Barbara Kingsolver’s The Bean Trees is a dramatic fiction novel set that illustrates the novel’s main character, Taylor Greer, on her journey to escape her hometown and become a strong, independent woman—one who is not limited by her upbringing. Taylor’s life significantly changes at her discovery of a child in her car—she later discovers the child’s name is Turtle, an abandoned young girl.
Charles Yu’s Interior Chinatown is a domestic fiction novel that exhibits Willis Wu’s quest to break free from the entertainment industry’s expectation for him to play stereotypical roles such as “Generic Asian Man.” His hope is to acquire the role of “Kung Fu Guy,” a highly regarded character on the TV show “Black and White.” On his journey, Wu faces the deeply rooted stereotypes and prejudices held by the entertainment industry and the deficient representation of Asian actors in the media.
Audition by Michael Shurtleff is the perfect book for anybody looking to enter the world of acting. It provides tips directly from one of the most accomplished casting directors. He dives into a multitude of ways on how to make your auditions pop. Since reading the book, I’ve grown more confident in my auditions and understand what auditors are looking for. Shurtleff uses examples from auditions he’s seen to clearly teach what to do and what not to do in an audition.
Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights is a gothic novel set in northern England. The novel illustrates the complex relationship between Heathcliff—an orphan taken in by the Earnshaw family—and Catherine Earnshaw. Heathcliff’s desire to be with Catherine is made more complicated due their differing desires—Heathcliff’s desire for revenge, and Catherine’s desire to uphold her social status. Their differing desires, individual flaws, and family difficulties additionally stand in the way of their relationship.
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas is a powerful novel following a black teenage girl named Starr Carter who is forced to see two of her childhood best friends brutally murdered at a young age. Starr struggles to fight against the discrimination and police brutality her entire community has faced--she is put in a situation where she must stand up for what is right. She has the choice to either stay quiet to protect herself, or speak up for those she has lost.
Summary: Want by Cindy Pon is a gripping cyberpunk thriller set in a future Taipei, where pollution and class disparity dominate society. The story follows Jason Zhou and his group of friends as they plot to take down Jin Corp, the company responsible for the environmental destruction and health disparities plaguing the city. To infiltrate the elite circles of Jin Corp, Zhou, and his friends undergo dangerous transformations and navigate a world of high-tech espionage and moral ambiguity.
The Dragonslayer is a graphic novel, the fourth book of a 7-book series called Bone. At the end of the third book, Thorn finds out that she is the technical princess of the Atheia, and that a war might start with the rat creatures again. They decide to leave the barn in case the rat creatures try to track them. Now, in this book, as they journey through the forest, they get attacked by the rat creatures and Kingdok, who they fight back against.
“It seemed clear that wars were not made by generations and their special stupidities, but that wars were made instead by something ignorant in the human heart.”
The Salt Grows Heavy follows a silent mermaid, abused and tired of captivity, who leaves her castle to wander the dying the world. Her daughters, thousands of horrible teeth-filled creatures roam what’s left of the world. The mermaid finds companionship in an androgenous plague doctor, who’s spend their life being pulled apart and pieced back together. What kind of chaos will the two get into together?
“Female psychopaths, researchers eventually realized, don't present like the males. To which I respond: No shit. We women have an emotional wiliness that shellacs us in glossy patina of caring. We have been raised to take interest in promoting healthy interior lives of other humans; preparation, I suppose, for taking on the emotional labor of motherhood - or marriage; either way, really. Few women come into maturity unscathed by the suffocating pink press of girlhood, and even psychopaths are touched by the long, frilly arm of feminine expectations.
