Fall - Colin McAdam

Fall is a novel set in Canada and written by Colin McAdam. The book follows the lives of two boys as they navigate through St. Ebury, an exclusive boarding school for the children of Canada’s elite. The days spent at school are repetitive and strictly defined by school work and the expectations set for future lives. The school is predominantly male, housing only a handful of girls. Of these girls, it is the beautiful and graceful Fall who captivates many of the boys and provides distraction from the dull life of an average student. Julius is a popular boy who seems to have everything figured out, despite being at an age where the future is uncertain. The reader, who has access to Julius’ thoughts, knows the opposite to be true; he is concerned only for Fall, consumed by lust and love, and full of inarticulate musings. His roommate Noel, on the other hand, is a clever loner who has a tendency to remain at the school on the weekends, spending free hours lifting weight and reading books.
As the year progresses, Julius becomes physically closer to Fall, and Noel begins to believe that his place of residence automatically draws him closer into Julius’ circle of friends, and in turn, closer to Fall, the girl he watches closely from a distance. When Fall disappears from the school, the illusion of a predictable future will disappear and the lives of these boys will change dramatically. McAdam manages to create an articulate and accurate account of what it means to be an adolescent boy in the space of few words. His daring style and eye for detail remind us that life can never be predictable, even in a place where each day seems to be the same as the one before. I was disappointed by the ending and the thinness of Fall’s character: she was nothing more than an object of desire. This book contains some mature themes and a great deal of course language. Recommended for students in grade 11 or 12, especially boys.

Deadline-Chris Crutcher

This book was amazing. I found the book very hard to get into , as it just seemed like a boring teenager's life before he dies. However, as the book progressed I started to become more absorbed into the book. I wanted to know all about Ben's life. Chris Crutcher turns a simple book into a plot filled book full of many themes and the issues of adolescence. I would recommend this book to boys and girls. I also loved the the use of humour in his book. I learned that it is important to live in the moment and give it your all; sometimes we have to savour the truth to enjoy life!

Foundation

By Isaac Asimov

Thousands of years in the future. Mankind has settled every known habitable planet in the galaxy. The whole galaxy is ruled by the Galactic Empire, on the planet Trantor, which is as close to the galactic center as possible. Hari Seldon sees that the empire is crumbling before them, and that there is no way to prevent this. But, he does see a way to make this transition period between empires shorter, from 30,000 years to only 1,000 years. He knows this through "Psychohistory" ; The science of probabilites of masses of people. As humanity is now numbered in the trillions over all the planets, the paths that humanity take can now be accurately predicted. So Hari Seldon grabs the best known physical scientists in all the worlds and brings them to a planet as far away from any other as possible. The farthest planet from the center in all the galaxy, Terminus. There these scientists are to build the Encyclopedia Galactica, of a culmination of all the known knowledge in the galaxy. But their planet doesn't get left alone for long, and it's up to them to find a way to keep their project going and to expand their power.

Ender's Game

By Orson Scott Card

In a world not too far in the future, humanity is threatened by the alien species known to everybody as the Buggers. Society's only hope rests in the young boys and girls picked from their home countries by the International Fleet to serve mankind in the eventual war between the two sentient species. The story follows young Andrew "Ender" Wiggin in his training at Battle School, the space station turned training school in orbit around Earth. An excellent read for people of all ages, as while the main characters are young, the problems they must tackle and the doctrines they are subjected to are very mature indeed.

Before We Say Goodbye

In Before We Say Goodbye an adult woman who is greiving the loss of her dead mother is given an envelope from her mother containing one thing; the address of her first love, the man her mother would never let her have. In shock, she travels to his home, planning only to stay the weekend. Two days becomes four and four becomes a summer. As time goes on, she doesn't know what is going on, can she stay with him and his daughter or should she go back to her husband, two sons, and her life. This heart-wrenching story about a woman finding out who her mother, and more importantly, who she is will glue your eyes to the page until you finish. This fiction book is so well written, you could believe that it was true.

I give it 4.5/5

I, Robot

By Isaac Asimov

Imagine the movie "I, Robot" without copious amounts of product placement and Will Smith. This is the basic premise for the compilation of short stories known as "I, Robot." It follows the life of Robopsychologist Susan Calvin and the creation of robots as we know them today, starting with the ones barely intelligent enough to walk and leading to the ones that eventually become smarter than humans themselves, thanks to their positronic brains. Some stories are funny, others are sad, but all of them are very well thought out and will make you question humanity as a whole. A fantastic read for anybody into Sci-Fi, but an even better read for anybody looking for something that will challenge how they think and act.

Dark Dude

by Oscar Hijuelos

"How Do You Escape Yourself?"

Harlem New York, Rico Fuentes struggles to find a happy medium between his neighborhood bullies, rundown school with frequent shootings, and his parents that blame him for their own unhappiness. A threat by his father to send him to military school, makes him realize he needs a plan to get out. He runs with his best friend toward Wisconsin in hope a fresh start, help his friend kick his heroin addiction, and maybe fine away to forget about the past. After nearly a Year of making his life work out, and outhouse duty he finds somethings can't be left behind, and makes a decision that may change his life forever.

An Excellent book for those looking for a simplistic read.

"A journey toward self-discovery"
~ Ellen Hopkins.

The Hour I First Believed

The Hour I First Believed is a moving novel about Caelum Quirk and his wife Maureen as they try to revive their marriage after Maureen's affair with one of her co-workers. A high school English teacher, Caelum and his wife both work at Columbine High School during April 1999. However, a death in his family calls Caelum back to his hometwon of Three Rivers and pulls him into thoughts of the family of which he is now the last. During his absence from Columbine, the school shooting occurs and Maureen finds herself hiding in the break room as she hears the explosions and gun shots go off near-by. Maureen tramautized convinces Caelum to move back to Three Rivers, Conneticut as she readapts to to life and her fears. They move back to his family farm hoping for a new start but find the trauma follows them even there as they battle to begin a new life. Maureen traumitized and Caelum wrapped up in his family history, will they ever be able to find peace in their lives again?



The story is both moving and uplifting as Caelum and Maureen struggle to refind themselves and find a routine to deal with their seperate and personal issues. Thy novel explores the outes they take to recovery and will pull the reader deep into its tale. I highly recommend this book. =D

Plato and a Playtpus Walk into a Bar

By Thomas Cathcart & Daniel Klein

The optimist says, "The glass is half full"
The Pessimist says, "The glass is half empty"
The rationalist says,"This glass is twice as big as it needs to be" (17)


Philosophy lovers, those wanting to begin asking deep questions will love this book. A brief introduction to western philosophy, outlining the early ideas of philosophy and key concepts through jokes. Excellent book for those looking for an introduction to philosophy and a good laugh.

Just Listen by Sarah Dessen

Although she has what many teenage girls desires – caring family, good grades, and a part-time modeling career – Annabel Greene’s personal life is anything but perfection. Annabel secretly despises modeling; her sister has an eating disorder; and their mother's past depression and fake cheerfulness cause mounting tension in the household. After an unfortunate incident at a summer party, Annabel is accused of stealing her best friend’s boyfriend, and treated as a social outcast by everyone at her school. Without the comfort of her friends and worried by her unstable family, Annabel finds an unlikely friend in classmate Owen, who teaches her to “Don’t think and judge. Just Listen.”

As with her other YA books, Dessen keeps the plot flowing and the characterization well developed. The dialogue is realistic and expertly done. Overall, this is a very enjoying and not overly deep story. My only criticism is that so much build up is created that readers may be disappointed with the climax.

Through Black Spruce by Joseph Boyden

In the Northern town of Moosonee, Ontario, Will Bird, a former bush pilot, lies in a coma. Once a legend, the weakened Cree man is left in the hospital, haunted by memories of residential school and the choices of his past. His niece, Annie decides to drop by, after spending eight months in a different world. In hopes that he will awaken, she decides to expose the details of the time they spent apart. For a year, Annie ventured south and struggled to find her sister, Suzanne, who had slipped away into the city life. Annie’s decision to follow her tracks led to a trap, one laced with drugs, alcohol and modelling. In her Northern life, she is independent and mysterious, keeping the traditions of her people alive by living off the land. But her knowledge of the bush does not help her in Toronto and she must fight to survive. As Will listens to his niece, he begins to drift back into his memories of flying, goose hunting and drinking beer on the river bank. Joseph Boyden weaves the stories of two generations together to illustrate the changing nature of Canada’s indigenous peoples. This novel is a stunning explanation of what it means to hold on to identity and keep a family together. It is the worthy winner of 2008’s Giller Prize. Recommended for grades 10-12.

Keeper by Mal Peet

A 30 year old goalkeeper from Brazil whose team has just won the World Cup in soccer is interviewed by a reporter and tells the tale of how he became a world class player. The story takes us into the heart of the rain forest where logging is changing the shape of the landscape. The boy's father is a logger, and for awhile, the boy joins his father in that enterprise. The boy learns soccer from a ghost caught between the living and the dead. The reporter speaks for the reader when he questions the keeper's fantastic story about being trained by a ghost... but in the end the reader wants to accept the story. Afterall, there is always mystery attached to the question of how some triumph in the face of adversity while others fail.