Shakur, Sanyika. Monster. New York. Penguin Books: May 1, 1995.
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Krakauer, Jon. Into the Wild. New York. Knopf Doubleday. 1997
Reason, Type and Setting: I choose Into the Wild because I have heard many things about it and it sounded like a good read. I would describe the book as an adventure-drama book. It takes place across the east coast and the Alaskan Wilderness. The time is around the 90s. Content: This book is about Chris McCandless, a young man whos about to go off to a prestigious college and live the life his parents always wanted. When Chris finds out his father had a second family when he was young, he goes rogue. He leaves behind all his identification, donates his college fund, and takes off with only his trustworthy car. His first night he posts up behind a wall of dirt, that happens to be a flash flood zone. Without making it very far he is already out of a car. He heads Northwest living on the streets or with gypsies, making some close friends that admire his ambition and willingness. He avoided goodbyes and even after living with these people for awhile, he would just take off in the early morning, leaving them struck and sad. He lives for about two years with no real home until he decides Alaska is the place for him. He prepares for a few months, learning the ins and outs of hunting and living in the wild. Before he leaves he meets a girl, an attractive one who is fond of him. Even after throwing herself at him, he avoids becoming intimate. He seems scared of intimacy, or maybe guilty. Once he makes to Fairbanks via hitchhiking, he hops a ride to Mt. Mckinley where he starts his trek to Alaska. For the next sixteen weeks he lives off the wild. He finds a rundown bus that has been converted into a shelter for hunters. This provides him a sufficient home for the time being, until he eats some poisonous berries that prevent him from digesting food, putting him in a very weak state. Not being able to digest his food leaves him with no option but death. He leaves a photo of him in front of the bus and writes his last words for his family. Chapter: Chapter six is about Chris’s time in the Anza-Borrego Desert. This chapter is about his experience living in a little camp of trailers, where he meets a girl who is quite fond of him. He meets an old man who falls quickly in love with him. Much like the other friends he meets along the way. This old man takes him in and Chris explains his story to Ronald and before you know it, he is asking to adopt Chris. He said he has no family and he would love for Chris to continue Ronalds legend. Shocked, Chris doesn’t know what to say, leaving him to spit out “I’ll let you know when I get back from Alaska”. Ronald is let down by this denial. Evaluation: I enjoyed reading this book, although it was kind of hard to follow. I learned that traveling on your own is a lot harder than it seems. It taught me that living a normal life and going to college and doing something that thousands of other people are doing isn’t always the life to live. I makes you realize what were doing now may all be pointless. Which I don’t doubt. I would definitely recommend this book to others, especially the closed-minded, pretentious “smart kids” who think doing good in school is the greatest achievement. This book connects to pretty much every high schoolers life, because it starts of with a normal student who is about to attend a good college and then all of a sudden takes off in search of a new life. Author, Context and Trivia: Jon Krakauer his written many other books including, Into Thin Air, Under the Banner of Heaven and Three Cups of Deceit, none of which I have read. I don’t know anything about this author, and probably won’t read any of his other books. Belfort, Jordan. The Wolf of Wall Street. New York, New York. Bantam Dell: 2008.
Reason, Type & Setting: I choose this book because I heard a big movie was coming out on it and I thought if it’s good enough to be a movie it must a good book. Also, everyone knows you read the book before seeing the movie. I’m not sure how to classify this book but it is about a scheming stock broker who conned people out of money, only to spend it on drugs, prostitutes and parties. It takes place in Long Island, New York in the 1990’s. Content: This book is more of a memoir because the author, Jordan Belfort, isn’t much a book writer but he just wrote what happened in this period of his life. Jordan started off as a natural salesmen, selling seafood and meat in his own store, but it didn’t last long. In 1987, Jordan changed his style and started working for a brokerage firm. From that he learned what he needed to be a stockbroker and two years later opened his own company called Stratton Oakmont. Stratton Oakmont was a brokerage firm that he ran with his partner, Danny Porush. Together they convinced vulnerable clients to buy these horrible stocks while upselling them making the client feel as if they are buying something great. Once enough people had bought into the stocks, the prices would rise significantly and then Jordan and Danny could sell their shares that they bought for pennies. Once in the riches, they would bathe in their money, buying yachts, mansions, cars, and drugs. Quaaludes was Jordans drug of choice, which he became very addicted to. These drugs led him into crashing his helicopter, his yacht and the breakup of his marriage. He didn’t hold back, taking his fun to the office where the sex and drugs were popular among his workplace. They even paid the secretary a large amount of money to have her head shaved. Eventually though, this all caught up to him. In 1992 he was accused of exploiting stock prices and defrauding investors. By 1994 he was out of a business and never allowed in the stock market game again. It took a while but in 2003 he was finally sentenced to 4 years in prison and a huge 110 million dollar fine. Chapter: Chapter 29: Desperate Measures. What struck me the most about this chapter was that he could have lost it all, he could have been sent to jail that day. He was risking his life going in to the police station. Everything was riding on this master forger, a Swiss man who he paid to make sure the evidence against him never showed up. As long as the money “belonged” to Patricia Mellor he wouldn’t be arrested. I was surprised he didn’t just take his money and run, thats what I would have done. I chose this chapter because it was his closest call to being arrested -besides of course when he actually as-, he really was a mad man, he would risk everything to only gain a little. He didn’t know when to stop, I guess thats what made him rich. Evaluation: I very much enjoyed the book because it had two sides to it, the business side and the party side and then combined them. The book was quite entertaining, even a bit long. The book informed me on how you can get so caught up in all the money you forget what you’re even doing. You forget that theres a reality and it will catch up to you. Jordan thought he was invincible, which I would too, with all that money and fun. I learned that it’s not all about the money. I would recommend this book to others, but it’s not the type of book that everyone will like. This book relates to the stock market nowadays, because everything's corrupt, not matter how hard you try to stop it there will always be someone cheating the system. This book teaches a good lesson and would be handy for others to read, I feel I got a lot more out of it than others would though. Author, Context & Trivia: The author of this book isn’t really a writer, he just wrote about his life. Although, he did release another book called “Catching the Wolf of Wall Street”. It is more of an overview of how he was caught and how he has changed his life around. I probably won’t read it because I have pretty got all the satisfaction out of reading about this mans life as I ever will. Collins, Suzanne. Catching Fire. New York: Scholastic Press. 2009.
Reason, Type & Setting: I decided to read Catching Fire because I found the previous book in the series, The Hunger Games, very interesting and compelling. I actually am not the biggest the fan of reading but I couldn’t put this one down. This book was adventurous, action packed and even a little mysterious, all things I love in a good novel. The setting takes place in what seems to be North America, only more futuristic. Plot: The Hunger Games is the main focus throughout this book, but as drama boils between the characters they start to notice what really matters. The Hunger Games is an event that reminds me of a futuristic Coliseum battle. There are 12 districts in the country of Panem. There are two people chosen from each district, a boy and a girl, to compete in the hunger games. Without a choice each competitor is taken from their small town and brought into the Capitol where the rich and snobby people live. From there they are treated like royalty and trained to fight. In the previous book of the series, The Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark won the hunger games by threatening to consume poisonous berries simultaneously, making neither on them a victor. Considering there is supposed to be one winner, and one winner only, the government wasn’t pleased. From then on Katniss has been under their watch. This rebellious act has gotten the towns people riled up and there seems to be a loss of control from the Capitol. Any surviving competitors from previous hunger games should never have to enter the arena again but in spite, the government of the Capitol had decided to make Katniss and Peeta fight amongst 22 other victors from previous hunger games, making for the best battle yet. Character: Katniss Everdeen plays the main character throughout this book and the series. She is probably 18 or 19 and yet so young, she is so mature. She is athletic and well experienced in hunting, fighting and surviving, all necessary to live the life she has. Katniss plays the role of a previous hunger games victor and one that has been well noticed, considering she is the only one to stand up against the Capitol. I choose this character because she is the main character and has an extensive depth in personality. In the first book you see how she really cares for her family, especially her little sister and that nothing will get in her way of protecting them. And now you see how she is devoted to keeping Peeta alive because she feels she is in debt with her life. Katniss interests me because she is basically a badass, she can fight, hunt and is portrayed as attractive. Katniss has really discovered herself because all that she has been through. From a twenty two person death match to deciding which boy to love, to risking her life for one of them. Evaluation: I really enjoyed this book because it always had something adventurous or action packed going on, there wasn’t much “down time”. This is one of the few styles of books I can really enjoy. From this book I learned that family will always be there for you but you can’t guarantee that for friends, so don’t ever leave them behind. I would definitely recommend this book to others because it is a fairly easy read and theres no way you can’t enjoy it. This book could very easily represent the future considering this sort of thing happened in the past with the Coliseum and history does repeat itself. It also relates to our government and how they are very controlling of us and we need to stand up for ourselves. I would recommend this book to others so they could see how this represents our standards of living and be enlightened on how cruel the government can be. If I was placed into this book as Katniss Everdeen, I’m not exactly sure how I would handle this situation. I would definitely be scared for my life. I feel besides becoming romantically involved with both Peeta and Gale, she handled the situation as best as she could. Showing she isn’t easily pushed around, but does have a soft side. Author, Context and Trivia: Suzanne Collins had written her fair share of books, her most popular books being The Hunger Games Trilogy and The Underland Chronicles. I don’t know much about the author and I have only read one other book by her, The Hunger Games, but from what I can tell she is a decent author and some of her books were popular enough to be produced into a movie. A similar series of books I’ve read was the Alex Rider series, this was a while back but these books had the same action, adventure style that I prefer. I do plan on reading the next book in this series, Mockingjay. Lehane, Dennis. Shutter Island. New York, New York: Harper Collins. 2003.
Reason, Type and Setting: I choose this book because it caught my eye as I quickly scanned the spines of Fehrenbacher’s small library. This book is about a psychiatric patient who is lost in his mentally insane brain. He lives a life thinking he isn’t who he really is. It takes place in the 1950s, on an island off the coast of Boston, Massachusetts. I picture the island a lot like Alcatraz. Plot: Edward “Teddy” Daniels, the main character, is a patient at a mental hospital. As a part of his rehabilitation, this elaborate scheme put on by the hospital, tricks him into thinking he is investigating this island as a U.S Marshall. He thinks that the patients on the island are being drugged and tested by some illegal government experiment. His partner Chuck, who is really his psychiatrist, acts as his partner investigating the mental hospital. Teddy also thinks he is going to get revenge by finding the man who killed his wife, Andrew Laeddis. The reason he is a patient at the hospital is because his wife, who was also mentally ill, killed their three kids, and in revenge he killed his wife. Throughout the book he convinces himself that they are drugging him with psychotic drugs and he tries to stop taking them, unfortunately these drugs are what are keeping him sane. So as he thinks he is become sane he is actually hallucinating most of it. At one point he wanders off into the forest, thinking up all these theories and when he makes it back to the hospital he is told he has no partner, that Chuck doesn’t exist. He has always thought these lobotomy treatments take place in the lighthouse, so he decides to venture there in search of Chuck. Once he gets there, he only finds the hospital administrator, Dr. Cawley sitting in a seat. Dr. Cawley tells him he has killed his wife and that he is Andrew Laeddis. In disbelief Teddy grabs a gun hanging on the wall and tries to kill Dr. Cawley, only to find out it is a toy water gun. After that Chuck walks in, revealing his true identity. Teddy finally realizes he killed his wife and his U.S Marshal days were long ago. The next morning, Teddy and Chuck are talking, Teddy says something implying that they are still are U.S Marshals and Chuck replies agreeing. Chuck then signals to Dr. Cawley that the recovery was unsuccessful and Teddy is taken away. Either Teddy to die, or could not except the fact that he killed his wife. Character: Andrew Laeddis was a rugged man who was determined to find the truth, unfortunately it might have not been what he wanted. His best quality was determination, he was determined throughout the entire story, until he found the truth at which point he gave up. Andrew Laeddis plays the role of a U.S Marshal and the role of a mentally insane patient. I chose this character because the whole story was based around him. Andrew Laeddis was a crazy character who took you on an adventure throughout the story, leaving you to almost believe in his theory against the government. The ending of the story changed Andrews whole perspective on life, on who killed his wife, that is why he decided to give up and just let them take his life. Evaluation: I found this book intriguing and a good read. Although it was not that informing, it entertained me throughout the entire read. This book was an example of how you can believe something with all your life but it could still be false. I would recommend this book to others as a mysterious, adventurous book, that is a little challenging to follow. In real life there are mentally insane people who live at hospitals, maybe not on islands but they do exist. This book reminds me of crazy people who have a conspiracies against the government, not trusting them, thinking they are using us. I feel this book is more for entertainment than for educational purposes but everyone can use a good mystery. If I was Andrew Laeddis, I would be terrible lost. I would believe they were drugging us, I would believe that I was right and I definitely would have acted the same. I thought the book might have ended with Andrew being correct, and they were actually doing experiments on them. I probably would have preferred the book to end that way, it would have given me satisfaction. Author, Context and Trivia: Dennis Lehane has written many other books, which I have not read, but I did some research and a lot of them involve the early 1900s, corrupt cities, and Boston, Massachusetts. It seems he likes writing about adventurous characters and their journeys. This book was not like anything else I’ve read - keep in mind I haven’t read very many books - it was something I enjoyed but I probably won’t read something similar just because of it’s individual style. Sheff, Nic. Tweak. New York, New York: Simon & Schuster. 2007.
Reason, Type and Setting: I asked Fehrenbacher for a book to read and he offered me anything from his small library of books. As I scanned the spines of the books, I read “Tweak” in bold letters. I pulled it out and read “growing up on methamphetamines”. I was sold. This book is a memoir according to the author, basically a first person biography of Nic Sheff. It takes place in between San Francisco California - where most of his drug using goes on - and Los Angeles California - where he goes to try to become sober. Also, they go to Honolulu, Hawaii. Plot: Nic Sheff is the main character. He comes in contact with many other characters; Lauren, Zelda, David Shedd, Daisy, Jasper, Gack. There are a few more but I don’t remember them all. Throughout this book you are taken on a rollercoaster of ups and downs, with Nic doing drugs on and off. It starts off talking about how much potential there is for him. His writing was published in Newsweek, prestigious universities are providing him with scholarships, he has a better than average life going for him. He said he’d smoked pot and drank a lot in high school, and experimented with a few other drugs but that was all behind him, so he thought. After eighteen months of sobriety, he relapsed. Standing on the corner of Haight Street in the heart of San Francisco, all that work thrown down the drain. From then on things got worse, he was living on the streets, slinging drugs with another street junkie. He also had gotten Lauren, his old friend into heroin and occasionally meth. They soon started dating. Once he finally had it he went back to Los Angeles to live where he previously did, with a friend. Trying to sober up was the biggest challenge, the first few days he just shivered and sweated on the floor of his apartment, trying to get back to normal. Character: The main character is Nic Sheff, a relapsing junkie who had great potential. In first couple of pages Nic is described and there seems no way he would ever go back to drugs. He had it all going for him, the prestigious colleges, published writing, there was no reason to go back. Without much warning Nic is back in San Francisco, drunk and stoned of ambien… He embraces his relapse and just goes along for the ride, which takes him on a HIGH-way to hell. Throughout the book he does not show much strength or intellectual knowledge, It doesn’t seem like he could be this great student who once was planning on going to a university. Evaluation: I found this book very interesting, considering I could actually stay focused enough to read it. That must mean that I liked it, otherwise I wouldn’t have remembered a single thing. I found the whole drug aspect of it very intriguing, being able to hear someones first hand experience with methamphetamines. I was enlightened on how easy it is for all your work to be thrown away because of one mistake. It doesn’t seem fair that so much hard work can be gone because of one bad thing. It’s like a mistake can wipe away everything yet doing good doesn’t get you much unless you put in one hundred percent throughout your life. I would definitely recommend this book to others. It is an easy read because the writer uses first person and doesn’t try to make it all fancy and esteemed, he just writes it how it is. This book doesn't apply to my real life situation but it shows you how someone just like me could end up going down a dark path without control. After reading this book it makes you realize the reality of life and why people end up the way they are. The ending of the book was satisfying, I don't think it could have ended any other way. Author, Context and Trivia: Nic Sheff has also written, We All Fall Down. I know that this book writer specializes in his life story, mainly talking about living with an addiction. I have not read his other book or any books like this but I do plan on reading We All Fall Down next. |