So, most of us (if not all) chose to take this class because we liked the booklist. Moreover, we even got to contribute to it with our choices with our group project books.
This is the question that I pose to you: what is your favorite story (book) about family? Think of it this way, if you got to pick what was on the booklist, which one would you absolutely HAVE to include? Also, please tell us why you like it/ selected it. Plus, how it relates to family, either in general or to yours specifically.
I hope you have fun with this post and I can't wait to see the booklist that you guys create!
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11 comments:
One of the books I read this summer was The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks. I've always been a huge fan of his and I've read almost everything he's ever written.
The book is about a girl named Ronnie and in the beginning she's in the typical teen rebellion stage. She just graduated from high school but instead of attending Juilliard like she was supposed to she decides to not go to school at all. In the book you find out that she stopped playing the piano (which she was amazing at) because her father had introduced it to her and it was their own special thing. However, when he left she stopped.
Anyways, her mom makes her and her brother spend the summer with her father and she's basically pissed. She starts off barely talking to her dad or spending time with him. She gets into trouble and all the evidence points to her but she really didn't do it and her dad believes her regardless of the facts. At the end of the book you find out that her dad is dying from cancer and only has a few more months. By this time she's close to him again and she has a new love interest and they relate to each other through their family backgrounds even though they are completely opposite. She finds out her dad is sick and stays with him, finding out that it was her mom who had the affair and the reason for not telling the kids about his illness was "so that he could watch them live, instead of them watching him die."
Anyways it relates to family because even though one parent was absent for the majority of her life, they were able to reconnect and have a strong relationship again. Also familial obligation is a factor because no one except her dad believes her about the trouble she had gotten into.
I couldn't put this book down once I started reading it (literally). I read the entire thing in one night! So if you're looking for an amazing book, I definitely recommend this one. :)
One of my all time favorite books is Love Walked In by Marisa de los Santos. I began reading this book because I was looking for a good book to read on a road trip. I literally ran into the store, looked at the cover, decided it looked good and bought it. BEST book I have read in a long time.
The story is about Cornelia, a young professional in her mid-30s but still looks like an immature girl. She is the manager of a coffee shop and is by no stretch into the “social” scene of Philadelphia, much less the dating scene. She meets Martin, as close to fulfilling her Cary Grant fantasy man as she can get, and he brings her to a new life. They are having a great time dating and being together until suddenly Martin is forced to reveal the truth of his eleven-year-old daughter Clare. Clare is incredibly upset by her fractured family. Her mother is on the verge of going insane and Martin is very separated from Clare. Clare finds comfort in Cornelia. The bond between Clare and Cornelia grows as they find strength in each other to overcome their fears and fulfill their wants and desires. The reasons that split Martin and his daughter apart are the very things that draw Clare and Cornelia together.
I loved how this book took what a reader would think was a predictable cliché romance novel and not only added twists and turns but still ends up with the “happy family” ending with other characters in the novel you’d least expect. I also enjoyed how real the situations the characters were in. Sometimes in non-fiction, especially romance novels, it seems like everything gets to fluffy and happy and it ends up being this fantasy we wish we could live in. Love Walked In placed the characters in a lot of tough situations both morally and socially. I found myself saying “Sheesh, what would I have done?” The story is told from the point of view of both Cornelia and Clare so it becomes very easy to feel certain ways towards each character because of how personable it is.
I highly recommend this book! It is an easy read but definitely leaves you thinking.
I think one of my favorite books is one that we have read, thanks to group 1. The Kite Runner was one I had been wanting to read and as soon as they assigned it I picked it up from the library and read the whole thing in about four days. It is an incredible book!
This is a hard question for me because I've read so many good books that relate to family in some way. If I had to choose, the Harry Potter books are the first to come to mind. I've always been a Harry Potter fan since the books came out. I just love the story and the characters. It relates to family because it shows that family is not necessarily defined by blood. Harry's only living blood relatives, the Dursley's, treat him like dirt. He finds his own support system in the friends he makes at Hogwarts, and they become more of a family than his living relatives. It is also a story that shows different types of family. From the bleak family life at the Dursley's to the loving family life at the Weasley's and everything in between, it encompasses a wide array of families, and raises the question: What does family really mean?
This is not my favorite book about family. This is my favorite book about comic books and creation and love and tragedy and the American Dream and World War II and, incidentally, family.
It's "The Amazing Adventures Of Kavalier and Clay" by Michael Chabon, and I actually hope it doesn't go on the reading list, because it's pretty long and no one will thank me for it.
I like it because it's beautifully written, packed with imagery and emotion, and the story is a good one and feels real. Without giving out any spoilers, it has to do with family because of where the main character comes from, and because an unconventional family forms toward the end of the book, among other reasons.
I'm not sure how much this book has to do with family, but I would have to say Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. I absolutely love this book. I have read it countless times. I'm usually not a science fiction fan, but I just like this book sooooo much! The rest of the series are good, but not as great as this first book.
I really like this book because it's very action packed and has the science fiction vibe with most of the story happening in space away from Earth, and there's even a foreign species (Ooo aliens :P). Even though it is the science fiction genre, the book was still fairly easy to read and understand.
The book explores sibling rivalry between the main character Andrew "Ender" Wiggins and his older brother Peter, as well as the way siblings love and take care of one another with Ender and his sister Valentine. Ender's parents are a bit aloof, which adds more to the family dynamics. Ender also become a commander at his battle school, and the book explores the relationship of his platoon as a family. The book actually has a lot of "familial" aspects that are very intriguing.
Ender's Game is just such an awesome book!
One of my favorite books is No Place Like Home by Mary Higgins Clark. It is a suspense novel based around the legend of Lizzie Borden, the young girl who killed her parents with an axe. It is incredibly intriguing, and one of the books which you absolutely cannot manage to put down.
The main character is suspected to have killed her own mother in a similar way, although she did not. She leaves her home town when she is young, but as an adult she returns with her new husband and son. Her past returns with her.
The reason this book is so family related is because she has to protect her son as well as herself, and eventually she finds that she cannot trust anyone, even her husband.
It shows the obligation of a mother to protect her child, and the uncertainties of the bond between a married couple.
I absolutely love this book, and if you guys get a chance, I think you'd like it too.
Hmmmmmm....this is a difficult question for me. I've read a ton of amazing books from my literature classes in high school. At this moment, the book that comes to mind is Of Mice And Men by John Steinbeck. I read this book my freshman year of high school and it is still one of my favorites. It's the story of two men, Lenny and George, who are completely opposite. George is a small and quick thinking; while Lenny is the gentle giant with a slight mental retardation. The two are on their way to jobs on a ranch and dream of owning a ranch of their own. Lenny being so large, doesn't know his strength and ends up accidentally hurting, first small animals and later a woman. This caused a lot of trouble for him, but the basic point is that George and Lenny are in this journey together.
I think this would have been an incredible addition to the class because it perfectly encompasses the theme of friends as family. Lenny and George are not related, but they stick together no matter what because they're all each other has. One may think that because Lenny is slightly mentally retarded, George is stuck with him. However, the truth is that George needs Lenny just as much as he needs him. This book is basically amazing and I think everyone should read it!!!!
I'm probably going to sound all old school, but I'd have to say one of my favorite books about family is Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. It's such a touching story about a family of four daughters and the struggles and life lessons, joys and laughs that they experience. The sisters are so close and it always reminds me of my relationship with my own sister. I love their parents and how the girls always seek them out for guidance and advice. It's just an amazing book about a real life family and such an inspiration to me.
My favorite book is The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, from the Chronicles of Narnia. Now that I think about it, I would say that the book is very family orientated because of the bonds created by four siblings as they travel through a wardrobe into a magical land called Narnia. Essentially they must defeat the witch that makes it snowy and cold all year round. They meet many magical creatures and make many friends. They each grow individually, but they also bond as a family. The dynamics of sibling roles, and the extent to which sibling rivalry affects relationships, is apparent in every step of the way. The story itself is somewhat childish now that I think about it, but who doesn’t need a little magic and some talking animals?
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