History

DESTINY OF THE REPUBLIC: A TAKE OF MADNESS, MEDICINE AND THE MURDER OF A PRESIDENT BY CANDICE MILLARD

 in Book Reviews / Books / History by
*Just found this somewhere in my drafts and did this review a while ago. Decided to get it up now🙂

Summary

“The extraordinary New York Times-bestselling account of James Garfield’s rise from poverty to the American presidency, and the dramatic history of his assassination and legacy, from bestselling author of The River of Doubt, Candice Millard.

For a man forced into the presidency, the legacy of James Garfield extended far beyond his lifetime, and Destiny of the Republic revisits his meteoric rise within the military and government with meticulous research and intimate focus. Garfield was a passionate advocate of freed slaves, a reformer at odds with Republican power brokers and machine politics, a devoted father, and a spellbinding speech-giver. Four months after taking office he was shot twice by an unhinged office-seeker, Charles Guiteau, and a nation already recently fractured by war shattered, leaving the wounded president at the center of a bitter, behind-the-scenes struggle for power. Examining the medical reform spurred by Garfield’s unsanitary medical treatment, and reflecting on the surprising political reform brought on by his former political enemy Senator Roscoe Conkling, Destiny of the Republic passionately brings President Garfield’s unknown-but-widely-felt legacy into focus.”

-From Amazon.com

Review

I would normally never have chosen this book as I don’t usually read nonfiction but this was a very interesting read. It is all facts but you really do learn a lot about Garfield. I personally never knew that we had a president named Garfield. I also never knew that Alexander Bell had over 600 lawsuits due to his telephone invention. There is not terribly much to say about this book due to the fact that it is a nonfiction but it does have nice imagery. I really enjoyed reading this book. I originally thought that I was going to hate it, but it really read like a novel and was quite enjoyable.

There is a lot of politics so it does get a little confusing at a few points but you can usually figure out where it is going. There is also some gruesome imagery as they talk about what happened to Garfield once he was shot. It was described in great detail what was seen so that is something to watch out for.

I definitely recommend reading this book as it was really interesting. I recommend it for people over the age of 14/15 due to the fact it is for mature readers and will be hard to follow for the younger readers. It is an adult book.

So go and get this book and I hope that you enjoy.

Oh and there are pictures😄.

447 Years Old and Still Kicking

 in Books / History by
447 Years Old and Still Kicking

Image via Wikipedia

447 Years Old and Still Kicking!! ‘Tis the Bards 447th birthday

447 Years Ago – a sonneteer was born
To the harsh world, but to a loving family
447 years ago was 1616 and the Americas were new and so was he
Little did the family know that 447 years later their son would be remembered
Remembered as one of the greatest writers of all time
But to this day, Shakespeare is still alive and still kicking
But in his literature – his literature which lives forever

To read more about this wonderful man and how to celebrate his birthday, Click Here.

Dracula by Bram Stoker

 in Book Reviews / Books / Fiction / History / Interesting / Otherworldly by

Summary

In this 114 year old novel, Bram Stoker tells the horrorfying story of a century old vampire terrorizing Mina Harker, Dr. Van Helsing, Jonathan, and many others. This story is about the fight of the fittest. The fight between the Immortal and the Mortal. Between the Dead and the un-Dead. With Dracula loose in town there is no telling what will happen, when it will happen, where it will happen. This is no bed time story – and there is no happily ever after.

Review

Finally, after many hours of reading this book it is finished. I think that this is the only book that took me about two months to read. You might be wondering why it took me so long to complete this novel. It was because of the writing. This book is written in proper English. Not  simplified, modern-day, easy-to-read English. You might think that reading Stephen King is hard because it is adult writing, but if you compare Bram Stoker to Stephen King, King is so much easier. This is because this book was written 114 years ago and the writing style was very different then. So, if you are planning to read this book be prepared for longer sentences (I mean like paragraph long sentences with lots of commas, semi-colons, colons  and so on), complex ideas, complex words and smaller print.

Also this book was not written in the third person but in different views. It was written like a journal of all the characters mushed up. It is hard to explain how it was written but it was an interesting style. You will have to read or look at the book to understand what I am saying.

Bram Stoker did a very good job writing this book because it was exciting, and things happened which you didn’t expect. I am not going to say that it kept you turning pages because sometimes I just did not want to turn the page because it felt a little boring in places. I was dragging this book out. When I said that it was “boring” and  my mother heard me say that  she said that I found Dracula “boring” because most YA books are so packed with action. It is like boom, boom, boom one thing after another. Like movies in 3D, lots of action and noise to keep you going. Books today have much shorter sentences. You don’t have to concentrate so long. Just compare a Dan Brown paragraph to a Bram Stoker paragraph, then you will see just what I mean.

This book was a gift from my Secret Santa from the Holiday Swap and as soon as I opened the box in December and I saw that book I was like, “GOT TO READ IT.” My mom warned me that it was going to be different. She warned me that it was going to be harder. But being the person that I am, I ignored her. Now that I look back, maybe I should have listened and waited a bit. Now that I have finished this book, on my vacation, I am going to have a Dracula Movie Fest and watch all of the Dracula movies. The one with Bela Lugosi, the Mel Brooks spoof, and any other one which I am allowed to watch. Let’s see who does the best version. Stayed tuned for more!

I hope that there are a few brave souls (don’t want any sole-less people reading this now do we?) out there would will embark to read this book. If you do, enjoy, and if you do not, I hope that you do read it one day.

The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown 1

 in Adventure / Book Reviews / Books / Fiction / History / Interesting / Older Readers / Young Adult by

Summary

Wow! Dan Brown has created yet another enthralling novel. This is the second one in the series with Robert Langdon (Angel’s and Demons being the first.) In this thrilling book Robert Langdon is called in to decipher a code written on a dead mans body(!). The weird thing is the killer didn’t write what was on him there. He originally thought that because in his last experience, the symbols were put there from the killer. But this time they weren’t. The dead man had written the symbols on himself just before he died. Robert was called in and so was Sophie Neveu, a noted cryptographer. So the adventure begins of finding the clues left by this man. But they have to find out what the clues are for. Robert believes that the man who died was part of a secret group. Priory of Sion. A 1,000 year old group that held the secrets of the Holy Grail and Robert believes that these symbols are passing on the information. But why? To find out they have to follow trails left by the dead man who is actually Sophie Nevu’s grandfather, run away from the police and keep themselves from not being killed. But can they get to the secret before Opus Dei a secret  organization who wants the information too? Both groups want to own the Grail but only one wants to use it for good. The other wants to get it and destroy it. Destroy something that is from the time of Jesus. But who will get there first? The clock has started ticking.

Review

I know that the last two books that I read by Dan Brown were excellent and I said they were must reads. Well this one is not one that I would say that about. The beginning was really good but once it got to the end it was all riddles and they were solving something until the VERY end. It was not confusing to read or anything but the riddles got kind of boring. There are some things that you should watch out for. There is some sexual content in the book. Nothing too graphic but commonsensemedia.org rates this book iffy for 15 year olds. I only read it because it is the second one of three in the Robert Langdon Series (The Lost Symbol being the last.) There is also one thing that I would say. I might read Digital Fortress again, I possibly would read the Angels and Demons again because it was interesting but I would not read the Da Vinchi Code again but it was a little boring. This book a definite one time read book. I would say that you should read it because it was good but not one of the best.

What do you think?

I am sure I am not the only one who read it so what are your opinions. Tell me what you thought about it and if you though this was the best. Everyone’s opinions matter.

What I Think….
by M.O.M.

Unlike MLCWO I did not read any other books by Dan Brown before I read The Da Vinci Code. I loved it and couldn’t put it down. In fact I was shocked to discover that at one point I had to stop everything and sit and read and read, to find out what happens next. I found it gripping, and an exciting read. But then again, I don’t usually read books like this so it was quite a new experience for me. I think Dan Brown researches his subjects well and sets out an interesting story. He keeps his readers engaged. However, I am not sure how long he can create books based on symbols, mysticism and history.