This is a great list for selecting outside reading books. Some of these books though include themes that may be offensive and as such it may be a good idea to consult with your parents, librarians, counselors, and/or Mr. Williamson about your reading selection. This can help you choose the best book for you from among your many options.


How to Write An Effective Book Review

Introduce the subject, scope, and type of book

· Identify the book by author and title

· Specify the type of book (fiction, nonfiction, biography, autobiography, etc.)

· Mention the books theme

Briefly summarize the content

· For a nonfiction book, provide an overview, including paraphrases and quotations, of the book’s thesis and primary supporting points

· For a work of fiction, briefly review the story line for readers, being careful not to give away anything that would lessen the suspense for future readers.

Provide your reactions to the book

· Describe the book

o Is it interesting, memorable, entertaining, instructive? Why?

· Respond to the author’s opinions

o What do you agree with? And why?

o What do you disagree with? And why?

· Explore issues the book raises

o What possibilities does the book suggest? Explain.

o What matters does the book leave out? Explain.

· Relate your argument to other books or authors

o Support your argument for or against the author’s opinions by bring in other authors you agree with.

· Relate the book to latger issues

o How did this book affect you?

o How have your opinions about the topic changed?

o How is the book related to your own course or personal agenda?

Conclude by synthesizing your ideas

· Close with a direct comment on the book

· Tie together issues raised in the review and create an interesting and new insight

· Offer advice for potential readers

Escales, Maria. "Literacy Education Online: Writing Book Reviews". St. Cloud State University. March 9, 2009 .

Thursday, March 12, 2009

The Inferno by Dante Alighieri

The Inferno remains literature's most hallowed and graphic vision of Hell. Dante plunges readers into this unforgettable world with a deceptively simple and now legendary tercet:

Midway upon the journey of our life
I found myself within a forest dark
For the straightforward pathway had been lost.

With these words, Dante plunges readers into the unforgettable world of the Inferno, one of the most graphic visions of Hell ever created. In this first part of the epic The Divine Comedy, Dante is led by the poet Virgil down into the nine circles of Hell, where he travels through nightmare landscapes of fetid cesspools, viper pits, frozen lakes, and boiling rivers of blood and witnesses sinners being beaten, burned, eaten, defecated upon, and torn to pieces by demons. Along the way he meets the most fascinating characters known to the classical and medieval world, the silver-tongued Ulysses, lustful Francesca da Rimini, the heretical Farinata degli Uberti, and scores of other intriguing and notorious figures.

No comments:

Post a Comment