Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

May 14, 2016Leave a comment

So, a little while ago I finished a novel called Never Let Me Go. There’s so much that can be said about this story that I’m not even sure where to begin.

First of all, I have to say that I absolutely loved this book. I actually saw the film version first and loved it, so I (of course) had to read the book and I was not disappointed.

The story is about a girl name Kathy who is reflecting on her time as a student at a boarding school-type place called Hailsham, and on the direction that her life went after she left school. Hailsham is different from other schools because its students are clones who will grow up and donate their organs when they come of age.

As children, it seems that the clones weren’t fully aware of their fate but did know that they would be making these “donations” as adults. The idea of having these clones that are raised and harvested for their organs is definitely something that was interesting throughout this story. I think that this “idea” is something that has probably been considered in real life, especially with stem cell research and its important to have stories like this to really think about what life would be like for these people if that actually happened.

What really makes this story interesting are the relationships that Kathy has with other clones, especially Tommy and Ruth. Kathy has romantic feelings for Tommy but can’t act on them because her friend Ruth has already made Tommy her boyfriend. Throughout the story, Tommy and Kathy are very obviously attracted to each other and want to be together. However, Ruth interferes with their relationship every chance she can get. When they are older and Ruth has begun making her donations, Kathy begins taking care of her and Ruth reveals to her that she wants Kathy to pursue a relationship with Tommy and that she regrets keeping them apart for so long.

By this time, Tommy has also already begun his donations. Seeing Kathy and Tommy try to stop or delay the process of donations for themselves so that they can be happy for just a few more years is really heartbreaking. You want to root for them so badly, but it seems that nothing can go right for the couple.

This story is really so, so good. I could definitely go on for awhile talking about every thing that I loved about this book, but really I don’t want to spoil it all because I think people should read it for themselves.

I would love to hear from others who have read this book and to find someone to discuss it with further because there really is SO much to talk about. Leave me a comment! And thanks for reading!

Short and Sweet: Killer by Sara Shepard

August 4, 2015April 30, 2016Leave a comment

I’m back! Well, sort of. This is just a quick little review, but it still counts as a post right?

I was in a rut. I had started reading something that I didn’t find interesting and when I put it down, I struggled to pick it up again. This happens to me sometimes when reading, and I feel like I have to finish something before I can start something new so I get sort of stuck.

Sometimes when this happens, it helps for me to read something light. Since I had already read the first few “Pretty Little Liars” books, I decided to quickly read the next one. And I actually finished it.

I’m not sure what it is about these books, but they’re actually pretty interesting. I do follow the television show (I’m sure I’ve mentioned this before), and it’s interesting to see the differences between the two.

There really isn’t much to be said about the books. They really could probably be squeezed into one larger book, but it was enjoyable to read and I’ll probably read the next one.

Now that I’ve finished a book, I’m looking forward to starting another one. I’m really interested in Paper Towns and want to see the movie, so maybe you’ll see that next on my book reviews.

Anyway, thanks to anyone who reads these posts. I really appreciate any interest you show in looking at my posts.

Thanks again for reading 🙂

Not That Kind of Girl by Lena Dunham

January 3, 2015April 30, 2016Leave a comment

So, as it turned out this was the last book I finished of the year. I’m really proud that I even (sort of) kept up with reading and posting about it on this blog.

Lena Dunham’s Not That Kind of Girl was funny, smart, and incredibly well written. I felt like she was one of my friends telling me all of her embarrassing stories and what she’s learned from those experiences. She made me feel like my life and my embarrassing moments and moments when I felt crazy weren’t too bad after all.

Even in some of her darkest moments, she showed us her humor and her ability to share basically everything from her life. I would hate/love to be one of her friends.

Her ability to write is very good and you can tell that her show Girls is directly coming from her mind. No one else would be able to write those experiences in that way. She’s a total inspiration for young women writers and she’s definitely one of my heroes.

Currently Reading: Not That Kind of Girl by Lena Dunham

November 18, 2014Leave a comment

I’m really looking forward to getting more into this book. I love Lena and think that she has a brilliant mind. So far I like the little insight that it gives into her private and personal thoughts. And I think it’s really brave of her to write it down, publish it, and let the world critique her. She’s definitely someone that I admire as an aspiring writer and I can’t wait to post about it more!

Perfect, Unbelievable, and Wicked by Sara Shepard

October 7, 2014April 30, 2016Leave a comment

In my last post I believe I said that I was going to just read a bunch of the Pretty Little Liars books and then make a huge post about them all. This isn’t quite as far as I thought I would have gotten, but I found myself reading them like it was a chore and not something that I was actually enjoying.

I’ve always been the type that has to finish something once I’ve started it. You can’t just stop reading in the middle of a series, you have to have an ending. But I have also been known to put something down and never pick it back up just because it wasn’t interesting to me or because I was assigned to read it. I hate feeling like I’m being forced to read. These books were somewhat enjoyable and very simple to get through, but the characters aren’t very likeable and the story isn’t nearly as exciting as the show. Plus, knowing happened in the show and what changes they made for the better, just makes the books seem like a first draft of something that ended up really good.

I’ll admit it. I stopped reading altogether. I thought about this blog and the promise that I made to myself, but I just couldn’t pick up the next book and keep reading. I needed something to spark my interest again.

This past weekend I went to see the movie Gone Girl. It blew me away. I knew there was going to be a twist, but I didn’t expect it to be anything like it was. It may be one of the best movies I’ve seen this year so far. Being a reader, I knew that Gone Girl was originally a book. As soon as I got home from seeing it, I bought the book on my Kindle. It’s so good, I can’t put it down.

I love the feeling when you pick up something and start reading and fall in love with reading all over again. Gone Girl has completely cured me of the slump that the Pretty Little Liars series left me in. It made me want to read more and to actually have a somewhat impressive list of books that I was able to read in the last year.

Thanks to everyone who has followed me and liked my posts. I do hope that you enjoy reading what I have to say and I’d love to hear from you more. I’m not going to write a review for each of the Pretty Little Liars books, because there isn’t really much to say about them. I may pick them up again and finish the series, but probably not for awhile.

Pretty Little Liars by Sara Shepard

June 26, 20141 Comment

So I finished reading the first book in the Pretty Little Liars series pretty quickly (just haven’t gotten the chance to post until now). It was easy to fly through, especially since the chapters are so short. It was definitely nice to read something like that after how long it took me to read the A Song of Ice and Fire series.

Someone commented on my last post when I started reading this book and said that they didn’t read any of the others because they found the characters too unlikeable. I could definitely see where they’re coming from. These girls are kind of brats and they do a lot of stupid things (drinking and driving, sleeping with your teacher or your sister’s fiance, etc.). But I think the fact that they’re unlikeable is sort of the point. The fact that they’ve turned out this way as a result of their friend going missing really shows how much of an impact Ali had on each one of them.

The first book was almost exactly the same storyline as the first episode of the television series. I was a little shocked because I thought that it would have at least gone a little further into the first season, but I think there are something like 16 books in this series, so I guess they take place in a shorter amount of time than the show.

Overall, it was an enjoyable read. I’ve started the second book and I’ll probably end up reading them all eventually.

Currently Reading: Pretty Little Liars by Sara Shepard

June 13, 20142 Comments

I’m not completely sure I’m ready to take on reading this entire series. Apparently there are 16 of them, and the last one is coming out this December, who knew?

I’m a fan of the television series and bought the first book a while ago (after watching the first season, finding out there were books, and needing to know who A was). I do know that the show has strayed somewhat from the books, but I think it might be interesting to see if there are any similarities/differences and where the story went in the books.

I’m about six chapters in, and so far it’s exactly like the first season. I actually really like all the Philadelphia/Pennsylvania references. Not sure if I’ve said this before, but I’m from Pa and actually went to college in Philly, so it’s pretty interesting and makes me connect a little more to the books.

Really, what I want to know is if anyone has actually read through all of the books in the series. Are they worth it? Are they as good? I’d really like to know. ALSO: if anyone wants to talk PLL and theories with me, I’d love to do that!

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

June 10, 2014Leave a comment

Well, I definitely didn’t think I would have another post so quickly after finishing A Dance with Dragons, but here I am!

I started reading The Fault in Our Stars yesterday afternoon. It took me less than 24 hours to get through this book and I was not disappointed.

I decided to start reading it because of all the hype. I want to see the movie and I think there’s something wrong with people who get really excited to see movies, but have not read the books that they are based on. I’m guilty of doing this with the Harry Potter series, but I do plan on reading those eventually.

Anyway, when I started reading The Fault in Our Stars I prepared myself to be disappointed. I thought that the way that the characters acted wasn’t very believable and that, even though there were very “teenage” moments, they seemed too mature for sixteen and seventeen year olds. I’ve seen the argument that they were more mature because they had to deal with more difficult life experiences than normal teenagers, and I guess I can buy that.

Even though I was initially put off by the way they were written, and was worried that I would be the only person who didn’t like this book, I found myself wanting to read on to the next chapter and completely enthralled by this story.

I loved it. I loved the long speeches and how perfect Augustus and Hazel were for each other. I totally bought into the story and cried like everyone said you do. Like ugly cried. More than once. It was great. I even liked the parts with Van Houten, which I was also put-off by. I didn’t think it was believable that these two teenagers would travel to Amsterdam to meet an author, but I let myself believe it because I wanted to believe in a love story like theirs.

I would definitely recommend this book to everyone. I’m going to try to get my sister to read it (and she hates reading), and I’m going to get my grandmother to read it, and then we can all go see the movie together. It was so good.

The Jon Lennin Xperience by Rachel B. Glaser

February 10, 2014Leave a comment

This story was pretty strange. Everything from his sister virtually dating Kanye to Jason worrying about being able to give Yoko Ono an orgasm was definitely different.

I liked the story and I’ve definitely been caught up in that sort of virtual world where you can basically do anything that you want. I hope that it hasn’t effected my life in the way that these characters have been affected but I guess it could happen.

Something that was pretty interesting was that these games always had an ending that wasn’t necessarily good, but definitely final. Jason’s sister kept having to break up with Kanye and Jason ultimately had to kill John Lennon.

I’m interested to see what my classmates think about this story.

Final thought – Once again the story assigned has a sexual element to it. I’m seriously curious about why my professor assigns so many sexual stories. Does he think they’re easy to relate to? Does he even notice that he’s doing this?

The Healer by Aimee Bender

February 10, 2014Leave a comment

I’m a Game of Thrones fan, so I couldn’t help myself.

I absolutely loved this story. I guess when I read, I tend to go for supernatural or fantasy elements and this story was right up my alley. I would even go as far to say that I would recommend it to someone.

There’s definitely underlying themes in this story like be thankful for what you have and to be helpful to others, or to not judge people by their cover. But I just really enjoyed the story for what it is.

It’s a pretty interesting concept to come up with and to make into a complex story about feelings and friendship. I loved that the ice girl and the fire girl were able to cancel out each other and be normal, and how after the fire girl sort of left, the ice girl had to leave too. It was sort of like one couldn’t be there without the other.

Man, I feel like I’m fangirling all over this story. I hope that people in my class like it just as much.

Last comment – the mutant girls totally reminded me of X Men. I wonder if there was any sort of inspiration from that.

Kayla Cropper

Tag: books