Exchange Büren June 2014

Exchange Büren June 2014

THE MAGICIANS GUILD, TRUDI CANAVAN

The Magicians Guild, is the first novel of the The Black Magician series, there are 3 books that talk about magic, fantasy places and revolutions.

Each year in the city of Imardin there is a purge carried by their unkillable Mages where they throw out the homeless and poor people to the city's slums.  But, there is a young girl, Sonea, who wants to take revenge of them because in the last purge, they threw their family out, so, when the purge is happening, she throws a rock to one of the Mages, and she kills one of them.

This event, causes a really big strugle in the Mage society because the only thing that can kill a Mage is another Mage, so there know now that there is a Mage outside that isn't educated like them and could organizate a revolt and overthrow their society structure.

Then, the whole story talks about actions and fights that face Sonea against the Mages, but it hasn't got a ending because they are more books.

I think that this book is really interesting and exciting to read, because its the first one of the trilogie and in the end it makes you know more.

UNDER THE DOME - Stephen King

On a beautiful day, the village called Chester's Mill in Maine is sealed off from the rest of the world by a weird and invisible force field. There's no escape available, so they don´t know what to do at first.
They will have to fail a lot of attempts before they can talk with their hunters so they can be free again.
I amb not going to write anymore so you can read it yourself.

WAKE, Amanda Hocking

Beautiful. Fearless. Dangerous. They're the kind of girls you envy; the kind of girls you want to hate. Strangers in town for the summer, Penn, Thea, and Lexi have caught everyone's attention, including the eye of practical Harper. But it's her sister, Gemma, they've chosen to be part of their group.

Sixteen-year-old Gemma seems to have it all - carefree, pretty, and falling in love with the boy next door. But her greatest passion has always been the water. She craves late night swims under the stars, where she can be alone yet belong to the sea. Lately she's had company. Penn, Thea, and Lexi spend their nights dancing, singing, and partying on the cove--and one night Gemma joins them. When she wakes up groggy on the beach the next morning, she knows something has changed.

Suddenly Gemma is stronger, faster, and more beautiful than ever. As she uncovers the truth about her new mythical powers, Gemma is forced to choose between staying with those she loves or entering a dark world brimming with unimaginable secrets.

I really liked the characters in this story. Harper was the older sister with the tough outer shell. She's had to step up to become the mother-like figure, protective and worrying, and can't let anyone see the softer side of her. Gemma is the typical younger sister--more relaxed and free except with her hobby of swimming and goal of being in the Olympics. Then there's the boys- Alex and Daniel. Both great guys and one for each of the sisters (no love triangle in this story!) Even the sirens are well written. 

“Every man would fall in love with their voice, their lovely appearance, but no man would ever get past that. They'd never really know the girls for who they actually were, never really love them. It would be impossible for any of the four girls to ever really fall in love and be genuinely loved in return.”

“I guess what I'm trying to say is that you can't live somebody else's life for them. They have to make their own choices, and sometimes all we can do is learn to live with them.” 

 

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas-John Boyne

This book is about a child. He is nine years old and his name is Bruno. His father works in the concentration camps and he and his family need to move to another country next to the camps. His father don't let him go out, but he is bored inside, so he decide to go out. One day he found a fence and meet a child call  Shmuel and then become friends.

CITY OF BONES, Cassandra Clare

Summary

Set in contemporary New York City, a seemingly ordinary teenager, Clary Fray (Lily Collins), discovers she is the descendant of a line of Shadowhunters, a secret cadre of young half-angel warriors locked in an ancient battle to protect our world from demons. After the disappearance of her mother (Lena Headey), Clary must join forces with a group of Shadowhunters, who introduce her to a dangerous alternate New York called Downworld, filled with demons, warlocks, vampires, werewolves and other deadly creatures.

Review

I think the book is really exciting, because it is easy to read and you can identify with all the characters.

THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER, Stephen Chbosky

The Perks of Being a Wallflower (Das also ist mein Leben), Stephen Chbosky

Summary

Charlie is a freshman. And while he's not the biggest geek in the school, he is by no means popular. Shy, introspective, intelligent beyond his years yet socially awkward, he is a wallflower, caught between trying to live his life and trying to run from it. Charlie is attempting to navigate his way through uncharted territory: the world of first dates and mixed tapes, family dramas and new friends; the world of sex, drugs, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show, when all one requires is that perfect song on that perfect drive to feel infinite. But Charlie can't stay on the sideline forever. Standing on the fringes of life offers a unique perspective. But there comes a time to see what it looks like from the dance floor.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a deeply affecting coming-of-age story that will spirit you back to those wild and poignant roller-coaster days known as growing up.

Quote

"Dear friend,  

 I am writing to you because she said you listen and understand and didn't try to sleep that person at that  party even though you could have."

Review

If you read this story you will laugh, cry and keep reading on. It is not to be missed. Charlie will show you that high school can be enjoyed if you have the right friends and becoming a teenager isn't as scary as you think, even though it seems that way.This story has stayed with me for a long while and I am sure if you read it, you will remember it forever.  

THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER, Tom Clancy

The book is about a hunt for a submarine. "Red October", a strategic nuklear submarine from the Soviets, changes the balance of power in the Cold War. The captain, Marko Ramius, and his crew try to change sides to the United States of America with the boat. The CIA is about to sink it because they think it is an enemy vessel. Only agent Ryan can make contact to them. After this the Americans get to know the plan of Ramius. The Soviets on their side have no plan on what will happen. Ramius sets up a reactor accident to make his comrades in the Soviet Union believe that their submarine sinks and is lost. Together with the american agent, the captain and his crew can escape from the soviet fleet. On the Atlantic, it comes to a last battle between the Red October and two soviet submarines. After the succesful fight, the submarine arrives in Virginia. Ramius and his crew are are taken to a CIA safehouse  begin their Americanization.



In my opinion, the book is very good, because it has both action and thrilling parts in it. It is a very good example of how the situation in the Cold War was, and it shows peoples different ideologies from their government. Even tho Clancy's book is very patriotic, it still shows both sides of the world, the american and the soviet one.


"Once more, we play our dangerous game, a game of chess against our old adversary - The American Navy. For forty years, your fathers before you and your older brothers played this game and played it well. But today the game is different. We have the advantage."


Lukas Adriano

Moon Palace, Paul Auster

“I had jumped off the edge, and then, at the very last moment, something reached out and caught me in midair. That something is what I define as love. It is the one thing that can stop a man from falling, powerful enough to negate the laws of gravity.”  

This book is about the story of a man, Marco Stanley Fogg, and his journey through New York and  the Midwest of the USA. In this journey he discovers a lot about himself and his origins and meets a lot of people. He lives in a friend's house, then in Central Park as a homeless, again with his friend and with an old blind disabled man who teaches him a lot about life. After all this adventures, he travels through the USA to find out about his origins. 

For me it is a great novel, simple at first and very complex in the end. It makes you reflect on things such as life, death, existence...etc.  It has a lot of references to philosophy and self-discovery and some people has even found similarities with the autor's life. It is considered a very important post-modern novel.

EL VALLE DE LOS LOBOS; Laura García Gallego

The book we want to share with all of you is "The Valley of the Wolves" by Laura Gallego García. The story started with Dana a farmer who lives with her family. One day she met a boy who has the same age as her but she is the only one who can see him. Dana only talked with that boy because she spent a lot of time with him, and they became best friends. Dana lost interest in talking with other people, so she was seen like a strange girl until one day a man appeared in her life. This man took Dana to The Tower which is in the middle of the Valley of the Wolves.

We recommend this book to all the people who like magic, fantasy and love stories, because there you can find all of these things.

This book is the first part of the triology "Las crónicas de la Torre" ( "Die Chroniken des Turms" / " The chronicles of the tower" ).

"Podemos estar eternamente juntos, y eternamente separados." -Kai 

Marina Florido and María Franco 

PAPER TOWNS, John Green

Quentin Jacobsen has spent a lifetime loving the magnificently adventurous Margo Roth Spiegelman from afar. So when she cracks open a window and climbs back into his life–dressed like a ninja and summoning him for an ingenious campaign of revenge–he follows.
After their all-nighter ends and a new day breaks, Q arrives at school to discover that Margo, always an enigma, has now become a mystery. But Q soon learns that there are clues–and they’re for him. Urged down a disconnected path, the closer he gets, the less Q sees of the girl he thought he knew.


"Paper Towns" is a funny, engaging, eye-opening book. It had me laughing, it had me crying, it had me pondering the way I look at other people. John Green is able to convey an interesting, mysterious novel great for teens. In regards to questionable content, this novel makes use of the occasional four-letter word, has some frank sexual discussion, a bit of violence, and heavy under-age drinking. But really it's nothing any 13 year-old hasn't already heard.


“What a treacherous thing to believe that a person is more than a person.”


“That's always seemed so ridiculous to me, that people want to be around someone because they're pretty. It's like picking your breakfeast cereals based on color instead of taste.” 


“The town was paper, but the memories were not.” 

― John Green, Paper Towns   

THE GRAPES OF WRATH, John Steinbeck

The novel tells the story of the Joads, a family of farmers in the American state of Oklahoma, who face the total loss of their farm and possessions caused by the giant dust storms of the early 1930’s. As they get pushed out of their land by powerful companies, the family decides to emigrate to California at the West Coast of the United States, where they seek to overcome poverty, hunger, and desperation. Fascinated by the stories of California as a rich and plentiful land, the Joads start their difficult journey west, accompanied by the wise former preacher Jim Casy. On their way they encounter other migrants, who share their dreams or who are on their way back home – disappointed by the reality they found in California. While the family seems to slowly fall apart, their hope for a better future persists. When the Joads arrive in the West, nothing seems to be like in the stories they have heard: the people discriminate the starving farmers, want to push them out of their land, or seek to exploit them as cheap laborers. As the immigrants try to organize themselves in unions, the conflict escalates and the Joad family has to make a difficult decision.

In my opinion, John Steinbeck’s novel is a masterpiece of modern American literature, which illustrates the hardships of the common people hit by the Great Depression. In a time of turmoil and violence, the bounds within the family and the community become more important than ever. One of the greatest strengths of the book are the powerful themes, like the „movement from I to We“, which means that the people have to overcome their own selfishness to achieve a goal as a community. I love the novel as well for its beautiful language and Steinbeck’s style, which includes countless powerful images and scenes. 

Wherever they’s a fight so hungry people can eat, I’ll be there. Wherever they’s a cop beatin’ up a guy, I’ll be there. If Casy knowed, why, I’ll be in the way guys yell when they’re mad an’—I’ll be in the way kids laugh when they’re hungry n’ they know supper’s ready. An’ when our folks eat the stuff they raise an’ live in the houses they build—why, I’ll be there. See? God, I’m talkin’ like Casy. Comes of thinkin’ about him so much. Seems like I can see him sometimes.