Over spring break I read the book "Between Shades of Grey" By Ruta Spetys.
First of all, just a couple of weeks ago I read Ruta Spetys' other novel called "Out of the Easy," and both are really good books that I recommend for everyone. I don't know which one I like more, because Between Shades of Grey has a better story, but Out of the Easy is told in a better way (in my opinion). Between Shades of Grey is a book about a girl named Lina who lives in Lithuania in 1942 with her family. The book starts when they are taken from their home in the middle of the night by Soviet soldiers. After a long train ride, they are taken to Siberia (in Russia) which is in the Arctic Circle to work camps and have to survive in the horrible conditions.
This did actually happen, where during WWII the Soviet Union captured certain people and took them to work camps much like the Germans were doing in Europe. This is an amazing story and is told really well, so I think everyone should give this book a try. It is intelligent yet easy to read, and is about 300 pages long.
Again, everyone should consider reading one of the two books Ruta Spetys has written!
Tuesday, April 8, 2014
Tuesday, March 11, 2014
Slice of Life 12/31
"Out of the Easy" by Ruta Sepetys.
This past week I read the second half of the book Out of the Easy. If you didn't read my blog about it last week, it is about a teenage girl named Josie who is out of high school and lives in the French Quarter of New Orleans. Her mother is a prostitute in a type of cat house, who neglects her daughter and doesn't put effort into being a parent. Josie co-owns a book shop with a boy her age named Patrick, and she loves books. She soon finds that she is on her own, and then tries to apply for college, and doing other things to get out of the Quarter.
This is an amazingly well-written book (Ruta Sepetys always writes in a really good way) that shows there can be courage in something that isn't technically an adventure. I like this book because it captures the environment of the setting without describing everything in-depth.
I recommend this book for anyone, and the reading level isn't that high. Again, this book draws you in, and I legitimately liked to read, and it is only about 300 pages. READ THIS BOOK!
This past week I read the second half of the book Out of the Easy. If you didn't read my blog about it last week, it is about a teenage girl named Josie who is out of high school and lives in the French Quarter of New Orleans. Her mother is a prostitute in a type of cat house, who neglects her daughter and doesn't put effort into being a parent. Josie co-owns a book shop with a boy her age named Patrick, and she loves books. She soon finds that she is on her own, and then tries to apply for college, and doing other things to get out of the Quarter.
This is an amazingly well-written book (Ruta Sepetys always writes in a really good way) that shows there can be courage in something that isn't technically an adventure. I like this book because it captures the environment of the setting without describing everything in-depth.
I recommend this book for anyone, and the reading level isn't that high. Again, this book draws you in, and I legitimately liked to read, and it is only about 300 pages. READ THIS BOOK!
Tuesday, March 4, 2014
Week 24 Reading
"Out of the Easy" By Ruta Spetys
Hello everyone, my name is Nate, and for this Slice of Life I will talk about the book read last week for my school. We usually read one book per week, but last week, I was only able to read about half of my book, so I will be reviewing the first half of it. I wasn't able to do this because I got my book on Wednesday , and I didn't have the weekend to read it. I will now talk about Out of the Easy by Ruta Spetys.
Josie sits in the dark on her bed reading as loud, festive noise echos in from the street. Tonight was New Years Eave in the French Quarter of New Orleans and Josie wanted so much to be out there and party like a normal teenager. However, she was forced to stay in her room with her gun and lock anyone out, because a dangerous person was in town.
This is a really beautifully written book, and is very mysterious with very real-feeling characters. I will try to leave it at that description for now, and hopefully you will go and find out the different aspects of the story.
Hello everyone, my name is Nate, and for this Slice of Life I will talk about the book read last week for my school. We usually read one book per week, but last week, I was only able to read about half of my book, so I will be reviewing the first half of it. I wasn't able to do this because I got my book on Wednesday , and I didn't have the weekend to read it. I will now talk about Out of the Easy by Ruta Spetys.
Josie sits in the dark on her bed reading as loud, festive noise echos in from the street. Tonight was New Years Eave in the French Quarter of New Orleans and Josie wanted so much to be out there and party like a normal teenager. However, she was forced to stay in her room with her gun and lock anyone out, because a dangerous person was in town.
This is a really beautifully written book, and is very mysterious with very real-feeling characters. I will try to leave it at that description for now, and hopefully you will go and find out the different aspects of the story.
Monday, February 24, 2014
Week 23 Reading
"Who-oligy" by Cavan Scott and Mark Write
Hi everyone, we are back from break, and this is the book I read over Winter Collective. I wanted to have a simple fun time in terms of reading, so I read a book I got for Christmas from my aunt in England called Who-oligy (Doctor Who: The Official Miscellany). So, I really like Doctor Who and I think any episode is really good, but unfortunately I haven't dived so deep that I have watched all of the episodes. Even though sometimes I consider myself to be, I am not as hardcore of a Whovian than some people.
As I said, this is a really nerdy book about Doctor Who in general, and it goes through many random things about any episode that has aired. I can't really go into detail about this or recommend it or you if you haven't seen the show. If you have however, (god bless you) when we have a week that calls for an easy, fun book you should just read it. That is all I have to say.
I will read Half-Brother this week.
Hi everyone, we are back from break, and this is the book I read over Winter Collective. I wanted to have a simple fun time in terms of reading, so I read a book I got for Christmas from my aunt in England called Who-oligy (Doctor Who: The Official Miscellany). So, I really like Doctor Who and I think any episode is really good, but unfortunately I haven't dived so deep that I have watched all of the episodes. Even though sometimes I consider myself to be, I am not as hardcore of a Whovian than some people.
As I said, this is a really nerdy book about Doctor Who in general, and it goes through many random things about any episode that has aired. I can't really go into detail about this or recommend it or you if you haven't seen the show. If you have however, (god bless you) when we have a week that calls for an easy, fun book you should just read it. That is all I have to say.
I will read Half-Brother this week.
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
Week 22 Reading
"A Wrinkle in Time" by Madeleine L'Engle
On a dark
and stormy night (the book starts with that) fourteen year-old
Meg goes downstairs from her room in the attic. Meg is an in-secure-low-self-esteemed girl who doesn't do very good in school, but
is loved by her family, especially her five year-old brother Charles
Wallace. The both of them go down to the kitchen at the same time on that
night, and using his odd ability to seemingly read people's minds, Charles
Wallace makes hot cocoa and a sandwich for her. They are soon joined by their mother,
and they find themselves all eating a midnight snack together (this
amusing ridiculousness is continued throughout the book). Told from the
third-person perspective of Meg, this book continues as during their snack,
they have a strange visitor who is recognized by Charles, named Mrs. Watsit.
After having a conversation with the family, Mrs. Watsit leaves on the note of
telling the children's mom, that 'there is such thing as a tesseract.' Not
knowing what Mrs. Watsit meant or why their mother reacted in a strange way,
Charles and Meg embark on an unexpected journey to an odd world to find out.
This is and odd and entertaining book, and I can see why people
call it a classic. If you haven't read it, I
would definitely recommend it for the future when a conversation
comes up about it. Happy almost EXPO everyone!
Saturday, February 1, 2014
Week 21 Reading
"The 5th Wave" by Rick YanceyIf you read my blog last week you will remember that I read the first half of the 5th Wave, but you will not remember that I lied about part of it. I thought this wouldn't be something I would need to tell you about the book, but it turns out that in the second half/end of the story it is more relevant. The book switches off from different characters in different points of view. I was surprised/confused about the book when it first changed point of view because no one told me about it, but I will spare you from some of the confusion of the first chapters and say that every once in a while it changes the 'protagonist,' and also the point of view the story is told from (first or third person).
If you didn't read my post last week, than that paragraph was unnecessary. This is actually a really good book, and I understand why everyone is giving it such high approval. In the first half or so, I thought it was going to be just another book with aliens invading earth because their home planet is dying (which is part of the plot) but the author actually filled the characters up with feeling and human-ness. In my previous blog, I didn't really recommend this book, but now my feelings for it have changed, and I think everyone in the class is able to read it, and should read it.
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