The book tells a story about a twelve-year-old girl named Willow Chance. She has a unique personality, finding interest in things such as nature and medical diagnoses, as well as an obsession with counting by 7s. Willow struggled with making connections with others around her age due to her unique personality, and the book gives an inspiring message on the importance of resilience. This book is one that has stuck with me for a long time. Willow’s story and the hardship she faced was inspiring to read about, and the book has taught me a lot about never giving up.
The Social Network is a movie that goes on a step by step journey of the creation of Facebook through the eyes of Mark Zuckerberg and Eduardo Saverin. The plot accelerates through flashbacks of their time as Harvard students with the intermingling of the present day lawsuit happening over dividing up the shares of Facebook. I found this movie extremely captivating, as I never truly understood how a platform as big as Facebook came to life and what the motives were behind the creation of it.
La La Land is a movie that showcases the hard realities of life and maintaining a strong, healthy relationship when dreams are so different. The movie’s soundtrack and musical elements provide the perfect setting that gives an Old Hollywood aesthetic. This movie remains my most favorite movie of all time simply because of the message that is developed that essentially, going after your dream is worth it.
The Stranger by Albert Camus follows the story of a man named Meursault who is indifferent to everything around him. He is only really controlled by his basic primal needs, like hunger, thirst, sleep, etc. Throughout the story, he doesn't show any deeper connection to anything and only describes things at face value. This makes sense considering his personality is so indifferent, but it creates a dull story where that is very slowly paced.
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov is one of the most disturbing and symbolic books I have read. I am hesitant to rate this book so high considering how it deals with so many serious topics, and how it might not be suitable for many people. Lolita deals with the adventure of a French literacy professor who moves to New England in 1947 and goes by the pseudonym Humbert Humbert.
The Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald tells the story of a man from Minnesota who moves to New York City and gets tangled up in Long Island High Society through his cousin Daisy and her husband Tom. Nick looks up to his neighbor, a grand mysterious man who is somehow in love with Daisy, and the possibility of her reciprocating these feelings is high, especially when struggling with Tom's own infidelity.
The prequel to the Hunger Games series was one I was looking forward to for a while as I had loved repeatedly watching all of the other movies. However, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes was by far my favorite of the whole series. The movie starts out with a heart-wrenching scene from Coriolanus Snow’s past, demonstrating how the unfortunate circumstances of rebellions resulted in the creation of the infamous Hunger Games. His life fast-fowards as the audience witnesses Snow as a young adult preparing for the reaping.
The Scarlet Letter is a story that follows Hester Prynne, a woman living in 17th century Puritan society, who has been accused of adultery and must wear a letter “A” to atone for her sin. She struggles to raise her baby without the father there to help her, as he will not confess to his sin. Hester continues to hide the identity of the baby’s father from her husband and the rest of the town until the baby grows up and it’s ultimately revealed.
Catch-22 is a book that follows a World War II bombardier called Yossarian that wants to leave the army. He isn’t able to because of a catch: the only way to leave the army is to plead insanity but if one is sane enough to plead insanity, they should be sane enough to stay in the army. He is constantly met with these contradictions and catches throughout his time in the army, as he continues to simply want to survive and be done with war.
Kenna is the main character in Reminders of Him. She just recently is out of prison and is back in her hometown. She runs into local bar-owner Owen, and feels like she has seen him before, but can’t put a finger on where. Kenna is on a mission to reconnect with her daughter, but it is not that easy. She has to live with one bad decision for the rest of her life. The book follows her story and life after trauma, getting released from prison, and memories.
