Monday, June 22, 2009

So I just finished this book called...

It's Kind of a Funny Story

Here's basically what it's about: this high school kid is extremely depressed, cracking under all this pressure, and about to kill himself, and he ends up in the mental hospital. I know, it sounds like a complete downer. Here's the thing: it's not. It's actually a really funny book. At the same time, though, the author (Ned Vizzini) doesn't take the issue of depression too lightly. But he also doesn't make it sound overly dramatic and fake. That is hard to do.

This is one of those books that you don't get bored of. You want to keep reading it. I have to say, I liked the first third or so of the book (before he ends up in the mental hospital) better than the rest because it was a little more real and easier to relate to, but I definitely never got sick of reading. Throughout the book, I was constantly relating to the main character. A lot of the issues in his life are similar to the issues in mine, and I bet a lot of other teens would agree. He's a character that's very accessible, and uses just the type of humor that I enjoy. In fact, a lot of the book sounds like something I might have written (although Vizzini is a much better writer than me, obviously). I give this book 8 pretzel bites!
KAY

Friday, June 19, 2009

yet another review!


The Lies Of Locke Lamora
Okay so this book was really good its a debut album by a writer named Scott lynch. He obviously worked on this one for quite a while and there will definitely be a sequel he just left way to huge of a cliff hanger. I do have to say i am waiting with a slightly baited breath for the next one! Anyway is basically about a medieval group of con artist named the Gentlemen Bastards. Of whom the leader is a rather mysterious boy named Locke Lamora. It was a thrilling but quite long took me a week to finish it and i wasn't hurrying. It definitely gets 9 pretzel bites. So go to your local library pick it up and please do not out it down until your hungry then go eat some actual pretzel bites then finish the last of the book.
TEE

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Also as promised another book review!

The Firm

So basically this book was about a young full of ambition lawyer who is in the top of his class at Harvard and he gets recruited by a very private exclusive law firm based in Memphis. All the lawyers are very wealthy they all drive Ferrari or Bentley. This appeals greatly to the main character because he comes from a poverty family and his brother is a convict They have an exactly zero turnover rate. This as discovered by the main character and hero Mitchell Mcdeere is entirely because everyone who wants out gets killed in very suspicious circumstances. Then the F.B.I contacts him and things just go down hill from there, It was a great read very mysterious and full of intrigue. Just my kind of read. plus i love John Grisham's thrillers. So i would say about 8.5 pretzel bites

TEE

As promised: a book review!

Everything is Illuminated
This is the second book I've read by this author (Jonathan Safran Foer). The other, "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" (I know you're supposed to underline book titles but I can't figure out how to do that), is one of my favorite books. That one gets TEN pretzel bites. Go read it. I didn't like this one quite as much, but I still enjoyed it a lot. Part of it is not entirely Jonathan Safran Foer's fault. "Everything is Illuminated" is not a Holocaust book in the traditional sense, but it does deal with the subject quite a bit, and I feel like these horrible things like the Holocaust and slavery have been written about so much in such a mediocre way that they don't feel as big or as important as they ought to.

That being said! Jonathan Safran Foer is not a mediocre writer. Far from it. Actually, he's one of the three writers that I respect the most. He has a way of writing things that are beautiful and funny and heartbreaking at the same time. I think sometimes his writing actually borders on something beyond storytelling, something more like visual art. Also, even though this book was kind of about the Holocaust, it also kind of wasn't. It's like the Holocaust was just a jumping off point to show how big life can be.


The book had two alternating sections. Part of it was this sort of magical realism thing Jonathan (the character) wrote about his family history. I liked that because it sort blurred the line between what was believable and based in reality and what was just complete fantasy. In this section, I found the word "crespucular" (one of our SAT vocab words which I thought was completely worthless. I guess he proved me wrong). The other part was written by a character, Alex, who didn't speak English very well, so it was all a little off in this hilarious kind of way that sometimes ended up sounding really nice. For example, he says "KGBing" instead of "spying" which I think I'm going to start using now.


So! In summary: I wanna be Jonathan Safran Foer. I wanna use the word KGBing. This book is beautiful and funny and heartbreaking. 9 pretzel bites!


KAY

HOLA future amigos!

Chica chica what up. Okay. But on a more serious note we like to read and we will post reviews about the books we read. We will rate them on a scale of one to ten pretzel bites. Because they be delicious. Go tell your mom to go buy you some so you can stop sitting in front of the computer. Go hurry up you're becoming obese just sitting there. Your skin is getting pasty from the shallow glow of the monitor. After you're full of pretzely goodness, go read a book we reviewed.

KAY+TEE