Ladies by the Lake

  If you've watched any of the 8 seasons of Gilmore Girls on Netflix, then you would know that Rory Gilmore is a huge bookworm, and always seems to be reading. She even tells Dean, her first boyfriend and love interest, that she always carries a book around with her to read if things get boring. She reads classics, non-fiction, more modern books (for the time, which is the 2000's), and many more throughout the seasons. In fact, Rory alone has been seen reading or referencing 339 books throughout the show's run. If you want a harder challenge, there is a similar one that includes all 3 of the Gilmore girls, with over 400 books to read. This challenge is definitely something to look at if you're curious to see which books you've read, are bored over summer, or want some new book recommendations! If you don't want to read over the summer, and haven't watched Gilmore Girls, I would highly recommend it. I took one quiz to see how many books I've read, and hav...

  Hi! In this week's blog post I will be discussing the certain literary elements that Ethel Cain uses in her debut album Preacher’s Daughter to inflict a sense of dread, sadness and anger. To start, this album is one of my favorites not just because I have been a fan of Ethel’s music since 2021, but because her songs always make me feel what she wants the listener to feel for the entirety of the song. The way she creates a story through every single song and leads the reader on an emotional journey is something that I find valuable in a singer-songwriter and is one of the reasons I enjoy her music so much. Below is the official tracklist (I will be referencing this quite a bit) and a link to the album on Spotify if you want to give it a listen :) Tracklist:  Family Tree (Intro) - 3:41  American Teenager - 4:18 A House in Nebraska - 7:46 Western Nights - 6:05  Family Tree - 7:10 Hard Times - 5:03  Thoroughfare -  9:27 Gibson Girl - 5:42 Ptolomea - 6:23...

      Book Commentary by Shanna Nayely Duay      When I was younger, I had a huge thing for the Addams family and loved the idea of a character like Wednesday Addams. Especially in my fifth-grade year, I was fascinated with grim tales and fables and I enjoyed reading books of that nature. So when the annual book fair rolled around and a book titled The Addams Family: Wednesday's Library  caught my eye, I knew I had to have it.      The Addams Family: Wednesday's Library was a book aimed to compile different works that the character Wednesday Addams would find interesting. The collection is comprised of works from authors I was familiar with like Edgar Allan Poe, Emily Dickinson, William Shakespeare, and Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. But it was also the first time I was introduced to ones like Nathaniel Hawthorne, Charlotte and Emily Brontë, and Joseph Conrad. Stories like Dracula, Jane Eyre, Heart of Darkness, and The Divine Comedy were featu...

The first time I heard about the Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan was a month after I had finished the Heroes of Olympus series (the sequel series to Percy Jackson & the Olympians). I was a massive Percy Jackson fan (very original opinion I know); it had all the elements to a story I didn’t even know at the time I wanted like a low fantasy setting and being based in mythology. So, when I finished the series and couldn’t find any more Percy Jackson related books to read, I naturally fell into a deep depression as if the book had taken part of my soul with it. And so I did the obvious thing and searched for another book to avoid dealing with my feelings. I looked around a bit and got suggestions from my family until I heard that Rick Riordan had written another series based on Egyptian myths instead of Greek ones. This book sounded interesting enough so I decided to read it.   Honestly I don’t remember my first read through of this book too well, which is to be expected because ...

FEED by Mira Grant is a book about the zombie apocalypse caused in 2014, where they had cured the common cold and cancer-- but when mixed together created a new virus. Now, in 2040, brother-sister pair Shaun and Georgia "George" Mason and their friend Buffy are setting out to cover the presidential campaign, following and reporting on canidate Senator Ryman. When the apocalypse hit in 2014-2015, news given to people by bloggers became the main source of trustworthy news as the government was trying to cover up the apocalypse. There are 3 main types of bloggers-- Newsies, Irwins and Fictionals. Like they sound, newsies report the news, and Fictionals write stories, songs, poems, ect.. Irwins basically go out and poke the zombies, then record and write about it.  I really got into FEED because of its unique twist on the zombie apocalypse-- a topic which has been written about countless times-- while still retaining some of the common themes. As with most zombie books that I...

Hello, in this week's blog post I will be discussing the book, The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han and the big debate surrounding whether or not to be Team Conrad or Team Jeremiah which is practically the Team Edward and Team Jacob debate of our generation.  If you have not read the books or watched the show, the story follows a young girl named Isabel and her childhood friends Conrad and Jeremiah, who are brothers. Isabel, more commonly known as Belly, is a Sophomore in high school during the time that we meet her and conveniently during “the summer she turned pretty”. Throughout the first book Belly navigates her love life with the two brothers, her drastic change in looks, and the death of someone close to her which affects her relationship with the two as well. Summary aside, one of the biggest debates (both fans of the movie and show are involved in), is who Belly should (or should have) ended up with.  Both brothers, as most of us can agree, have attractive aspects t...

 "A Good Girl's Guide to Murder," written by Holly Jackson, is a gripping young adult thriller that takes high school drama to a whole new level. This book is told through the perspective of Pippa Fitz-Amobi, a high school senior whose curiosity about her small-town murder leads her down a rabbit hole she probably would never see coming. The story kicks off with the suspicious death of Andie Bell, a seemingly perfect student. The interesting plotline of this book that sets it apart from other crime novels is Pip's decision to dig into the closed case, challenging its official ruling of suicide. The narrative is told through a mix of traditional storytelling and modern elements like diary entries, text messages, and transcripts, making the investigation feel like a real-life high school drama. I especially liked these little details as they kept me intrigued and made the read feel much more casual. The small-town setting intensifies the suspense as secrets are unveiled...