Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Gregory writes:

In the latter half of the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, Frankenstein makes a dark promise to his creation. To start work on this project Frankenstein travels to a secluded part of Scotland and begins his work, but his conscious won’t let him finish it. He destroys the progress he had thus far made, and in the act sealed the fate for him and his friends and family. After a series of catastrophes Frankenstein begins to hunt his monster. The chase leads him far North into the Northern Ice cap. It is here him, and his monster, come to the end of their unfortunate tales. The novel is much more geared toward the intellectuals than the movies are, it is a great book for people willing to do some thinking about nature, scientific ethics, and morals.

Dracula - Opinion

Sam
Do you like stories of darkness and suspense? Stories with monsters that keep you awake a night, as you nervously watch for what may lurk in the shadows. If this sounds like your type of story, then perhaps you might like Dracula by Bram Stoker. I personally thought that Dracula was a pretty good novel overall, and wasn’t as predictable as I thought it would be. There were a lot more twists and turns in the plot then I originally expected, which helped the story flow and remain interesting to read. However I was pretty disappointed at the not very scary horror scenes in the novel. Sadly there weren’t really any edge of your seat scares, or heat stopping moments in the novel. Also if you are familiar with the story of Dracula or have seen any of the movie versions, it becomes very predictable fast and looses all of its scary qualities. I would recommend the book to any one over the age of 10 (Boy or Girl) who likes mild to medium horror stories. In terms of a rating I would give Dracula (4) out of (5). Overall, I thought it was a good book that was somewhat scary, and not overly predictable.

Emma by Jane Austen

Deborah writes:
             
In Jane Austen’s Emma, Emma believes she has a gift for matchmaking. Whenever there is a couple, or a potential couple she take the opportunity to meddle. Though she has the best intentions, she always seems to mess things up a little. It started with her best friend, Ms. Taylor, who Emma introduced to her new husband, Mr. Weston. Emma, thinking she can never be wrong starts working on setting up everyone around her, including her easily persuaded friend, Harriet. Harriet is planning on getting engaged to Mr. Martin, but Emma convinces her to refuse and aim higher. The man Emma had planned for her ended up being nothing but a social climber who thought he was above Harriet, so she was alone and “heart broken.”
Meanwhile, Emma is also dealing with Jane Fairfax and Mr. Weston’s son, Mr. Churchill. Jane is talented, beautiful and well liked, and Emma’s envy of her causes tension. Even more so when Emma and Mr. Churchill start being seen as an item because he is secretly engaged to Jane. This news doesn’t faze Emma; she was more interested in making everyone around her happy than Mr. Churchill himself.
As the story progressed proving that Emma wasn’t as flawless as she thought she was. Her ignorance led to jealousy, heart break, and pain for her and the friends she tried to help. However, with the help of Mr. Knightly, Emma fixes the problems she has created while she is learning that she isn’t love-proof as she once thought. In the end, everything works out for the best.
Personally, I would give this book 2.5 stars. Austen’s diction makes the story sometimes hard to follow and I found Emma’s cocky personality to be annoying. I thought the overall plot was sappy and unrealistic, but for those hopeless-romantic types, it’s the perfect story. I would recommend it to people who tend to like early English style writing and lovey-dovey stories, but to anyone else I don’t think this would be the best choice of books.

Dracula written by Bram Stoker

Matt writes:
I have finally finished Dracula written by Bram Stoker.  It was a very good book and I enjoyed reading it.  Towards the end of the book weirder things start happening.  Lucy dies and Van Helsing and Seward are becoming suspicious.  They return to Lucy’s grave to find her not there. Even though the day before they checked and she looked just like her corpse right before they buried her.  Strange things have been happening around town and they start believing that Lucy has something to do with these things.  Van helsing insists that she must be decapitated by putting garlic in her mouth and sticking a stake through her heart.  After many grueling events renfeild finally admits to the men that he has encountered several visits from Dracula, promising him all of the creatures.  The end was the best part of the book in my thoughts.  I’m not going to give it away but whoever reads the book I would say would love the ending.  I would definitely recommend this book to anyone.  Men and women would like this book. 

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

Joe writes:
 
The science-fiction novel Brave New World by Aldous Huxley ends on as interesting a note as it began on.  It tells about Bernard’s adventures back in England with the Savage, along with Heimholtz Watson, and it tells of the final, definitive confrontation between the Savage, Heimholtz Watson, and the World Controller, in which they talk about the ideals that the society of Brave New World is based around and debate their validity.  The World Controller, needless to say, is on the side of total control of society by the government while the savage makes the argument that happiness is not complete without the possibility of unhappiness and that the life that people in the society of the novel live is an empty life.  In the end, the savage goes off from society, and after parrying every argument of the World Controller for “Stability” (as it is called) with brilliant rhetoric, he descends back into savagery.  The book ends with somewhat of a question:  is the Stability of the society in Brave New World better than the alternative that the savage pursues?  It could be open for debate – the life of the savage pales next to the (admittedly only somewhat) enlightened life of today.  Yet the life of the average populace in Brave New World is a life that is totally controlled by the government.  Judge for yourself, after you read the book.
              Brave New World is in general a good book.  It is relatively easy to read, and although some parts of it may conjure revulsion in all but the most messed up people, it flows along fairly easily.  The plot is secondary to the ideas that Aldous Huxley is trying to convey – the characters are somewhat disjointed – but the main thesis of the novel, namely is Stability worth it, comes through loud and clear.  Huxley lays forth thrilling arguments for and against it through the mouth of the few characters that that he attempts to develop.  He spends considerable ink describing the setting, and the cast, while only consisting of a handful of people, really has few enough round characters that they could be counted on one hand.  The savage, a character that is as well developed as any of the characters in the book, is such a contradiction that it could not be true.  Human beings are all contradictions, but the savage that Huxley describes in the end of the book could not lay forth the thrilling arguments that the savage gives to the world controller.  In the end, I would recommend Brave New World but only for those who are not scared of being freaked out by some of the messed up descriptions of the society in the novel.  In the end it was in fact not a bad book.

The Picture of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde

Dylan writes:
 
I have finished my independent required reading book, The Picture of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde. In the end of the novel, many strange things happen in this world that Oscar has made. The day after Dorian killed Basil, he brought in a former friend and now enemy, to clean up the mess. After refusing many times, Dorian blackmailed him to clean up the mess. Becoming very dark and putrid, Dorian decides to go back to an opium pit to forget the ordeal. While there, he was confronted by his ex-fiancé’s brother, a sailor who was trying to hunt him down. He managed to get out of it by showing his face and how young it looked; apparently it was 15 years ago when it happened.
 
I recommend this book to anyone who likes fantasy, except those of the faint of heart. Although dark and dismal, it is a good book. Out of a 10 I give it a 7.5. The beginning is a bit dull and there is a really random part in the middle about different items of beauty collected by Dorian, but other than that, I feel that Oscar did a very good job in the creation of this piece of literature.

Heart of Darkness

Aaron writes:
 
            What makes this book a classic? To me, it seemed a jumble of words where every third sentence or so may be of any significant value. It was clear that the writer was very eloquent but it seemed to be going to waste, or so I thought.  However, upon finishing the novel, I realized something quite extraordinary.  Not once did Conrad set up a scene with sunshine or happiness, with hope or kindness.  Each was a carefully laid out quilt of defeat after defeat, darkness after darkness. 
            The first half of the book proved to be a difficult challenge, both to understand and to grasp why it was so important.  The ending proved to hold many more surprises and concrete ideas or situations.  Stories often follow a path of an introduction, a problem and a solution corresponding to the beginning middle and end.  In The Heart of Darkness this surely did not happen.  Without giving too much away, never a distinct problem or solution and the setting was being shaped throughout the entire work.  In some ways it is a history lesson, in others an allegory and in the end, simply a story.  Marlow continues heading up the river to find Mr. Kurtz and on his way, has a slightly awkward encounter with a band of savages.  The ending of the novel is neither satisfying, nor predictable.
            I would not recommend this book to children under about 15 years of age, as it is a very difficult book with disturbing scenes throughout.  Even for adults it may be a challenging read.  As far as the content of the book, the reader must be willing to be engaged in the book.  If you expect an easy beach read you are up for a rude awakening.  On the other hand, Heart of Darkness certainly holds many lessons which the reader may or may not be able to relate to.  It’s an interesting novel if you’re looking to find out just how lucky you are, or how terrible other parts of the world can be.  My rating of the book is a six out of ten.  This number would most likely increase if I read the novel again as I would probably understand it more, thus getting more out of it. 

Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton

Varteni writes:                                         

            I have just finished my novel Ethan Frome. The ending of my novel seemed to come very fast. Ethan Frome's wife, Zeena got back from her trip to Bettsbridge. Zeena explained to Mattie and Ethan that her doctor recommended her to hire a helper to do all the housework for her, because she needed a long time to rest. Therefore, Zeena decided it was time to finally send Mattie back to Stamford, which she had already recently been planning. Zeena thought Mattie was no help at all while staying with her and Ethan, just a waste of more money. She wanted to hire a new girl in Mattie's place, and she told Mattie to pack her bags immediately to make room for the new girl. Ethan was very devastated, and decides to go against Zeena's order and to take Mattie to the train station himself. This trip was going to be their last hours together. The trip started off with no exchange of words, but they took a short break to stop by the river. There they both expressed their feelings for each other. They completely ignored Zeena's commands to drop off Mattie and to pick up the new girl, when she got off her train. Instead, Ethan and Mattie spent the whole day together. Their final day was full of adventures that were very daring. Ethan and Mattie loved each other more than anything else in the world. However, Zeena had a very different response to their romance. You must read the novel though, to find out yourself how they spend their last day and what happens when they go home to Zeena again that night.

             I really enjoyed reading this novel, and thought it very interesting. The structure and the way the novel was written seemed to catch the reader's interest more. Each chapter was not very long in length just a mere 25 pages. However, the short chapters are well-developed. In my opinion the short chapters Edith Wharton writes are better than lengthy chapters or very short chapters. The lengthy chapters tend to drag the story on more than necessary and the short chapters do not provide enough details or description. Another part of the structure is how the chapters are made up. Each chapter starts off with a brief summary of the previous chapter, then it starts getting into the plot again, and it always ends in a good hook. The hooks helped make the novel more interesting and at the end of each chapter you would never want to stop reading. Another reason why I would recommend this novel is because of Edith Wharton's diction and advanced vocabulary. She relies on figurative language most often and the sensory details. Edith Wharton uses many descriptive adjectives to rely on the senses, when writing about the plot, the setting, the characters and their descriptions. Overall, the structure was well-developed and this novel kept me interested.

            In my opinion I believe this novel is intended for girls, not so much boys. This novel is a love story, explaining the trouble, the jealousy, the drama, and the happiness that love brings to everyone. I recommend this novel to any girls around my age or even older. Even though any one that chooses to may read the novel, the vocabulary is very complex, and might be too difficult for younger people.

            If I had to rate this novel from a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the best and 1 the worst, then I would rate it an 8. The novel kept me interested the whole time, however sometimes the complexity of the language was too difficult for me. The words confused me most of the time, so I often had to reread those part over numerous times, or look in a dictionary to find the definitions. Also, I did not like the end all that much. The novel ends in a flashback relating to the beginning of the novel, and some of the plot did not seem to relate to the novel at all. The novel was also confusing, because it goes back and forth between many flashbacks all the lives of each character.

 

Pride & Prejudice

Alice writes:
The events in the first half Pride & Prejudice set of a swirl of confusion and even deception in the second. With the arrival of the militia, including a charming, handsome young lieutenant Mr. Wickam, who is sociable and witty enough to win Lizzy's admiration... But has some how lost Mr. Darcy's approval. Elizabeth, convinced that Wickam is the better man, takes his view over Darcy's, harshly lowering her view of him[Darcy]. Meanwhile, Mr. Bingley has mysteriously left Netherfield, an action Elizabeth attributes to his sisters' plotting to separate him and Jane. And as if that weren't enough, the dreaded cousin Mr. Collins has arrived, with his impertinent manners and an annoying tendency to rant. Still, he is the only male relation they have, and will therefore inherit their small estate at Longbourne when Mr. Bennet dies. This is a source of great distress to Mrs. Bennet, who knows very well that the only chance her five daughters have of good lives is good marriages. Between complications with Mr. Bingley, a new reason to detest Mr. Darcy, and the tedious Mr. Collins (who intends to propose to a most unwilling recipient), the Bennets are thrust into complications that very few of them know about. Elizabeth's view of Mr. Wickam is thrown on it's head when she learns a few things that the lieutenant neglected to tell her. Jane finally comes to an understanding about a few things, becoming less trusting and childish. And even Mr. Darcy, proud, important Mr. Darcy learns a few things. Of course, some characters do not change at all, like Mrs. Bennet and Lydia, and a certain army lieutenant gets what he justly deserves, but the story has just enough drama in it to be interesting, and all the romance it needs to charm. One of Jane Austen's more famous novels, Pride & Prejudice is the story of a family of diverse characters and those who surround them.

Pride and Pejudice by Jane Austen

Krystina writes:
The novel, Pride and Pejudice by Jane Austen, was overall very good. I would rate it an 8 because it was a classic love story and by far a very outstanding novel. Jane, the eldest and most beautiful Bennet daughter, has her heart broken by Mr. Bingley. At the end of story, she finds love and becomes very happy. One of the younger sisters, Lydia, runs off and marries the horrible Mr. Wickham. Only Elizabeth knows the truth that he is a horrible man. Mr. Darcy does fall madly in love with Elizabeth, but she refuses him believing him to be a bad man. He proves himself in a letter to be a much better man than she had previously thought. Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy eventually realize they were both full of pride and work out their differences, which end very happily for the two lovers. The story was mainly about finding true love and what you would do to keep that love. Sometimes it means proving yourself worthy, and other times it just means waiting for the right guy to come along.

The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende

Julia writes:

I currently finished the second half of my independent reading book, The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende. When I had left off at Chapter 8, I was enjoying the book and very interested in what was to come. I was left in shock when I was finished, because the ending was like nothing I had suspected.
Where I’d left off, Blanca cried at her wedding at the thought that Esteban had killed Pedro Tercero. Clara cleared up that Pedro was alive and well, and Blanca continued on through the night without shedding another tear. Soon enough, Blanca and Jean came to an agreement that they would not have sexual relations. However, Jean also began to take up bad habits such as drugs, and eventually having sex with Indian men, driving Blanca out of their house to Tres Marias. Blanca has her daughter Alba the moment she arrives, and when she is old enough, Blanca tells her that her real father, Jean, died in the desert. Alba is emotionally attached to Esteban, spending lots of time with him, and convinced that he is her father. By the time Alba is four, Clara announces to the family that she will soon die, preparing herself. On her birthday, Alba stands bedside with Clara when she dies. Esteban lays with her that night, finally feeling connected. Soon after, Tres Marias begins falling apart, not only in structure, but in family relations. Nicolas performs strange spiritual acts which anger Esteban so much that he has a heart attack. Not long after recovery, he sinks deeper into depression. His friends bring him to the brothel where he, once again, has sex with Transito. Elsewhere, Alba and Miguel fall in love when she is eighteen, unaware that they have known each other in the past. She keeps her relationship with Miguel a secret and only tells Miguel. Alba becomes involved with revolutionary politics strictly because Miguel is. The socialists win the election. This brings the country into an economic meltdown caused by the Conservatives, led by Esteban. During the military coup, Pedro Tercero asks to hide in Blanca’s home, and she agrees to tell no one. Eventually, she tells Esteban and Alba, and Pedro and Esteban make up. Blanca then escapes to Canada with Pedro. Alba, however, is selling whatever she can to make money to support Miguel. Esteban decides she has taken it too far, and helps by setting up a bank account for her. One night, the political police break in and steal Alba, subjecting her to the physical, sexual, and emotional torture by Esteban Garcia and his guards. Esteban Trueba spends nearly a month searching for her, until he decides to ask Transito for help in his desperate time of need. 
I will not say how the book ends so that I don’t ruin it, but I will say that it is very interesting. The book ends as though there will be a sequel, however, there is not. The reader must interpret what happens on their own. The House of the Spirits is suitable for teenagers and up. I would not recommend it for someone of a young age, because it contains some violence, inappropriate language, and sexual content. Overall, I found this book to be suspenseful and thrilling.

Far from the Madding Crowd

Ar writes:
After reading only half of the novel Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy I realized how remarkable his writing really is. This particular novel is about a man named Gabriel Oak that lives in a small village in a fictional place called Wessex. He is a young man that recently bought land and plenty of sheep to watch over and tend to. However, Gabriel has a unique talent that he uses many times in the novel while he watches over his livestock. He is able to tell the time of day at night by looking at the positions of the stars and the constellations.
The novel starts with the first meeting of Gabriel and the woman he will later fall in love with. He sees her at a gate arguing with the guard. After watching for a while he decides to help the woman out and pay for her to cross the gate. For a long time Gabriel thinks about this girl and becomes very interested in her. He watches her work from a distance a few times and eventually meets with her, but doesn't figure out much about her.One night, Gabriel falls asleep in his barn with a flame still lit. Luckily he is saved by the woman he has been watching before he is killed by the flames or the smoke. However, he still does not find out the name of her hero even after she saved his life. Later con he learns her name is Bathsheba Everdene and she lives with her  aunt in the village. He finally gets the courage to go and ask her aunt for her hand in marriage. Once he arrives his offer is turned down because the aunt tells Gabriel there are many other men who have asked for her hand in marriage and he is not fit for her. After Gabriel leaves Bathsheba suns after him and tells him that her aunt lied and they have not had any other men who proposed to her, but he is still not fit for her and she does not want his hand in marriage. Oak accepts the fact that he is an inexperienced farmer and is not very rich, but he tells her that he is still in love with her. Bathsheba happens to leave town after the proposal and is not seen in a while, but Gabriel thinks about her all the time.
Gabriel also has two dogs that help him in his farming; George and his young son. These two dogs have always been good to Gabriel until one night when he falls asleep one of the dogs chases the sheep over a cliff and kills most of them. After this tragic loss Gabriel finds some joy. He thinks about how unfortunate it would have been if he had married Bathsheba and almost all his sheep had died. He is glad he did not ruin them both and he needs to find another way to survive. That is what has happened so far in the novel Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy.

Pride and Prejudice

Krystina writes:
I am only half way through Jane Austen's novel Pride and Prejudice. The reader is introduced to the Bennet family where all you want is to get married to a man, preferably rich and handsome. The eldest sister, Jane, is the mist beautiful and met a rich handsome man who she has fallen in love withnamed Mr. Bingly. The second eldest, Elizabeth, is very intellectual and has expressed a slight interest in Mr. Bingly's friend, Mr. Darcy. Mr. Darcy seems very rude and disagreeable, but loves Elizabeth. The three younger girls have not found a man of interest but soon will. I think this book is very nice and a great love story. I cannot wait to finish it.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Mohammad writes:
The Book the Adventures of Huckleberry has turned into a great novel as I continue to get deeper and deeper into the book.  The beginning started off pretty slowly talking about Huck's life and what's going on with the widow who takes care of him, to his dad trying to get him back.  Eventually Huck ends up living with his dad in a cabin across the river from the town so no one can find him.  When his dad leaves he locks the door to the cabin and goes down to the town and gets drunk.  While he's gone Huck uses the saw he finds to saw his way out of an opening in the wall.  When he gets out he kicks down the door, leaves a trail of blood using a pig, and takes food, supply and a gun and ammo to make it seem like someone came in robbed the house and killed him.  After escaping he uses the canoe he found to take him down river to an abandoned island known as Jackson Island where he makes his camp.  There he runs into the slave that used to live with him when he was with the widow.  Together they make a new camp.  After a while, Huck and Jim decided that Huck should go down to the town and see what people think happened to him and Jim.  So Huck dresses up as a girl and goes down to town where he meets a women who easily out smarts him and finds out he is really a boy.   The women tells Huck that they think the slave Jim killed him and is hiding out on the island where they actually are.  She also tells him that there is a big reward for whoever finds Jim and that her husband is leaving at midnight to go look for him on Jackson Island where they both are hiding.  Immediately after hearing  this he goes back to the island, wakes up Jim and tells him they're coming to look for him.  Jim without questioning jumps up and helps pack up all their stuff and they head off down river to get away from the people coming.

Heart of Darkness

Aaron writes:
Heart of Darkness
                First off, this book is certainly no picture book or even a Reading Rainbow book.  Heart of Darkness is a challenge.  I have come to realize that the author, Joseph Conrad, is telling a story but even more so, he is giving his outlook on life.  At least, he is giving an outlook on life, maybe not his.  To explain this, he is using a story of the captain of a boat that crashed off the coast of Africa.  Everything in Africa is dark and evil.  The seaport town he is in seems to be run by a company.  The company has many slaves who must labor under excruciating conditions.  The main character, Marlow, is on a search for the man in charge: Mr. Kurtz. Presently, he is still looking for this man.  Besides the story there are several interesting things about this book.  First, it comes as a shock to me that English was not Conrad’s first language as he writes very eloquent phrases with ease, so it seems.  Next, the author creates such a dark setting without the reader even realizing.  Not once does he say Marlow was sad, or mad, or scared, or nervous.  I just took it in absentmindedly.  I am looking forward to discovering what happens on this journey so I can reflect on the book as a whole. 

                                    Until next time,

                                                            Aaron

 

The Hunchback of Notre - Dame by Victor Hugo

Anthony Writes;

I am reading the book The Hunchback of Notre- Dame by Victor Hugo.  This book is definitely a classic.  The main character in The Hunchback of Notre- Dame is named Quasimodo, who is the hunchback of Notre- Dame.  Quasimodo was abandoned as a child and left in Notre- Dame.  Quasimodo was adopted by Archdeacon Claude Frollo.  Quasimodo has a giant humpback, a wart over his eye, and he is also deaf.  The entire book is divided into 10 different sections.  In the first section, the character Pierre Gringoire is introduced.  During the Festival of Fools, Pierre Gringoire’s play is being performed, however the crowd finds it boring and uninteresting.  A beggar named Clopin Trouillefou climbs onto the stage and gets every ones attention.  The crowd then must elect the Pope of Fools. Each candidate sticks his head through a hole, and the ugliest face wins.  Quasimodo wins.

In section 2 of the novel, Gringoire, the failed play writer wanders around looking for a quite place to sleep.  Gringoire finds a bonfire surrounded by spectators watching the gypsy La Esmerelda.  Gringoire sees Quasimodo follow Claude Frollo.  Gringoire starts to follow La Esmerelda, and they are both attacked by Quasimodo.  When Gringoire wakes up, he is captured by a group of beggars, who are going to execute him.  La Esmerelda saves him by saying she is going to marry him.

In section 4, the novel tells the story of how Quasimodo was adopted by Claude Frollo.  Nobody else wanted him, and Claude Frollo felt bad, realizing that the same thing could have happened to his younger brother, Jehan.  Quasimodo becomes the bell ringer, which causes him to become deaf, but he still loves it.  The bells are the only things that make him happy.

Frankenstein

Anas writes:  
In the novel I am reading, Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley Dr. Viktor Frankenstein feels compelled to see his father for he is sick. He is now in a dilemma where he is caught up in his studies and also due to the fact that he is sick as well. Despite the constant researching and studying Frankenstein does, all he can think about is his poor old father and his beloved cousin. Frankenstein's friend Henry is a great contribution to Frankenstein's life to both with his studies and his life itself. Henry writes Frankenstein's letters for him and looks over Frankenstein at any given moment. A theme that is stitched in a subtle way is the importance of friendship despite who you are.
       Frankenstein is originally from Geneva, where his family is awaiting his arrival. Meanwhile, Frankenstein is working on a creature who is to be eight feet tall, but that is not the interesting part. This is interesting because this is a human creating some sort of life. Though he is not done, he also feels compelled to complete what he had started, but creating a creature with a mind to think with and a creature that has the ability to feel is such a difficult task. This is a great challenge and requires continuous hard work. Frankenstein unfortunately hits a bump in the road of completion with the illnesses he is going through, and the need to see his father before he dies makes this situation even harder for our fellow friend, Frankenstein.
      In a letter from Frankenstein's father, his father talks about someone who murdered a young child, William (part of the family). After reading the letter Frankenstein packs his suitcase and heads straight for Geneva. One could that tell he has is priorities straight, and knows what is important to the ideal human. Frankenstein is also very close with his family, in the very beginning of the novel, there are a series of letters to between Frankenstein and his beloved cousin. After reading these letters the reader can guess that the letters are between a married couple that love each other dear (I found this strange, and most people would think the same). No hatred is found in these letters which reinforces the theme of friendship. Though it is not a friendship, it still interprets the importance of helps from others. A more general term would be unity or brotherhood.
       Frankenstein also encourages people to become more knowledgeable, he himself loves to learn new subjects and information. He has even challenged himself to create a person out of whatever he can find. Another sub-theme is the importance of knowledge and I have a feeling it will eventually stand out to the reader, but at the current position in the book, I think it is crawling its way to become something that the reader will moralize from.
       I have been told about this book and I know I have not reached the climax of the novel but I am sensing in the next couple of pages something amazing is going to happen. This novel is packed with suspense, and I am literally on the edge of my seat waiting to see what happens next.

This Boy's Life by Tobias Wolff

Kevin writes:
                                                   
I am reading a memoir by Tobias Wolff titled This Boy's Life. The novel summary is very similar to my about the author post since it is about Tobias Wolff's childhood. So far in my novel, young Toby and his mother  drove to Salt Lake City in order to get rich off of the mining of Uranium. His mother is back with his abusive stepfather who continually follows Toby's mother around due to suspicion that she is having an affair.  Besides this, Toby changes his name to Jack so that he can completely detach himself from his father who did not do anything for him or his mother by getting rid of the name that he gave him. Changing his name gives Jack a sense of starting a new life that he is proud of. Jack fantasizes about a great life that he could only dream of having. He writes to a pen pall in Phoenix and lies about what his life is really like. He tells about his life that he dreams of having but not his real life. After this, Jack's stepfather Roy gives him a .22 rifle. Jack is not supposed to take it out unsupervised but only does it to clean it. After cleaning it got boring, Jack started loading it and aiming at people in the street. One day, the power overwhelmed him and he shot a squirrel. Shooting a squirrel might not be as bad as shooting a person, but Jack is an animal love. This shows that the rifle gives Jack the power and control that he doesn't have in his life and sometimes the power is overwhelming and his actions do not coincide with what he is thinking. This appears again in another chapter when Roy asks Jack what he thinks about having a baby brother. Even though Jack hates the idea. his action speak for him again and he tells Roy a new brother would be fun. I have a feeling that Jack's feeling of being in control when his rifle is in his hands will get him in serious trouble.

Great Expectations

Michelle writes:
Reading “Great Expectations” by Charles Dickens is an enjoyable experience for me so far. Although I am still in the beginning half of the novel, I have come to learn a lot about the characters and settings the author illustrates for readers like myself. The story follows the young protagonist, “Pip” (Phillip Pirrip), and his many adventures living with his older sister and her husband, Joe. Pip’s story begins when he takes an innocent walk through the churchyard to visit the tombs of his mother and father and happens to meet a terrifying stranger. The stranger appears to be a very unkempt and fearful man who threatens the poor child with death – after a rather suspenseful interrogation – if he should not bring him what he asks for (which include whatever food he could manage to find) and that he not mention anything to anyone. If the condition should be broken, Pip is to be brutally killed by the terrible man and the young boy who accompanies him – the death being comparably more brutal by said boy. This news was obviously very frightening to the young boy, forcing him to comply quickly and immediately find the things he’s told to bring. While at home, Pip is scolded for most everything he does, even if he does not deserve any scolding. Mrs. Joe likes to boast of her single-handedly raising her brother, so much so that she keeps reminding everyone at every possible opportunity. Joe, however, acts more like a friend to Pip; he believes in hearing Pip’s opinions & shows a lot of support, despite everyone else’s lack thereof. This only makes the task of stealing food from the household harder, as he doesn’t want to take a lashing from his sister or upset Joe at all. However, the fear proves too great and he returns to the churchyard with the supplies. After returning home, he finds out they are to have dinner with their Uncle Pumblechook, Mr.Wopsle, and Mr. & Mrs. Hubble. Pip, being nervous beyond belief at the thought of Mrs. Joe realizing anything is missing, is eager to answer the door when relief presents itself to the situation. At the door is the sergeant looking for the blacksmith, Joe. He is to accompany the sergeant to capture two “villains” – those being the two men Pip was referred to earlier. Upon their arrival at the marshes, they confronted the two worn men, the unfamiliar one pleading with the sergeant to believe that the other had tried to kill him. Both told different stories of what had happened, and so no one can bear true witness to any attempt of a murder, resulting in the capture of both. When they were lead to their prison, the familiar convict begins speaking of the scraps he was given by Pip (without revealing that it was him) and Joe’s nobility knows no bounds as he welcomes the convict to said food, claiming he’d not have anyone starve, despite what crimes they could commit. This is as far as I had gotten while reading the novel, and already I’d learned much of the characters’ behavioural patterns: Pip was an all-too innocent child, wise beyond his years. Mrs. Joe was a bitter woman who showed most interest in giving orders and less in anything of a happy manner. Joe was a gracious, supportive man who knew his virtues and didn’t fail to teach Pip of important qualities of life. Reaching such a climax in the story, I look forward to reading more of Pip’s adventures. This has proven to be an admirable piece of work from Charles Dickens.

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

Joe writes: 
I am reading Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.  I finished the book when I had a lot of time to read over Christmas break (23 hour drives force one to do something, which for me meant finishing the book) but I have to write something, so I will just say for the sake of this assignment that I read to about page 170 or so, right after Bernard has visited the savage village. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
            Brave New World is a strange, dystopian book set about 500 years in the future.  Babies are born from a bottle, or “decanted”, and men take home different girls pretty much every night (need I say more) and the idea of “family” is considered so weird as to cause revulsion.  There are five different social classes, with plusses and minuses for each.  There are Alphas and Betas, the upper castes (Alphas are the highest) and Deltas and Gammas, and the lowest of them all, Epsilons.  Babies are born in sets of hundreds of twins so as to provide laborers for each different social level.  For example, a set of Epsilon twins would be conditioned (as in have specific chemicals put in their bottle as they develop) to be miners.  There is no individuality.  People are part of that great sweeping mass of society.  As infants and toddlers, people are sleep-taught (had lessons repeated over and over to them when they are asleep; like hypnosis, these mantras become rules to live) so as to keep societies well-behaved.  There are no books; there is no Shakespeare, as the novel takes special care to point out.  For entertainment, people go to “feelies”, which are movies in which people experience what happens to the characters.  If people get tired of life in that society, they can take “soma holidays” – soma is an LSD-like drug that induces hallucinations – it is perfectly safe and allows people to take a rest from the regular realities of real life.  It seems to us a pale, sanitized version of real life, but the people in the book are quite happy with the current situation, except for a few people who are somewhat outcast for the society, Alpha Pluses of higher than normal intellectual ability.  These are Bernard Marx and Heimholtz Watson and they are very important to the book.
            As the novel starts out, a group of students is being taken around the “CENTRAL LONDON HATCHERYAND CONDITIONING CENTER” and get to see the process of how babies develop in the bottle.  They are directed by the director of hatcheries, and get to hear the World Controller for that sector of the world.  After that, we zoom in on two women, Fanny and Lenina Crowne, who are discussing which men they will “have” that night.  We are also introduced to Bernard Marx, an Alpha Plus who somehow came out slightly different than other Alpha Pluses – there are rumors that alcohol was put in his bottle by accident.  We are also introduced to some of the other characters at the Hatcheries.  We see that Bernard is an awkward, slightly out of place in his surroundings man who is uncomfortable with many of society’s preeminent ideas, such as a lack of individuality and promiscuity.  He has a slightly more confident friend Heimholtz Watson, who is also unsure of society but has the advantage of feeling superior to his peers, unlike Bernard who has the opposite feeling.  They commiserate about their insecurities about society and their empty feeling of meaninglessness about life in general.  Finally, Bernard Marx decides to go to the savage reservation in New Mexico.
            There are parts of the world that the post-Ford world considers not worth civilizing and are left alone and become savage reservations.  Bernard takes Lenina to visit one on a date and Bernard meets a savage whose mother had accidentally given birth to him while she visited the reservation.  The savage tells Bernard his life story:  a mishmash of experiences from growing up with a mother who was considered somewhat of a prostitute and he was bullied for it; how his mother, Linda, from the civilized world, would drink alcohol and get drunk to try to mimic the effects of soma; a mismatch of occult paganism – traditional Native American religion – with Christianity; of living a life much like Native Americans.  Bernard agrees to take Bernard back to London with him, and show him the “Brave New World”, along with taking Linda back to the civilization she misses, and he will try to use them in a plot to discredit the director of hatcheries, who is threatening to move Bernard to Iceland.
            So far Brave New World is good if somewhat disquieting.  It makes one think about what makes our world society better than the one in the book and helps remind one what they stand for.

Frankenstein

Logan writes:
The novel I am reading is Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. It is a very interesting story with many levels to it. The beginning of the novel is the story of a man who begins a boating expedition and comes upon a man wandering through the ice in which their boat cannot pass. This man is Victor Frankenstein. Victor tells the men he is following someone and asks if they saw anything, they had. Victor attempts to tell the captain of the expedition the great story of his life and how he had gotten to this point. He lived a seemingly simple enough life, until he begins college. Victor was an ambitious student and looked to do something great. He created a “monster” which was a man of eight feet tall and brought it to life. The monster escapes from his house and Victor lives in fear until he returns home to find his brother dead. He believes it was the work of his evil monster but a young girl is executed for the murder instead. This deeply affects Victor and he decides he needs to find his evil creation. He stumbles upon him and the monster begins to tell his story to Victor of how he got to where he is. This is were I am in the story so far and I am excited to read on. It is a little confusing having a story told in a story but I am truly enjoying the novel.

The House of The Spirits

Lauren writes:
The book I'm reading House of The Spirits by Isabell Alande is a a very well written book focused towards women.  I have no yet finished reading this book but I really enjoy it so far.  This novel is about the many generations of the Treuba family and their political stand.  This book contains a mother, father and children that all have to move away from home because of terrorists that are causing a threat to the whole family. This story narrated by mainly two people: Estaban and Alba is a classic and i would reccomend it to anyone, enjoy reading or not.

Jude the Obscure

Jadzia writes:
So far in Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy, Jude's marriage to Arabella ends.  Before Jude met Arabella, he had dreams of attending a university in Christminster.  Jude's ambition to go to Christminster was inspired by his schoolmaster, Richard Pilloston, who left Marygreen and went to Christminster.  However, before he is able to move to Christminster, Jude meets Arabella and the two marry.  When the marriage failed, Arabella decides to leave with her parents to Australia.  After Arabella leaves, Jude finds a painting of himself in a shop.  It was a wedding gift that was given to Arabella.  When he sees this, he buys the portrait and brings it home.  Once he gets home, he starts a fire and burns the painting, frame and all.  Then, Jude moves to Christminster.  This is important to the story because I think it symbolizes Jude's moving forward with his life to fulfill his dream.


 

Brother’s Karamazov

Shayan writes:

The Brother’s Karamazov starts off introducing Alexey Fyodorovich Karamazov (Aloysha) the third son of Fyodor Pavlovich Karamazov. Fyodor Pavlovich is described as a senseless man, but a man not lacking intelligence. He has married twice and he has three sons. The eldest, Dmitri, by his first wife, and two, Ivan and Alexey, by his second. Fyodor Pavlovich had no influence in the upbringing of his children. He spent a lot of time drunk with many different women and he simply forgot about his oldest son Dmitri. Dmitri is raised by a servant until members of his mothers’ family took him in. They tell him that his mother has left him an inheritance which includes money and property that is in the care of his dad. After getting rid of his first son, Fyodor Pavlovich marries a sixteen year old orphan and he treats her just as badly as he treated his first wife. However, she bears two of his children before she dies, and for a while, the same servant takes care of Alexey and Ivan. The boys are taken in by one of their mother’s friends who provides for their education. Ivan becomes a very smart student and Aloysha enters a monastery.

            When Dmitri grows up, he visits his father to get more information about his inheritance. His father pays him little sums of money at a time to keep him quiet but after a while Dmitri confronts his father. Fyodor Pavlovich confesses that there never really was an inheritance and that Dmitri might even be in debt to him. Dmitri, who is now enraged, suspects that his father is cheating him. They arrange a meeting, at the same monastery where Aloysha is, in the presence of elder Zosima, an esteemed monk. Dmitri hopes that in the presence of this important monk, their conflict will be resolved. Meanwhile, Aloysha is nervous because he feels his father and brother will offend the monk.

            This is as far as I have gotten in the novel. The Brothers’ Karamazov is a challenging book and sometimes I have to read a section twice. I still have much to read, however, and I am looking forward to finding out what will happen as the plot develops.

This Boy's life

Massaud writes:
This Boy's life, by Tobias Wolff, is a very great book. It’s a memoir about this kid, named Toby, who’s moving with his mom, named Rosemary. They are moving because so far, the relationships Rosemary had weren’t very good, and she was being abused a lot. So on their way, they see a truck that speeds down the road and into a river. They have decided to move to Salt Lake City and Toby changed his name to Jack, and he also starts attending a catholic school. He was once caught pointing a gun at someone, and because he was ashamed of being caught, he didn’t participate in any school activities and skipped school. After a while, they decided to move again, this time to Phoenix. Also, His mother ends up talking to some guys but it really didn’t work out well again, especially with Gil, a guy they meet at a naval battle. After moving to Phoenix, they live with 2 other women and Jack also makes 2 new friends. After a stay at Phoenix, Rosemary meets a guy named Dwight. They get a long and Dwight drives her around and shows her where he lives. But they really didn’t end up together, until after a while. So, Jack gets in trouble in Phoenix for scratching the boy’s bathroom walls, and his punishment was suspension for 2 weeks. Rosemary wasn’t happy and Dwight decides to take Jack with him to where he lives. Jack and his mom decide why not, but it wasn’t a great decision. He wasn’t taken care of well, and he was also doing too much house chores. Once, when Jack goes to meet his mom, Dwight wouldn’t leave him alone because he was afraid he might tell her about his life with him. Dwight asks Rosemary for marriage, and Jack also lies to her that life is great with Dwight. After a while with Dwight, Jack realizes how horrible Dwight is. This is what I've read so far, and I injoy this book alot. I love it more because this really did happen and its not something fake, therefore, its easier for me to imgaine this happening. Love it.

The House of the Spirits

Julia writes:
I am currently reading The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende for my independent reading book. This book is a best seller and has had worldwide success. The House of the Spirits oddly originated from a letter Allende was writing to her grandfather when she heard the news of his sudden illness. The book is based on stories through four generations of the Trueba family, all revealed through a young girl’s journal. So far, I am up to Chapter 7. The main characters include Severo de Valle, Nivea de Valle, Clara de Valle, Rosa the Beautiful, Blanca, Esteban Trueba, the Count, and Pedro Tercero. 
Clara is the main character, a girl who can predict deaths and communicate with spirits. As a child, Clara’s priest claims she is possessed by the devil. She watches her sister’s autopsy (Rosa the Beautiful) in disgust. She fears that Rosa’s death was caused by her own words, going mute for several years. Esteban, Rosa’s fiance, is shocked and depressed by the sudden death. Ignoring his sister’s warning, Esteban goes to his family’s hacienda called Tres Marias. He decides to spend the time to improve it and try to make it a moneymaking estate. He rapes several girls in hopes to satisfy his sexual cravings, and even gets a few of them pregnant. Though he is having a great time, he receives news from his sister that Dona Ester, his mother, is dying. Esteban immediately leaves Tres Marias. While seeing his mother at her last moments, she tells him she will die peacefully if he marries and settles with a woman he loves. Immediately afterward, he asks Severo and Nivea which De Valle daughter he could marry, and they offer Clara. Shortly before their marriage, Esteban builds them a beautiful home which everybody calls “the big house on the corner”. Clara slowly begins to fall in love with Esteban, as he does with her. Clara demands that Ferula lives with them, and soon an unbreakable bond grows between the two. A few months later, as expected, Esteban and Clara’s daughter Blanca arrives.
When Blanca is about three, the family decides to spend a summer at Tres Marias. Clara loves it so much that she decides that they will live there. Ferula hates Tres Marias, but sacrafices to live with her beloved Clara. Blanca falls in love with the caretaker of the hacienda, Pedro Tercero. Finally breaking her silence, Clara soon discovers that she has become pregnant with twins, Jaime and Nicolas. She and Ferula move to the city to get appropriate care for her labor. In fury that she did not name one of the children after him, Esteban goes to the brothel. He re-encounters Transito, a prostitute whom he had sexual relations with in the past. Not long after, Severo and Nivea get into a terrible car accident, and Nivea‘s head is severed from her body. Since Clara is in labor, the family tries to hide the news from her. However, Clara’s dreams reveal the tragedy to her in the night. One night, Esteban returns home from Tres Marias to find Ferula in Clara’s bed, and kicks her out of their home for good in anger. Months later, Ferula’s spirit comes to Clara to say goodbye, and as the couple discovers, Ferula died in a poor section of the city.
An earthquake destroys Tres Marias, crushing Esteban and killing Nana (through fear). Esteban miraculously survives, though he is confined to bed and a wheelchair. Sadly, Clara grows apart from him mentally and physically. She begins spending more time on her own, tending to her journal, and leaving the chores to somebody else. Esteban is saddened by her want to separate, because he is still madly in love with her. Soon, a mysterious neighbor named Count Jean de Satigny moves in. He has an extreme desire to marry Blanca, and stalks her relationship with Pedro Tercero even after her denial to marry him. At the news that his daughter has been seeing this man in secret, Esteban is infuriated. He brings the news to Clara, who claims that Esteban has done the same with several women. She brings to his attention that the only difference is that Pedro loves Blanca. Esteban hits his wife with so much power that he knocks out many of her teeth. He apologizes, but never again in her life does Clara speak to him.
Though I am only halfway through the novel, I can’t stand to put it down. It is very suspenseful and keeps the reader coming back for more. I have come to love the characters, and feel as if I know them personally. Isabel Allende does a wonderful job with this novel, and so far I would recommend it for any age. I hope that the ending turns out as I expect it will, and even if it doesn’t, I am still anticipating it. I love this book.

Dracula

Matt Writes:

For my independent reading book I am reading Dracula by Bram Stoker and I am really enjoying it.  I am halfway through the book and it is getting better by the second.  The book leaves Jonathan for a while and goes to two women Lucy Westerna and Mina Murray.  Mina is Jonathan’s fiancée and Lucy is her best friends.  Through the letters the women are talking about the men in their life and how great they are.  Mina is talking about Jonathan whereas Lucy is talking about her fiancé Arthur Holmwood.  Also a friend of Lucy’s john steward.  John works at a mental hospital and his entries talk about the strange things that have happened at his hospital.  His deranged patients are driving his crazy.  One of his patients is Renfeild.  This man is known for being odd and has a peculiar amount of different pets.  Which we later find out he eats.  Meanwhile a horrible storm is happening.  A ship wrecks on the shore and before the wreck the captain writes in his journal the crew was acting a little strange and then the boats crashes and a dog jumps off of the side of the boat and that was the last seen of it…which was weird because know one brought a dog onto the boat in the first place.  That’s how far I’ve gotten and I plan on finishing it very soon.

Girl Interrupted

Leah writes:
I am reading the biography of Susanna Kaysen.  This memoir is called “Girl Interrupted” and was written in 1993.  Susanna Kaysen was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1948.  Susanna Kaysen was eighteen years old when she attempted to commit suicide by consuming fifty aspirins in one day, in 1967.  Shortly after this event occurred she was admitted into McLean hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts.  McLean is a psychiatric facility.  During her stay Susanna was treated for depression..  While she was there she met and hung around with many different people that were at the hospital.  They included Lisa, Lisa Cody, Polly, Cynthia, and Georgina.  They each had their own reason for why they were admitted into McLean.  Polly attempted to commit suicide by lighting herself on fire, as a result she has major body scaring.  Lisa is a sociopath, and tries to escape from the hospital periodically.  The longest she is gone for is about two days at a time.  Susanna has a boyfriend, but becomes upset when he never visits. Apparently her boyfriend's mother was admitted into the facility when he was a child.  This was too much for him to handle when he was younger, and he wasn’t capable of dealing with someone else he cared about being in McLean.  Susanna was told that she was only going to be in McLean for a few weeks, but her stay lasted much longer than that.  This is what I've learned from the story so far.
 
                                                  

In Cold Blood

Raffi writes:
 
            My independent reading book, In Cold Blood, by Truman Capote, is about the murder of a family in Kansas, which took place in November 15, 1959.  I have just gotten to the point in the novel after the family was murdered and their neighbors are discovering the bodies.  The novel so far switches back between the story of the Clutters (the victims), and the two criminals, whose names are Dick and Perry. The Clutters are a family who live in Holcomb, Kansas, and are possibly the most well known and well respected people around the area.  Mr. Clutter is a successful man, chairman of the Kansas Conference of Farm Organizations.  The Clutter children are all very bright and kind kids, especially Nancy, a very intelligent girl who Capote describes teaching another young girl how to bake pies.  The only person in the Clutter family who is really different from the rest is Mrs. Clutter, who is in bad health and has been a psychiatric patient for the past six years.  
          When Truman Capote introduces Dick and Perry, neither of them seem like your typical criminal.  Rather than being rough and tough, Dick and Perry seem more like intellectual and sophisticated young men each with dreams of settling down ad having a family some day.  Eventually Capote does go into a little bit of detail about their criminal background, and talks about each character’s time in jail.  He doesn’t even make the pair seem like bad guys, which is what still confuses me about why they chose to murder the Clutter family.  One of the strange things about the murder is that Dick and Perry act as if they were obliged to do it.  During the course of their trip to Holcomb Kansas, they continually speak of the murder as if it were something they had to get out of the way before they could move on with their lives.

Madame Bovary

Joanne writes:

The novel, Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert has a lot of complicated ideas and so far it’s just the beginning of it all. In the beginning of the novel we follow Charles Bovary to his first day of school and with his family. We then follow him through life and from college to college to his first wife, and to their home where Charles is a doctor. He travels around to people in help. One night when someone got a fractured there leg he came and while there met the patient’s daughter Emma. Charles comes often after this to check up on his leg but stays much later to talk to Emma. They fall in love and all this time his first wife is at home. She starts to suspect something and wants him to not go over any more. She becomes sick and the bank takes all her money that she lied to Charles about and she dies soon after. After her death Charles sees Emma more often and they decide to get married but they have to wait a while so Charles will seem to be getting over his mourn.  A while after their marriage Emma does not receive what she expected. She was hoping for what she reads in the books, a passionate and loving marriage but she becomes bored. Charles was happier than her. One of Charles’ patients invites them to a ball when he realizes that she is not a country type girl and she is beautiful and sophisticated enough that he decides to invite them. When they get there Emma is amazed by the ball but embarrassed by her husband who she feels does not fit in. This is where I have been able to read up to and I am looking forward to reading more.

Mill on the Floss

Stephanie writes:
Mill on the Floss by George Eliot is a novel about the childhoods of the brother and sister, Tom and Maggie Tulliver, who live on a river in a village in England during the early 1800’s.  Maggie is an emotional girl, who is attached to Tom.  She is very intelligent and imaginative, although her family members overlook this intelligence.  Maggie makes many rash decisions and is constantly chided by her aunts and mother because of this behavior.  However, she does not care what anyone in her life thinks, the only exception to this being Tom.  Tom is a boy who enjoys the outdoors.   He believes that common knowledge is more important than scholarly education.  He always acts in a fair and dignified manner.  Tom’s father decides to send Tom to a good school at the request of a family friend, in hopes that his only son would help the family’s economic situation if they had someone smart enough to deal with their financial needs.  Tom is not interested in school and his teacher thinks he has poor learning abilities.

The novel begins with Maggie waiting for Toms return from his old school.  She is anxious and excited for his arrival.  Meanwhile, her father has come to the conclusion that Tom will go to a new school next year.  The brother and sister bond together when he comes home from school.  Soon after, the Tulliver family hosts Thanksgiving at their house.  All Mrs. Tulliver’s sisters are invited, along with their husbands.  After many comments from her aunts about the state of her hair, Lucy decides to cut part of it off.  She is self conscious of the haircut but is comforted by her father.  A little while later, Tom is off to school.  As the only student of Mr. Stelling, his progress is closely monitored.  Tom is terrible at Latin and her wishes for Maggie’s presence during this tough time for him.