The Wesnaclama Blog

~Emma Murawski         I recently finished Two Dead Girls , written by the influential writer Stephen King. Two Dead Girls is the first book in a 6 part series titled The Green Mile. The Green Mile series had become so distinguished that a movie was made and directed by Frank Darabont in 1999 starring Tom Hanks.         Two Dead Girls is a story told from the perspective of Paul Edgecombe, an ex-prison guard at the Cold Mountain penitentiary. He recalls the events from his time at the Cold Mountain penitentiary in the year 1932. Paul Edgecombe’s job at the Cold Mountain penitentiary included overseeing prisoners during their time on death row, known as the Green Mile. At the end of their time on death row, they are brought to “Old Sparky,'' the electric chair. Reading the book, I noticed the amount of time put into describing all of the aspects and importance of “Old Sparky” author Stephen King put into it. During Edgecombe’s time working in 193...

Hello all! This is Wes, and today I am going to review Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events , the first one at least. I decided to revisit this beloved series after recently binge-watching Netflix's recent adaptation (which is amazing by the way). One issue is that now whenever I'm reading the books, I can only hear the voice of Patrick Warburton (except for dialogue, in that case I hear the character's respective actor). With all of this in mind, let's dive in. --- (no spoilers) The books starts off with the Baudelaire children (Violet, Klaus, and Sunny) at a beach. They are having a splendid time when they are approached by Mr. Poe, their family's banker. Mr. Poe doesn't bring good news, rather, he informs the now orphans that they are, well, now orphans. He explained how the children's parents parished, and brings them home. Following the will of the Baudelaire parents, the three orphans are now being whisked away to live with their 3...

Sup! It's Nate here, this time with a review of Airman  by Eoin Colfer. I had previously read Colfer's excellent Artemis Fowl series, and when I saw another book by him in the library, I decided to check it out. Airman is a historical fiction and adventure novel set in the late 1800's. It mostly takes place on the Saltee Islands, a real (but uninhabited) collection of islands in Europe. The story centers around the life of Conor Broekhart, the son of Captain Declan Broekhart and his wife Catherine. Conor was allegedly born while flying in a hot-air balloon, and he has loved high places and always dreamed of flying as a result. The story begins with young Conor and his friend Princess Isabella (son of King Nicholas, king of the Saltees) playing in the castle of the Saltees. However, a fire breaks out, and Conor uses his ingenuity to create a makeshift glider and save himself and Isabella from the flames. After seeing this, Victor Vigny (King Nicholas's friend), who had...

    Hey guys, its Clara back at it again with another book review. This month I read The Outsiders , by S. E. Hinton. The book is told from the view of Ponyboy Curtis, the youngest member of a gang in the 1960’s from the less wealthy East side of Tulsa, Oklahoma. The gang is called the Greasers (from the grease put in their hair.) He lives with his two older brothers, Sodapop, an extroverted and charismatic high school dropout, and Darry, an invulnerable, steely, hard worker who acts a guardian for the two of them after the death of their parents. The Greasers have a rivalry with a higher-class gang on the West side of Tulsa called the Socs, short for Socials. Throughout the novel, Ponyboy and his Greaser friends fight for power in their town with the Socs.      Though much of the book revolves around the gang rivalry between the Greasers and the Socs, the real center of it is the character development of Ponyboy and how he comes to understan...

Emma M.      Silence gives us the power to control ourselves and our reactions to the environment around us. Moments of silence can be unprecedented in the wake of a constantly noiseful world. They can be very strange and unwanted or a breath of fresh air. We need to learn to use silence, not as a form of rebellion or oppression, but as a tool to find ourselves. Silence in the Age of Noise, written by Erling Kagge, gives a summary and guide to finding true silence with ourselves in the hustle-bustle lifestyle of society today.      First, let me mention a few things about the author, Erling Kagge. He is a Norwegian author, publisher, lawyer, and explorer (plus a few other things). His identification as an explorer intrigues me most because we are all explorers in life in one way or another. However, Kagge is a true explorer and takes exploration to another level. In the book, Kagge describes his trip to the Arctic, alone and far away from civilization witho...

*Spoilers for Legend * Hello all! I’m Wes and today I’ll be talking about Prodigy . In my last blog post, I talked about Legend , the first book in Marie Lu’s Legend Trilogy. Prodigy is the second book in the trilogy. Prodigy picks up where Legend left off, after June helps Day escape from his execution. I’ll skip the introductions as you already know them. After Day and June’s escape, they head to Las Vegas, which is now a military city after the rise of the Republic. However, during their time in Las Vegas, something unbelievable happens: the Elector Primo dies. This doesn’t stop Day and June however, as they went to Las Vegas for another reason. Soon, their plan works. Day and June are contacted by the Patriots, a group that is dedicated to reuniting the Colonies and the Republic into what it was (The United States of America). The Patriots have a plan for Day and June. Day and June must kill the late Elector’s son, Anden, who himself is now the elector. Along Day and June’...

Sup! It’s Nate here again, and today I will be telling you why the Inheritance cycle is an excellent series that you should read. The Inheritance cycle is made up of four books: Eragon, Eldest, Brisingr, and Inheritance. It falls into the category of fantasy--there are dragons, elves, dwarves, and other creatures. Eragon was Christopher Paolini’s debut novel, written in his late teens, and it was fantastically received. Summary (spoilers!!!) Eragon, a poor farm boy, finds a strange stone while hunting that turns out to be a dragon egg! The egg hatches, and Eragon and the dragon (Saphira) quickly bond. However, strange creatures called the Ra’Zac kill Eragon’s uncle, whom he lives with because he was abandoned as a baby, and Eragon and Saphira go off to kill them with the help of Brom, a trader who also knows about dragons. The trio gets attacked in the night, and Brom is mortally wounded. As he dies, he reveals to Eragon that he was also a dragon rider. He meets a young man named ...