Room is a 2010 novel by Irish-Canadian author Emma Donoghue. The story is told from the perspective of a five-year-boy, Jack, who is being held captive in a small room along with his mother.Donoghue conceived the story after hearing about five-year-old Felix in the Fritzl case.
The novel was longlisted for the 2011 Orange Prize and won the 2011 Commonwealth Writers' Prize regional prize (Caribbean and Canada); was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2010 and was shortlisted for the 2010 Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize and the 2010 Governor General's Awards.
This book really leaves you speechless. Jack sees everything in such an innocent way. I reckon Donoghue does an amazing job impersonating him.
What I Saw and How I Lied (2008) is a young adult novel written by Judy Blundell. It won the 2008 National Book Award for Young People's Literature.What I Saw and How I Lied is a historical fiction novel set in post-WWII America.
Evie Spooner's dad has just come back from the war. They decide to go to Florida for a holiday.
When they get there Evie meets Peter. They fall in love. When Peter dies Evie discovers that Peter didn't love her........
In a single moment, everything changes. Seventeen year-old Mia has no memory of the accident; she can only recall riding along the snow-wet Oregon road with her family. Then, in a blink, she finds herself watching as her own damaged body is taken from the wreck...
Mia has to choose if she lives or if she leaves everything behind.
A sophisticated, layered, and heartachingly beautiful story about the power of family and friends, the choices we all make--and the ultimate choice Mia commands.
In my opinion this book is good, but it needed more action because after a while it gets kind of boring. I liked the fact that her family were musicians. I find Adam to good for her.
I stared out the window as we drove through the highway. Why had my parents wanted to move out?
"Ashley" My small sister Sophie said.
"Yes?" I said.
"Can I borrow your Ipod?"
"Sure." I said.
I gave her my Ipod and continued looking out the window.I had to admit Wales was a pretty place. I missed my two best friends terribly.
My big brother Tom nudged me hard
"What?!" I said angryly
"Do you think we'll be happy here?"
"I don't know " I said sadly.
He scruffed my hair and continued reading his book.
God did I hate it when he did that to me!
***
Once we got to our new house, I immediately ran into the house to find my bedroom.
The house was beautiful, the house of my dreams. My bedroom was big and one of the walls was painted with a vintage-like pattern.Like this:
I fell in love with my bedroom straight away, I ran downstairs, grabbed my suitcase, and ran back up. I unpacked all my stuff, put all my books on the bookshelves, stuck all the posters on the back of my door.
After that, I realised just how tired I was so I threw myself on my bed and fell into a deep sleep.
Some people say "We keep moving forward, opening new doors." Personally I don't think this quote is right. Why would I want to move foward, I mean my life was perfect afterall.
I stared out the window as we drove through the highway. Why had my parents wanted to move out?
"Ashley" My small sister Sophie said.
"Yes?" I said.
"Can I borrow your Ipod?"
"Sure." I said.
I gave her my Ipod and continued looking out the window.I had to admit Wales was a pretty place. I missed my two best friends terribly.
My big brother Tom nudged me hard
"What?!" I said angryly
"Do you think we'll be happy here?"
"I don't know " I said sadly.
He scruffed my hair and continued reading his book.
Charlotte Sometimes was a children's book written by Penelope Farmer, published in 1969. It is the third and best known of three books featuring the Makepeace sisters, Charlotte and Emma, and inspired the song "Charlotte Sometimes"by English rock band The Cure.
Summary:
Part one:
Charlotte arrives at a new boarding school, and is shown around by a prefect named Sarah. Sarah's mother also attended the school. The next morning she finds herself in the same place, but in the year 1918. A younger girl called Emily calls Charlotte her sister, and addresses her as "Clare". Each night, Charlotte finds herself swapping between her own time and Clare's time. Charlotte and Clare must learn to live two different lives. They write letters to one another in an exercise book, which they hide in the leg of the bed they share in two different times.
Part two
Charlotte, expecting to have returned to her own time for the last time, is shocked to find that she has returned to 1918. She will go into lodgings with the Chisel Brown family: it appears she will be trapped in the past. In the house, Miss Agnes Chisel Brown shows Charlotte and Emily the toys she had once played with. She tells the two girls about her brother Arthur, who died in the war. Charlotte reflects, forward and back: to Arthur in the past; her own sister Emma in the future; and Clare, trapped in Charlotte's time. She struggles with her identity as being Charlotte sometimes but Clare other times.
Charlotte and Emily form a plan to enter the school by night in an attempt to get Charlotte into the bed which will take Charlotte back to her own time. Inside the school sick room, Charlotte finds the bed is occupied, and thus she cannot return home. She escapes being seen by Nurse Gregory, but is seen by another student, Ruth.
Charlotte is not the only one who struggles with identity. Emily tells of the wretchedness of being motherless and unwanted, moving around between homes while her father fights in the war. Meanwhile, Charlotte dreams she is fighting to stay as Charlotte. She dreams about Arthur.
A letter arrives for Clare and Emily from their father. Emily does not let Charlotte read it, to the bewilderment of the other girls. Charlotte, thoughtful as always, wonders who Sarah's mother is: perhaps it will be Charlotte herself if she is trapped in 1918?
At night, Charlotte dreams about Arthur again, as a drummer boy, and that she has turned into Agnes. Her crisis of identity comes to a head as she struggles to preserve her identity as Charlotte.
One evening, the Chisel Browns hold a seance in an attempt to speak to Arthur. The girls hide behind the curtains to observe. During the seance, they hear Clare's voice crying out for Emily. Emily cries out, and the two girls are discovered and disciplined. Later, Miss Agnes asks about the voice they heard at the seance - Clare's. She then tells Charlotte and Emily of Arthur’s war experience.
Finally, Armistice comes. The war is over: people dance and celebrate in the street, and Charlotte and Emily join in, even though it would anger Mr Chisel Brown. In disgrace, Charlotte and Emily are sent back to the school. Miss Agnes gives them the toys as a gift.
Part three
Ruth recalls her “dream” of seeing Clare whilst in the sick room. Because of the flu epidemic, the students are able to play wild games in the dormitories, and eventually, Charlotte is finally able to sleep in the bed that will return her to her own time.
On arriving back in her own time, Charlotte is surprised to learn that her room-mate Elizabeth knew about her swap with Clare. Charlotte wonders about Sarah's mother and what has become of Emily and Clare. At the school, Charlotte sees an elderly Miss Wilkin, whom she realises that she had known as a young woman in 1918.
One day, Charlotte has a conversation with Sarah, and learns what has become of Emily and Clare. Sarah's mother is Emily and Clare died in the flu epidemic after the war. Later, Charlotte and Elizabeth discuss the events Charlotte has experienced. They find the exercise book in the bed leg, finding the last letter Charlotte wrote to Clare.
Charlotte receives a package from Emily as an adult. It contains a letter from Emily and the toys which Miss Agnes had given them, over forty years ago. I consider this book a classic. I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys a god old adventure book! :)
The novel was longlisted for the 2011 Orange Prize and won the 2011 Commonwealth Writers' Prize regional prize (Caribbean and Canada); was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2010 and was shortlisted for the 2010 Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize and the 2010 Governor General's Awards.
