Treasure Island

Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson, is a book that most people have read when they were young. Not me. I luckily read this book back in July and August of 2015. This is my oldest book review that I started and never finished.

I do want to clarify that I read this book with a student. This student’s parents wanted that person to read classics books before the start of the school year. Since the student was having a hard time picking this book up, I decided to join and read along.

The story follows a boy, Jim Hawkins, who discovers a map towards Treasure Island. With the help of a local friend, they travel together with a crew to find this island. Along the way, they come across some pirates and trouble.

I gave this book three out of five stars on Goodreads. I don’t know why I gave it that rating. I know that I do not like the book, and reading my progress in the book, was a bit funny. A lot of my comments were about how boring and slow the book was. I did make a comment about the character development and I did enjoy it. Jim did a lot of growing up in the book. However, the book was slow and the style was a bit hard to get used to. The story was done in a journal format. There was just a lot more passive writing. The only two reasons why I believe I gave this book a three out of five stars was the fact that it was a classic, and that it was not that terrible. There were some action scenes. Looking back at it, I would not be picking this book up to reread it.

As for recommending this book. I can’t. One of the biggest complaints is the writing style of the book. These are adults on Goodreads complaining about how hard the writing style was for them to read. Please do forgive my teacher brain for a moment, but I cannot help but think that the best course of action would be for people to read this book in groups if you want to read it. I believe that talking with someone and having a discussion about the book will be a huge factor in your ability to enjoy and understand the story. As I have mentioned at the beginning of the post, I purposely read this book with a student. However, they were able to finish the book before me, and we never had the discussion.

That is it for this review. I am sorry that this review is a little short. I do hope that you are having a great day filled with many adventures.

Until next time,

Super Bookworm

Nintendo Book Tag

I wanted to take a little break from reviews with a fun little book tag. Saw this book tag, from Katytastic, and I thought it would be tons of fun. I provided a link to the tag above. Enjoy reading.

QUESTIONS
1) NES (Nintendo Entertainment System): A classic you want to read

After my adventure with Jules Vern in Around the World in 80 Days, I am a bit Classic out. However, I do need to complete Treasure Island before the end of this week, so I do believe that can be counted. To be honest, I do have some classics that I want to read. The two classics that I have at the top of my list are not books but plays. I would like to read A Midsummer’s Night Dream and Macbeth by William Shakespeare.
2) SNES (Super Nintendo): A sequel you liked more than the 1st (can be a 2nd book in a series)

I generally label good sequels as the second book being better than the first. At least I have the expectation that the continuing books be better than the first. The first book is going to be a bit slow. You are learning about the world, the characters and about the main problem. The rest of the series you will not be focusing on such details.

Just to put some series in this section, I would say Eragon, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, and The Heroes Of Olympus. These are a few of the series in which I know that the following books are better than the first.
3) Nintendo 64: A book that revolutionized the way you look at the world
4) Gamecube: A popular book that did not go over so well with you

I must admit that I did enjoy this book, however the reason why it is in this category is because I am still trying to see why it got the hype that it did. The book that won this category is Blankets by Craig Thompson.
5) Wii: A new favorite book

I do not believe in playing favorite with my books. I either like the book or I don’t. However, I must say that this year my new favorite book has been I Killed the Mockingbird by Paul Acampora.
6) Nintendo Power: Favorite graphic novel series or a series you want to start

So far, this has been the year of the graphic novels. I have been reading so many of them. I am glad that I tried something new this year. This was an easy pic. I have really loved the Amulet series by Kazu Kibuishi. I just love the artwork.
7) Super Mario: A character that you’d love to squish like a Goomba

I read this question and it took me three seconds to pick a character. It might be because the book is still fresh in my mind, but at the same time it was the easiest pick, even if the character gets to die. The character that I wanted to squish like a Goomba is Dr. Caldwell in The Girl with All the Gifts by M.R. Carey.  I don’t care how smart this woman is, she made some pretty stupid choices that almost resulted in some deaths. Again, I am left to question this person’s “brilliance.”
8) Zelda: A newer fantasy that you consider to be a modern classic

We all know that I was going to put this here. I am actually proud of myself for not having it in so many different categories. I do count Harry Potter as a modern classic. I not only feel like the story will be relevant throughout time, but its popularity and morals will last throughout time.

The other book that I do count as a modern classic is Eragon. Even though it is not as popular as Harry Potter, it still shares a lot of the traits that Harry Potter has, and it too will last throughout time.
9) Samus-Aran: Favorite sci-fi novel or one you want to read

A Sci-fi novel that I want to read is Ready Player One. I have heard so much about this book, that I just want to get a hold of it and read it.
10) Pokemon: Book editions that you want to collect

This is why I stick to the library. If I collect editions of the same book over just collecting stories, I would be in trouble financially. There are a couple of books that I do want to personally own in physical form. I do want to own Fangirl, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, The Heroes of Olympus, Harry Potter (I don’t know what happened to the family copies), and The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica.  That is just a list of a few.
11) Donkey Kong: A book with original characters

I am picking Unenchanted by Chanda Hahn. I do love these characters and feel that they are different and unique. I am enjoying our young heroine and how she doesn’t fit into the mold of the typical super hero, male or female. On top of that, using the Grimm Fairy tales to tell the story and to save her family is a great and original twist.
12) Nintendo Fandom: Favorite Nintendo game(s) or game you really want

My favorite Nintendo game is Mario Cart. I have always loved Mario Cart and enjoyed playing Princess Peach since I was  seven. My favorite level was always the one with the snow and penguins because it was the one that I could beat my brother at the best. In addition, I did enjoy rainbow road for the colors and the view.