The primroses were over. Toward the edge of the wood, where the ground became open and sloped down to an old fence and a brambly ditch beyond, only a few fading patches of pale yellow still showed among the dog's mercury and oak-tree roots.
This thoroughly detailed description is but a taste of Adams' immensely deep and wondrous world. Imaginative readers will be enthralld as Adams paints a masterpiece, composes a symphony in their minds. Watership Down is nothing short of an astounding, remarkable, and memorable literary experience ful of all the most important parts of human existence- strife, love, friendship, courage and emigration toward a home of immeasurable majesty- in which we achieve our dreams.
Watership Down, a book in three parts, deserves all of our praise. Its characters may be rabbits, but the magnitude of the story and its expert telling forces us to see them in a more human light than most inferior novelists can hardly shed upon their human characters. This exceptional piece of literature that any person who has ever experienced any kind of struggle should grab a copy and start reading immediately. No well-read individual can consider his or her library complete without a copy of Watership Down, its spine worn and shabby from use.
-Joe Calcagno
Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier
Have you ever looked at a painting and wondered what the story behind it was or what the person in the painting was thinking at the time? When looking at Johannes Vermeer's painting of a young girl wearing a pearl earring, people often wonder, who is she? Why was she painted? Is her smile innocent or seductive? Why is she wearing a pearl earring? In Girl with a Pearl Earring, Tracy Chevalier presents her own answers to those questions in a beautifully written story about the girl in a painting donw by Johannes Vermeer in the 1600s.
One of the strong aspects of the book is the personality and manner of the main character, Griet. She is unlike any other character that I have read about. She is a strong, intelligent, and very perceptive young girl. Her calm and intuitive manner allows her to deal with tragedy and loss in a different way. "The colors fight when they are side by side, sir." With her unique perceptions, Griet is even able to help Vermeer with one of his paintings while she works there.
Tracy Chevalier's Girl with a Pearl Earring is definitely one of the best novels that I have read in the past year. Its strong main character, interesting setting and time period, and the exciting story of a girl dealing with mny aspects of life all make this novel worthy of your time. So the next time you're in an art museum, instead of thinking about now incredibly bored you are, I suggest you try looking at a painting and see if you can come up with a story as great as this one.
-Christine Coleman
Angels and Demons by Dan Brown
Naked branded bodies, ancient cults, futuristic weapons of mass destruction? No, not another bad Bruce Willis flick, (see "The Fifth Element" for further clarification) but instead a wonderful, suspenseful novel written by potentially one of the smartest, most clever men in America. Dan Brown has agains successfully written a controversial book that makes you think. Angels and Demons is full of facts about an ancient cult called the Illuminati. Hated by the church for questioning scriptures, this group of scientists included men like Galileo and Newton.
This novel is about a hunt for a weapon so dangerous yet so small its undetectable, and it's hidden in Vatican City. Robert Langdon, a Harvard professor and also the main character, is called up and asked to help in the investigation of an Italian scientists', Leonardo Vetra, murder.
It's a real page turner, ever chapter has a new twist that will leave you guessing until the end, very much like the sequel, The DaVinci Code, (which is also a great read). My advice to the person seeking a good story with thought-inducing chapters, stomach-pulsing details and sheer brilliance is to read this story. You might be closer to holding the perfect Illuminati diamond than you think.
-Emily Gaydos
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
You know a book must be drawn out, convoluted and completely unworthy of your time when Barnes and Nobles recommends the abridged version and even that is 618 pages long. Alexandre Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo is one such novel. Dumas questions your intelligence and doubts your imagination when he answers all the questions for you, leaving no space for individual insight or understanding.
The main character gets everything he wants and then has it all taken away from him by two people whom he considered friends, and the head court mashall just "happens" to go along with the friends and throws Edmond in jail. It' even more unlikely, and another painful stab at our ntellectual abilities that while in hail and extremely intelligent abby just happens to dig his way into Edmond's jail cell and teaches him everything he knows. Throughout the entire book, I was hoping for Emond to wake up from this extremely imaginative and far-fetched dream.
Dumas portrays a completely biased opinion about females throughout his novel. He shows women of only weakness with little to no morals and nothing to think about except the next social party. Please, women, even in past times, had at least thoughts in their heads. Dumas' portrayal of the opposite sex clearly shows a man who was fearful of women, and thought that a man's downfall could only be brought about by women. Not by the man's own stupidity or selfishness.
-Jaclyn Kahn
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