Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

Of Mice and Men, a fiction story, is written by famous writer John Steinbeck. It stars the two main characters named George and Lennie, two friends who moved to a better place to work and get settled. Their main goal is to buy a piece of land and have a farm. 


Lennie is a grown man with mental disabilities which causes him to struggle. He has a habit of petting rabbits because of their softness. George is a smart man but uneducated who is Lennie’s role model; he is like his dad. Both of them try to live a normal life and make money.

They encounter problems which are caused by Lennie almost getting them killed. It would be because of a woman since Lennie tried seducing her but he didn’t know he was trying something he shouldn’t have ever tried. There is a big question to resolve everything as a mob is about to find Lennie to kill him. To keep Lennie hidden so he isn’t killed George has to choose wisely while at a high stress point. Desperate hounds are coming and they are craving blood and men are armed and running in despair towards the lake where George found Lennie hiding. 

In my opinion, this is a must read book. It gets you wired so you want to stop but it gets interesting with a lot of tension and climax build in.

Gabriel C.

The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle

Over the past week, I finished reading The Hound of the Baskervilles. It is a Sherlock Holmes book so it will always make for a good mystery story.

The book is about the death of Sir Charles Baskerville and his nephew who will inherit the house. A man named Dr. Mortimer comes to Holmes to seek his help to prove if Baskerville's death was actually murder or the act of a supernatural being.

Arthur Conan Doyle uses vast amounts of imagery to bring you into the story. He also structures the book in a way that doesn't give you too many clues but keeps you tangled in the story. With its sudden plot twists and gloomy setting it really adds a level of suspense in the later chapters.

This book is said to be one of Doyle’s best works. I one hundred per cent agree with that statement. I am not one for mystery or Sherlock Holmes books but this one was genuinely a great read. To anyone who loves mystery or Sherlock Holmes this is one book to check out.

Daniel C.

Cat's Cradle By Kurt Vonnegut

Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut is a science fiction novel that tells the
story of a biographer named Jonah who is writing a book for Dr. Franklin
Hoenikker after his death. Dr. Hoenikker was a physicist who helped
create the atomic bomb. Jonah is led on a strange journey by Dr.
Hoenikker’s family which then helps him find Bokonism. Bokonism is a
religion created in the island San Lorenzo and has many odd
practices. The Hoenikker’s also have many secrets they have been hiding
that could potentially cause the end of the world. Vonnegut is great in
bringing forth humor in his novels. Many of the themes in this novel are
still relevant in today’s society. The themes of existentialism and post
modernism are seen, like in most of Vonnegut’s books, throughout Cat’s
Cradle. I recommend this book to anyone who would enjoy a different
approach to science fiction.

Jose C.

Recommended Reading: Kicking It Old Ghoul: Classic Horror Stories

Halloween just happened. So check out stories that used to scare you great grandparents.

F James,H
James, Henry. The Turn of the Screw.
A young governess is hired to take of care of two seemingly perfect children whose parents have died.  Soon after, the evil ghosts of the children’s former governess and a servant appear and the children appear to be hiding something.

F Shelley,M
Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft. Frankenstein .
After studying natural philosophy, chemistry and alchemy, Victor Frankenstein decides to try to bring a body made up of parts of human corpses back to life. He succeeds, but the monster resents him for creating him and he seeks revenge.

F Stevenson,RL
Stevenson, Robert Louis. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
Dr. Jekyll, a respectable London doctor creates a potion that when he drinks it turns him into the evil and murderous Mr. Hyde.

F Stoker,B
Stoker, Bram.  Dracula.
A rich nobleman from Transylvania (Romania) named Count Dracula seeks the help of lawyer Jonathan Harker to help him purchase some real estate so that he can immigrate to England. Harker soon finds that he is trapped in Dracula’s castle. When he finally escapes to England, he doesn’t realize that Dracula has followed him.

F Wells,H
Wells, H. G. The Invisible Man.
A mysterious man arrives in a small town in England with his body completely covered in clothes, bandages and large goggles. The townspeople eventually find out that the man is invisible underneath all of the bandages and they chase him out of town. Driven insane by his inability to reverse the invisibility, he goes on a murderous rampage.

Books Being Made Into Movies

With the Oscars behind us this now is the perfect time to introduce some great books being made into movies in either 2012 or 2013. Some of these books are more recent and some of these books were written in the 1920s as is the case with The Great Gatsby. Most of these books seem to unite around a central theme where the characters are trying to decide whether it is worth the trouble to conform to societies or social groups that are more troubled than they appear to the general public. The only book not on following this theme would be World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War which is about the spread of a plague where humans turn into zombies. Read these books to find out what decisions the characters make and the consequences of those decisions.

F Brooks,M

Brooks, Max World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War  (2012)

Max Brooks is an agent of the United Nations Postwar Commission depicting the history of ‘World War Z’. The start of the zombie pandemic is unclear, but possibly started when a zombie bit a young boy in China who is ‘patient zero’. Why would a government conceal such a deadly plague? How could this plague spread to other countries? What countries would be affected by such a plague? How are the war tactics in this war similar to real wars in history? Could the whole human civilization collapse because of this war? If the human civilization survives, how could it recover?  

F Chbosky,S

Chobsky, Stephen The Perks of Being a Wallflower  (2012)

This story sheds light about the experiences of a high school student, Charlie. The reader gets to know Charlie and his experiences through Charlie’s letters. The letters are a mystery. Charlie is devastated because of a tragic event that happened to his best friend and Charlie has alienated himself from his friends. Will Charlie fit in with a new group of friends? Will Charlie find a girlfriend who suits him? Is Charlie’s family life causing him trouble as well? Will Charlie be able to acknowledge his own dark secret and finally face his past?   

F Fitzgerald,F

Fitzgerald, F. Scott The Great Gatsby  (2012)

Nick Carraway, a recent Yale graduate, hoping to go into the bond business, has rented a house for the summer in West Egg New York. Nick’s neighbor is the mysterious Jay Gatsby who lives in a mansion and throws lavish parties, but doesn’t really attend and partake in the drinking. In fact, many of the guests do not really know Gatsby. While Nick is visiting his cousin Daisy and her husband Tom Buchanan Nick meets the young beautiful Jordan Baker. Will Nick be accepted within a social class he is not really comfortable being a part of? Why does Gatsby throw his lavish parties? Does anyone really take the time to know Gatsby and would anyone care if anything tragic happened to him? Are the Buchanan’s really a happy couple? Will Nick come to respect or despise the people in his new social class?

F Card, O

Card, Orson Scott Ender's Game  (2013)

In this novel, government agencies mold child geniuses by training them as soldiers to protect against a hostile alien race’s next attack. Andrew “Ender” Wiggin lives with his parents, his brother Peter and his sister Valentine. Peter and Valentine were possible children to be trained as soldiers, but they just weren’t good enough. Ender is drafted to Battle School for the training. How does Ender deal with the loneliness of being away from his friends? How does Ender deal with the stiff competition among his peers in training with him? Is Ender the one who can save his world if the world can survive?

F Westerfeld,S

Westerfield, Scott Uglies (2012)

Tally is about to turn 16 and lives in Uglyville. Uglyville is a town set in the future where the citizens are trained to believe they are ugly until they are 16 and they undergo a surgery to turn them into “pretties.” Tally’s new friend Shay is also about to turn 16, but Shay does not want to be pretty. When Shay disappears and Tally goes after her friend. The authorities offer Tally the choice of finding her friend Shay and turning Shay in or Tally can never turn pretty. Will Tally still want to be pretty? Will the choice change Tally forever? How would the choice change Tally and the world in which she lives?