The Next Book On My List

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café by Fannie Flagg Friendships can be wrought under the most unusual circumstances. Take Evelyn Couch for example. She never expected to befriend Ninny Threadgoode while visiting her mother-in-law at the Rose Terrace Nursing Home in Birmingham, Alabama. She certainly didn’t expect to care for and eventually love the women who would tell her stories every visitors day about the life that she lived in a small railroad town miles away known as Whistle Stop. But that’s exactly what happened. As Evelyn began going through the depression and hormonal changes that were overwhelming her in the midst of menopause, Ninny would relay bits of her history during the Great Depression, and the Second World War. Evelyn began looking forward to the tales told of Idgie Threadgood, Ruth Jamison and the people who frequented Whistle Stop Café. She could imagine living in that time and being friends with the people who meant so much to Ninny. The months

Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry Kira is lucky to be alive. Even luckier still to be granted a place by the Council of the Guardians. Her mother has died from an unknown illness and her father was killed by beast while her mother was pregnant with her. Kira was born with a twisted leg, and if not for the prestige and position of her maternal grandfather she would have been discarded. She has lived and she is strong, though not as physically capable as others. Now she is an orphan. An orphan gifted with immense skill with a needle and thread. It is because of that gift that she has been given a home and protection. But things aren’t always as they seem. As time passes she begins seeing clues to the life she will have to live forever. Kira is meant to design the future and there is much in her world that needs to be changed. Gathering Blue is a dystopian young adult novel that follows the struggles of Kira, a girl who in this community would have been left for dead because of her

Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King On the morning of August 10, 2009 a gray Mercedes-Benz SL500 plowed into a crowd of people lined up outside of the City Center, waiting for the doors to open for a job fair. The driver killed eight people, paralyzed three and injured countless others. The killer parked the car blocks away, leaving only a clown mask and the vehicle as evidence. There were no leads and no suspects, only the many victims. When Detective K. William Hodges retired months later the case was still open. Now months have passed since his retirement and his somewhat dull existence has caused him to contemplate suicide. Then he receives a letter in the mail from the Mercedes Killer. A letter both taunting and inviting. The killer has been watching and he knows that Hodges has nothing to live for and he wants to push him over the edge.                 Mr. Mercedes is a fast paced, thriller focused on the actions and psychosis of a mass murder, Brady Hartfield and his new

The Giver by Lois Lowry Jonas is reaching a very important moment in his life. Soon he will be a Twelve and will receive his Assignment. Some girls may be assigned the role of a Birthmother, giving birth to children for three years before living the rest of her life as a Laborer. Some Twelves may be assigned to the House of Old caring for those too old to care for themselves until they are released into Elsewhere. Others may be given assignments to become Doctors or Instructors. No one knows for sure what they will be assigned and there are many different possibilities. The Elders monitor and observe children for years in order to make the best assignments possible. Jonas wasn’t given an assignment. He was selected to be the next Receiver of Memory, the most honored position in his community. A position that requires intelligence, integrity, courage and the acquisition of wisdom. Wisdom would be bestowed upon Jonas by the current Receiver who he refers to as the Giver. The

Songs of Willow Frost by Jamie Ford At Sacred Hearts Orphanage all of the boys celebrate their birthday on the same day. On this day Sister Briganti will share information with each boy about their family and take them to the theatre for a show. It’s at this show in 1934, after living in the orphanage for five years that William Eng, now twelve years old, sees his mother on the screen. Her name was Liu Song but now she goes by Willow Frost. William knew her as his Ah-ma. Now he has to find her. He has to know why she left him all those years ago in the care of the nuns of the orphanage. William makes plans to find his mother, with the help of his friend Charlotte. But is William prepared to learn the truth of his mother, his father and the life they lived? Memories swirl through his mind as he sets off to find his mother and to uncover the answers to all the questions that have been lingering throughout the years.                 Songs of Willow Frost is a well written n

Lord of the Flies by William Golding A plane filled with school boys has crashed on an island. Slowly the boys began to gather with the assistance of the sound from a conch shell. The shell would begin to represent order and civility for the boys who would choose a leader in Ralph and eventually begin setting up shelters and a fire to signal a rescue. The oldest boys were around twelve with the younger children only six years old. Together they have to find a way to survive without the assistance of any grownups. Food was an issue of course. One could only survive off so much fruit. Hunters were established, under the leadership of Jack, who was once the head of the boys’ choir in what seems like a lifetime ago. Survival is the key until they are rescued. But fear slowly begins to take over. The younger children fear a beast in the forest. Nightmares haunt their sleep and the fear is spreading to some of the older boys. Discord between two of the leaders takes place and it

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov                 Humbert Humbert is in love with Lolita and has fantasized about loving her for months. Lolita, at twelve years old, is not yet a woman and he lovingly refers to her as a nymphet. His nymphet. His love for her spawns from his love of another in his youth, one who was taking him from him at the age of thirteen. When Humbert first laid eyes on Lolita, it was his first love that came to mind, and so the obsession began. A man of his age lusting for a nymphet was maddening, sickening, he knew. But he could not resist anything about her. He would do anything to have and to keep his Lolita.                 Nabokov created a very intense, unsettling, disturbing rendition of a love story with his novel Lolita . Humbert is a maniac possessed with “knowing” in a biblical sense, a young girl. The most important thing to realize is that he adores her because she is a young girl. He finds her youth and undeveloped body extremely attractive. He i