What Do I Know About Sci-Fi, Anyway?

   By Dominique L.

Well, a lot more now.

George S. Elrick's Science Fiction Handbook is a glossary. The definitions are ordered alphabetically, filling most of the pages until hand drawn examples break up the walls of words. If it weren't for the illustrations (drawn by Elrick himself) that accompany the short, but effective definitions, this book would be a significantly less cool read (let's face it, we all like picture books).

This should have had a clever title but ...

By Jonathan R.

This short writing craft book [This Year You Write Your Novel by Walter Mosley] contains many tips and ideas from published author Walter Mosley. It expresses the importance of workshopping, the strengths and weaknesses of different POV's and much more. All that from a published author in less than 25,000 words!

The Blur Between Real And Fake

By: Emma F.

Blur: How to Know What's True in the Age of Information Overload was written by Bill Kovach and Tom Rosentiel, who between them have more than eighty years of journalism experience. Throughout the book Kovach and Rosentiel provide insight into discerning what is true and what is fake in this technological time of information overload.

This should have had a cool title but ....

By Jonathan R.

The Kill Order, written by James Dashner, is the prequel of James Dashner's The Maze Runner series. Like the rest of the series, The Kill Order is written in a third-person Point-Of-View that revolves around Mark. Since the story is in third person, we get a better sense of the people around Mark and what they are thinking or feeling. Most readers might find this both interesting and useful for the fact that they're getting a better sense of the story as a whole. The story has a few slow, fluffy moments, but mostly is filled with action, thrills, mystery or all three.

Keep Your Hand Moving

By Samantha M.

    The book Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg, is a very useful teaching tool on how to become a better writer. The author gives helpful tips for writing and how to train yourself to be a writer. There are many references in the book that tell the importance of writing confidently and fluidly, and how to do that. She says to not stop for corrections, but rather to "keep your hand moving." She also says it is important to write down your thoughts and ideas as they come to you, because you may lose a thought, but you will always have the chance to go back and edit one if it is written down. In the end, Goldberg gives the advice of going back and editing when you have finished, to remove bits and pieces of your story, to make a solid a piece of work.

Just Take It Bird by Bird

By Cristle C.

Anne Lamott is an American novelist, non-fiction writer a political activist, public speaker, and writing teacher. Her most recent novel, Days Like This, was created with multiple authors. This included James Patterson. Bird by Bird is a writing craft book. In this book she shares her knowledge and techniques to help you create a work of art on your own.

Book Review #2

This book review might have been interesting had it only included some kind of text.

The Ways Weasels Speak

by Peter M.

Weasel Words: The Art of Saying What You Don't Mean is not about communicating with rodents. It is not a book that will show you how to deceive people. It is not even a book on how to use weasel words. It is a book about what weasel words are. It describes how they are used in various areas, from advertising to politics to education to even science, as well as their impact on language. This book will not help you as a writer if you are trying to find ways to deceive your readers, but it will help you as a person if you are trying to identify these weasel words.

Edward R. Murrow And The Birth Of Broadcast Journalism

By Evan K.

Have you ever wanted to see the birth of an journalism art form?

Writing Craft - Felicia R.

This book review might have been interesting had it included words. 

This should have had a good title but ...

By Thomas B.

Jonathan Gottschall's The Storytelling Animal is one of the stranger books I've read. In the book Jonathan talks about how real life events can be compared to stories and how we are always creating stories. His belief in the story is that everything we see, hear, feel, dream, and experience is a story. Every single moment we live is all apart of the grand story we call our life. Jonathan focusing on the reality of dreaming, we are always dreaming which means we are always creating a new story layered on top of the story we are always living.

Notes on Notes to Boys

By Shannon J.

Notes to Boys by Pamela Ribon has to be one of the weirdest books that I have ever read. It was a book on the writing craft, where an author goes back to her teenage years and writes about her youthful embarrassments. However, Pamela was not a normal teenager; she wrote multiple letters to almost every boy she ever talked to, and some of these notes were pretty weird. She kept copies of these notes for herself, and in the future she put them into a book, explaining each note in a paragraph or two. She went into some pretty interesting details, and some of the notes were the cheesiest things I have ever read. A few of them made me cringe, and I cannot imagine why anyone would want to give something like that to a person that they had feelings for.

Not Twice, Not Thrice, But EVEN MORE Blind Mice

By Meghan E.

          Upon gazing at the title 'Thrice Told Tales looks like a children's book. It seems childish, simple unhelpful to a hardcore writer. The last one could be true, but for a budding writer such as myself who apparently has no clue how to really write, this is a work of art. Not only is it witty enough to make me actually want to continue reading it, the illustrations are actually in many cases the words or actions the author is trying to teach. Somehow our author Catherine Lewis manages to go over a wide topic of writing themes, from the basics such as actions, the theme itself, to a bit more complex such as mythos coincidence suspense and sex. She manages to accomplish such a feat even more amazingly by using the nursery rhyme of three blind mice.

An Alcoholic Life

by Regina C.

Alcohol, booze, moonshine, liquid courage, in society these words usually bring to mind thoughts of a good time. They are often associated with bars, night clubs, parties, and fun nights with friends and strangers. On the surface it can seem like innocent fun, a couple of drinks after a day's work to unwind and relieve stress. For some people what starts as innocent fun can take a turn down a dark road.

The Pun Commandments

by Rebecca L.

Steven Frank, the author of The Pen Commandments, has been striving to improve the writing of others for over fifteen years. Frank started his career off as a high school English teacher, which gives him a unique perspective on writing. With so many students, he spends most of his time reading and grading essays. He notices writing habits that not many people would. Improving the writing of his students, although helpful to each individually, was not all that he wanted to do. Frank took his knowledge and observations about writing and decided to help so many more people by putting it in a book for the world to see.

The Modes of Bond

By Jacob O.

Ian Fleming's Casino Royale is the first James Bond novel. That should be enough information to assume that it is stylistically sound (and also to guess most of the plot). "Sound" is the best description for it. In every aspect, it is solid and hard to criticize, though it all adds up to an uninspired style. The novel follows Bond as he completes his mission to out-gamble, bankrupt, and humiliate a Soviet agent, Le Chiffre, in a French casino attended by the rich and cunning or otherwise the rich and bored.

book reviews: Lily Moody

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Writing With Style

By Daniela G.

The Elements of Style, also referred to as the "little book," was written by late professor of English at Cornell William Strunk, Jr. In the years that followed, E.B. White, one of the most eminent of his students, produced an edition of the book for the general public in which he revised the original. He also added a chapter of his own at the end to lead the reader to continue improving their writing toward distinction in English style. The new edition also provides a new glossary of grammatical terms. Furthermore, it is divided into five chapters. Throughout these chapters, the "little" book teaches writers to develop writing that is clear and precise.

This student did not offer a clever title, nor is this a critical essay

 By Ashleigh A.

  God Bless you, Mr.Rosewater was written by Kurt Vonnegut. The main character Elliot Rosewater plays many roles in the book. Not only is he a drunk, he also is a volunteer fireman, a World War Two veteran, and president of the rich Rosewater foundation. Elliot was living in New York until he abandons the lifestyle in New York. He falls into a fortune and tries to develop it.which is when he establishes the Rosewater foundation In Rosewater, Indiana. Though he falls into wealth, he struggles to use his wealth in a Utopian project. Elliot's relationship with his wife is not secure. Some say it makes him look mentally ill. Throughout his journey to Indiana, he makes pit stops at many different fire departments. For one reason or another he eventually gets kicked out of them, he Is a drunk so his actions to him are justified, though to others they are irrational and crazy. Elliot's actions such as leaving his wife in New York leaving her worrisome, leads to his and his wife's mental breakdowns.

  Kurt Vonnegut has written other novels besides 'God Bless you, Mr. Rosewater'. His first novel written was 'Player Piano', which was written in 1952. In this novel he focuses on the themes technology and the future. This novel was based on living in New York City. He has written cat's cradle, which is his fourth novel. This novel was published in 1963. It involves and explores problems of technology, science, and religion. He also wrote "the sirens of Titan", which was published in 1959. This was his second written novel. This novel focuses on free will and the purpose of human history. Most of his novels have greater meanings to them, and have achieved. He uses a lot of symbolism, motifs, and themes in his novels. He takes his real life experiences and puts them into his novels. which makes it that much better. His career lasted over fifty years, publishing fourteen novels, three short story collections, five plays, and five non- fiction novels. Vonnegut tended to use fantasy or science-fiction to show the horror and ironies of the twentieth century civilization.

The Giver: A critical essay

By Sage S.

The Giver is an excellent story that paints a pristine picture of a young boy and his role in a utopian society. This is a tale of a boy and the experiences brought on him as he is expected to be given a lifelong job assignment at the Ceremony of Twelve. Jonas goes through the motions of his daily life with apprehension towards what will happen, for he cannot think of any job assignments that would fit him quite yet. His good friends, Asher and Fiona seem to adjust easily on their pursuits of certain roles. Upon being selected as the Receiver of Memory at the ceremony, Jonas must attempt the grueling, yet remarkably rewarding assignment learning, remembering, reflecting, and relaying emotions and memories of experiences; those of which the people in his community chose to give up in order to attain Sameness and social order.

We Were Liars: A narrative modes book review

By Sage S.

We Were Liars, written by E. Lockhart, uses various forms of interesting forms of narrative mode that definitely succeed in engaging the reader in the events, thoughts, and emotions experienced by the main character, Cadence Sinclair. Her story is told through first person, and her character voice is one that was fairly different than one's I have read before. Cady is a depressed, confused, and often disoriented young adult. Very early on, it is expressed pretty clearly that she has been forced into her mature state; and not in a good way. Often, the chapters end suddenly due to her passing out or lulling into a state of agony and despair, as her migraines seize her for hours at a time. Overall, it was pretty obvious that the main character had a lot of personal issues with the people in her life, and mostly, her personal conception of herself and her situation, which was often negative. The only thing that ever seemed to cheer her up was the memories and moments she shared with a few of her cousins and friend, Gat, every summer.

This book review lacks a clever title

By Sage S

Paper Towns is an eventful and motivating young adult book, which may augment the reader's drive to take chances on the things most important to them and to trust their instincts. This John Green novel is narrated in first person by a young teenage boy named Quentin Jacobson, who is a senior in high school, going through the motions of his own social needs and dilemmas. When his lifelong, beautiful and rebellious neighbor, Margo Roth Spiegelman, runs away, Quentin and his friends embark on several investigations, using vague clues that are thought to lead to Margo's whereabouts. With barely any leads other than the two teenagers history as neighbors and a few highlighted texts from a book, Quentin analyzes and explores every possible truth about her disappearance in hopes that his persistence and leadership might show her that he is qualified enough to be with her. I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone over the age of twenty-five, for the literary devices used in this novel might seem rather unimportant to a person who has already experienced and come to terms with the purpose of their high school life.

The Girl Who Forgot Her Book Review Was Due

By Dominique L.

                     In "The Girl in the Spider's Web" David Lagercrantz picks up the story-lines of characters Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist from where the original author, journalist Stieg Larsson, left off over a decade ago. In this newest addition to the Millennium series, Lisbeth points her carefully honed hacking abilities at the NSA while Mikael wrestles with the declining health of his magazine and journalistic life. In classic Larsson style, Lagercrantz springs a conspiracy on the characters and they set off to untangle the web of secrets. It's a formula that is so beautiful and intricate that its nature is hardly noticeable. If done properly, Lagercrantz has successfully mastered Stieg Larsson's technique and matched his creativity, if not, then he'll probably never live it down.

            The result was a mixed bag. After the book was released in September of 2015, the fans were either A: delighted or B: wanted to pretend it didn't happen; few fell in between. Here's "the good, the bad, and the just plain shit" (Jack Howard, Dean Dobbs) for David Lagercrantz's "The Girl in the Spider's Web".

My Sisters Keep Interrupting My Writing Process

by Rebecca L,

My Sister's Keeper is a novel written in 2003 by Jodi Picoult. Her book follows the story of Anna Fitzgerald as she deals with her parents and helps her sister through her struggle with cancer.

It's kind of a funny point of view

By I. Forgot D. Byline

First person narration is  most commonly used in young adult fiction novels. There are many advantages to writing in first person. First, the reader is able to get a better idea of the main character's personality. They are not only exposed to the narrator's thoughts and actions, but also to how they feel and how they speak.

Know It All Narration

An analysis of the third person omniscient narrative in Holly Goldberg Sloan's I'll Be There

By Shannon J.

The omniscient narration involves writing from the perspective of a godlike entity. The narrator essentially knows and perceives everything, and is able to see into everyone's mind. The omniscient narrator tells the story objectively and can change his point of view or focus from place to place, from character to character. In the novel I'll Be There, Sloan attempts to use a third person omniscient narration, but I would not say she succeeded. Especially in the beginning of the novel, switching from each character's point of view became very confusing. It took many chapters for me to finally understand which character was which. The characters were all introduced too quickly. The author describes their feelings, but does not delve into their physical characteristics, which is surprising for a third person narrative.