The most interesting parts of history are the moments that probably seemed small at the time they happened, but whose effects rippled throughout the entire world. And I can’t think of a single period in history more full of those little moments all coming together to disastrous effect than the reign of the last Tsar of Russia, Nicholas II. Nicholas became the Tsar in 1894 and abdicated in 1917, during the World War I. Besides being the last Tsar of Russia, he and his wife […]
Locked Up in Myself, Never Gonna Get Free
The protagonist of Monster is Steve Harmon, a teenager on trial for murder. He is accused of being the lookout for a corner store robbery which ended in the death of the store owner. Steve is not accused of being the person who pulled the trigger, just the guy who signaled to the others that it was safe to enter the store, but he is still charged with murder. The story is framed as a screenplay he’s writing about his own life and his trial, […]
Fortunately Gone, I Wait for You
Where’d You Go, Bernadette is a perfectly fine book. I think a lot of people like it a lot. It’s the story of Bee, a teenager in Seattle, whose mother Bernadette disappears one day. Most of the book covers what leads up to her disappearance, while the end talks about the aftermath and the efforts to find her. I found this book quite engaging and finished it in just a few days. I liked the format (it’s mainly a series of emails sent between different […]
There is No Life I Know to Compare with Pure Imagination
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is one of those books that was incredibly important in my formative years. My parents are both former schoolteachers, and firm believers in the importance of reading aloud to kids. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is my dad’s favorite kids’ book, so it stands to reason that this was one of the many books he chose to read to me when I was little. As an adult I have realized that it is not just the books I read as […]