The Bowl

     For my blog post, I chose to write about the novel Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan. I had watched the movie version of this story a few years ago, and I thought it would be a good idea to read the book that it is based on. Like other movie recreations, they both match up very well, but I would say the book is better at explaining the backstories of the characters and deepening the plot for the reader. I also read this book a few years after watching the movie, so I didn't remember some of the main points in the story. This genre is normally out of my interests, but the rollercoaster of a plot can hook anyone in.     The book starts off with Rachel and Nick living in NYC as professors. Nick wants to take Rachel to Singapore, where he is from, to meet his family. However, one thing that he "forgot" to mention was that he was born into one of the richest families in the world. To make matters worse, Nick's mother, Eleanor Young, is very particular about who he...

                 Lord of the Flies is a 1954 Nobel-Prize winning novel by William Golding that focuses on a group of boys stranded on an uninhabited island with no connection with the outside world in the middle of a war. At the beginning of the book, the boys try to govern themselves. However, as fear takes over the island and the quest for power rises, the boys are divided and the chances of being rescued slim. I will talk about the message of the book, my thoughts on the book, and the symbolic ending. This will not contain spoilers, but if you do want to see the analysis of the ending of Lord of the Flies , then highlight the white text after the bolded sentence. One of the main driving forces of the plot is fear. This unpleasant feeling of uneasiness, panic, agitation, and doubt ultimately leads the group of boys to split into two groups. One centered around civilization and the instinct to act and live peacefully with the goal of b...

       I read A Rumor of War by Philip Caputo, an actual veteran of the Vietnam War. This book is a true story about Philip Caputo’s service in the Vietnam War. Right off the bat, I REALLY enjoyed this book. It did not lie, and it did not cut back on details for the comfort of the reader. It was like I was actually there, with Philip Caputo. One of the most famous and interesting aspects of the Vietnam War is the political unrest it caused, such as the anti-war protests back in the U.S. In the prologue of this book, a passage makes it clear that this was not about the political aspects of the war. It states “this book does not pretend to be history. It has nothing to do with politics, power, strategy, influence, national interest, or foreign policy; nor is it an indictment of the great men who led us into Indochina and whose mistakes were paid for with the blood of some quite ordinary men. In a general sense, it is simply a story about war, about the things men do...

                                                                                     Starters review                        Starters is a dystopian fiction book by Lisa Price. The book takes place after the spore wars, which utilized biological warfare by spreading disease inducing spore and wiping out anyone who was not vaccinated. Thus, almost all of the people aged 20-60 are dead and the kids and elders who got vaccinated first are left to make due with the remains of the war weary country. Callie is among the generation of kids who were able to be vaccinated, but living through the war was only the beginning to the rough road ahead of her of living on ...

I read a manga online that was fun to see progress and is quite heartwarming. Though slightly perverted and vulgar, I learned a lot about life because the conflicts that arise are from highschool students our age. I remember seeing this at the school library in the manga and comics section so maybe some people can read it when we get back in person! GTO which stands for Great Teacher Onizuka is a story about a young man named Onizuka, a former gang member, and his journey and experiences of becoming a teacher. Despite being held back by his unusual lifestyle and immature personality, he is determined to become a teacher. During his time in high school, he was a legendary gangster known for his fighting skills but moved on to become a teacher. Inspired by his teachers, who made school strict and all about education, he aspires to be a teacher that won’t put education as the only priority and help students enjoy school and fix their internal problems. Onizuka as a character works well wi...

         For this blog post, I chose to review  What If?  by Randall Munroe. This book is not like some that you have read before, but it is definitely one of the most interesting and informative books that I have ever read through. This is unlike most of the other books you have read because it has many scenarios of wild scientific theories, and he says them in funny and (mostly) understandable language with stick drawings inserted once in a while.       One of my personal favorite scenarios was what would happen if the sun randomly "switched off". The normal reader would think that he would say everything would die, but he actually gives a very detailed timeline of what would happen and some of the other things that would happen. The funny part of this chapter was after he described all of the good things that would happen (reduced risk of solar flares, slow of global warming, etc.), he told the readers abruptly that we would all ...

     I read Killing Patton written by Martin Dugard and Billy O’ Reilly. The book provides a detailed, nonfiction look into one of the most famous generals to ever serve the U.S. Military. The book dives deep into the complicated political and mysterious threads that involve the 4 star general’s service in World War II.  For me the most interesting part of the book was about Patton’s death. It talks about what exactly happened, however it provides the mysteriousness around it. *SPOILER ALERT* As Patton was driving with some military friends to go hunting, a 2 ton army truck driving next to them suddenly veered into Patton’s car. Patton was paralized and the skin from his nose to his forehead was peeled. After a couple days in the hospital, he died. The mysterious part is that this Army truck was not only driven by drunk soldiers, but was not supposed to be there. Furthermore, the drivers disappeared promptly after the crash. The book introduces the idea that this ...