The Maze Runner film is a movie adaptation of the dystopian novel by James Dashner. The plot of this film follows a boy named Thomas, who finds himself transported to a place called the Glade, a small area surrounded by tall walls and filled with other boys around his age.
The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende is an enthralling novel following the lives of Clara del Valle and her family as well as Esteban Trueba. Allende’s epic follows the lives of the Del Valle family from the time that Clara is born and through the rest of her life.
Lion is based on a true story of Saroo Brierley’s journey of finding his way home. The author shares his story of how he got lost on a train when he was only five-years-old and ended up being separated from his family. Later, he was adopted by an Australian family. Eventually, after years of research and effort, Brierly ended up tracking down his biological family using Google Earth and was reunited with them. In my opinion, this is by far one of the most emotional books I’ve ever read.
1984 is a dystopian novel about what life is like in Oceania with the totalitarian government watching over every citizens’ move. The main character, Winston, struggles with the concept of freedom since citizens are not allowed to have thoughts, or do what they want. The book explores how Winston tries to go about rebelling against the totalitarian rules. I would highly recommend that everyone reads this book. It exposes a world of fear and the unknown, and how characters live a life in a situation like this.
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.
This book was written using three different perspectives. The first one was from a girl named Libby, who had just turned 25. This was very significant for her because this was the age that she would receive an unknown trust from her parents. The second perspective was a character named Lucy. Lucy, barely getting by, has two kids, a violin, and no permanent home. The final perspective was a boy named Henry Lamb. Contrary to the first two perspectives, Henry narrates the story in the past (1980s). Libby and Lucy are dealing with the present.
This book focuses on two characters, Pippa and Ravi, and follows their journey of investigating the truth of Andie Bell’s disappearance and Sal Singh’s death five years before the present. Sal, Ravi’s brother, was convicted of Andie’s murder before he died. Ravi never believed that his brother was capable of doing this, so he worked with Pippa to prove Sal’s innocence.
This Christie short story collection focuses on the titular Miss Marple, an elderly woman who has lived nearly her entire life in the same small town. In each of the 20 stories, she ends up in one way or another listening to a retelling of a mystery (often a murder) and, through her wealth of experience and observations on human nature, arriving at a solution that eluded the other party guests (or book club members, or detectives).
