Anne Frank: The diary of a young girl

                                 My Book review of Anne Frank

The book`s name is The diary of a young girl Anne Frank edited by Otto H. and Frank and Mirjam Pressler.

It was first  published in the USA in 1995 by Doubleday

The genre of the book is Diary.                                                                                                                       

The story takes place at a place  called the secret “Annexe” where Anne and seven other persons lived together and hid during at the ongoing Second World War .

The main character is Anne Frank because the book is her diary during the Second World War she describes how they lived and what they did when they were hiding in a building and lived together during the terrible Second World War and how they lived under terrible living conditions.

Anne is around thirteen years when she wrote this book or diary ,she describes how they lived,  ate terrible food and lived very tight together and how they heard a lot of noise of bombs and shots outside and how scared they were inside the secret building and every time that there was  knock on the door they hid and became very scared every time and sat and hid together for a long time so no one should find them.

I think this is a very interesting book but very sad too, very frustrating that Hitler and the others should do this to all the people it makes me very angry to even think about it.

This book should you read if you want to have a picture of how the Jews were living during The Second World War this is only a little bit there are more people who was forced to live this way, it is terrible to read about it!

Written by Jenny

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

The book is about a little boy and his father. The world has been destroyed by some kind of natural disaster.  The world is grey and there are no living things besides a small amount of humans. I would imagine the boy to be 12 or 13 of age and the father maybe 40. They lived in a small house for a couple of years during the catastrophe but left there when the mother committed suicide. She was tired of not having any food or water and the constant fear that someone would eat them. So the boy and his father went out on the road with just a shopping cart with some blankets and some cans of water.

They are walking from Northern America to the south in the winter looking for warmer weather.

On their travels they sleep outside and they have thin clothes and no food or water. Most of the other people they meet are cannibals and would like to eat them. They walk through deserted cities and are scared for their lives all the time. They also carry a gun with 2 bullets in, one for them each. But they have to kill a bad guy in the middle of the book so they just have one for the boy so he wouldn´t get eaten alive. So as soon as they are in danger of their lives the man puts the gun to the boy's head, ready to fire. The father dies in the end and the boy meets a family which had followed them the whole time and he accompanies them instead.

One event in the book that I thought was kind of good and well described was when they walked into a house which they thought was deserted. They found a hatch in the floor and under there was a dungeon completely dark and filled with people that hardly were able to walk, just laid down eating of each other´s legs and arms. So they had to run up from the dungeon and when they got up they hear the cannibals coming and run upstairs in the bathroom. They hide there with the gun pointing to the boy's head all the time. The prisoners start to bang at the hatch so the cannibals ran in to see what was going on and then the boy and his father could sneak out and hide in the forest. They slept only a couple of meters from the house and had to sleep there for two days before the cannibals stopped looking for them. The boy slept with the gun pointed to his head the whole time. Then they just moved on and the book continued with a lot more walking.

So basically the book is about them walking, looking for food and shelter and hiding from” the bad guys”. It gets boring to read about after a while and they have no good conversations. I have memorized one which appeared more times than I could count.

Starting like this: Are they going to kill us? Yes, but I won´t let them.

I´m scared, Papa. So am I. Are we going to die? Yes, everyone is but not now.

Put in optional nonsense sentences and you’ll probably get the conversations they were having all through the book. And almost every conversation ends with both of them saying okay.

So I don’t think this book was any good, hardly readable I would say. It didn’t have any chapters and that made it hard to feel that you were making any progress reading it. They’ve also made a movie about this. One and a half hour of miserable watching, still better than numerous days of reading it.

So that’s about it. No, I almost forgot.

Don’t read it!

A little bit of sarcasm may appear in this book review, please have indulgence about that.

Written by: Mattias 

The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins

The God Delusion

Richard Dawkins

                                            

The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins is a non-fiction book written back in 2006, and as of now the English edition have sold over 2 million copies.

One should keep in mind that Dawkins is not just a writer but an evolutionary biologist and ethologist, a background from which he draws heavily upon during the course of his writing.

Dawkins himself claims inspiration and idea from Lila written by Robert Pirsig, specifically the statement that: "when one person  suffers from a delusion it is called insanity. When many people suffer from a delusion it is called religion". 

Mr Dawkins himself claims to be an atheist (well, a 9/10 leaning towards 10 as certainty without proof would be considered as bad as religion) and as an interesting side note, just to point out the kind of attention he has been receiving for his work, Encyclopedia Dramatica dedicated an article about him, claiming he is the atheist God.

The main plot so to speak when it comes to a non-fictional book is heavily reliant on the scientific point of view when it comes to the god hypothesis, how one could never claim the "God excuse" as a defense of an idea as it lacks proof.

As a pleasant compliment to similar books on the market that openly criticizes religion The God Delusion does not waste time or pages going through history with for example the crusades or the witch processes, they are of course mentioned, not mentioning these occurrences (for lack of a better word) when speaking of religion would be like speaking of cheese without mentioning cheddar (or Venezuelan beaver-cheese).

Dawkins does spend a lot of time discussing the works and theories of others incorporating their ideas into his own and on more than one occasion as when it comes to theologists, disproves them as unreliable in the face of facts, never dismissing anything without cause or proof that the information or theory is false.

The God Delusion offers a lot of topics to be read and the most important person in this work mentioned would be Darwin, someone who it is apparent that Dawkins admires. 

The book is separated into two subplots so to speak, where the first chapters are spent discussing and summarizing proof that there most likely is no God and the second half revolving around morality and religion.

For example Dawkins discusses the issue of morality, religion and children as a specific entry into the book, he argues that to say "a Christian child" or  "a Muslim" child would be little short of an abomination as this categorizes a child as part of something a child is unable to comprehend and the use of such language should be discouraged.

Unfortunately Dawkins have a tendency to over formulate himself in writing he utilizes a very heavy language with very complicated formulations of his ideas on several occasions making him a quite heavy read, simply put he tends to be quite wordy.

In his defense dealing with such a massive topic I will not claim him to be poorly thought out, because doing so would not be considered fair or even realistic as I sincerely believe that nobody could've done a work of the magnitude any better. 

The second problem also draws from his choices of words, if you are not familiar with the difference between for example deitism, agnostics and atheist etc you are in for quite a ride as you will undoubtedly have to refer back to the first chapter where he gives a quick introduction to these theories (and with quick I'm talking about around 10 pages), making it quite an annoying read unless you are already settled in with these ideas.

Besides the "God theory" there are a few other central pillars namely the issue of morality without religion, natural selection and one of the most important once that are so often left out of other works, the claim that atheism is proof of a healthy individual who can formulate his or her own ideas.

The God Delusion does not aim at converting anyone from a religion , not directly it seems more aimed towards the masses which are in between, uncertain and of course those of us who already consider ourselves atheists and are simply looking for a good read.

As a whole this book is one of my personal favorites and I would consider it very enlightening and therefore a recommended read to anyone wanting to expand their minds even if they don't agree with the theories presented.  

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

Stephenie Meyer is a writer from the USA. This book was the first book that she published. She once said that she had a dream about a girl who fell in love with a vampire. She discussed her dream with her sister and she convinced her to write a book about it.

There are four books to read in the Twilight saga, but I want to write a review on the first one. Twilight was first published in 2006. It is a book about friendships,true love and things that do not exist in the real world,like vampires and werewolves…or do they?

The story is about a girl named Bella and how her life changes when she moves across the country to live with her father Charlie in a small, rainy town called Forks in the USA. The story takes place in present time, but you hear stories from the past also.

The other main characters in this book are ”the Cullen family” who are vampires, but in a nice way. There is a struggle all the time to keep humans alive and they try hard to survive by drinking animal blood instead.

This is not an ordinary vampire book like ”Dracula”.Stephenie Meyer has taken this story to a whole new level. It is about a human girl who falls in love with a vampire and she writes about how Bella thinks and her feelings about Edward Cullen. When you read the book you have a great feeling and it is like you are falling in love all over again in your real life.

In the story you will meet Edward and his ”parents and siblings”. They all have some different life stories to tell. How they became vampires and how they met each other.

Something you should think about when you read this book is that this story is written from Bella's point of view. In her eyes  Edward is the most perfect man in the world and she can not see anything else than that. But it is not just a crush between them..it is their destiny.

In this first book Stephenie tells us about the characters around Bella. There are some struggles between their feelings for each other, mostly from Edward and his family. All he wants is for her to   be safe but he knows that he is not good for her.

You will find love, excitement and joy during the journey in the fantasy world.

The book contains just over 400 pages and the language is not terribly difficult,there may be some words that are difficult,but the context makes you understand anyway. My recommendation for the age group that can read the book range from teenagers to the lovesick middle-aged!

 My opinion of this book is that if you want to escape into a world of supernatural and romantic elements,read the book!

Just want to issue a warning: The books are addictive!!

“And the lion fell in love with the lamb...what a stupid lamb...”(Edward Cullen,Bella Swan)

Written by Therése

The Host by Stephenie Meyer

The book I’ve chosen is “The Host” written by Stephenie  Meyer.  It vas first published on May 6:th in 2008.

A little bit about Meyer

Stephenie Meyer begun her author’s career in 2005 when her, world wide, loved book “Twilight” first was published. A few years later she took a leap from young adult books about vampires to her first “grown up” book, this one about aliens. It was as big a success as The Twilight Saga, and  she calls it a “science  fiction fore those who don’t  like Sci-Fi”. The book is meant to be the first out of three, and so hopefully she’ll soon get around to publish the sequels (“the soul“ & “the seeker”).  

 The Host

The world as we know it has come to an end. Slowly the minds of our kind have been erased and replaced by the “souls” and their peace loving way are what’s normal now. 

But all aren’t ready to let go that easy.

One of the two characters whose eyes you’ll follow the story through is Melanie‘s, a human who refuses to give in to the soul placed in her body.

The other person is the soul, Wanderer, who comes to love the people Melanie is trying to protect.

Together they set out to find them.

In the vast Arizona dessert there is  a hidden refuge  for the last surviving humans.

In a complex cave system under the ground time has gone backwards and the people live like in the olden days.

Until Wanderer stumbles over their threshold.

Life will never be the same for any of them.

Main characters

Wanderer/ Wanda; the soul who lives inside Melanie’s body and who comes to love the people she loves.

Melanie/ Mel Stryder ; the resistant host who refuses to surrender to Wanderer

Jared Howe; Melanie’s loved one and one of the people who allies the tow girls

Jamie Stryder; Melanie’s younger brother

Uncle Jeb; Melanie’s uncle and the man who “rules” with he’s gun in the caves

Ian O’shea; At first he sort of wants to se Wanda dead, but he has a change of hearts

Kyle O’shea; Tries, and almost succeeds to kill Wanderer.

Doc; a human man who really, really wants to learn all about the soul’s medicine which can cure everything from cancer to a cold with no effort.   

The Seeker; the soul assigned to wanderers “case“, and who desperately chases after the tow runaways.

Petals Open to the Moon/ Pet; comes into focus in the very end of the book, but she plays a great part for the outcome.

   

Over the course of the book almost all the characters develop.

The people learn how to love someone who appears to be totally different, and Wanderer’s and Melanie’s relationship develops so much it doesn’t seem possible. 

My favourite quotes;

“Then what am I dying for?” - Wanda

“Well, I think that maybe… You’re dying to be human”- Mel

“Mighty convenient how it’s laid out. Couldn’t have planned it much better if I’d sculpted it myself out of play dough” - Uncle Jeb

“He knew what I was. He knew I was just a tiny creature fused into the back of Melanie’s brain. A worm, as Kyle had said. Yet even Kyle thought ****** hade a “crush” on me. On ME? That wasn’t possible” - Wanda

 I feel the quote is symbolizing much of what the book’s about, but the name I’ve *** over, would ruin a lot for potential readers ;)

“I’d lived in so many bodies, but never one I loved like this..” Wanda

Over all

Over all the book is well written, it has an easy flowing language . The readers can be all between 15 and 115 and they would still be able to relate to the characters in one way or the other and the book bides both laughter and violent tear and snot attacks. 

My opinion

This book is one of my all time favorites, I’ve read it surely 6 or 7 times by now, and it really sticks with you, you’ll not be able to read the last page, close the book and never give it a second thought! So it is with all my heart and soul I recommend this book to everybody I meet. 

I love the book because of many reasons, first is because Meyer’s fantastic way of telling a story, the characters really come alive between the pages, another  is because while you’re reading it you’ll come to appreciate things in you’re life that you take for granted.. Food, water, a hot shower.. Your body…

I’ll give it a 10 out of 10 and I prey she’ll soon come around to finish the sequels.. ´

Written by Julia

Fore more information, pleas visit:

v     http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/thehost.html

v     http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1585112/twilight-writer-stephenie-meyer-wants-matt-damon-host-movie.jhtml

v     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Host_(novel)#cite_note-6

v     http://www.thehostnovel.com/

Stone Cold by Robert Swindells

Stone Cold by Robert Swindells – review

Kids are disappearing, but no one cares…

Linda Kornberg Krogh
Saturday 26 March, 2011

Robert Swindells is known for writing thought-provoking novels about contemporary society and Stone Cold, published in 1993, is certainly one of them. It was awarded the Carnegie Medal and Sheffield Children’s Book Award in 1994 and it was adapted for the screen by the BBC in 1997.

One of the main characters in the novel is Link. When he was fourteen years old his father ran off with a receptionist. Link’s life became a mess but he stuck it out in school and managed to finish with five GCSEs. His mother has by then met Vince whom accuses Link of living on his money since Link is unable to find work. Finally, Link cannot stand anymore of Vince’s verbal abuse and therefore decides to try his luck in London instead. However, he runs out of money and ends up on the streets where he befriends Ginger, who teaches him about the life of a homeless person. What the two of them are not aware of though, is that there is serial killer on the loose in London and his target is homeless people, Link and Ginger included. Unfortunately, no one seems to care when homeless teenagers start disappearing and one day Ginger does not turn up at their agreed meeting point.

The story of this novel is also written from the viewpoint of another character who calls himself Shelter. He has been discharged from the army where he used to turn young men into proper soldiers and his belief is that there is a plot of undermining the country by filling it with homeless people, alcoholics and drug addicts and that it is his duty to clean up the streets.

Throughout the novel we follow Link and Shelter in alternating chapters and both stories are told in first person. In the chapters about Link we follow his struggle to survive and he is made likeable by being a victim and by the way his story is told with a colloquial language and he often turns to the reader, for example when describing in detail how it feels trying to go to sleep on a hard concrete floor when your feet are as cold as ice. The language in the chapters where we follow Shelter is different and you get a military feeling with short sentences and harsh words and these chapters are also a lot shorter. We follow Shelter from where he meticulously plans how to lure the homeless youngsters to his home until he is a full-fledged serial killer. Shelter also turns to the reader, but this does not have the same effect as with Link’s story since the reader quite early understands that his plans are to murder young people. Shelter himself does not quite seem to understand why he was discharged from the army but to the reader this soon becomes quite clear.

This novel is a very realistic novel about teenage problems, but as many other novels it has a touch of adventure in that Link tries to find out what has happened to Ginger and for a moment he goes from being a nobody to being a hero even though it is just for a short while. There is also a touch of family story in the beginning when the reader is told about the abusive situation in Link’s family and the fact that his own mother does not stand up for him. But most of all it is a teenage problem novel with a tale of what could happen to you if leave your home without having anywhere to live and no money and that running away does not solve the problem. But it is also a story of what can happen if parents choose to ignore the way their children are treated. Furthermore, my opinion is that Swindells’ main reason for writing this novel is to give a very realistic picture of the lives of the homeless people. The people that most of us tend to choose not to see when we pass them in the streets, believing that it is probably their own fault that they are living like that.

The topic of teenagers living in an abusive home is not a new one. Neither is teenagers on the run and living on the streets. Teenage problem novels have been written in thousands and it is a sub-genre of young adult literature. They can also be said to belong to the genre of moral and instructive tales. The early novels in this genre were written mostly to teach children how to behave in a mature way, whereas during the late twentieth century they came to have a much more social and political point of view and Stone Cold is certainly a part of this tradition.  Examples of earlier texts in this sub-genre are The Catcher in the Rye (1951), The Outsiders (1967), Go Ask Alice (1971), Forever (1975) and Dear Nobody (1991) who all deal with problems faced by teenagers such as drugs, confusion, rebellion, sex, pregnancy and friendships.

Swindells’ describes very well how easily a young person can end up being an outcast in society without actually having done anything wrong, which I also think is the message of this book. It gives you another view of homeless people and you understand that there might be other reasons than alcoholism and drug addiction that causes young people to end up in the streets, that there are children who would rather live like that than go back to the abusive homes they came from and this causes me as a reader to view upon homelessness with different eyes.

The ending of this novel is very open and free to interpret the way the reader wishes and this is perhaps a negative point since I would have wished for a happier ending. Furthermore, it does not quite match the excitement that has been built up in the rest of novel, but feels rather flat in comparison, almost like Swindells got bored with the story. Nonetheless, I think this is a thought-provoking novel with an enthralling plot which is well worth reading.