In February and March - A Book Haul

With John Green

I finished reading Paper Towns a few weeks ago, which marks the final book by John Green. Meaning that I have read every novel this man has put out into the world. Now if you know anything about me, you know that I am a hard core fan of John and Hank Green- The vlogbrothers. However, I admire John not for his books but for all the good he puts out into the world. From Project for Awesome, a project by The Foundation to Decrease World Suck inc. (That is the actual, official, honest to god legal name.) Which promotes people to post videos about a chosen charity between the 17th and 18th of December every year, and encourages people to donate to said charities. You will find beautiful, well made videos for this project on youtube. There is also Kiva, the Sci Show, the Crash Course series, Pemberly digital, which gave us The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, Emma Approved and Welcome to Sanditon.  And of course, his and Hank's personal vlogs.

Together, the vlogbrothers have created a wonderful online community (the nerdfighters) that promotes knowledge and science and creativity, and all that is good in this world.

However, his books are an entirely a different story. With the exception of The Fault in Our Stars, they all feature the same characters: A scrawny teenage boy, on the edge of popularity. An exotic best friend, a miss-understood love-interest and of course, a road trip. Now this isn't to say I didn't enjoy reading each of his books, and that I won't read them again. But I just feel like John should be appreciated more for himself than for his books. You can sense his genius in the wording of his books, and the weird trivia he knows, but I feel like people should be more aware of John the person, as opposed to John the author. So if you are in the least bit intrigued by his books you are going to love everything else he does.

So take a few moments and delve into the world of nerdfightaria. I promise, you will be impressed.

So DFTBA, Don't Forget to be Awesome.

With The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time - A Book Review

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon tells the story of Christopher, a fifteen year old with Asperger's syndrome as he tries to solve the murder of his neighbor's dog. This book is truly unlike any other book I've read. It gives us a glimpse of the mentality of a person with personality detachment disorder and has to be one of my favorite books ever.

The beautiful thing about it is that it doesn't victimize the parents. It doesn't even make us feel bad for the kid. It just shows us that he is living his own little life. And not in a sappy way either. He's happy about the way he is, and he can't imagine living any other way.

I learned so much from Mark, and I fell in love with him with every paragraph I read. But perhaps the most inspiring thing about this story is the social element of it; Mark's fascinatingly unbiased view on how the rest of the world treats him. It is obvious that his parents, like many in their situation, are utterly untrained to deal with Mark and, as cliche as it sounds, they "just don't get him". But Mark doesn't see that, his innocence and naivete make him truly a remarkable character, one we can all learn from.

Truth is, we probably can never find out whether or not this is what actually goes through the mind of someone with Asperger's, but it sure is a good theory.

The book is incredibly short, and the language, as expected is extremely simple. so I recommend it to everyone. I don't see how anyone, avid reader or not, could ever regret reading it. 

With Behind the Scenes at the Museum - A Book Review

This is Kate Atkinson's first novel, but its the second of hers that I've read. A few years ago I read Started Early, Took The Dog, and it was okay. Now that I've read behind the scenes, I'm thinking of re-reading Started Early, Took The Dog to look for plot twists I hadn't noticed before.

This is the first book I read after a dry-spill infested with exams and tests and assignments, and just plain laziness, so naturally I dived in full force. However, I found myself unable to continue the book a third of the way through. Up until that point the book had been slightly too "Little Women" for my taste. You see, the book tells the story of Ruby Lennox, and her maternal ancestors up to her great great grandmother. And it gets confusing. But I plowed through, because I thought it would be rude of me to not give it a chance.

Besides the over-whelming number of names and characters, or possibly because of them, the book starts slightly slow. But the slight turns of phrase soon got more and more interesting and it became obvious that there are further depths to this story that I hadn't seen.

You see, this story is narrated by Ruby Lennox, and one of the most interesting twists is that she actually has a twin sister who died when they were four. She has no recollection of this sister, but hints of her are subtly included, like how Ruby notices that there are double as many photos of her than there are of any other sibling. So I have to give Atkinson this, the book is cleverly written. The plot may not be the most engaging, but the writing sure is.

If there was one theme to this book it would be misery. Every character is unhappy. And it really got me down. It made me realize how easy it is for life to turn south, and it creeps me out. So, dear reader, please appreciate your life and remember that it could be substantially worse.

All-in all I wouldn't exactly recommend this book to anyone, unless they have nothing else to read. And I don't think I would be re-reading it anytime soon.  

With A Poem

I stare at all these men
Who seem to seize their day
then contrast them with myself
I've streamed my days away

They've each achieved success
As plot just goes their way
As if they live while I
Just stream my days away

My vacant mind just fills
With everything they say
For shallow wit and jokes
I've streamed my days away

They couldn't see me here
In this sluggish state I lay
Fixated on a screen
To stream my days away

I could ignore it all I want
Deny it as I may
Truth is that for them
I've streamed my life away

Gamma Rules - With Al Sahwa 5

This is the fifth story by Al Sahwa School Seniors as part of this project. Below is a message from the authors, Al Maiyasa Al Jimhi, Hadeel Al Mahrooqi and Rawan Al Matani.

After several appliance letters and a long wait, my friends and I have finally been accepted at Syracuse University in Syracuse New York. Joanna, Kristen, Connie and I are more than thrilled to be finally going off to university together. Alas, our 'college life' will finally commence.

It felt unusual waking up so early after such a long lazy summer vacation, but the excitement made it very much effortless. After a rather quick ride of an hour and 20 minutes from Rochester to Syracuse, we reached campus. We tried so hard to tame ourselves, no one likes psyched freshmen. Traditionally, we had to join a certain sorority. My friends have begged and pleaded me to join them in their ultimate sorority of choice; Kappa Kappa Gamma. I obviously couldn't refuse, since we were all in this together, might as well be in the same sorority.

Kappa Kappa Gamma is one of the nation's largest and most well-known sororities. They are stereotyped for being attractive, rich snobs, but don't get me wrong there are also a whole lot of kappas who are awesome, fun-loving and great girls, just not enough to make me stay in that sorority. It was absurd. All members, including my friends were mesmerized by the bubble-gum wrapped world of the Kappa life. Our rules were preposterous and our senseless gatherings engaged heavy debates about whether slumber parties should be held on a weekend or our cumpulsory tanning sessions would be conformed to those who are dark skinned. I've never been surrounded by so many airheads in my life, and the worst part of it is that my friends have become infatuated with the whole idea. I could not recognize them anymore. But what had really disgusted me and forced me to leave was the continuous gossip I was hearing during my stay. It had revolted me, and was a major turn off. This wasn't for me and I wanted out.

I packed my bags and left very simply, no one noticed me anyway. During my walk around campus I encountered a group of girls sitting on a bench and couldn't help but over hear their conversation. They were discussing the new Gatsby movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio. One was dissing the whole movie and the other was defending it to the death. I eventually gave my own opinion on the movie, being favorable to the girl who liked it. Quickly, one conversation lead to another, and I ended up being invited to a new sorority; Delta Gamma.

Delta Gamma was like Kappa Kappa Gamma, but not on steroids. I got along with the girls there. They were intelligent, artistic and creative, every single one of them and I loved it. Until one incident that has drastically changed my view of this house. One of the members has put on a bit of weight, which I thought wasn't that big of a problem. The girl herself however was hysteric and when I had come to ask her of her anxiety, she told me that she now has to attend a diet centre during the upcoming holidays and loose all the weight she has put on. She further explained to me that one of the rules of this house was that no one should be above or under 100 pounds, regardless of their height. Because the number 100 resembles a perfect 10, therefore anything beneath or exceeding this figure is ugly. I could not believe it. These are even worse than the Kappas. I questioned the head girl about this, whom I've grown to be very good friends with, and she confirmed the rule. 

It was not long till it was my turn to oblige to this rule. I could not risk being allotted to Kappa Kappa Gamma again. The diet centre looked liked a sanatorium. It reeked of metal and medicine. It was awful. As I registered, they handed me a pile of seven books and a packet of mints. The books were presumably to kill time I'd spend in the centre. I didn't mind though, I liked books, and mints as well, although most patients neglected them, but made it easier for me to steal them. My days in the centre were bleak, tedious and lonesome. I could not bear this prison-like atmosphere. There was no way out of it. They do have a garden with fresh air, but still, it was diet centre air. 

One day as I was casually sitting in the lobby, observing all the patients and nurses entering and leaving rooms and going about their duties, a fellow came in. He did not wear white nor did he look like a doctor and he carried a pile of envelopes. It took me a while to figure out that it was the mail man. As he was leaving, I've noticed that the door that automatically gets locked, had not locked this time. I glanced at the registration desk and the nurse that usually sits there was not in sight. This was my chance. I ran to my room, gathered all my belongings, including the books I've collected throughout my stay and made a run for it. 

It was exhilarating! The cold air did not kill my excitement and I was now on cloud nine.  I was scurrying through the chilling streets of Brooklyn till it had become dark and was desperately asking for a ride from any stranger. One eventually stopped for me. It was an old woman. "What's a young girl like you doing in Brooklyn at this time?" she peculiarly asked. "Any girl from around here would've known that the night time is certainly not suitable for a young girl to be walking around!". "Ma'am, It's a long story, I'm not from around here, I need to get home may you please drop me off at the train station, wherever that is". The woman took me there and I was very grateful to her, however I had nothing decent to offer her other than a book. She declined my gift and said that she was merely 'helping a sister out'.

I took the next train to Rochester. Finally, I've found peace. My mom was certainly happy to see me although she also took pity on my unpleasant appearance. I've donated all the books I've collected on my journey to charity. I now attend Rochester University and have ditched all Gamma rules.

This story is based on Sindbad the Sailor's 4th voyage. This adaptation has a modern twist to it however is still parallel to the events that happen in the original version. 

Link to 4th Voyage: 

http://www.candlelightstories.com/2009/03/27/arabian-nights-the-fourth-voyage-of-sinbad-the-sailor/

The Friends and The Physics Lesson - With Al Sahwa 4

This is the fourth story by Al Sahwa School Seniors as part of this project. Below is a message from the authors, Reem Al Lawati,  Mulki Al Jimhi and Maryam Saif

School is like a zoo, with its cage-like classes and its wide range and diversity of species. You’ve got the “jocks”, the ”nerds”, the “Goths”, the “pretty girls” and the plain “cool guys”.  Johnny Oxford, is your typical “nerd”. With his pimply face and his shorts waist high, still keeping the suspender trend alive. It was a normal day at school. Oxford would already be at the physics lesson prepared to hear another lecture from the teacher. Students would walk in chatting, laughing and eager to start the lesson. Everyone except Domenic. Domenic is the “cool guy” that never really cared about attending his classes. Especially physics. What makes Donny even cooler is that regardless of the vast amount of times he’s bunked the physics class, he still remains supreme and never gets caught by school authority. His admiring classmates praise him and soon gave him the nickname, The Don. Donny has been Oxford’s friend for a while now. No one knows why or how that ever happened, but with time they have learnt to accept it. Oxford has always envied Donny for so long. He’s envied the ease he’s always in and the bliss of not attending a physics lesson.

One day they both decided to meet after school in Don's House. "Why do you always skip physics, Donny?" said Oxford wondering. "What’s the matter Ox-man? You know how much I hate physics, I hate Lenz’s stupid laws and all that stuff, besides, I like chilling.” Don replied. He went on telling Oxford the great amount of fun he misses when he goes to the coffee shop across the street. He also rambles on about his great skills in climbing the school walls. “Aren’t you worried about the exams?” said Oxford. “Why would I be? I’ll casually bunk that as well.”

When Oxford went back home he was thinking about what Donny told him regarding the physics lesson. He also wanted to experience the leisure and the ecstasy of skipping a boring lesson like physics. He made his decision. The next time he sees Donny, he’ll tell him that he’d like to join him on his beautiful journey. The next morning, before the flag ceremony to commence, he, with pride and joy, told Donny that he’d be skipping the physics lesson with him.  Physics was the fifth lesson and before that, they decided to meet at the gym bathrooms.

The bell rang. Oxford successfully reached the gym just as he was told, with that great feeling of accomplishment, looking forward to the other side of that tall depressing wall. The wall that separates the boys from the men. Donny made his way to the gym. Suddenly his physics teacher saw him and said smiling, "Hello Domenic, nice seeing you again!" everyone in the hall had their jaws wide open. The Don couldn’t believe that his teacher saw him. Traumatised, he became conscious of the fact that he would be attending the physics lesson, something he hasn’t done for years.

Meanwhile Oxford was waiting in the bathroom hall. He began to panic. Donny took longer than usual. He decided to climb the school wall by himself, assuming that Donny would already be there. He made it to the other side and as soon as he landed his feet on the non-school ground, he received a text from Donny.

“Ox-man, I got caught. I’m in class. They called your parents asking about you, and your parents ensured them that you were at school. I heard them say that you’ll be suspended if you don’t come to the lesson. You better hurry!”

Oxford ran. Ran like he never thought his skinny legs would be able to. The thought of being expelled was like death to him. Oh how he regretted it! He slammed the door open and entered the class, looking like he was attacked by a group of monkeys. The teacher broke into laughter, and so did everybody else. He patted him on the back and said “ever heard the saying: Look before you leap?” handing him his copy of The Fable of the Donkey, the Ox and the Farmer. “It’s my favourite.”

Our story is a modern parallel adaptation of Shahrazad’s tale “The Fable of the Donkey, the Ox and the Farmer”. It is a funny and more relatable twist of the original story.  You can read the original here http://markturner.org/lmx.html .We would love to hear your feedback and your literary comments about our story.