Forrest Gump

Forrest Gump is a novel written by Winston Groom and it is about a man named Forrest Gump. Forrest is not the smartest man alive, he is rather stupid with an IQ of 75. But Forrest loves life and does not think he is stupid. The story is written in first person, in Forrest perspective and it begins with Forrest being a kid in a small town in Alabama called Mobile. There, Forrest starts in school and meets Jennie and he falls in love with her and he is in love with her throughout the book. After he finished school, he serves in the army and goes to Vietnam. After the war he does wrestling, chess, ping pong, goes to the moon, lives in the jungle and he also plays in a band. But throughout the book he does not stop thinking about his lifelong love, Jenny Curran.

The best thing about the book is the way it is written. Forrest is “a idiot” and the book is written exactly how he thinks. The grammar mistakes, the missing letters and the words he gets wrong is written like he says and thinks them. It is a one of a kind book and I really like that about. Forrest Gump really feels like an ordinary, stupid person you could meet everywhere. The story is well told and if you have seen the movie you should definitely read the book. You will read it in the way Tom Hanks (Forrest Gump) talks in the movie but you will experience more than just what he did in the movie.

I did not dislike anything particular, the book was really great in every way and the attention to detail was good. There were no flaws in my opinion. I would have liked to have a little more to read about the space program but overall the book was great.

I would recommend the book, as I wrote, to people and youths who is good at reading and have seen the movie. It is more detailed and you will get to know Forrest in a new way. I would rate the book a 9/10 definetly.

Erik Bernhardsson. Peer corrected by Nellie Rosén, Tilda Lindström, and Eric Baumeister. EKES15

Fifty shades of grey

E.L James book Fifty shades of grey is about a girl who is studying English literature named Anastasia Steele. Anastasia is the perfect definition of an ordinary girl, she isn’t ugly, she isn’t extra good looking she isn’t rich or pore, she is mediocre. Anastasia meets the rich, handsome entrepreneur Christian Grey and gets kind of obsessed with him and his power.

Anastasia is a 21 year-old college student at Washington State University in Vancouver. She lives with her best friend Kate in a small apartment. Kate writes the student newsletter and has planned an interview with the rich entrepreneur Christian Grey. Kate gets sick so Anastasia do the interview for Kate and after that all Ana can think of is Christian.

Ana decides to stop thinking about him because she understands that she isn’t going to meet him again until one day when he steps in to her work and needs tape and lace. They talk to each other and decides to meet and take pictures of Christian for the interview. After the photos has been taken Christian asks Ana out to drink coffee. Once there Christian asks Ana a bit of her family but never tell something about himself he acts very mysteriously. Christian asks Ana if she is a romantic person, Ana say that she is and then Christian tells her he can`t do that and walks out of the café. But that isn’t the last time they talk to each-other.

The whole book trough it is like a cat and dog play. Ana wants Grey to fall in love with him and try to do everything so he does but Christian wants to control Ana he wants Ana to be his submissive.

I think the book is good because you all the time wants to know more and more of what is going to happen. If Christian going to fall in love and let go of his control needs or if Anastasia let him use her as a submissive. The book is the first book in a trilogy that all is about Anastasia and Christians relationship. E.L James have also write a book about their relationship trough Christians perspective.

The first book Fifty shades of grey was published 2011

The second book Fifty shades darker was published 2012

The third book Fifty shades freed was published 2012

The book Grey was published 2015

Wilma Schlömer. Peer corrected by Lisa Nordahl, and Alma Swärdh. NATE15

A Street Cat Named Bob

‘’reading this should be an obligation’’

James Bowens autographic A street cat named bob contains descriptions of both t James and his cat Bobs lives and the exciting adventures they face on the streets. James found an injured cat, Bob, outside his door and after doubts and thinking he eventually decided to take care of it temporary, or so he thought. James awareness that it was a stupid idea truly existed . More specifically, James was at that point going through a drug treatment which certainly was not simple. However, his doubtful decision turned into something indeed positive as they become good friends.

The book is very inspiring because they are both going through something rough but still manage to stick together. In the beginning James tries helping the cat with its injury. Once it turned better he tried to get rid of it which was impossible. The loyalty from the cat was enormous and he decided therefore, once again after doubts and thoughts, to keep it.

You can easily claim that the cat is the reason of James positive development, which I think is very fascinating. For instance, before they met each other James was very selfish and irresponsible who took, as recently mentioned, heavy drugs like Heroin. Another mentionable fact is that James economy was very bad when they first met. James felt then immediate responsibility when he suddenly had another mouth to feed, which resulted in a change for James maturely and economically as he finally had something to fight for.

In summary, among many other things, James took care of his life and tried forgetting his bad memories because of his cat, Bob.

I refer to those who love animals, reading this book is an obligation, you will not regret it. We all know that animals can affect humans greatly but this particular experience is something special.

Simon Hägerlind. Peer corrected by Mumtaz Abdrizack, Ida Wahlund, and Linnéa Linde. NATE15

The Notebook

Nicholas Spark´s book The Notebook is only one of his many well-known love stories. This love story mainly focuses on the concept of true love conquering all and how the love between two people can be so strong that they are willing to do anything for each other.

The Notebook takes you through the life of a young man named Noah Calhoun and we also get to experience all the situations and events that he goes through. The story takes place in a quiet small southern town in America where Noah lives with his supportive father and works in a lumber mill.

One warm summer a beautiful young woman comes to visit the town with her rich family and Noah soon gets to know her. The young woman´s name Noah had met was Allie Nelson and she was visiting town with her rich family because of the cotton farms they owned in town. Noah and Allie spent the whole summer together and under that time, they fell in love. However, their young love was cut short when her family decided to move back to the city and Noah and Allie were forced to separate.

Years later, Allie sees a photo of Noah in the newspaper and she feels that something inside her was reignited and gets the urge to visit Noah once more. The only problem is, she is already engaged to another man.

One good thing I liked about the book was that Noah often comments on the situations he´s in and expresses how he feels about it. This allows the reader to always know how Noah feels and just makes the character more believable.

I especially loved how the story described the characters very well and that really made me interested and made me care about the characters. They were not just some imaginary character that weren´t real, but actually felt like a genuine person. I also really enjoyed how every chapter in the book ended on an interesting note and this always made me wanting more and continue reading.

I would recommend this book to a more mature audience like teens, young adults or even adults, because of how the book mainly focuses on the subject of love and relationships. I feel that you could relate to most of the events since the characters always felt genuine and real.

Nicholas Sparks is a fantastic book writer that writes great love stories and in my opinion, The Notebook is one of his finest works. This book would suit perfectly for anyone looking for a satisfying read about the effects of true love.

Alexandre Bezobrazov. Peer corrected by Edvin Basic, Sebastian Jandrén, and Moa Näsman. NATE15

Only a Game?

Only a Game is a book about the life of a pro football player. We get to follow Eamon Dunphy and his team’s progress during a season in Millwall, an English football club that played in the second league during the seventies. The book was written by Eamon himself, a former professional Irish football player, and is based on his own experiences.

Eamon and his team have not been very successful the past few seasons but have still managed to stay in the second league for quite some time. Like most other years, they think that this will be their year, a year where they will finally advance to the Premier League. With a combination of old veterans like Eamon himself and a few new and young players, the squad is excited and have high hopes for the new season.
Unfortunately, things do not turn out the way they had hoped, and the relationship between the players and the coaches are put to the test.

While I personally did not like this book, I could definitely see someone with a bigger interest in football enjoy it. The “diary-style” in which the book is written does not appeal to me, even though I understand the point of it. Following the life of a professional football player day-by-day, every day throughout the whole season gets boring in the long run for someone that does not have a big interest in neither the player himself nor the team.

Over the course of the season, Eamon and the other characters go through a number of changes. Eamon realises that he will not be young forever and that his retirement is getting closer. This changes him and his relationships with the other players in the team when he suddenly has to fight for a spot in the team. This is an example of one of the things I like about Only a Game, the great detail in which each character’s emotions and intentions are described. Combined with the informal language, the detail gives you a personal and first-hand look at the story, which makes it easier to identify yourself with the main character and there is no doubt that the author has been a player himself once.

Despite having a serious and rather depressing feel to it, Only a Game is probably a good read for football fans interested in the life of a professional football player. Eamon Dunphy may not write the most entertaining stories, but they are rich with detail and provide realistic and unique insight into the life of a professional football player.

Nils Axelsson. Peer corrected by Cecilia Hamstedius, Axel Andersson, Filip Stenegren, and Lovisa Edblad. NATE15

The Boy in The Striped Pajamas

The book is about a 9-year-old boy named Bruno and his family which consist his father, mother and elder sister that Bruno calls “the hopeless case”. Bruno as a person likes to explore and wants to be an explorer in the future. The family lived in Berlin, Germany until Bruno’s father got promoted from the army and because of that, they moved to a totally different place named Auschwitz. Outside Bruno’s bedroom window in their new house there was a fence and behind that fence there are the strangest people that Bruno have ever seen. By the time Bruno befriends a little boy at the same age named Shmuel, which is one of the strange people behind the fence. Bruno explores why there is more people on the other side of the fence and there he finds out something that changed his way of thinking.

This book was written by the Irish novelist John Boyne and it is the view of a 9-year old boy which is very innocent. The story refers to the friendship of the two young boys during the holocaust and clarifies how the innocence of children remains even in the hardest situations. It also mentions how wives were treated at that time. Personally I would give this book 4/5 in good-reads because it consists only around 215 pages which is very quick to read and what is even better is that you will not face any linguistic problems while reading this book as English non-native speaker.
while I highly recommend this book to history lovers, I would not recommend it for children under 10 years old because it can be quit hard for them to handle the ending.

Mumtaz Abdrizack. Peer corrected by Ida Wahlund, Linnéa Linde, and Simon Hägerlind.

Pride and Prejudice

A novel by Jane Austen

With the statement "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife." Begins the truly amazing novel by Jane Austen. The general idea of the book is about the struggles on the way of the Bennet sisters to find a husband so this statement describes the story perfectly.

The story focuses on the Bennet sisters and their mother, her biggest wish is to see all of her girls get married. The book concentrates mostly the second oldest sister, Elizabeth and her struggles with the young, rich, quiet and handsome bachelor Mr. Darcy. The proud Mr. Darcy and the prejudiced Elizabeth develops a rather complicated relationship throughout the book.

They get introduced to one another at a ball hosted by one of the family Bennet’s neighbors. Mr. Darcy is there as company to Mr. Bingley who just moved in to a mansion on the countryside where the Bennets live. Elizabeth gets a terrible first impression of Darcy who comes off as very boring and rude. After their first meeting Elizabeth says that she hopes she´ll never have to speak to him again due to his rude and stuck up nature. But when her older sister and Mr. Bingley falls in love, it is inevitable for Elizabeth to avoid Darcy.

Even though the main theme of the book is romance and drama you can actually relate to a lot of the struggles that the characters have.

I would recommend this book to anyone who is good at reading in English. The language in the book can be quite difficult at times so you will need to have some sort of English skills to really be able to enjoy the story.

Moa Näsman. Peer corrected by Alexandre Bezobrazov, Sebastian Jandrén, and Edvin Basic. NATE15

Belzhar

Belzhar is a story about sorrow and love. The book was written by the New York Times bestselling author Meg Wolitzer and it is inspired by the famous author Sylvia Plath. Throughout the book you get to follow a girl named Jam Gallahue and her journey to accept the loss of her beloved boyfriend Reeve Maxfield.

Her parents decide to send her to The Wooden Barn, a school for teenagers that are suffering from grief, as a last resort. At The Wooden Barn she gets selected to a class called Special Topics in English where there’s only four other students. Their teacher, who is a mysterious elderly woman named Mrs Quenell, gives them a diary in which they are supposed to write in once a week. At first they are suspicious but when they decide to give it a go they realise that it’s not an ordinary diary. For when they write in it, they get to another place, a place where Jam can be with her beloved Reeve again, and that place is called Belzhar. But as soon as they’ve filled up the diary they won’t be able to go back to Belzhar, and as we get to the end you’ll finally know what truly happened to Reeve.

Meg Wolitzer has done a wonderful job writing this book. I can promise you that you will not want to put it away. I would highly recommend this book for those of you who are into fantasy, loves love stories and enjoy a good plot twist in the end.

Lovisa Edblad. Peer corrected by Axel Andersson, Nils Axelsson, Filip Stenegren, and Cecilia Hamstedius. NATE15

The Book Thief

One girl, one war, one family. That is the main subjects in the book The Book Thief which is a novel written by Markus Zusak.

The year is 1939 and Death is standing above a little boy on a train on its way to Munich, he carefully takes the boy´s spirit in his arms when he sees a little girl, Liesel hanging over the boy. When the train comes to Munich and the funeral for the little brother is over she at last get to meet her new foster parents and her new life starts with, stealing books, learning to read and hiding a Jewish fist fighter. The little girl who later will be known as The Book Thief.

Liesel is a very funny and kind person who you really get to know in the book, it feels afterwards that she is a real person and you cannot really understand that it is no way for you to meet her in real life.

While I think almost everyone over the years of twelve could read this book because of the tame language I would still recommend this to the older teenagers or the younger adults because I think that they are the ones who will get the most of the book when it sometimes can be a little bit deep. You also need to have the capacity to keep track of the things that happens when the smallest of things can lead to a really big thing in the ending. I also think that the older readers, the adults would find this entertaining when it is a different perspective of the second world war that not many have thought of. The book is very much about the world war two and because of that the genre can be said is war but in another way I would say it is not a war book because very little in the book is about the real war but everything that happens, happens because of the war.

I love this book and think that it is almost perfect, the only thing I think can be a little bit confusing about the book is that, so many things happen that it feels like it has many strands that do not really come together at the end. But in some way I also feel like it should be like that and it is yourself who needs to think of a way the strands go to so at the end they will come together.

Linnéa Linde. Peer corrected by Ida Wahlund, Mumtaz Abdrizack, and Simon Hägerlind.