Book Review 2-14

Today, I read this book, "JUMANJI", which has already been famous in the world as the movie in 1995.

In 1869, two boys buried big box made by wood in the ground in forest. In 1969, Alan who was a sheepish boy found the big box. The big box is a game named "JUMANJI", so he played the game with Sarah who is his girl friend but the result of the game really happened, so he was drawn into the game board.

26 years later, Judy and Peter found the game box in the attic and played it. Immediately, mosquitoes, monkeys, and lions appeared. Peter tossed dice and then Alan returned to real world. He became 38 years old. He decided to stop this nightmare to end this game with the sister. The three players continued the game and finally Alan finished first. Then, animals, jungles, and hanter returned to the game board. The next thing he knew was that young Alan was in 1969. He threw the game box into a river and then he got married with Sarah. In 1995, they saw Judy and Peter again at the Christmas Party.

I enjoyed reading this book. I want to watch the movie because I hane not watched it.

Book Reveiw 2-13

I read this book, "RAIN MAN". This story is well-known for the movie in 1988, which Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise star.

Charlie Buffman who is a second-hand car dealer went to Palm Springs with Susanna who is his girl friend. On the way to the city, he knows that his father died, so he went to Cincinnati to pay his last respects. He knows his legacy is only a car and a rose tree, at the same time, he knows Raymond who is actually his brother and who is an autistic individual is an hair to a properity, so he takes him out hospital. Thus, Charlie, Raymond, and Susanna go to Los Angels.

One day, Charlie decides to look after Raymond to get the half of his legacy. Susanna knows that and walks out on him. One night, they stay at a motel and then he finds Raymond was "Rain man" who only warmed his heart, so he changes his mind and he decides to be real gurdian for Raymond. Therefore, he have a strong bond with him. However, he loses a judgement in the court.

I like this story and I have not watched this movie, so I want to watch the movie.

Book Review 2-12

I read "Romeo and Juliet"

I was impressed by the tragedy about Romeo and Juliet. All in all, I think that the most impressed thing is the tragedy of their love but I noticed something odd about “Romeo and Juliet” so I will mention Contradiction about it.
Of course, I think “Romeo and Juliet” is immortal literary work but characters in the story should deliberate more.
First, I think about Romeo. He should reflect common sense. If he was found by the Capulet people in the dance party, the friction between the two families was worse and worse.
Second, I look at Juliet. Because she is a Christian (she was wedding ceremony in a church), she cannot divorce Romeo simply so she had to say to her father that she got double married when she was ordered by him.
Third, I write about Father Laurence. He should ponder some good ideas more than giving dangerous drags. If he didn’t give the drags, they were not dead.
Last, I have a think about the ending of this story. Both families could make up the conflict for hundreds of years without their death if the conflict was able to be solved only their death.

That is why I think Romeo and Juliet must reflect more. If they did so and if they kept their wits about them, this tragedy didn’t cause. Eventually, Romeo and Juliet were too young.

Book Review 2-11

I read this book, "Forrest Gump".

Forrest Gump was raised by his mother and was a mentally-challenged child. When he entered at elementary school, he saw Jenny who offered her seat to him and she became his only friend.

One day, when he was bullied by classmates, he could ran all the way to the end of the world. He was able to enter at university as an American Football player because he was able to run fast. He was selected to All-American so he received encouragement by President Kennedy. Five years later, he went to Vietnam War. His platoon was attacked by the enemy with aggravation of the war situation. He helped Bubba who was a best friend and Lt. Dan Tailor who was the platoon commander, but Bubba was dead and Dan who lost both his foot blamed Forrest on his help. After that, he saw Jenny again but she left him. In the hospital, he played table tennis and developed his skill, so he took part in the World Championship. Also, he and John Lennon was paired together in TV so that he achieved a popular status. Then, he bought a fishing boat. This thing was a promise with Bubba. He got good catch, so he became rich. After that, his mother's death made him return to his home and then he met Jenny again. She also loved him but she left again.

He had run for three years. He became a demigod and a hero. He visited Jenny after he received and read a letter. He found his son there and Jenny named the little boy "Forrest". After that, he got married with her but she died soon.

I enjoyed reading this book but sometimes I did not understand Forrest.

Book Review 2-10

I read this book, "THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS".

Cora was going to see his father who is a front-line colonel with his sister and Heyward who is a major fall in love with Cora, who can not find the answer to his curtship. Then, Magua who is an Indian and whose wife and children was killed by Colonel Munro attacked them. When Cora was trained his gun on, Chingachock, his sons, Uncas, and Hawkeye save her.
Cora and Howkeye loves each other, but Heyward who was torn by jealousy charge Hokeye with treason and inprison him. Colonel Munro surrenders to the French troops and then the Huron attacked the army. In the chaos of the war, Howkeye saves Cora and Uncas saves Alice. However, Cora and Alice were caught by the Huron. Howkeye asks them to save Cora and Alice. The cheiftain say that we tear Cora limb from limb and that we force Alice to get married with Magua. Heyward substitutes himself for her so Howkeye and Cora go free. However, Uncas tries to help Alice but he was killed so Alice suicides then. Irate Chingachock fights against the Mohicans and he defeats Magua. That is why Howkeye becomes "the last of the Mohicans" and he gets married with Cora.

I didn't understand why this story moves people. I didn't enjoy reading this book.

Book review 2-09

I read this book, "APOLLO 13". This story is also an American film in 1995 which is based on a true story.

Jim Lovell who is an experienced astronaut will board APOLLO 14 but the project changes, so he boards APOLLO 13 on very short notice. He chooses his team member but he is informed that one of them, Ken, may be at risk for German measles. Jim makes the decission to bamp Ken off the flight and replace him with Jack.
On 14th April, APOLLO 13 takes off. Immidiately after the launch, an explosion occurs. As the result, oxygen leak from the oxygen tank and developed power of fuel buttery get dropping. Experts predict that it is hopless situation but Gene who is the flight directer tries to return the crews. On the Earth, Ken simulates how to return to Earth. In the APOLLO 13 they sustain hope that they return to Earth. Then, they decide to penetrate the atmosphere. After the atmosphere entry, they can not communicate for about 3 minutes. However, it already takes 3 minutes after the atmosphere entry. Then, they can communicate. They return to Earth safely.

I enjoyed this book. I like this story.

Book Review 2-08

I read this book, "MR BEAN". Mr. Bean is famous as a strange and funny character around the world. "MR BEAN" was a film based on the TV series in 1997.

Mr. Bean is a curator in an art museum, The National Gallery. He is sent with a painting, "Whistler's Mother" to America as an authority of the painting but what he is the authority is a lie. He blows up a storm at the airport in America. After that, he decides to stay in David's home but he breaks "Whistler's Mother". He sneeze in front of the painting so the part of the painting is broken. Thus, he juggles with a poster of the picture and exhibit it.

On the day of the exhibition, the poster as "Whistler's Mother" doesn't come to light and Mr. Bean's speech surprisingly touches the hearts of the people. Then, he knows Jennifer who is a daughter of David was involved in a traffic accident. Mr. Bean brings her back to life by coincident.

At the last, he returns to England. He gets into bed. Before he went to bed, he looked up at the wall opposite his bed and smiled. There is the famous painting with the funny face.

When I read this book, I was happy. I thought Mr. Bean is so interesting, so I want to watch the new movie, "Mr. Bean's Holiday".

Book Review 2-07

I read "the JUNGLE BOOK".

A family of wolves takes a little boy, Mowgli, into their home in the jungle. Mowgli learns and plays with the other cubs. In the jungle, we can see so many animals such as Baloo which is a sloth bear, Bagheera which is a black panther, and so on. The two animals, Baloo and Bagheera, teach Mowgli the law of jungle because he becomes the king of the jungle.

Thus, Mowgli overcomes difficulties to become the king of the jungle, and then, he fights Shere Khan which is his long time enemy, so he won.

I had read this story in my childhood, but this story is difficult from the story I read. However, I enjoyed reading this book.

Book Review 2-06

I read "Of mice and men". John Steinbeck who is a famous writer wrote this story in 1937.

In Depression era, George who is clever and knowing and Lennie who is mentally deficient and too strong are wandering from one farm to other farms. They hope one day to fulfill their shared dream of settling down on their own piece of land.

George and Lennie arrived at a ranch. They meet some members like them and work harmoniously with colleagues. When they get used to their work, Candy who is one of their colleagues and who is the oldest person in their group offers to pitch in with George and Lennie so they can buy the farm by the end of the month. They feel their heart heap but Curley who is a son of the owner of the farm hates them. One night, Curley does violence to Lennie so Lennie inflicts serious physical injuly on him accidently. Slim who is their leader help them through this difficult time. On Sunday, Lennie is disconsolate about the death of puppy and then the young and attractive wife of Curley came there. He accidently kills her. He is surprised and run away from the farm. George and Candy unearth the body and understand the situation so they try to settle the problem but Curley knows that. Therefore, Curley decides to kill him and he pursues Lennie with guns. George finds Lennie before Curley does. Then, he shoots Lennie.

I thought what a sad story this is.

Book Review 2-05

I read this book, "TITANIC!". This story is well-known for being made into movie in 1997, which was an American romantic movie and which Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet star in. Also, this movie win eleven academy awards, which have ever been unbreakable, and is the highest grossing film.

In 1996, treasure hunter Brock Lovett was salvaging TITANIC to find a necklace set with a valuable blue diamond called the "Heart of the Ocean". He found a picture of a young woman wearing the "Heart of the Ocean" and the date was the TITANIC sank. An old man, Rose Dawson Calvert who was one houndred years old watched the scene on TV so she came to see him with Lizzy who was her grand children. Rose was one of the survivers and she began to talk about the tragic voyage.

In 1912 Jack Dawson who was aspiring artist won a bet and got the ticket so he got on the third-class cabin before the TITANIC left. Rose who was seventeen years old at that time and who was better class of people got on the TITANIC with Cal, Ruth and Molly. Cal was her fiance, Ruth was her mother, who forced her to be engaged to Cal and Molly was a rich woman. Rose wanted to refuse getting married to him so she decided to suicide and she tried to jump off the bow of the ship but Jack saved her. Jack was invited to the first-class party and he knew upper-class life but at the same time he fell in love with her. After that, he drew the picture of her wearing the valuable blue diamond. Cal knew that and got jealous of Jack so he made a false charge against him and he kept him imprisoned in a cabin. At the midnight, the TITANIC collided with an iceberg and began to swamp slowly. Therefore, the crews launched lifeboats but the ship didn't have enough the boats. Rose helped Jack in priority to get on the boats. They were waiting rescue holding on the wrecks in the freezing sea. Rose was saved but Jack died.

I had watched this story in theater so I was not so moved.

Book Review 2-04

I read this book, Robin Hood. This story is well known all over the world. This story is summarized as follows.

Robin Hood was clever, strong, and brave. He loved advenrure, and he was the best fighter in England. He took money from rich people and gave it to the poor people. The greedy Sheriff of Nottingham hated Robin, and the beautiful Lady Marian lobed him.

This story is the most famous Robin Hood stories. Many countries have stories about brave and clever adventures, but is Robin Hood only a story? Perhaps he really did live, and perhaps not. There was a King Richard, who was king from 1189 to 1199. He left England and fought in Jerusalem. When he was away, Prince John was the most important man in England, and then, John was the next king when Richard died.

The story said that Robin Hood lived with his men in Sherwood Forest, near the town of Nottingham. Sherwood Forest and Nottingham were about 200 kilometres north of London. Many people there said that Robin Hood really lived in the forest.

I knew this story, but I forgot most of the story, so I remembered it when I read this. Of course, it is interesting but this story is for children, I think.

Book Review 2-03

I read Moby Dick, which was written by Herman Melville. This book is rated as the best of literature about ocean.

Main characters are Captain Ahab who was wearing a prosthetic limb, Starbuck who was a chief mate, Ishmael who was a narrator, Queequeg was a whaler. They came aboard "the Pequod" which is their ship and followed on white whale, which they said some call "Moby Dick" over the years. They got rid of a multitude of problems, so the journey came to its dramatic and tragic end when the Pequod, sailing despite dark portents, sights Moby Dick. For three long days the ship battled the white whale. Moby Dick shattered the Pequod’s hunting boats and then charged the ship itself, finally sinking it. Ahab and all the crew drown except Ishmael, who used the coffin built for Queequeg as a buoy. By pure luck, the still-searching Rachel sailed by and rescued Ishmael.

It was a adventure story I thought. It was interesting but a little boring for me.

Book Review 2-02

I read A Christmas Carol. This book is well known as a work written by Charles Dickens and as "little Christmas book". The story was instantly successful, selling over six thousand copies in one week and, although originally written as a potboiler to enable Dickens to pay off a debt, the tale has become one of the most popular and enduring Christmas stories of all time.

A main character in this story is Mr. Ebenezer Scrooge who was an elderly merchant, was as cool as ice, and was as hard as nails. He underwent a profound experience of redemption over the course of one evening and was a money-charger who had devoted his life to the accumulation of wealth, so his name is "Scrooge". "Scrooge" means a person who is very unwilling to spend money. He held anything other than money in contempt, including friendship, love, and the Christmas season.

The story begins by establishing that Jacob Marley who was dead. That day was Christmas Eve. Scrooge and his clerk Bob Cratchit are at work in the counting house with Cratchit stationed in the poorly heated "tank", who was a victim of his employer's stinginess.

Three ghosts who were "the first of spirits", "the second of spirits", and "the last of spirits" visited Mr. Scrooge. I think we can consider "the first of spirits" as "the past ghost", "the second of spirits" as "the present ghost", and "the last of spirits" as "the future ghost".
"The past ghost" brought him back to his childhood days. In the past, he was lonely but had a dream and was naive, so he wasn't a money-charger and didn't have love of possession.
"The present ghost" led him various place in London and he was poor but he had a happy home. Then, the ghost showed him Cratchit's house and he knew Tim, a Cratchit's son was sick and wasn't able to live long. Mr. Scrooge went all over the world with "the present ghost", so he was tired and slept. The next day, he saw "the future ghost" who extended his arm. He heard a person of bad reputation dead from the ghost, but he didn't know who the person is.
After that, he saw Tim died and his own name on an abandoned grave. Then, he was borne away by an impulse. At the end, Mr. Scrooge knew that he could change his future.

I like this story because this book taught us being able to change the future.

Book Review 2-01

I decided to read this, The Secret Garden, as the first book in Autumn semester.
The Secret Garden is famous as a novel written by Frances Hodgson Burnett and is considered a classic of children's literature now.

Mary Lennox was a sickly, sour-faced little girl who was born in India to wealthy British parents, who was father who was very busy with work and didn’t come home, and was mother, who was very beautiful, spent all her time going to parties, so an Indian woman, Kamala, was paid to take care of the little girl. She was always giving orders to Kamala, who had to obey. She never thought of other people, but only of herself. In fact, she was a very selfish, disagreeable, bad tempered little girl, who was lonely.

One very hot morning, something strange was happening when Mary woke up. In that day, cholera epidemic made her an orphan, that is, her parents passed away suddenly and Indian servants ran off, so no one was in her house and thought of Mary. She hid in her bedroom an sometimes cried and sometimes slept. When she woke up the next day, the house was silent. Then, men were in her room and they were very sad about this tragedy. After that, they found Mary. At first, she was taken to an English family who had known her parents but she hated their untidy house and noisy children, and preferred playing by herself in the garden. One day, she was sent to an isolated country house which her uncle lived in in Yorkshire, in the north of England. Her uncle, Mr. Archibald craven, was also bad tempered, had no friends, got a crook back, and was horrid.

While Mary lived a lonely life in Mr. Craven's house, she found out that it is happy to play in the garden and to relate bards. In the garden, she found another garden surrounded wall. Another garden was closed by Mr. Craven because an incident happened. Moreover, her deceased aunt, Mrs. Craven loved another garden. Mary searched about the entrance of the garden because she cared about trees and flowers in the garden. Then, she finally found the key of the entrance and entered there. She felt the garden was like alive. She met Dickon and decided to revive the garden as of old with him secretly. They found being happy to do that. Also she met Colin, who was her cousin. He was sickly in his bones, so he had never been to outside and he didn't have his parent's love like her.

In the end, Mary, Dickon, and Colin seized back childlike emotion

I think this book is cheerful for readers when we feel some anxiety such as living and loving.

Book Review 1-11

Today, I read "MEN IN BLACK", which is one of famous movies with Tommy Lee Jones as 'Kay', Will Smith as 'Jay' and Linda Fiorentino as the beautiful Dr Laurel Weaver. Have you watched this movie? If you have not watched it, please check it out.

Kay and Jay are "Men in Black(MIB)". They have a very important job. They have to find and watch all the aliens in the world, but now there is a Bug in New York.

Kay and Jay have to find the Bug before the bug finds the Third Galaxy. The Bug wants to use the Third Galaxy to start the fighting between the Baltians and the Arquillians again. That will be very dangerous for everybody. In the end, they can clean up the Bug and Laurel becomes the member of Men In Black, so she is called "Elle".

In this story, there are a lot of technologies in the near future which can erase memories and which are various special guns. I like them so I think this story is interesting.

This is a wiki page.

http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%A1%E3%83%B3%E3%83%BB%E3%82%A4%E3%83%B3%E3%83%BB%E3%83%96%E3%83%A9%E3%83%83%E3%82%AF_%28%E6%98%A0%E7%94%BB%29

Book Review1-10

My tenth book review is "ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN". We students who take A Brief History of American Literature class second periods on Monday knew this story because we watched the movie in the class, so I also know most of this story.
That is why I talk about the plot.

Huckleberry Finn who called "Huck" by his friends lived with the Widow Douglas in St. Petersburg, Missouri. His best friends are Tom Sawyer and the Widow's black slave, Jim. (In the movie, Tom didn't come on the story.) Huck and Jim traveled down the Mississippi river from St. Petersburg to Cairo in which it was free. On the river, they have a lot of adventures and met a lot of interesting characters.
Huck and Jim often traveled at night because Jim was a runaway slave. Around the time, they were caught if they ran away, so Huck and Jim have to be careful.
Tom Sawyer also loved adventures. Huck liked Tom because he was very smart and he always had a lot of good ideas, but these ideas usually got the boys into trouble.
In this story, Huck thought what real justice is. He wrestled with his conscience over again and again.

I was impressed Jim's lines. He said that not justice everyone believed was real justice. I agreed his opinion. In this world, things I believed are actually untruth.

Here is a wiki page.

Book review 1-09

The book which I chose was "ALICE'S ADVENTURES in WONDERLAND" because this story is very famous and I knew the plot of the story but I forgot most of it, so I want to know this story and I want to read this book. I think most of people know this story, but anyway, I talk about the outline.

A girl named Alice was bored while on a picnic with her older sister, who was reading a book which had no pictures or conversations in it. Alice was interest in a passing white rabbit that was dressed in a waistcoat and he said he would be too late. She followed the rabbit down a rabbit hole, then she found herself that she fail down into a dreamlike world. As she continued to try to follow the rabbit, she had several adventures. She grew to great big size and then got smaller. She met a group of small animals swimming in a sea of her own tears, and got stuck in the rabbit's house when she enlarged herself again. After meeting the Duchess, she carried away a baby which changed into a pig, and then met the Cheshire cat, which disappears, leaving only its smile behind. She joined the Mad Hatter and the March Hare at a never-ending tea party. Then, she went to the seashore and met a Gryphon and a Mock Turtle. Finally she attended the trial of the Knave of Hearts, who has been accused of stealing tarts. Just as Alice refused the Queen of the hearts. Eventually, the dream ended and Alice woke up at the picnic with her sister.

I think "ALICE'S ADVENTURES in WONDERLAND" is a masterpiece of fantasy and full of dreams. Moreover, this story is a famous fantasy story as above, so this story has an impact on various works such as literature, paintings, comic books, animations, movies, TV, and music.

Here is a wiki page.

Book Review 1-08

Today, the book which I chose is "RETURN TI EARTH". The story is as follow.

Some people are have a telepathy, just a little. They know what another person, perhaps a brother or a sister, is thinking. If you know someone really well, you sometimes know what they will say before they say it, but are they sure it's all right? To know 'everything' that other people are thinking and feeling, and to know their thoughts that are secrets in their minds in every minute, every hour, and day after day. To know everything is also that you can not refuse.
One day, Harl traveled through the time and space to a distant planet. He returned to Earth after many long years away. Ellen who was Harl's girlfriend and a scientist wasn't interested in space travel, because she wanted to change life on Earth to do something very new, very exciting, and very different and she believed her experience will success. Thus, Harl said goodbye to Ellen and went traveling space.
When Harl went back to Earth, environment on Earth changed drastically, so the world was a very different place. In the world, some of people grew to be adults, but other people were all right when they were young children. However, they began to die like flies, one after the other when they were about ten or eleven years old, because human have got bad minds, so they looked at themselves deep down inside. It was not comfortable to think about it. They hid from their true selves and when they spoke, they didn't always say what they thought or felt, so they also hid from other people too.

That is why I think 'telepathy' is so terrible and I don't want to have the ability. How would you feel this story? Do you want 'telepathy'? Is the 'telepathy' really great? As for me, I answered 'NO'. How about you?

Book Review 1-07

I read this book, "JAWS". This story is very famous as a very exciting film which Steven Spielberg made and the film made him world-famous. Most of people went to see the film and cried out in the cinema because they were so afraid.

Amity is a quiet town near New York. One night a young woman went for a swim in the sea, but she didn't come back. In the next morning, the police found her dead on the beach. Brody who is a good police man thought there was a shark near Amity, so he tried to close the beaches, but business people in the beach didn't listen to him because the only way to live is to sell something to eat or to drink and so on. However, another victim was found, so Brody, Hooper, and Quint went to kill great white shark.

Eventually, only Brody was able to survive and killed the shark.

I was not feel fear when I finished reading this book because I think the movie is more interesting and more powerful than the book, of course.

Here is a wiki page.

Book Review 1-06

Today, I read this book, "SHERLOCK HOLMES short stories" because I'm interested in the stories of Sherlock Holmes. There are three short stories in this book, for example, THE SPECKLED BAND, A SCANDALIN BOHEMIA, and THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS. In this occasion, I will write about THE SPECKLED BAND.

One morning, a young woman, Helen Stoner, came to see Holmes and she asked him to solve a case which is that her younger sister died 2 years ago. When her sister died, she was only thirty and her hair was already grey. Now Helen's hair is just like her hair, so she thought that she was also died because her hair turned grey. they had a stepfather and his room is next to her sister's room. she said her sister heard strange noises such as a whistle and a minute later the sound of falling metal from his room when her sister died.
Mr. Holmes decided to help her, so he went to her house and investigated the case staying overnight there. There were a lot of wild animals and the gypsies. He searched her sister's room and he found clues to solve the case. these were the bell-rope and the air-vent.
He said that the criminal was a snake. The snake came through the air-vent and down the bell-rope, and on to the bed, so the snake bit and killed her.
However, the real criminal was their stepfather because he masterminded the snake, so the sound of a whistle and falling metal to order the snake.

I was surprised that their stepfather was the criminal, so I enjoyed reading this book.