Literary_Nerdism

I thought it'd be a great idea to share some of my favorite books with you! I'm sure I'll have to do several lists because I have too many to mention in one post. So I asked myself what books would I recommend right off the top of my head, and here's what I came up with. I think there's a good mix of classic, modern, young adult and a little international... In no particular order:   1. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte Why: IT'S SO TWISTED! I first read this my senior year of high school, and I've reread it almost once every year since then! (I graduated in '04 for reference). I love how dark Heathcliff is, especially his twisted love with Catherine, his "sister". It's a haunting novel that depicts life on the moor in a family that takes a serious beating for underestimating a supposed "gypsy child". Read it if you haven't; it's a classic.   2. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll Why: To ...

  Unwind by Neal Shusterman Genre: Young Adult Fiction My rating: 4.5 out of 5 Quick and Dirty: 3 kids are set to be unwound.  Due to a crazy set of circumstances they don't make it to the Harvest camp as planned.  Now they are fighting to survive. Will their bodies be unwound even after all they've done? Wait, what?:  Okay, three kids-Connor, Risa, and Lev- are all signed off to be unwound which is where ALL of their body parts are harvested and sent away for hospital/patient use. Connor's parents schedule him for unwinding because he's too much to handle. Risa is set to be unwound because she is a "useless" ward of the state without enough talent to be useful to society. Lev is a tithe; his parents are giving their 10% to God which in this case happens to be a child and not money . You see, in this particular America, abortion was made illegal after the so-called Heartland War. The pro-life people and the pro-choice people fought the seco...

Me : A self proclaimed nerd, mom to three daughters, wife to a IT nerd, teacher of middle school English, and lover of the written word in all its forms. I don't proclaim to be unique in any of those statements, but I love reading and I love talking about reading. Because I teach middle school, I don't get to discuss great literary classics beyond an eighth grade level or books that may contain touchy/controversial subjects. My scope in my classroom is seriously limited and I find myself craving discussion. Why did the author write that way? What's up with not using quotations marks for dialogue? WHY DID YOU KILL THAT CHARACTER OFF??? My reviews: I'll give quick summaries that don't spoil the entire book. I'm more than willing to discusses the endings of novels, or plot twists, but those will be located at the very end of the page with a clear warning for those who don't want to read on. Spoilers suck, and I hate them. Since I teach my students how...