Reading Corner: Read it, Baby!

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...

Reading control 3 By this time, Percy’s dreams are getting more real and significant because, in one of them, he establishes communication with his friend. Grover tells him he has been captured by a cyclops who wants to marry him because he thinks he is a female of his kind. After telling Annabeth about his dream, they see something they can take advantage of, being this that the creature has something called the Golden Fleece which can save the camp.  A problem Percy deals with is that he cannot conceive the idea of having Tyson as his half-brother. Nonetheless, Jackson eventually realizes there is nothing wrong with that. In the meantime, Percy and Annabeth ask Tantalus to find someone who will find the Golden Fleece. Even though both are willing to go, Tantalus does not let them and sends Clarisse, the daughter of Ares, to find the object instead. In that evening, Percy, feeling frustrated and powerless, decides to look at the stars, but someone dressed as a jogger suddenly ...

Reading Control 3 Title:  Percy Jackson  and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (2005) Information about how the main events are developing: Percy finally discovered who his father was, and after that Chiron told him he had to consult the Oracle to hear from it what he should do next. It told him that he had to go west and face a god that had turned and that he would also retrieve something that had been stolen. Additionally, it also said that he would fail in achieving what mattered the most. Later, they decided to spend the night in the woods after what happened with Medusa. There, they found a poodle that had ran away from home and they also discovered that Grover could talk to animals. The dog, whose name was Gladiola, wanted to help them go to Los Angeles. With the money of the rescue they couldn't go that far but, with the help Ares gave them after doing him a favour, they had another opportunity to travel. The van they were travelling on had problems and they had t...

Reading control 2 Summary Now that Percy arrived in the Half Blood Camp, he had that rare feeling when someone cleans one's room and s/he has been looking through one's private stuff. However, on the surface, things did not look all that different.  Nevertheless, there was an atmosphere of danger; people were stockpiling weapons in the tool shed. To Tyson, all of what was happening there did not matter; he was fascinated by all the things he was seeing in the camp. Afterwards, Percy decided to introduce Tyson to Chiron, the Half Blood Camp principal, who was in an apartment of the Big House. Chiron was a centaur who could compact his lower half horse-shaped body into a magic wheelchair, but he prefered to hang out in his centaur form. He told Percy and company that he had been blamed for poisoning the Thalia's tree; which is why some in the Olympus did not trust him. Chiron was going to be substituted by Dionysus, who was the god of wine. He seemed to be very ha...