Reading Corner: Read it, Baby!

  Book Review      The Golden Compass (1996) by Philip Pullman tells the story of Lyra Belacqua, a brave twelve-year-old girl who tries to find her place in a magical world in which daemons are a part of people’s souls. In this journey, the young kid meets many interesting characters and finds out a secret that will change her conception of the world.      Regarding the good points of this novel, the author has managed to maintain tension throughout the plot as well as incorporate a significant number of unique characters successfully.     On the other hand, there is an aspect I consider is worth mentioning. Quite honestly, I do not think this book is very appropriated for children since it presents some tragic events such as the death of some characters but more importantly, the way in which the main characters are portrayed because, at some parts of the story, their moral is corrupted. Therefore, to my way of thinking, that is...

 Book review The Witches by Roald Dahl tells the story of a boy and his grandmother, which come to discover the place where witches meet annually. Eventually, they set up a plan to get rid of the witches of that place, and later all the witches in the United Kingdom. Focusing on its good points, since it included images and a not-so-complicated vocabulary, it was easy to follow and understand. Additionally, one could somewhat relate to the character’s way of reacting and speaking, enhancing the reading experience as a whole. Regarding what I did not like that much, I would definitely mention how the story ends. Taking into consideration that it is a children’s story, and even when the genre is “dark fantasy”, I would have imagined a happier ending where the boy becomes human again instead of remaining a mouse.  Still, despite its pros and cons, I really enjoyed reading it, and I think it was a nice story that managed to catch the reader’s attention, regardless of age. Probably...

 The picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde (1890) Book review  The picture of Dorian Gray is a philosophical gothic novel written by the Irish author Oscar Wilde in 1890.  The story is set in London, England in the 19th century. Everything begins with the painter Basil Hallward introducing Dorian Gray to his aristocrat friend, Lord Henry Wotton. After that meeting, the young man comprehended why he had been envied by others, his physical beauty. Since then, he saved the manifestation of this truth, Hallward’s portrait of Gray. Later on, his love for a young actress came to an end when his arrogance provoked her death. Therefore, over time, Gray’s narcissism did not cease and when he made the decision of destroying the painting due to his harmful lifestyle, he died. His portrait became his own despicable soul.  In this novel, what is really enjoyable is Wilde’s narrative to create really authentic characters. Their conversations in each chapter are captivating and the...

  Reading Report 3 Lyra knows that she cannot win this battle against the Gobblers just by her own. Therefore, she manages to meet John Faa, the Lord of the Gyptians, who is also aware of the numerous kidnappings that have been taking place in that time. Additionally, the girl meets Iorek Byrnison, a very powerful polar bear, who is forced to work for the townspeople as a goldsmith. Fortunately, the bear agrees to help Lyra and the Gyptians to find the missing children only on the condition that they tell him where his armour is. Now, the young girl can see that an armour is as important for bears as a daemon is for humans. A few days later, Lyra receives a strange message from the alethiometer, which says that there is a ghost near the village. Even though the brave girl is not sure what that message means, she has a strong hunch that she must go there and find that ghost. Therefore, the young girl insists Iorek on taking her to the place this spirit is. Unfortunately, this g...

  Reading report 3  New characters Mr. Ashton: Dorian Gray’s acquaintance. He was a merchant whose work was to create frame-markers in South Audley Street in London.  Mrs. Leaf: Dorian’s housekeeper. He had worked for his family before he was born. Summary from Chapters 8 to 13. Days passed after Sibyl’s death when Dorian was having a conversation with Hallward in his residence. They were talking about his fiancée's tragedy. He highlighted he did not experience immense suffering. As he reacted  the day he received the news of her death, he acted similarly when talking to Hallward.  However he wanted something to remember her besides the experiences he lived with Sibyl. Thus, he suggested to Basil to make a drawing of her. He accepted, but he wanted to see the portrait he had painted. Unfortunately, Dorian did want to. He was ashamed of what had happened to his portrait. Minutes later he finally decided to show the picture. Hallward was astonished. The painting h...

Reading Report 3 Bruno and the boy managed to arrive at Grandma’s room. Though they scared her, she remained calm somehow for the first minutes. But then, she broke into tears and the boy explained to her what had happened.  Next, he remembered that The Grand High Witch was staying at room 454, which might have been right below theirs and so, he proposed entering from the balcony. They went to check and, to their surprise, it actually was below theirs! He entered the room and was about the escape with one of the mouse-maker bottles, but then the door burst open. Thankfully, by the time the other witches arrived to get their bottles, he saw a chance and escaped.  Later, while knowing that the witches were going to have supper, Grandma and he started plotting something to sprinkle the mouse-maker all over their food. So, what the boy was going to do was enter the kitchen, wait and listen to find out which pot had the witches’ soup, and all this while learning how to use his tail...

The picture of Dorian Gray (Yuli Coronado) Reading report 2.  Brief description of the new characters that have been incorporated to the novel: Sibyl Vane: Theater actress and Doria Gray's fiancée who suffers a tragedy when he realized that she had changed since she noticed how reality was. Victoria Wotton: Lord Henry's wife who is devoted to the church and has not fall in love with his husband. She stills married to him because of social and economical interests. Summary from Chapters 3 to 7: After Basil had introduced Dorian Gray to Lord Henry, Gray started to spend more time with him. Then, one day that he was waiting for the aristocrat man in his own residence, Lord Henry’s wife arrived and felt stupefied that Dorian was in her mansion. She did not overreact to his presence. She already knew who was him . Lord Henry had got several photos of him in the living room. Thus, she decided to introduce herself and, while they were discussing the art of music, her husband a...

Reading Report #2. Brief description of the new characters that have been incorporated to the novel:  From this point on, Mrs. Coulter plays a major role in the plot . She is described as a beautiful, well-educated, young lady, who has a daemon settled as a golden monkey. Superficially, she is charming, but deep down, she is quite manipulative and has hostile intentions. Other important characters are the Costas, a very friendly, Gyptian family that is basically made up of a mother and her two children. They take care of Lyra and reveal a big secret. Summary of the chapters I have read so far: At this moment, Lyra is desperate because Roger is still missing. Nevertheless, she temporarily forgets about that because a beautiful lady has arrived in Jordan College. This lady is called Mrs. Coulter and wants to meet the young girl. Once they have the opportunity to get to know each other, the elegant woman offers her a job as her assistant in London. Without hesitation, the brave girl a...

 2nd Reading Report A brief summary of the chapters. The boy and her grandmother had planned a journey to Norway, but before that she got pneumonia so they could not go. Even though she was somewhat better later, she still had to be careful. Because of this, they stayed at a place called the Hotel Magnificent instead of going all the way to Norway. As a consolation, the woman gave him as a present two mice, which he named William and Mary. They had issues with the hotel because of the mice and he was asked not to let them out, yet he decided to look for an empty room where he could continue on training them. Later, he found The Ballroom, where he entered since it was empty. Sometime after, hundreds of ladies came and filled the place, all of who, surprisingly, fitted with the witch description. Then, a beautiful woman appeared, who would stand at the front, on the platform. Suddenly, she took away what seemed to be a mask, revealing her frightening self and who she really was: the ...

 The picture of Dorian Gray (1890) Yuliana Coronado's reading report Reading Control 1 Title: The picture of Dorian Grey (1890) Author: Oscar Wilde Genre: philosophical novel, drama Chapters: 13 Setting: It takes place in London, United Kingdom and it is set in the decade the novel was written, 1890's  Characters:  Basil Hallward: A professional painter who had the opportunity to study at Oxford's university, despite his father wanted him to join the army. He is truly attracted to Dorian Gray, even though he do not know about his past life and secrets. Regarding his personality, he thinks that intellectual people have been overshadowed by people less skilled who only want to control the world.  Lord Henry Wotton : An aristocrat man whose wealth made him to gain an important reputation in the elite of London. His aim is to make clear the real meaning of beauty since it has been misleading by the nature of the human being.  Dorian Gray:   An attractive ...

Title: The Golden Compass (1995). Author: Philip Pullman Genre: Fantasy Reasons for choosing this particular book: I have chosen The Golden Compass because I find it particularly interesting the concept of parallel worlds this book offers. Furthermore, I have binged half the first season of the TV series called “His Dark Materials”, which is based on the trilogy with the same name. In this way, I will learn a lot more of the story and its characters while I improve my reading skills. Place and time the story develops: The story starts developing in Jordan College, Oxford in an unspecified period of time because it is situated in a parallel world. However, there are some references that suggest that the events are happening in our present. Brief description of the main characters: The story is starred by Lyra Belacqua, a brave and wild twelve-year-old girl who tries to find her place in the world. She has a “daemon” called Pantalaimon. These “daemons” are a part of people’s souls in t...

Reading Report 1  Title of the book: The Witches (1983) Name of the author: Roald Dahl Genre: Children's dark fantasy Reasons for choosing this particular book: I decided to read The Witches because the genre it belongs to sounds really interesting to me. Apart from that, I found myself wondering what type of story would unveil after I read the synopsis since I frankly cannot imagine what is going to happen. Also, I like the idea of it having illustrations included so much because it makes it easier for me to picture the characters and to understand other fictional elements. And finally, it is really unrelated to the story per se, but since it was extremely difficult for me to find the book online, I decided to challenge myself to find it and read it.  Setting, place and time the story develops: Part of the story was set in Norway, while the other part in the United Kingdom. As far as I could read, a time frame was never mentioned. Brief description of the main characters: ...

Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters: a Book Review  The Sea of Monsters , a science fiction book written by Rick Riordan and published in May, 2006, is the second book of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians Series,  which follows up the events of The Lightning Thief (2005).   The story is set in the Camp Half-Blood and other fictional places supposed to be in Manhattan, US in the XXI century. It starts with Percy living a quiet life with his mother, but not for long. Monsters break into Percy’s school and try to kill him; nevertheless, with the help of his friends, they manage to get away from them. Given the circumstances, the youngsters decide to go to the Half-Blood Camp only to find that it has been poisoned. Therefore, they have to find a magical object that will save the camp, and to rescue their friend Grover who has been trapped by a Cyclops.  As it can be seen in the previous book, the novel includes Greek mythology, which I consider a good ...

Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief Book report The book tells the story of Percy Jackson, a boy who used to be a totally ordinary child but that, somehow, ended up being involved in a dispute between Greek gods, and who, eventually, turned into a hero. Throughout the story, he discovered that most of the people around him were not normal human beings but people that both tried to kill him and save him. Having said this, what I liked the most about the book is that one can learn about Greek mythology in an easy and entertaining way, and even be able to remember what each character can do according to the god they represent because of how memorable they are. Probably, the only two things I did not like was the fact that I would have wanted to learn even more about Greek mythology; and also the fact that at times it was a bit confusing to understand the different family trees and relationships among the gods. Despite what I just mentioned, I still lik...

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley Book Review: This novel tells the story of a scientist named Victor Frankenstein, who created a specimen with organs from dead human to show the world he was born with advanced skills and a high intelligence quotient. However, the result of his action turned dark when the creature wanted to feel as a human, having the sensitiveness of life. This caused a long battle between them which affected Victor’s mental health and his beloved ones. Regarding positive comments, the story has an atmosphere that makes the reader to analyze the 19 th century life, a historical moment when the economic development was something crucial to succeed. Nonetheless, the monster of Frankenstein did not look for that, he seemed life as a fragile gift to discover bit a bit. Through the book, something I liked, is how the scientist and creature’s characters are written. Two distinct personalities are manifested, and it is understandable why the behavior of one of them d...

Reading Control 3  Frankenstein by Mary Shelley  Mary Shelley and Frankenstein Characters in these chapters:  Victor Frankenstein:  Impulsive scientist whose plan was creating a new human being starting off from unusual elements to fulfil the necessity of knowing the mystery side of life. Elizabeth: Victor's sister whose past was complicated but always supported Victor. Henry Clerval:  Victor's old friend with a talent for poetry and a different personality than Victor's. He stayed with him in complex situations. Ernest: Victor's young brother who is not close to Victor. The creature of Frankenstein: Victor's creation after using human organs in an experiment. Alphonse Frankenstein: Victor's father with a totally different personality than him.  Felix: Monster of Frankenstein’s neighbor. He stayed in the other cottage where the creature is hiding himself. Felix’s family: Small family that used to have a better life after bein...