No Name

I decided to read  this story because I was looking for a short book that wouldn’t take too much time, but still had a good plot and was worth reading. I wasn’t sure I could find a book like this, but thankfully, A Long Walk to Water exceeded both my expectations! A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park follows the stories of two eleven year old children. It focuses on the story of Salva, set in 1985, and the story of Nya, set in 2008. Both stories take place in Sudan. Salva is on what seems like a never-ending walk to safety after his village got destroyed in a war. Nya has to walk 8 hours a day through an extremely treacherous climate just to get water for her family.  A repeated theme throughout the book, especially in Salva’s story, is to get through one day at a time. This makes sense because for a while, Slava’s entire life is just waking all day every day trying to get to safety. This gets especially hard for him when he realizes he will probably never see his family aga...

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck is a historical fiction novel about two ranch workers, Lennie and George, who are trying to build a stable life during the Great Depression. Steinbeck portrays Lennie as someone with a cognitive disability whose strength and innocence often get him in trouble. They find a new job at a ranch and seem to be doing well until Lennie accidentally does something that puts his life in danger. I think I say this for every book I review, but I read this because it’s a classic, which I love :) One of my favorite parts of this book was the dream that Lennie and George share of having their own property someday. Lennie often asks George to tell him their dream, like a story of their future, where they will tend to animals and “live off the fat of the land”. I liked this aspect because their dream gives them hope, and for a while, it even seems possible when another ranch worker offers to help contribute to the property. However, when Lennie accidentally does...

 Sideways Stories From Wayside School by Louis Sachar (author of the famous book Holes). The story starts off with these words: "Wayside School was accidentally built sideways"; apparently there was supposed to be 1 story with 30 classrooms, but instead the architects messed up and built 30 stories with 1 classroom per story. The book only gets more confusing from here.  The story revolves around the 30th story classroom on wayside school, and the 29 students in them, which is especially weird. There were originally 30 kids in the class, which was originally taught by Mrs. Gorf, who could turn students into apples. Eventually, the whole class is turned into apples, but one of the students manages to trick Mrs. Gorf to a mirror, leading to her turning herself into an apple. Louis the yard teacher then accidentally eats her, thinking she was an apple, leading to all the kids being restored.  Wayside school is a strange school. Although it has 30 stories, the 19th story does...

  Review of 1st half of Throne of Glass Series I have recently started the Throne of Glass series (on my TBR list in a previous post!!), but unfortunately the books are very long (500 - 700 pages) so I have only made it through Throne of Glass , Crown of Midnight , and part of Heir of Fire. Therefore, this will only be a review of the first half of the series.  Throne of glass is a fictional Series set in a fantasy continent Erilea, which has been taken over by the evil king of the empire Adarlan. In all areas of Erilea, magic has mysteriously disappereed. The first book in the series, Throne of Glass , shows the main character Celeana Sardoneth, an assasin, competing in a competition for the king. The competition is focused on finding the “Kings champion” or an assassin that will do the king’s bidding and take out enemies. SPOILERSSSSSSS  Celeana wins the competition and begins to work for the king, but — in the books following the first — she finds out many dark secre...

     Gannibal  by Masaaki Ninomiya is a horror manga that follows Daigo Agawa, a police officer from the city. He's moved from his post in the city out to Kuge village, a small town on the countryside. He was forced to move after an incident in the city that left his daughter, Mashiro, mute and scarred. The previous police officer of the village mysteriously went missing and a lot of suspicion is focused on the Goto family because of their violent nature and odd traditions. Daigo investigates the recent death of an old woman in the Goto family and uncovers more clues about the death of his predecessor along the way. He tries to settle into the village but soon learns how the differently the town runs from normal society. All of this unfolds while a mysterious, cannibalistic figure follows in the background, only jumping in when needed to either stop Daigo from discovering secrets or to protect him from the Goto family. Will Daigo solve the mystery and stop the violen...

       Here is my current list of books I want to read, with a mix of sci-fi, dystopian, and historical fiction. These are the top books I want to read right now, but definitely not all. :) #1 = The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams A combination of comedy and sci-fi, this classic book follows the adventures of an Intergalactic space traveler. I want to read this because I love classic books and have been meaning to read this one for years!! #2 = Dune by Frank Herbert A sci-fi classic set in a very distant future, where political leaders on the desert planet of Arrakis fight to control the valuable spice trade. I mostly want to read this after watching the movies, especially since Timothée Chalamet is in them :)))   #3 = The Invisible Man by H. G. Wells This 1897 sci-fi classic novel is about a scientist who becomes invisible and the isolation that follows. I recently heard of this book, and I think it has a very interesting plot....

Singularity, by William Sleator, is by far one of the most interesting science-fiction novels I have read. I recently finished it with my reading tutor, who was a former physics professor at the University of Illinois. Sleator also taught at the U of I, and my tutor got to meet him shortly before Sleator's death. The book revolves around two twins, Harry and Barry. Harry is the nerdy twin, and Barry is the athletic one. Whenever they go out, Barry's always the one that gets talked to, and Barry is always acting like he's better than Harry. Both of the twins go to their uncle's house, who died a little while before from an unknown cause. The twins' parents drop them off there, where they spend the next couple of weeks. Initially, the twins just explore their uncles mansion, which is a little spooky. After they finish exploring the mansion and not finding anything too weird, they go outside and find the most important place in the story; The Playhouse. The Playhouse (...