Author Archive

Reading Recs

Posted on the April 8th, 2009 under Recommendations by confuzzledqueen

Interviewee:

  • Gender: Female
  • Race: Chinese
  • Extracurriculars: Track and Field, Cross Country
  • Favorite Class: Creative Nonfiction

Book Title: The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood

Summary: Society is completely revolutionized and replaced with a totalitarian Christian theocracy. Through the main character, a woman named Offred, this book explores the way women fit and interact within this new society. 

Why do you like this book? This book is very sci-fi, while at the same time, explores all these themes about women (role in society, subjugation) that are so interesting. The themes are set against the backdrop of a totalitarian regime, but are still applicable in modern day’s society. 

Cool Points: You never know what’s coming. There are so many plot twists. The ending is incredible and crazy. 

 

Interviewee:

  • Gender: Male
  • Race: Spanish
  • Extracurriculars: Soccer Team, graffiti, listening to music
  • Favorite Class: Volleyball Gym

Book Title: All the Flowers are Dying, by Lawrence Block

Summary: Matthew Scudder is a private investigator located in NYC, who is looking into the online lover of a friend. Meanwhile, a man is put to death on death row, framed by the real killer, who watches the execution in fascination before returning to NYC. Scudder’s and the killer’s paths ultimately cross, eventually putting Scudder’s own life in danger.

Why do you like this book? Half the book is in Scudder’s point of view, while the other half is in the killer’s. The killer’s stream of consciousness is fascinating and unsettling.

Cool Points: Block drops clues throughout the book that keep you interested in the plot. The book is also filled with little obscure facts about New York City.

 

Interviewee:

  • Gender: Female
  • Race: Chinese
  • Extracurriculars: Captain of Track and Field Team, ARISTA Honor Society
  • Favorite Class: AP Watercolor

Book Title: Love in the Time of Cholera, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Summary: The main character, Fermina, rejects a man named Florentino when she realizes the frivolous and naive nature of their young romance. She weds Juvenal, who is a doctor that epitomizes stability and rationality. By the end of the book, when Fermina is much older, she recognizes Florentino’s prevailing love for her and their relationship blooms in old age. 

Why do you like this book? The book is so heart-warming and nice. Also, the two main characters have all these side relationships that are so scandalous!

Cool Points: Florentino and Fermina’s correspondence is originally restricted to sending letters. Not until the end of the book do the two characters get to have a long, face-to-face conversation. 

 

Interviewee:

  • Gender: Female
  • Race: German
  • Extracurriculars: Speech and Debate, Model UN, Big Sibs, shopping
  • Favorite Class: Poetry

Book Title: The Giant’s House, by Elizabeth McCracken

Summary: Peggy Cort is a librarian in a small town up in Cape Cod. She falls for a boy who is 14 years younger than her. The boy, James, suffers from gigantism and grows to be 8 ft. 7 inches. She is initially attracted to him out of pity, but grows to realize that they share many interests, and he acts to fill a void in her life. A romance results, but it is too-soon tempered by tragedy.

Why do you like this book? Peggy, the narrator, is so acerbic and funny. A lot of the one-liners that she says are really profound and thought provoking -they’re the kind of sentences that you want to read twice, just to get everything out of them. Also, Peggy and James’ relationship is sweet, albeit strange. 

Cool Points: The author’s writing is so poetic and lyrical. She creates these characters that are so complex and multifaceted. The narration is also very vivid. 

 

Interviewee:

  • Gender: Male
  • Race: Japanese
  • Extracurriculars: Swim Team Captain, exploring subway tunnels
  • Favorite Class: Prejudice and Persecution

Book Title: Cold Mountain, by Charles Frazier

Summary: W.P. Inman is a deserter of the Confederate army during the Civil War. He walks for months to return to his love, Ada Monroe. 

Why do you like this book? Chapter by chapter, it alternates between Inman’s and Ada’s stories. Also, details of their relationship are told in flashbacks throughout the entire book. It’s really cool. 

Cool Points: The plot is so similar to Homer’s The Odyssey. Which is good, I guess, if you like The Odyssey.