The 19th century was one of the most paramount time periods in Western literature. Russian literature from this time period produced world-renowned classic authors such as Leo Tolstoy, Nikolai Gogol, and, the center of today's review, Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Book 1 of The Idiot  is a classic that I had a meaningful time reading and slowly understanding. Someone who recommended me this book told me that the thing with books of the same genre as The Idiot is that embedded within the story are such deep comments of philosophical nature and such accurate representations of society that you feel like a completely different person after finally coming to terms with what the author is actually saying.  The Idiot follows Prince Lev Nikolayevich Myshkin, a young, good-hearted yet slightly dull and gullible Russian prince who, at the start of the story, is returning from a Swiss clinic that the book suggests he has spent the last few years at for curing his idiocy and epilepsy. He arrive...

Hey guys! This is just a quick question. DO you think I should give Albrek's Tomb  another chance? I stopped reading it, but I don't know if I should start again. (If you don't know what I'm talking about, go read my review of Albrek's Tomb ) Thanks!

    For the past couple of weeks, I have been reading Partials by Dan Wells. This is my review.     Partials is a book that follows sixteen-year-old Kira, who is a medic. She lives in a world that takes place in the distant future, after the human population has been reduced to thousands. This is because of the Partials, genetically engineered human beings who were made to serve in the military, but then turned on the humans. The humans and the Partials went to war, and during the war, the Partials created a virus called RM, to which they are immune, that affects humans. The only humans remaining also have immunity.   Because all of the babies die of RM shortly after birth, the government is desperately trying to find a cure, by making people have as many babies they can, starting at sixteen years old. Kira works in maternity and runs tests on the babies until they eventually die. She is contempt with her job until her friend Madison becomes pregnant. After ...

By Marlow Tracy                Blue Shoes and Happiness by Alexander McCall Smith is a wholesome, quick read that is well worth picking up. It is set in Botswana and follows the daily life of Mma Ramotswe as she works for the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, solving crimes and righting wrongs with the help of her skilled assistant Mma Makutsi.                Something that struck me about the book right away was its style of writing. The author takes the perspective of one character at a time, detailing their reactions to events and providing an insight into their thought process following each action instead of just providing reactions and forcing the reader to make inferences regarding their feelings. These tangents (of sorts) are not boring or off-topic, but rather give the reader an amusing interpretation of events in the novel and help develop each character’s perso...

 By Kate A.      Stephen King's dystopian novel, The Long Walk, is about an annual competition where 100 teenage boys must walk at a steady pace of 4 mph until only one of them remains. In the Long Walk, each boy is given three warnings, and after all their warnings have been used, they are "ticketed." Readers learn early on in the book that buying a ticket means you are shot by one of the soldiers riding alongside the walkers in half-tracks. The last boy standing at the end of the Walk wins "The Prize", which is anything they want for the rest of their lives. The story is narrated by Ray Garraty, one of the participants in the Long Walk. Ray is from Maine, where the Walk starts and most of the story takes place.      I have read a few of Stephen King's novels and short stories before The Long Walk , but this book was different. Unlike many of his stories, this book didn't involve anything supernatural, but there was an element of psychologic...

Perhaps the main thing I remember about my experience with  Masterminds  is that I started the entire series on a summer weekend, and I ended it on the same weekend. Gordon Korman is known for his children's literature, never falling short of delivering a short but captivating novel. The  Masterminds  series, or for the sake of this post, book one of the series,  Masterminds , is no stranger to this. There is not much philosophy to take away from  Masterminds , but everything from the action and the plot twists to the characters and world-building is unexpectedly beguiling. I read the first book, the focus for today,  Masterminds , then after closing that opened the second book,  Criminal Destiny , and then the final book,  Payback .  The book opens with Eli Frieden, the main protagonist, playing with his best friend, Randy. At this point, the reader assumes that the setting is some rural neighborhood like any other. However, the re...

      Adventurers Wanted: Albrek's Tomb, the third book in the Adventurers wanted series follows Alexander Taylor (goes by Alex) as he is requested by one of his old company members to find Albrek, a dwarf who went missing searching for new mines in the village of Thraxon.  Alex and his company have to go through many dangerous places to get to Thraxon in search of Albrek, and run into trouble along the way.        I really liked the first two books in the Adventurers Wanted series, Slagboth's gold , and The Horn of Moran. Slagboth's gold  and The Horn of Moran  were Alex's first two adventures, which introduced me to the fantasy world of magic and adventures, all throughout the book. It was fun to see Alex adapt from being a normal sixteen year old kid, to an adventurer on a quest to find gold, having to slay dragons in the process. I was able to experience getting to know magic in the world for the first time with Alex, and it was f...