Just a note to say that, with very few exceptions, everyone who has posted a personal response to ‘The Merchant of Venice’ has demonstrated an impressive capacity to think deeply about the important questions raised by the play. I am delighted to see so many of you doing such great work. BRAVO!
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Richard Wright Black Boy 384 pages (Part 1 & 2) Black Boy is a story of a black kids life from in the 1900, when slavery was happening in America. In the Black Boy, there are a lot of stories about Richard Wright, who is the main character in the Black Boy. From reading Black Boy, I think that Richard Wright must have been very brave because through out the book, you can see how he does everything his own way and doesn’t care what would happen because of it. My thought of the author’s tone for the Black Boy was to kind of teach us what life was like in the 1900ish. I also think that Richard Wright was also trying to have fun giving us stories of what someone’s life would be like, for example, in the Black Boy, Richard runs off to the big city. I also think that Richard Wright was righting the Black Boy to teach us that people that are black are the same as someone who is white, remembering that this book was first printed in 1945. My personal thought of the book was that it was a good book. Through out the book, there were parts that I didn’t like, but there were other parts that I thought were very good. I would give this book and eight of ten for these reasons. I would also suggest this book to any one who is looking for a longer book that has good stories of the 1900s, but remembering that there are some parts of the book are as good. Title: The Dark Horse It was the title, followed by the cover, that caught my attention first, of course. (Admit it, you judge by covers too.) But the prologue was what cinched it. It hinted of fantasy or magic, but not too much that you’re immersed in a whole new world. I like these books the best; the ones that are balancing right in the middle of fantasy and reality. Mouse is a girl. No one knows that much about her. They found her among the wolves, and after taking her in they found her among the hunting dogs. She rarely speaks and opens up only to her brother (though even then he knows almost nothing of her past), son of the man who took her in. Our first impression of her is simply…an enigma. But not in the bad, darkness-swirling-around-her-kind of way, but the good way. There are many things she doesn’t tell, and many of thee things remain unexplained as well, at the end. But we’re appeased with other things, similarly novel-worthy. It mentions in the synopsis that the story is written in a deceptively simple voice, and I can’t think of any better way to describe it, so here it is. It’s partly also in Mouse’s brother’s point of view, which adds to the simple tone. The book itself though, would border more on the dark side than light-hearted comedy, if the title hadn’t already given you a clue. I personally rather liked this book. As more of a long novella than a real novel, it doesn’t have that much space for character development, and so the reader doesn’t feel as much as one might, but the plot, and the writing style, and the characters are all brilliant. The prologue gives an accurate idea of how the story will run, and the ending most definitely doesn’t disappoint. Worth picking up if you’re browsing through the library. Title: Alex Rider: Crocodile tears Author: Anthony Horowitz Pages:404 Alex Rider who is an 14 year old normal boy, who lives in Chelsea England with his uncle “Ian Rider and the housekeeper “Jack Starbright.” One night, while his Uncle works as a banker is away on business trip, he is reported dead, Alex founds out he is spy for MI6 (secret intelligence service) and he dones some training with Alex, when he was younger, to also become a MI6 agent. Alex Rider is spending New Year with Sabina Pleasure and her family in Scotland, they attends a New Year’s party met the founder of First Aid, Desmond McCain, he invited Alex to play a round of poker and winning £25,000. As Alex, Sabina, and her father drive home got into a car accident into the Loch, Alex helps them to swim to shore, and they survive with the help of a mysterious Indian man and Alex went back home to England, while Sabrina went back to America to study.When back to England Alex and Jack (previously his uncle’s housekeeper, but now a legal guardian) are confronted by a journalist named Harry Bulman, he has discovered Alex’s MI6 connections and plans to publish stories about him, only sharing profits if Alex co-operates. Alex and Jack go to MI6 for help, but the catch is they will help Alex if, he goes on a school trip and he steals information from Greenfields, a GM crop facility which MI6 suspect illegal activities. Alex infiltrates the facility, and steals the information, but discovers that Leonard Straik, the director, is working for Desmond McCain. Alex leaves for school the next day, but is kidnapped and disguised, then smuggled to Kenya by Myra Beckett (one of Desmond McCain’s workers) and flow to Kenya Africa. This was sort of a disappointment for me, because it’s getting kinda boring with the the whole story when it’s almost the same as the pervious books with a rich evil guy trying to take over the world, the 1st chapter happens to be a situation which relates the evil guy trying to plot something and the MI6 thinking that Alex Rider is the best agent they had ever have. I don’t really like the fact how the author describe the Africa in general, which will make the people who reads this book think that most African people lives in mud huts and on the desert with animals surrounding them, which is totally false, but add to that fact only really rural and poor people lives in those types of areas.It’s a bit different comparing to most other alex rider’s books, with a journalist being involved which is quite interesting twist which is considering one of my favourite part, but for Alex Rider’s fans might also get disappointed as well and yet my rate out of 5 is a 3.5 Title: Whispering to Witches Upon pulling this book of a shelf, I was told by a friend that the book “is quite good!” Said friend added innocently a few seconds later, “I read it when I was like, ten.” Now, I’m quite sure that had I come across this book when I was ten, I would have enjoyed it as well. Unfortunately, I’m fifteen. The protagonist is a boy called Joe who discovers witches exist when he rides a broomstick masquerading as a bicycle into a witches’ coven. From there, he cheerfully plunges into adventure, showing acts of bravery (recklessness), skill (luck), and selflessness (guilt-tripped with the help of a broomstick). It’s possible that he’s matured throughout the plot, for I don’t think he’ll be complaining about having to spend Christmas elsewhere again so soon. Reading such books again though, can be a nice experience. You can happily note that at no point during the course of the story did you have to flip through a dictionary. And were the letters always so big? And another thing is that 99% of the time you can always count on happy endings and not so much description. You won’t find yourself skimming through three paragraphs illustrating the shapes of leaves on trees, even if you did discover five new ways of saying ‘green.’ So ultimately, if you’re looking for books about witches, broom therapists, witchy ink, spells that rhyme, cats that turn into flowerpots, and books that you can easily put a ‘1′ under ‘Difficulty Level’ on the Rating Sheet, then this book’s for you. Who will I be? I did not like this question very much because many people have been asking me the same question again and again. I never answered them and just ignore it because I knew what they really meant is what do you want to choose for your career but what was my voice in my heart is, “How do I know? I am not the God, how am I going to know my future or what career or man I am going for!” Maybe someday, I will become one of the Miss Malaysia or Miss Asia or even Miss World. (It is impossible; it is my imagination for being a Miss WORLD) I dreamed, I imagined that sometimes and maybe someday I will go to a beauty pageant competition and win an honor back. I would probably do that because if I never try, I will never know the result and this is a future thing, which I couldn’t predict because “I am not the GOD!” I am that kind of girl who really likes beauty and I care about my appearance very much. I know what hairstyle suite me the best, I know what facial product should I use or is the best on my skin, I know how to dress up that make me look confident and nice, I know how to match clothes, shoes or accessories…etc. Sometimes, I even thought that I could become a fashion designer or even a stylist who put make up on people’s face, who look for the best clothes that fit them, who make a person look gorgeous from a “ugly duckling”. But I just thought that I am not that creative for being a fashion designer, and also I only know how to dress up for myself because I know myself the best. I want to be a beauty therapist, who is not just cleaning the face for the people who pay the money or have skin problems. I want to study about human’s skin and as an advisor or counselor who teach people how to treat their skins. Also, ever since I was small like 7, I always hoped that I could open my own business for beauty. I want to be a lady boss and have employees who work for me as a beauty therapist and I will be the one who talk about skin’s problems and also selling pretty earpieces or facial products. Therefore, I was planning on taking IB business to learn how to do business and also biology to study about human. I want to “decorate” the world with all the pretty and handsome men and women. Women’s youth is limited. I want all the women in the world to spend their youth a bit longer and a bit “colorful”. Meanwhile, I want to make all the teenagers who are growing to have a wonderful time because most of the guys or girls during their growing stages are having a lot of pimples. For example, me! (Especially those who live in Tropical countries and those who don’t know how to take care of their skin) I would probably stay outside more than at home because I have business or maybe braches (haha…I know it is my imagination). I like KTV, parties, camp…etc, whatever activities that involves many people that I know. I want to be surrounded by a lot of friends although I only need one or two confidant. I don’t know whether I would be surround by a lot of friends because “I am not the GOD, I don’t know what is coming up next!” I believe every girl is going to marry to her Mr. Right and it is just about early or late marriage. I knew that because every girl played doll or pretend that they had a baby when they were small. They seem like they know how to take care and love the “fake-baby” when they were maybe only 4 or 5. It actually shows that the features of a future mother. I always told my parents that I am going to marry a chef because they kept telling me to learn how to cook but I just can’t cook good foods or even “normal foods”. I will live with my Mr. Right and children and the pets that I always wanted to adopt toward a happy and healthy life in a country with four seasons. And again, I don’t know what comes next and I might change my plan because I don’t know the future of mine and also “ I am not the God”. Girls In Love Jacqueline Wilson 181 pages Ellie’s starting ninth grade, and she’s got some definite and funny goals. She’ll stay best friends with Magda and Nadine. She’ll go on a diet and stick to it. She’ll get a glamorous hairstyle. And she’ll get a boyfriend. At least she thinks it isn’t that hard. By the end, she has her friends, her drawing and she got through all her goals and all the trials in all life’s rough spots at school. The author talks about high school student’s life, how teenagers like to do during high school, their goals, what they want during high school. The author describes how student’s life really are, the book was true about students at high school, especially how girls would their high school life be. This book is easy to read, it is a bit funny. It is about high school girls. For me, I think the book is fine. Fix Leslie Margolis Pages: 241 Plastic Surgery. Love it, loathe it, want it, need it. So many things one little surgery can go. Cameron had a nose job before transferring schools from La Jolla to L.A. Before the surgery she was miserable, bullied, and felt totally ugly. After the surgery though everything changed. She became totally popular, and loved by everyone. Her sister Allie never had these problems. She had the same nose as her sister but no one tormented her way Cameron did. All Allie did was concentrate on playing football and everything fell into place. She always felt inferior though, because her sister was popular, beautiful and great at school while Allie was more of the disappointment of the family. When Cameron decides to get another surgery, this time a breast augmentation her family isn’t as supportive. Cameron doesn’t really understand why because she is just striving for perfection but Allie on the other hand is running away from it. Because Cameron had a nose job everyone just expects Allie to get one too. Yet Allie finally sees that maybe being perfect isn’t what she really wants or needs to be happy. The author of this book is really good. She switches between the two sisters really smoothly and doesn’t skip a beat. There isn’t any mindless dialogue, which you find in a lot of books, and every word leads to the end. They ending was well written and kind of a cliffhanger, but in an interesting way. It makes everything a lot more believable and you can actually imagine this things happening in real life which I am sure they do. I’m going to rate this book 9/10. It really brings up a lot of good points and makes you think. Sometimes it seems the need for perfection has made some people go crazy and this book portrays that very well without being bias. Love Lesson Jacqueline Wilson Pages: 169 Prue has been home schooled since she can remember. Her old fashioned dad always made them read books he wanted them too and controlled all aspects of Prue and her sister Piggy’s life. Yet when their dad has a stroke and is unable to come out of the hospital for a few months they are put in a real school. Everything is different for Prue and her sister Grace, and for Prue it is overly difficult to fit in. Grace makes two friends instantly who she shares a secret wave with. Prue however doesn’t have anyone. She had always had her imaginary friends, but getting real ones seems to be much more tricky. She suffers with her schoolwork as well and really feels like just giving up. Yet she stays on until she has her first art class with Rax, a young and talented new teacher. She instantly falls in love with his classes and soon she starts to fall in love with Rax too. To get closer to him she then babysits for him and his family, which makes her wonder why Rax would marry such a ordinary woman and have such ordinary kids when he is extraordinary in every single way. Rax then shows he returns his feeling for Prue yet always adds that what they are doing is very wrong and they should stop seeing each other. Yet even though Rax says these things, he can’t stop feeling the same way about Prue as she does for him. I have read many of Jacqueline Wilson’s books since I was very young and have liked them all. Her style of writing is easy to get into and she explains the story through the characters eyes. Her characters are always pretty similar and usually have some sort of family issues but I guess this helps add to the story so I don’t mind the similarities much. I’m going to rate this book 7/10. It was pretty good, but didn’t really make me go “Wow this book is the best book ever.” It’s a good read yet maybe I like it more because of my nostalgic feelings towards the author. Here’s a story from the New York Times that shows the power of stories: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/07/world/middleeast/07khoury.html Mr. Khoury’s story itself is very dramatic: his family’s land is confiscated by the Israelis, and his father denied the right to work. Then his father is killed in a Palestinian terror attack. Years later, his son is murdered by Palestinian terrorists who mistakenly take him for a Jew. Now Mr. Khoury wants to bring peace between the Jews and the Arabs, and as part of his efforts has paid for the autobiography of a famous Israeli’s author—Amos Oz—to be translated into Arabic. If the stories that Jews and Arabs tell about each other can be changed, he believes, then peace might be possible. “Merchant of Venice” is a play script written by William Shakespeare. It is a story about the people in Venice and it expresses how those people are connected together with love and money. First of all, the story begins with the scene where Antonio, who is a ‘really good’ christian, spits on Shylock, who is a Jew. Then the story goes on that Bassanio who needs money, asks his friend, Antonio to lend him money so that he can marry with the rich and beautiful girl, Portia. But unfortunately, Antonio’s money was all with the ship, which Antonio uses to earn money by trading with people all around the countries. So they go, and tries to borrow money from Shylock, who Antonio had spat on. As a background information; christians were not allowed to lend money with interest, because it was said that earning money without working hard was a sin, but for Jews, it didn’t matter. Therefore Shylock had given them a negotiation to ‘cut off one pound of flesh’ if Antonio couldn’t pay the money back on time, instead of giving them interest. Since Antonio had loved Bassanio, he agrees with that negotiation and borrows money, without knowing what is going to happen next. If I was asked if I liked the story or not, I would say, yes, I liked it. The reason why I would answer it like that is because I liked the way that William Shakespeare had expressed the relationship between love and money, which also can be important in modern times. In any times, money and love are connected together as if they were all melted and stuck together. Especially in this story, you can see the strong connection between the two. As examples, Bassanio and Portia, Antonio and Bassanio, Shylock and Jessica, Jessica and Lorenzo and so on. To me, it seemed like as if they were bound together with the curse of money. If there was no such thing called money, maybe their love and life would have went just nice and happy. But if there was no money included in this story, I think this story would not have been so good. Since I think that the reason why this play was good, is because there were love and money that was melted together, which made this story go more complicated. |
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