about a boy who's name is Picene Molitor Patel (Pi Patel) who lives in India and loves exploring the different cultures and religions of the world. His father is a zoo keeper. When Pi and his father decide that there is a better political and social life somewhere else, they set off on a boat to Toronto, Canada, to set up a new zoo there. When the boat they are on sinks, pi goes on a wild adventure on a rescue boat in the middle of the ocean with a hyena, zebra and a Bengal tiger he calls Richard Parker. It all comes down to whether he can survive without getting eaten. This book is for people who like surprises and description. It is a very thought provoking and mystical. Not magical, but very strange. This book is also very adventurous, even though he is on a boat for the majority of the book.


I absolutely loved this book. It's beginning might bore people, but the rest is fabulous. It's main character, Pi, was a "not your average character" character. After I read this book, I closed it, stopped in silence for a minute, and said "WOW." I was recommended this book by my mother. She too, said wow. I'm sure, even if you don't like very descriptive books, a part of you will just say, "WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!"

-Grace M-H

Crank

Crank is by Ellen Hopkins. It is about a girl named Kristina. She hasn't spoken or seen her dad in several years and wants to reconnect with him again. She goes to visit him in Chicago. When she arrives at his apartment she didn't expect what she sees. Her dad is a drug and alcoholic who works at a bowling alley. After she tries to settle in to the disgusting bed which who can see her dad didn't put in work in fixing up for her she meets a guy named Adam who like to be called Buddy. He asks her what her name is and she says Bree. Adam "Buddy" snorts crank, smokes and drinks as well changes her. When she goes back home she is a totally different person and doesn't know what to do...

I really liked this book even though it had dark and somewhat scary topics for some people. It is very intense and has secrets.

Angels & Demons

Angels & Demons, by Dan Brown
A Harvard symbolist named Robert Langdon (the same protagonist as Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol and The Da Vinci Code) attempts to solve a murder mystery and foil an anti-Vatican bomb plot. He meets a beautiful physicist named Vittoria Vetra, whose father, Leonardo Vetra, is the victim of the homicide. Together they follow the not-always-figurative trail to the Vatican, where cardinals from all over the world have gathered to elect the new Pope. Langdon meets the a vivid host of characters, and with Vetra, they try to 1) track down the killer of Leonardo Vetra; 2)disable the bomb before time runs out; 3)decipher ancient booklets; and 4) find the mysterious leader of the Illuminati. All in 24 HOURS.

I thought that this book was written on a formula, like some other Dan Brown books I could name. I had the "formula", or shared plot, told to me before I had read very many of Brown's books. Knowing the formula, while informative, definitely ruined the reading experience for me. Through all 480 pages, I kept thinking, "Wow, this matches exactly. I now know what is going to happen next." Boring....

And despite having two flawless main characters, I thought Angels and Demons was very suspenseful and written well enough. I would rate this book a 7 or 8 out of 10.

A Book NEEDed in The Library

The compelling book Need by Carrie Jones is about a girl who is sent to her grandmother’s house, when her stepfather dies. The girl, Zara White, becomes drawn into a world, in a small town Maine, which has mystical creatures like weres and pixies. The pixie king is looking for a mate so he goes for Zara as bate. The pixie king need a mate so when is he is out he leaves a small gold dust around wherever he is. If the pixie king doesn’t have a mate by a certain time he has to kill boys in order to stay alive. And if the pixies don’t have a king than they can take advantage of the opportunity and try to find their own mate. Doing this would then make them able to become the pixie king.

This book also includes about 55 phobias that you have probably never heard of! For example cacophobia which is the fear of ugliness!

This is one of my favorite books because it took me into the story. The sequel to the book will be arriving in stores in January 5, 2010!

Attention Twilight fans!

Wondrous Strange by Lesley Livingston
Main characters:
Kelley – 17 year old living on her own in NYC, understudy to the role of Titania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, actually the long lost daughter of Auberon the Winter King
Sonny – looks like a 19 year old, handsome dark-haired, silver-eyed, but was stolen by the fairies as a baby and is really centuries old. His job is to guard the Samhain Gate between the fairy and mortal worlds. Conveniently this gate is located in Central Park, near where Kelley goes to practice her lines.

Wondrous Strange is one of those dark “tales of faerie” that seem to abound these days – think Holly Black & Melissa Marr in particular. Sonny is set to guard the Samhain Gate during the 9 days before Halloween. There is intrigue, adventure, romance, and lots of NYC settings.
On a more positive note, Kelley is not as annoying of a heroine as Bella (of Twlight fame), and their relationship while suitably angst-ridden is not as ineqitable as Edward & Bella’s.

New Additions to the Library

Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud
Scott McCloud wrote about comics before comics were cool. In this groundbreaking comic book, McCloud dissects the intricacies and detail of how comics create story and convey emotion. A lot to expect, for sure; but this book makes the case. Not only does McCloud draw the connection between comics and cave art, but he argues for their rightful standing in art, literature and communication. In doing so, he can prove many of his own points, for this thoughtful, well-crafted comic book is an example of the heights to which comics can reach. If you have ever read a comic or ever plan to (that includes the newspaper cartoons, comic books, graphic novels, even airline safety cards!), you owe it to yourself to give Scott McCloud a look.

Graceling by Kristin Cashore

Katsa is graced, although not in a good way. Her special skill is killing people. She's not particularly happy about this, but what can she really do about it? Her uncle uses her services for his own political gains, while she tries to use her unusual abilities to protect those in opposition to her uncle's tyrannical rule. On one of her assignments, she encounters Prince Po who seems to be graced with a fighting ability which equals, or at least challenges her own skills. She knocks him out, hoping that she has seen the last of him (and his lovely eyes), but that is not the case. This book could have been so much less than what it seems in the beginning, although it's a fairly good start, but what it turns into is one of the best books I've read in 2008. It's not so much the plot, or the great characters, or even the fully realized fantasy realm that's created. It's that something other that makes one put a book down, sigh, and say " Wow, that was really really good!"