Monthly Archives: December 2017

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

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Lord of the Flies is a classic novel by William Golding. It begins on an island in the middle of nowhere where a group of boys have been marooned. Nobody knows their whereabouts, and neither do they.

However, this book is not just a typical story about survival. It tells of the darkest, deepest secrets of humankind, and how those ordinary, nice boys turned into completely different people under those circumstances. Into savages.

The first two boys introduced are the main protagonists of the story: Ralph is among the oldest of the boys, handsome and confident, while Piggy, as he is derisively called, is a pudgy asthmatic boy with glasses who nevertheless possesses a keen intelligence. Ralph finds a conch shell, and when he blows it the other boys gather together. Among these boys is Jack Merridew, an aggressive boy who marches at the head of his choir. Ralph, whom the other boys choose as chief, leads Jack and another boy, Simon, on an expedition to explore the island.

There is plenty of everything on the island, including food and drink. At first, all of the boys are reluctantly to kill, as what the huge decision would mean loomed upon them. But eventually Jack is the first one to make that move, and as he keeps on doing it, he becomes more and more comfortable with it.

Jack Merridew is one of the first boys to go savage, creating himself a group of savage hunters that kill and hunt for fun. The only ones that remain goodhearted are Ralph and Piggy, who’s glasses represent knowledge and wisdom. They know that the goal is to get rescued, nothing more.

But the question is: will these group of boys survive on this island? Or will they be doomed forever?

-Katherine L.

The Lord of the Flies by William Golding is available for checkout from the Mission Viejo Library. It is also available for download from Overdrive.

The Last Time I Died By Joe Nelms

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Image result for the last time i diedChristian Franco and Ella Franco are brothers and sisters, but the incident of their father murdering their mother and abusing her violently before destroyed the bond between them.

It wasn’t until Christian met his wife that he first relished the reminiscent taste of love. But as time slipped bypass his crude fingers that he realized the love he gripped it too tight that his wife was escaping because it choked her from it. He was once again abandoned by his family.

Struggling to cope, he depletes himself by testing experimental medicine from a former physician that now treats dogs bred to fight. This is a tragedy of one person’s life, but he was able to collect the pieces of his mom’s death and eventually muster them together as a complete puzzle. His life then lingered between comedy and tragedy.

-April L.

The Last Time I Died by Joe Nelms is available for checkout from the Mission Viejo Library. 

Monster

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What if the world suddenly obtained impossible abilities? Would you use your power for good? Bad? All of the above?

In Michael Grant’s Monster, this choice becomes a reality. If you enjoyed his Gone series, this follow-up will definitely not disappoint you. Instead of just some kids inside a small dome getting powers, people around the world are starting to change, morphing into amazing creatures with seemingly limitless power.

From napalm breath to creating “meat puppets”, Grant’s genius really shines in these vivid, fabulous characters. Each line makes you feel closer and more relatable to each one. But for fans of this trilogy’s predecessor, Gone, you will be pleasantly surprised by the characters brought back for one more round.

– Luke D.

Monster by Michael Grant is available for checkout from the Mission Viejo Library. 

Music Review: Bedroom Floor By Liam Payne

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I have decided to do something different from what I normally do, a review on a song! Now if you don’t know who Liam Payne is, let me tell you. He was a member of the extremely known boy band One Direction. As they are currently on hiatus, the members have decided to pursue solo acts, so far Liam and Zayn have had the most luck.

“Bedroom Floor” was released on the 20th of October this year, and it will be on his upcoming album (which he claims will be released in January). It was written by Charlie Puth, and he does indeed make an appearance in the song.

The song starts off with a bit of a tropical sounding entrance, but the lyrics are anything but happy.

Baby, heard you’ve been talking about me lately
Telling all your friends how much you hate me
But who you calling up when you get lonely?
When you get lonely, yeah
You be saying real, real nice, real nice things
When I’m touching you
You be getting real, real, real, real, real jealous
When it wasn’t you, oh
And every now when my iPhone, iPhone rings
I be telling you
I told you, I told you, I told you
You said it was over
You said it was over
But your clothes say different on my bedroom floor
This song may not seem like anything different than a normal song when you just read the lyrics. You may just think to yourself “Oh look, another pop song”. But Liam does something different with his voice that sets him apart from all of the other pop singers. He sings this song entirely in a falsetto. In case you don’t know what a falsetto is, it is a high note, which is very hard for a man to sing, but Liam hits every note perfectly! Especially live.
An interesting part of the song is that you would think itis from his perspective, but It actually isn’t. If you were to watch the music video, you would see that it is indeed from a women’s perspective. As Liam stated “But it’s very nice. I like the fact that it is empowering on the woman’s side, because it’s not often that you see it from this angle.”.
In case you were wondering where Charlie comes in, he makes the phone call noise!
If you are looking for a new tune to add to your playlist, I have reason to believe this would be it!
-Skylar N.

Forever With You by J. Lynn

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Wow! I do love everything written by J. Lynn, but this may be her best yet. The book starts off with Stephanie walking into a bar and finds Nick whom she has a one night stand with–or so they thought. I won’t spoil it for you, but something happens so they have to get together again.

Stephanie has never been in love, but she believes in it. She had a bit of a tragic past, so she is a bit scared of love (listen to She’s Not Afraid by One Direction, that matches her perfectly). So when Nick comes into her life again, she tells herself not to fall in love.

Nick also has his own issues to deal with (again, not going to spoil it for you :p) and he doesn’t want to fall in love either in case he gets hurt again. But the first time he see’s Stephanie, he feels drawn to her in a way he hasn’t felt for anyone else.

“As long as I’ve known him, he’s never been serious about anyone. He’s probably going to need a substanital learning curve when it comes to not saying things that are going to [make you mad]”

But sure enough, they get back together after their one night stand. Stephanie falls for him, though she tried to ward herself off him, she just can’t.

“No. I wasn’t falling for him. Because there was a good chance I had already fallen for him.”

Stephanie fears that Nick doesn’t feel the same about her, so she tries to distance herself. Nick is scared to love Stephanie, but he knew he feel for her the first time he saw her (and no, not in a cliché way).But can he convince her he feels the same way as she does?

“Nick seemed to sense just when I needed him. Even if he was asleep, his arms would tighten around me, sometimes, when my recklessness woke him, he would talk to me until I feel back asleep, distracting me with some of the crazy things he’d seen while working at Mona’s. He was simply there for me, and I let him in completely.

And there was no denying how much I loved this man.”

I did not do this book enough justice! One of my favorite parts of this book is that even though it had many sad moment, J. Lynn always made sure to make you laugh as well, and I found myself laughing a lot about this book. In other words, you NEED to read this book.

Unfortunately, this book is not avaliable at the Mission Viejo Library, but it is avaliable from the Orange County Public Library System.

-Skylar N.