"Famous Five Series" by Enid Blyton (Review)

          Famous Five Series Review

Basic Info:

Author: Enid Blyton

Number of books: 21

Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton

Adaptations: Famous Five (2012)

Country: United Kingdom

Genres: Children's literature, Mystery, Adventure

The Famous Five is the name of a series of children's adventure novels written by English author Enid Blyton. The first book, Five on a Treasure Island, was published in 1942. The novels feature the adventures of a group of young children – Julian, Dick, Anne and Georgina (George) – and their dog Timmy. 

Review:

I still can't believe that this Series is so popular: Okay, I get it, this is intended for lil' kids and not teens and adults, but even kids shouldn't read this in my opinion; the unrealistic and flat characters, the numerous plot holes, the too-perfect-ending, the cliche villain/s, the weird messages etc... just shouldn't be read by little children.

Let's start with what I hate about the characters:

1) All of them are flat and pretty much unrealistic, as they're aren't specially trained Black Ops operatives with years of experience, but little kids.

2) George keeps wanting to be a boy although she isn't which, means she's ungrateful for what she has; she's very emotional and unstable, loves an animal more than anything else in the world, has no respect, does what she wants, doesn't follow any rules, and is extremely stubborn.

Now let's continue with the stories themselves: 

1) The overall Super English tone, atmosphere, and speech is often overwhelming: For instance those numerous "Goshes", "Jolly", and so on. I mean, which normal person talks like that? Then the English countryside, English Picnics, the Perfect Stereotype of an English

Scientist, the normally foreign villains and so on.

2) The Crime-Bustin: Which group of kids gets to bust over 20 professional burglars, mafias, crime rings, drug lords, kidnappers, smugglers, forgers, terrorists etc.?! Which criminal is so criminally careless and criminally stupid to let himself be beat by a buncha kids?!

Okay, I admit, maybe I am putting it a bit strongly, but the fact remains that these books are not productive, not intelligent, not very moral, and un-realistic. If you have to read Enid Blyton I suggest either the Mystery Series or The Magic Faraway  Tree Series, which are both better.  

"Jurassic Park" by Michael Crichton (Review)

         Jurassic Park Book Review

Basic Info:

Originally published: November 1990

Author: Michael Crichton

Adaptations: Jurassic Park (1993)

Page count: 448

Characters: John Hammond, Ian Malcolm, Alan Grant, Lex Murphy, Tim Murphy

Genres: Techno-thriller, Horror fiction

Jurassic Park is a 1990 science fiction novel written by Michael Crichton, divided into seven sections (iterations). A cautionary taleabout genetic engineering, it presents the collapse of an amusement park showcasing genetically recreated dinosaurs to illustrate the mathematical concept of chaos theory and its real world implications. A sequel titled The Lost World, also written by Crichton, was published in 1995. (Wikipedia)

Review:

This book received a lot of criticism when published, mostly positive, which I don't really agree with. I mean, the book is a great thriller, but not to be taken seriously. 

I personally think that the whole dinosaur thing has been totally blown out of proportion, and I just think that kids are way too excited about dinosaurs in general: For instance, they're dead, and will never come again, doesn't matter what effort humans will pour into it; what's extinct is extinct. Instead, worry about the very real problem of people dying, not some dead dinosaur.

Then the two children are very annoying and totally cliche characters: the know all, rebellious nerd who's mean to his sister, the little annoying sister with no respect for her elders, and their broken family. Ugh!

The good points are that this is a really good thriller, with nearly no plot holes, which will be hard to put down once you've started it. The mood and the tone of the book are well created, with minor flaws. 

Overall, Jurassic Park is a good book, if not great. My RATING: 6/10

Amazon UK link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Jurassic-Park-Michael-Crichton/dp/1784752223/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1467117972&sr=8-6&keywords=jurassic+park

"The Autobiography of Malcolm X" (Review)

        'The Autobiography of Malcolm X' Review

“I’ve had enough of someone else’s propaganda. I’m for truth, no matter who tells it. I’m for justice, no matter who it is for or against. I’m a human being first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” - Malcolm X

Basic Info:

Originally published: 1965

Authors: Alex Haley, Malcolm X

Adaptations: Malcolm X (1992)

Genre: Autobiography

Country: United States of America

Awards: Anisfield-Wolf Book Award

Review:

First off, let me start with a quotation from CommonSenseMedia's Review of the movie, which also applies to the book:

    Lee is honest in giving us a flawed hero, a man blinded by his cause, a leader unafraid to publicly denounce his own philosophies as he awakens to new and more hopeful ones. 

  The movie does an excellent job, too, of stressing the importance of education, reminding us that we each have the power not just to change our own life, but the lives of many. That's a terrific seed to plant in the heads of high school students looking toward college and a future career.

This book is a milestone in anyone's reading career, whether you're black or white, this book will inspire, educate, change, influence and strengthen you. It's written so easily and vocally, that you can hear Malcolm's voice inside your head, which isn't surprising, as the book is basically a written interview, and that Alex Haley wrote that which Malcolm spoke.

When you see "Glorious" America through a young, black, disenfranchised man who saw the worst of the white man, and before he was 20, had been a drug addict, pusher, burglar, and many other things besides. You start with the murder of his father: laid on a railway track, nearly cut in half, hanged, shot. Then come the experiences of Malcolm as a child and his siblings; so hungry that they cooked grass, so poor, that the state took the children away, so discriminated that Malcolm, although he was the smartest student in his class, was looked down upon, and thought to be less worthy than the stupidest kid in class.

Then Malcolm comes to Boston, Detroit, and Harlem, becomes a drug addict, drug pusher, steerer, and burglar, and before he's 21, he's in prison.

Now comes the most inspiring and amazing part of the whole book: his redemption and absolute cleansing in his education: barely able to read a newspaper, he starts copying the dictionary from page 1, word for word, definition for definition. He starts borrowing books from the prison library. Books on philiology, psychology, philosophy, religion, history, anotomy, genetics and many other topics. He reads far into the night, when he is supposed to be sleeping. He completely changes himself, from being an un-educated, addicted, animalistic criminal, to a intelligent, far-seeing, educated, just human being.

This book is an absolute must-read, if you're 16 or 17 and over, as this book is definetely not for kids. For further information, read my parent guide. My rating for this book is for sure 10/10. 

"The Revenant" by Michael Punke (Parent Guide)

                 The Revenant Parent Guide

18+! Contains Extreme Gore, several explicit sexual references, and infrequent heavy Profanity!

Spoilers in Red!

Positive Messages: 1/10

None really, though it does show the will of one man to survive and receive justice, and the extreme lengths he will go to to survive. The entire novel is about his quest for revenge, although he does show mercy to Bridger at the end and does not kill him. 

Positive Role Models: 3/10

While Hugh Glass is a sympathetic and good man who appreciates nature, and knows what it takes to survive in the wild, and the lenths he has to go to, he is unforgiving to his enemies, which isn't necessarily bad, but nonetheless, this is not for kids.

Profanity: 6/10

Heavy, but neither pervasive or infrequent. A couple of uses of S**t, and a few sexual references.

Sex & Nudity: 5/10

Multiple explicit references.

Drinking: 4/10 

A few scenes are while the rough frontiersmen are drinking.

Smoking/Drugs: 1/10 

Very infrequent and short.

Violence/Gore: 10/10

Extreme Gore. Aside form all the battles with Indians and so on, Glass gets brutally maules by a Grizzly bear, which is described in a couple of pages, before his wounds are talked about. His throat is nearly severed, his scalp is hanging form his head, deep cuts all over his body, and later, maggots infest his wounds. He is attacked by a rattlesnake, although it's only a nightmare, it will still make you flinch. Brutal, bloody beatings, stabbings,  etc, make this book absuloutely not for anyone under 18. I've read some horrific books, but this one has to be one of the worst novels, made all the more harder to bear as it's based on a true story.

Frightening/Intense: 6/10

Extremely intense.

18+ only!

"Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott (Review)

               Little Women Review

Basic Info:

Originally published: 1868

Author: Louisa May Alcott

Followed by: Little Men

Characters: Jo March, Amy March, Mrs. March, Beth March, Meg March

Adaptations: Little Women (1994), Tales of Little Women (1988), more

Genres: Coming-of-age story, Bildungsroman

Little Women is a novel by American author Louisa May Alcott (1832–1888), which was originally published in two volumes in 1868 and 1869. Alcott wrote the books rapidly over several months at the request of her publisher.^[1][2] The novel follows the lives of four sisters—Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy March—detailing their passage from childhood to womanhood, and is loosely based on the author and her three sisters.

Review:

(Take a deep breath, rub your jaw, and start typing)

This book is quite good, obviously open to further improvement, but it's written with true feeling and heart with believable and deep characters we can all somehow relate to, and that's what makes it great. The time which is needed to read the book is on average 6 hours and 30 minutes, so yeah, it's very long; but that doesn't really bother me, and I'm always suprised when people complain about the length of books and movies, because if we haven't even got enough patience to watch a movie or read a book, then what's happened to us?

This is one of those books which is based on a true story not in the sense of some historical happening or something but in the sense that the experiences and feelings are real, and experiences we've all had, such as anger, writing, lust for revenge, love, hate, being anti-social, despair, and so on. The events may not be exactly true (although they're all things which many people grow through, and it was loosely based on Alcott's past life), but the FEELINGS are true, and remain personal without becoming sentimental.

So overall Rating: 8/10

"Anne of Avonlea" by L.M Montgomery (Review)

             Anne of Avonlea Review

Basic Info:

Originally published: 1909

Author: Lucy Maud Montgomery

Preceded by: Anne of Green Gables

Followed by: Anne of the Island

Genre: Children's literature

Adaptations: Anne of Avonlea (1975)

Rating: 7/10

Anne of Avonlea is pretty good, although some small scenes bug me a little, the book leaves you at the end pretty well satisfied. Let me start with the pros of this book:

PROS:

1) Anne is maturer now, and isn't that dreamy, absent and yes, sentimental as when she was still a kid.

2) There's a lot of humour provided, especially by Davy and his logic.

3) We still get a lot of the old characters, such as Diana, Marilla, Rachel Lynde, and so on, but we also get lots of new characters to add something new, such as Dora and Davy, Paul Irving etc.

CONS:

1) Gilbert Blythe, probably my favourite character doesn't appear a lot in this book.

2) Some scenes aren't very realistic, especially the scene near the end.

 

So overall, you should read this book, and I can't really compare it to Anne of Green Gables as the two are quite different, and each have their own charm. So, my overall rating is 7/10.

Amazon UK link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Anne-Avonlea-Vintage-Classics-Montgomery/dp/0099582651/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1462224677&sr=8-1&keywords=anne+of+avonlea

"Holes" by Louis Sachar (Review)

       Holes By Louis Sachar Review

Basic info and Story Line:
Holes is a 1998 young adult mystery comedy novel written by Louis Sachar and first published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. It won the 1998 U.S. National Book Award for Young People's Literature and the 1999 Newbery Medal for the year's "most distinguished contribution to American literature for children". In 2012 it was ranked number 6 among all-time children's novels in a survey published by School Library Journal.(Source:Wikipedia)

Stanley Yelnats' family has a history of bad luck, so when a miscarriage of justice sends him to Camp Green Lake Juvenile Detention Centre (which isn't green and doesn't have a lake) he is not surprised. Every day he and the other inmates are told to dig a hole, five foot wide by five foot deep, reporting anything they find. The evil warden claims that it is character building, but this is a lie and Stanley must dig up the truth.

Review:
I have posted a review on this, kinda long ago, but what I wrote was wrong. I recently re-read this book, and it's actually my favourite book for young adults. It's wit,humour,drama,story, I mean, everything about it is near perfect! But I would first like to quote CommonSenseMedia's review of it, as it sums it up perfectly:

Sachar pulls together this complicated story with unusual characters, dark humor, inventive plotting, and some Dickensian coincidences. The harshness of the situation is mitigated by the multifaceted mystery and by the strangely lighthearted way the author tells the story. At the end the author deliberately leaves a few holes in the plot for the reader to fill in. Sachar has a bizarre imagination, and in this vivid, many-layered book he puts it to its most compelling use yet.

This book is completely unique in my opinion. When I first read it, it wasn't special and didn't really appeal to me, but now that I'm much older, I can really appreciate it.

First of all, the story is completely unique, and it takes a very imaginative mind to think up something like this. Then the humour is hilarious, as it isn't the silly-clowning around kind of humour, but dry, deep, and completely unexpected. And the themes and symbolism which are dealt with in this book are numerous: racism, crime and punishment, society, redemption, honour, religion, love, God, etc. 

This book is technically for teens, but many, many adults have read it, and loved it. So if you're 11 and up, I definitely recommend you to give it a shot. Amazon UK link:
 https://www.amazon.co.uk/Holes-Louis-Sachar/dp/1408865238/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1461874057&sr=8-1&keywords=holes

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My Thoughts on "Little House on the Prairie" (TV series)

 My Thoughts on Little House on the                                 Prairie

Little House on the Prairie is an American western drama television series, starring Michael Landon, Melissa Gilbert, and Karen Grassle, about a family living on a farm in Walnut Grove, Minnesota, in the 1870s and 1880s. (Source: Wikipedia)

Episodes List: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071007/episodes?season=1

Straight out, I love Little House on the Prairie! It was a TV milestone, and is a classic which will still be loved, watched, and cherished a hundred years from now.

I (and millions of others), love it for so many reasons: most notably, the story lines that provide valuable lessons in life and the outstanding performances by regulars and guests.

However, some episodes I would prefer to watch alone (in fact, nearly all of them!), as they're too sad, and I hate showing tears in front of others, and I don't like people crying in front of me, as I then get embarrassed and seek for a way out. Anyway, this series can inspire, move, and make you cry.

But this series does have a problem: I only really love the seasons from 1 - 4, like Dexter and after that, the seasons slowly begin to get less original, and more modern, and less beautiful, and so on. For instance, I HATE the romance between Almonzo and Laura, I just think she behaves like an idiot; Every now and then, individual episodes rise high again, only to let the later episodes fall into darkness. And as Laura gets older, Charles and Caroline get less and less important, and those are my favourite characters! And then Albert comes, and then James and Cassandra come, and the whole classic and original feel get evaporated so that it becomes just like any other series.

(And the episode Sylvia has to be the worst I've ever seen; Albert behaves like an idiot, Sylvia herself isn't exactly pretty and she behaves stupidly, the whole themes are kinda unrealistic, and if you have to make an episode dealing with rape, you could have made the scene (and afterwards) a bit more realistic. In all, the episode left me with the uncomfortable feeling that someone had accidentally screened the wrong episode of another series.)

My favourite Characters are Charles and Caroline Ingalls (CI+CI, HAH!).

If you're wondering why there aren't any of the Ingalls girls, it's because they often behave stupidly. Charles nearly never does anything stupid, and I don't love/like Caroline in only one episode where she becomes a full-blown feminist (in season 7, exactly!). I do like the Ingalls girls  a lot most of the time, but they do do stupid and unnecessary things pretty often.

So, in conclusion the seasons 1-4 are absolute must-watch, the later ones until season 8 can be bought, but if I were you (Which I'm not, of course) I'd only buy them for a very low price and don't expect too much.

Amazon UK link to Season 1: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Little-House-Prairie-Season-DVD/dp/B0009PGTEC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1461271006&sr=8-1&keywords=little+house+prairie+season+1

'Anne of Green Gables' by L .M. Montgomery (Review)

           Anne of Green Gables Review

Basic Info:

Anne of Green Gables is a 1908 novel by Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery. Written for all ages, it has been considered a children's novel since the mid-twentieth century. It recounts the adventures of Anne Shirley, an 11-year-old orphan girl who is mistakenly sent to Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert, a middle-aged brother and sister who had intended to adopt a boy to help them on their farm in Prince Edward Island. The novel recounts how Anne makes her way with the Cuthberts, in school, and within the town. (Source: Wikipedia)


Review:
Okay, I admit it, I am a teenage boy that reads 'Anne of Green Gables'. So what?
Maybe it's not one of the best books ever written, but it's timeless. So let me start with

Why I like this Book:

The characters are real, they come alive through the pages, you feel for them, you can understand them, you know why they're doing something even if you don't agree with them. My favourite characters are Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert, Gilbert Blythe, and (kinda) Anne herself. Although she does talk a lot, and somehow I have the feeling that if every time Anne talks, her words would have been shortened only a few paragraphs, the book would probably be shorter by about a hundred pages.
But on the other hand, Anne is shown to be intelligent and different, not in a bad way, but just different in a good way; she sees the world differently and with imaginative eyes, for example: Anne changes the name of Barry's Pond to Lake of Shining Waters. 

Things I kinda dislike about this book:

Anne is over-dramatic: Either she's floating on the wings of happiness or she's drowning in the depths of despair. She cries a lot, and often because of small (but hilarious) misunderstandings. Another thing: If she hates someone, she hates him with all her soul. She hates Gilbert Blythe for a time of incredible 4 years! But the good news is that by the time she's sixteen, she's more mature, and talks less than before.

And just on a side note: This book is written in the style of Louisa May Alcott: There's no main story-line or quest, but a series of small adventures or problems.
Bottom Line: I recommend this book for anyone above 8 or 9 years of age, of any gender, and who like Drama-comedies. (But if you're looking for a full-blown romance, this is not one you would choose. I would suggest trying Louisa May Alcotts Jo's Boys or if you wanna go full sentimental and teary, try (ugh!) Romeo and Juliet)