Embedded Files
These are books recommended by SHS Library Science Students.
Carrie by Stephen King
Carrie by Stephen King
September 26, 2022
Review by Bella C.
Carrie by Stephen King is a horror fiction novel based in 1979 about a girl who is continually bullied for her unpleasant appearance and religious viewpoints. Her mom is her only friend and enforces her strict rules on Carrie. She continues to endure cruelty and torment from her community and can’t take it anymore. Carrie soon discovers a powerful, telekinetic ability within herself and plans to use it for revenge.
I really enjoyed the storyline of the book and felt that the plot was well executed. Throughout the story, there are flashbacks that go back and forth from ”present day” to the plot. The continuous flashbacks create suspense and keep the reader engaged. I liked how all of the characters were thoroughly described, making it easy to differentiate whose point of view the story was going through. However, I did not enjoy the way there were no chapters. The story was written as one continuous flow of events and there was no distinct area to stop so that you could save your place. I also didn’t really like the continuous flashbacks. I understood the purpose of the flashbacks but some of them felt unnecessary and dulled down the storyline. Other than that, I enjoyed the suspense and character development amongst one of the characters. A character that particularly stood out to me was, “Tommy Ross”. The progression of his character really stood out to me because he was willing to change. At first he was a bit
insensitive and cared only really for the group he hung around with. However, he took a chance on Carrie and it opened his eyes. He was able to empathize with her and see who she was in a different light. He easily became one of my favorite characters in the book due to his compassion. I feel that other people would enjoy reading this book because it makes the reader feel a lot of different emotions and takes them through Carrie’s day-to-day life. It allows the audience to empathize with her and truly understand her ways of thinking. It makes you terrified, empathetic, and upset all at once.
Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi
Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi
September 23, 2022
Review by Xandrea F.
Shatter Me is a young adult, romance, dystopian fiction thriller in the point of view of a 17 year old girl named Juliette. Juliette has the strange ability to kill anyone she comes in contact with. Due to incidents in her past and neglectful parents, Juliette ends up in an asylum. She’s been alone so long she starts to believe she is as crazy as she feels. With no human contact other than the few times a day she’s brought food, she loses more and more hope of seeing beyond the small window in her cell. Until one day her cell door opens and her life is changed drastically.
This was by far one of the best young adult romance books I have read in a while. There were multiple times where I had to stop and take in what was going on. So many “aw” moments and plot twists. I liked how fast everything moved and at the same time certain parts would be dragged out a bit more. Tahereh Mafi’s writing made me fall in love with the characters. It was interesting to read through and reread parts that were crossed out. Trying to understand Juliette and all of her emotions, reading her character development and trying to stand in her shoes to further analyze her situation. I was so happy with the ending and the relationship that was built between Juliette and Adam. I was so invested in their relationship from start to finish. Definitely will be reading the sequels seeing as this is a series.
Pride and Premeditation by Tirzah Price
Pride and Premeditation by Tirzah Price
November 8, 2021
Review by Elena R.
Pride and Premeditation, a new twist, on an old classic, and boy did it not disappoint. Our story is about Elizabeth Bennet, a young woman who wants to officially work for her father at his law firm Logbourn & Sons, yet he won’t hire her yet, not until she proves her worth. In the very first chapter we meet the horrid Mr. Collins, who is as obnoxious in this adaptation as the original, he’s totally that guy, he’s a world class mansplainer, loves to take credit for Lizzie’s work, and a total pain in the butt, and if you’re a lady, you know what I mean. But Lizzie doesn’t let that get in the way of her ambitions, instead she decides to find her own case to solve and bring to the firm, so when she hears of Mr. Bingley’s legal troubles, a man who has been accused of murdering his sister’s husband, she jumps at the chance to clear him of wrongdoing, she impresses him and he hires her, or at least he was going to until Mr. Darcy shows up. Darcy is not happy about having to work with Lizzie, attempting to get her off the case multiple times, but eventually Lizzie and Darcy are running around, gathering clues and bumping into familiar faces, such as Mr. Wickham and Lady Catherine, in an exciting race to save Mr. Bingley and find out the truth once and for all.
The first book in the Jane Austen Murder Series is a showstopper, it it is filled with humour, mystery, and of course that famous wit that characterized the original Pride and Prejudice. We experience new twists on old characters, and an impossible to put down mystery. Personally, this reader is a huge fan of new takes on old classics and boy is this one fun. Austen’s first line in Pride & Prejudice is iconic and unbeatable, and Price’s honors that legacy with “It is a truth universally acknowledged that a brilliant idea, conceived and executed by a clever young woman, must be claimed by a man.” Boy, if that isn’t relatable. Price’s book was amazing and has resulted in this reader anxiously awaiting the publication of the sequel!
Book Rating: 5/5
Paper Girls #1-3 by Brian K. Vaughan and illustrated by Cliff Chiang
Paper Girls #1-3 by Brian K. Vaughan and illustrated by Cliff Chiang
September 25, 2021
Review by Adrian S.
In Stony Stream, Ohio in the late 1980s, four 12-year old newspaper delivery girls are working their usual early morning delivery shift the day after Halloween, when all of a sudden their town is caught in the middle of a temporal debacle. Upon crossing paths with the people and creatures of the future, these paper girls are faced with challenging revelations about the flow of time and the world around them. The tribulations the girls are put through place them on an action-packed adventure where they’ll grow closer to one another while simultaneously having their eyes opened in self-discovery.
Brian K. Vaughan’s Paper Girls exudes the wonder and enthusiasm of being young, whilst being mixed with science fiction elements like time travel and other-worldly languages. In combination with Cliff Chiang’s simple yet expressive character illustrations, Paper Girls is a story with a lot of heart, and even more questions. The ambiguous nature of time-travel is spread throughout Vaughan’s story, and leaves the reader continuously asking questions about what the heck is necessarily going on. The reader is not alone in this assessment however, as the four girls themselves, Erin, KJ, Tiffany and Mac are all forcefully inserted in troubling time traveling situations they do not want to be in. The four girls are exposed to people and things they do not fully understand, and revelations of the future are full of twists for the reader and the main characters to devour. However, the emphasis on the science fiction aspects of the story prevent the reader from truly delving into the main characters enough to genuinely care for them. Based on the first half of the series, there is still a lot to unravel about the girls and who they are. That being said, I look forward to continuing the series and finding out all the answers to the questions the story leaves us on. If you enjoy space-time travel, vibrant comic artwork, and character relationships akin to Stranger Things, then Paper Girls might just have the things you’re looking for.
Book Rating: 7.5/10
Dear Killer by Katherine Ewell
Dear Killer by Katherine Ewell
September 25, 2019
Review by Ashley M.
The book that I read was “Dear killer” by Katherine Ewell. If you are interested in a good thriller/ mystery this book is for you it’s sinister and twisted. This book takes place in London during the warm summer days and cold chilling winter. The book is about a teenager named Kit. She lives with her mother and wealthy father. Kit and her mother live by a set a rules ... a wicked secret lifestyle.Not done by pleasure but done out of habit because kit had no other choice. Her mother is a role model. Someone kit looks up to a strong smart independent manipulative beautiful women. Who’s living her past through her daughter who is just like her. Like mother like daughter Small thin, black haired, strong, young teenage girl. During this time London has murder on the loose named the “perfect killer”. Kit has major set back which leads to something that she knew was coming. In reality was it a set back or a moment of relief?
This book will surprise you in many ways going through twists and turns. You’ll see the worst of the worst and good. I would rate this book 10 because it’s not your average book. Ewell got straight to the point and continued to tell Kits life story. Ewell paints a vivid picture in your head of the different scenarios that kits finds herself in. She even includes some of the letters that people write to the perfect killer. She does a good job of telling kits childhood witch had a big impact on her after all that’s how she became who she is now. In some cases jumping from the past to the present in a book can get confusing but she does a really good job on keeping it organized. I recommend this book.
Playlist of Mythic Proportions
Playlist of Mythic Proportions
September 22, 2019
Playlist by Aileen S
Book: Mythology by Edith Hamilton
Overview: Each song connects to a story or main character through mythology. There are so many characters and stories I have taken it upon myself to choose from my perspective, the main huge important movements of mythology or personal favorites. The order will be going to the beginning of creation and stories after the Fall of Troy.
Playlist
World is created (Two Children)
Space song- Beach house
The song musical symphony already brings almost a nostalgic tune of creation. Also the lyrics say, “From an empty seat a flash of light.” This is close to the start of creation as it says in mythology. (I’m being vague just for the sake of spoilers).
The Titans (Elder Gods) pg 79
Children of Mother Earth
Zeus and the rise of Olympus pg 81
Start a Riot- Duckwrth
This song is perfect for this event (Which I will not say the biggest spoiler from this event). But to go in sum, a war happened between Father and son and in this song it’s all about starting a Riot. And Zeus started one thus giving birth to the well known and famous Mount Olympus, where he ends up living with his companion gods and goddesses from the war.
Rise of Mankind (Prometheus and Empitheus)
Impulsive- Wilson Phillips
There is a lyric in this song that is a perfect example of what was Epimetheus mindset was when creating mankind. It says, “I don’t want to think about it don’t wanna think clear, don’t analyze what I’m doing here.”
Creation of Women
Clocks- Coldplay
This song has a lyric that says, “Am I apart of the cure or am I apart of the disease.” This relates closely to the purpose of women being created in the first place in Greek Mythology. I won’t say why, just so I won’t spoil, but it does relate to the women’s undeniable sin of being more vulnerable of “curiosity” and men’s “curse”.
Demether and Dionysus (The supreme deities of Earth)
GONE GONE/ THANK YOU - Tyler the Creator
These gods are the closest to humankind because of the sorrow and emotion they have gone through. I won’t say specifically there sorrows (SPOILERS!). In the song it says, “ Kept it going, the Band-aid is falling off now. And now I’m scarred for life.” This can explain to how these gods are scarred from the tragic events they go through.
Pandora's Box (The coming of Chaos and Hope)
All the Stars-Kendrick Lamar
This song says, “Corrupt a man’s heart with a gift. That’s how you know who you dealin with.” I won’t say what the gift is or what it brings, but basically this defines Pandora’s misfortune to all men. I won’t say what kind though just cause of spoilers.
Prometheus and Io (Io’s Story)
I knew you were trouble- Taylor Swift
This song relates to Io, as this song talks about knowing the person they love will put them into trouble. Thus Io’s love for Zeus.
Cupid and Psyche (Biggest Love story)
Amour Plastique-Video Club
Both in this song and story, it is about being love struck at first but then being consumed by darkness and longing to be loved by that person again. Which in this case Cupid was love struck but Psyche was consumed by the darkness of distrust, for a bit, but love still prevailed for the song and the story.
Quest of the Golden Fleece
Stop trying to be god- Travis Scott
The song talks about the selfishness of human kind. Just as how the highlights of this story are the selfishness and jealousy of 3 characters; Kimg Athamas, Media, and King Pelias.
Perseus (One of the Greatest Heroes)
Highlights- Kanye West
This song is about pride. And Perseus is very prideful and full of himself.
Hercules (One of the Greatest Heroes)
Zero to Hero- Disney
This song is the embodiment of Hercules. The song shows how respected and praised he is to the Greeks. It even talks about how brave he was being a great hero.
The Fall of Troy
Dark Horse- Katy Perry
There’s a lyric that says, “Boy you should know what you're falling for.. cause I’m coming at you like a dark horse.” This is closely related to the ending attack of the Greeks winning the war. But for Spoilers I won’t say how they won.
Adventures of Odysseus
Photosynthesis- Saba
There is a lyric that says, “Oh yes I made it alive...headed to paradise. In this moment of mine, I can't recognize. Or see that the glare is bright. And what you compromise, I almost died. I doubt the water is red as mine.” This phrase relates to Odysseus as he sails and journey back home, his paradise, escaping the wrath of multiple foes.
Playlist for Mapping the Bones by Jane Yolen
Playlist for Mapping the Bones by Jane Yolen
May 13, 2019
Here's a playlist of recommended songs by Christian R. Play them as you read Mapping the Bones by Jane Yolen.
Playlist for I Remember Beirut by Zeina Abirached
Playlist for I Remember Beirut by Zeina Abirached
April 30, 2019
Check out this playlist compiled by Matt to go along with the book I Remember Beirut.
Right of Way by Lauren Barnholdt
Right of Way by Lauren Barnholdt
October 11, 2017
Review by Maria L.
Right of Way is the sequel to Two Way Street
This book is about a teen boy and girl, Jace and Peyton, who meet at a party in Florida. A connection was made and Peyton headed back home to Florida along with her mom. Being in in different states didn’t Jace and Peyton from having contact with each other. They did what mostly every teenager does, call and text each other nonstop. Out of the nowhere, all this stopped. Peyton went to Florida once again for her uncle’s wedding where she and Jace met up once again making it very awkward. This wasn’t as awkward as Jace driving Peyton back home to Connecticut. This long road trip gave the couple a chance to talk to each other and figure things out between them as to why their relationship ended.
I really loved this book. I am a big fan of romance. This book was perfect because it wasn’t just romance but it had a little humor as well. What made this book very engaging was the structure or style that it was written in. The author used dialogue and we were allowed to see how the character was by the language they used. Another style that the author used was past and present tense and the different point of view from Jace and Peyton. I can relate to Peyton in a way because when first talking to a guy or meeting them, i'm shy. I don’t like telling them everything about me especially after meeting them and i think that is what throws them off. They assume that i'm not interested because i don’t want to talk about myself much. This happened to Peyton, Jace assumed that Peyton didn’t like him because she didn’t talk about herself to him.
Rating: 5 star
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