Karenschoice books

Once again, since I have a three day weekend (today being the last) I have had more time to watch films! One was really good,  and one ok-ish, and the other: not so much. The one I didn't like very much was Little Buddha starring Keanu Reeves who plays Siddartha. It was just...not very good. The one I love is a Korean film called Punch. #5: Punch title : Punch director : Han Lee release date : December 2011 studio: CJ Entertainment 17-year old Wan-Deuk comes from a poor family and his grades in school are equally poor. He is rebellious and troubled student, but unrivalled when it comes to fistfights. Wan-Deuk's life takes a turn when he gets to know his annoying and weird teacher Dong-Joo. Dong-Joo gradually changes from an enemy to a friend as the two get to know each other. Learning to express his anger at the world by taking on kickboxing, the unlikely hero experiences emotional growth and what it means to have a dream. (summary from Rotten Tomatoes ) My thoughts:  At firs...

book info: ages 15 and up grades: 9-10 and up years: 11 and up on sale: now copy from: public library pages: 120 title: Night author: Elie Wiesel, Marion Wiesel Night A terrifying account of the Nazi death camp horror that turns a young Jewish boy into an agonized witness to the death of his family...the death of his innocence...and the death of his God. Penetrating and powerful, as personal as The Diary Of Anne Frank, Night awakens the shocking memory of evil at its absolute and carries with it the unforgettable message that this horror must never be allowed to happen again. ( read more ) My thoughts: When I got this, and many of my other books that I've been reading, I found it in the classics section and checked it out. Many people have talked about how they had read this for school, and I do remember some English classes reading this at my school, but that didn't particularly affect my decision to read it. I think this, like all Holocaust survival stories, is raw and emotio...

book info: ages: 16 and up grades: 10-11 and up years: 12 and up on sale: now copy from: library title: I Hunt Killers author: Barry Lyga credit What if the world's worst serial killer...was your dad? Jasper "Jazz" Dent is a likable teenager. A charmer, one might say. But he's also the son of the world's most infamous serial killer, and for Dear Old Dad, Take Your Son to Work Day was year-round. Jazz has witnessed crime scenes the way cops wish they could—from the criminal's point of view. And now bodies are piling up in Lobo's Nod. In an effort to clear his name, Jazz joins the police in a hunt for a new serial killer. But Jazz has a secret—could he be more like his father than anyone knows? ( goodreads ) My thoughts: Ohmygoodness, this is an amazing book. Just finished reading it moments ago, woke up from my reading daze and saw that it is 11:30. A book like this: how can I not read it in less than a day? This book can only be described as a Sherlock/Ser...

book info: ages: 15 and up (recommended, 13 and 14 is OK but...elder teens are preferred) grades: 9-10 and up years: 11 and up on sale: now copy from: library pages: 248 title: The Picture of Dorian Gray author: Oscar Wilde (introduction and notes by Camille Canti) source Oscar Wilde brings his enormous gifts for astute social observation and sparkling prose to The Picture of Dorian Gray, his dreamlike story of a young man who sells his soul for eternal youth and beauty. This dandy, who remains forever unchanged; petulant, hedonistic, vain, and amoral; while a painting of him ages and grows increasingly hideous with the years, has been horrifying, enchanting, obsessing, even corrupting readers for more than a hundred years. Taking the reader in and out of London drawing rooms, to the heights of aestheticism, and to the depths of decadence, The Picture of Dorian Gray is not only a melodrama about moral corruption. Laced with bon mots and vivid depictions of upper-class refinement, it is...

Lately, I've been watching a lot of films on Netflix, and I've watched quite a bit over winter break, and thought that I'd recommend them to you some of you Netflix users! And if you haven't got Netflix, they'll just be plain old film reviews :) Film Reviews #1: The Beautiful Person (La Belle Personne) Foreign Film-->French source After transferring to a new high school, beautiful Junie (Léa Seydoux) starts dating fellow student Otto (Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet), but she soon finds herself falling for Nemours (Louis Garrel), an Italian teacher already entangled in secret affairs with a pupil and colleague. Loosely based on Madame de Lafayette's novel La Princesse de Clèves, this French drama explores the great pain that often accompanies love. (from Netflix) my thoughts : I watched this with a friend of mine, Deniz (those you follow Voyage will know she's "The Mysterious Turkish Girl") on her laptop. It looked interesting, mainly because of the f...