Sunday, July 8, 2012

Summer Reading Reviews

Well it's finally done! All of the required books I had to read to start my sophomore year are completed with essays written for each one. Who's the procrastinator now?
For both Honors English II and AP European History, I had to read two books each, all four from  different backgrounds. Since I spent so much time and effort on them, I will give a book review on each so maybe you will find one interesting and read it (Or not. Whatever).  


For Honors English II, I read the novel Into The Wild, by Jon Krakauer. It chronicles the short life of Christopher Johnson McCandless, who after his graduation from college donates all of the money in his bank accounts to charity, burns all of his cash, gives up most of his worldly possessions, and hits the road to hitchhike to Alaska to live in the wild, unbridled of the problems of the world he left behind. Along the way, he encounters many communities and touches the lives of countless people while he left behind a loving family. His odyssey was one of solitude and soul searching, but right as he is about to return to society after four months of isolation, he tragically dies of starvation in the Alaskan wilderness. When I first started the book, I thought, "Nutcase kid, wilderness, early death, etc. blah blah blah." But as the book unraveled the life of McCandless and his goals, hopes, and dreams, I was moved by his quest and felt inspired by the events that transpired. It's an awesome book for adventure seekers and anyone who feels compelled to sit and think for a while. 


The second book I read for Honors English II was the novella The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. It is a memoir of sorts and weaves a tale of culture and adolescence effortlessly against the background of a poor Latin neighborhood in Chicago. Although it is a critically acclaimed novel for the ages and I did find some interesting passages while reading, I found it to be a boring, complex book that did not have to be told in a series of vignettes spanning one hundred and ten pages. The whole story could have been told in less than twenty pages. If you do want to read it, I would recommend it for those of you who like to learn about different cultures and those who like memoirs and short reads. 


Now onto the opposite end of the spectrum, history! 


The first book I was required to read was Out Of The Flames by Lawrence and Nancy Goldstone. It tells the story of the heretic genius Michael Servetus, who wrote one of the most controversial books in Christianity to date, was burned at the stake for it, and all of his copies of the work destroyed along with him. However, throughout history, three different copies of the book continued to crop up among different owners in various parts of Europe, and later, the United States. The book delves deeper into Servetus's background and the ideas, reformers, inventions, and political/religious masterminds of his day to create a man who is know for ushering in the Renaissance Age and being the first "Renaissance Man". It is a work of nonfiction and I can't imagine most teenagers reading it for fun, but if you are a fan of The Da Vinci Code, Angels & Demons, etc. this book is for you.  


This fourth and final book I will be describing was the second book I had to read for AP Euro. Thankfully, we were able to pick a work off a whole list of books, so I chose The Lady and The Unicorn by Tracy Chevalier. It is a historical fiction novel that takes readers through medieval France and Brussels on a romantic romp that tells the story of the painter Nicolas des Innocents who is commissioned to design six tapestries for a French noble. There, in Paris, he falls in love with the noble's daughter, Claude, and is separated from her when he goes to Brussels to weave the tapestries and clashes with the talents of the various guilds while there.......and falls in love with the daughter of the weaver who is finishing his beloved tapestries! It is a choice for Nicolas and the story is told through the different perspectives of the members of both families he stays with. Nicolas eventually moves on, but his love for these women lingers in the figures of his tapestries, which tell the story of the seduction of a unicorn by the aforementioned lady. I LOVED this book because it was rich in detail and it was interesting to hear all sides of the story from at least ten different perspectives. I recommend it for ANY girl, especially one who loves history, romance, drama, and art (or all of those combined!).








To all who are reading this blog, if you don't know me I am a very avid reader, so I will be giving book reviews every once in awhile. I hope you may pick up a copy of one of these and enjoy them!



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