Books I want to read next

1. Divergent by Veronica Roth
2. Insurgent by Veronica Roth
3. Allegiant by Veronica Roth
4. Hunger Games series by Susan Collins
5. The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks
6. Room by Emma Donoghue
7. Miss Peregrins's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
8. Hollow City by Ransom Riggs
9. The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen
10. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

Book Talk Presentation

Book Three Review

I’m reviewing The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. This book is about two young cancer patients. One’s name is Hazel Grace Lancaster, who has terminal lung cancer, and the other is Augustus Waters who suffered from osteosarcoma, but has been in remission for a couple of years now. They meet at a cancer support group and quickly take a liking to each other. Over the course of this book, Green takes you through their growing relationship and through their cancer battle at the same time. You’re with them through many of their firsts, and their lasts, riding an emotional rollercoaster the whole way through.

What sets apart this “love story” from another is that there’s no sugar-coated, happy ending. Green takes you face to face with the harshness of reality and the fact that sometimes, things don’t end the way we want them to. The Fault in Our Stars predictably ends with a death. Now saying this you may think the entire book is tragic and tear filled, but John lights it up. He takes their presumably doomed romance and adds life and happiness. He makes you smile and laugh and blush, while at the same time feel for these characters. As crazy as it may seem, it may almost be a happier book then others. If any of you have read The Notebook, you know Noah and Allie go through many hard times throughout the book, mainly pertaining to Allie deciding her fate. It all ends up creating a lot of conflict between them. Now, while The Fault in Our Stars indisputably has conflict, it’s handled much differently. Hazel and Gus both know they aren’t going to live a full life, and they come to terms with that, so throughout the book they live like there’s no tomorrow rather than fighting over stupid little things. The majority of this books tone is on the happier side! This came as a shock to me, as it’s not what’d you’d expect after reading the prologue.

            As for theme, Green has some pretty clear cut themes. They’re not ones you’d have to sit down and think for a long time about. For that reason, if you’re a reader who loves getting deep into the mind of an author, this book probably wouldn’t be for you. Not saying this novel is an easy read, there’s just not a lot of deeper meaning hidden throughout it. It’s more of a simple story, and in some ways it can be predictable. That’s where the author is the weakest; he has a typical plot without any major climax that stops your breath. It doesn’t take away from the characters and their story, it almost adds to the theme. Hazel and Augustus both don’t believe in miracles. They know they’re love will have an end and there may not be an eternity. As Hazel says in chapter 1, “There will come a time, when all of us are dead. All of us. There will come a time when there are no human beings remaining to remember that anyone ever existed or that our species ever did anything.” This shows how she knows she won’t be cured and how she’s accepted it in a beautiful way.

            Like I was saying before, the predictability of this book, doesn’t at all take away from the characters in this story. I have never read a book where I felt like I’ve know the characters their whole life, until I read The Fault in Our Stars. Hazel and Augustus are very similar with their views on the world, but often ‘agree to disagree’ on many subjects. There’s never any bickering between each other because they respect each other’s opinions. I definetly admired that about them. Hazel has a very strong mind and both of them are extremely intelligent. Their conversations would make you think they’re much older than they really are. A passage that definitely caught my attention was Gus’s words on page 153, “I’m in love with you, and I’m not in the business of denying myself the simple pleasure of saying true things, I’m in love with you, and I know that love is just a shout in the void, and that oblivion is inevitable, and that we’re all doomed and that there will come a day when all our labor has been returned to dust, and I know the sun will swallow the only earth we’ll ever have, and I’m in love with you.” Just from this passage you can get a glimpse of how real Green makes these characters. You definetly feel for them in ways you wouldn’t think you ever would.

            On an overall 1-10 scale, I’d rate The Fault in Our Stars a solid 9. Mainly because of how true to life this book is. The characters themselves are so wonderfully crafted and Green has a flawless writing style. This book is indisputably the best love story I have ever read. It’s an outstanding novel, although it may not be incredibly thrilling, it’s definitely worth a read.

Blog Post #9

Do we tend to like books with female or male protagonists?

Thinking about this question was difficult. At first I believed it was all about preference, but thinking about it a little more, I found that there’s more.

In The Fault In our Stars, there's a strong female main character. Hazel does a great job of expressing how she feels about life but at the same time, I wondered if i would like it even more if it was told from a males point of view.

With a female protagonist the story will almost always involve a romance element or a love interest because girls are known for being more focused and obsessed with relationship, where guys could live without them. Also, girls tend to over analyze everything, so having a female narrator or main character would give you a better insight on the character. The great thing about a woman protagonist is that they are very relatable and stand for women’s rights, which middle aged ladies are always looking for. They do a fantastic job building outstanding character-reader relationships, because they are more profound with their feelings.

As for male protagonists, they stray more to the side of action and adventure. You’re much more likely to have an action novel with a leading male character rather than a female. I think this is definitely due to stereotypes. We take tough-guy, strong minded, male characters more seriously than women. This isn’t fair, but it’s simply how we view things. I’m not saying a woman couldn’t do the things a man could, they just are better suited for a romance novel or love story.

I like to read thriller and action, so I always find myself liking the guy main characters better. Also, with a male narrator, they focus in on the story and plot, which I find is a better read than being dragged through someone’s subconscious.

So all in all, I believe that it's better that The Fault in Our Stars was written with a female narrator. I feel this way because she fits the genre better and in result, she enhances the story with her thoughts on the subjects.

Post # 4 (A bit late)

I realized my counting was flawed and forgot to do blog post # 4 for book 1 so here it is:

A quick run down of Thirteen Reasons Why

So 13 Reasons Why is a story about a girl, Hannah, who commits suicide and the tapes she leaves behind. Each of them contains a name and as the tapes a passed around by 13 people, their roles in her suicide are revealed.

This book was very emotional and almost too depressing for me, which is saying something. There wasn't really any happy parts in it and nothing to really look forward to from an emotional standpoint. It did have a lot of suspense when you waited to find out how Clay fit into the story, which is why I think it's such a good book.

All in all, if you do think about reading it, make sure you're ready for some tears.

Blog #8

I feel half-truths are almost cheating in a way. It's like you make up a story that stretches the truth and you realize that it wouldn't be popular if it was fiction because it's not exciting enough, but you know if you said it was completely true, it's be a very popular memoir. So you choose to make people believe that it's a 100% true story. That's not fair to non-fiction writers who are trustworthy and don't lie. You also get a ton of popularity and fame because people believe you're some brave super-human who went through this unimaginable event when in reality, you made half of it up.

Writers who add lies to enhance a true story do not deserve to be put under the non-fiction genre.

In my opinion, if you claim to have written a memoir, it has to be 100% true or else it should be called fiction.

In James Frey’s case, he did deserve to be called out. He made people feel bad for him and believe that he went through a way worse situation than he actually did. If people knew that he lied beforehand, he would most definitely not have sold nearly as many books as he had, let alone have gotten published in the first place. In my eyes, he cheated the system to get more success. If I had read his book and felt all these emotions for him only to later find out that he didn’t even go through the things he claimed he did, I would’ve been hurt. It would’ve completely changed my view on him as an author.

Blog #7 Trailer

Here's our trailer for I Am Number Four