Enemy At the Gates

I recently read Enemy at the Gates (I woudl have underlined, but I can't figure out how to do that), by William Craig. This book is a non-fiction compilation of various tales from the Battle of Stalingrad, in WWII. When I say compilation, I don't mean a bunch of different short stories, but different sections from the viewpoints of different individuals - from both German and Soviet Generals, down to footslogging infantry, to a female Russian sniper. I don't want to have a history lesson here, so I'll be brief with the historical background. The Germans and Soviets are fighting for control of a manufacturing city in Stalingrad, a brutal, close-quarters battleground that goes down in history as one of the bloodiest battles ever, as well as a turning point in WWII. I know that a major point in blogs is to talk about character development, but since there are more than half a dozen "main" characters, it is hard to mention all of them. In general, there are three stages to the character development, different for each side, as they go through the battle.

German
1.Excited, ready to win.
2.Getting more and more worried, wearied, and starving
3.Absolutely tired-to-the-bone, fatalist - in short, "screwed".

Russian
1. Worried, upset, scared (about the invasion - lots of gory stuff w/ civilians)
2. Determined, heroic, sort of "last-stand" attitude - (This is SPARTAA...I mean Soviet RUSSIA!)
3. Excited, victorious, happy

If you notice, they're kind of the opposite. I liked how Craig mentioned both sides of the story, and also showed the gruesomeness and darkness of that battle. However, sometimes, it was a little over the top, such as mentioning how the civilians are killed or even worse, the lice!!!

Quote: "and a seething mass of grey parasites swarmed into his arm, disappearing into his cast"

Ugh!!

Who's going to enjoy this book? History buffs, WWII fans/nerds, people interested in learning more about WWII, those who "crave action" (in the immortal words of C. Kelkar). However, if you're squeamish about gore and icky stuff, or don't fit into any of the above categories, you probably won't enjoy it.

1984 by George Orwell

I am in the middle of the book 1984 by George Orwell. It is a book written in the early 1900's, and because of that I've found it really hard to read. Orwell's writing style is very old-fashioned, and I sometimes think that he goes into too much detail. The protagonists, Julia and Winston, are both a part of the Party that takes England over. Winston slowly changes to discover that he actually is against the Party. They both slowly change to be more risky and they slowly become less cautious, until Julia tells Winston that she loves him. Together they find a group against the Party. I think Orwell was trying to portray what he thought England would be like in the 1980's. Orwell's writing style has also made it hard to keep going, because I have to read paragraphs 3 or 4 times until I understand the connection to the story. Overall though, the story is good, but there is a lot of between-the-line reading that I have to do to really understand the deeper meaning of some things he says.

A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

I'm currently reading the book A Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. It is a very interesting book about a British man who gets transported onto another planet. This book is sort of set in the future, because they have lots of spaceships all around the galaxy, but Earth doesn't know about the other planets. The protagonist is from Earth, while his friend is from another planet, researching Earth to update The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. The friend, Ford, gets stuck on Earth for 10 light years. The 'bad' planet is going to destroy Earth to build a new transport system, and the protagonist and his friend escape by hitchhiking onto the planet's spaceship. This book has a lot of humor in it, like the bad planet's poetry is bad, and it makes you want to kill yourself and makes you go crazy. If I were in the main character's situation now, having just been dumped in space by the bad planet and the grabbed another ride on a spaceship, I would be very nervous. I just barely survived with a couple seconds of air left. I would be worried because I don't know who or what will be on this spaceship, and since I remember how bizarre the last spaceship was, I would have a negative view on other spaceships and planets. This book is very bizarre, but very intense! It is a long book but it moves very quickly. If you like fast moving science-fiction books, you will enjoy this one a lot!

Eclipse

I have just re-started Eclipse after abandoning it (30 pages in) two years ago, in 6th grade. I am only about 60 pages into the book right now but so far I once again feel like the story is dragging. I understand that Meyer has to set up the plot a bit at the beginning of the story, but it is the third book in the twilight saga and it has been a reoccurring "theme" throughout the series that the action is very slow until the climax (and then it slows back down again). I feel that Meyer should've considered this while writing this book because after two long books of slow plot development with little action the reader feels bored and overwhelmed with seemingly unnecessary and (sometimes)n irrelevant details. I hope that all of the small details I am suffering through will eventually play a significant part later on in the book! Summary: So far Bella receives a letter from Jacob, a wolf, pretty much saying they can't be friends because she is friends with Edward, a vampire. Soon after she is surprisingly set free from her "house arrest" that Charlie, her father, has put her on after having gone missing for three days; she was saving Edward from giving himself to the Volturi, a powerful vampire council, (unknown to Charlie's knowledge). Also, Bella has been accepted to the University of Alaska, and Edward has been accepted there too along with some Ivy League schools, which he forces Bella to apply to as well.

A Clash Of Kings Part 2

As I continue on reading my book many more conflicts have occurred. but before I get to those, I realized that I never really explained how the book is styled and the writing style of George R. R. Martin. The book is given from the P.O.V. of many different characters. It is mostly given from the main characters of the book. However in the second book I noticed that the author decided to add a lot of supporting characters who only get a chapter ever 50 pages or so. I really felt that this added to the intensity of the book. For me I really feel that it is the little things that bring the book together. When I first started reading this series I was very interested in the authors writing style. he uses words that were used in the probable time era. since no specific time era was given I had to guess that it is staged around the dark ages. But the writing style is mainly made up of the words he uses, if he had decided to just write it without any interesting words that were used in this era then the whole book would be very boring. One of the phrases that is often used is "break your fast". this types of phrase is often used in the book. Back to on of the new conflicts in the book is that one of the main characters, Tyrion, is appointed to be "The Hand Of The King" when one of his loyal disciples asks him what he plans to do he answer with one word which then ends the chapter. The word was very powerful in the story and it made me think what he meant by it. the word he gave was "Justice." I am still not sure weather or not he means to sabotage king Joffery and help Rob, the king of the north. or do the opposite. I am very excited to see what happens with these character as the book progresses.

The Son of Neptune

I recently read The Son of Neptune, written by Rick Riordan. So far in the book, Percy, Hazel, and Frank embark on a quest to Alaska, adhering to a prophecy communicated to them by Mars himself. Personally, I don't really like the book for several reasons. First, in the prequel to this book, The Lost Hero, the action scenes were long and vivid. I feel like in this book, the actions scenes zoom by in an instant. For example, when Hazel, Percy, and Frank were freeing Thanatos from his chains while simultaneously scuffling with Alcyoneus, the action went by extremely fast. When Frank freed Thanatos, the whole time they were blabbing to each other, but there was no action transpiring. When Hazel was brawling Alcyoneus, she basically fell once or twice, and was about to die, and then Frank swooped in, utilizing his power to transform into animals, and pummeled Alcyoneus. It whizzed by in a flash, and it dissatisfied me because Percy Jackson books usually brim over with action. Second, it felt like Rick Riordan's writing concentrated to much on each action that materialized during the fight. Like when Frank cut Thanatos's last chain, there was a whole paragraph to describe that, but he could have just said, "Frank cut the chain." Third, the book tormented you with secrets. In many chapters at the beginning, the characters would undergo flashbacks, and a dark secret would be dredged up, but the chapter would end before that secret would be specified. It was torture! And then several hundred pages later you would learn the secret. Overall, I think this book is good for patient people who like mystery and don't care about action. However, if you do care about action- if you crave action books- this probably isn't the right book for you.

The Power of One

I finished the book The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay recently. Wow. The Power of One was intense, violent, poetic, endearing and unforgettable. Set in South Africa, where beauty is overshadowed by the weight of racism, anti-Semitism, and the wounds of war are fresh, the story follows a small English boy named Peekay. Sent to boarding school, Peekay is welcomed by hate-driven humiliation at the hands of others but he survives and dreams fiercely of becoming the boxing welterweight champion of the world. Clinging onto this dream, Peekay stumbles upon the power of one, and the power of others. This book had the amazing ability to draw you into the story, make you feel for the characters, and hope for the best for them. The extraordinary quality of the characters, the elaborate plot, and the empathy for Peekay this book possessed was astonishing. However, the book did have parts, which I considered to be dry and rambling. The book truly begins with the self-proclaimed Judge, who brutalizes Peekay constantly and the book ends with Peekay finding revenge. One interesting aspect of the book was symbolism. The Judge is Peekay’s demon; he embodies the fear that caused Peekay to change who he was for survival. Several times throughout the book, he mentions the Judge in self-reflection as a painful but effective motivator for Peekay. At the end of the book, when Peekay defeats the Judge, it is a victory for Peekay both physically and emotionally, representing Peekay taking back the control of himself and his identity. I thought this book was amazing, not one to pass up and highly recommendable.