Saturday, August 22, 2015

Review of Cinder by Sulphia Iqbal

Book Review of Cinder
By Sulphia Iqbal

Author of Cinder : Marissa Meyers
Book One of the Lunar Chronicles

Every book has a unique way of changing something original to something and intriguing. When I read Cinder,I was amazed how well Marissa Meyers pulled that off in this book. Cinder is an interesting combination of a Cinderella Classic and Science-Fiction, which, to my amusement , worked out awesomely. And don’t worry, you don’t have to be a princess-lover or something of that sort to like this book. This is coming from someone who absolutely hates Fairy Tales. :)
Cinder, a cyborg mechanic, lives in a dystopian world filled with androids and humans. She operates a mechanic stall at a street market in New Beijing and lives with her evil stepmother ( Sound familiar? ). She meets Prince Kai, who is the heir to the throne. He becomes dependable friend and soon, changes her life. When Cinder’s stepsister get the savage plague that has been killing millions, her stepmother naturally blames it on her,who, to her stepmother’s belief, is a irresponsible robot human freak . When the Emperor dies, Kai takes the throne and the Lunar Queen comes to form an alliance. No one on earth trusts Lunars, but if peace is wanted, the Emperor must do everything in their power to stop war. No one except Cinder knows for sure that the Lunar Queen has other motives and when Cinder learns an impossible truth,she realizes that she alone must make many choices that will either bring peace or the wrath of Queen Levana upon Earth. The fate of both Earth and Luna rests on her shoulders.

Intrigued? Check out Cinder in the Library today!

Thursday, August 13, 2015

book reviews from Saleena 8/13/15

I grabbed this because it was a summer reading book for Crossroads Middle School and I wanted to be able to speak about, it's one of my favorite books of the year.  It's the story of a quirky little girl, Willow Chance who is obsessed with plants and order (perhaps on the autism spectrum, but it isn't clearly stated); she's had a pretty good life with her adopted parents who really work to make things good for her.  Then, she is labeled a "problem kid" because she takes the state test and gets a perfect score and everyone is sure she's cheated.  Rather than fight it, she goes along and meets another quirky set of characters; her school counselor (he specializes in problem students) and two other clients of his who are close to her age and are 1st generation immigrants.  Then one terrible day, Willow experiences a terrible tragedy and she shuts down emotionally.  She is left alone and feeling numb, but small things really do make a difference and the meat of the story is what happens AFTER the tragedy.  I loved this book so much, it made me cry (but in a good way).

My good friend Nikhil bought himself a copy of this and lent it to me...I read it so fast you'd have thought there was a prize at the end.  I fell in love with his writing in his first novel, Ready Player One, and this one was equally awesome (but had nothing in common)
Zach has spent his life obsessed with video games, and then one day; just like in the movies, he is recruited to save the world based on his amazing abilities as a gamer.  Zach just knows that something is off with this, that somehow life doesn't work like this...but there are the aliens, and they are shooting to kill.   SUCH a good book!!!

50 Cent wrote this book awhile ago and I must confess I wasn't in a hurry to read it, as it came out just when a ton of other celebrities had decided to write books; and most of them were pretty terrible.  I picked this one up though because of a recommendation and am pretty happy to have read it.  The story centers around Butterball who's in counseling for his violent habits and his attitude.  Through the counseling he starts to open up and take a new look at some of the events of his life, and maybe he can turn things around.    This is a gritty read, with a character that felt real, and is supposed to be loosely based on some of 50 Cent's experiences.  I really liked the writing and the story caught me up; I especially like seeing some good things happen when a person tries hard (which I know is unrealistic of me, but hey...I'm a sucker for a happy ending).

This is an interesting account of when a group of counterfeiters decided to attempt to rob Lincoln's grave in order to have leverage against the system and get some of their compatriots freed.  It was a quick and quite enthralling read.

The Tragedy Paper is one I have been hearing about, and so decided to try.  Boy, what a book!   It's in two voices, one a young albino man who attended the private school the previous year and one a very traumatized student in the current year.  The story goes back and forth as the former student describes what happened to him and how it relates to the current student.  All of this is tied into a paper that all seniors are required to write in order to graduate.  A fascinating read!

A quick (but dry) look at 22 women who have worked in a

