Classic Fiction

The Thanatonauts

6/2/2011

The science fiction novel Les Thanatonautes (The Thanatonauts) by French writer Bernard Webber puts into question the problem of knowing what happens after death. The novel gradually presents the problem of death and how a group of scientists manage to come back from a self-inflicted state of coma that grants them access to the mysteries of life after death.

Wounded Spirits by April W. Gardner

5/12/2011
Jane Squires
Dealing with wounded spirits

It took a little while to get to the point where I could not put the story down. Yet as one who has Indian blood in my background, I love reading books that don't just paint them as the bad guys.

I love the title. Both the Creeks and the White Man dealt with wounded spirits. One will realize how God can bring healing and hope regardless of the troubles one walks through. There are always effects in war but faith in God can help one survive.

Classic Movie Still Young After Six Decades

2/28/2010
M. Tinsley
Classic Movie, "It's A Wonderful Life," tells the story of a man who realizes that despite his misfortune, no man is a failure.

I don’t know how many classic movie buffs are out there, but if you haven’t seen the 1948 movie It’s A Wonderful Life, rent it if you can. Who knows? After watching the 132-minute film of flawless acting, you’ll probably buy it.

Emma

8/16/2009
Casey Blackwell
Emma's penchant for matchmaking keeps her and her friends in perpetual trouble.

Jane Austen's 'Emma' is a wonderful blend of humorous blunders, quirky characters and her trademark romance. Unlike many women of the time, Emma Woodhouse has no interest in marriage. At least, not for herself. She's got her hands full taking care of her eccentric father, but she's more than happy to matchmake for her many friends, whether they ask her to or not. After successfully marrying off her former governess, Emma takes it upon herself to improve her new friend, Harriet Smith, and make an advantageous match for her. When her plans to marry her to the village vicar, Mr.

Reviewer Rating: 
4.50Stars

The Hunchback of Notre-Dame

7/5/2009
Julie Ruggirello
Who will win the heart of the beautiful gypsy dancer?

This literary classic, written by Victor Hugo, was originally published in 1831 and was famous long before Disney's cartoon movie version came out in 1996.

'The Hunchback of Notre-Dame' is a story of love, beauty and loss. Set in Paris 1482, Hugo begins weaving a web of characters that, seemingly, have no connections.

Reviewer Rating: 
3.50Stars

Prep

6/28/2009
Alisha Prakash

Curtis Sittenfeld's novel, 'Prep,' is a funny, endearing coming-of-age story of a young girl. It is brilliantly written and is a perfect read for teens.

'Prep' is a raw and honest tale about adolescence. However, this novel goes beyond that as well. It truly explores the social class conflict in America thoroughly.

'Prep' revolves around a young lower middle class girl from the Midwest named Lee Fiora. After getting a scholarship, she begins to attend a private, boarding prep school in Massachusetts called Ault. The novel tells the story of her four years at this prep school.

Reviewer Rating: 
4.00Stars
ASIN: 
1400062314

Northanger Abbey

6/20/2009
Casey Blackwell
Catherine Morland's life has not been the string of adventures typical of most heroines, but all that's about to change.

In 'Northanger Abbey,' Jane Austen creates some of her most entertaining characters. Catherine Morland is not the typical heroine, leading an unexceptional life up until her seventeenth year, when she embarks on an adventure to Bath with family friends, the Allens. There, Catherine attends her first ball, which doesn't turn out to be as exciting as she had imagined, due to her lack of acquaintance in Bath. However, she later meets two people who change her life in ways she could never have anticipated.

Reviewer Rating: 
5.00Stars

Persuasion

6/20/2009
Casey Blackwell
After setting Captain Wentworth free, Anne Elliot is about to discover whether their love is meant to be.

Persuasion is written in true Jane Austen style, with the heartwarming drama of star-crossed lovers. Anne Elliot, the neglected daughter of a bankrupt baron, ended her engagement to Captain Frederick Wentworth on the advice of her mother-figure friend, Lady Russell, only to regret it soon thereafter. However, she resigns herself to her fate, thinking she'll never see him again or, if she does, that he'll be married. To her surprise, he comes to visit her in-laws, the Musgroves, at the same time she is forced to go keep her married sister, Mary Musgrove, company.

Reviewer Rating: 
4.50Stars

Sleepy Hollow

6/14/2009
Heather Dykstra
The original

Kept alive by the hundreds of various recreations and retellings, 'Sleepy Hollow' is famous as being a classic horror story to tell around the campfire. No matter what version of the story you've heard, read, or watched, each has the terrifying headless horseman, who haunts the city of Sleepy Hollow in search of a head to replace his own. As the newer editions come out, this character gets increasingly frightening, becoming a central character to the plot and even developing a back story, as in Tim Burton's film.

Reviewer Rating: 
2.00Stars
ASIN: 
1599869306

Change of Heart

6/9/2009
Alyssa DellaCamera
A fiction novel that explores a mother's ultimate moral dilemma.

After reading Change of Heart, by Jodi Picoult, you might find yourself yearning to join a debate team, found a philosophy club, and/or return to practicing the religion that you abandoned years ago. Picoult's 2007 cognitively-demanding best-seller chronicles the trauma-filled life of June Nealon, who loses her first husband to a drunk driver, and her second husband Kurt and seven-year-old daughter Elizabeth to a double murder that her carpenter, Shay Bourne, commits within the confines of her own home.

Reviewer Rating: 
4.50Stars
ASIN: 
743496744
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