Glory O'Brien's History Of The Future

This book was weird, but in a good way. The plot is sort scattered and is told in flashbacks which is an interesting approach. The story focuses on Glory, who is about to graduate from high school. She hasn't decided what she wants to do in her life. When she was four years old her mother committed suicide so she lives with her father. One day she and her friend Ellie decide to drink a mummified bat (as angsty teenagers do) and they soon find they have the power to see in to the future and past of everyone they look at. This book is strange, if that isn't already obvious from my description. The subplots and they way characters act is strange and reminds me of a Wes Anderson movie. If you are looking for a short strange book that I recommend this one for you.

Me Earl and The Dying Girl

This week I started reading Me Earl and The Dying Girl. It is a clever book with well developed characters, interesting situations, and a witty narrator. Its told from the perspective of Greg Gaines , a senior in high school and self proclaim mediocre film maker. He enjoys making films with his "coworker" Earl.  Greg has made it his goal to go through high school unnoticed, but all of that changes when his old friend Rachel Kushner is diagnosed with leukemia. Greg's mom forces him to talk to Rachel and suddenly Greg's goal of skating through life unnoticed is gone. I loved this book. It was fun clever  and the main character, Greg, is funny and relatable. I would recommend this book to anyone who is willing to read it.

poems

The once was a man named bruce wayne
his parents death made him insane
so he dressed like a bat
fell in love with a cat
and he used his fists to inflict justice and pain

There once was a boy named Sue 
he would have preferred the name Lou
He tried to kill his dad
the song about his life makes him mad
and now Johnny Cash doesn't know what to do

Dr No.

This book was good. It was well paced, well put together, and well written, despite its racist and sexist issues which I talked about in my previous post. The story follows British secret service agent James Bond. He is investigating an island off the cost of Jamaica known as Crabkey, owned by the sinister Dr No. This trip is expected to be a routine check up but something seems off and hunch James discover that there is more to the mysterious doctor than meets the eye. This book was good. The plot was well paced and the suspense was incredible, with that said I will say that there was less suspense than I expected. For a James Bond story it was surprisingly more similar to a mystery than a spy novel. With that said I still enjoyed it, and would recommend it to all who are open to reading it.

Dr No.

This week I began reading Doctor No by Ian Fleming. Before I can talk about this book I must talk about...well, this book, specifically the time period it was written in. 

This book came out on March 31 1958 which was pre civil rights movement and pre equal rights so there are some prejudices. For example, near the begging we are introduced to Quarrel, Bond's Jamaican assistant. He is portrayed as illiterate and not very bright, answering to Bond's every command, acting as somewhat of a servant. These prejudices were not okay then and certainly not okay now, but it should be recognized that they were perceived as more acceptable then than they are today. 

That said this is a great book. This story takes British intelligence agent, James Bond to the island of Crabkey in the Caribbean. He is investigating the disappearance of two agents and there links to Doctor No, the owner of Crabkey, and his possibly sinister intentions. 

So far this book is great. The writing style is interesting, the ideas they play with are engaging, and the characters (despite their controversial portrayals) are cleverly written. James Bond is shown less as a secret agent and more as a detective which in all honesty is an interesting portrayal. I would recommend this book to all who are willing to read it and are mature enough to handle its content.

Slice of life: The question to end all questions

NOTE: Above I have added a poll so you can answer the most epic question in the universe

"So Sloan what do you think?"
Maisie looks at me with her eyebrow raised smirking. I have absolutely no idea what is going on, What I do know is:
- I am at camp
- Ava and Maisie are debating something... again
- I am the deciding factor in this debate
- There are 9 animal heads on the walls ( three rams, one moose, four deer, and one mountain lion)
- I probably should  have been paying attention instead of counting animal heads

" umm... what" I say with an apologetic smile
Ava and Maisie sigh in unison
" Marvel or DC" Ava says pulling her dirty blonde hair into a pony tail
Oh god
The question to end all questions
the ultimate debate and I don't have a side
" I can't choose" I say
"Uggh just say DC" Maisie says " I mean they have Wonder Woman and Batman"
" True" I say '" But Marvel has Rouge and Deadpool, both of which are awesome"
" Exactly!" Ava says triumphantly " and don't forget that DC created Aquaman, commonly agreed to be one of the worst superheroes of all time"
Maisie adjusts her glasses and takes in a deep breath
" Marvel created The Fantastic Four movies commonly agreed to be some of the worst superhero films of all time"
"While that may be true" I say " Marvel did make The Avengers, which was not only directed by Joss Whedon, god of awesome, but was overall an amazing movie"
" and" Ava says smiling " Marvel does have a Doctor Who comic"
" Which is a good comic" I respond " but it constantly ignores the source material, which is so annoying"
"That may be annoying" Ava responds " but Marvel does have a bunch of great movies"
" But does that fix the horror that was the Ghost Rider movie"
"It wasn't that bad"
" Casting Nicholas Cage as Ghost Rider wasn't that bad?" Maisie says " He took one of the best Marvel heroes and butchered it"
"Which is true, also DC is extremely successful when it comes to TV, I mean Arrow, The Flash, Gotham."
" Yes" says Ava " but don't forget that DC allowed Batman and Robin to be made"
Ava turns to Maisie
"Which some consider to be the worst film of all time"
Maisie smiles
" Thank you Ava, I was about to bring up the Batman series" Maisie says" Did I mention that DC made The Dark Night series and both of Tim Burton's Batman's, both of which are critically acclaimed and loved by many"
Right as Maisie finishes the bell rings signaling us that it is time for Dinner.
"This isn't over Maisie" says Ava
" Bring it" Maisie replies
We grab our back packs and walk out of the common area, and run towards the dinning hall.

Schizo

This book is amazing. It has great symbolism, it was very descriptive, and was clever. This book is about a boy named Miles, who has schizophrenia. He is coping with the loss of his brother, who went missing during one of miles's schizophrenic episodes. Feeling guilty about this Miles sets off to find his little brother in order to "redeem" himself in the eyes of his family. Like I said in the previous post, this book is dark and has many dark themes. This book also has some interesting twists especially at the end. I would defiantly recommend this book to the majority of our class.