noseinabook:

YA Books For Gryffindors

I found this one the hardest to do. I tried to show different types of bravery and not just the Katniss and Tris kind. Like, the bravery to be yourself when it might be difficult, the bravery to keep going when things are hard or the bravery to do what’s right. See all four houses here. 

(Reblogged from noseinabook)
Animal Farm - George Orwell Reflecting events of the Russian Revolution and the Stalin era, Animal Farm addresses themes such as corruption, indifference, greed, and ignorance in government. It was Orwell’s wish to “expose the Soviet myth in a story that could be easily understood by almost anyone…” and I certainly think he succeeded. I feel as though my impression of this novel may be a bit lacking. It feels difficult to relate to, being of a different generation. It seems a fantasy to me, instead of a reflection on true events. But I live in a world where we have access to the internet which, if you know to look for it, is generally more critical than mainstream media. And this is what I took away from this novel - to be a critical thinker and always search out the truth to protect ourselves, our family, and our way of life.

Animal Farm - George Orwell

Reflecting events of the Russian Revolution and the Stalin era, Animal Farm addresses themes such as corruption, indifference, greed, and ignorance in government. It was Orwell’s wish to “expose the Soviet myth in a story that could be easily understood by almost anyone…” and I certainly think he succeeded.

I feel as though my impression of this novel may be a bit lacking. It feels difficult to relate to, being of a different generation. It seems a fantasy to me, instead of a reflection on true events. But I live in a world where we have access to the internet which, if you know to look for it, is generally more critical than mainstream media. And this is what I took away from this novel - to be a critical thinker and always search out the truth to protect ourselves, our family, and our way of life.

teachingliteracy: just-breathe-in-colors

teachingliteracy:

just-breathe-in-colors

(Reblogged from teachingliteracy)

Happy Talk Like Shakespeare Day!

mentalflossr:

image

Here are 20 of the many words he added to your vocabulary.

(Reblogged from mentalflossr)

Update: One day I will have read all of these books…

Apparently the BBC reckons most people will have only read 6 of the 100 books here. I’ve bolded the ones I’ve read so far…

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchel
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude -Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 The Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Alborn
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy O’Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

30 out of 100

Nikolski - Nicolas Dickner Winner of Canada Reads 2010 - this book is about finding your way in the world, figuring yourself out, and trying to make your mark. It follows three people with a shared past and who briefly connect with each other in some way. The book ends with the promise of change in a new chapter of life that they have each marked out for themselves. I really identified as a young adult trying to find my place in the world. The options seem limitless. And to see towards the end of the book that the simple choices they made at first, led to an eventual “guided” course is intriguing to me. I feel like I’m at the point in life of making those simple choices - but I don’t see where they will be taking me yet.

Nikolski - Nicolas Dickner

Winner of Canada Reads 2010 - this book is about finding your way in the world, figuring yourself out, and trying to make your mark. It follows three people with a shared past and who briefly connect with each other in some way. The book ends with the promise of change in a new chapter of life that they have each marked out for themselves.

I really identified as a young adult trying to find my place in the world. The options seem limitless. And to see towards the end of the book that the simple choices they made at first, led to an eventual “guided” course is intriguing to me. I feel like I’m at the point in life of making those simple choices - but I don’t see where they will be taking me yet.

The Friday Night Knitting Club - Kate Jacobs This was a cute story - happy and sad but I enjoyed reading it. I found it really easy and quick to read and it’s easy to get caught up in the stories of each of the club members. I think most people will be able to relate in some way to at least one of the stories…and definitely relate to the collective feeling of getting together with a group of friends you can really rely on. As a recent fan of knitting, I think it’s quite clear why this book caught my eye :) and I definitely want to be part of a knitting club now! (Wow I don’t sound like I’m in my 20’s at all…) I really enjoy book club nights - getting together with the girls and discussing a book we’ve all read together and catching up on each others lives. Whether it be books, knitting, sports, or something else, everyone should have their little “escape” from the daily grind. View high resolution

The Friday Night Knitting Club - Kate Jacobs

This was a cute story - happy and sad but I enjoyed reading it. I found it really easy and quick to read and it’s easy to get caught up in the stories of each of the club members. I think most people will be able to relate in some way to at least one of the stories…and definitely relate to the collective feeling of getting together with a group of friends you can really rely on.

As a recent fan of knitting, I think it’s quite clear why this book caught my eye :) and I definitely want to be part of a knitting club now! (Wow I don’t sound like I’m in my 20’s at all…)

I really enjoy book club nights - getting together with the girls and discussing a book we’ve all read together and catching up on each others lives. Whether it be books, knitting, sports, or something else, everyone should have their little “escape” from the daily grind.

Funny Book Titles with Authors (READ THEM OUT LOUD) :)

libraryland:

liveelaughlovee:

  • Life Under the Bleachers by Seymore Buts
  • Over-Population in China by Wefukem Young
  • The Tradgey Near the Cliff by Ilene Dover
  • 20 Miles to the Outhouse by Willy Makeit illustrated by Betty Wont
  • Brown Spots on the Wall by Who Flung Poo
  • P.S. by Adaline More
  • Yellow River by I.P. Freely
  • Rusty Bed Springs by I.P. Nightly
  • Back Row Of The Orchestra by Clara Nett
  • Free Willy by Freda Wale
  • Creeky Door by Rusty Hinges
  • Cheating on His Wife by Izzy Backyet
  • Silly Rabbit by Trixie R. Forkids
  • I’m Fine by Howard Yu
  • Where’s the Toilet by Ivona Tinkle
  • The Great Flood by Noah Zark

Happy April Fool’s Day!

(Reblogged from libraryland)

How to Make American Teens Smarter - Page 1 - The Daily Beast

Am I the only one?

So I was perusing the bookstore today, and noticed that the next installment in a book series have come out (for several different series that I’ve started). I got excited to see them, but refrained from buying them. Why? Because I bought “Book 1” in paperback form, and “Book 2” is only out in hardcover. I feel the need to get the full series in the same format so it all matches.

Is that weird? Do you or anyone you know do that?