The Shooting Star Blog

Charlotte's web was a book most people read as children, and since I don't know what else to do this post on, why not do it on one of the only books that made me cry. The story, if you forgot, is about a pig named Wilbur, a little girl named Fern, and a spider named Charlotte. Wilbur, a small and weak pig, is about to get slaughtered by Fern's dad, but Fern convinces her dad to let her adopt the pig. Wilbur then gets moved to a different barn, where he mainly doesn't get along with the other animals, until he finds a spider there called Charlotte. Fern meanwhile frequently visits the animals and watches them talk to each other. It was mostly peaceful until Wilbur was once again going to be slaughtered. Charlotte decides to help Wilbur by weaving a web with words in it. This shocked Fern's family, who then make Wilbur into a farm attraction thing for many people to see. Charlotte continues writing words within her spider webs until Fern's family enters Wilbur int...

Hi everyone, For my blog post this week, I decided to write on   the dystopian novel  1984 by George Orwell, which I read a couple of months ago. It   has often been considered a must-read book by many critics/reviewers for its role as a cautionary tale against authoritarian governments, and in my opinion, it has deserved its reputation. Presumably set in 1984, Winston Smith, the protagonist, lives on Airstrip One (formerly the UK), a part of an enormous superstate called Oceania. He works for the Ministry of Truth, a governmental division ironically tasked with issuing propaganda. His job is to edit previously issued newspapers that later contradict with the government's statements, ensuring that the government will always be viewed as correct. Slowly throughout the book, he grows dissatisfied with the government after realizing the scale of the censorship, and this internal rebellion is further exacerbated once he begins an illegal relationship with another Party m...

               T he Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker is a masterpiece. This is one of the greatest pieces of literature that I have read. The book focuses on 2 main characters Frank and Julia. Frank is a greedy man who will do anything for pleasure. One night he goes to a street vendor in Morocco. The vendor tells Frank this box will bring immeasurable pleasures for whoever can solve it. Frank buys the box and brings it home. It takes him hours to open the box but finally, it clicks and he has finished. From the wall emerge four creatures known as cenobites. These hellish creatures were once human but their flesh has been scared and manipulated in an almost artistic way. They show Frank the pleasures he is looking for, but Frank was wildly misled this pleasure was pure pain hooks and chains bring Frank into the cenobite's labyrinth.  Julia was married to Franks's brother Rory. Rory had a kid from a previous relationship called Kirsty. ...

       Hello! This is Quintus, and for this blog post, I reread The Hobbit , and noticed things about Bilbo Baggins which I thought I ought to share with you. Today, I will tell you about the respectable character Bilbo, including his growth through the story.     WARNING!! There are major spoilers ahead, so read at your own risk.     At the beginning of the story, Bilbo lived a comfortable, easy life. He took his wealth and privilege for granted, being quite dependent on a life of having nice, disposable things such as pocket-handkerchiefs (which are mentioned a lot in the book). Like most hobbits, Bilbo ate many more meals a day at home than we do, and was fat. After joining the dwarves on their quest to the Lonely Mountain, however, Bilbo experienced what it was like to be truly starving, at times going weeks without food. When he did have food, it wasn't nearly as delicious as the meals he ate at home before, but Bilbo was grateful to have any...

While the occasional trip to a large, corporate bookstore is fun, I find that smaller stores are much more pleasing. Large chain stores like Barnes and Noble lack some personality, in my opinion. They tend to steer towards more mainstream books from well-known authors. Indie bookstores are much more specific to the area, and tend to harbor books from local authors and authors that might not have been able to get their books into bigger stores. In my experience, the smaller stores are the most well cared for and passionate spaces. Each book is hand picked for its shelf, and no space is filled simply to be filled. Oftentimes, they only have one or two copies of each book. This allows for constant circulation and refreshing new material to be added.  I notice that smaller bookstores tend to leave more space to authors that usually get set aside in more corporate settings. Authors of color, authors with disabilities, and queer authors get their spotlight in independent bookstores. I th...

When I read The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum, I was just expecting it to be just like the movie, or being similar to it. However, the movie leaves out an entire section of the book. The difference between the movie and the book is big, as the book gives a better ending in my opinion, and also feels like a more complete story. A major difference in The Wizard of Oz between the movie and book is that the movie is more leaning towards being for kids, and while the book isn't for adults, I doubt a small child would be able to understand it. I would mostly recommend this book for middle schoolers, if they want an easy read. The movie also is missing parts of the book, so while there might be changed elements, the story is longer, as Dorothy and the others have to keep traveling after the wizard leaves. Another element that the movie misses is what happens to the tinman, scarecrow, and the lion after Dorothy leaves. While it could be assumed that they either stay in the Emerald City, or...

Hi everyone! For my second blog post, I decided to read a book that I've heard a lot about and have been wanting to read for a while now, Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game . Now I haven't been able to finish this book yet, so before I start the review, keep in mind that there are going to be some things in this book that I don't know yet, and I'm just writing based off of what I've read so far. Despite that, there are a lot of things that I have to say about Ender's Game , almost all positive, but with some things that are quite questionable and really just left me bamboozled. Ender's Game  tells the story of Andrew "Ender" Wiggin, who grows up in a space-faring futuristic society. Humanity is recovering from two conflicts narrowly won against the Buggers, an alien species that once invaded Earth. To ensure that the Buggers do not defeat the humans in case of a third invasion, the International Fleet (I.F.) finds the most intelligent children...