The Lucky One

I read the The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks. It's about a marine named Logan who finds a picture of a women while in Iraq. The picture brings him good luck and somewhat saves his life, so he decides to find the women when he gets home. Surely, after he's done serving in Iraq, he finds her at a dog training house, where she lives. He decides not to tell her about the picture, and just applies for a job as a dog trainer. Throughout the story, Logan and Elizabeth, the lady in the picture, fall in love. Of course, it wouldn't be a Nicholas Sparks book if there wasn't some drama and conflict. So, Keith, Elizabeth's ex-husband finds out about Logan and his picture and decides to tell Elizabeth. Elizabeth gets emotional because she gave the picture to her brother, who was also a marine, and wanted the picture to bring him good luck, not Logan. Elizabeth and Logan separate for a while, but at the end get back together for a happy ending. I love Nicholas Sparks books, but they all have a similar plot and are generally about the same things. So, The Lucky One was very predictable in what was going to happen. Other than that, I recommend this book a lot. Once you start reading it, it's hard to put it down.

I recently read Five Little Pigs, by Agatha Christie. I won't provide any background information on the author because I've mentioned it in my first two posts on books written by her. This book stars the petit Belgian detective Hercule Poirot - he is hired by a young woman to investigate her mother's imprisonment - from 16 years ago. Basically, the mother supposedly murdered her husband after he was having an affair with a young woman, but she wrote a letter to her daughter shortly before dying, (to be opened upon her daughter's 21st birthday) claiming she was innocent. The reason the title is part of a famous nursery rhyme is because there are five suspects that Hercule investigates (besides the deceased Mrs. Caroline, the supposed muderer), and with each of them he tries to find the phrase that fits - e.g. the well-off, slightly plump, jovial man, Mr. Phillip, is this little pig went to the market. However, I'm not even halfway through the book. In this time, Poirot has only questioned 2.5 people, which still leaves a lot of unknowns. As for recommendations, I would just repeat what I've written for all my other posts on this author, so simply find an older one. However, this book is losing its appeal to me. Why, you may ask? Well, to put it simply, I've read 5 books by this author in about a month and a half, and I've basically become fed up, because each book is more of the same - somebody dies, Poirot questions a bunch of people, then with his unprecedented detective skills, reveals the person who you least suspect to be the criminal as the criminal. Some authors, I can read their books for an unfathomable eternity (ahem, J.K. Rowling). But alas, some, like this one, I cannot. So, if you find yourself to be a person who often times finds himself reading series, I suggest you take breaks when reading Agatha Christie.

Soul Surfer

I recently read the autobiography Soul Surfer written by Bethany Hamilton. It's about Bethany who lives in Hawaii with her family. She explores her passion of surfing each and every day. She places in  many competitions, and surfs all the time. One day she is with her best friend Alana, Alana's dad, and Alana's brother. One Halloween morning in Kauai, Hawaii Bethany is attacked by a shark and is rushed to the hospital. Her arm was severed off by the shark, and she know has to learn how to live with the challenge of having one arm. As she gets familiar with having one arm she wonders if she'll ever be able to surf again. She tries every single day and cant dive under the waves with her bord. Her dad manages to put a handle on her bord so that she can. She then becomes the surfer she was again, and isn't pulled back by anything. This book shows how something very tragic can happen yet one can still do everything if they put the effor into it. Although she had to make some adjustments to her life she still tried as hard as she could to pursue what she wanted to. Bethany has great determination, courage, and faith throughout the story.

Lord of the Flies

I am currently reading Lord of the Flies by William Golding.  Were I last left off Simon, Jack and Ralph had just decided to walk up to the highest point of the Island to find out if it actually is an Island and to see if anyone lives on it.  I liked the authors technique of calling the Island an Island even before we even knew it was an Island.  This foreshadowing made us know that the trip would be for nothing.  The boys return from the walk to tell the others that they could see know people on the island and that it is in fact an island.  The idea of rescue is brought up.  The boys decided that to make sure that all ships see them they will light a fire at the top of the hill.  All of the kids run to the top and make a huge pile of wood.  But, when the pile is made the boys realize that they have nothing to light a fire with, until one of them suggests using Piggy's glasses.  This works, but the fire quickly spreads into the trees and then dies down.  Then Piggy tries to find one young kid but cannot find him.  Then, the boys realize that some boys were still in the woods collecting wood.  This shows the unorganized community that the boys have started.  I predict that what will come next in the book is a small census to keep track of all the kids, and some more rules.  This book is very good so far, and I am excited to continue it.

The Chamber

For this reading check I started reading the book, The Chamber by John Grisham. This book is about a Jewish man who's office gets bombed by klansman in Mississippi. This book is set during the 60s and 70s. One of the things that the klansman describe is the feeling of being invincible and I think that this notion of being invincible was very prominent during this time period. They sort of ruled the country, they controlled who votes, who lives where, and who eats or shops at different places. I am not very far into the book, but like the perspective that Grisham is taking. So far the main character has been the different klansman and not the victim like many other "race" novels have done. It enables the reader to et a different perspective and know both sides of the story. I think that this book definitely confronts racism in a pretty clear way. It is established on the first page. I feel like some books that I have read have jumped around the topic of racism with Grisham I do not feel this. I recommend this book for someone who likes novels from the civil rights era or likes law novels.

Counting on Grace

I recently finished the novel, Counting on Grace, by Elizabeth Winthrop. This book takes place in a Vermont mill town, in the early 1900's. During this time, child labor was very common, so in this book the 12 year old main character, Grace, and her friend, Arthur, are forced to leave school to work in the mill as doffers. Counting on Grace is a realistic book about the hardships during 1910 and how these young children have to work long hours for their families, instead of learning and attending school. Grace struggles, since her job is a left-handed job while she is right-handed, and every mistake costs her family. After she writes a letter to the Child Labor Board, a under-cover famous reformer takes pictures of the children at work for evidence for the Child Labor Board. Elizabeth Winthrop includes vivid descriptions of the mill and how Grace deals with the pressure that is planted upon her at a young age. keeps the reader interested. I recommend this book because it was very good and it keeps the reader interested.

The Hunger Pains

I recently read "The Hunger Pains" by The Harvard Lampoon, a parody of the the widely popular book, "The Hunger Games." It has virtually the same plot as the hunger games, except the Peeta character dies at the end, and the Kato character survives in his place.  Besides this plot change, the only big changes are the names of the characters, for instance Archie instead of Kato, and many other small humorous changes throughout the book. One of my favorites is instead of picking a boy and girl at random to be tributes, there is a massive game of the nose game in each district, and the last boy and girl without their fingers on their noses are the tributes. Humorous but small changes like this are made to keep the book going, and I think it was a fun read. A few other changes I liked were instead of the gamekeepers starting the forest-fire, Katniss, or Kantkiss in the parody, accidentally sets it on fire with a flamethrower she gets. Instead of shooting the apples to blow up the tower of food, Katniss takes a small bite out of every piece of food, and they are so discussed that they blow it all up. Lastly, the biggest change in my opinion was the tone of the arena. In the hunger games, it is very serious and intense, but in the hunger pains, Katniss routinely has conversations with other contenders and even the cameramen at times. I recommend this book to all who have read the hunger games as a fun read.