Literature Extravaganza

Recently I read the book Heart of Darkness  by Joseph Conrad. This book is about a whole bunch of sailors on a ship. One of the sailors named Marlow was a captain of a steamship when he was younger, and he tells his story about his experiences as the captain of the steamship. The steamship was a ship that would go to Africa and trade. At the time Africa was not the most well-documented place, so he wanted to learn more about it. The chance he got really invigorated his childhood dream of documenting the "blank space". This trip to Africa shapes how he sees his home country of Britain, and sees how badly they treated the people in Africa. He talks about his crazy experiences while he's in Africa. It revolves around a man named Kurtz that is supposed to be very nice and a wonderful person. However he starts to learn more about this man and his abuse of power in Africa. Overall I enjoyed the book and here are some reasons why I think you should read it. 1. It's messa...

By Lukas Perdekamp Recently I finished reading Educated by Tara Westover. This book was published in 2018 and is a memoir of Westover looking back into her past. It is from the point of view of the author in her twenties. Tara was born in rural Idaho into a family of radical mormons. Her parents were Faye and Gene which are pen names, but they were both very conservative. Westover’s father gathered scrap metal which he then sold and was scared of the government. Tara Westover was the youngest of seven and they were never allowed to attend school, get birth certificates, or receive medical attention. In this post I will discuss how Westover was still able to lead a successful life despite all of her setbacks. When Tara Westover was young, her mother Faye worked as a midwife. Unfortunately when Tara was about 9 years old Faye suffered a brain injury in a car accident which was not treated. This led her to work mostly on creating herbal remedies. At the same time Westover’s brother...

Emily Chen        Lately, I’ve been listening to self-improvement audiobooks to help me stay motivated, since it has been harder to find inspiration. A few weeks ago, I wrote a blog post about  Girl, Wash Your Face,  which encouraged me to continue working towards my goals. Recently, I finished  The Power of Habit , which I had heard great things about. In it, Charles Duhigg discusses the science behind the formation and function of habits, then explains how we can use that understanding to modify them. It also describes how they influence our lives and the world around us. The book is divided into three parts: "The Habits of Individuals," "The Habits of Successful Organizations," and "The Habits of Societies." I found it to be an enlightening call-to-action that helps readers understand the world around us. Duhigg introduces each of his arguments with a story, which makes his book an engaging read. Instead of simply stating facts, The Po...

  By Lukas Perdekamp Recently I finished reading Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. This work was originally published in 1937 and is targeted towards people who would like to learn more about success in life. Although the title suggests that Think and Grow Rich is mainly about gaining monetary wealth, it focuses on psychology and philosophy which can be applied in many fields. In this blog post I will discuss two principles in Think and Grow Rich which can help you become successful. The first idea Napoleon Hill discusses in his work is desire. In the first chapter of his book Hill shows examples of how desire plays a major role in success. He provides two prime examples of how desire played out for two people’s lives. The first example is about Edwin C. Barnes who desperately wanted to work with Thomas Edison. In the beginning he was poor and initially had to take a freight train to visit Edison. Once he arrived he attempted to get hired by Edison but he did not want to ...

By Florence Lin A historical fiction novel published in 2009, The Help by Kathryn Stockett is an engaging read with an excellent movie adaptation as well. Taking place in 1960s Jackson, Mississippi, this novel is told from the point of view of Aibileen Clark, an African American maid who raises white children. The book follows her life as she raises sweet little Mae Mobley Leefolt. Aibileen also helps around the Leefolt house, sets up for Miss Leefolt’s book club, cleans the house, and makes food, all the while facing mistreatment from the Leefolts. However, unbeknownst to her employers, Aibileen begins to secretly tell stories of her experiences as a maid to Miss Leefolt’s book club friend, Miss Eugenia, nicknamed “Skeeter”. Miss Skeeter is a writer who works on a story about life as an African American who works as a helper to a white family. She collects first-hand stories from helpers of their experiences with employers, experiences with the children they raise, being mist...

I recently read The Time Machine  by H.G. Wells, and I found it pretty interesting. The story is about a time traveler that invents a time machine and travels in the future to see what life is like. When he goes he reaches a place very unexpected. Nothing is technologically advanced, everyone is very pale and short. They speak in a weird language he has never heard before. They are all very peaceful and naive, like children. However a couple days into his exploration of life in the future, his Time Machine disappears. He doesn't know how or why, but he knows for sure that it must be in a sphinx statue that was right next to where he left the time machine. Now he must find a way to get back the time machine so he doesn't have to spend the rest of his life in a mystery world where he knows nothing and no one. Something I found interesting about this book was the fact that the book is philosophical as well as a adventure story. The book is philosophical in it's way that it p...

Emily Chen With the extra amount of time I have due to quarantine, less schoolwork, and fewer classes, I’ve been listening to a lot of audio books. I really love these because I can learn something new or gather motivation while going on runs, cleaning, or walking my dog. They have been a great way for me to get some reading in whenever I’m working on another task or have some extra time. Lately, I’ve been listening to a lot of self-improvement audio books to keep me motivated during these uncertain times. Most recently:  Girl, Wash Your Fac e by Rachel Hollis. The book’s chapters each consist of a lie people tell themselves that holds them back, Rachel’s personal experience with it, and how you can stop believing in it to create a better version of yourself. These range from “The Lie: I’ll Start Tomorrow” to “The Lie: There’s Only One Right Way to Be.” Here are three aspects I enjoyed about the book and one I didn’t. 1.   Its Tangible Advice Girl, Wash Your Fac e...

By Florence Lin Time Magazine’s #1 Fiction Book of the year, #1 International Bestseller, #1 Indie Bestseller, #1 Wall Street Journal Bestseller, #1 USA Today Bestseller. Written by John Green and published in 2012, I believe that The Fault in Our Stars deserves its awards and praise. A beautifully written story about love and life, I would recommend this novel to anyone, especially young adults. Here are 3 reasons why: 1. The narrative is raw and unfiltered. This story is told from the perspective of a 16-year-old girl, Hazel Grace Lancaster, who has thyroid cancer. Having known she would inevitably die young since she was diagnosed at the age of 13, Hazel has a very different thought process and outlook on life. She loves the ones close to her, yet she also tries to distance herself from others in order to prevent her death from hurting them. To someone in Hazel’s life who does not know what she is thinking, her actions and remarks may be confusing, but as readers, we ...

How Cancer can Change Your Worldview By Lukas Perdekamp             Recently I finished reading The Unwinding of the Miracle by Julie Yip-Williams. This book is an autobiography focusing on all of life’s struggles that face Yip-Williams. It begins by discussing her life in Vietnam where she was born. She was born in South Vietnam with blindness, her paternal grandmother thought she was an embarrassment to their family, so she planned to poison her. Yip-Williams only narrowly escaped death, and at the age of three went with her family to Los Angles. In America she was able to attend the Williams College of Massachusetts and get a bachelor’s degree in English and Asian studies. Afterwards she graduated from Harvard and worked at Clearly Gottlieb Law Firm. She then was diagnosed with colon cancer which affected her life drastically as she could not do many activities she was previously able to do.     ...

So B. It  by Sarah Weeks is a novel about a 12 year old girl named Heidi who's mom is disabled and is taken care of by her neighbor, Bernadette. They live a somewhat regular life together, but only barely scrape by because of Heidi's uncanny luckiness. She goes up to slot machines and wins every time, buys lottery tickets and wins every time. But even with this "skill" life isn't so easy. Heidi knows nothing about her life, or her mother, or her past, because her mom doesn't have the ability to communicate what happened. She doesn't know who her dad is, when she was born, what her Mom's real name is, or pretty much anything. Most of all, she wants to know what the word "Soof" means, a word that her mom says all the time that is completely random.  Heidi finds a camera with a bunch of pictures of her mom at a home for the disabled and her curiosity peaks. She immediately wants to ask those people at the home what they know about her mom, and h...

Emily Chen The Book Thief is a historical fiction that follows the life of Liesel Meminger, a young girl who arrives in Nazi Germany to her new foster family-- the Hubermans. She had ridden the train there with her mother, however, Liesel’s younger brother dies on the journey. Though heartbroken over the loss of her family, Liesel slowly begins to adapt to her new life. She begins to bond with her foster parents, Hans and Rosa Huberman, and befriends Rudy, a neighborhood troublemaker. Hans soon discovers a tiny black book hidden by Liesel under her bed, and he slowly teaches her to read, igniting her passion for reading. Just as her life begins to finally settle down, a Jewish man named Max Vanderburg shows up at their door asking for protection. Though they are taking a tremendous risk by hiding a Jewish man from the Nazis, the Hubermans allow Max to stay in their basement. The Book Thief follows Liesel’s journey through the next three years of her life as she continues to ma...

By Florence Lin Recently, I have been reading The First Time She Drowned by Kerry Kletter. This young adult fiction was strongly recommended to me by Benjamin Chang and has received excellent reviews online as well. As I read through the novel, I realize more and more why it is so well-liked: simply put, it is beautifully written. Told in the first person, The First Time She Drowned is a story about an 18-year-old girl, Cassie O'Malley. Cassie grew up idolizing and craving attention from her mother but being neglected by her. Her entire family is under the control of her mother, and aim only to please her. At age 15, under the instruction of Cassie’s mother, Cassie is placed into a mental institution. The novel mainly begins near the end of her stay at the institution and follows Cassie through her journey in the outside world, but frequently flashes back to Cassie’s past. By joining Cassie as she navigates and reflects on her life, readers empathize with her and f...

            Recently I finished reading Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future by Ashlee Vance. It is a biography about Elon Musk and it really gives me a perception into more of his life than what the media offers. I enjoyed reading it much more than I usually do when reading, and I think Vance did a great job emphasizing interesting parts of Musk’s history. Vance also helped me realize why Elon Musk is so successful which is what this post will focus on.      The first reason Elon Musk is so successful is his willingness to take risks. This applies to almost all successful people, but his risks are unlike anyone else’s. There is one strong example that Vance highlights in his work. This example is when musk risks all his money on starting new companies. After Musk’s left his first two companies, Zip2 and PayPal, his net worth was approximately 250 million dollars. At this point h...

I found Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck a very enjoyable book, and here are 3 reasons why: 1. The complex character dynamic between Lennie and George: Lennie and George, the main characters, have a complicated relationship. Especially how George feels about it. Lennie is a nice guy and good-natured, but is not very smart and doesn't realize how strong he really is. He accidentally kills little animals, which are his favorite to pet, and hurts a few humans too. He never means to, he is just too strong. George is just a normal, kindhearted guy. He befriended Lennie and stuck with him through all of his life. He dedicates a lot to keeping Lennie out of trouble. However, this sort of ruins George's life. He could have a nice job, but has to take care of Lennie. He sacrifices a lot of things for his friend, almost everything. But George realizes that sometimes he has to live for himself too. But his kindness conflicts with this feeling which creates an interesti...