A Study in Sherlock

The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes 
Doyle, Arthur Conan, Sir. 
Fiction
5/5 stars
   
     Usually in a story like The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes the characters go on some kind of journey, they progress, crisis comes, the audience is intended to learn an important lesson, and that is the end. But because The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is a short story collection, that story line cannot be followed. Doyle designed these stories to be self-contained, so there is not much development across stories within the Adventures, though there might be some crossing of the stories here, and there over all they do not build on each other.  Each story is very different. You can't compare 'Scandal in Bohemia' to 'Man with the Twisted Lip' to 'Hound of Baskerville' to 'Study in Scarlet'. Holmes doesn't always solve the mystery, there isn't always a murder, and there isn't even always a crime. There is no common plot.


  One of the main themes in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is moral weakness: giving in to temptation, giving in to rage, giving in to the desire for revenge, and so on. Weakness is a general theme of the detective story as a whole, it is emphasized in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes stories. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle writes over and over again about declining family fortunes, personal reputation, and social status as a result of moral weakness. In 'The Speckled Band', and also seen in 'The Man With the Twisted Lip' moral weakness is shown. One reason I think that this a big theme in the stories is because at the time the British Government is at the top of its game, and Doyle is subtly reminding the readers not to get cocky because once you are so far up, the only way is down. 


    The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes stories are fairly simple, they do not take long to read at all and they are very intriguing. They move quickly, so you do not get bored easily with the stories, and there is alway a new enticing twist at the end. The stories are narrated in first person by Dr. John Watson Sherlock's assistant, and only friend. Though there are four exceptions where Dr. Watson does not narrate the story. 


     I think that the book was intended to be read, at the time, by anyone who enjoys a mystery, and can understand the writing. Now I think that it is more difficult to understand the writing style, and some of the ways things are worded because we are not accustom to them.  Though the writing is different now I think that the intended audience has stayed the same. 


I would recommend this book to anyone, and everyone. It is engaging, and the stories never feel like you are rereading the same one. They are all different, and they are all exciting. This book was written in the late 18 hundreds, early 19 hundreds, so there are not many quotes on what people think of it, but the copies are still selling today, industries are making films, and series off the stories, so that could be a very good indicator that the stories are well loved still by many.

A story of life and forgivness

For One More Day (2006)
Albom, Mitch
philosophical novel
5/5 Stars









     For One More Day is about a professional baseball star who climbs to the top, gets marries, and has a picture perfect life. Charley Benetto's life goes in an unexpected downward spiral spiral when the troubles of life lead him to the addiction of alcohol, and suddenly his picture perfect life is in tatters. He divorces his wife, loses his team, and loses control over himself. His daughter was married, and he was sent a picture and card, but no invitation. Charley at the lowest point in his life decides to leave this life behind. Mitch Albom writes about Charley's incredible story of "dying" and learning to accept the hand he was dealt in life.

     Charley's life was full of unexplained events. His parents got a divorce and he never heard from his father for quite sometime, and he was not sure if he ever would hear from him ever again, but suddenly his father comes to random events in his life, yet does not leave Charley with the feeling of wanting to be a "Daddy's boy" anymore. This book has a major theme of forgiveness as the story progress so does Charley. He understands what it means to be forgiving and he changes, he forgives himself and others around him for anything that they had done.

     The narrator of the book is first person. Charley tells his story and makes you truly feel like you know him and have grown up with him through it all. The style of the book is written in short chapters that switch back and forth from present to past. You learn about all of the things that have built his character, and you know all of the emotions he is feeling and the thoughts he is thinking.

     Like most of Mitch Albom's books this book is to be taken more seriously, so the audience is most likely going to be mature adults. The book is more dry and harder to understand from some of the things that go on in the story it is hard to believe. The subject is not a light one it is sad, and personable. When you read this book you really do need a serious attitude toward the story or it would be more difficult to take in.

     I would most definitely recommend this book to someone who was willing to read it with a serious attitude, yet if they were not the type for the book I would not be so into the idea of recommending it. I think that if I were to recommend this book it would be to an adult that is okay with reading dry, serious, emotional books because you will experience a wave of emotion if you do read it, so be ready. James McBride, author of The Color of Water said: "For One More Day will make you smile. It will make you wistful. It will make you blink back tears of nostalgia. But most of all, it will make you believe in the eternal power of a mother's love."

Inspirational and deeply emotional

Tuesdays with Morrie (1991)
Albom, Mitch
Nonfiction
5/5 Stars

     Tuesdays with Morrie is a true story about Mitch Albom, and his collage professor Morrie Schwartz. When Albom was in his sociology class they would meet every Tuesday and talk about life, his thesis papers he is writing in collage, and just about anything that they could think of. Albom promised Morrie that when he graduates and goes off to his new life he would not forget his old sociology professor. When Albom graduated he moved away from Brandies University, and got a job as a journalist. Though he truly never forgot about his friend Morrie he was busy in his own life with his job, and family that he never had time to go visit. When Albom was watching television one night and saw Morrie on "Nightline", and he then remember his promise to come and visit, so he calls up his old professor and they schedule a date for him to come down and visit, the next Tuesday. Albom comes down to see him to discover that Morrie has developed Lou Gehrig's disease and he was slowly dying. Albom then made a promise that he would come whenever he could, and he did come every Tuesday he had time he came, and they picked up their old conversations just as they had left them. They talked about love, marriage, life, happiness, and death. A professor and his student.

     One theme that is mainly what Mitch Albom was writing about and what Morrie wanted Albom to understand the most was something that Morrie's Favorite author, W. H. Auden had stated best "love each other or perish". He taught Albom about all the things he had learned in life and what he wanted people to gain from, but he wanted mostly for people to know that.

     The narrator of this book is first person from Mitch Albom's prospective about all of the conversations that went between them. He has a style that will make you want to keep reading but is more mature and defiantly more of a sad read because of the story. Albom makes you really understand the characters, and you feel like you have known them your whole life which makes the book very interesting and indulging.

     The audience ment to read this book is defiantly adult. This is not a book that most teenager would enjoy, but I enjoyed it all the same. The story is true, and it can get rather dull at parts, but other times you never want to put it down because it is such an enticing story. The story is a very serious dramatic read that gets emotional at times because Albom talks about everything in so much depth, so there is no holding back on his stories.

     I would recommend this book to anyone who was willing to take is seriously, and actually read it. The seriousness of it all would make it hard for someone to ready that was not a very deep emotional person. If you enjoy life lesson books, and learning when you read this would honestly be the best book for you. Publishers Weekly wrote: "An emotionally rich book and a deeply affecting memorial".

Move Over Hunger Games--There is a New Competition In Town

 

The Maze Runner (2009)
 Dasher, James
Fiction
5/5 stars








     Thomas woke up in a smelly windowless room, confused, and alone. He could not remember anything, nor anyone except his first name. He heard the walls of the room starting to shift, and he began to move slowly up. The elevator stopped and slowly opened from above. Thomas saw faces slowly come into focus and was lifted from the elevator by a group of boys. He did not know one person, and had no clue where he was. Thomas was told that he was in a place called Glade and all the boys lived there, and now he would too. Glade is surrounded by four massive stone walls that have doors on each side leading into the maze. The doors close each night protecting the boys from the monsters, called Grievers, inside the maze, yet that does not stop them.  Each day a group of boys, Runners, go into the maze to find a way out of Glade, yet each night when they come back to Glade the walls of the maze shift so the runners have a new path every time. After one day of being in Glade Thomas was more confused then when he first arrive, and to make everything even more confusing another person arrived in the box, which only happens once a month, and the new arrival was a girl. After that Glade changed and more chaos erupted, so they all had to find out what was going on.

     In The Maze Runner one of the themes that the book is really based off of is freedom. Thomas and all of the other people in Glade are trapped by an unknown source forced to find their way out, and not knowing how. This is a violation of their freedom and throughout the book they all work to be free of whatever is keeping them.

     The Maze Runner is written in Third person limited narrator, so the story is told just about Thomas from a view that is not himself, so you know his thoughts and feelings, but no one else's. James Dasher wrote The Maze Runner in a very mixed way because he has humor and other parts that are serious, but not super serious.

     This story is more appropriate for late Junior Hight and High School because it got a bit intense, and a little more of a mature plot, and ideas of what the book is about. In the book the author uses some words that do not actually exist, but the boys in the Glade made them up, so it does get a bit confusing to read because it is hard to tell what they are talking about, but once you get into the book it is easier to understand what they are saying though for younger ages it would be a difficult read because they would not know what the words are.

     This book was such a good book especially if you like the Hunger Games series, or anything like those books because they stories are similar, but they are different enough that the story is very original. I would defiantly recommend this book to anyone because the story was so thought out, original, and has twists and turns that make it interesting and very enjoyable to read.

Bitting into a great book!

The Vampire Diaries (1991)

Smith, L. J. 

Fiction

2.5/5 stars 

     Elena Gilbert had always gotten what and who she wanted. She was the prettiest, and the most popular girl in school, everyone wanted her approval. She was always looked up to as the confident young women everyone wanted to be. That is until the summer before her senior year at Robert E. Lee Hight School. Elena's parents were both killed in a car accident leaving her four-year-old sister Margaret and herself to be raised by their aunt Judith. After that everything changed. Though Elena tried very hard to act normal, and confident like she had always been everyone knew she was not the same. When senior year started  she was determined to be that "popular girl that everyone wanted to be"again. On the first day of school Elena, who had always had an eye for boys, spotted one in particular. She had never seen him before, and she was determined to make him hers. Elena makes her two best friends, Bonnie and Meredith swear to do anything and everything they can to help her get him, and because of that without knowing they had just found themselves in the most horrifying year of their lives. 

   Elena finds herself, and finds what it is like to choose right from wrong. She learns that popularity is not all that needs to achieved in life. In the beginning of the book Elena is very egotistic. She only cares what is going on with her life and how she can make her popularity increase even more, but after she meets Stephan her perspective shifts, and she realizes that even though she is no longer the most popular girl she is happy, and she does not care what other people think of her any more. 

     The Vampire Diaries has some humorous parts to it, but mostly it focusses in on the drama of the story. L. J. Smith wrote this book in a third-person omniscient narrator which gives you an inside look on any characters thoughts and feelings at anytime. Though you are mostly reading from the prospective of Elena and Stephan it does switch around to other characters. This is confusing at sometimes because you do need to read a bit into each "change" in order to know what character you are reading from the prospective of because the author does not really give you a hint that the prospective has changed. 

      This book was definitely intended for an older group around 15 year-olds and older, and most likely the gender reading it would be female, but that does not mean males would not like it as well. There are fight scenes quite often adding to the the more intense side of the book, but also watch out there is the lovey-dovey things as well. There is very mild language but the book does have violent  scenes in it so be prepared.

     The Vampire Diaries is actually nothing at all like the Twilight series, but I am still not a die hard fan of the books. The writing is put together well and the plot has many well thought out twists and turns, but I was not totally in love with the story itself, and that could just be that I am not one for vampire love stories, but that is just my opinion. The Vampire Diaries was on the "New York Times Bestselling List" and had many good reviews written about it. 

A great read, but be prepared to lose some sleep

Hunger Games (2008)
Collins, Suzanne
Fiction
   
     24 tributes to start, 1 winner. The Capitol which is surrounded by 12 Distracts holds an event once a year as punishment for rebellion against the Capitol in which during District 13 was destroyed. 1 boy and 1 girl from each district is chosen to participate in the Games, from the ages 12 to 18. They are put in an arena where they fight to the death until one person remains. Katniss Everdeen, a 16-year-old girl, from district 12 volunteers to take the place of her 12 year old sister, prim, in the 74th annual Hunger Games. Katniss and Peeta, the boy tribute from district 12, are then taken to the Capitol to watch previous Hunger Games and learn what they can in order to at least have a chance. They are then taken to the arena where they are all to wait 60 seconds until the gong rings and they can step off their disk, and the games begin.

     In the Hunger Games, Katniss is faced with self- preservation because she is forced to participate in the Games though it means killing other people. Also in the 12 Districts the Capitol controls everything, their jobs, how much they can eat (though they find ways around that) even their education. That shows a bit of what is going on in 3rd world countries such as poverty, and starvation. Also in other countries they have the type of government in which no one has much of a say and they are controlled over everything.

     Suzanne Collins writes in a more serious way on a more dark subject, though there are some romantic sense and even a couple witty jokes it is more of a mature read for the subject matter. Collins uses first-person present tense to tell the story about Katniss and all she does in her part of the Games. The style is not particularly different in anyway, a lot of authors do use this, but it does make it enjoyable to be able to read the story from an "inside view" of the Games.

     Audience wise, young adults would probably find this book the most interesting, but that does not mean that only they can read it, honestly it is a great read for adults too.  Though I would not suggest it for anyone really under the age of 12, because the topic and the violence that is present in this book is probably too much for a younger age. There is no harsh language in the Hunger Games or any terribly graphic sense either. This would be a great read for anyone who is willing to stay up all night reading.

     When I first hear about this book I refused to read it. I told myself I would never even conceder it. Then a friend of mine dropped this book off at my house as a present and I felt bad that I would not use the gift, so I decided to try it out. I was up for the next 24 hours reading it. I would recommend this book to anyone that loves action and suspense. Stephen King, in an Entertainment Weekly article describes the Hunger Games as "A violent, jarring, speed-rap of a novel that generates nearly constant suspense. . . . I couldn't stop reading it." And John Green in The New York Times Book Review says "Brilliantly plotted and perfectly paced." I am so glad I read this book, and I think anyone would enjoy it as well.

The Crucible Cast List

                                                      Reverend Samuel Parris: Dennis Quaid

I chose Dennis Quaid for Reverend Samuel Parris because he seems like the type that could potentially play a family man, but is more preoccupied with his social status then anything else. Another thing is that he can be very sophisticated which is what Reverend Parris is all about, so all in all I believe that he could pull off a good Reverend Parris.







                                                      Tituba: Naiome Harris


Naiome Harris has already pulled off the roll of a voodoo witch doctor in her most famous for her roll as Tia Dalma (the witch in 'Pirates of the Caribbean') proving that she would be an excellent Tituba. She also looks like she could still be caring, as Tituba is toward Abigail and Betty.







                                                     Abigail Williams: Natalie Portman

I chose Natalie Portman for Abigail Williams because
Abigail is portrayed as a strong headed young girl that can also be persuasive. I think that, from the movies I have seen, Natalie Portman could very well pull this off.








                                       Thomas Putnam: Hugh Jackman

Hugh Jackman to me would be a very well played Thomas Putnam. Thomas Putnam is a wealthy yet greedy farmer in the town of Salem. Hugh Jackman has the ability to be different character parts but to me this roll could be a perfect one for Huge Jackman.







Ann Putnam: Angelina Jolie                                       

I think that Angelina Jolie would be a good Ann Putnam because of her excellent talent to be able to play whatever roll given and also the way that she looks is like the way I picture Ann Putnum, a caring women. Also she has her own children so that could be a good way for her to be able to act the roll better  because she can connect it with her own life.







                                         John Proctor: Brad Pitt

Brad Pitt would be a good John Proctor because he has the ability to play characters that are deceptive and also a bit confused about things in his life. Like John proctor, I think that Brad Pitt can tell a convincing lie to get out of things and still stay in control.







 Elizabeth Proctor: Claire Danes

I picked Claire Danes for Elizabeth Proctor because she is Pretty yet plane like Elizabeth and she could be a very proper acting women like Elizabeth as well. In movies she has played in she has been many different characters so this one to me would be easy for her to be.






                                      Marry Warren: Dakota Fanning

I chose Dakota Fanning for Marry Warren because she looks and can act quiet and shy, more like a follower. Marry Warren follows Elizabeth and does whatever she wants her to do like accuse people in the town to be witches.









                                               Rebecca Nurse: Betty


I think Betty White would play a good Rebecca Nurse because of her age and also she seems caring and happy, which Rebecca Nurse would have to be with all her kids and grandkids. She seems like she also can make people listen to her, and I think she could pull off a Rebecca Nurse very well.







                                      John Hale: Christian Bale

 I think that Christian Bale would play a good John Hale because he can be a leader type roll and has an ability like others I have chosen to portray any kind of roll. Much like John Hale he is persuasive and likes the attention in most of his rolls.