The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka

He was a man who turned into a big cockroach and died... THE END.

Okay, I don't even know how this short story became a classic. It doesn't even make sense! I had to read this for a class and that would be the only reason I would ever read it again. This story was absolutely horrible. There was no plot, no twists and turns, no true lesson. All the main character does is turn into a cockroach, ruin his family's life, and dies. If you want to look at Spark Notes and get a summary of the book, the summary is the book! I love short stories but this is just insane! A story needs a plot and a lesson to teach to the readers or something to keep them entertained besides the fact that there is someone who turned into a cockroach. There is not even an explanation for this transformation! If you want to spare your mind, never read this story unless you have to.

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

This book shocked me. I have heard many great things about Hosseini's other book, The Kite Runner, and even a few about A Thousand Splendid Suns, but never would I have thought that I would fall in love with this book the way I did. The two main characters, Mariam and Laila, are both so understanding and loving and try their hardest to get out of their tough situation in Afghanistan. Both were married young, both are bastards, and both were married to a man who abused them and wanted to kill them. Even now I'm thinking about naming my daughter Laila. These two women show how strong a woman can be in the face of danger and what it takes for a mother to protect her children.

Laila and Tariq, a couple almost like Edward Cullen and Bella Swan, were meant for each other from the time they were little kids running through the streets of Kabul. Not only that, but Hosseini does an amazing job describing Afghanistan culture that the poor little country that only passed my mind when I thought about the war truly has won a place in my heart. People need to read this book to realize that not all of Iraq and Afghanistan are on Osama bin Laden's side. Most of the people in this country are innocent and loving, only wanting to live in peace.

Hosseini truly has a great talent and the way he can surprise the reader with twists and turns that no one saw coming is absolutely amazing. He kept me on my toes throughout the whole entire book. Let's just say that someone who you think is dead turns out he never was... :)

Even for the non-readers of the world, if you can appreciate a good and heartfelt love story, you will definitely love this book as much as I did.

The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown

I'm a Catholic so as you can imagine this book might have caused controversy with me but believe it or not I couldn't put it down. A good writer knows the difference between fiction and non-fiction and what many readers of this book fail to realize is this book is a work of fiction. Of course there are some real facts that make it believable like the symbolism and myths of the Holy Grail but it's a work of FICTION, and that is why I read it and ultimately really enjoyed it.

This is definitely one of my favorite brainy thrillers. To keep up with Robert Langdon and Sophie Neveu is a thrill of a lifetime and I enjoyed every page of it. I've heard many different stories considering this book and I decided to finally take the plunge and it turned out to be amazing. The trick to this book is to read it with an open mind. You have to open the book and leave your religion behind and just explore a little and you would be amazed as to where this book leads you.

P.S. The little part of Da Vinci's Last Supper seems very true to me. Looking at the picture myself I saw not 13 men but twelve men and one very feminine looking one forming the V of the chalice...

The Choice by Nicholas Sparks

No one has any idea how happy I am to finally find a book that had me reading through the night. I haven't read a book like that since the Deathly Hallows (the last Harry Potter book). I just couldn't help falling in love with Travis Parker and Gabby Holland just as fast as they fell in love with each other. I'm used to Nicholas Sparks' romance stories and used to the same old thing that he always does but The Choice was different. Maybe it was because I felt really connected to Gabby because she was very relatable to me, or maybe it was because I was completely attracted to Travis. All I know is this book was so sweet, so romantic, and so uplifting that it just made me smile and of course eventually cry throughout the book. I even had to restrain from laughing out loud in some really great moments. For all romance lovers out there, this is definitely something that you should pick up. It would lift up your spirits and truly make you believe in true love again. This was an amazing read and I thank Nicholas Sparks for sparking my love for books once again.

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

I am a huge fan of Jane Austen's work, especially Pride and Prejudice. That book was absolutely amazing for me and such a touching story. Her first work though didn't catch my attention as much. It took me three tries to even get to pg. 120 of Sense and Sensibility and I'm sorry but I can't go on any longer. I'm sure the rest of the book is fantastic but keeping up with 1811 language is tiring. Austen's use of big words and fancy ways of saying things is something that I expect but this was too much for me. I would find that I spent 10 minutes on a piece of Elinor's dialogue just trying to figure out what she was trying to say. I love my classics and I love Jane Austen but this book just wasn't enough for me. I even feel bad feeling this way but I do. It pains me that this wonderful classic just isn't for me (which by the way rarely happens). If you love this book then hats off to you but for readers who have a short attention span, don't even bother buying this book, you won't even last past the first page.

On a better note, I loved the characters, well from as much as I got to know them at least. Elinor and Marianne were absolutely marvelous and I couldn't help but fall in love with Willoughby as much as Marianne did. I'm sure if the language was simpler and there was just a little more oomph, like in Pride and Prejudice, I would have liked this book just fine. Unfortunately that wasn't the case. I still love Jane Austen and applaud her writing but this book wasn't her best work. Then again, it was her first and as Pride and Prejudice showed me, she got better with age.

Evil Star by Anthony Horowitz

Okay, I promise this is my last post for today but I really wanted to catch up on things. This book by Anthony Horowitz is pretty good. It had cool tricks and some fantasy but I definitely like the Alex Rider series better. Now don't get me wrong, the book was good but there were so many grammar mistakes. Now I know that isn't exactly Anthony's fault but I just had to put that out there. Also the book took to long to get exciting for me. Normally I can pull through a book that doesn't have a lot of action but this one was different. This book did have action but not enough to keep me reading. It wasn't until the last 50 pages that I actually got interested and didn't want to put it down. But who knows, you actually might like it.

Here is the synopsis on the back of the book: Matt thought his troubles were over when he closed Raven's Gate... but, in fact, they were just beginning. Evil forces will stop at nothing to track him down and destroy him. There's no choice but to fight back. Matt's fate - and the fate of the world - is tied to four other kids across the globe. The second is a street kid in Peru. He and Matt have never met; they don't even speak the same language. But destiny is going to throw them together as the threat of the Old Ones grows, a strange and insidious villain beckons, and another Gate suddenly comes into play....

The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks

Now I am sure many of you have seen the sad romance movie version of the book but frankly this was the first time that the movie was better than the book. I mean the book itself was cute and close to the movie except for the end. I'm not going to say the ending but it really destroyed me. I wanted the sad but happy ending that the movie had but as I continued reading I couldn't help but be more disappointed. I am a huge Nicholas Sparks fan and a fan of his out of this world romances that probably never happen in real life but that was what I was looking forward to in The Notebook. I have to say that I was sadly disappointed in this novel.