Dragonbone Chair Series, by Tad Williams

The Dragonbone Chair series first struck me as a classical fictional novel, filled with dragons, elven humanoids, humans, kings and of course, one powerful evil entity.
Yet surprisingly enough, I was draw into the thick volumes that my teacher had lent me. Despite the plot being cliche in my opinion (Due to seeing many others like it), I was pleasantly surprised at the comprehensive, and well-written story. The events that happen are far too rich and numerous to be contained in one book report, and still given the fairness that they deserve. The story consists of a trilogy known as "Memory, Thorn and Sorrow", and their significance is revealed throughout the story.


The adventure revolves around an ordinary kitchen boy named Simon, who had the (mis)fortune of being the apprentice of Doctor Morgenes in the castle he lived in. Let's just say, a story of treachery, a coup, and a crumbling kingdom follow. Heroes are hard to kill, and villains are even harder. In fact, the main villain of the book seems almost invincible towards the end, his death costs the lives of many other important plot characters in order to reach fulfillment. Rebellions are crushed, homes are lost, yet all is reborn in the end through the ashes. The turns the story takes are quite astounding, not recommended to people that get worked up over the deaths of favourite plot characters. Nevertheless, the story's ending is cliche as well, though by the time one is done reading the full adventure, any redundancy is dismissed by the epic adventure that unfolds.
Tad Williams has often been referred to as "America's Tolkien", which may be a fair statement despite my respect and admiration for J.R.R Tolkien as well.

Blood and Chocolate

People have different opinions when it comes to books. I like romance and horror, and a few others to boot. But after reading Twilight by Stephenie Meyer, I found that I would like to look up some books about Werewolves. After looking, I found Blood and Chocolate. This book has romance and some action, the perfect book for me! Vivian, a sixteen year old loup-garou (Werewolf) and The Five who consist of Rafe, Finn, Willem, Ulf, and Gregory. They are the only pack members of Vivian's age and their group used to include another boy called Axel. Vivian starts high school in the new town, where she has no friends because of her reserved and secretive nature; when later meets a boy named Aiden who wrote a poem about werewolves that was surprisingly accurate with regard to their transformation. She soon figures out Aiden is fully human, but she is still attracted to him and pursues a relationship in spite of who she really is. I wish i could continue to tell you about this great book, but this is only a review to make you want to read it. I can tell you that there is a surprise ending! Go on and read it, you will be surprised.

-AmazinglySedated

Vampire Academy

If you have a craving for an alternative to blood crazy vampires, this is for you. Vampire Academy is about two girls who attempted to escape from the school they attend. They are later caught by the schools guards and promptly returned. But everything they left is no longer the way it was. These two girls have to fight to for their reputation, while continuing the search for the answers to their problems. They become immersed in school history, vampire and demonic history, searching for the answers of what ails Lisa and why the word shadow kissed continues to pop up in reference to Rose's ability to see what is in Lisa's mind. Also, someone is following them. Can these two girls find out how to help Lisa? Can Rose find out where she gets her powers? Can they figure out who is after them? You'll have to read it to find out.

Wild At Heart

John Eldredge in his book Wild at Heart, illustrates how the man's soul works from a man's perspective. One of the very first thing Eldredge says is that every man has three essential desires. Although they can be mistaken, misplaced, or forgotten, but a man's soul from birth desires these three things; A Battle to Fight, An Adventure to Live, and A Beauty to Rescue. In every desire, he tries to give examples of every age of a man's soul, from boyhood to grand fatherhood. One of the main points in these desires that he makes is that "A Beauty to Rescue" drives all of them, every man wants to be that night in shining armor. A Battle to Fight comes from this desire to impress or "rescue" the beauty, a man only has a desire to fight because he needs something to fight for. An Adventure to Live also ties into this because a Woman constantly has a desire for a man that will TAKE her on an adventure. Although men's ideas of adventure could be the wilderness and hiking, a woman's adventure could be a man's also. John Eldridge is this documentary of sorts is basically explaining how a mans inner soul works from a man's point of view. He tries to explain to the wives of the world why their husbands always want to watch football (a battle to fight), or why they have a midlife crisis and buy a 35 thousand dollar Harly-Davidson (an adventure to live) he even explains why their husbands were so nice and impressed them so much when they started dating but their love life has gone down hill (a beauty to rescue). In short, John Eldridge is a slightly less enthusiastic Dr. Phil, saving relationships, one book at a time.

Impulse by Ellen Hopkins

Vanessa, Tony, and Conner have three totally different lives and take three different paths to the same place, Aspen Springs. Aspen Springs is a psychiatric hospital for people who have attempted suicide.Vanessa is a beautiful girl, smart and her life could be great, except for the fact that she gets the urge of cutting herself. Not just cutting her self, but deep enough to kill her. Tony is a boy who went through a tough childhood, and his father left him for years, and the only thing to comfort him is overdosing on pills, so much pills he is on the verge of killing himself, and in the hospital he saves up all the daily depression pills and overdoses on them. Conner has a great life wealthy and all, but nobody knows the inside of his skin, because if they did they would know that he is always in a fight with his abusive parents. Vanessa, Tony, and Conner all took it in until they popped. Vanessa grabbed the knife, Tony grabbed the pills, and Conner grabbed the gun, and tried to end it. Now they were all sent to Aspen Springs to get help, and another chance. And maybe together they will fight this depression.

Crank by Ellen Hopkins

Crank is a book about a young girl who goes to stay with her dad for the summer. While she is there she meets a young boy who introduces her to drugs (crank). She becomes so involved with him and drugs that when she goes home to her mother and family she must have the drug to get through life with her Mother, her "annoying" friends, and school. She sneaks around, skipping school, sneaking out late at night, and going out with older guys. One night, one of those boys raped her and she became pregnant. After that day she decides to tell her mother everything that really has been going on in her life, and quit doing drugs for the baby's sake.

Deadline By Chris Crutcher.

A lot of times I feel like Chris Crutcher lives my life in his books. Sorry, but not this one. I fortunately do have more than one year to live, I hope. Ben Wolf has a pretty good life, he is headed to state in Cross Country his senior year, and makes pretty good grades. For some reason he never sees himself living longer than High School. Ironically he gets the news from his doctor that he has been diagnosed with a semi-terminal disease, and his chances were about equivalent of a 250 pound lineman beating him in the 2 mile. When, "Little Wolf" as they call him, finds out that he only has 12 months to live he denies treatment and devotes his live to not wasting a single second of the rest of his short life. That is one thing he definitely does not do, Little Wolf ends up going out for the football team and becomes a STUD on special teams. He also meets the girl of his dreams, Dallas Suzuki, which I can totally relate to, except for the part where she asks him to homecoming, that hasn't happened yet for me. If you like this so far, I would definitely recommend that you read Deadline- By Chris Crutcher. ITS GOOD

Old Yeller By: Fred Gipson

I think that this book was enjoyable for all. The dog helped out the kids, like to have a pal to play with. I think everyone should have a dog like Old Yeller. What would you do if you have a dog like Old Yeller.

Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyer

Do you like vampires and werewolves? Do you like adventure and just a little romance? Well this book is for you. In the twilight series' fourth book Breaking Dawn you can find all of these things. Stephanie Meyer's new installment takes you on an awesome rind filled with vampires from all over the world, good and evil, and werewolves. In this book Bella must learn to adapt to a new lifestyle and learns about a vampire world bigger then she could ever have imagined, with the Cullen family by her side she races against time to find the answers she needs to keep the ancient vampires form attacking her and anyone who helps her. Can she do? You'll have to pick it up and find out. Happy Hunting!

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy by JRR Tolkien

The Lord of the Rings consists of three books. The Fellowship of the Ring, the Two Towers, and the Return of the King.

Going deep into the lore of the story would take a book of itself, but let it be suffice to say that it all began when the ancient evil's most powerful lieutenant in the physical universe, Sauron is defeated, his reign is thought to have perished.
Yet Sauron in his infinite ambition to preserve and expand his power, had crafted himself a ring that would maintain his essence, and make sure that he would not vanish from the world if he were defeated.
His plan succeeds ultimately. The last Alliance of Humans, Elves and Dwarves that was assembled to defeat him crumble over the centuries, and his vengeful spirit stirs within the ashlands of his former home, Mordor. Through a series of events, the ring that still contained his powerful essence was lost and reaches the hands of a hobbit, Frodo Baggins.

The first book begins with the forming of the Fellowship of the Ring. A band of nine adventurers. Frodo and his three hobbit friends, Sam, Pippin and Merry, along with the humans Boromir, Aragorn, Gimli the dwarf, Legolas the elf, and Gandalf the Wizard. Their mission is set to head to Mordor, and cast the ring intot he volcano known as Mount Doom, in order to utterly banish Sauron for eternity.

The second book, labeled the "Two Towers" follows the corruption of the White Hand, the circle of wizards that Gandalf was a part of. In the tower of Orthanc, the corrupted wizard, Saruman, forges an Alliance with Sauron, who's symbol of might is the tower of Barad-dur within Mordor. The unholy Alliance strengthens as they both build armies to lay siege to the various inhabitants of the vastness of Middle Earth. Many climactic battles occur such as Helm's Deep, the siege of Minas Tirith, and the grandest of them all, Pelennor Fields. All of them ended with the defeat of evil, though the cost was often quite heavy, with many razed villages, destroyed towns, and numerous castualties.

The "Return of the King" fulfills the prophecy of the returning Dunedain King. The Heir of Isildur, who was the man that was responsible for the first defeat of Sauron thousands of years ago. Aragorn, one of the members of the fellowship, reveals his identity. Despite his fears that he too would fall to the temption that his forefathers had fallen to due to the influence of the ring.
As battle rages on however, the fellowship breaks, save for Frodo and Sam who press on to Mordor. After the victory at Pelennor, the remaining armies of Middle Earth march to the Black Gate, hoping to win time and distract Sauron from finding the very ring under his nose as a battered Sam and Frodo finally reach the summit. Despite the struggles of the insane creature known as Gollum, the ring is destroyed. Peace descends upon middle earth as the raging blackness of Barad-dur crumbles before the sunlight.


Despite my poor attempts at summarizing a great book, I would recommend it with my eyes closed if you search for a fantasy setting. JRR Tolkien was not listed as the father of Fantasy fiction for nothing. Even the movies did injustice to the length of the story. The book will easily suck you in , despite some slow parts. I watched the movie before the book, and I still was anticipating many things, I was not disappointed.

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

Twilight

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer is an amazing, captivating novel. If you like suspense, and vampires then you will surely fall in love with this book. The characters are interesting and make you want to keep reading with just the simple words that they think and say.

To tell you the truth, I never really liked reading until my best friend recommended it to me. After that, I was instantly attached to this series and it took me a total of two weeks to read all four of these amazing books. I read all day almost non-stop because it keeps you literally wanting more. I was afraid to stop.

Finally when I was on the last book Breaking Dawn I thought that it was going to take awhile just because of all the pages, but when i got to the last chapter, I wanted to stop reading. I didn't want to finish it so soon, I didn't want it to end. I hope that Stephenie Meyer will never stop writing, she is an amazing writer. I wouldn't believe someone who wouldn't want to read this book if it is leaving me sad to see it end, that is how amazing this book is. This was my Ecstasy, the simple thing making me suddenly addicted to reading; a true miracle for me.

Red Glass by Laura Resau

Sophie lives with her British mother, her Mexican step-father, and her, rather crazy, Bosnian refugee great-aunt in Arizona. Soon after the story begins, Sophie's family takes in an orphan, Pablo, whose parents died while trying to cross the desert from Mexico to the United States. After a year they find Pablo's family deep in Mexico, and decide to go there to see if Pablo wants to stay with them. With her parents unable to come, Sophie journies with Pablo, her aunt, her aunt's boyfriend, Lorenzo, and his son, Angel. It's the start of an adventure, filled with fear, wonder, and discovery.

This book is all about Sophie and the people around her, the world around her. At the beginning of the book, she's afraid of almost everything. . She's a hypocondriac and is scared to death at the thought of losing her parents. So she's invisible, staying out of everyone's way, and yet, even though she's afraid of what people think of her, she's even more afraid of being alone. This story is about Sophie finding herself and letting other people know her, too, maybe enough to fall in love.

Girlbomb

Soon after Janice's thirteenth birthday she realizes how fed up she is with her mother and her boyfriend or actually her boyfriends. She walks out of her house and is left alone in the streets of Manhattan. Finding herself at a shelter for all girls, she is traumatized by how scary these girls are. But she promised herself she would make it on her own just to prove a point to her mother. After her mother accepts that she is no longer a part of her or her little brothers life, she sends money so that Janice is able to live in a real house with other kids and go to a real school. Along the way Janice deals with many things; friends, boyfriends, school and teen issues.

Read this book to find out what happens to Janice and if she makes it to her graduating day.

Blue Bloods By Mellisa De La Cruz

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Posted by AMarie

Beloved by Toni Morrison

This 1987 Pulitzer Prize winning novel is based on the true story of Margaret Garner, a runaway slave who attempted to kill her four children, succeeding in murdering one. In this book, the protagonist, Sethe, also kills one of her four children in order to save the baby from slavery. The baby comes back as a ghost to haunt the house that Sethe and her daughter, Denver, live in, and after a while they tolerate the damage the ghost does. When the ghost comes back reincarnated as a nineteen-year-old woman, she will do anything to get Sethe's love.
I wouldn't recommend this book to just anyone. It has a lot of mature subjects, and also is a challenge to read. But if you're a good reader; don't mind a bunch of murder, sex and violence; and like Faulkner and the slave narrative tradition, this is the book for you! I particularly enjoyed how Morrison leaves gaps in the story for the reader to figure out. Sometimes you understand what you read 100 pages later, and sometimes you have to guess what she means.

Books by Michael Crichton

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Posted by Jerry

Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin

When I first read the description for this book, I didn't think I'd like it. But I loved Elsewhere, Gabrielle Zevin's first book, so I decided to check it out. I was in a Meg Cabot-like book mood at that time, so it sat on my floor for weeks until one night I was so bored I decided to read it. And, boy, was that a mistake, because I couldn't put it down. I should have known that the book would be that good. It wasn't even so much the plot that drew me in, it was the strength of Zevin's writing that made me relate to her characters, understand them, even though I was nothing like them. When I finished the book, I knew that I wasn't in love with the story, but that it was some of the best writing that I had ever read. This book is an amazing example of the Young Adult genre.>

Rebel Angels, Libba Bray

Imagine a place where whatever you dream could be possible, but that place is also haunted by the evils only found in dreams. In this sequal to A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray, Gemma Doyle a young britishmans daughter embarks on an epic journey to recapture the magic she unknowingly released into the Realms. Gemma is torn bettween Love, Loyalty, and, Friendship. She must reenter the Realms and recapture the magic before someone else does. She must dig up old members of the magical Order, make sense of her terrible visions of the evil tyrant Circe and the mysterious deaths of some students in the care of one Miss. McCleethy. Can she tear herself away from the Realm's powers and destroy Circe, where she can't trust anyone, not even a dear friend? Can she recapture the magic? Can she decipher the cryptic warnings of Nell Hawkings, a girl with a disturbed mind affected by the magic? Its up to you to find out.

Shades Children

Garth Nix's Shades Children is an excellent book in wich the world has been taken over by 7 creatures called overlords. in the world children are harvested for parts to make their battle creatures to wage war against each other for their own amusement. But there is a group of children that resist them with everything they can in a hope yo restore the world. Their leader is a mysterios adult who has a dark secret. Will they suceed? Or will they fail? Find out in Shades Children!~Jerry

The Client by John Grisham

Mark Sway, the main character, is an eleven-year old boy who smokes and regularly gets into trouble. One day as he is in the woods behind his house, Mark is teaching his younger brother how to smoke. Little did they know that they would soon be trying to prevent a stranger from commiting suicide. Mark gets tangled up in the troubles of this man's business and soon police start asking him questions about what happened. With little money, he is forced to hire a lawyer who luckily takes an interest in him. Find out what happens to Mark and how witnessing one little scene can change your life!

Fly on the Wall by E. Lockhart

There are few expectations at the Manhattan High School for the Arts and that is to be different, unordinary and to stand out. But sixteen year old Gretchen Yee feels anything but that, she feels ordinary in such a school. After she longs to be different and wants desperately to know what her other classmates think of her. She gets turned into a fly and spends a week buzzing around the boy’s locker room while she discovers mysteries of the male anatomy along with her classmates own personal life. While watching the character emerge you will also learn that she gains her own self confidence and that ultimately helps her become a better person.

Pirates by Celia Rees

Loosely based on the lives of female pirates Anne Bonny and Mary Read, Pirates! takes place in the 1720s at the end of the height of piracy. Nancy Kington, having just inherited her father's sugar plantation in Jamaica, escapes an arranged marriage to Barthalome the Brazilian on the pirate ship Deliverance. Along with Nancy comes Minerva Sharpe, escaping slavery and the plantation's cruel overseer. The companions go on the account alongside the rest of the crew, dressing as men. Nancy cannot escape the man she was promised to marry, however, and he appears in her dreams. Will the Brazilian find Nancy? Or will her childhood sweatheart, William? Can Nancy and Minerva live for long as pirates?

I would recommend any of Celia Rees' books. Pirates!, Witch Child and Sorceress were all exciting, fun and easy to read. This one was definately my favorite, however. Pirates! is a real page-turner, full of action, suspence and romance.