Category: Book Challenge 2017
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The Call of the Wild by Jack London
I can certainly understand why this book is on the Banned Books that Shaped America list—it is quite violent, but at least it’s not completely gratuitous. Though London writes detailed scenes of human and animal brutality, Buck’s is a story of strength, dignity, loyalty, and, above all, survival. Honestly, given the tragedies that were committed…
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Bonjour Tristesse by Françoise Sagan
This short novel was the first work published by French author Françoise Sagan. She was eighteen, and this detestable story featuring a detestable teenage child was (apparently) based on her own experiences. Seventeen-year-old Cécile is spoiled, demanding, ungrateful, careless, lazy, and self-absorbed—a true enfant terrible. I genuinely dislike her. And yet, I can whole-heartedly relate…
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The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
I keep a book journal. In it, I keep track of everything I read, the dates on which I cracked it open and slammed it shut, give it a rating out of five stars, and write a few lines. It was my blog before I started my blog. I read The Hate U Give in one…
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The Autobiography of Malcolm X As Told to Alex Haley
I have to admit, this book is the reason I stopped writing reviews last year. It’s an important book, people. It’s been lauded since 1965. Proof: “Extraordinary . . . [a] brilliant, painful, important book.” —Eliot Fremont-Smith, New York Times, 1965 “Will surely become one of the classics in American autobiography.” —John William Ward, historian, 1967 “A…
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Hey there hi there how the heck are ya
Well hello there! It’s been a hot minute, friends, and I just want to start off by saying HAPPY NEW YEAR / 30th BIRTHDAY TO ME / VALENTINE’S DAY / ST PATRICK’S DAY / EASTER / SPRING! How the heck are ya? I missed you! As you may or (more likely) may not have noticed,…
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Quoted: Etta and Otto and Russell and James
We’re all scared, most of the time. Life would be lifeless if we weren’t. Be scared, and then jump into that fear. Again and again. Just remember to hold on to yourself while you do it.
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Quoted: The Revenant
The boy came to believe that going west was more than just a fancy for someplace new. He came to see it as a part of his soul, a missing piece that could only be made whole on some far-off mountain or plain.
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Quoted: Bonjour Tristesse
“I longed for her to ask me, ‘Well, what is the matter?’ and to ply me with questions, force me to tell her everything . . . then I should no longer be in torment.” What seventeen-year-old girl hasn’t thought this?
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Quoted: The Autobiography of Malcolm X
I have often reflected upon the new vistas that reading opened to me. I knew right there in prison that reading had changed forever the course of my life. As I see it today, the ability to read awoke inside me some long dormant craving to be mentally alive.
Being Tori 