Book 53: The Republic

The Republic wasn't nearly as bad as I had anticipated it being. When I startes the book it seemed like such a daunting task because Plato was never been something thay seemed like it would be easy
The story, I call it that because there doesn't seem to be any other word in my vocabulary that accurately describes what the book really is, is narrated by none other than Socrates. I thought this gave the book an extra dimension because if you can't trust Socrates who can you trust?

I agree with the majority of the idea that Plato introduces in the book and found some of them more radical than ideas that have been though up in our modern age. His society ruled by philosophers is what I believe to be the perfect society that we have been searching for for centuries.

I give this book 7 warriors out of 10. The second half was very repetitive and grew very dry very fast but it was still a fascinating read.

Book 52: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

I really hate spiders and snakes. They've always terrified me. I don't like the way they move. So, as you can imagine this was never one of my favourite Harry Potter books.

That being said, it again was far better then I remember it being. The Death Day Party is probably one of my favourite events and it saddens me greatly that it was never in the movie (along with Peeves).

I don't really have a lot to say because my brain is rather foggy. I give this book 8 spiders out of 10. It's a fantastic story and I can't think of anyone who's any fun not liking it.

Book 51: The Book of Flying

The first time I read this book I was 14. I still remember the day I bought it. I was out getting groceries with my mother one morning when we found our way to the mall. I cannot remember what our purpose was there but I do remember begging her to take me to Coles, the book store. At this time I only have $10 and wanted to buy a new book so badly even though much like today I still had over a dozen sitting on my shelf to be read. I wanted to get the most out of my meager sum of money as I possibly could so I started browsing the sale books. Many of them were being sold for two dollars which suited my needs perfectly. That fortunate day I picked up Captaine Alatriste for $5 and The Book of Flying for $2. I was so pleased with myself for getting books at such a discounted price I didn't even start to ponder what an impact they would have on the rest of my life.

For the longest time I've had an obsession with wings and flying as well as a passion for books, reading and writing and it wasn't until I started to reread this book that I figured out why. The main character is a young man name Pico. Pico was born of the winged people but he had no wings and those without wings cannot live in the towers. His mother gives him to a young librarian to raise and so Pica grows up on the ground and lives in the library. He does the same things everyday and spend the majority of his time alone in his library reading and writing poems. In the evening he goes and watches the winged people fly and he falls in love with one of the. He teaches her how to read and they spend all their time together until one day she decides that she could never truly love him because he has no wings. He continues on with his life for a while until he finds a letter someone wrote and buried in the ground before a fire consumed his city years ago which speaks of the Book of Flying. A book that the letter claims teaches the wingless to fly. This leads Pico on an adventure to get his wings so he can marry the one he loves so dearly.

From this brief synopsis you can no doubt tell why this book struck me in such a way and in some ways influenced the way I am today. While reading that book my desires for flight didn't seem so unusual and neither did my love for literature. It was very reassuring for me to read about someone who in my mind was exactly like me.

I give this book 10 poems out of 10. It will always hold a special place in my heart no matter what anyone else says.

Book 50: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

Of course this isn't the first time that I've read this book. After watching Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II I thought it might be a good idea to reread the series that defined my childhood and to be honest with you I was surprised by how much I forgot about the first book.

I remembered the parts that they put in the first movie that I had watched two days before the premiere and more times than I would like to admit on my own accords. I remember when I was in grade 3 I was so excited for that first movie to come out being a big fan of the books since my father started reading them too me two years earlier (I was a very slow reader as a child and had no patience for tasks that took longer than 30 minutes so reading Harry Potter to my mind was outside of the realm of the possible but I was more than happy to allow my father to read me and my younger brother one chapter a night (unless we could convince him to read more). I liked it because he would read in different voices which added an extra element to the story.).

Needless to say that the first book of the series is one of my favourites and will always remain so and because of this there is no other course of action than to give this lovely book ten owls out of ten. It's an excellent read for readers of all ages (I loved it when I was seven, I love it now, my father loves it when he was in his 40's and my grandmother loves it in her 70's). If you haven't read it (which I highly doubt) I would recommend going out and buying the whole series right away especially if you've seen and liked the movies because the books are ten times better.

Book 49: Don Quixote

It's strange that a book that was written over 400 years ago can still bring enjoyment to a modern audience whose world is so my different today than the world that is described in the book. I have never read another book about a knight that could surpass this one in humor and ridiculousness and I'm sure that no matter who reads it they will find at least one aspect in it that they enjoy.

Don Quixote was long. Very very very long. I loved the first part of the book. It was entertaining and really fun to read, so fun infact I wrote the beginning to my blog about it before I even finished the book. But then the second part came. The first 200 pages of it really didn't fit with the tone of the beginning of the book which I found rather odd but the pace of the story picked up after that and remained thus until the last chapter which was very depressing.

I give Don Quixote 8 lashes out of 10. Even though it dragged in the middle I really enjoyed reading the book.

Book 48: Clockwork Angel

There is so much to say about this book but whenever I try to think of the words I draw a blank. It is the first book in Cassandra Clare's new series The Infernal Devices. The Infernal Devices is predicted to have two more books in the series the first of which, Clockwork Prince, to be released in December of this year and the third installment of the series, Clockwork Princess, to be released a year after that.

This was a wonderful beginning to what should be, judging by the brilliance and success of The Mortal Instruments, a smashing success and a joy to read and it does not disappoint. The story is set in Victorian London and has all our favourite families involved as well as Magnus Bane who has swiftly grown to be my favourite character of Cassandra's creation.


Thus far it has reminded me a lot of Philip Pullmans Sally Lockhart Quartet. The feel of the books are very similar, the both take place in the same time period, have an air of mystery and were very fast paced.


I give Clockwork Angel 7 necklaces out of 10. It didn't quite live up to my expectations but The Mortal Instruments is hard to compare to other books after I was so blown away by it. I would recommend this book to anyone who has read Cassandra Clare's other books but would advise you to go into it with an open mind. If you haven't read any of Cassandra Clare's books I would recommend starting with The Mortal Instruments mostly because the story is mostly complete and waiting for the next book in a series to come out is a pain.

Book 47: The Epic of Gilgamesh

The name says more about this book. The Epic of Gilgamesh aside from being an epic poem is a very epic story. It has quests of great daring, fighting, a journey to the faraway and sadness; everything you need to make a good story that is fast paced and easy to read.

Unlike The Song of Roland the introduction to The Epic of Gilgamesh flowed very well and delivered the information that you need to understand the text in a way that is easy to understand and enjoyable to read. It really made me thankful that I took Ancient History in high school. It gave much more context to the information and made it so I didn't have to do any further research to understand what the author was talking about.

I give this epic 7 out of 10. It was the most enjoyable of the FYP books that I've read thus far and delivered itself in such a way that not a lot of extra though was put in to understand what was being said before comprehending what it meant. Again, I would strongly recommend reading the introduction to give context to the epic and I promise that it won't be grueling

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Book 46: The Song of Roland

I thought The Song of Roland would be a good book to choose next because it didn't look like it would make me sleepy. Unfortunately the introduction couldn't be read without napping every few pages but the actual poem was quite enjoyable.

It tells the tale of France's battle for Christianity against Spain and Rolands death. It gave a view from both sides of the battle and made sure to let you know how each side felt when one of the key players for their side was taken out. It offered an interesting prospective on war and death.


I would give this book 6 out of 10. The introduction was grueling but it offers you the information you need in order to understand what is going on in the story, gives you historical context and points out any translation issues and makes you aware that some of the wording may be different that what we are used to because it's being translated in addition to it being written in a different time. If you are going to read The Song of Roland I would highly recommend reading the introduction.