BOOK REVIEWS

 Book Reviews

Geronimo Stilton series

Geronimo Stilton is an Italian children’s book series published by Edizioni Piemme of Milan, Italy, since 2000. Although the series credits its title character as the author, the idea was originally thought of by Elisabetta Dami. On older novels, the copyright is issued to a pseudonym “Geronimo Stilton”; this was changed on newer books. The books are intended for readers in the 6–12-year-old age range. Scholastic Corporation has published the English version of the series in the US since February 2004, and the books are published by Sweet Cherry Publishing in the UK. The series has sold over 140 million copies worldwide, and with 249 editions it is one of the best-selling book series ever written.

Wimpy Kid series

Jeff Kinney’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid is an international bestselling series that really has been loved by children everywhere, and with good reason. The series is known for its quirky stories, hilarious illustrations and ever-relatable hero, Greg Heffley. The Diary of a Wimpy Kid books also have a reputation for being excellent books to give to reluctant readers to help them engage with stories that are both entertaining and easy-to-read.

Goosebumps series

Goosebumps is a series of children’s horror fiction novels by American author R. L. Stine, published by Scholastic Publishing. The stories follow child characters, who find themselves in scary situations, usually involving monsters and other supernatural elements. From 1992 to 1997, sixty-two books were published under the Goosebumps umbrella title. Various spin-off series were written by Stine: Goosebumps Series 2000, Give Yourself Goosebumps, Tales to Give You Goosebumps, Goosebumps Triple Header, Goosebumps HorrorLand, Goosebumps Most Wanted and Goosebumps SlappyWorld. Another series, Goosebumps Gold, was never released. Goosebumps has spawned a television series and merchandise, as well as a series of feature films, starring Jack Black as Stine. Since the release of its first novel, Welcome to Dead House, in July 1992, the series has sold over 400 million books worldwide in thirty-two languages, becoming the second-best-selling book series in history, after J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter.

The Famous Five series

The Famous Five are among Enid Blyton’s best-loved creations and countless children have gone adventuring with them since the publication of Five on a Treasure Island in 1942, the first of twenty-one full-length adventures and numerous short stories. Armed with maps, torches, packets of sandwiches and a plentiful supply of ginger-beer, Julian, Dick, Anne, their tomboy cousin George (Georgina by rights) and Timmy the dog like nothing better than to spend their holidays hiking and biking, camping and exploring by themselves, invariably falling into adventure.

Life of Pi is the story of how a teen-aged boy and a Bengal tiger survive a ship-wreck. The boy is named Piscine (after Piscine Park, Paris). His father is a zoo-keeper in Pondicherry. When the government acquires his land he decides to move his zoo with all the animals to USA in a ship. Then the ship-wreck happens and Pi (the boy has shortened his name from Piscine) and the tiger are the only survivors. The rest of the story is about their struggle for survival for 30 days.

I liked this book because the author has written the story in an interesting manner. This book has got the Booker Prize.

Percy Jackson series

Also known as Percy Jackson & the Olympians, the book series by Rick Riordan is about a young man who, as you may have guessed, is called Percy Jackson. For those unfamiliar with the Riordan’s Olympian fictions—which is to say, people without children between the ages of seven and seventeen—their hero, Percy Jackson, thinks he is just a kid with a learning disability and a troublesome tendency to get kicked out of school, until he learns that his difficulties can be explained by the fact that he is a demigod, the offspring of Poseidon and a mortal woman. In the first book of the series, “The Lightning Thief,” Percy gets shipped off, at the age of twelve, to Camp Half Blood, a refuge on Long Island populated by his demigod peers. There he learns the skills becoming of his lineage—sword fighting looms large—and discovers his own peculiar gifts: even when injured, he is miraculously healed and empowered by water.

‘PERCY JACKSON AND THE BATTLE OF LABYRINTH’ BY RICK RIORDAN

This story is about a boy whose name is Percy Jackson.

The story starts with Percy attending freshman orientation, at Goode high schooland founds that he had to fight two empousai with the help ofa mortal girl named as Rachel Elizabeth dare and goes to Annabeth who is annoyed with him in the company with a mortal girl. When they reach camp, Percy also encounters a middle-aged demigod named Quintus, who is the new sword instructor of camp half-blood.

Annabeth and Percy accidentally find an entrance into the labyrinth. Chiron holds a council of war, and it is revealed that Annabeth and Clarisse have been working together under the suspicion that Luke plans to use this door as an invasion route. To do so, he will use princess Ariadne’s magical string, which is assumed to be in the possession of the ancient inventor  Daedalus. Annabeth is given leadership of the quest to stop him, and chooses Grover, Percy, and Tyson to accompany her and the friends starts their adventure

I liked this novel and recommend this novel to those who love adventure and I give  4 / 5 points for this novel and wish all of you read this review  and also read this story ‘Percy Jackson and the battle of labyrinth’.

Inferno is a thriller written by Dan Brown, one of the four novels featuring Harvard Art History professor and famous symbologist Robert Langdon as the main character. It is a well researched novel. The descriptions of the monuments, buildings and various churches or Basilicas in the cities Florence and Venice in Italy and Istanbul in Turkey is so meticulous that the reader feels that he is actually visiting them. It can take us to that level that we will be absorbed in the History itself and begins to wonder how much wisdom is used in their creation.

Inferno (Italian for “Hell”) is the first part of Dante Alighieri‘s 14th-century epic poem Divine Comedy. It is followed Purgatorio and Paradiso. The Inferno tells the journey of Dante through Hell, guided by the ancient Roman poet Virgil. In the poem, Hell is depicted as nine concentric circles of torment located within the Earth.

The story begins when Robert Langdon awoke to find himself in a hospital in Florence with apparent bullet wounds on his head and with a condition called retrograde amnesia. He had no idea why he came to Florence and had no recollection of any of the happenings in his life for the previous two days. There in hospital he was attacked but escaped with the help of young doctor, Sienna Brooks with exceptional talents. The mysterious object found in Langdon’s coat pocket, the origin of which he could not explain, was a small projector. It projected the digitally altered image of the painting of La Mappa dell’inferno(Map of the Hell) by the famous Italian painter Sandro Botticelli. With the clues he got from the image, Langdon and  Sienna embarked on a chase across the city of Florence. Langdon’s knowledge of the hidden pathways and ancient secrets that lie behind its historic façade helped them to escape from the clutches of  their unknown pursuers. He deciphered some codes which led him to Dante’s death mask and a few lines from Inferno written at the back of it was pointing to the threat to the world –the black death –  Plague.

Bertrand Zobrist a highly talented genetic engineer and transhumanist, who had followers worldwide- very powerful and wealthy and thinkers-  believed that human species is on the brink of extinction because of over population. According to his theory and mathematical calculations, the only way to prevent the extinction of human race is to kill half of the world population by creating genetically engineered Plague. Under the cover provided by the secret  private organization “ Consortium ‘ headed by a man known as Provost, he developed some virus and kept it at some secret place to infect the humans before plunging to his death. The SRS team of WHO(World Health Organization) could not catch him.  The only way to unearth his secret is to  decipher the sequence of codes left by Bertrand Zobrist-a  crazy for  symbolism- a few lines from Inferno by Dante, his favourite poet. To save the human race from its imminent havoc WHO and the Consortium joined  together and Robert Langdon to help them to find  the hidden place of Zobrist’s Plague.

Set against an extraordinary landscape inspired by one of history’s most ominous literary classics, Inferno is Dan Brown’s most compelling and thought provoking novel yet, a breathless race- against – time thriller  that will grab you from the first page and not let you go until you close the book.

Joanne Rowling, also known as JK Rowling was born on 31st July. She studied in Wyendan School and college with the position as the Head Girl. She graduated   from University of Exeter with BA in French and Classics. On a delayed train from Manchester to London in 1990, JK Rowling wrote her initial Harry Potter ideas in a napkin. JK Rowling was diagnosed with clinical depression which she claims gave her inspiration for Dementors in the Harry Potter series. Twelve Publishing houses rejected her Harry Potter Manuscripts until a small publisher Bloomsbury gave her a chance. The eighth book is very interesting.

It is a play written by J K Rowling and produced by John Tiffany. In this play there are two parts, part 1 and part 2. Harry Potter,  now married to Ginny Weasley already has 3 children of his own. Eldest son James has already started Hogwarts; school of witchcraft and wizardry and in Gryffindor is teasing his younger brother that he might go to Slytherin house. Albus, the second youngest getting worried that he might go to Slytherin house. Then Ron Weasley, who is married to Hermione Granger and his two children, comes to leave their first child Rose who is going to Hogwarts for the first time with Albus. They got in the train and said good bye. In the next scene they are in the train and Rose says they have to be careful with their friends. Albus gets into a compartment and sees Scorpious Malfoy. Albus makes friends with Scorpious and they both are sorted into Slytherin house and Rose is sorted into Gryffindor. Let us see what happens with this pair?  They make friends with Delphini Diggory without knowing her properly . Who is she? Harry who is a ministry official along with Hermione the minister of magic gets an illegal time turner. Where is the time turner? Albus wants the time turner for bringing back Cedric Diggory  who was murdered by Lord Voldemort. Scorpious helps him. Will they be seen and be muddled in the time?

What I loved the most was the simple but good influence for everybody to be the famous Harry Potter, Brave, Courageous, and Determined. J K Rowling took me to the magical world with Harry Potter and Albus Severus Potter, his son. I rate it 4/5 stars.

Book Review: “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho

“The Alchemist” is really an inspiring book. It is the story of an ordinary shepherd boy who was a dreamer and about how he comes to understand the truth about his dreams and his destiny. The book advises everyone to follow thier instincts, to follow their heart, to find their destiny. Inspite of the difficulties and struggles, the boy believes in his destiny and, as he follows his dreams, he begins to understand the language of this world – which takes him closer to his destiny.

The book really inspired me a lot. It made be believe that each one of us has a destiny, and the only thing for us to do to find it is to follow our heart. But then there is also a great factor apart from all this, that is, “maktub” – fate. This book is really special.

I liked this book because: it had something wonderful which inspired me a lot.

Book Review: The Old Man And His God by Sudha Murty

Sudha Murty does not need introductions. After years of hard work she has successfully established herself as a force to be reckoned with. She is also one of India’s most famous and industrious philanthropists working in the key areas of development where it is most required. She is also a celebrated writer who has authored many fiction as well as non-fiction works. In “The Old Man and His God” she reflects upon various instances, chance meetings and experiences which she came across during the course of her life. And just as the blurb claims, the book is a mix bag of stories collected from a lifetime of experiences which delves upon the various facets of human nature and in a way provides a true reflection to the souls of people of India.

Though there are many instances which are inspiring and eye catching, certain ones do leave a mark on the minds of the reader. One such chapter which most fascinated me was the one in which Murty writes about an incident which happened when she was on a trip to a holy monastery in Tibet. A very old woman came to her and kept on thanking her devotedly, Murty couldn’t imagine why the woman would want to thank her until her grandson told Murty that her grandmother was pleased that she has finally met an Indian, offspring of the land which offered shelter and hope to the their revered leader Dalai Lama. Since she hailed from such a holy country, she deserved her thanks.

Though there were many such anecdotes and instances, this one truly touched my soul. I also liked the chapter which documents her husband Narayan Murty’s tryst with life in the communist countries and how after that his views on communism changed forever. Each incident is covered by a single chapter and most of the chapters talk about experiences which she had while working as a philanthropist. The incidents touched upon various facets of human emotions – love, care, friendship, selflessness, greed, hunger, poverty, devotion, jealousy etc.

The writing style is good and keeps the reader engaged. The brevity of the chapters also helps in retaining the
attention span and makes the chapters much more interesting. However, succinctness of the chapters does not in any way take away the underlying message which the author so beautifully brings out through her extraordinary writing. All in all, the book is an excellent read and a very good travelling companion (especially when you are in desperate need of one!). I thus recommend, “The Old Man and His God” to all my readers and rate it three and a half out of five stars.

Inner Fire by R.L. Stedman

Inner Fire is a contemporary young adult novel with plenty of tension and a fantastic premise. Corinne Peterson, with a passion for fashion and desperate to do well in her fashion studies at school, has a genetic disorder, which means that she becomes full of raging heat and can, if sufficiently enraged or stressed, set things on fire!  This disorder has been passed down to her from her rather fabulous and bolshy grandmother.  She is basically a good kid but when a friend tries to drag her into being an accessory to a petty crime, all in aid of getting hold of the right fabric, it all goes horribly wrong.

The setting is London, where CCTV is all pervasive, where your every move is watched and where sometimes the people watching might not want the best for you.  Corrinne is spotted during an altercation in a shop and now it seems that she and her family are being spied upon by sinister men.  Corrinne is removed to her grandmothers house, something she is less than pleased about, but the situation is improved by the fact that the rather gorgeous Rowan is there.  Romance seems to be on the cards and this is new to Corrinne.  But of course it is complicated, tension rises and suspicions are ever present.  

I really enjoyed this book, read it in an afternoon and was fascinated by the disorder Malignant hyperpyrexia, and how difficult that would be to live with. Corrinne is an engaging character and Gran is someone I really wanted to meet.  

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

    It's a super book . I enjoyed it very well . It's author is Roald Dahl . He had also written many other books . He is one of my favorite author . He was born on 13th September 1916 . He also made new words and gave this strange language an even stranger name - Gobblefunk . He has sisters named Astri , Alfhid , Else , Asta . His father is Harald and mother Sofie .First published in USA in 1964 . Illustated by Quentin Blake . He was born on 16th December 1932 . His first drawing was published when he was sixteen , and he has written and illustrated many of his own books , as well as Roald Dahl's . Roald Dahl wrote his books in a brick hut , which was built especially for him , on the edge of the orchard at Gipsy House .The original Charlie and the story was called Charie's Chocolate Boy . Even the visit to the chocolate factory wasn't very special - ther was one every Saturday . Roald Dahl rewrote it completely when his nephew said that she didn't like it at all . Try to read it , it's a wonderful book by Roald Dahl .

GEORGE'S MARVELLOUS MEDICINE

George's marvellous medicine is a wonderful book written by Roald Dahl. The author Roald Dahl is an England and had made many works such as Charlie and the chocolate Factory, The twits, B.F.G plays for children etc. The book is all about the story of a boy who had made a special medicine to his selfish grandmother which contains shampoo to Animal pills.  At first grandmother drinks it and she grows longer and longer. The main characters of the story is George Kranky, Mr. Killy kranky, Mrs. Kranky and the grandmother. I liked George and Mr. Kranky the most because their curiosity in making the medicine for the quick growth of animals so that it produce more milk,egg etc. . They makes three medicines but each doesn't work and at last when they make fourth medicine which makes smaller and grandma drinks the whole bottle and she becomes very small and she disappears. The book is interesting from the beginning to the end. The book is presented in a nice that it produce illustrations so it could be understood quickly . The book consist of 122 pages and I recommend this book to the 5th class to the 7th class. I enjoyed this book very much and I hope you will also enjoy this book.