Off The Shelf

Dear John Nicholas Sparks 335 pages Dear John, There's so much I want to say to you, but I'm not sure where to begin... John Tyree was a lost, rebellious teenager during his high school years, and upon graduation, he enlisted in the army. Soon after basic training, he was stationed overseas in Germany and thought he had finally found the place where he fit in. But in the summer, back home in Wilmington, North Carolina on leave, John meets Savannah. The two fall in love in two short weeks, but are forced to separate when John must return overseas. Over the course of several years, John and Savannah write dozens of letters back and forth, only seeing each other occasionally, and their love is put to the ultimate test. But no one can foresee that 9/11 is about to change the world, along with John and Savannah's relationship forever. Nicholas Sparks ( Safe Haven, A Walk to Remember, The Notebook, The Last Song ) must have something against happy endings. After now r...

{Across the street} Yesterday, I visited  The Strand Bookstore on the corner of 12th Street and Broadway in New York City for the first time. I first heard about the store when I was reading Dash and Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan , but at the time I thought it was only just a unique, fictional, book setting - a made-up place. But then, upon my return to school from spring break, a friend of mine was carrying her belongings in one The Strand's popular canvas tote bags. She proceeded to tell me she went there with her cousin on the time off, and said I "just had to go." And so I did. {View from the stairs} As the sign outside proudly states, The Strand boasts 18 miles of books spread out on three floors. The first concentrating on fiction and new arrivals, the second on Children's and art books, and the third level houses their acclaimed Rare Book Collection.    {Books, books, books!} The "Staff Picks" table wa...

Happy Summer! With school winding down in the next few days, I have found myself looking forward to the season with much anticipation.  The following is a list of novels I hope to read in the coming months. Whether you are seated comfortably on the couch at home, at a picnic table or in a beach chair with sand between you toes, I hope the summer brings you fun, sunshine, and of course, good books! 1. This Side of Paradise, F. Scott Fitzgerald 2. Flowers in the Sky, Lynn Joseph 3. Every Day,  David Levithan 4. On the Road, Jack Kerouac 5. In the Time of the Butterflies, Julia Alvarez * 6. Saturday, Ian McEwan * 7. The Book Thief, Markus Zusak 8. The Silver Star, Jeannette Walls 9. Threads and Flames, Esther M. Friesner 10. The Distance Between Us, Kasie West  *Assigned summer reading for Honors English 2013-2014

Just One Day Gayle Forman 368 pages "We are born in one day. We die in one day. We can change in one day. And we can fall in love in one day. Anything can happen in just one day.”   Allyson Healey has just graduated from high school, and is now embarking on a post-grad tour of Europe with her best friend. At an underground performance of Twelfth  Night in London, she meets Willem De Ruiter, a young and charming Dutch actor. Allyson immediately detects a spark between them, and after spending just one day together, she is surprised to wake up the next morning in Paris, without Willem. Over the next year, Allyson will start college with her mind still lost somewhere in Europe and soon she begins a journey to find Willem. With the help of Shakespeare, friendship, and self-confidence, Allyson discovers more about herself along the way than she ever thought possible. Gayle Forman, the bestselling author of  If I Stay  and  Where She Went  has created yet...

Night Elie Wiesel 115 pages {Thin Yet Thick reads might be short in page length - 200 pages or less - but are thick and deep in meaning.} In his memoir, winner of the 1986 Nobel Peace Prize, Elie Wiesel describes his terrifying experiences in the concentration camps of World War II. Born in Sighet, Transylvania (present-day Hungary) Wiesel was taken along with his family in 1944 to Auschwitz, and then later on to Buchenwald with his father. As a teenager, Wiesel's faith was put to the ultimate test as he witnessed and suffered from the in-humane experiences which must never be allowed to happen again. Wiesel's writing style throughout the book is very consistent, and purposeful. Maybe it is part of the translation, but his sentences are simple and short, giving the voice of the story a sharp and impactful feeling. This writing style also leaves the reader feeling as if they have been told everything. Night is raw and real, unabashed and unabridged. It shows ...

The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald 180 pages I don't feel I have the credibility to really write a review of the novel, therefore I would like to use the opportunity of this 100th post to discuss what is said to be the greatest American novel of all time: The Great Gatsby . The city seen from the Queensboro Bridge is always the city seen for the first time, in its first wild promise of all the mystery and beauty in the world.   - page 68 New York, 1922. The Jazz Age is in full swing, and with World War I at a close, the American people are restless, alive with post-war excitement and opportunity. Nick Carraway has just moved to Long Island looking to get started in the "bond business", and winds up buying a home next door to the grand and mysterious Jay Gatsby. After being invited to one of his neighbor's lavish parties, Nick soon learns of Gatsby's secrets, and the love he is desperately trying to find again. The following are some of my favorite p...

Spring has arrived. The season took its time this year, waltzing in a week or so later that its scheduled date. But, never the less, it has come. And, with the calender telling us it is April, I thought I would also take a moment to point out this month is National Poetry Month. The following is the poem O Sweet Spontaneous by e.e. cummings, written in 1920. Many reviews of this poem I have seen read in to this poem much deeper that its surface meaning - relating it to society and its problems - but I like this piece for its ease. e.e. cummings describes spring's beauty without ever actually describing it. He doesn't embellish the blue skies, or the smell of the lilies. He doesn't listen to the bees buzzing or the robins chirping. The sun does not warm his face, nor do the new emerald green leaves give him shade. To him, spring just is. O sweet spontaneous earth how often have the doting fingers of prurient philosophers pinched and poked thee ,has the na...