by | 21.1.2014 · 20:56

Book review of The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games is written by American writer Suzanne Collins. This 2008 published dystopian novel is respected all around the world and it is the first book in  The Hunger Games trilogy.

The book tells about young lady Katniss Everdeen, who lives in the dystopian called Panem. Panem has built in the area of old North America and is run by the powerful Capital. Capital arranges every year The Hunger Games, where together 24 people are fighting for life. Capital is divided into 12 districts and from the every district have to attend one girl and one boy to go as tributes. Katniss’ homedistrict is a number 12, and she come selected with the boy named Peeta Mellark. Rules are simple: their option is to kill or be killed.

Ms. Collins is an amazing writer and her idea about a book like this is fantastic. I cried because the story was so good and touching. It is one of the easiest book to talk with other people because it makes you think about things which are important to you. Book’s voice is Katniss’ and reader can identify with her when she is afraid of be killed, delighted at her successes and in love with Peeta. Her trait is a little bit shy and comfortable with herself, but thought very intent and confident. Excitement remains from the beginning until the end. That is why The Hunger Games is so engrossing!

The book emphasizes different characteristic and emotions in people and there is a strong contrast between good and bad in the story. As I just mentioned ”in love with Peeta”, the story includes just suitably romanticism. Katniss and Peeta’s romance is like a ”second” story in the book.

I suggest this work for everyone and hope for you to comment about your reading experiences!

 

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by | · 20:17

Twilight

I read Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight- saga’s first book. It was published in 2005. The author of the book is an American young adult. She is best known for her vampire romance series Twilight.                                                                                                        The genres of the book are fantasy and romance. It is a love story, which tells about a vampire and a human who fall in love. I would say that Twilight is the best romantic book I have read. It reminds me of The Vampire Diaries- series.           The main characters of the book are Bella and Edward, who fall in love at the first sight. They are deeply connected, as if they were meant to be together. Bella is kind of a klutz but also funny. Edward is more like the serious type.                   The story is quite simple, it tells about Bella Swan who moves back to live with her dad to Forks. On the first day of school she saw this mysterious stunning guy called Edward Cullen. She was immediately drawn to him. She finds out that he is a vampire and eventually they fall in love. Through many incidents a vampire called James almost kills Bella but Edward saves her.                                           Honestly, I had difficulties while reading the book and I had to use the dictionary a lot. Even though I didn’t quite understand all the parts, I have seen the movie so I have a general view of the book.                                                                             I liked the story and characters a lot and I could recommend the book to any teenage girl who is into love stories.

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by | · 20:17

Black Beauty

The book that I read is Black Beauty and it is written in 1877 by Anna Sewell. Black Beauty is a very old story about a black horse, who travells around the England during her life. The story is narrated from Black Beauty’s perspective. It is a novel.

Anna Sewell has written this novel beacause she wants to tell  people about animals welfare and how to treat them kindly, respectly and sympathetically. The book represents its genre very well. Black Beauty is very good book for them who wants to find out what horses life includes, for example pulling heavy carriages and galloping. Anna Sewell’s book Black Beauty is one of the best selling books of all time, and it also made an affect on me.

Main characters are Black Beauty, Farmer Grey, Squire, John Manly, Ginger and Merrylegs.

Black Beauty tells about a horse’s lifestory  from its  youth to grown up. Anne Sewell is trying to accomplish better animal rights and their welfare in this book. That might be one big reason why she has written this novel from horse’s perspective. Author describes people, things and  places very exactly in this book. Narrator is inside in this story and for example horses can speak to others, but occasionally she is external. There are horses, farmers, grooms,families and riders in this book, which makes the story interesting, versatile and attractive. Events in this book are in chronologial order, so this is quite easy to read, understand  and follow the plot. In this book is even  little bit horror for example when The Black Beauty is in the horse stable, it starts to burn and they all start to panic.

Writer takes a stance on animals welfare, health care and their future. She also tries to get readers convinced that animals need a better treatment.

I would give rating 8/10 to Black Beauty, because it is a stirring story about loyal horse, who gets sometimes bad treatment from cruel people. Its a  book that everyone should read.

 

 

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by | · 20:12

Miss Molly

The book I read was Miss Molly and it is written by Jenny Oldfield. Miss Molly is part of “Black Pearl Ponies”-serie and this book was published in 2011. Book tells about pony called Miss Molly.  Main characters are Keira and her dad, whose home is Black Pearl Ranch, where they help training ponies.  Keira has a talent with ponies and she can think the way a horse thinks, and her dad is hopeful  that some day Keira can take his place and continue his job with ponies, in ranch. One of main characters is also Sable Lucas, whose parents plan to give her a surprise on birthday – pony.  In my opinion, all characters in book seem real.

Sable Lucas’s parents want to give her a big birthdaypresent: Miss Molly. Miss Molly has some problems and pony is little bit nervy. So, Sable’s parents brought Miss Molly in Black Pearl Ranch and allow Keira and Keira’s dad  only three weeks to train the pony.  Problems cannot be avoided and along the journey happens suprising things. Miss Molly’s big problem, horror of trailers, solved. But what happens then? The biggest part of story take place in ranch. Book events take time some weeks, maybe three or four weeks. Events are told in chronological sequence. The narrator in the story is all the time neutral, outside of the book.

I think that main theme of this novel is something like “never give up”. Problems will be solved! With ponies, it is important to be persistent. In my opinion, the best part of the book is whole story about Miss Molly’s training. I was maybe too old to read this book, and I can recommend it  maybe for 10-12 years old girl who like horses.  I felt language was quite easy to read, and I can noticed that book is headed for kids. When I started read an English novel, I think reading will be very difficult. At first it was little bit hard, but then reading in English started to go.

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by | · 19:41

A Beautiful Mind

A Beautiful Mind is a story in which mathematician, John Nash come down with very serious mental disorder schizophrenia. ”Beautiful Mind” book was publiced in 1998 and the creator of the book is Sylvia Nasar.

This award winning biography is a drama about the mystery of the human mind, the creation of beauty and the healing power of pure love. It is at the same time fascinating, stellar and disturbing. It provides a detailed look inside the mind of mentally ill set against the backdrop of mathematics.

Before diagnose Nash was happily married with Alicia. When Nash knew he was mental ill, he told her ex wife about it. Despite the divorce John’s beautiful, intelligent and loving wife stayed with him and helped him with the difficulties and changes that John had to make through because of the illness.

I have seen the movie based on this book before, so the story was already familiar to me. I think it is a sad story and I found it very hard to put down and that is one of the reason why I prefer movie to book. My favorite part of the book was the end. There is no doubt about the fact that the happy ending is perfect end to this book.

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by | · 19:25

James Bond and Doctor No

I read Ian Fleming`s book James Bond and Doctor No.  The book was published  in 1958. Ian Fleming was born 1908 and he died when he was 56-years-old in 1964. He was English author. He created well-known character James Bond, agent 007. He wrote 11 James Bond novels  and James Bond and Doctor No was the first novel which was made a film.

The theme of the book is detective and crime story. It is very typical book in this genre because book`s main character is hero who saved hole world. All the books which tell about Agent 007 are quite similar stories. For example Spiderman, Superman or Batman are same kind of heroes, who compat against evil.

The main character are of course James Bond, Dr. No and Honey Ryder. Also important person in the book is Quarrel. Bond and Doctor No are enemies to each other. Honey Ryder  helps Bond to fight against Dr. No. Bond is typical hero, who never die. Doctor No is cruel, evil and very ugly, his heart is in right side of body and instead of hands he has iron tongs . Honey is beautiful young woman who looks like model.  James Bond is handsome, womanizer, brave and imaginative.

Doctor No try to distroy all missiles of United  States by disturbing them with radioactive radiaton. Doctor No has built very big nuclear plant in his own island .James Bond has been sent to solve the problem.

The language of the book is quite similar than nowadays, although the novel is over 50-years-old.  Narrator of the book is outside of the story. Narrator is almost omniscient.

I really like James Bond novels and I have read many of them in Finnish. My opinion is that James Bond novels are better than movies. In the beginning reading was very difficult because I haven`t read book in English before.

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by | · 19:14

Kanojo ni Naru Hi – Becoming a Girl Day

The book I read is called Kanojo ni Naru Hi (2013). It is manga and the author of it is Ogura Akane. She has also written and drawn other supernatural, scifi and romance mangas such as Dr. Rabbit and Genius House.

The book is about the future Japan where people start to have a condition where their bodies start to release the opposite sex’s hormones (basically men become partially women and women become partially men) This condition is called emergence and it usually strikes when you’re young. The book is somewhere in between scifi and supernatural. I haven’t come across any other book that is similar to this one.

The protagonists of the manga are Miyoshi and Miyama. They have been best friends since they were kids and Miyoshi always challenges Miyama to various competitions between friends.

The story begins with Miyama getting emergence. Miyama’s condition is particularly difficult for Miyoshi because of his gynephobia (fear of women). Even though the situation is weird Miyama wants to help Miyoshi with his fear of women. He challenges Miyoshi in to a touching competition where Miyoshi is forced to touch Miyama in order to win the competition. However Miyoshi starts to have mixed feelings for Miyama because he/she is the first girl he’s ever been close to. Things start to get rough when Miyama realizes he has feelings for Miyoshi too and refuses to take medication for his condition.

One of the chapters is written from Miyama’s perspective but the rest of the story is told from Miyoshi’s perspective.

I am fairly used to read manga. I liked this manga but the topic was quite confusing. Apart from that I think the plot is good even though the ending was a disappointment. I found it quite easy to read manga in english even though some of the scifi-terms were foreign to me. I guess it’s because english isn’t my first language.

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by | · 18:35

The Last Spin

The Last Spin ( ~1960 ) written by well-known author Evan Hunter aka Ed McBain. McBain has written screenplay for Hitchcock’s movie The Birds. McBain’s genres are crime and mystery fiction.

The Last Spin is a thrilling and dramatic short story, which is story-like , including clear beginning and ending and doesn’t really leave too many ”loops” to figure out. The time interval of the short story is brief,which would be only few scenes in a movie. The story focuses on dialog and Russian roulette between two young men.

In the story Danny and Tigo are playing Russian roulette to settle down conflict between their clubs. They do not know each other, they were simply chosen from their clubs. The boys are minors and most likely  immigrants. Recruiting or kidnapping minors  isn’t new thing in gangs. Although the boys need to settle down the conflict and are considered as enemies , they get to know each other and their relation warms towards the end.

There isn’t much to tell about the plot, but Danny and Tigo are lucky and they come in conclusion that they aren’t the ones who should solve this conflict. They decide to give the last spin for the cylinder and end the game. Both boys seem to enjoy each other’s company and plan to meet after the game.

McBain’s  writing style is rather pleasant to read and it has many interesting word choices such as ” my old lady ” and ” i’m turkey ”, but this  ” old lady ” makes it harder to analyse. It is hard to say are they minors or not. Old lady can mean girlfriend and also mother, but it is also said in the text ” old country ” which means your parents  home town or country. Otherwise text and language is easy to understand.

The Last Spin is truly exciting short story and reminds me of Breaking Bad  -televison series

 

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by | · 18:14

Harry Potter and the Philosopher´s Stone

Harry Potter and the Philosopher´s Stone is written by J.K. Rowling and it was published in 1997 by an Bloomsbury book publishing. The Philosopher´s Stone is the first book of the seven part book series, and it´s translated to many languages. It is a fantasy book.

The wizard world is celebrating their victory of one of the most scariest dark wizard, Voldemort. At the same time, one-year-old Harry is being taken to home of  his aunt Petunia- and  Vernon Dursley, because this little boy´s wizard parents died at the attack of Voldemort. Something strange however happens, and Harry didn´t die like Voldemort had planned. Voldemort disappears, leaving a lightning-shaped scar to Harrys forehead.

Harry who is scrawny and black haired, brave and careing, lives 10 years in a closet under his aunts stairs. Right before Harrys 11-birthday, he starts to receive mysterious letters. Vernon destroys all of them, and when letters literally start coming from doors and windows, they escape. Now they think they are safe, but however, Hagrid finds them and gives Harry a letter, where is told what happenned to his parents. The letter also included an invation to Hogwards. Now Harry starts his first adventure.

Harry arrives to magical castle Hogwards with his friends, Ron who is red haired, quite tall and so loalty and Hermione who is curly headed, smat girl. Harry met them while the train journey to Hogwards. At Hogwards, children are devided to different houses based on their trait. One of the houses is Gryffindor, where all the three friend´s managed to get. When they had started their studying, many strange things start to happen, like the stairs move by themselves. However, there happens that kind of things, that raises children´s doubts about Mr. Snape. Children think that Mr. Snape wants to steal the Philosopher´s Stone, which is hidden in the castle, and it´s made of the elixir of life. Now the children´s real adventure begins, and ends with an unpredictable way. Along the adventure, Harry starts to remember things from his past.

Harry Potter books are one of the most popular bookseries´s in the world. It is full fiction, but it´s written so well, that it seems very real, because the writter descripes the characters and the inviroment so well. The book is so compelling, that you just have to keep reading it, you just cannot stop. The only bad side of the book is, that sometimes you lose your sense of time. Time in the book goes much faster than you think it goes. The message of the book is, that in life, anything could happen.

 

 

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by | · 17:48

Winnie-the-Pooh

The book I read was Winnie-the-Pooh and it’s written by A.A. Milne. Winnie-the-Pooh was first published in 1926. The Book is illustrated by E.H. Shepard, you can find his drawings easily from Google. The book contains ten stories: Winnie-the-Pooh and some Bees, Pooh goes Visiting, Pooh and Piglet go Hunting, Eeyore loses a Tail, Piglet meets a Heffalump, Eeyore has a Birthday, Kanga and Baby Roo come to the Forest, Expotition to the North Pole, Piglet is Entirely Surrounded by Water and A Pooh Party. 

I have seen all these stories as Disney’s filmed versions, so they were familiar to me. One story is about twenty pages, so they seem like bedtime stories. Stories are in chronological order, but narrator doesn’t tell strict times when something happens. Every plot comes out at last from the story’s name. In Winnie-the-Pooh and some bees Pooh is trying to steal honey from bees. Pooh goes visiting tells how Pooh went visiting Rabbit, and get stuck on Rabbit’s burrow. Pooh and Piglet go Hunting is story about fool Pooh who erred his own footsteps, and thought it was Woozle or Wizzle. So they tried hunt it whit Piglet. Eeyore loses a Tail is Winnie-the-Pooh story that I know the best. Poor Eeyore has lost his tail, and Pooh found it from Owl. Piglet meets a Heffalump tells how Piglet is trying to catch a Heffalump, and digs a trap for it with Pooh. They put honeypot in the bottom of the pit as a lure. Hungry Pooh goes after honey, and gets into the trap. In Eeyore has a Birthday, Eeyore has a birthday like the name of the story tells. Kanga and Baby Roo come to the Forest tells how Kanga and Roo came to the forest, and how the others didn’t like the idea first. In Expotition to the North Pole Christopher Robin wants to find the North Pole, and goes search for it with his friends. Finally Pooh finds the North Pole. Piglet is Entirely Surrounded by Water and so Pooh and Christopher Robin rescues him and so Christopher Robin organizes a party for clever bear who saved his friend; Pooh Party. 

Main characters are certainly Pooh Bear, Piglet, Christopher Robin, Eeyore, Rabbit, Owl, Kanga and Roo. Their traits are the same as we all know from Disney’s animations. Pooh is charming but fool and Piglet is as small as always. Christopher Robin is clever little boy, Eeyore is melancholy, Rabbit maybe little bit annoying, Owl is smart and Kanga is worried about Roo all the time, like mothers should. As we all know, characters don’t grow, even though they have birthdays.

The book starts when Christopher Robin asks narrator to tell stories about him and Pooh. Narrator is unknown, but knows what characters feel and what happens around the forest at the same time. The text was easy to read, it didn’t contain hard words, but sentences were really long. It was hard to keep up when sentences just went on and on.

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