The Bookshelf

Hi! Last year, I read both volumes of The Complete Sherlock Holmes, written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I really enjoyed the books, so I was a little disappointed when I had finished reading the series. But over the summer, I found some movies of the book from the 1940s, where Basil Rathbone plays Sherlock Holmes. In this blog post, I will highlight some key similarities and differences between the book and the movie. (This post also contains some spoilers).  First, I want to note how the Sherlock Holmes series, though originally written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, has been interpreted many times, so you can find many different versions of similar stories. As a result, there are many different movies for Sherlock Holmes. I will just be focusing on the films starring Basil Rathbone.  The Complete Sherlock Holmes contains many different mysteries. These mysteries all have different plots. Some are missing person cases, some are murder mysteries, and others revolve around jewel r...

Hello! I'm Sloane, and I am reviewing The One and Only Ivan  by Katherine Applegate. Similar to my previous post, this is a book I had read a few years ago, and I decided to re-read it. I'll be exploring the overall book, as well as its intriguing format of writing. The One and Only Ivan 's main character is Ivan, a calm gorilla who lives in the Exit 8 Big Top Mall, a shopping center with various animal enclosures. His imagery gives a dreary and lonely feeling to the place, as he was taken from his home in the wild at a young age to end up in this cage. No other gorillas live in the mall, but Ivan is accompanied by a lively dog named Bob and a wise elephant named Stella. One day, a baby elephant named Ruby arrives to the mall. Though she is shy and scared, Ivan and the other animals help her feel welcome. With the help of Julia, a girl who spends time with Ivan, they work toward helping Ruby and all the other animals in the mall. The format of this book is different from a ...

The Summer I Turned Pretty (*cough cough* and extremely annoying ) *This review contains some mild spoilers, however, no major plot twists are revealed. When Jenny Han’s, The Summer I Turned Pretty, was first recommended to me I was really excited to read it. I had heard good things about the book and many of my friends had read and enjoyed it. I was expecting a fun YA novel with a cute romance. Little did I know I was also signing up for a 276 page book about a whiny toddler *ahem* teenager mulling over how life’s greatest issue was obviously her boy drama. This book could legitimately be summarized in one sentence: Main character cannot decide which guy she likes best and generally acts like a whiny 3 year old for 99% of this book. The Summer I Turned Pretty is a story about a girl named Belly and her summers at a beach house. Every summer her, her brother Steven, her mom Laurel, her moms best friend Susannah, and Susannah’s two sons Conrad and Jeremiah go to spend the summer at a p...

Note: This blog contains several spoilers from the novel and examines the word “ersatz,” which appears repeatedly in the novel. Ersatz means “fake” or “substitute” in German (for example, “Ersatzlehrer” means “substitute teacher”). Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (the basis of the famous 1982 Ridley Scott film, Blade Runner ) is Philip K. Dick’s 1968 novel about a bounty hunter named Rick Deckard living in post-apocalyptic Earth, year 2021, where everyone is emigrating to Mars. His job is to kill or “retire” any rogue “androids” that have illegally made their way to Earth. Androids are genetically modified human clones, produced mainly for working in harsh conditions to colonize planets. The most recent “model” of android—the Nexus-6—is so human-like that it is nearly impossible to detect the difference from people. The novel’s main question—how can you tell the difference between humanoid and truly human?—is the same question we are asking today about how to coexist with the in...