Into Thin Air is a very exciting and thrilling book. It's the kind of book that keeps you wondering what will happen. Because it is a true story about a reporter going on an expedition to climb Mount Everest, you can't really predict what's going to happen, and you can't assume that everyone will be fine and everything will go as planned. They run into all sorts or physical injuries and natural disasters. If you're the kind of person who likes action books and science fiction, I do not recommend this book. For the main character of a movie on this book, i would want to pick someone that people can take seriously, but with a sense of passion, so i chose Matt Damion. The start of the movie would look something like a documentary, interviewing everyone and the main character saying what he's about to accomplish. As it went back and forth between the main character and the expedition he was about to do, someone would be explaining the dangers and history behind Mount Everest

Steve Nash The Making Of An MVP By Jeff Rud

I recommend Steve Nash The Making Of An MVP to anyone who plays sports. This is because the hole book is about how Steve Nash spent his whole life practicing how to get better at basketball. Throughout the book Steve would practice, and get more talented than everyone else starting in grade 10 at Mt. Doug. Every time he moved up a level in the game he would practice, tell he was better than anyone else? After Mt. Doug he went to SMUS for grade 11 and 12. Steve was not allowed to play for SMUS for his grade 11 year. In his grade 12 year he was at the top of his game, taking his team to a 50-4 and winning the provincial AAA Title. He was at the top of his game for his grade 12 year because all he did was practice in his grade 11 year. By the end of his Grade 12 year, Steve was getting worried because no universities in the states had come to watch him for a scholarship. Steve’s B-ball coach Ian Hyde-lay was helping Steve find a university for Steve, by sending out E-mails to all NCAA universities. One university called Santa Clara. They came out to Victoria to watch Steve play. After that they offered Steve a full scholarship. Steve took the scholarship. Once Steve got to the school he had a lot of work to do to get as good as he needed to be. Steve first year was hard for him, but once he got to his 2nd 3rd and 4th year Steve was a superstar. After his 4th year Steve was going to the NBA draft, Steve’s dream. Steve was picked 15th overall with a contract of 763,000$ US with the Phoenix Suns. Steve once again had a lot of work to do to get to the top of the NBA. His first year he did not play much, but still worked on a lot of basic techniques and had to work on his determination to get to the top. This is why I recomend Steve Nash The Making Of An MVP to anyone who plays sports.

By Macbryan Bos

Caleb's Summer Reading

September 18, 2009 Caleb Meyer

Book: Across the Face of the Earth by Russell Kirkpatrick

Question 1: Reasons I recommend this book

Across the Face of the Earth is a great fantasy story for fans of the genre. It is part of a six book series, separated into two trilogies. Across the Face of the Earth is a book following the story of Leith and his brother Hal, whose father has been missing for about three years, are charged with a quest from the one and only God, The Most High. Upon their father’s return his wounds and events that soon precede confirm the most absurd of stories, his father’s tale of having been questioned and tortured by Bhrudwho warriors, who are lead by the immortal destroyer; the evil nemesis of The Most High. The information Leith’s father has acquired brings danger with him, four elite warriors from Bhrudwho kidnap Leith’s father and mother. Leith and Hal, with other comrades set off on a quest to rescue their parents and alert the nation of Faltha of the incoming threat of the Destroyer. Upon reading this synopsis you might realize that this story is rather complicated and contains great depth, which is the biggest reason I enjoyed this book. With a rather flexible plot this book can keep you surprised and maintains the excitement once you are into the book. While I have only read one book of this six book series, which leaves me with the excitement of guessing at the events to come.

September 20, 2009 Caleb Meyer

Book: Across the Face of the Earth
Author: Russell Kirkpatrick

Question 2: Reason’s I Don’t Recommend this Book.

Across the Face of the Earth is a great fantasy book written by Russell Kirkpatrick, I found the book rather enjoyable; however this book is not for everyone. Reasons I do not recommend Across the Face of the Earth are that it requires a reader with patience, and it is rather hard to get into the book if you are not in the mood to read. The beginning of the book spends a rather long time focusing on Leith and Hal, who are the main characters, but it is rather lacking in the development of the story. Such an occurrence means if you are not in the mood to read a book or are a patient reader, you will most likely stop reading the book before getting to the good stuff. Now in this book, Leith and Hal are charged with the duty of alerting their country of impending danger from Bhrudwho. Bhrudwho is an ancient enemy that fought against their country of Faltha one thousand years ago. Occurrences such as Bhrudwho spies in the courts make it hard to do so. Unfortunately for us readers, the first goal in this book is to save Leith and Hal’s parents and as such you find yourself longing to skip this long, highly detailed section; however, this is a majority of the book and is only allowed since this is a trilogy. If you struggle to get into books, and can’t deal with reading while wishing to skip parts, I would not recommend this book to you.

The Mark of The Horse Lord by: Rosemary Sutcliff

I extremely enjoyed the book The Mark of The Horse Lord. It is a book that is set back in ancient Rome where men fought to death in the arena for a crowds amusement. The main character was a gladitor which was one of the few to win freedom but quickly is abducted and is basically forced to take part in a revoultion. I reccomend reading this book for 2 reasons. 1 because it actually was quite an enjoyable read and I could see it had some ties to atleast one major movie, "The Gladitor", it had many twists and diffrent stories going on and was a real page turner and a good ending. Reason 2 was that Mark of the Horselord shows what it was like for people back then and how violent and how hard it was to have peace and for everyone to be happy. It goes to show that the peace in the world now was worked for by 1000's of years of violence.

For the main character I would cast Russel Crowe because he has done similar movies to it and has the right look and type of body build. In the book the gladitor has been in the service for many years only becoming smarter at one thing, fighting. Russel Crowe seems like the actor who with training can look like a skilled fighter and skill to act out crucial scenes. Also for the brutal warrior female who falls in love with the main character should be Kate Winslett because I think her acting can range from anything and she seems the kind of person who could do this role. These would be my main choice of actors but there are many more I could see filling the shoes of these roles.

Reading this book was fun but somethings I didn't like and I will tell you if you decide to read this book the problems and boring things about it. Reason 1 for not reading this book is it sometimes can get very wordy, and long. Reason 2 is the writing is from the 50's so it uses diffrent words that people wouldn't use these days so sometimes is hard to decipher.

-WILL WILD

Summer Reading: The Lovely Bones

The book that I read this summer was called The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. Sebold's writing is bold, true, and indeering, and left me with a feeling of faith in not only humanity, but the universe. The Lovely Bones is the story of 14 year old Susie Salmon's family's life after her brutal rape, and murder, from her perspective in heaven. The Lovely Bones is the best book I have ever read for so many reasons, and I highly recommend it. Namely, is the fact that Sebold effectively integrates a mystery, romance, and tradgedy into one brilliant, surprisingly uplifting novel. The effect that the combination of these three genre's being combined creates is completely absorbing. Sebold writes as if she has lived the story first hand, with all its realities, in the fact that death is part of life and life must go on. The second reason I enjoyed The Lovely Bones, and recommend it, is that it suggests spirituality not only exists, but that we can tune into it. I believe in the sixth sense, and that the ferocity of the business world, and the stress of everyday life, distract us from this sixth sense. Sebold dares to question the laws of the human body, and of what we are told to believe, and writes that Susie's father can feel her presence, and that Susie actually comes back in a different body and lives for a small period of time. 

The characters I would cast if I were to make The Lovely Bones into a movie would be Lindsey Salmon, Susie's younger sister, and Mr. Harvey, the man who raped and killed Susie. My choice for Lindsey Salmon would be Dakota Fanning. Lindsey's character is very complicated, and I feel that you would need a strong, experienced actress to play her, even though her part isn't a leading role. Lindsey finds conflict in every part of her life after her sister's death. She finds love, but is conflicted with the fact that she feels selfish, that she has the chance to be in love. Her mother leaves her, so she is forced to take care of her broken father. She is conflicted with the fact that she is known by the town as "the younger sister of the girl who got murdered" rather than as Lindsey Salmon, ambitious wild-child, and young lover. I feel that Dakota Fanning could play this part perfectly, as to all her roles she brings great strength, as well as great relatability. The actor I would cast as Mr. Harvey would be Philip Seymour Hoffman. Mr. Harvey's character is very intrieging for so many reasons, but the main one is that he seems to be obsessive compulsive. The care with which he plans and plots murders is disturbing, almost as though it is a game for him. This grade of phycological disturbia can be played by few people, and Philip Seymour Hoffman is one. This is not to say Hoffman is some sort of psyco, but that he has the ability to look past what we see the character as, and into how they see the world.

- Sofia Campbell

The Hot Zone by Richard Preston

The Hot Zone is a terrifying and thrilling novel that tells the true stories behind some of the most lethal disease outbreaks in recent memory. The trail starts in Africa with a man named Charles Monet who starts displaying some disturbing symptoms after a camping trip on Mount Elgon. After several days of suffering, his co-workers convince him to go to Nairobi Hospital. While sitting in the waiting room at the hospital, Monet “crashes” and suffers full body haemorrhaging. Monet is dead by the next morning but not before infecting the ER doctor that treated to him. The story continues in Washington D.C. with the out break of Ebola from the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID). It catalogues the United States government’s efforts to control the outbreak with graphic realism and proves once and for all that truth is scarier than fiction.

I would recommend this book to anyone because it was highly descriptive and gave detailed back stories to the events leading up to an outbreak. It kept me as a reader enthralled with graphic descriptions from start to finish. Also knowing that the stories were 100% true made it that much more interesting.

While reading The Hot Zone it would appear at times that Richard Preston might be slightly biased. However I feel that this is simply not the case. Preston frequently mentions meeting the people in his book personally while researching. He speaks vividly about their appearance and how they described their lives after the outbreak, as well as the tragic demise of their friend or loved one. Because of this irrefutable evidence I feel as though Preston is actually quite unbiased in his telling of The Hot Zone and I would highly recommend this book to anyone except the faint of heart.

DESPERATION by Stephen King

Desperation by Steven King is a book of brutality. It takes place in a Nevada on “the loneliest highway in America” highway 50. A psychopathic cop pulls people over on this highway including newlyweds a family of four and a world-renowned writer. This lunatic poses as a normal cop in order to get the people trust and is able to get all of them to come with him weather by force or trickery. He takes these helpless people to a town called Desperation were he murders an 8 year old girl and the husband of the newlyweds. The rest of the novel is about the people who are locked in prison to find ways to escape, but discovery’s about the cops degree of being an actual human make the escape much more difficult.

I would not recommend this book to certain classmates that are easily disturbed for the following: Steven King is a very descriptive writer and in Desperation he describes things that are beyond most peoples idea of pure evil and absolute brutality. Desperation in an exhausting read due to King’s use of alienation in it making the reader snap back into reality every few pages due to the images and ideas that are projected by King. Yet if you are a fan of horror books this would be a book I would recommend it due to it’s descriptive details and the way King tells the background information on his characters so well that it makes later statements in the book much easier to understand.

Desperation is already a movie but if it was to be remade I would chose new actors to play certain roles. To play Entragen (the cop) I would chose Arnold Schwarzenegger based on the physical similarities of the two.

To play the high roller writer (John Marienville) I would to jack Nicolson. These to people have similar views on life and are both very much apart of the Hollywood scene that it would be an easy role for Jack to adapt to.

To play Ralph Carver I would chose Tom Hanks because of the high level of emotion and intensity he brings to the screen with his control over his tone, facial expressions, and gestures he would be perfect to play the high strung father.

To play Ralph Carvers with Ellie I would chose Jodie Foster. Jodie Foster in Flight plan showed she can be a protective loving mother who finds he self in total desperation to help her loved ones making her fit perfectly into the part of Ellie.

“At the last minute, Billy Rancourt understood and tried to run. He broke to his right, toward a ramshackle house squatting tiredly behind a picket fence, but it was too little and too late. He yelled there was a crump as the cruiser struck him hard enough to make the frame shudder. Blood spattered the picket fence, there was a double thud from beneath the car as the wheels ran over the fallen man.” It is paragraphs like these where King takes rich descriptive language and molds it into a horrifying, disturbing paragraph.

Over all Desperation was a read worthwhile, the book is full of unexpected twists that will keep you turning the pages. What I like most about the book is King isolates the characters so well and puts them through so much horror that you can’t help but feeling for them, it is then when you remove your eyes from the pages and quickly snap back into reality.