Book Review: The Tiffin

This book is part of this years Red Maple book selection. I will be reviewing several more of these.

Book Title: The Tiffin

Reviewer: Dennis

Author: Mahtab Narsimhan

Publisher: Cormorant Books

Publication Date: Aug 3 2011

Synopsis: The story is set in Mumbai, where dabbawallas deliver lunch boxes called tiffins, to workers in the city. The dabbawallas have an excellent record, only one out of 6 million tiffins is lost. However, when a woman places a note addressed to her husband saying that she gave birth, she leaves her son with a friend to go look for her husband. However, she never returns to pick up her son, Kunal. Kunal is stuck with his cruel foster father, working as a waiter in a restaurant. When Kunal runs away with his friend, Vinayak, he comes up with a plan to try to find his mother again.

Review: This book was extremely short. It didn't take me more than 30 minutes to finish it. It was an amusing book, but not too much really happened. Also, I never really got too good of a picture of the actual city, except for the fact that in every scene, we get a new scent. The book sort of left me to picture everything by myself. That's one of the points that I really didn't like. One thing I did like was the reality of Kunal's world. His cruel foster father beats him, and he has nowhere to go. All the other waiters are cruel and rude to him. I found it unrealistic that the other dabbawallas simply allowed him to just "become one of them". Anyways, the book was pretty good. 4 out of 5 surfboards! 

Book Review: Brisingr

Hey guys, today I will be reviewing another Eragon book so I can get the series done and start another review chain.
Link to the review of book 2

















Reviewer: Eddie
Publication date: April 13 2010
Publisher:  Knopf Books For Young Readers
Author: Christopher Paolini


Synopsis: Eragon is taught all the secrets and magical spells of all the dragon riders (which have perished by an evil king) by the only dragon rider left other than himself. When Solombum, the werecat, told Eragon to look under the roots of the elvish tree when he needed a weapon, he finds the material that was used to craft all of the other swords of the dead riders. His physical trainer is upset at Eragon because he does not have the strength and speed of an elf. Then later in the book "surprise surprise" Eragon turns into an elf during an elvish festival. After so much training Eragon is finally released from his duty as a disciple when his instructor is killed in battle. Eragon  discovers the true identity of his father after years of searching and pondering. Then Eragon goes with Roran to rescue Katrina, Roran's fiancé from the Ra'zac. Together, Eragon and Roran exterminate the evil Ra'zac from the face of Alasgia. 


Review: It was a good book with a lot of detail and blood and gore. But I guess all of the violence that happens in the book just goes to show how bad everything was with the evil king. The sacrifices and torture of some of the dark priests in the book really happened in history like the Mayan or Inca sacrifices. I found it to obvious that Eragon would turn into an elf during the festival. Although the good part was that it did not give you any hints on how Eragon was going to become an elf. I always used to ignore the map on the front page thinking it was not important, but it is actually interesting to see how the countries and cities are spaced out. It also gives you a better understanding of how he travels around Alasgia. Overall 5 surfboards over 5.

Book Review: A Wanted Man

Hey guys! We're back! My brother and I have been really busy for a while! Ski trips and homework and getting ready for our black belt in karate! Anyways, I'm back to Jack Reacher!

Book Title: A Wanted Man

Reviewer: Dennis

Series: Jack Reacher (Book 17)

Author: Lee Child

Publisher: Random House

Publication Date: Sept 11 2012

Synopsis: Jack Reacher hitches a ride with 2 men and a women. Several miles behind, a man lies dead, stabbed, in a pumping station. All that Reacher wanted was a ride to Virginia, but soon he discovers that he has gotten entangled in a government conspiracy much larger than himself.

Review: As a big Jack Reacher fan, I was somewhat disappointed with this book. I have read pretty much all the other Reacher books, and this one was the worst (even worse than The Affair). Some people don't like all the extra details, but personally I don't think its all that bad. Anyways, the beginning is LOOOOONNNNNNGGGG and very stretched out. Then BOOM! Everything happens in the last 20%. Reacher and his friends go and shoot and kill all of the bad guys. The book was just about good enough to keep me reading until the end. Similar to the other novels, it had its own big, suspenseful reveal. Quick read, 3 surfboards.

Things I Liked:

·        Lots of detail

·        Big reveal close to the end

Things I Didn't Like:

·        Long, quite boring beginning

·        Hurried ending

Recommend To:

Jack Reacher Fans

Not by far my favorite in the series, but still worth a quick read. If you enjoy the series check it out!

Snowboarding the Pages?

Today (Sunday) and yesterday, my brother and I went to snowboarding lessons from 9-12. We had fun, but we both fell. A lot. This was my second time snowboarding and my brother's first. We are both advanced skiers but we wanted to try something else. Maybe we could start a new blog, "Snowboarding the Pages" :) I recently read an article that showed that the number of snowboarders is declining. You can find it here. So I'm going to make a:

The Most Excellent List of a Comparison of Skiing and Snowboarding

Skiing:

• Easier to learn
• More maneuverability
• Much easier to get off the ski lift
• You can easily stop using poles

Snowboarding:

• Harder to learn but (so I'm told) is much more fun when you know how
• Kind of scary when you are turning
• Expect to fall a lot, especially when disembarking the ski lift
• Not easy to stop unless you sit down
• It's basically one big ski with your feet pointing sideways

  Me


Do any of you guys ski or snowboard? Leave a comment below.

Book Review: 20 000 Leagues Under the Sea

I suggest that as soon as you finish reading this review, GO READ THIS BOOK. It is an amazing novel and a classic.

Title: 20 000 Leagues Under the Sea
Author: Jules Verne  
Reviewer: Dennis 
Publisher: Random House 
Publication Date: January 28, 1985. 
Buy: Amazon || B&N || Kobo || Goodreads

Synopsis: French marine biologist Pierre Aronnax goes on a voyage led by the government to find the mysterious sea monster that has sunk and damaged several ships. When Aronnax, his servant, and Ned Land, a Canadian Harpooner (O Canada!), all fall overboard after a collision with the monster, they find that the "monster" is actually a very advanced submarine piloted by the mysterious Captain Nemo. They go on an adventure taking them to many different areas in the world. But who is Captain Nemo? And why is it that no one is allowed to leave the ship after they've been on it?

Review: This book is awesome. There is action, adventure, mystery and suspense. We learn a lot about underwater plants and animals. A LOT! As in, detailed information about every single fish, crab or plant. Simply because there were too many. Anyways, we never really learn too much about Captain Nemo. Conseil, the servant, seems to know just about everything Mr. Aronnax does. But still, GO READ THIS BOOK. IT IS GOOD. Very good. 5 surfboards out of 5.

Comments: Yesterday I got COD Black Ops 2. Yay! Hopefully I'll get a YouTube zombies video going. We'll also start doing things like minecraft and Gmod and other games :) Until next time!

Book Review: Eldest

Link to the review of book one.

Book: Eldest
Author: Christopher Poalini

Reviewer: Eddie
Publication date: March 13 2007

Buy this book: Kobo Kindle B&N Goodreads

Synopsis: The young adult Eragon must help the rebel army fight and defeat the evil king. Joining him is his cousin Roran, who helps the rebels capture some castles. Eragon also fights an old friend who he thought was dead.

Review: It was a good book that was impossible for me to put down until I finished. The book was more action packed and romantic than the first one, which was also pretty good. This book gives us more insight on Eragon’s cousin, Roran. He seemed like a guy with temper tantrums every day because he shouted at Eragon so much for “ruining his life”. What struck me as odd was that some of Eragon's friends who were not spies tried to kill Eragon because they were jealous. Eragon seems careless because he kept losing priceless magical and powerful artifacts in enemy territory. It was a pretty good book so, 4 surfboards out of 5.

Book Review: This Dark Endeavor

Book:  This Dark Endeavor
Author:  Kenneth Oppel

Publication Date: May 22 2012
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Buy this Book: B&N Kindle Goodreads

Reviewer: Dennis
Synopsis: Two twin brothers, Victor and Konrad Frankenstein, as well as their cousin Elizebeth, one day stumble across a secret library in their father's castle. Their father forbids them from returning, but when Konrad get extremely sick, Victor believes that there is no other option than to attempt to find and concoct the legendary elixir of life. Victor and Elizabeth are joined by Victor's friend Henry as they race to find all the ingredients before it is too late for Konrad. Soon however, Victor get caught in a vicious love triangle. They seek out the help of an old alchemist, as he is the only one who knows how to make the elixir. But can the alchemist be trusted, and how far will Victor go to save his brother?

Review: The reason I started reading the book was for my school's Red Maple program, which we are required to do this year. Anyways, I didn't have high expectation's for this book, but it was really good. One of the quirks I had with this book was that I felt that Victor's emotions were insanely magnified. So if someone angered him, he would explode like a volcano. Whatever though. There was some romance, as well as frequent action, which I enjoyed. I felt this book was set in the 1800's. However, one of the doctors had a microscope that could pick out individual red and white blood cells. .___. Really? Anyways, in this book, we have deadly caves, giant vultures that the main characters are nearly killed by, as well as bodily amputations. So you can probably see why I liked the book. :D Rating: 4.5 surfboards out of 5