Wednesday, April 22, 2009
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Content:
ISA Book Week Special
+All books are divisible into two classes, the books of the hour, and the books of all time. – John Ruskin
What’s Happening in Book Week Wednesday – Author Visits Award winning authors – Jenny Valentine and Aidan Chambers visit ISA
Thursday 11am - DEAR
- aliquam.
Literally the whole school Drops Everything And Reads for 30 minutes – relax and enjoy!
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Letter from our very own librarian, Donna Saxby
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The Twilight Saga
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Book Review Corner
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Interview With John FGreen
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Books Turned Movies
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Short Story: Free Falling by Chantal Doran
Friday - Dress Up Day As you may know on Friday you have to opportunity to dress up as your favourite book character. If you haven’t sorted your costume out yet, maybe take inspiration from a movie that was made from a book (use IMDB.com or Wikipedia for pictures) Remember the best costume in each homeroom gets a E25 prize!
more on
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Bare News Special 23.4.09 And throughout the week...
Blind Date Book Do you dare read a book you haven’t seen first? Could be a brief fling or lasting relationship!
Book Forum New on the library website - the online place for ISA to talk about books. It’s yours to use, share what you love to read with others, find new great reads!
Book Swap Time for someone else to love your book – bring a book to swap for another! Lots of swaps available for you to choose
Don’t Read? Do Read? Read This! Some people say they don’t read. They are wrong. We read all the time. Whether it is a computer screen, a text message, Facebook post or a novel. Reading is key to how we communicate as humans and show how society has developed in the way it has.
like to live in the past? Novels transport you into another
neurological links and helps in all subjects, not just studying literature.
person’s head, another place,
A book can change your life forever
another time. Reading a story gives
or just transport you to another place
you an emotional connection that no
for a few minutes. If you don’t like a
other media can provide.
book, change it to another, there is
In our daily lives we can only see the
bound to be something just right for
world through our own eyes and often forget to think about how others
No two people have the same taste in
However, what we also gain from
feel or how our actions impact on
books and no two people have the
reading fiction in particular, as John
them.
same reaction to a book, (life would be very dull if we did).
Green said during his recent visit to ISA, is empathy.
You will notice that people who are
It is all very personal and very
well read engage more in interesting
special.
How else can you gain understanding
conversations, not only because they
of how other people are feeling,
are knowledgeable, but also because
think about how you would cope in a
they are better at empathy.
Oh and it is great fun too. Donna Saxby, US library
difficult situation, imagine what might happen in the future or what it was
Reading also helps in your school work, your brain develops stronger
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Bare News Special 23.4.09
The Twilight Saga Extract from vanityfair.com By James Walcott Isabella Swan—everybody calls her Bella—,
complement his perfect, ultra-white skin,
a teenage child of divorce willingly moves in
Edward’s immaculate physique resembling
with her father who lives in the rainy
an ice statue carved out of frozen milk by
northwest Washington State, ‘where gray-
Michelangelo and irradiated with
green light and damp make it hard to tell
moonlight, putting nature itself in the
the people from the mushrooms. The first
shade: “the meadow, so spectacular to me
and most akward day of attending a new
at first, paled next to his magnificence.” His
high school Bella discovers a clique
immortal features adds a vial of pure
occupying a corner table in the cafeteria.
mystique for Bella, she is infatuated by him.
“[Their faces, so different, so similar, were
Curious to unravel the mystery that he
all devastatingly, inhumanly beautiful. They
holds so secret within him. Beneath the
were faces you never expected to see exept
surface Edward offers a variety of other
perhaps on the airbrushed pages of a
great qualities, an ace driver and aerial
fashion magazine.” Perhaps the most
gymnast, he also excels as a composer and
beautiful of the bunch (ALL girls would
pianist, emo’s answer to Chopin. “And then
most likely agree with Bella’s opinion) is
his fingers flowed swiftly across the ivory,
Edward, whom Bella falls in love with. With
and the room was filled with a composition
his high cheekbones he holds a princly
so complex, so luxuriant, it was impossible
prime, whose irisis change color according
to believe only one set of hands played.” No
to his hunger level… (“Anger flashed in his tawny eyes.”) His perfect set of white teeth
(Continued) 3
Bare News Special 23.4.09 portrait in fine-fingered elegance
bloodsucker series that has helped fill the
Check out this website for more info:
(“Finished with the last bite of lasagna, I
yearning void left by the boarding up of
lifted a glass and chugged the remains of
J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter wizard shop.
my milk”), Bella rues the disparity between
Commercially, “The Twilight Saga” has
http://www.teen vogue.com/indu stry/2008/11/co mplete-twilightmovie-guide
his spectral aura and her clay form. “He
given book publishing a blood
looked like a god. I looked very average,
transfusion, with sales topping seven
even for a human, almost shamefully
million copies worldwide; it’s also a
plain.” Yet Edward is captivated by Bella’s
global sensation, translated into 20
heavenly scent (“You smell so good in the
languages. The physical properties of the
rain”) and craves her company (“I crave
books themselves may explain their
your company”), his “cold, marble lips”
popularity. They're thick, chunky,
intended only for her hot little pucker…
promising a fat read — you don’t so much
“The Twilight Saga,” a blockbuster
Book Review Corner…
curl up with them as gulp them down.
THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS - sodales. DOUGLAS KENNEDY By Carmen de Baets I have been walking around school with this book for about a week as if attached to it, which some of you might’ve noticed… and, if you immediately assume that this book is linked with the movie that stars Will Smith, you are mistaken. Combining history, philosophy and love, well known American writer Douglas Kennedy has invented the perfect recipe for an ideal book. The beautiful way of conveying a narrative has enabled me to identify and lose myself in each character thus, I became addicted. The plot line closely follows the Smythe siblings, politically left leaning Eric and the apolitical Sara who are living in Manhattan, New York. More specifically, we follow Sara’s view on each event that occurs through which we are presented with questions that we probably ask ourselves everyday of our lives and have no answer to but still vent about. The events set in the dynamic post war optimism shape the siblings and create a close knit bond because from the moment Jack Malone walks into Eric Smythe’s party nothing was ever the same again…
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Bare News Special 23.4.09
Watchmen by Alan Moore Paul Piekoszewski
Watchmen is a graphic novel, written by Alan Moore and illustrated by David Gibbon. The novel was originally published as a series of comics between September of 1986, and October of 1987. Almost immediately, the film rights to the series were purchased, and for the past 20 years various studios have been trying to create film adaptations of the novel, but none succeeding until recently. The main reason for this is that Watchmen, aside from being quite lengthy, is also strangely complicated, told through flashbacks and even through the eyes of a man who literally doesn’t see chronology the way we do. I first read the novel 2 years ago, and seeing the film rekindled my love for the book, prompting me to read it a 2nd and 3rd in the past 2 weeks. The story revolves around a group of superheroes in an alternate reality set in 1985, where the USA won the Vietnam War, Richard Nixon has amended the constitution to allow him to serve multiple terms as President, and the world is on the brink of nuclear war between the USA and the USSR. Costumed heroes have been around since the 1940s, until 1977 when the government made vigilantism illegal, forcing all of the superheroes to retire. The story begins when one of these heroes, now working for the government, is murdered in his apartment. Rorschach, his psychopathic and ruthless former teammate decides to investigate. The story itself is an examination into the human condition, with the depth and focus one would expect to be written by a professor of psychology. It cleverly parallels storylines and seemingly random events happening as the main characters pass by with the main storyline, showing how the apparently ‘super’ heroes have always been normal people, who are just as scared as we are. The character of Rorschach, though given an equal amount of focus throughout the story, is perhaps the most interesting, portrayed as a merciless lunatic, even though he has the noblest intentions in everything he does. Possibly just as interesting is the Rorschach is portrayed character Dr. Manhattan. Victim to a scientific accident in the 1950s, he has been converted into a superhuman, able to manipulate matter in its as a merciless lunatic. smallest form, able to convert oxygen into pure gold. He creates one of the most interesting dynamics in the novel; of all the heroes he is the only one who actually has supernatural powers, which causes most of the other heroes to feel almost redundant. Rather than examine the concept of ‘the superhero’ through conventional means, Watchmen chooses to look at superheroes as human, above all else. It challenges the reader to sympathize with the characters, even though they appear to be beyond the conventions of what we would call normal. Using the medium of comics, Alan Moore has created a world of such complexity and depth, that one would find it hard to disagree with the suggestion that Watchmen is quite possibly the most revolutionary work of literature and pop culture of recent times, more than capable of holding its own against even the most profound of prose and poetry written in the past 100 years.
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Bare News Special 23.4.09
The Polaroid Book By Mariella Verkerk Polaroid made “instant photography” possible for the average person. The Polaroid Book is published by ‘TASHEN’ who believe that art books should not be expensive, so can be available to anyone. This has made most of their books the most expensive to publish, peaking at $300,000 for SUMO, but it’s very convenient for us students, because I got The Polaroid Book for €6 on Amazon (this is also because they are celebrating their 25th anniversary!) Though digital photography has taken over, there is nostalgia for the Polaroid. I was sceptical of Polaroid, thinking it was overrated, and I think the way people use them now (just because it’s on a Polaroid it’s suddenly ‘cool’) defeats the purpose of them. This book holds the most creative Polaroid photography, shows its true potential and goes beyond limits that I imagined. I was told that when Polaroid was advertising its self, they would give cameras to artists, but they would have to give their best pictures to the archive. Barbara Hitchcock, the director of the book was allowed to select the images in this book from this same Polaroid archive, so the pictures subjects and dates range drastically. 320 pages, all beautifully printed, taken by stars, artists and owners of a Polaroid with an imaginative eye. There is the history of the cameras as well as information about each Polaroid camera starting from the first made in 1954 to the modern one we use now, first made in 1978. I you will get more out than you give in, with this book; it is a must to add to your collection! If you are a photography wiz, or have a Polaroid camera of your own, It would be a waste NOT to get it…because it’s just brilliant. Hitchcock, Barbara. The Polaroid Book. TASCHEN GmbH, Köln. 2008.
Observer: “Brick lane has everything, richly complex characters, a gripping story and it’s funny too”
''Sometime when people see a beautiful thing they want to destroy it. The thing makes them feel ugly so they act ugly.''
To look at more TASHEN books for a low price, go to www.taschen.com to TASCHEN 25.
Brick Lane by Monica Ali Nishita Tewarie Brick Lane is about a girl called Nazneen and at the age of 18 she is forced to move to London and marry a man 20 years older than her. Arriving in one of the busiest cities of the world and coming from a little town in Bangladesh she is confronted by many cultural differences. Her 20 year old partner fails to be successful and gets mentally weak allowing Nazneen to fall in love with the man of her dreams. Love and having an affair become a big issue around Nazneen’s life. As the novel progresses she grows up and learns what and who matter to her. Since I have not read the book yet, I chose to look for some reviews on the internet. The New York Times and The Guardian both critically analyzed the style of Monica Ali. The Guardian said that the characters were dramatized and the ending was too fictional for the characters presented. However, it seems to score points on the way the novel is written. The Guardian: “Although Ali is dealing with such large themes, her tone remains deceptively light, and her comic touch saves her from any melodrama or soupiness.” I think especially girls will like to read Brick Lane over the summer, it seems serious but leaves room for some humor. After reading the reviews and the many compliments towards the development of Nazneen, how she matured and learned how to cope with the struggles in her love life, I think this novel will be appreciated by many.
Bare News Special 23.4.09
Books into Movies Sometimes great books are made into great movies. Sometimes great books are made into terrible movies. Sometimes terrible books are made into great movies.
Did you know these were originally books? Have you seen any of these movies? Which was better? If you’re really smart maybe you can name some of the authors!
Whatever you think about movie adaptations, there are literally hundreds of them. Here’s a short list below.
American Psycho About a Boy Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging The Assassination of Jesse James by the coward Robert Ford Atonement Blade Runner Blood and Chocolate The Bourne Ultimatum Boy in the Striped Pyjamas Bridget Jones Diary Brokeback Mountain Casino Royale Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Charlie Wilson’s War Charlotte Gray Chocolat Clockwork Orange Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen Coraline Curious Case of Benjamin Button Da Vinci Code December Boys The Devil Wears Prada Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood Ella Enchanted Empire of the Sun English Patient Eragon Everything is Illuminated Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas Fever Pitch Fight Club French Lieutenants Woman Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Café Girl, Interrupted Hannibal Rising
Harry Potter Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Holes Hoot Horse Whisperer House of Spirits Howard’s End I am Legend Into the Wild Jurassic Park The Kite Runner L.A. Confidential Like Water for Chocolate Lord of the Rings Matilda Memoirs of a Geisha The Other Boleyn Girl Naked Lunch The Outsiders Passage to India Perfume Princess Diaries Remains of the Day A Scanner Darkly The Shining Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants Stormbreaker Twilight V for Vendetta Wuthering Heights
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John Green Interview by Andrew Mazza
Bare News Special 23.4.09
1) You attended Kenyon College, majoring in English and Islamic Studies. How was your college experience, looking back as a matured, 31 year old, adult? I have to say that I don't feel terribly matured, but I do probably think of college differently than I did when I was attending it. (For one thing, I wish I'd taken better notes in my classes, because it turned out that I use a lot of what I learned, about books and people and history, in my books.) I loved Kenyon, and I had many wonderful professors there who really did alter the course of my life. It was at Kenyon that it first occurred to me that school was not some obstacle to be hurdled, but rather an opportunity. 2) As many young writers and artists you are very fond of blogging your ideas. What is your opinion of this global sweeping of social websites such as face book and twitter? Well, social web sites are what you make of them. You can utilize them to hurt people or to gossip ceaselessly. But you can also use them to build stronger and deeper relationships with people. I'm not sure that social networking can sustain us in the way that, say, our everyday real-life relationships can. But I think facebook and twitter and YouTube and blogging can be used for all kinds of interesting things. As an example, the video blog project I started with my brother (http://www.youtube.com/vlogbrothers) has raised tens of thousands of dollars for poor, mostly female entrepreneurs all over the world. We know that this money is working, because the site we use--www.kiva.org--allows us to know the people to whom we've loaned money, and allows us to see their business grow and succeed. Another example: Through YouTube, we've raised about ten thousand dollars to build a series of pond sand filters in Bangladesh that allow villages to have clean water and drastically cut the incidence of water-borne diseases like cholera. This isn't particularly extraordinary--development work is being done by lots of different organizations. What's unusual about the way we do it is that because YouTube has such good video capabilities, we're able to get to know the people in these villages as real human beings--not just tragic blackand-white photographs. 3) Looking for Alaska was quite controversial, as many parents thought it was inappropriate for their teenage children to be reading a novel that has drugs and alcohol, clearly present throughout the entirety of the story. How would you respond to such comments? Well, in the US at least, almost all of the concern was not about the drugs and alcohol, but about the sex and to a lesser extent profanity. (It seems to me that binge drinking is far more dangerous than swearing, but you wouldn't know it to read the challenges to my books.) But whether it's drugs or alcohol or sexuality or obscene language or whatever, my response is the same: Good novels are not in the business of reflecting the world as it ought to be; they're in the business of reflecting the world as it is. Good novels tell the truth. I credit my readers with intelligence and with the ability to read critically, and I won't apologize for doing so. (In fact, I know that teens read critically: After all, when they read "Animal Farm," they don't run out to hog farms to kill the pigs before they become autocrats.) I think that "Looking for Alaska" is rather old-fashioned in its morality. It's a book about the universality of forgiveness, and the responsibilities we have to each other in a world where suffering in unequally distributed. It's not pornographic.
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Bare News Special 23.4.09 4) Moving on to your second novel, An Abundance of Katherines. A story of finding oneself through what some say is a sort of Odyssey, fighting heartbreak for example. How would you, a man that has gone through some experiences that some may have not, give advice to anyone that has gone through heartbreak? Well, there's no easy way to navigate a broken heart. These things hurt because they mattered; it hurts because it was real, and anyone who tries to diminish or minimize your pain is wrong to do so. But what Colin finds in "Katherines," and what I have found in my own life, is that a couple always shares the responsibility for the loss. Just because you got dumped doesn't mean you're merely a victim. 5) Your third novel is called Paper Towns. As it was released only last year, could you give a brief overview of the book? Possibly a comment on the inspiration that led to writing the novel? Paper Towns is about a guy named Quentin, who has lived next door to Margo Roth Spiegelman his entire life. Margo is this larger-than-life character who's always planning fantastically complicated adventures and pranks, and Q is absolutely enthralled with her even though she barely notices him. Then one night she shows up at his bedroom window and takes him on an all-night adventure through the streets of Orlando, Florida that culminates with them breaking into SeaWorld.
Free Falling by Chantal Doran You’ve done it all. Felt the restricting sponge like material on the inside of a helmet as you race down the street. The wind trying to push you back but failing as you speed through the streets, body leaning to the left or right in order to direct the motorcycle. Legs tightly pressed against the metal body of the machine and ass comfortable situated in the leather seat. Your hands firmly gripping the handles, turning them only one way in order to speed up. Looking straight in front of you, the road seems to be meeting you and the scenery to the sides of you is simply spattered paint. You laugh from under your metal helmet as you try to beat the road. You’ve felt the tight body suit becoming wetter as you sink deeper into the sea. One hand up to let the air out and the other pressed against you mask to make sure it didn’t fly away. Your eyes remained dry from under the plastic shield and the rubber edges pressed against your skin. You feel weightless as you sink further down. The pressure increases like a balloon in you head and ears. You squeeze you nose and blow, relieving the pain before starting to swim. The coral beneath you sparkles and fills with fish. They swim beneath you, over you, next to you. Blue, yellow, silver, white. Small, big, fat, in pairs or alone. You drift in the water, watching it all and not thinking a thing. You’re peaceful, carefree, gentle. You’re in your own world in the middle of everywhere. You’re laughing and joking as you stand on the ledge, cloth rapped around your waist and legs and feet. You make one last joke, get the thumbs up and jump of the ledge. Soon enough you’re failing head first, trying not to close your eyes to the fast approaching water. You’re almost there when you stop. Your waist and legs and feet are being pulled back and soon you’re going back up. Then back down. Back up and back down. Then you’re still, with your arms handing loose and the sea staring back when you hang your head. You’re grinning, you’re happy, even as the blood rushes to your head. Now you’re standing in a door way, the engine noise load and clear. An instructor is screaming at you to go right ahead. So you push yourself from the doorway, in a flight of your own. You spread you’re legs and arms wide, falling in a shape of an X. The belt around your legs and your waist hold tight and the bag on your back feels light in the air. Your eyes watch below you at the scene below. The colors red, green and brown in a pattern of their own. The wind pushes you up as your weight pushes you down and you’re laughing to release some of the anxiety in your mind. Once you see the houses become houses and the roads become roads and you start noticing the ants down below, you pull the handle and get jerked up as the parachute opens. Your hands hold the handles so that later you can steer but for right now you’re agreeing with whatever the wind has in mind. You’re perfect. Calm and excited, relaxed and focused. You’re not smiling but in awe as you watch the scene below and you slowly start approaching all those ants’ home.
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