''The Great Gatsby'' by F.Scott Fitzgerald

“So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” 

― F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

Rating:4,5/5

I've heard a lot about ''The Great Gatsby'' (well, who hasn't?), but I've always considered it just another boring classic. And you know what? I was totally mistaken.

So, I have this rule that I can't watch a movie without reading the book that it's based on and I always follow this rule. And when ''The Great Gatsby'' movie came out, I wanted to watch it very much. That's why I had to read the book. And now this book is my second favourite classic (the first one is ''Gone with the Wind'').

The story is told by 30-years old Nick Carraway, a Yale graduate, World War I veteran, who moved to New York from Midwest in after-war years to become a bond salesman, however, deep inside, he dreams of being a writer. The story starts with Nick telling that 2 years ago, he bought a small and desolate house in New York's suburbs, in a village called West Egg. The main hero of a story is Nick's neighbour, Jay Gatsby,  a mysterious and eccentric loner, who is an owner of a luxurious mansion with a marble pool, huge library and gigantic park.
It is set in a beautiful time. The after-war years, the age of jazz, the American Golden age or simply early 1920-s. Business, money, parties. Gatsby is a man who became a self-made billionaire, rose to glory, but fell because of his passion and  unfortunate accident. 
I'm not sure I fully understand this book yet, and I'm sure that when I re-read, my opinion on it will change, but right now I don't like any of the characters. Nick for just being the witness and not trying to stop the tragedy, Gatsby for being so obsessed with winning back Daisy and Daisy for being selfish.
What I like about this book is that it's really short, around 180 pages. It makes it much more fun to read. And it may be the key to success of the book.
Maybe it's because I didn't expect much of a book, it exceeded my expectations and turned out to be very good. The Great Gatsby is a book that I want to read and re-read again and again and I know this one thing for sure: ''The Great Gatsby'' is truly Great.

The Ghost and the Goth by Stacey Kade

Summary: 
Alona Dare–Senior in high school, co-captain of the cheerleading squad, Homecoming Queen three years in a row, voted most likely to marry a movie star… and newly dead.

I’m the girl you hated in high school. Is it my fault I was born with it all-good looks, silky blond hair, a hot bod, and a keen sense of what everyone else should not be wearing? But my life isn’t perfect, especially since I died. Run over by a bus of band geeks—is there anything more humiliating? As it turns out, yes—watching your boyfriend and friends move on with life, only days after your funeral. And you wouldn’t believe what they’re saying about me now that they think I can’t hear them. To top it off, I’m starting to disappear, flickering in and out of existence. I don’t know where I go when I’m gone, but it’s not good. Where is that freaking white light already?

Will Killian–Senior in high school, outcast, dubbed “Will Kill” by the popular crowd for the unearthly aura around him, voted most likely to rob a bank…and a ghost-talker.

I can see, hear, and touch the dead. Unfortunately, they can also see, hear and touch me. Yeah, because surviving high school isn’t hard enough already. I’ve done my best to hide my “gift.” After all, my dad, who shared my ability, killed himself because of it when I was fifteen. But lately, pretending to be normal has gotten a lot harder. A new ghost—an anonymous, seething cloud of negative energy with the capacity to throw me around—is pursuing me with a vengeance. My mom, who knows nothing about what I can do, is worrying about the increase in odd incidents, my shrink is tossing around terms like “temporary confinement for psychiatric evaluation,” and my principal, who thinks I’m a disruption and a faker, is searching for every way possible to get rid of me. How many weeks until graduation?


Review: Well this book started off a little slow, or at least how I saw it. I know a lot of people thought that this book started off with a bang. The bang being the main character dies right at the beginning. A lot of times when I read books like this, where they are ghosts involved I actually like when they start it off like that. Although this time I actually wanted to see how the main character was before she died. Yeah she was Alona Dare the most popular girl in the school, the girl that seems to have everything, and is envied by everyone, but we later on realized that's not true. The world is not sunshine and rainbows for Alone Dare. It was great that they didn't make her as annoying as most popular girls in books are, which is really why I actually liked her as a character. Same goes for her boy counterpart. The book might have started off a little closed off, but as I got deeper into the story line I got a bigger glimpse inside the characters and after that the pages just kept turning. It wasn't until the end of the book until I realized that there are two other books, and it's a trilogy, so yeah I was pretty excited about that haha. I'm not sure if I should recommend this exactly, but i'm not going to say you shouldn't read it because you should. if you're patient enough to get through the beginning then I think that you'll actually like this book.

The Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay

Summary: Former piano prodigy Nastya Kashnikov wants two things: to get through high school without anyone learning about her past and to make the boy who took everything from her—her identity, her spirit, her will to live—pay.

Josh Bennett’s story is no secret: every person he loves has been taken from his life until, at seventeen years old, there is no one left. Now all he wants is be left alone and people allow it because when your name is synonymous with death, everyone tends to give you your space.

Everyone except Nastya, the mysterious new girl at school who starts showing up and won’t go away until she’s insinuated herself into every aspect of his life. But the more he gets to know her, the more of an enigma she becomes. As their relationship intensifies and the unanswered questions begin to pile up, he starts to wonder if he will ever learn the secrets she’s been hiding—or if he even wants to.

The Sea of Tranquility is a rich, intense, and brilliantly imagined story about a lonely boy, an emotionally fragile girl, and the miracle of second chances.

Review: Wow, just wow. this was an outstanding book. My review will definitely not do this book any sort of justice. It was so wonderfully well written, and I am still so surprised I picked it up. I usually don't go for books that give that depressing feel, but this was heart breaking and encouraging at the same time. I honestly don't know what to say it had to be one of the best books I read this year. It is a very character driven book, and the author amazingly ties in romance. It'd be really smart of you if you picked up this book.

SRCParty - ONE WEEK TO GO!!!

So, there is now one week left until our party, and so there are some things that need nailing down.
1. Who's coming? (a ballpark number is nice to have for those bringing food, setting up prizes, etc.)
2. Is everyone ok to start at 6:30? Should it be earlier? Later?
3. What's everyone bringing? (everyone should bring something to eat/drink (and everyone should bring something different))
4. In terms of activities, do we just follow last year's pattern (given in my previous post about the party) or do we want to do something different (if so, what?)?

So, the date, time and location we have set for it as of now are:
Friday, August 16th
6:30 PM - closing (9:30 PM)
Brighouse Library - Children's Program Room

See you then!

The Judgement Stone by Robert Liparulo

Amazon.com Summary:
Former Army Ranger Jagger Baird thought he had his hands full with the Tribe—the band of immortal vigilantes fighting to regain God’s grace by killing those opposed to Him. But that was before he encountered the ruthless group of immortals called the Clan. The Clan is after a prize that would give them unimaginable power—a piece of the Ten Commandments known as the Judgment Stone.
Those who touch the Stone can see into the spiritual world: angelic warriors, treacherous demons, and the blue threads of light that signal the presence of believers in communion with God.
By following the blue beam radiating from those closest to God, the Clan plans to locate His most passionate followers and destroy them.
Jagger quickly realizes his high-tech gadgetry and training are no match for these merciless immortals. But how can he defeat an enemy who hunts believers through their prayers . . . and won’t stop until they’ve annihilated all those close to Him?
In this high-action thriller, best-selling author Robert Liparulo examines the raging battle between good and evil on earth . . . and beyond.
Review:
Now as those of you who were here last year know, Robert Liparulo is tied for first on my list of favourite thriller authors. If I'm honest though, his books can be a bit of an acquired taste, and with this series, it is becoming more 'acquired' in nature than ever.
That said, the real question is, does The Judgement Stone (yes, I am using the Canadian spelling of judgement - the Americans don't have the first e)) return to Liparulo's signature levels of suspense and intensity after the so-so The 13th Tribe (the first in this series) or does it descend to the levels of his nearly-dreadful Comes a Horseman (his first novel ever)?
Well, the good news is, in The Judgement Stone Liparulo returns to the stylings that made Germ, Deadfall, and Deadlock so amazing. While The Judgement Stone isn't as good as the aforementioned three novels, it is definitely an improvement over The 13th Tribe and I quite enjoyed it. Just like in Germ, Liparulo's intensity and pacing go from 0-60 on the first page, and only increase from there. He absolutely burns rubber through the rest of the book, barely slowing down or letting off for more than a minute or two at any one point. This is where part of the "acquired taste" part comes in. The sheer blistering pace of the book means that it has a very compressed timeline - the entire plot takes place within a period of 2-3 days.
The incredibly fast pace of the novel also leads to an inherent weakness - it leaves little room for development. As a result, neither the characters nor the plot is particularly deep and/or heavy/thematic in nature, which can lead to some parts feeling slightly cheesy. That said, good effort is put into answering some of the difficult questions pertaining to the themes the book does contain, they are just not discussed to the depth that they would be in, say, a Steven James novel. With some effort, the character side of the issue could be resolved, for example, Liparulo developed John Hutchinson and co. quite well in Deadfall and Deadlock, but, unfortunately, in this case, it wasn't.
My only other problems are with plot elements within the series. Firstly, I find the premise of the trilogy a little hard to swallow at times, and there was a twist involving Jagger (man do I find that name cheesy) at the end of The 13th Tribe that left me mildly disgusted but which, of course, now has to be carried through the rest of the trilogy as well.
All in all, The Judgement Stone wasn't Liparulo's best piece of work, but it was still an very much enjoyable, if light, read. Highly recommended to fans of supernatural fiction, and any kind of action thriller (although you should read The 13th Tribe first, since it comes prior to this one in the series).
4.5/5 stars

The Serpent's Shadow by Rick Riordan

Goodreads' Summary:

He's b-a-a-ack! Despite their best efforts, Carter and Sadie Kane can't seem to keep Apophis, the chaos snake, down. Now Apophis is threatening to plunge the world into eternal darkness, and the Kanes are faced with the impossible task of having to destroy him once and for all. Unfortunately, the magicians of the House of Life are on the brink of civil war, the gods are divided, and the young initiates of Brooklyn House stand almost alone against the forces of chaos. The Kanes' only hope is an ancient spell that might turn the serpent's own shadow into a weapon, but the magic has been lost for a millennia. To find the answer they need, the Kanes must rely on the murderous ghost of a powerful magician who might be able to lead them to the serpent's shadow . . . or might lead them to their deaths in the depths of the underworld. Nothing less than the mortal world is at stake when the Kane family fulfills its destiny in this thrilling conclusion to the Kane Chronicles.

Review:

After reading the second book of the "Kane Chronicles" series, it was so bad that I wasn't really interested in picking up another book of the same series. But after a while, I had my second thoughts, and decided to give this book a shot. I was hoping Rick Riordan would change up the unconvincing resolutions while keeping the same level of intensity and humor. And thankfully, this last book in the series did live up to my expectation.

The Serpent's Shadow might not be equally as good as the first book of the series, but it was undeniably better than the second. Number one: this book is humorous, definitely more than both the first and the second book combined. It made the plot and conflict off this book not as challenging as it should be, while making the book entertaining. Number two: the plot is interesting, with intense events, electrifying moments, one after another, and relatable as well as exciting characters, both new and old. And number three: a thoroughly entertaining and satisfying ending concludes the series (which I think is about time).

The humor in this book is what made it so different from the other two. The two characters, Sadie and Carter Kane, had told the story in a very brother-and-sister way, making every chapter amusing to read. I laugh my head off every so often (every two minutes). With all the humorous sentences, phrases and dialogues, the two main characters in this book seem to say something like "We just survived doomsday, you know. We saved the world. No big deal, really. Now we can have a nice laugh over it." I was never bored, because I was too busy laughing over the humorous details and events every page or so.

Though with the humor, it couldn't hide the true conflict and the plot. Humor did make it less troublesome, but it was still obvious that the conflict is dangerous and challenging. And in order to solve the problem, there must be action and intensity, and you can never get enough of those. This book is full of electrifying moments chasing one another like heartbeats, pages after pages, chapters after chapters. Endless battles between the gods and non-stop action from the characters are never enough in this book. The high level of intensity is kind of like when there is just too much air in a balloon, it exploded. The events are just too intense and breath-taking that they leave me standing on the tip of my toes, frantically flipping pages to find out what will happen next.

Rick Riordan is great at combining non-stop action and laughable events in just simple paragraphs and sentences, sometimes even small phrases. He had put them together so well, like mixing ice cream and coke together (not very appealing, I know), but he mix them so well that you can have a taste of both, in a perfect combination. Action and humor literally alternate, one after another, making laugh my head off and suddenly holding my breath and quickly flip the pages. I had kept my fingers crossed, hoping this book would be more Rick-Riordan-like, and thankfully, this book is just that.

5/5, no doubt what so ever.

Prodigy by Marie Lu

Goodreads Summery:

June and Day arrive in Vegas just as the unthinkable happens: the Elector Primo dies, and his son Anden takes his place. With the Republic edging closer to chaos, the two join a group of Patriot rebels eager to help Day rescue his brother and offer passage to the Colonies. They have only one request—June and Day must assassinate the new Elector.

It’s their chance to change the nation, to give voice to a people silenced for too long.

But as June realizes this Elector is nothing like his father, she’s haunted by the choice ahead. What if Anden is a new beginning? What if revolution must be more than loss and vengeance, anger and blood—what if the Patriots are wrong?




My Review:

The reason I started on this series was because it was meant to be like The Hunger Games, and since I was a huge fan of that series I thought giving this a try would be a good idea. It was probably the best idea I've ever had!!!Prodigy is by far the best book I've ever read!Second in the legend series, it is a perfect mix of romance, suspense, and action.

I've never been a big fan of books with lots of romance. I mean girl meet boy, they fall in love, then fight some evil guy that's trying to keep them apart....BORING! But this book was nothing like that. They weren't fighting for love but for change instead. For the most part it was action and suspense, making it so much more interesting. The main plot line of this book was June and Day trying to chose right from wrong and give the people a voice instead of them being forced because of the fear they had towards the military. However unlike other authors, the main characters were so conflicted towards there goals to the very end, which made them do stupid, amusing, and interesting thing, that led to me to reading the book up to 4 am trying to figure out what there next move would be with no luck. I love how she wrote them in both the main characters point of view, so you see the same story in two completely different perspectives. The writing was so well written that you could easily go into the heads of both the main characters and picture yourself living the lives of June and Day.Marie Lu took so many twists and turns in the plot that I never knew what was coming next! And she still managed to write one of the saddest and very unexpected ending that had me crying.
Even though this book tied up many lose ends I am so glad that Ms. Lu is releasing a third book on the series.(Champion) I'm convinced that, any book by her is bound to be a page turning perfection! From a scale of 1-5 I'd give this book a 15.:)