Title: The Crucible
Author: Arthur Miller
ISBN: 0142437336
Plot Summary: In Colonial-Era Salem, Massachusetts, trouble is brewing when a group of adolescent girls accuse various members of the community of practicing witchcraft. Accusations fly of lying, land-grabbing, adultery, and even being in league with Satan. In the midst of it all, John Proctor, a decent if imperfect member of the community, attempts to repair his marriage and help justice be done while protecting himself from Abigail Williams, his charismatic former mistress and ringleader of the girls, who is determined to bring him down along with the people accused of witchcraft.
Showing posts with label World Religions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label World Religions. Show all posts
Indie Girl
Title: Indie Girl
Author: Kavita Daswani
ISBN: 1416948929
Plot Summary: Indie Konkipuddi is a young Indian-American teenage girl, living with her parents and younger brother in the suburbs of Los Angeles. Indie dreams of becoming a fashion designer, and when Aaralyn Taylor comes to speak at her school, Indie jumps at the chance, thinking meeting her idol will help her land a prestigious summer internship at Aaralyn's magazine. Although Aaralyn ends up only hiring Indie as a babysitter, Indie is disappointed but still accepts, thinking she may still get an "in" if she is a constant presence in Aaralyn's home. To Indie's disappointment though, Aaralyn turns out to be demanding, rude, ungrateful, and dismissive of both Indie and her own son. She sticks it out in her current position, despite her parents' concerns, even finding romance with another of Aaralyn's employees - until her boss's behavior during a trip to Italy convince her that whatever Indie's goals may be in the fashion world, she cannot let them come at the expense of her own self-esteem and emotional well-being.
Author: Kavita Daswani
ISBN: 1416948929
Plot Summary: Indie Konkipuddi is a young Indian-American teenage girl, living with her parents and younger brother in the suburbs of Los Angeles. Indie dreams of becoming a fashion designer, and when Aaralyn Taylor comes to speak at her school, Indie jumps at the chance, thinking meeting her idol will help her land a prestigious summer internship at Aaralyn's magazine. Although Aaralyn ends up only hiring Indie as a babysitter, Indie is disappointed but still accepts, thinking she may still get an "in" if she is a constant presence in Aaralyn's home. To Indie's disappointment though, Aaralyn turns out to be demanding, rude, ungrateful, and dismissive of both Indie and her own son. She sticks it out in her current position, despite her parents' concerns, even finding romance with another of Aaralyn's employees - until her boss's behavior during a trip to Italy convince her that whatever Indie's goals may be in the fashion world, she cannot let them come at the expense of her own self-esteem and emotional well-being.
The Scarlet Letter
Title: The Scarlet Letter
Author: Nathaniel Hawthorne
ISBN: 1442140712
Plot Summary: The narrator of the story, living in what is then the present day in New England, comes across some old belongings of a woman who once lived in the community known as Hester Prynne. Hester, a married woman, had an affair with the Reverend Dimmesdale while her husband was away, and bore his illegitimate child. For this transgression, she was ostracized by the community and forced to wear a large scarlet "A" on her clothing at all times, to symbolize the sin of adultery. She attempts to regain the community's trust by leading a quiet and charitable life, but the reappearance of a mysterious stranger in town throws her world into turmoil. Although both she and her lover attempted to escape their current situation, they found that the ties of duty, obligation, and their mutual child are too great to let them go forever.
Author: Nathaniel Hawthorne
ISBN: 1442140712
Plot Summary: The narrator of the story, living in what is then the present day in New England, comes across some old belongings of a woman who once lived in the community known as Hester Prynne. Hester, a married woman, had an affair with the Reverend Dimmesdale while her husband was away, and bore his illegitimate child. For this transgression, she was ostracized by the community and forced to wear a large scarlet "A" on her clothing at all times, to symbolize the sin of adultery. She attempts to regain the community's trust by leading a quiet and charitable life, but the reappearance of a mysterious stranger in town throws her world into turmoil. Although both she and her lover attempted to escape their current situation, they found that the ties of duty, obligation, and their mutual child are too great to let them go forever.
The Handmaid's Tale
Title: The Handmaid's Tale
Author: Margaret Atwood
ISBN: 0771008139
Plot Summary: A theocratic dictatorship has overthrown the government of the United States and created the Republic of Gilead, in response to what it perceives as widespread immorality, corruption, and increasing infertility. In this dystopic future, women are not allowed to read, or even venture outside their homes except to run errands. In addition to the wives men already have, they are also allowed to take "handmaids," presumably still-fertile women who can provide them with now desperately needed offspring. A woman known only as Offred, a patronymic indicating only the name of the man she serves, feels stifled by her current life, remembering as she does the way things were before Gilead was founded, when she could live, love, and work as she chose. The only roles available to women in Gilead society are as wife, handmaid, or - for those who want a bit more freedom - prostitute. Offred makes plans to escape, but her ultimate fate remains unknown.
Author: Margaret Atwood
ISBN: 0771008139
Plot Summary: A theocratic dictatorship has overthrown the government of the United States and created the Republic of Gilead, in response to what it perceives as widespread immorality, corruption, and increasing infertility. In this dystopic future, women are not allowed to read, or even venture outside their homes except to run errands. In addition to the wives men already have, they are also allowed to take "handmaids," presumably still-fertile women who can provide them with now desperately needed offspring. A woman known only as Offred, a patronymic indicating only the name of the man she serves, feels stifled by her current life, remembering as she does the way things were before Gilead was founded, when she could live, love, and work as she chose. The only roles available to women in Gilead society are as wife, handmaid, or - for those who want a bit more freedom - prostitute. Offred makes plans to escape, but her ultimate fate remains unknown.
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
Title: The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
Author: C.S. Lewis (original); Andrew Adamson, Ann Peacock, Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely (screenplay)
Director: Andrew Adamson
Cast: Georgie Henley (Lucy), Skandar Keynes (Edmund), William Moseley (Peter), Anna Popplewell (Susan), Tilda Swinton (The White Witch), James McEvoy (Mr. Tumnus), Jim Broadbent (Professor Kirke), Liam Neeson (Aslan).
ASIN: B000E8M0VA (DVD)
Other Movies in Series: Prince Caspian
Other Books in Series: Prince Caspian, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, The Silver Chair, The Horse and His Boy, The Magician's Nephew, The Last Battle.
Plot Summary: Lucy, Edmund, Peter and Susan Pevensie are four siblings growing up in London during World War II. When the German bombings make conditions in the city too dangerous, they are relocated to a country manor inhabited by an eccentric professor and his rather dour maid. In exploring the vast house, the children stumble upon a wardrobe that is a portal to a magical world known as Narnia. However, all is not well in this land: the White Witch has all creatures and areas in the land under her control, and her magic makes it "always Winter and never Christmas" in Narnia. Three of the Pevensie siblings befriend sympathetic characters in Narnia, but Edmund is seduced into joining the White Witch's side with promises of wealth, power, and all the Turkish Delight he can eat. Unfortunately, the Witch's promises prove as artificial as her imposed winter, and he becomes her prisoner. The other three siblings set out to find him and defeat the Witch, encountering both dangers and encouraging signs of change along the way. Before they return to the "real" world, they will join forces with Aslan, a talking lion and the leader of the resistance against the Witch, for the future and soul of Narnia.
Author: C.S. Lewis (original); Andrew Adamson, Ann Peacock, Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely (screenplay)
Director: Andrew Adamson
Cast: Georgie Henley (Lucy), Skandar Keynes (Edmund), William Moseley (Peter), Anna Popplewell (Susan), Tilda Swinton (The White Witch), James McEvoy (Mr. Tumnus), Jim Broadbent (Professor Kirke), Liam Neeson (Aslan).
ASIN: B000E8M0VA (DVD)
Other Movies in Series: Prince Caspian
Other Books in Series: Prince Caspian, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, The Silver Chair, The Horse and His Boy, The Magician's Nephew, The Last Battle.
Plot Summary: Lucy, Edmund, Peter and Susan Pevensie are four siblings growing up in London during World War II. When the German bombings make conditions in the city too dangerous, they are relocated to a country manor inhabited by an eccentric professor and his rather dour maid. In exploring the vast house, the children stumble upon a wardrobe that is a portal to a magical world known as Narnia. However, all is not well in this land: the White Witch has all creatures and areas in the land under her control, and her magic makes it "always Winter and never Christmas" in Narnia. Three of the Pevensie siblings befriend sympathetic characters in Narnia, but Edmund is seduced into joining the White Witch's side with promises of wealth, power, and all the Turkish Delight he can eat. Unfortunately, the Witch's promises prove as artificial as her imposed winter, and he becomes her prisoner. The other three siblings set out to find him and defeat the Witch, encountering both dangers and encouraging signs of change along the way. Before they return to the "real" world, they will join forces with Aslan, a talking lion and the leader of the resistance against the Witch, for the future and soul of Narnia.
Three Cups of Tea
Title: Three Cups of Tea
Author: Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
ISBN: 0670034827
Plot Summary: Greg Mortenson, a young American mountain climber, becomes stranded in a remote Pakistani village while attempting to climb K2. After the villagers nurse him back to health, he comes to see how the village childrens' lack of education has negatively impacted their community. Promising to come back and help them build and finance a school, he sells his possessions back in the United States and begins the long, arduous process of securing funding, materials, construction, teachers, and materials for the school. This quest eventually turns into an organization devoted to building non-denominational schools for boys and girls alike across areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan that are most subject to targeting by terrorist organizations looking for recruits. Although outnumbered and outfinanced by the Taliban and Al Quaeda, Mortensen's Central Asia Institute begins to bring about positive change in these remote, unstable areas.
Author: Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
ISBN: 0670034827
Plot Summary: Greg Mortenson, a young American mountain climber, becomes stranded in a remote Pakistani village while attempting to climb K2. After the villagers nurse him back to health, he comes to see how the village childrens' lack of education has negatively impacted their community. Promising to come back and help them build and finance a school, he sells his possessions back in the United States and begins the long, arduous process of securing funding, materials, construction, teachers, and materials for the school. This quest eventually turns into an organization devoted to building non-denominational schools for boys and girls alike across areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan that are most subject to targeting by terrorist organizations looking for recruits. Although outnumbered and outfinanced by the Taliban and Al Quaeda, Mortensen's Central Asia Institute begins to bring about positive change in these remote, unstable areas.
Puppet
Title: Puppet
Author: Eva Wiseman
ISBN: 0887768288
Plot Summary: Julie, a young girl growing up in Hungary at the end of the 19th century, deals with poverty, hunger, and domestic violence in her daily life. When her best friend is found dead, the villagers blame the local Jewish community. In the course of the murder trial, Morris Scharf, a young Jewish boy who is the son of the defendant, is coerced, tortured and bribed into giving testimony against his father. Although Julie understands the pressures with which Morris is faced, she decides she must overcome her father's wrath, the community's disapproval, and her own fear in order to tell the truth.
Author: Eva Wiseman
ISBN: 0887768288
Plot Summary: Julie, a young girl growing up in Hungary at the end of the 19th century, deals with poverty, hunger, and domestic violence in her daily life. When her best friend is found dead, the villagers blame the local Jewish community. In the course of the murder trial, Morris Scharf, a young Jewish boy who is the son of the defendant, is coerced, tortured and bribed into giving testimony against his father. Although Julie understands the pressures with which Morris is faced, she decides she must overcome her father's wrath, the community's disapproval, and her own fear in order to tell the truth.
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Title: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Author: James Joyce
ISBN: 1556904215 (Audio Book)
Narrator: Donal Donnelly
Plot Summary: Stephen Daedalus is a young man growing up in Dublin, Ireland at the turn of the century. He is raised in a loving family, goes to good schools, and receives a fine academic and religious education, considering at one point becoming a member of the clergy. As he grows older, though, he grows increasingly disillusioned with what he has been taught to believe, and yearns to grow beyond the geographical and intellectual borders that have been set up for him.
Author: James Joyce
ISBN: 1556904215 (Audio Book)
Narrator: Donal Donnelly
Plot Summary: Stephen Daedalus is a young man growing up in Dublin, Ireland at the turn of the century. He is raised in a loving family, goes to good schools, and receives a fine academic and religious education, considering at one point becoming a member of the clergy. As he grows older, though, he grows increasingly disillusioned with what he has been taught to believe, and yearns to grow beyond the geographical and intellectual borders that have been set up for him.
The Kite Runner
Title: The Kite Runner
Author: Khaled Hosseini
ISBN: 1594480001
Plot Summary: Amir led a privileged life in Afghanistan prior to the Communist revolution: he and his father lived in a spacious villa with servants, and his father was a well-respected man in his community. Amir had an unequal yet genuine friendship with Hassan, the son of his father's servant. Yet when Hassan is brutally attacked by a group of boys, Amir stands by and does nothing, and later falsely accuses his friend of stealing, causing both him and his father to leave the estate, so that he will not have to feel guilty anymore. After the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, Amir and his father have to leave the country, eventually moving to Fremont, California, where Amir meets and falls in love with a young woman from the local Afghan community. After his father's death, Amir gets a telephone call from an old family friend, asking him to come back to Afghanistan to rescue Hassan's son. In the process, Amir comes face to face with parts of his past that he would rather forget, and slowly tries to help his best friend's son begin the healing process.
Author: Khaled Hosseini
ISBN: 1594480001
Plot Summary: Amir led a privileged life in Afghanistan prior to the Communist revolution: he and his father lived in a spacious villa with servants, and his father was a well-respected man in his community. Amir had an unequal yet genuine friendship with Hassan, the son of his father's servant. Yet when Hassan is brutally attacked by a group of boys, Amir stands by and does nothing, and later falsely accuses his friend of stealing, causing both him and his father to leave the estate, so that he will not have to feel guilty anymore. After the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, Amir and his father have to leave the country, eventually moving to Fremont, California, where Amir meets and falls in love with a young woman from the local Afghan community. After his father's death, Amir gets a telephone call from an old family friend, asking him to come back to Afghanistan to rescue Hassan's son. In the process, Amir comes face to face with parts of his past that he would rather forget, and slowly tries to help his best friend's son begin the healing process.
The Golden Compass
Title: The Golden Compass
Author: Philip Pullman
ISBN: 0345413350
Other Books in Series: The Subtle Knife, The Amber Spyglass
Plot Summary: Lyra Belacqua, a young orphan, lives at the Oxford University of an alternate universe, one in which all people have Daemons, animal familiars with supernatural powers who are extensions of peoples' souls. While exploring Jordan College, the fictional Oxford college where she lives and her uncle works, Lyra overhears information she was not meant to know. Along with her Daemon, Pantalaimon, she decides to explore based on what she has heard, despite the danger. Her quest will ultimately lead her to explore an assassination attempt against her uncle, a mysterious entity known as Dust, intriguing and sometimes dangerous people, and a magical device that, once she learns how to use it, will lead her to adventures she never before dreamed possible.
Author: Philip Pullman
ISBN: 0345413350
Other Books in Series: The Subtle Knife, The Amber Spyglass
Plot Summary: Lyra Belacqua, a young orphan, lives at the Oxford University of an alternate universe, one in which all people have Daemons, animal familiars with supernatural powers who are extensions of peoples' souls. While exploring Jordan College, the fictional Oxford college where she lives and her uncle works, Lyra overhears information she was not meant to know. Along with her Daemon, Pantalaimon, she decides to explore based on what she has heard, despite the danger. Her quest will ultimately lead her to explore an assassination attempt against her uncle, a mysterious entity known as Dust, intriguing and sometimes dangerous people, and a magical device that, once she learns how to use it, will lead her to adventures she never before dreamed possible.
The Chocolate War
Title: The Chocolate War
Author: Robert Cormier
ISBN: B002AR3GAC (Audio Book)
Narrator: George Guidall
Plot Summary: Jerry Renault, a student at a prestigious Catholic boys' high school, has recently lost his mother. While at school, he is menaced by a secret society known as The Vigils, a group that enforces its own way at the school with the tacit approval of the administration. When the school's annual fund-raising chocolate sale comes around, Jerry decides not to participate, earning the wrath of both the Vigils and his teachers. Jerry's refusal to conform to the school's expectations escalates into an orchestrated display of brutal violence. Jerry ultimately emerges alive from this confrontation, but not without suffering both physical and emotional scars.
Author: Robert Cormier
ISBN: B002AR3GAC (Audio Book)
Narrator: George Guidall
Plot Summary: Jerry Renault, a student at a prestigious Catholic boys' high school, has recently lost his mother. While at school, he is menaced by a secret society known as The Vigils, a group that enforces its own way at the school with the tacit approval of the administration. When the school's annual fund-raising chocolate sale comes around, Jerry decides not to participate, earning the wrath of both the Vigils and his teachers. Jerry's refusal to conform to the school's expectations escalates into an orchestrated display of brutal violence. Jerry ultimately emerges alive from this confrontation, but not without suffering both physical and emotional scars.
The Complete Persepolis
Title: The Complete Persepolis
Author: Marjane Satrapi
ISBN: 0375714839
Plot Summary: The first half of the book deal's with the author's life as a young girl in pre- and post-Revolution Iran, during the Iran-Iraq War, and as a student at a time when there were many restrictions on what female students could and could not do. Her parents, initially in favor of the Revolution, become disillusioned when the result is not the socialist government they had hoped for, and eventually send Marjane to Europe, as they feel it is too dangerous for her in Iran. The second half deals with Marjane struggling to adjust to life, love and school in Europe at a time when few people truly understood what was happening in her home country. When she returns home after a disastrous romance, she finds that she too has changed, and Iran is no longer the home she remembers. She still loves her parents and they her, but ultimately departs again for Europe, this time for good.
Author: Marjane Satrapi
ISBN: 0375714839
Plot Summary: The first half of the book deal's with the author's life as a young girl in pre- and post-Revolution Iran, during the Iran-Iraq War, and as a student at a time when there were many restrictions on what female students could and could not do. Her parents, initially in favor of the Revolution, become disillusioned when the result is not the socialist government they had hoped for, and eventually send Marjane to Europe, as they feel it is too dangerous for her in Iran. The second half deals with Marjane struggling to adjust to life, love and school in Europe at a time when few people truly understood what was happening in her home country. When she returns home after a disastrous romance, she finds that she too has changed, and Iran is no longer the home she remembers. She still loves her parents and they her, but ultimately departs again for Europe, this time for good.
Does My Head Look Big in This?
Title: Does My Head Look Big in This?
Author: Randa Abdel-Fattah
ISBN: 978-0439922333
Plot Summary: Amal, a Palestinian-Australian teenage girl, decides to start wearing the hijab, the traditional Muslim head covering for women. She does so despite concerns from her immigrant parents, friction from other students at her elite private high school, and even job discrimination. Ultimately, she is able to get the other people in her life to come to terms with her decision, but not without some sacrifices and conflicts along the way.
Author: Randa Abdel-Fattah
ISBN: 978-0439922333
Plot Summary: Amal, a Palestinian-Australian teenage girl, decides to start wearing the hijab, the traditional Muslim head covering for women. She does so despite concerns from her immigrant parents, friction from other students at her elite private high school, and even job discrimination. Ultimately, she is able to get the other people in her life to come to terms with her decision, but not without some sacrifices and conflicts along the way.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)