Book Review #3 – The Princess Bride

Felicia Taylor 

Matt Thomas

English 9

05-16-08

 

Book Review #3 – The Princess Bride

 

            This tale begins in Florence in a time that is somehow before Europe but after Paris.  The main character, Buttercup, realized that she was in love with the farm boy, Westley.  He had always loved her but had no money for marriage and went off to America (this was after America).  Buttercup awaited Westley’s return, receiving letters from him quite frequently.  The letters stopped coming due to the fact that he had been killed by the Dread Pirate Roberts.

            Humperdink was the prince of Florence and was to be king.  He needed to choose a bride and, since his first choice didn’t work out due to her being bald, he chose Buttercup.  Unbeknownst to anyone but count Rugen, Humperdink paid three men, Vizzini, Inigo, and Fezzik, to start a war between Gilder and Florence by stealing Buttercup and killing her.  Vizzini and Co. are followed by a man in black; aka – Westley.  He beats the three of them and steals Buttercup away from them only to be tracked by the prince.

            They run to the fire swamp but Buttercup ends up back with Humperdink on the promise that Westley won’t get hurt, which doesn’t happen.  Inigo and Fezzik find Westley, save Buttercup from being married to Humperdink, and Inigo defeats Count Rugen.  They live happily ever after, blah blah blah. 

            After seeing the movie I didn’t really expect that the book would be as long as it is.  I read the version abridged by William Goldman and it is much shorter than the original that was written by Morgenstern.  If I had read the original version I’m almost sure I wouldn’t have liked it as much.  It is noted in this version that Morgenstern goes on for sixty six pages about Florentine history and seventy one pages about training Buttercup to be a princess.  That sounds mildly interesting but, all-in-all, not part of the main plot.

I feel like I always say this, but the voice in the book is very pronounced.  I may just have a special talent for fishing it out or maybe I just read books that tend to have that quality; either way the voice in this book was very clear to me.  It is sarcastic most of the time, such as in the beginning, when he says that the time was before Europe but after Paris and America, and we all know Paris came after Europe and before America.  He also put in a comment about how stew came before everything except taxes, which made me laugh.  These comments are only present in the first chapter but I wish they would have continued throughout the rest of the story.

Business Letter

1234 Bubblegum Drive

Bazooka, Utah 90210

April 21, 2008

Amazon

1516 2nd Ave.
Seattle, WA 98101

Dear Amazon:

I have found that there is a much deeper reason for people to read than to occupy their time or to entertain themselves. There is a longing, of some sort or another, which many people have for fictional things; even non-fictional things that they did not have the privilege to be present for. This isn’t just a mere want, it is a need. Sure, some people have gotten past this need and moved onto the TV or the computer. If you analyze these people they will turn out to be shallow and far less logically geared than readers, such as myself.

Another thing I have found that books cost money, for whatever reason. I wish they did not cost so much, for then I would be able to purchase a book or even many from your site, which I do like and have browsed previous to this letter. I am too young to obtain a job by law and because of this I cannot earn money to buy books from your company, although I can guarantee that when I do get money I will purchase many items from your site.

You have such a wide variety of books, movies, and many other things that I can only dream of possessing. Having as much as you do, and me having as little as I do, I would be extremely appreciative if you could donate a good book to my cause so that I may someday become more intelligent and well read.

Thank you very much for letting me take some of your time. Also, if you so choose to send me a book or an item of any kind I will appreciate it very much and I thank you a great deal for contributing to my education.

Sincerely,

Felicia Taylor

Book review #2 – The Bartimaeus Trilogy: The Amulet of Samarkand

Felicia Taylor

Matt Thomas

English 9

04-14-08

Book Review #2 – The Bartimaeus Trilogy: The Amulet of Samarkand

This exquisite novel is about a young boy named Nathaniel who is a magician’s assistant in London, England. He studied all about the demons that do the work for magicians and by the age of eleven he has read every book plus some that his master has told him to read. It is at this time that he meets a rival magician to his master; Simon Lovelace.

Nathaniel unintelligently provokes Lovelace by calling him a sore loser and Lovelace punishes him. This leads Nathaniel to want revenge against him and decides to summon a level fourteen djinni named Bartimaeus.

He charges this djinni to steal the Amulet of Samarkand from Lovelace and a frantic search for the item ensues. After a fair amount of twists and turns in the plot Nathaniel’s master and his master’s wife get killed and it’s all his fault. But it’s ok because he uncovers a plan to kill the Prime Minister and saves the day, woo hoo!

I really like the Bartimaeus chapters in this book because he has such a defined personality; his sarcasm and just the way it seems to me like he carries himself throughout the story just get me, I really enjoy it. It’s not just Bartimaeus either; almost all of the characters in this book are very well developed, to the point that they are real to me, I can put a face to a name at any given moment, yet I imagined all of it. It just seems so real that I didn’t realize it was my imagination, I guess. So basically what I like is the personality this book has.

Luuuuvvvv Story

Felicia Taylor

Matt Thomas

English 9

03-31-08

Luuuvvvv Story (Revised)

Well, it all started back in first grade. I remember it well. You know the days, when all the boys had “cooties” of some kind that weren’t exactly good for girls to get. The boys all said the same thing about us but I swear we didn’t have anything of the sort. I bathed, there’s no way I could have had cooties! My brother said that they weren’t real, but he also said that about Santa Claus and Jesus, so who was he to be telling me anything? But cooties or no we just didn’t mesh with each other very well.

I was in Mrs. Something’s class in first grade. The class was separated into different groups like most elementary classes are. Pitting us against each other… nasty, mean, evil teachers… moving on. There were three or four people in each group. They all had boys and girls in them. (I think our parents wanted it that way, like how they wanted us to get chicken pocks. I think cooties could be the same way.)

I sat next to a girl named Vanessa who used to be my best friend but later ended up with the popular girls. I also sat next to a boy named Ethan. He was like any other first grade boy: short, weird, and infected. He would always look at me and then when I caught him looking at me he’d quickly turn his head away and pretend to be looking at something else. It was really immature and I hated it.

The first time I caught him looking at me my cheeks blushed a horrible rosy red color and I was extremely embarrassed. I didn’t even know why he was looking at me and I was confused. It felt weird though; an uncomfortable feeling welled up in the pit of my stomach. (Probably hunger; it was right before lunch if I recall correctly.) I didn’t catch him doing that again for a long time, he probably felt bad that he embarrassed me, who knows?

School continued as before; the boys kept to themselves and the girls did the same. But lo and behold the next week he did it again! I didn’t know what to do. I was in uncharted waters here, going where no first grader, to my knowledge, had gone before. I decided to consult my older sister, who was a whole year older than me, she’d know what to do. I went to speak with the wise one and found that I was correct in my assumptions. She gave me this piece of advice: Ignore him.

I found this to be most helpful… for about an hour, then my rouse fell apart and he caught me staring at him. I couldn’t even believe what I was doing! Me, staring at him? I was highly agitated with myself about this whole thing. I thought about it while I was working on my macaroni necklace at the art table during rotations later on that day.

What could possibly make me stare at him like I did? He had cooties; this was strictly not allowed in the imaginary first grade handbook that game with the Fisher Price kitchen set. In the end I decided the whole thing was his fault in the first place because he had been staring at me first.

During afternoon recess that day I boldly walked over to the Boy Territory on the playground. I crawled into the cave that they made under the slide. Needless to say, every boy in the place was aghast with fear that a girl would walk onto their turf without permission. I looked Ethan straight in the eyes and said “Why were you staring at me?” I did it in a mean way so he got a pouty look on his face, which I only understood later on in life.

(Kanden thinks you’re magnificent, Matt, in case you didn’t know.)

Book Review #1 – Artemis Fowl: The Lost Colony

Felicia Taylor

Matt Thomas

English 9

03-28-08

Book Review #1 – Artemis Fowl: The Lost Colony

            This is the fifth book in the Artemis Fowl series and follows the same characters through two different ‘worlds’ of sorts.  Artemis Fowl is a criminal mastermind, he is also a teenager.  The series starts when he is twelve years old and this installment ends when he is eighteen, or should be.  In the first book Artemis Fowl discovered a world of magical creatures living in the Earth’s crust and successfully kidnapped one of them; Holly Short.  They get over the whole kidnapping thing and end up becoming friends throughout the series.

Artemis finds out that there is a race of demons that live on an island that has been lifted out of time; this is the lost colony.  Every couple of months there is a glitch in the time spell that holds the island out of the present and sends a demon back to Earth.  Artemis Fowl discovers this glitch and goes searching for a demon.  Through a series of stakeouts he finds a demon but another person catches it before he can. 

He contacts the fairy world through a fairy communicator.  The elf Holly, the dwarf Mulch Diggums, the pixie Doodah Day, and Artemis’ bodyguard Butler agree to help in his retrieval of the demon.  They find out that the person who caught the demon was a child genius who was about a year younger than Artemis.  She and her helpers finally come to their senses after Artemis has bested them and they end up saving the lost colony and bringing it back to Earth.

The most noticeable thing about this book, to me, is the energy in it.  The plot, the characters, the dialogue; everything about it has energy written all over it.  This book was always interesting and kept my mind engaged and entertained throughout its entirety.  Also, the creativity of the different elements of this book amazed me.  Such as the different races of fairies and the idea of how they came to be.  Eoin Colfer has pushed fairy tale creatures to a whole new level for me. 

I didn’t want to put this book (or any of the other books in the series) down and ended up reading the entire thing in less than two days.  I found myself getting excited for the characters even though I knew the story wasn’t real.  I’m a sucker for fiction books and this has to be one of my favorite stories next to the all-popular Harry Potter, Inheritance, and (guilty pleasure) Twilight series.  I will most definitely recommend this series to anyone and I will also read them again later on in life.