Divergent

“We believe in ordinary acts of bravery, in the courage that drives one person to stand up for another.”  - Veronica Roth

Sadly I wasn't able to get a hold of  The Book Thief , instead I read and finished everyone's favorite Divergent. For those that don't know what the book is about (which probably isn't many), I will give you a quick summary. The book takes place in future Chicago, after a war. To make sure that such a catastrophe doesn't happen again the people decided to place each person a faction depending on their skills. The 5 factions are Abnegation (the selfless), Erudite (the intelligent), Dauntless (the brave) Amity (the peaceful), and Candor (the honest). The main character's name is Beatrice Prior, who was born in Abnegation. When she took the test to see what faction is got the result Divergent. Throughout the story Beatrice learns to hide the secret from the government otherwise she will die. 

After reading this book I would give this book a 5 out 5 stars, because it really utilizes all the literary lenses we as Honors English I students were taught. The theme of this book can be related to all book that take place in a dystopian setting there is no such thing as a perfect world. Even though it would seem like it would work out there will be arguments and fights between people. For those who haven't read this book I will strongly suggest it to you all. 

Manuscripts Found in Accra Part 2

“Only he who gives up is defeated.  Everyone else is victorious.” - Paulo Coelho

         Great news, I have finally finished the Manuscripts Found in Accra. As told in my previous blog post Manuscripts Found in Accra Part 1, the book really connects to real life thoughts and actions. The book describes how we as humans feel about ourselves and how to respond to those feelings.What I would say the theme is that life consists of challenges but there are ways of overcoming those challenges.
     
          I would give this book a 4 out of 5 stars. The reason why I didn't give it a full 5 out of 5 is that instead of actually having a in-depth plot it was more of a question and answer type format.  Some quotes in the book that were inspirational in the book including the first are:

• “Scars speak more loudly than the sword that caused them.” 
• “If you are never alone, you cannot know yourself.” 
• “Anxiety was born in the very same moment as mankind. And since we will never be able to master it, we will have to learn to live with it—just as we have learned to live with storms.” 
• “Don't try to be useful. Try to be yourself: that is enough & that makes all the difference.” 

I hope that all those who are reading this blog will consider the Manuscripts Found in Accra  to be on there to-read list.

This video consists of an excerpt of the Manuscripts Found in Accra itself.




For those interested the next book that I am going to read and blog about is The Book Thief if I can get my hands on it. I have heard many reviews and recommendations about this book and hope to have those same feelings towards the book that everyone that recommended it did.

Manuscripts Found in Accra Part 1

             

      

      For my Independent Reading I decided to read the book Manuscripts Found In Accra by Paulo Coelho. The reason I chose this book was because it was the first book that I picked off my shelf which I hadn't read.  What really got my eye were the quotes found in the book. The quotes were philosophical but they were easy to understand. 

     What differentiates this book from others is that this book doesn't have a easily determined conflict like other books do. So far from what I read this book is about a world where religion rules and people have different belief on everything, even the date.This takes place when the people of Jerusalem are awaiting an invasion from the crusaders.  During this period manuscripts were found near Accra. These manuscripts held information which can solve the world's problems. In each chapter of the book a part of those manuscripts are described by a person named Copt. So far from what I read I think people who like to think about life would fall in love with the book, and that judgement was made after I read only 3 short chapters.