The War of the Worlds

Leo Meng

H.G. Wells

Setting: England

Genre: Science fiction

The War of the Worlds (1898) is a science fiction novel by H. G. Wells. It describes an unnamed narrator who travels through the suburbs of London when the earth was invaded by Martians.It is the earliest story that details a conflict between mankind and an alien race.

"At the end of nineteenth century, a metal object falls from the sky over the south of England, People come to see what it is." Then a lot of people surround the big hole. Suddenly, one end of the object starts to open, and the watchers realize that is hollow, but the creatures that come out are not human. Slowly, people begin to understand that these visitors have come from Mars. A small group of scientists approaches but they were killed. A second metal object lands, then a third, and more.

Most of the story takes place around the town of London where H.G.Wells was living when he wrote the novel.The book appeared in 1898,at the end of a century in which Britain became the most powerful country in the world. This is the background.Only these conditions could lead to a writer who created science fiction.

This story has interesting things to say about space and space creatures,but it also says a lot about our own society and the dangers of the world today.This is the most important reason why this book is absorbing to many people. It is because it reacted to real social phenomena. For example, why were Jackson's songs famous and his space walk dance? Because of the special surroundings in America! At that time, the American economy had a big problem which lead many people to lose their jobs and have nothing to do. The citizens wanted to express their emotions and the songs reflected human feelings.

H.G.Wells died in 1946.He had lived through two world wars in which his ideas about killing machines and their effect on ordinary people had come tragically true.

I advise you watch the movie before you read this book because it could help you understand. The film is more interesting than the book. Maybe such events as these will happen in the future.The scientist Stephen Hawkings said that aliens exist, but far away from the earth. However, one day they will get to the earth. While, we do not know whether or not they will be peaceful or have a war with people, I hope they will be harmonious visitors.

Sherlock Holmes and the Mystery of Boscombe Pool

Misaki Niikura

Author: Arthur Conan Doyle

Genre: Mystery

Date Started: 22^nd March

Date Finished: 23^rd March

The main characters: Dr. Watson, Sherlock Holmes, Patience Moran, Miss Turner, Mr. Charles McCarthy, Mr. James McCarthy, Lestrade and Mr. John Turner

It is set in June in England.

A rich man, Charles McCarthy, was dead. He died near the Boscombe Pool, hit on the head with something heavy. The policeman had taken Mr. James McCarthy who was Charles McCarthy’s son into custody, because, Patience Moran saw them by the lake. They were both shouting. James was very angry. The facts were clear. But Sherlock Holmes was not sure, so he worked to find the real murderer with Dr. Watson.

James said everything to a questioner. He wanted to shoot some birds at Boscombe Pool. He was by the pool, and he heard someone call ”Cooeel”. His father and he often used it. He hurried toward the pool and found his father. He met his father there, and began to talk and more angry words followed. James became angry and felt ready to hit him, but instead he decided to leave. He went back towards Hatherley Farm. After some time he heard a terrible scream, so he ran back to the pool. He found his father was dying.

Sherlock Holmes met Miss Turner who loved James. She wanted to know the facts, because she believed James was innocent. So she decided to ask Sherlock Holmes to come and find the facts.

Sherlock Holmes asked someone and went to the pool. And he found some clues. He found the real criminal. It was Mr. John Turner who was Miss Turner’s father. Mr. Charles McCarthy was pressing for his son to marry Mr. John Turner’s daughter. But John didn’t want his daughter to marry Charles’s son. So John killed Charles.

Sherlock Holmes didn’t talk to policeman about the real murderer. Because he just wanted to know the facts and John was seriously ill. The few facts which Holmes gave to the policeman were enough to free James. John lived for seven months more, but he died. James and Miss Turner would soon marry.

I had never read any of the Sherlock Holmes books before. It was a very interesting story. I could enjoy reading this story. I like that the story was concluded clearly, but I didn’t like that the speeches were long.

The English level was good. I could understand almost all the words. I want to read other stories about Sherlock Holmes. I recommend other people read this book.

The Fugitive

Junpei Kogai

Author: J.M DILLARD

Genre: Action

Date started: 16/3/2011

Date finished: 23/3/2011

The main character’s name is Richard Kimble. He has a good wife and wealth.

He spent a good life. One day, he came back home after doing an emergency operation. A man ran out of the Kimble’s home. In the house, Kimble’s wife was lying on the floor, and she died. Kimble was arrested by police, because of this reason.

After that he was sentenced to death by the chief justice. But He escaped from a patrol wagon. He started to journey to prove his innocence. He wanted to find the true suspect. A few days later, Kimble and Gerard (FBI agent) found out the true suspect. Gerard arrested Nikols.

I think that this book has words that were a little difficult, so this book was a little difficult for me. Sometimes I used a dictionary. But I watched the movie of this book, so I understood the content of the story. I think that this story is so exciting, so I recommend the book.

New Yorkers

Tomoya Suda

· Author: O’HENRY

· Genre: Short stories

· Date started: Monday 21st March

· Date finished: Monday 21st March

· Describing the book:

There are 5 short stories.

1^st The Christmas Present

2^nd Soapy’s Choice

3^rd A Walk in Amnesia

4^th Tildy's Moment

5^th The Memento

1^st

The main characters are Della and her husband Jim.

Jim has only one dollar and eight-seven cents. Near Christmas, Della wanted to give a gold-chain to her husband. So, she sold her beautiful hair and she could buy it. But at Christmas, Jim gave expensive combs to her. Her hair is very short now. Therefore, they decide to keep their presents for a time when her hair is long again.

2^nd

The main character is Soapy.

Soapy wanted to be in prison. There is a lot of food and good friends and so on. He had no money! He did many wrong things but he couldn’t get arrested. One day, He walked around a town. He found a church, and went there.

He could change his mind!! He decided to work!! He was very happy. So he jumped and looked around quickly. He was very noisy. So he put in prison about 3 months.

3^rd

The main characters are Bellford, and Pinkhammer (The same person)

Bellford got amnesia, because he worked very hard. He forgot his name! so he lived as a Pinkhammer. And he enjoyed his life. Later he met his wife and friend, and talked a lot, and he remembered I am a Bellford and a lot of things.

(Amnesia means that you can’t remember anything)

4^th

The main characters are Aileen and Tidy. They are best friends! And Seders.

Aileen is a very tall, beautiful, and full of life. Tidy is small, fat, and not beautiful. One day Mr Seders came in for his meal. He drank too much beer. He finished his meal, got up, put his arm round Tidy, kissed her loudly and walked out of the restaurant. She fell in love. She wore bright clothes, did her hair differently and so on. She changed!! But a few days later, he came again and said "I want to say sorry for doing that to you. I drank alcohol a lot." She cried a lot. But she still had her friend. And Ailleen put her arm round Tidy.

5^th

The main character is D’Armande.

Amanda is a actress. Every day she did dancing, singing, and got onto her swing. She thought the man who came to the theatre is an animal!! One day she fell in love and left her work. She did not say she was an actress. After they were married, she knew that he was in love before. Then she told him it. It was when she was an actress. He knew that she was a actress!! They are happy.

This book’s level is just right for me. I could read it easily. I throught that friends are important. Most story’s characters have no money, but they have friend or husband. Even if we have a lot of money, we are not able to buy them! I want to live as these characters.

A Room with a View

Name: Iyona Matsuda

Author: E M FORSTER

Genre: Love story

Date started: 16^th of March

Date finished: 23^rd of March

About the story

The main characters are two girls. One girl is Lucy and the other is Charlotte. Lucy is a beautiful girl, visiting Italy for the first time. Gorge Emerson is a young Englishman, on holiday and staying in the same hotel as Lucy.

One day, Lucy and Emerson met at a church and they looked at a murder. Emerson held her by his hand and helped her. After that, Lucy finds herself falling in love with him slowly.

Responding to the book

This book was hard to read for me because a lot of people appear in this book. So until I kept reading, I could not recognize who the various people were. At first, I returned to earlier pages to help me recognize them. If I could have recognized who each was clearly, I could have read more smoothly and happily.

In the middle of this book, I could not understand who was who, what happened to who and who thought something, so to tell the truth, I don’t know if I like this book or not. However, I think that maybe I should like this book because this book is a love story.

Michael Jackson: The King of Pop

Binfu Tang

Author:Carl W Hart

Genre: biography

Date started:10th March, 2011

Date finished:14th March, 2011

Describing the book

Michael Jackson was born in Gary, Indiana, America, on August 29, 1958. He was a member of the Jackson 5 which was Michael and his brothers' music group, when he was a child. They went to many places to perform with their father. Some years later, they got ahead in all of America. But Michael grew up, and he had some happenings in his job and his family. For instance, he had some arguments with his boss and his father. He got ahead in his music, and he made a lot of money. But he severed his relations with his family. His strange and wonderful life came to an end on June 25, 2009.

Responding to the book

I think it is a good book. It's a true story. I think that to get ahead in your work, you must work hard. Although they have some talent, if people don't work hard, they don't win success. I believe that if we work hard at anything, we can win success. I also think that family is important for everybody, because your parents won't betray you. If we severe relations with our families, it is bad for our jobs.

The book is good. because I can learn some words from the book e.g: solo, album, image, divorce, mannequins, & sponsor. The level is right for me. I would recommend this book to my classmates.

The Last of the Cheju Divers

Name: Iyona Matsuda

Genre: Nonfiction

Date started: 14th of March

Date finished:16th of March

About the story

This story is about the island of Cheju. There, almost all women work as divers catching octopus for a living.

A hundred years ago, there were no other ways to live. However, now the tradition is changing. There is not only to become a diver, younger women can now choose other jobs.

Sunny is a tourist guide. She did not want to become a diver because divers do dangerous work. Now in Cheju there are lots of women such as Sunny who don’t become divers.

Responding to the book

I think that there are traditional jobs around the world. But now, maybe traditional jobs are changing all around the world because we are getting new customs and techniques.

I like this book because this book has vocabulary practice. And there are some particular words which have explanations in English at the bottom of the pages they are found in.