Editorial Review

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Reviews (466)

An interesting read
This book is rather strange. There is a very distinct writing style, and Camus paints a very vivid picture of everything that is going on.
a great read that makes you think.
this is the first piece of writing i have read from albert camus and i found it very interesting. the character meursault is a very indifferent character who seems to be very impartial when he hears of his mother's death and kind of continues to be static untill the the second half of the book. i do not want to give the book away as some of the others have, but i feel that no matter what one person does and no matter what ones perception is, it can never match the perception of others. one of my favorite lines in the story is when meursault is talking to the chaplain about seeking redemption through god because according th chaplain "it is not the human justice that matters but divine justice" and meursault's response was "it was the human justice that put me here". no matter what acts you commit, whether they be henous, incensitive or loving, one way or another you will be judged and upon that judgement will be your sentence. it was definitely an easy read that takes the readers on a ride into the thoughts of a man who accepts the one thing he can not change; his fate. "with this, i dont even have a chance to survive, not even a slim one".

Nobody Counts--Not Even Yourself
There are few opening lines in literature more famous than the ones that begin THE STRANGER: "Mamam died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don't know. I got a telegram from home: `Mother deceased. Funeral tomorrow. Faithfully yours.' That doesn't mean anything. Maybe it was yesterday."These lines are spoken by Meursault, who is the protagonist and narrator.Albert Camus uses Meursault as a symbol of the nihilism that was then sweeping a Europe that was engulfed in a conflict that promised only a continuation of the death and destruction that began with the Blitzkrieg in 1939.In such times of chaos, there was a tendency for Europeans to grow used to the thought that the next breath could be their last.A corollary of that was that if you bought into that philosophy, you also insisted in living in the here and now. Tomorrow existed only as an intellectual curiosity. Yesterday existed only as a prelude for today. Meursault is the embodiment of a generation of conquered French who learned to accept without a blink even the previously emotionally shattering loss of one's mother.
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Subjects:  1. Adventure stories    2. Algeria    3. Classics    4. Fiction    5. Literary    6. Literature - Classics / Criticism    7. Literature: Classics    8. Murder    9. Fiction / Literary    10. Modern fiction   

Editorial Review

Intense is the word for Ender's Game.Aliens have attacked Earth twice and almost destroyed the human species.To make sure humans win the next encounter, the world government has taken to breeding military geniuses -- and then training them in the arts of war... The early training, not surprisingly, takes the form of 'games'... Ender Wiggin is a genius among geniuses; he wins all the games... He is smart enough to know that time is running out.But is he smart enough to save the planet? ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Fiction    2. Fiction - Science Fiction    3. Science Fiction    4. Science Fiction - General    5. Fiction / Science Fiction / General   

Editorial Review

"It's funny how ideas are, in a lot of ways they're just like seeds. Both of them start real, real small and then... woop, zoop, sloop... before you can say Jack Robinson, they've gone and grown a lot bigger than you ever thought they could." So figures scrappy 10-year-old philosopher Bud--"not Buddy"--Caldwell, an orphan on the run from abusive foster homes and Hoovervilles in 1930s Michigan. And the idea that's planted itself in his head is that Herman E. Calloway, standup-bass player for the Dusky Devastators of the Depression, is his father.Read more

Reviews (408)

I wish I could give more than five stars
If you love to give your kids good literature, don't miss this book.
Review by Chris L. of "Bud, Not Buddy"
Hi!I just finished reading BUD, NOT BUDDY by Christopher Paul Curtis. It's a very good book I must say and this is why I give it a 5 star rating.
Siji John's"Bud, Not Buddy" book review
"Bud, Not Buddy" was a heart-felt book. Ten-year-old Bud Caldwell was the main character of this book. His mother had died when he was six years old. He had a suitcase with his personal things in there. Nobody was allowed to look in there without his permission. He also wrote a book for himself. It was called,"Bud Caldwell's Rules and Things for Having a Funner Life and Making A Better Liar Out Of Yourself." Bud's mom never mentioned anything about his father. He had a flyer in his suitcase that had a picture of a band on it. He was pretty sure that the person who played the bass was his father. Herman E. Calloway was the guy's name. Since he had nowhere to live, he went in search for Mr. Calloway. Bud's destination was Grand Rapids. In order to get to grand Rapids, he had to get to Hooverville, Flint. He was already living in Flint. He just had to find Hooverville. Hooverville was a place for people without money. When he got to Hooverville, Bud made a new friend named Deza Malone. She later became his girlfriend. She gave him tips for living life without money. Bud's ticket to Grand Rapids was just a train ride away. Unfortunatly, Bud missed the train. He had to walk from there. He was stopped by a man named Lefty Lewis. He offered Bud a ride to his home. Since Bud didn't have a home, he had to use his book to get him out of this mess. Bud told him that he lived in Grand Rapids and that Herman E. Calloway. was his father. Lefty Lewis fell for it and took Bud to Grand Rapids. Bud was finally at his destination. He went inside the building where the band practiced. He confronted Mr. Calloway and told him that he was his Bud's father. Mr. Calloway was mad at this and replied with a no. Bud didn't believe him. At the end of the story, Bud finds out that Herman E. Callowaywas actually his grandfather. I would have never guessed this ending until I read the entire book. It was very surprising. Bud Caldwell came looking for a home and ended up being with his long-lost grandfather. He struggled through some difficult times but he succeeded in the end. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 1929    2. Action & Adventure    3. Action & Adventure - General    4. African Americans    5. Children's 9-12 - Literature - Classics / Contemporary    6. Children's Books/Ages 9-12 Fiction    7. Children: Young Adult (Gr. 7-9)    8. Classics    9. Depressions    10. Fiction    11. Historical - United States - 20th Century    12. Juvenile Fiction    13. People & Places - United States - African-American    14. Runaways    15. Social Issues - Runaways    16. Social Situations - Runaways    17. Juvenile Fiction / General   

Editorial Review

The year is 1963, and self-important Byron Watson is the bane of hisyounger brother Kenny's existence. Constantly in trouble for one thing oranother, from straightening his hair into a "conk" to lighting fires to freezinghis lips to the mirror of the new family car, Byron finally pushes his familytoo far. Before this "official juvenile delinquent" can cut school or stealchange one more time, Momma and Dad finally make good on their threat to sendhim to the deep south to spend the summer with his tiny, strict grandmother.Soon the whole family is packed up, ready to make the drive from Flint,Michigan, straight into one of the most chilling moments in America's history:the burning of the Sixteenth Avenue Baptist Church with four little girlsinside.Read more

Reviews (557)

Ali
The Watsons Go To Birmingham was a story about real life things. In the beginning, Byron and Kenny are outside scraping ice off of the Brown Bomber a.k.a. the Watsons car. Then Kenny hears a noise coming from the other side of the car where Byron is. He doesn't go over there because he thinks Byron will trick him, because a few days before Byron and Buphead (Byron's best friend) played a trick on Kenny and hit him in the face with snowballs. When Kenny goes to the other side finally he sees Byron's lips stuck to the mirror. He then ran in to get the family. Daniel (their dad) started laughing because he had never seen anything like that. Daniel and Wilona (their mom) were trying to think of a way to get Byron's lips off of the mirror. Daniel decided to get water so he could pore it on Byron's lips but it just made it. Wilona tells the family to go inside then. When they were all inside Wilona pulled on Byron's lips until they came off. When Kenny was in school he got picked on by Larry Dunn because he had a lazy eye and he was a good reader. One day a new kid named Rufus came to school at Clark. Rufus started getting picked on more than Kenny because Rufus talked different (he had lived in Arkansas) and Rufus didn't have a lot of clothes. Kenny and Rufus became good friends but one day somebody said something about Rufus and Kenny laughed. Since Kenny laughed at him Rufus stopped hanging out with Kenny. They ended up fixing the problem and became friends again. When winter came, Kenny shared his gloves with Rufus for awhile but then decided to act like he had lost them so his mom gave him his other pair of leather gloves and Rufus got the old pair. Then one day, Kenny's gloves went missing and Larry Dunn had gotten a pair of leather gloves instead of cheap plastic ones. Kenny found out that Larry had stolen his gloves so Byron and Buphead beat Larry up. Kenny then got his gloves back. When Byron kept lighting matches in the house Wilona got mad at him and said if he would do it one more time she would do something to him. Then one day, Kenny saw that Byron went into the bathroom and locked the door so he went and looked through the key hole. He saw Byron in there making Kleenex's into parachutes and then lighting matches and burning the parachutes to where they would fall into the toilet. When Wilona came upstairs she smelled smoke and saw Kenny looking through the keyhole so she got Byron out of there and took him downstairs. Then Joey started crying because Mama had gotten out matches and Vaseline. She knew that Mama was going to burn some part of Byron. Joey then got scared and kept getting in front of Byron so Mama couldn't burn him. When she got Joey away she lit a match but Joey ran over and blew out every match that Mama lit. So Byron never got burned. Since their dad only paid for groceries at one time Byron and Kenny thought they were on welfare but then found out they weren't. A few days later Kenny found Byron in a tree behind the grocery store with a full bag and an empty bag of Swedish cream cookies. When Kenny realized what Byron had done it was too late because he couldn't tell on him since he had eaten some of the cookies. A few days later, Byron came home with his hair straightened and permanent red gunk in his hair. Wilona was in shock because she and Daniel had told Byron not to put that stuff in his hair. Wilona knew he had gotten the stuff from Buphead because he was the only other kid with hair like that. Daniel then shaved all Byron's hair off! A few weeks later the Watsons started packing for Birmingham. They were going to Alabama to see Wilona's family. They decided that Byron would stay with Grandma Sands for the whole summer and maybe the school year. The family drove straight through all the way to Alabama. While they were down south the kids went swimming and Kenny almost got pulled under but Byron saved him. Joey went to Sunday school with some friends she had made. Then there was a loud boom. A bomb had gone off at the church. Joey ended up being safe because she had followed Kenny home. Wilona and Daniel decided not to leave Byron in Alabama. When they went home Kenny decided to give his dinosaurs to Rufus and Cody (Rufus's little brother). The Watsons lived there lives like they had before they went to Birmingham. The bombs going off at church made them rethink about there lives and feel good that they had everyone still in their family. I thought that this book was really a good book and I would reccomend it to anyone.

The greatest book in the world!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The book Watsons go to Birmingham 1963 is the coolest book ever.I don`t know anyone who dosen`t like this book.I love this book,it`s soooo funny,except the true part that was sooo sad.My favorite charactor is Byron he`s very funny.I love the part when Byron got his lips stuck on the window of the brown bomber.And dad was making fun of him.When I get a chance I`ll buy the book becauce it is awesome.

The greatest book in the world!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The book Watsons go to Birmingham 1963 is the coolest book ever.I don`t know anyone who dosen`t like this book.I love this book,it`s soooo funny,except the true part that was sooo sad.My favorite charactor is Byron he`s very funny.I love the part when Byron got his lips stuck on the window of the brown bomber.And dad was making fun of him.When I get a chance I`ll buy the book becauce it is awesome. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Afro-Americans    2. Children's 9-12 - Fiction - General    3. Children's Books/Ages 9-12 Fiction    4. Children: Young Adult (Gr. 7-9)    5. Family - General    6. Family - Multigenerational    7. Family life    8. Fiction    9. Juvenile Fiction    10. People & Places - United States - African-American    11. Prejudices    12. Social Issues - Prejudice & Racism    13. Fiction dealing with multiculturalism    14. Juvenile Fiction / Ethnic / African American    15. Multiculturalism   

Editorial Review

Ender Wiggin, the hero and scapegoat of mass alien destruction in Ender's Game, receives a chance at redemption in this novel. Ender, who proclaimed as a mistake his success in wiping out an alien race, wins the opportunity to cope better with a second race, discovered by Portuguese colonists on the planet Lusitania. Orson Scott Card infuses this long, ambitious tale with intellect by casting his characters in social, religious and cultural contexts. Like its predecessor, this book won both the Hugo and Nebula Awards. ... Read more

Reviews (366)

3 stars relative to Ender's Game, 4 stars because . . .
Having loved Ender's Game I decided to continue on and read Speaker for the Dead. I have to admit to some mixed feelings about the book. What kept me reading it till the end, sometimes intensely so, is classic Card: His wonderful imagination (even though there's practically no action you still want to see what happens next), piercing insights into human nature and wise philosophical musings all wrapped in the easy to digest "fun" media of an escapist Sci-Fi novel. If you're an Orson Scott Card fan you won't be disappointed by Speaker for the Dead.
Context, Motivation, & Choice
It is difficult to believe this is the first "sequel" to Ender's Game, because it is so vastly different from that book.Andrew Wiggins is at a very different place & time in his life, not to mention a different place & time in the galaxy.But how many of us are the same person today that we were at age 12?You should read Ender's Game in order to fully understand Andrew in the depth that he is explored in this book, but do not read it because you expect it to be the same.They are both outstanding books, but for entirely different reasons.
A truly remarkable story
This was a fascinating, generational story of life on Lusitania, where humans have come into contact with the second sentient beings--the piggies--since the xenocide of the buggers in Ender's Game.Feeling guilty, the Starways Congress decides to allow xenologers to study these aliens and live among the Catholic colony on Lusitania.When two xenologers die at the hands of the piggies, the old calls for war ring again but instead of an armada, the Speaker of the Dead is summoned.Andrew Wiggin, Speaker of the Dead, sets off for Lusitania where he hopes to repair the lives of two of families on Lusitania and solve the mystery of the piggies.
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Subjects:  1. Fiction    2. Fiction - Science Fiction    3. Science Fiction    4. Science Fiction - General   

Editorial Review

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Reviews (193)

Card drops it
Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead are good, but Xenocide disappoints; in fact, Card could've ended on Speaker.Instead he takes the worn path of Lusitania for his setting again.In Xenocide, Ender must deal with numerous impossible tasks such as solving faster than light travel, averting the destruction of Lusitania by Starways Congress, stopping a war between the humans, piggies and formics, and saving the life of an electrically based lifeform, all the while contending with his messed up adopted family of geniuses.
Disappointing creation of a wonderful author
I have just finished reading Ender's Shadow, the first of the Bean quartet novels and I enjoyed it just as much as I enjoyed the original book. There's something about the way Card presents characters that captures you into reading the book non-stop. So you can imagine my disappointment when I started reading Xenocide.
Pretty Good!
Orson Scott Card has brilliant way of telling many stories within one story. Meaning, in Xenocide there is lots of depth. I really enjoyed the book. There were MANY times when all the philosophical talk got on my nerves.But by the end of the book I was satisfied.Execllent Story. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Fiction    2. Fiction - Science Fiction    3. Science Fiction    4. Science Fiction - General   

Reviews (11)

Further frothy unrealism from Cabot, dumbed down for our age group.
Meg Cabot's books seem to be getting shorter and shorter timespans. HOW TO BE POPULAR is spent over the course of a week.
Another great teen lit
Meg Cabot does it again. She somehow wrote another great teen lit book that all teen girls will relate to. This isnt only entertaining, but there's a moral to the story too. Being popular doesnt mean being happy, which the main character Steph Landry figures out after reading an old book about how to become popular.
How to be Popular
I loved this book. Steph , because of a Big Red Super Big Gulp incident, will forever be unpopular. Until she finds The Book. The one book that will change her from unpopular to popular instantly, but will leave her friends Jason and Becca completely in the dark as to why she WANTS to be popular. And soon she realizes that being popular isn't as good as it sounds.
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Subjects:  1. Children's 12-Up - Fiction - General    2. Children's Books - Young Adult Fiction    3. Children: Young Adult (Gr. 7-9)    4. Fiction    5. High schools    6. Humorous Stories    7. Juvenile Fiction    8. Love & Romance    9. Popularity    10. Schools    11. Social Issues - Adolescence    12. Juvenile Fiction / Social Situations / Adolescence   

Editorial Review

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Reviews (192)

Children of theMind
A+, It's a gotta have for the Sci-Fi Officianado.
far fetched ...
everybody is a mind reader in this book, everybody knows exacly what everyone else is thinking, why they are thinking it, and whay they think they think it ... not so good....

The most annoying book in the series
It's a bad idea to create a character-driven sci-fi when your characters are this annoying.The majority of Children of the Mind consists of inane dialogue between characters that are impossible to care about.The characters are so one-dimensional and predictable that you already know what they'll say before they say it.Peter says nothing except smart alecky remarks, Val spends the whole book whining loudly about not being a real person, Novinha is as crazy and hard-headed as she's been for the last two books, and Ender spouts off a bunch of trite, up-with-people garbage every chance he gets.Somehow, Card even managed to make Jane more irritating than my ex-girlfriend during PMS.The only decent characters in this book are Miro and Wang Mu, and they aren't nearly enough to save the story.
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Subjects:  1. Fiction    2. Fiction - Science Fiction    3. Science Fiction    4. Science Fiction - General    5. Science Fiction - High Tech    6. Science Fiction - Series    7. Fantasy    8. Fiction / Science Fiction / General   

Editorial Review

The Nobel prize-winning Albert Camus, who died in 1960, could not have known how grimly current his existentialist novel of epidemic and death would remain. Set in Algeria, in northern Africa, Read more

Reviews (131)

Meaninglessness Exists Only Until You Impose Your Own
THE PLAGUE by Albert Camus is one of the most gripping, thought provoking novels to emerge from the aftermath of the Second World War.It tells of the bubonic plague breaking out in Oran, in Algeria, with thousands dying daily for months on end.Eventually, after heroic efforts by the city government, the plague begins to abate, and the survivors bury the dead and try to make sense out of what seems like an undirected thunderbolt from a vengeful god.On just this level, THE PLAGUE carries the reader along with its realistic depiction of first the fraying and then the snapping of the tenuous strands that bind a civilized society.But this is Camus writing, a man whose novels and plays always suggest more than they say.THE PLAGUE lends itself to allegory, in which the totality of the surface story covers a hidden one.In this case, given that western civilization had come THISCLOSE to annihilation by the German Nazis, the allegory could safely point to a world conflagration that had ended just two years prior to the book's publication.Just as the Nazis had hidden beneath the legitimate German government of the 1920s before emerging to overwhelm Europe with death and destruction one decade later, so do the rats wait in their lairs, secretly multiplying, waiting for the day to leave their lairs to spread their disease, announcing to a disbelieving world that the nightmare has already begun.
poor translation
I don't wish to comment on the story itself (I haven't even finished the book, in fact); merely on its style and wording. I know a bit of French, and understand the form of the language. As I read Gilbert's translation, I can see that form and style. Unfortunately, it makes it difficult to read in English. I get the impression that Gilbert tried to present the English version as close as possible to a verbatim translation of the French, and it really inhibits the flow. I find that I'm constantly caught up trying to disentangle sentences, and it makes it very hard to focus.
Read "Blindness" and Pass on The Plague...
Dr. Rieux, the main character of the novel, moves throughout the book in a detached surreal hopeless manner.He goes thru the motions of "doing his job" while death surrounds him from a wide spread and accelerating plague.
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Subjects:  1. Classics    2. Fiction    3. Literary    4. Literature - Classics / Criticism    5. Literature: Classics    6. Plague    7. Psychological fiction    8. Fiction / Literary    9. Modern fiction   

Reviews (91)

The Various Elements
While I must agree with some of the other people here who said that the main plotline of whether Sam and David were going to have sex or not was boring, there was more to the book than just that.In particular, I had a soft spot for Harold and Lucy's budding relationship, as well as the plotline of Sam's job at the video store.Also interesting to me was the 'slut' plotline, since I have personally witnessed such hypocritical behaviour at my own high school.While the end scene of everybody calling themselves sluts was a bit unbelieveable I must admit that I did give an inner scream of joy when Harold went up to join the girls.
Rave Reviews from 14 1/2 year old daughter...
Daughter just finished the book...and loved it.She seems to really like this author and her style of writing.
Awesome!
I really liked this book.I thought it was even better than the first one.I would recommend it for kids who are older than 12.Great read! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Children's 12-Up - Fiction - General    2. Children: Young Adult (Gr. 7-9)    3. Family - Siblings    4. Fiction    5. Girls & Women    6. High schools    7. Humorous Stories    8. Juvenile Fiction    9. Love & Romance    10. Presidents    11. Schools    12. Sex    13. Social Issues - Dating & Sex    14. Social Situations - Adolescence    15. Juvenile Fiction / Girls & Women   

Editorial Review

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Reviews (613)

Not just a retelling!
You would think retelling the same story from a different perspective would be a recipe for a terrible novel and low sales.Think again.
Enders Shadow
Are you a person who loves science fiction, action, suspense, mystery, humor, and treachery? If you like four out of the six then Enders Shadow fits your expectations and more!
Audio Version Review
I won't address the book other than to say it stands alone and doesn't need Ender's Game for you to understand it.I'm addressing the AUDIO CD.The male voices are great - easy to understand and hear.The female voice I am surprised that she sounds like she's falling asleep while she is portraying the main female character.When she switches to other voices as the different characters speak, she sounds fine and has talent to keep those voices consistent with each character.So why is she trying to put us to sleep during the majority of her portion of speaking? ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Fiction    2. Fiction - Science Fiction    3. Science Fiction    4. Science Fiction - General    5. Fiction / Science Fiction / General   

Editorial Review

Orson Scott Card finally explores what happened on earth after the warwith the Buggers in the sixth book of his Ender series, Read more

Reviews (227)

Why didn't somebody warn me?
You loved Ender's Game, right?
Well written and intriguing

Overall, a Good Book
Shadow of the Hegemon, like speaker for the dead, is a little disappointing after reading Enders Shadow, and Enders Game. The only reason I believe people read these books, is because they loved Enders Game so much, they cant bear to stop reading the books and reliving the experience over and over again.
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Subjects:  1. Fiction    2. Fiction - Science Fiction    3. Science Fiction    4. Science Fiction - General    5. Fiction / Science Fiction / General   

Reviews (370)

A dark, haunting tale that's hard to forget
To shortly summarize, "Heart Of Darkness", by Joseph Conrad, is all about an English man named Marlow. He's a sailor and an explorer who takes command of a steamboat on an African river, during the Age of Imperialism. He takes his ship up the river in hopes of finding a man named Kurtz, who's something of a legend among the Englishmen living in Africa. What he finds along his journey causes him the question the morality of Imperialism, and he finds in the African natives something which resembles evil. And once he finds Kurtz, he realizes that, although the Imperialists may act superior and tough, they are just as savage and immoral as the natives.
Chilling tales that are open for many interpretations
This collection brings together three remarkable novellas by Joseph Conrad: Youth, Heart of Darkness and The End of the Tether. In Youth Charlie Marlow recounts the troublesome voyage of the old ship Judea and its wretched 600-ton cargo of coal. The same Marlow also serves as the narrator in Heart of Darkness, undoubtedly the most famous of the three stories. It details how Marlow takes on a foreign assignment as a ferry boat captain on the Congo River in order to restore communications with Kurtz, an eccentric ivory procurement agent isolated in the secluded midlands. Finally in The End of the Tether Captain Whalley, a former dare-devil skipper, sacrifices his retirement and embarks on a precarious voyage on the steamer Sofala in order to support his distant, beloved daughter.
A Journey We All Must Take
When Marlow begins his journey to find the mythical Kurtz in HEART OF DARKNESS, Joseph Conrad dares the reader to accompany Marlow on a voyage less into the physical jungles of darkest Africa and more into the mental labyrinth that human beings erect to protect themselves from the horrors that they themselves build. In this justly famous novella, Conrad depicts a pre-politically correct age when white men thought it only fair and inevitable that they plunder the riches of Africa all the while comforting themselves that they were uplifting the fallen state of a lowly people.
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Subjects:  1. Africa    2. Classics    3. Degeneration    4. Europeans    5. Fiction    6. Literature - Classics / Criticism    7. Trading posts    8. Fiction / Classics    9. Modern fiction   

Reviews (262)