The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Two Towers (The Lord of the Rings, Part 2): Tolkien, J.R.R. ...

After the compelling events of the first installment in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, readers will not be disappointed by the quality of the second part, The Two Towers.  The Fellowship of the Ring has been divided: the bearer of the Ring, Frodo, and his friend Sam have mysteriously disappeared, and two of the Company have been kidnapped by the despicable Orcs. The rest is left to stave off the wave of darkness that continues to seep out of the dark land of Mordor.

In Book I, the fate of the remnants of the Company is described as they continue on their mission. While hobbits Merry and Pippin attempt to escape their evil captors while Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli track them across the wide plains of Middle-Earth. On their journeys, the two groups meet allies and foes, and eventually cross paths, and, in a happy twist of fate, manage to gain an advantage in the war.

Meanwhile, Book II describes Frodo and Sam, Middle-Earth’s last hope, and their perilous travel to the evil land of Mordor, with the twisted creature Gollum as their untrustworthy guide. Together, they travel throughout the land in their quest to destroy the One Ring and bring peace to all, but Frodo’s trusting nature is exploited in the cliffhanger of an ending.

Overall, fans of The Fellowship of the Ring will enjoy The Two Towers as much, if not more than, they relished the first installment. J.R.R. Tolkien does not fail to deliver a delightful combination of bewitching prose and poetry that keeps the reader engaged from cover to cover. 

-Mahak M.

The Two Towers by J. R. R. Tolkien is available for checkout from the Mission Viejo Library. It can also be downloaded for free from Overdrive.

To Have and Have Not by Ernest Hemingway

To Have and Have Not by Ernest Hemingway

To Have and Have Not is a novel set in Key West, Havana, and the Gulf of Mexico by American writer Ernest Hemingway. It depicts the failed life of individualist Harry Morgan. The author combines harry Morgan’s personal experience with social life, which is a new attempt in the writing technique. This work is Hemingway’s most creative and experimental novel. The book is divided into three parts: Spring, Autumn, and Winter, which vividly depict the failed life of Harry Morgan as an individualist. In “Spring,” Morgan rents fishing boats and is forced to make a living transporting “live” goods (stowaways) for others. In order to protect himself, he did not hesitate to take the law into his own hands and was sued for human life. In Autumn, Morgan traded smuggled liquor. By Winter, Morgan is so desperate to make money that he even agrees to accept an offer to ship back a gang of Cuban terrorists who rob banks. Although he killed the terrorists on the yacht, he was also shot and killed.

This is one of Hemingway’s works that has aroused strong controversy among critics. Hemingway published his novel To Have and Have Not in 1937 which pointed out that the gap between the rich and the poor in The United States led some people to take risks. The novel has a tragic and strong ending. The death of Captain Harry Morgan makes one feel that he is just an ordinary man who earns a decent living in Hemingway’s hands. He had been in the warm Caribbean sun, hoping for an easy life for his family. In the first Spring, Captain Harry Morgan is clearly a man in his own right, even able to take care of Eddie like a brother. Eddie is in some ways a shadow of Harry Morgan. Harry sees his future in Eddie and reminds himself of the principles he should follow to survive. But that didn’t last long after Mr. Johnson defaulted. “I’ve got a family,” he said, and something had to be done to make the money back.

With Harry Morgan’s ruthless approach, his life cycle seems to start working as it did at the beginning of the book. In this 1937 novel, it is more or less felt that Hemingway’s Harry Morgan is still in the fog of individualism and that he still has a long way to go before he can reach new heights. It’s worth noting that In Hemingway’s eyes, Harry Morgan is not a hero at all, he’s just a tough guy.

-Coreen C.

Book Review: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Dover Children's Evergreen Classics ...

The novel takes place in the first half of the 19th century in a small town on the banks of the Mississippi River. The hero Tom Sawyer is innocent and lively, dares to explore, pursues freedom avidly,but cannot bear to restrain his individuality and endure boring life. In the antebellum period of the novel, the small town of St. Petersburg is in some ways a microcosm of American society. Through the adventures of the protagonist, the novel satirizes and criticizes vulgar social customs, hypocritical religious rituals and stereotyped school education in The United States, and describes the free and lively hearts of children with cheerful writing.

Tom lost his mother in infancy and was adopted by his aunt. Clever and naughty Tom could not stand the control of his aunt and school teacher. Late one night, while playing in a cemetery with his good friend Huckleberry Finn, he happened to witness a murder. For fear of being discovered by the murderer they know this matter, Tom, Huckleberry and another small friend together fled to a desert island to become “pirate”. Their family thought they were drowned, but they turned up at their own “funeral”. After a fierce ideological struggle, Tom finally stood up and testified against the murderer. Soon after during a picnic, he and his sweetheart Betsy got lost in a cave and faced death for three days and nights. After he manages to escape danger later, Tom Sawyer found the treasure that the murderer buried together with his good friend Huckleberry Finn.

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer marks further development of Mark Twain’s realistic creation. This book describes the free and lively psychology of children, and in contrast exposes the vulgar conservative life of small town citizens, highlighting their dull and dreary lifestyle. Mischievous and lively, full of fantasy and justice, Tom planned to go out for adventures in order to get rid of the shackles of reality and enjoy the full pleasure of freedom. All of this contradicts the capitalist living environment and is not allowed by secular morality and church precepts. Generally speaking, criticizing stagnation, vulgarity and religious hypocrisy of American local life can be seen as the main content of the novel.

-Coreen C.

Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe

The islands in the book are really England in the author’s heart. Before the Renaissance, the environment of the British Isles was so free and fascinating that with the advent of industry, the island’s calm was broken, with the clanging of machines and the clanging of men. Therefore, in addition to Robinson’s enterprising spirit, another factor that attracts readers to this novel is the free environment of the island — the independent space away from the hustle and bustle and industrial civilization.

Robinson’s experience on the island represents the dream in people’s hearts — that people can create their own ideal paradise on earth with their own hands. The author not only gives a gripping description of Robinson’s adventures and hardships, but also, more importantly, as a typical writer with emerging bourgeois consciousness, he raises people’s diligence, courage, wisdom and creative ability to an unprecedented height in his works, affirming the value of human beings.

He firmly believes that, as the spirit of all things, human beings have the ability to overcome difficulties, conquer nature, and finally reach the shore of victory. From the perspective of post-colonial criticism, the interpretation of colonial literature to the outside world is often narrated through the identities of colonists and explorers, among which Daniel Defoe’s novel is a typical example.

In the form of allegory, this book reproduces the process of colonial development and construction of colonial empire by the early British colonialism and imperialism in their overseas expansion. This novel is a classic text that adapts to the new development trend of western history and culture. From the creative labor of human beings, the great role of human ability is further seen, so as to promote human intelligence and labor creativity, and deny the absurd theory that God is omnipotent and that God creates everything.

Through 27 years of arduous experience in Robinson Crusoe, the work symbolically shows the basic trajectory of human development, thus putting forward the theme of the times that labor creates history. On the face of it, this is an adventure novel, with a simple plot. However, if the theory of post-colonial criticism is used to interpret, this novel reflects the thoughts of colonialism. The protagonist of this novel is a typical bourgeois colonialist who settles on a desert island and colonizes it. He not only controlled the whole island, but also conquered his companions. This novel calls for the study of the colonial content, in fact, from every aspect of this novel colonial tendency can be seen.

Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift

Gulliver's Travels (Classic Starts Series) by Jonathan Swift, Jamel Akib,  Paperback | Barnes & Noble®

Gulliver’s Travels has not only a profound ideological content, but also a relatively perfect art form. First of all, Swift used fictional plots and fantasy techniques to depict the reality of Britain at that time. At the same time, he also created a colorful, fairy-tale fantasy world based on the reality of Britain at that time. Swift’s fantasy world is based on reality, while the contradiction of reality is more prominent in the fantasy world. After the coup d ‘etat of 1688, for example, the Tories and the Whigs fought for power and attacked each other, when in fact they both represented the interests of the aristocracy and the bourgeoisie. Swift captured the essential characteristics of parliamentary party fighting and created the high-heel party and low-heel party in Lilliput.

These fictions make reality stronger, more concentrated, more typical, and more universal. The artistic charm of Gulliver’s Travels is also here. Swift’s fantasy and reality are harmonious and unified. Swift’s fantasy and reality are harmonious and unified, and Gulliver’s experiences are different in Lilliput, Brobdingnag, Laputa and Houyhnhnm. But they were all reasonably arranged without any flaws. Every time he went to a fantasy country, he was treated differently. He made his works have a sense of artistic reality, which has a great appeal, so that satire can achieve a high effect. When the author mercilessly satirizes and criticizes the parliamentary politics and reactionary religious forces in Britain at that time, some of them are straight sarcasm, some use the tongue of foreigners, some are metaphorical sarcasm, some are animal sarcasm, all of which are funny.

The combination of fantasy and reality also adds a unique artistic charm to the novel. Although the author presents a mythical world like a fairy tale, it is based on the reality of social life in Britain at that time. Due to the author’s precise, delicate and apt description, people can not feel that it is a fantasy, as if everything is true. For example, when describing the proportional relationship between small people and adults, and between people and things, the ratio of one to twelve is always reduced or enlarged. The little man of Lilliput is twelve times smaller than Gulliver. And the lords of the Brobdingnag were twelve times larger than Gulliver. One of Gulliver’s handkerchiefs would be a carpet for the Lilliput Palace. Brobdingnag’s peasant’s wife’s handkerchief, draped over Gulliver, became a sheet.

In describing the operation of the flying island of Laputa, the architecture of palaces, and the structure of towns, the author also intentionally uses the knowledge and data of mathematics, physics, chemistry, astronomy, and medicine. In this way, the authenticity, harmony and symmetry of the partial details of the characters are transformed into the reality, harmony and unity of the whole picture and scene, which greatly enhances the sense of reality and appeal of the work. The author’s writing is simple and succinct. In Lilliput, for example, Gulliver transcribes an official proclamation extolling the king as the king of kings, with his feet at the center of the earth and the sun above his head, etc. Gulliver, in brackets, calmly explained that the perimeter was about twelve miles.

With this explanation, the boundless territory that reached the four poles of the earth shrank abruptly to a mere dozen leagues around it. The contrast is hilarious. The words in parentheses reveal the author’s simple and matter-of-fact style, which he does not seem to be commenting on, but rather to explain to us objectively and faithfully the scale of Lilliput. Although the scenes of Lilliput and The Land of The Houyhnhnms vary, as do the circumstances of the heroes, the layout and style of the whole novel are consistent. Every time Gulliver went to sea, the causes and consequences are explained in detail, the complicated plot is described in order of time and space, the text is concise and vivid, and the story is unique.

Five Weeks in a Balloon by Jules Verne

Five Weeks in a Balloon eBook by Jules Verne - 9781775452614 | Rakuten Kobo  United States

The friendship and care between people are reflected in the book. Three travelers once risked their lives to save a French missionary. When the balloon was about to fall into Lake Chad, in order to make it rise again, Joe jumped into the lake and saved the lives of his two companions. As Joe fled the Sahara for his life, a shot from Kennedy saved Joe from the barbarians. This spirit of mutual love and mutual assistance in the era of personality publicity is very worthy of readers to cherish and carry forward. In order to show the wonderful scenery in Africa, this novel introduces the rich geographical knowledge. Through the image of the hero Fergusson in the novel, the author fully shows a scientist’s loyalty to the cause of human progress, praises his courage and strength, and shows the great power of modern science and technology.

However, when the novel describes the African native people, the racial prejudice reveals inevitably the era and history of the limitations. Five Weeks in a Balloon, by Jules Verne, describes the journey of Dr. Fergusson and his companions across the African continent, in which the admiration for European civilization, as well as the disgust and disdain for backward civilization, is evident. From the perspective of orientalism, Five Weeks on a Balloon shows a strong national character and the resulting Eurocentrism, which is mainly reflected in its description of the African environment. More than that, Jules Verne wants to show the excellence of his own nation in this process. To highlight this, the typical environment in his works is the desert, which means to raise thirst, desolation, loneliness and death, which must be overcome when crossing the desert.

The success of Mr. Fergusson’s entourage is the author’s affirmation of westerners and western civilization. But the whole work, from the point of view of orientalism, this affirmation is also based on a kind of dislocation between Europe and Africa. They thought of themselves as the most civilized people, looking down on others, and orientalism retained a more or less European-centered consciousness even in their later reflections. It is difficult to avoid this phenomenon, which requires that people should treat the East objectively and not overnight. However, in the analysis and criticism of people, they should at least be conscious of preventing them from being brought into the theory of Eurocentrism. When they look at problems, they should always make clear their position as an Oriental.

The African landscape is described in vivid detail, with mountains and seas, swamps and depressions, desert rivers and volcanoes all covered in the novel. The baobabs, fig trees, acacia trees, tamarind trees and other tropical plants are very strange. Elephants, hippos, crocodiles, vultures, leopards, hyenas and other tropical animals, as well as the thrilling battle of wits with savages and monkeys, all inspire the imagination to travel to Africa in an adventure. The hydrogen balloon was their vehicle, a relatively unknown object even to today’s readers, and the hero of the book had thought of it as a tool for exploration in the first half of the 19th century. What is more interesting is that the author even introduces the complex structure of the balloon to the readers in detail through the protagonist, which shows the author’s extensive knowledge and extremely rich imagination.

Loot by Jude Watson

Loot by Jude Watson is about March McQuin, the son of the famous burglar Alfie McQuin. One night Alfie falls from the roof of a building onto the ground. As he is dying, he is able to say a last set of words to his son,”Find jewels.” However, soon March discovers that his father wasn’t talking about normal jewels, but his long lost sister Jules. They meet at an airport before March and Jules are sent to an orphanage that seems very much like a prison.

Once they’re at the orphanage, they meet up with two kids called Darius and Izzy. The four of them make a plan to break out of the orphanage. Once they break out, they go on the run while committing a series of crimes to look for a set of mysterious stones. March already has one of the stones. They are offered 7 million dollars to find and bring back all the stones. They must find the stones quickly, because there are multiple other people looking for the stones. March and Jules must find the stones before anyone else if they want to be able to live by themselves for the rest of their lives.

-E. Vargas

Loot by Jude Watson is avalable for checkout form the Mission Viejo Library

The Extrodinary Education of Nicholas Benedict by Trenton Lee Stewart

The book The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict was inundated with adventure from beginning to end. The book had you on your seat’s edge throughout the entire story. This book was witty with great banter between the characters. There is the classic character, of a main bully, with his two friends who make the children’s life miserable. If, you are interested in fairy tales and a more whimsical story, this book is probably not the correct book for you. The story is about an orphan named Nicholas Benedict, who is a very bright boy known for being smarter than most adults. He is going to a new orphanage where he learns  that there is a mystery treasure to be found. He sets out on a hunt to find it, along the way he finds new friends. Unfortunately there are also obstacles to the treasure hunt adventure, his condition of narcolepsy, which has him falling asleep at odd times. The other obstacle is the fact that the head of the orphanage is also trying to find the treasure. It turns into a race to see who can find the treasure first. This book is for people who love to solve mysteries and enjoy the unlikely heroes, or the underdogs rising out on top. “The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict” is a wonderful read and I would say you are never to old to read it and enjoy what it has to offer.

The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict by Trenton Lee Stewart is available for checkout from the Mission Viejo Library. It can also be downloaded for free from Overdrive

The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan

The Lost Hero, like the other Percy Jackson books, is a fantastic read about Greek and Roman mythology that’s impossible to put down.  It’s the first book in a trilogy called the Heroes of Olympus.

The story is about Jason, a demigod of Zeus who can’t remember his past, Leo, a child of Hephaestus who has a secret power of fire, and Piper, a demigod of Aphrodite with a way with words.

After an incident at the Grand Canyon with a satyr and a few storm spirits, the trio is brought to a demigod camp called Camp Half-Blood by Annabeth, a distraught demigod whose boyfriend Percy went missing a few months earlier.

At Camp Half-Blood, Jason, Piper, and Leo are chosen to go on a quest to find Hera, the queen of the gods, and free her with what little information they received from their camp Oracle, Rachel Dare, in form of prophecy.   Along the way, they face many monsters back from the dead and different Greek gods, including King Midas and Aeolus, the weather god.  Is Hera freed and the prophecy fulfilled? That remains to be seen by you!

The story doesn’t end with this book, so I definitely recommend reading the other two and the Percy Jackson series that is set before these books.  This series is hilarious, masterfully written, and a great way to learn about Greek mythology!

-Kaitlyn S.

Rick Riordan’s The Lost Hero is available for checkout at the Mission Viejo Library.

The Captain’s Dog by Roland Smith

Image result for the captain's dog cover imageIf you’re looking for a heartfelt tail of bravery and affection, The Captain’s Dog is the book for you. The many chapters are told from the perspective of Captain Meriwether Lewis’ dog, Seaman. Because of this, you’ll hear about antics that will make you smile, adventures that will leave you on the edge of your seat, and tales that will bring you back in time.

The plot almost exactly follows the events of the expedition, giving you historical content as well. The author describes events and adventures in depth, making you feel like you’re there with the expedition crew. From deserting members to a deadly mountain crossing, no detail is left out.

As you read through the book, you learn of Seaman’s abused puppyhood and the savior he found in Captain Lewis. Seaman proves to be a valuable asset to the team, warning of bears and cheering up saddened trekkers.

All in all, I loved the whole book, down to the last word of the epilogue. I hope I’ve interested you in this work of art. Even cat people will fall in love with the charming and lovable Seaman. I hope you will find time to read this great book.

-Joshua M. 6th Grade

The Captain’s Dog by Roland Smith is available for checkout from the Mission Viejo Library.